The Heavenly Host

Vaselle collapsed into a nearby chair. He only understood about half of what Estrebrius was saying, but what he did understand was overwhelming enough. After a moment, he asked Estrebrius, “What is a dork?”

Estrebrius shook his head, “No, a D’Orc. Like ‘demon orc.’ They are the demon equivalent of an orc. Tom has an army of about 2,000 demon orcs at his command, or at least he will shortly. That’s what the supplies are for.”

“Huh?” Vaselle asked, not understanding.

“Well, technically not for that. There is going to be an allegiance-swearing ceremony and then a party afterward. We are trying to get booze for the party, but demons need something stronger than mortals to get drunk. So we are hoping to get a lot of barrels of glargh. We then take these supplies you are getting and mix them into the glargh to make x-glargh, which is a favorite of D’Orcs.”

“So my first task is getting party supplies?” Vaselle was feeling a bit of a letdown. Here he had been certain all the nasty things he was buying were for some horribly evil scheme.

“Welcome to indentured service,” said Estrebrius with a grin.

Vaselle shook his head. He had just summoned Estrebrius to lug supplies around. Fair is fair, he supposed.

“I wish I could see the master’s new fortress,” Vaselle said sadly.

Estrebrius shrugged. “I’m sure Tom will be okay with you coming to the party. There is just the problem of your staying alive there. The Abyss is very hot. Mount Doom is actually quite a bit cooler, especially since it started raining, but it’s still going to be like one of those saunas they have in the northern regions.”

“Dang,” Vaselle said.

“You know,” Estrebrius said after a moment. “Rupert once mentioned that Tom had brought several wizard friends through the Abyss and that the wizards had a way of staying cool. Maybe I can find out what that is. It sounded like it was a spell or something.”

“That would be great!” Vaselle clapped his hands, jumping up. “Okay, so we should get started. We have some of the supplies ready to be picked up. The rest will be ready tomorrow. Let’s go get what we can.”

∼

^{DOF +5}

^{Late Afternoon/Early Evening 16-02-440}

“The wards are down!” Antefalken exclaimed as he materialized in Damien’s chamber.

“Yes, finally!” Damien said, grinning. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed your company. Things are insane here, wards or no wards.” He shook his head and sat down, gesturing for Antefalken to hop on his favorite chair perch.

Antefalken laughed. “You only think things are insane here. It’s much crazier in the Abyss.”

“I don’t know, the Oorstemothians recorded the battle between Talarius and Edwyrd and there are tons of crappy mirrorings from the wall as well. So everyone is pretty freaked out.”

“Well, there were hundreds of demons watching, and they all ran back to the Courts to tell everyone. But it gets wilder.”

“Really? Wilder than the fact that Alexandros Mien noticed something odd and drew the Council’s attention to a flying carpet upon which Exador, Ramses the Damned and an unknown woman were all having breakfast while watching the battle?”

That caused Antefalken to pause as he digested the sentence. “Well, I think I can beat that, but a) who is the woman, and b) why are the three of them outside the wards when everyone else is inside?”

Damien twisted his head in something like a shrug. “We aren’t certain, but as you recall, we suspected that the Ramses the Damned character might have been an archdemon; the woman is clearly something equally unusual; and then add Exador on the rug, outside? We think he may be the third archdemon.”

Antefalken blinked a few times. “So you are saying that Lenamare, a mortal, has been going toe-to-toe with an archdemon for the last few decades and that the two kept ending up in a draw?”

Damien pursed his lips. “Well, when you put it like that, I like the theory a bit less. It gives Lenamare way too much of an ego boost, which he certainly doesn’t need.”

“Well, he did apparently kick three archdemons out on their asses; he deserves some credit for that,” Antefalken noted.

“Trust me; he’s been soaking it up like a sponge. He’s actually been both pleasant and helpful lately.”

“Now you are scaring me.” Antefalken gave a mock shudder. “So how’s your buddy Randolf taking the news that his faithful servant-slash-boss is an archdemon?”

“Surprisingly well,” Damien said. Antefalken gave him a skeptical expression. “No, really — I am shocked myself. I almost, and I say almost, think he had suspected so already.”

“Really? I thought he was clueless,” Antefalken said.

“That is the appearance he gave, but I had an interesting breakfast with him. He is far smarter than we give him credit for being. I get the impression that he may feel he has little choice but to play the fool,” Damien said.

“That does not add up with anything we know about him,” Antefalken noted as he shook his head. “And the third, the woman? Another archdemon?”