The Heavenly Host

“Hmm.” Trisfelt stopped to think. “You may be right, but I think in this case, it was bound to happen anyway.” He shook his head. “These brigands are actually quite skilled and very experienced. Lenamare promised them any riches they found other than the book he wanted, plus a large sum of money, and he provided them in advance with quite valuable arcane devices that they could keep as payment.”

“A very good deal, then. I take it that it was a difficult mission?” Hilda asked.

“Apparently. I don’t know all the details, but I do know that while others had known of the book’s location, none had ever retrieved it. These fellows managed to do so.”

“Well, that is good, but how — ”

Trisfelt raised a finger so he might continue. “What I have not mentioned was that the book was located deep underground in a designated historical preserve of Oorstemoth.”

“Oh, and they removed the book from the site.” Hilda nodded.

“And, one presumes, a fair amount of other antiquities.” Trisfelt poured more wine for both of them. After setting the empty bottle on the floor beside the other empties, he continued. “Now comes the duplicity. The brigands escaped the historical site, but were apprehended by a small army of wizards and soldiers of Oorstemoth.”

“Awkward, I’d imagine,” Hilda said.

“Indeed, and apparently Oorstemoth suffered severe casualties. However, here comes the answer to your question. You see, Lenamare had given them a special bag to hold the book once they found it. It turns out that this bag was actually a Bag of Safekeeping — you know, the extra-dimensional storage space bags?” Hilda nodded, she had heard of them. “However, this bag was twinned, in that there were actually two bags that opened onto the same extra-dimensional space. The brigands put the book in the bag; Lenamare then opened his bag and removed the book. He then destroyed his bag so it could not be traced back. The Oorstemothians were left with an empty Bag of Safekeeping.”

“Ingenious, one has to admit,” Hilda said.

“Don’t tell Lenamare that.” Trisfelt shook his head, feeling this fifth bottle of wine. “In addition, those arcane devices he had given the brigands as payment?” Hilda nodded that she remembered. “They had very powerful hidden enchantments on them such that when questioned about who hired them, the brigands always replied ‘Exador.’ ”

“So devious.” Hilda shook her head. “Ethically challenged, but devious.”

Trisfelt nodded. “So long story short, the brigands went to Oorstemothian prison, where they were held so they could testify against Exador before being executed, and Exador was served notice by Oorstemoth and had to go prove his innocence. This gave Lenamare and Jehenna quite a bit of time to read the book.”

“I thought they couldn’t open it?” Hilda asked the wizard.

“I said it gave them time; unfortunately, they were forced to use that time to try to figure out how to unlock and open the book. To date, they have had no luck.” Trisfelt chuckled.

Hilda shook her head and grinned. “All that for nothing?”

“Exactly.”

“So what is in this book? What secrets does it contain?” Hilda asked.

“I have no idea; they are not willing to share that information with anyone.”

“So they blew up their own school and disrupted the lives of all their people over a book they cannot read and which none of those affected by this upheaval knows the import of.” Hilda shook her head as Trisfelt nodded. She frowned and continued, “But the Council believes that the demon horde was here before Lenamare blew up his school?”

“Yes, that is the theory; they would have had to have been sneaked in over time,” Trisfelt said.

“And we believe they were brought here by the archdemons, Exador, Ramses and this woman who may or may not be a former goddess?” Hilda asked.

“It does not make a lot of sense,” Trisfelt admitted.

“Unless Exador expected the book to end up here in the end in any event?” Hilda asked.

Trisfelt shrugged. “That sounds consistently paranoid for Exador, or Lenamare for that matter.”

“So then, it was the arrival of Jenn and friends, pursued by Oorstemoth and the Rod, that threw the game wide open again?” Hilda suggested.

Trisfelt frowned for a moment, thinking. “So it would seem.”

“And their arrival and that of their pursuers were all precipitated by the intervention of Lenamare’s greater demon?”

Trisfelt stared at her for a moment. “My dear, I see the rabbit hole you are following. You think that Lenamare suspected that Exador may have set a trap for him in Freehold and so Lenamare summoned the demon as part of a twisted plan to thwart Exador’s army of hidden demons?”

“It worked, did it not?” Hilda replied. “He has the book again and Exador, his allies and army have become unwelcome and untrusted within Freehold.

“I do hate to say this, my dear, but I am following your logic and think you may have hit upon something! It appears we are now both thinking like Lenamare or Exador; thus, I can only conclude we have drunk too much wine!”

∼

^{DOF +6}

^{First Period 16-03-440}