The Heavenly Host

This was not normal. True, given his normal temperament and reputation, not that many people enjoyed making eye contact with him, but rarely was it this obvious. As he came closer to Randolf’s quarters, he encountered more of Randolf’s lackeys; all of them seemed to give him a wide berth.

Exador spotted Bartholomew, Randolf’s lord chamberlain. “Lord Chamberlain!” Exador hailed the man. Bartholomew turned at the hailing; was it his imagination or did the man seem to wince and then swallow, suddenly seeming very uncomfortable? “Is the archimage in his rooms?”

“Ah... as far as I know, Magi,” Bartholomew said nervously.

“Good. Run ahead and tell him that I am coming for a visit. I would hate to arrive unannounced and interrupt his consultations with Crispin.” Exador gave the chamberlain a malicious grin. He knew the man hated to be reminded of the archimage’s activities. Personally, Exador found simple pederasty to be a bit “vanilla” for his own tastes, but to each his own.

The lord chamberlain scurried off to find Randolf while Exador headed to Randolf’s formal parlor. He entered the parlor and took his accustomed seat to await Randolf’s arrival. While he waited, he contemplated the best ways to make Randolf uncomfortable. Certainly, simply explaining the odd behavior of the people in the palace should make the man uncomfortable. Actually, everything made Randolf uncomfortable; that was one pleasant thing about the man.

The other door opened and Randolf came in, looking hurried and harried as ever. “My dear Exador! So good to see you again!” Exador stood and shook the archimage’s hand; they did not go into the formal title thing. Technically, Randolf was his liege, but the archimage did not push the issue.

“I had to leave suddenly the other day; I am sure you made appropriate excuses to the Council for me?” Exador asked as they both sat down.

Randolf gave him a rather odd, sickly grin. “Yes, well... I tried...” Exador raised an eyebrow, questioning Randolf’s statement. Randolf grimaced. “It seems there was well, some awkwardness.”

“Awkwardness?” Exador asked.

“Yes, well, as you know, there was this interesting battle outside the walls between Lenamare’s greater demon and the Knight Rampant Talarius.”

Randolf looked at him, clearly indicating that Randolf knew that Exador knew, despite the fact that Exador had planned to say he had left before the wards went up and forced the demons out.

Exador adjusted and said, “Yes, I have been made aware.”

Randolf grimaced a bit more. “Well, my dear Exador, that’s sort of where the complication comes in.”

Exador shook his head slightly, not following.

Randolf made a sort of disturbed hand motion and said, “Well, I suppose I just need to get this out there.”

Exador simply stared at the archimage.

“The Oorstemothians balled the entire thing and a special meeting of the Council was called that afternoon to watch the balling,” Randolf told Exador.

The mage shrugged. “So the Council had a close-up view of this battle and the rather remarkable events. I am sure they were quite shocked.”

“Oh, indeed, indeed they were. However, the battle was only one of two things the Council found interesting.”

“Oh, yes?” Exador was getting impatient; the whining imbecile would not get to the point.

“Well, by pure happenstance, Alexandros Mien noticed something in the background at one point and drew the Council’s attention to it,” Randolf said hesitantly.

“Yes, already. Spit it out.”

“We zoomed in to discover a flying carpet watching the battle,” Randolf said.

Exador felt his eyes hardening in their sockets. He twitched his mouth into a small, tight smile. “A flying carpet?”

“Yes.” Randolf grimaced again. “There seemed to be something of tea party going on between the three occupants as they watched the battle.”

“Do go on,” Exador said through clenched teeth.

“Yes, it appeared, at least, to everyone other than myself, of course” — Randolf gave Exador one of his sickly grins — “that you were one of the occupants, along with a woman of Natooran descent and a gentleman who looked remarkably like the portraits of the Anilord Time Warrior, Ramses the Damned.”

“Indeed, I did have a nice viewpoint for the battle,” Exador said, forcing himself to be calm. “I take it that the Council found it unusual that I might have chosen to watch the battle from outside the city walls?”

Randolf gulped and looked around, clearly hoping for a cup of tea or some other object to allow a mild distraction. “Well, as you may recall, the Knight Rampant, Talarius, had claimed that there were three archdemons in the palace.”

“I do seem to recall that,” Exador said tightly.

“I know it’s ridiculous and I assured everyone on the Council that it was completely impossible...”

“But?” Exador prompted.

“But they seem to have this silly notion that the three individuals on the flying carpet were the three archdemons who had been expelled by Lenamare’s pentacles,” Randolf finished rather timidly.