The Heavenly Host

“Good lord almighty and then some... is this all sapphire?” Antefalken asked softly.

“I don’t believe this,” Tom said. “I don’t think this can be natural.” The room was irregularly shaped, about thirty or forty feet per side with an irregular ceiling about twenty to thirty feet high. Embedded in the walls were ribbons of blue crystal. Clear, crystalline sapphire and a milkier stone like sapphire with white streaks. Where the previous caves had stone stalactites and stalagmites, this room had sapphire stalactites and stalagmites.

“This can’t be real...” Talarius whispered, rotating in the center of the room as he tried to take it in. His steel boots clinked as they knocked loose sapphire stones around.

“Now I know I’m dreaming for sure,” Reggie whispered.

“ Do not get too greedy; we have got several more corundum rooms before we even get to the diamond room. The gold and silver caverns are going to be pretty boring after all of these,” Tizzy observed.

“We are freaking rich!” Rupert shouted.

“Welcome to the Land of Bling!” Reggie shouted in agreement.

“I guess I get the point about gems and gold not being so valuable in the Abyss,” Tom said.

“Fargelsworth... I had no idea they were this common!” Antefalken breathed as they sifted through loose gemstones. “I should have brought a lot more bags...”

∼

“Good news!” Damien told the Council once everyone had taken their seats. “The Rod has certified that we are demon-free and Oorstemoth has signed off on it!”

“Excellent news,” Alexandros Mien said, nodding to Damien with a tight smile.

“In front of each of you is the current status report of the palace and the city, including reserves and our current active forces,” Gandros said. “We are doing remarkably well.”

“Do we have estimates on cleanup and repair of the damage?” Sier Barvon asked.

“Not yet; it depends on how soon we can “lift the siege,” so to speak. We need craftsmen and materials from surrounding cities, such as your own city of Yorkton,” Damien said.

Sier chuckled. “You see through me.”

“I know that your sister is married to Burgomaster Falron and that you both come from a long line of woodworkers and masons.” Damien grinned back.

“You can’t take the merchant out of the Archimage,” Sier said, chuckling.

“To that point, Oorstemoth and the Rod are both willing to step down and reduce their forces, and have agreed not to invade the city unless the demon horde comes back.” Damien told the Council.

“And that means exactly what?” Zilquar asked.

“It means that Wing Arms Master Heron and a few of his ships will be returning to Keeper’s City to work on the pursuit of the demons; but they will be leaving about two thirds of their fleet here in case the demons return.” Several councilors frowned at this. “The Rod is also reducing its forces by about half. They claim to be going to a maintenance mode and are simply going to be here to assist in case the archdemons return, and maintain a staging point if they have to ramp up again.”

“So, in short, they aren’t going anywhere soon,” Jehenna said.

“So it would seem, but they are reducing their military footprint and they have said they would like to operate on more cooperative terms,” Damien said.

“What exactly are cooperative terms?” Randolf asked whiningly.

“It means they would like to allow small groups of their people into the city for leave and to purchase supplies, and that they would like to work with the two Councils to coordinate a defense in case demons return.”

“And how do they determine if demons return?” Davron asked.

Damien made a small grimace. “Sir Sorel, another Knight Rampant of Tiernon, will be using Sir Talarius’s Mirror of Demon Detection and flying over the city periodically to inspect the number of demons. I have told him that once the wards are down, we would expect some demons to return, as they are vital to the work of many of our residents. They are okay with a handful of demons in the city. Just no archdemons, greater demons or demon hordes.”

“I’m okay with that myself,” Tureledor said. “I don’t like having any of those in the city. I am still embarrassed that we allowed it to happen.”

“I will be asking the Committee on Demonology to come up with some method of regularly monitoring demon activity and overall presence within the city,” Gandros said. “It is something we should have thought of long ago.”

“So what do they have, a stable of flying horses? Or is this Sorel also going to use Talarius’s horse?” Davron asked. “My understanding is that such horses are quite intelligent, and it is probably wanting to charge the gates of the Abyss as it is.”

Damien had an amused expression on his face. “Apparently, Sir Sorel’s steed is a griffin.”

“A griffin?” Sier repeated incredulously. “These knights aren’t much for subtlety, are they?”

“Not at all. Sir Gadius is also outside our walls. You don’t want to know what he rides.”

“Okay, Damien, what does he ride?” Davron asked.

“A unicorn.” Damien smiled at the two councilors.

“The man’s a virgin?” Jehenna asked.