The Heavenly Host

Hilda smiled gently. “Well, then, I am sure he’ll be more than prepared to answer for and explain his actions, should this Host of Tiernon or what not, ever show up.” She chuckled lightly, as did Trisfelt.

“You are right as ever, my dear!” Trisfelt clapped his hands, putting Danyel’s apparent in-depth knowledge behind them. “I would not want to be in his shoes!” He laughed and Hilda joined in, flashing Danyel a seemingly good-natured glance which appeared to make him even more nervous.

“Anyway, let us continue.” Hilda waved at the scene and then reached for the bottle to refill their glasses.

As the giant demon fell to the ground and the priests rushed in to heal Talarius, Hilda had Trisfelt pause the balling. She was looking quite annoyed. “Am I misremembering? Wasn’t the agreement between the demon and the knight that it was to be a one-on-one duel?”

“It was indeed,” Trisfelt said. “The Rod was not particularly good about keeping its word.”

Hilda was shaking her head, most annoyed. “Demon or no demon, this is not honorable; nor is using dark rituals. While we have no Sight with this, I am sure those clouds are seriously dark magic.”

She stood up abruptly. “I need to get more wine. I find it very troubling that I should be feeling any sympathy for a demon!” She marched over and opened a bottle of red wine, paying little attention to which one. She was feeling extremely vexed.

She came back as Trisfelt and Danyel both gulped down the remainders in their glasses. Hilda poured out large glasses of the red wine, emptying the bottle between the three of them. She sat down and placed the empty bottle on the floor beside the sofa. She sighed. “Let us continue.”

The battle proceeded with the possession and defeat of Talarius, his surrender followed by his treachery. Hilda was feeling a deep-seated anger at this point. It was then that the god mana started flowing. This was what she had noticed; this was the high-powered miracle that came through the back door and was thus inadvertently allowed. She wished she could See what was going on. It was very impressive to say the least. Then came the turning of Excrathadorus Mortis.

As the hole closed and the balling ending, Hilda could not help herself from feeling that some sort of justice had been done, despite the fact that it was her own team that was on the receiving end. That Talarius had cheated was undeniable; that he had broken nearly every rule of honor in Tiernon’s book, undisputable. And did the Arch-Diocate and Vicar General seem okay with this? Apparently. Hilda let out a sigh.

“You know what I can’t figure out?” Trisfelt said.

Hilda opened her eyes and shook her head. “There is an immense amount here that I cannot figure out.”

“We all know what demons are like,” Trisfelt said, the other two nodded. “Yes, they lie. We cannot trust what the demon said at the end about simply wanting to protect his own and live in peace. It is, by every known account of demons, complete nonsense.” Everyone nodded his or her head. “So then, why did he stop? Why did he just leave? With the level of power he used to turn that artifact, the dagger — ”

“Excrathadorus Mortis?” Hilda asked.

“You know of it?”

Hilda chuckled, suddenly feeling exhausted. She was emotionally drained. “By legend only; obviously, I’ve never set eyes on it. It’s extremely famous.”

“Really? I guess I assumed so,” Trisfelt nodded.

Hilda shrugged, too tired to prevaricate. “Talarius was awarded with being its keeper nearly a decade ago. This extremely sacred blade was used in Etterdam by Sentir Fallon to slay the demon prince Orcus.”

Trisfelt sucked in his breath. “It was used to kill a demon prince?” the wizard asked, agape.

“Permanently, forever and ever, amen,” Hilda said, nodding.

Trisfelt slowly shook his head and sat in silence. “So, more to my point,” he eventually continued, “with that much power at his command, with the power of multiple high priests, why did he not turn that magic against the Rod? If he could reverse an artifact of that magnitude, then surely he could have used it against the Rod and priests of Tiernon?”

Hilda froze as Trisfelt pointed this out. She had not thought of that. No one had. Clearly, the demon could have done serious damage to the Rod and its priests. He could have decimated them. A ten percent casualty rate would be minimal under the circumstances. He could have conceivably taken out half or more of them. Particularly given the chaos of the possessed soldiers, the people in shock, distracted — he might have wiped out the entire Rod and the priests! It made no damn sense at all.

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^{DOF +4} 

^{Predawn 16-01-440}