If only times had been different, and Lenamare had not been such a total cortwad. The two of them might have been allies and sent Exador to his doom years ago. Randolf sighed. The what ifs — they were the seeds of useless ruminations. He shook his head and tried to get back to work.
Donngg went a warning bell. Randolf looked up from his work; someone was in the outer entryway. A chime sounded even as Randolf started to get up. He sat back down; the chimes indicated that Crispin had returned. Their under-palace lab was very tightly guarded and only certain very specific codes tied to specific auras could get in.
As always, he chuckled at the fact that he, the Archimage of Turelane, could not actually have his own sacred inner sanctum and laboratory in Turelane. He had a minor one of course, befitting the buffoon he played. Unfortunately, the Mage of Turelane, Exador, would have immediately spotted any truly guarded sanctum, any place protected from the prying eyes and ears of an archdemon.
Thus he was forced to create his true sanctum in the warrens of the Council Palace. In the warrens, it was just one highly guarded laboratory among many dozens. Every council member, every committee member, every major lackey had a highly secured layer, knowing who owned what without physical exploration and a great deal of effort, thus setting off a great number of wards among a great number of wizards. This made Randolf just one more needle in a haystack.
Crispin entered through the mantrap, shutting the final door behind him. “Hey ho!” The djinn exclaimed in greeting as he walked over to Randolf. Randolf stood and gave Crispin a hug and quick peck on the lips.
“So was the ball as big a hit in Djinnistan as it was here?” Randolf asked.
“Every bit as much!” Crispin said, chuckling. “A couple of elders nearly choked to death when the greater demon got busy with the Armageddon-summoning routine, as I am becoming fond of calling it.”
“And have they come to any conclusions?” Randolf asked.
Crispin grabbed an apple out of a nearby bowl and bit into it, slowly savoring its juiciness. “I love the material world...” he murmured. Suddenly he looked back at Randolf, who was waiting for an answer. “What do you think? They’re going to be debating this for the next hundred years!” Crispin shook his head. “How long did it take them to come to any consensus about Exador?”
“I wouldn’t know — some of us hadn’t been born then,” Randolf said drily.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot.” Crispin grinned. “I was but a boy myself, or more of a boy than I am now.”
Randolf rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes. You are but a teenager in djinn terms at the ripe young age of what... 183?”
“I’ll be 184 next week; I hope you won’t forget my birthday present?” Crispin asked, twisting his head coyly.
“Hmm. Therefore, you were about fifty when Abancia fell. Barely out of diapers,” Randolf noted.
“You are missing the point — my present?” Crispin asked with a grin.
“I thought you genies were supposed to be the one handing out presents?” Randolf asked with a smirk.
“Oh, you’ll be getting a present alright, if I don’t get one!” Crispin laughed.
Randolf laughed as well. “I have something very nice picked out for you. Rest assured.” Crispin smiled brightly. “Although I’ll have to alert the palace fire marshal before we try to light your cake!”
“Holy marathon, batmen! I’m getting a stitch!” Reggie complained while trying to reach around with his right hand and rub his back between his two left arms. They had just landed at the entrance to a large cave at the bottom of a rather deep canyon.
After coming through the sleeping portal, it had been another hour of flying across an unusually flat and arid plain with very few fireballs or columns. They had headed towards a range of extremely tall mountains in the distance. The mountain range was not that extensive in that it did not span the horizon. In fact, it was more of a cluster of extremely tall mountains that simply rose out of the flat plane, and a few large canyons that seemed to radiate out from the mountain cluster.
Rather odd, but then the entire region had a slightly odd feeling to it. This region, after the last boom tunnel, seemed especially desolate. Which was, Tom admitted, a rather tough feeling to pin down, since the Abyss itself was thinly populated to begin with. Actually, other than people coming to visit him, Tom never saw other demons in the Abyss except at the Courts and at Hellsprings Eternal. Agh, Tom thought to himself as his own back twinged from exertion. He would need another massage after this trip.
“Here we go...” Tizzy pointed to the cavern entrance, which was probably twenty feet high and perhaps ten to fifteen wide. Plenty big enough for everyone except Tom, for whom it was basically a rather narrow hallway. “We have about a half-hour hike through the corridors until we reach the first of the large caverns. At that point, we enter a long sequence of caverns of different styles. All a wonder to behold!”
“Talarius, you’re going to want to turn your armor light on,” Rupert said.
“Very well, demon,” Talarius agreed, once again not wanting to reveal that his helm let him see in the dark on multiple levels.
Tizzy chuckled. “Once we get to the caverns, both stone and crystal, we will all want light. Black-and-white night sight does not do this place justice. Especially the crystalline and mirrored caverns.”
“We need to go single file, or at least I do,” Tom said. “Tizzy, since you know where we are going, why don’t you go first? Then me, then Talarius and Reggie, Rupert and Estrebrius. Boggy and Antefalken, bring up the rear? Everyone stay together, we don’t want to get separated and lost.”
The others nodded. Tizzy shrugged and headed in with Tom following. The cavern tunnel was mostly fine, plenty of headroom for Tom. At a few points as they made their way it dipped to about thirteen feet, but Tom had no serious problems as long as he did not stretch to his tallest height.
Actually, the floor was surprisingly smooth and level for a natural cavern. It was not perfect, but it was relatively flat and not V shaped as he might have expected for something so ravine like. Of course, the same was true of his own cave. Tom frowned; actually, he really was not sure how caves and such had come to be in the Abyss. There was neither rain nor any kind of water for erosion, and not much in the way of wind. At least not severe wind, from what he had seen. It was just hot. Okay, some regions were dusty and there were volcanos and lava, but by and large, normal weather would not have shaped things like they had on Earth, or Astlan for that matter.
They walked down the tunnel for some time, perhaps fifteen minutes, before they came to a branch in the tunnel. Tizzy took the left turn. “I always go left,” the demon told them, looking over his shoulder. “I find it more sinister; which is something I appreciate as a demon.”
Tom shrugged. The demon was making about as much sense as ever. If they did stick to that path, then tracing their way back should be easier. They just needed a better way to tell distance. It was a bit irritating to have no mechanism for telling time. Tom was used to just pulling out his iPhone, or before that his iPod Touch, to check the time. He would settle for one of his watches, which he never wore. Of course, it was not clear what good that would do, since Astlan had a twenty-hour day and the Abyss had no nights or any real time at all. How did demons know when to meet up with each other?