The Heavenly Host

They wandered on for another half period or so, taking seemingly random openings that Tizzy chose, with Tom marking each turn or branch. As they moved along, going through two more portcullises, the evidence of human, or rather demon masonry and construction became more obvious. There were now sections with carved stone bricks, and areas where the floor had been flattened out with stone masonry, presumably for wheeled vehicles.

In short, Tom realized at one point, they were now in a dungeon. The only difference between this and a video game or an RPG was that, technically, as demons they were the wandering monsters. Of course, they did have a Paladin with them. Sorry — Knight Rampant, Tom corrected himself.

“Did you hear something?” Estrebrius asked suddenly. They had all been quiet, lost in their own thoughts for some time when Estrebrius spoke up.

“Only the sound of us clunking down the corridor,” Boggy replied.

Estrebrius shook his head. “No, it sounded like nails scraping on stone.”

“Like hooves? All but one of us has hooves.” Antefalken was shaking his head.

“No, more like scratching.” Estrebrius said.

“Where did you hear it?” Talarius asked; they had all paused. Tizzy was in front, Tom behind him, filling the entire passage. Talarius and Rupert were next. Boggy and Reggie were following them, and Antefalken and Estrebrius were in the rear.

Estrebrius pointed behind him.

“Grrrrrr...” A rumbling came from the dark to which Estrebrius was pointing. A second growl almost immediately joined the first. Staring down the corridor, Tom could see four red orbs reflecting the light of Talarius’s armor back at them.

“I know this goes without saying, but didn’t you say this place was abandoned?” Reggie called back to Tizzy, who was scrambling to see around Tom.

“It should be,” Tizzy replied, puzzled.

Rupert was looking nervous. “What is it? Or are they?”

“Apparently something terribly spunky, if they’re willing to attack a party of demons,” Boggy noted. “Estrebrius, let’s switch places.” Boggy moved to swap with the smaller demon and took a crouching position.

Antefalken pulled a short sword from his belt. Tom blinked; he did not recall ever noticing the bard carrying a short sword. It was rather more like a full-length sword for his childlike size.

Talarius motioned for Reggie to trade places with him and began dimming his armor. “I am thinking I might want to turn off my light, as that seems to be what is attracting them.”

“How are you going to be able to see?” Rupert asked, looking at the knight.

Talarius turned his head to Rupert and the boy could see what looked like a grin through the vertical air slit in the knight’s helm. The knight reached up and flipped down the crystalline visor that covered the cross-shaped slits in his helm to protect him from arrows.

“My visor has infrared, ultraviolet and several other night vision options,” The knight said.

“So you’ve been walking around like a giant moth magnet all this time for nothing?” Tizzy complained.

Talarius shrugged in his armor. “I work on a need-to-know basis.” The knight crouched in a combat position. His right hand slid down his thigh and suddenly there was a short rod his hand. He gave the bottom end a twist with his other hand, and the head of the rod suddenly popped wide with flanges, creating a mace. The mace began to glow at the same brightness as the knight’s dimming armor.

“Is that a Rod of Smiting?” Antefalken asked quickly, taking his eyes off the red orbs to glance back at the knight.

“Yes,” Talarius replied tersely.

“Is it even possible to disarm you?” Tom asked in exasperation.

“No,” the knight replied, pointedly fixing his gaze on the growling red orbs. Suddenly another set of red orbs appeared with the first two.

As the light level from the armor dropped, Tom’s demon sight was able to make out the bodies containing the orbs. “Large, heavily muscled dogs,” he noted aloud.

“Of course,” Talarius stated.

“What are they?” Rupert asked nervously.

“One of two, maybe three things. I would advise blunt trauma,” Talarius said tersely.

Suddenly one of the dogs leaped at Antefalken, choosing the smallest front line target. The dog moved amazingly fast, its giant jaws reaching to try to engulf the bard’s entire head. Antefalken’s sword lunged forward, squarely hitting the dog’s throat. Boggy roared and his right slashed out, his black claws ripping through the dog’s neck, jerking a bit as the demon severed the dog’s spine. The dog fell to the floor writhing.

“I daresay, that wasn’t so bad!” Boggy smiled, pleased with himself and looking back at the others.

Talarius was shaking his head. “Look!” He pointed to the dog’s body. Something really odd was happening at the base of the neck. The severed spine had split vertically, like strands of licorice pulling apart, Tom thought. Suddenly red muck was swarming up the split spinal cords from the bloody neck stump. The dog’s body scrambled, headless, to its feet and backed up towards its compatriots.