The Heavenly Host

“Go ahead,” Talarius said.

“Exador’s men ambushed a caravan with Rupert, Jenn and a bunch of others from Lenamare’s school who were fleeing Exador’s siege of the school. Gastropé was one of the soldiers, but Jenn fought him to a standstill. Jehenna summoned me; but she used a broken ring, so I came through of my own free will. Everyone else fled or perished, so I agreed to escort Rupert and Jenn to Freehold for their safety.”

Zelda, Reggie and Talarius had never heard this story and so were watching Tom closely.

“In any event, along the way, Exador sent several major demons to locate us and they distracted me and managed to capture Jenn.” Tom sighed. How many times had he told this story now? “Rupert came up with a scheme to infiltrate their camp as a lost boy, not unlike what he did in your camp.” Talarius nodded. “They put him in the tent with Jenn and Gastropé. Rupert, being a demon, was able to free himself from his ropes and then freed Jenn and summoned me. I opened a portal and pulled Jenn, Rupert and Gastropé into my cave.”

“These two people were either very brave or stupid,” Talarius said.

“Well, if you know Exador, he’s not a pleasant person. Staying was not an option,” Tom said. “Actually, given that we now know he is an archdemon, I can say he is pretty much everything you, Talarius, expect an archdemon to be. Not all demons are, but in Exador’s case — he seems to fit the stereotype.” Tom shook his head.

“Anyway, Gastropé and Jenn used this Cool spell to survive the heat in my cave, but it wouldn’t last long, so I had to find a way back to Astlan. I went searching and found your high priest, Verigas, summoning a demon of his own. I intercepted that call and opened a portal to let Rupert, Jenn and Gastropé back into Astlan. We tried to assure your priest we meant no harm, but he apparently overreacted and called out the Rod once we left. I was just trying to get Jenn and Rupert to safety in Freehold.”

Tom shook both hands in Talarius’s direction. “So, to be clear: there was no planned invasion, no nothing! All of that Lord Edwyrd’s invading demon horde crap was made up by Verigas to make himself look good after admitting to summoning demons. And the Oorstemothians? Well, they shot first; I considered it self-defense.”

Talarius just shook his head. “What a complicated story you have created.”

“Look, you can believe it or not, I don’t care. I have now told you the truth; I have put it out there. I have yet to lie to you about anything. So you can judge for yourself based on what you see me do.”

Talarius seemed to shrug. “I will take your story under advisement, as I do everything else.”

“That’s all I ask.” Tom sighed. “Antefalken, are we set? I am going to visit Vaselle later this afternoon; you tell me when. He and Edwyrd will then come visit you and Damien. We can put Damien’s mind at ease and discuss constructing some sort of Abyssal life support system for Astlanians.”

Antefalken nodded. “I expect him to summon me about a period after noon local time. Anytime after that.”

Tom nodded. “So early fourth period; that works.”

∼

After a small eternity, the D’Wargs had been saddled, and the D’Orcs verified they had fastened securely. Tal Gor had run to his tent to retrieve his crossbow and quiver of arrows. He had not used them for much other than practice in years. Since the wyvern, he had only hunted small game and his crossbow was a bit over-powered for that, so he had been using bow and arrows. For large game, though, the crossbow was ideal.

All the D’Orcs had been amazed to see Schwarzenfürze harnessed. It was obvious that she was not much enjoying the gear, but she was permitting it. It took a few tries and a fair amount of patience from the D’Warg, but eventually he was mounted. Schwarzenfürze squirmed and seemed to be trying to force Tal Gor to a more balanced location while the other orcs mounted their D’Wargs.

Vespa lined them up two by two so that each orc could launch one at a time. Three D’Orcs hovered in the air around the takeoff area, prepared to help if any of the orcs had issues. Naturally, the orcs grumbled about being babysat, but the huntmaster was adamant; he wanted them to get some practice in first and be prepared for the eventual chases of the hunt.

As the shaman, Tal Gor was one of the first two in line, along with Soo An, his sister. As they were ready to begin flying, Schwarzenfürze seemed to finally settle down a bit, almost sighing. Suddenly, from directly behind Tal Gor, a very loud series of moist, splattering explosions erupted. The D’Warg behind him jumped out of line with loud snorting noises, causing its rider, Fel Nor, to reel to the left, where he began coughing and hacking before jamming his fingers in his nostrils.