The Heavenly Host

Gandros shook his head and sighed. “I would like to convene a meeting with Alexandros on this; he was not available this morning.” The Archimage rubbed his temples. “We need to buy some time, time to think this through. Time to look into bindings, time to look into banishings.” He looked back and forth between Lenamare and Randolf. “Is there a way to ban them from Astlan for a few centuries?”

Lenamare blinked and Randolf shrugged. Finally Lenamare spoke. “Well, we don’t quite know how they got here. All previous research indicated that manifesting on the material planes was very complicated and power intensive. That’s why we never expected to have to do such a thing.”

“In hindsight, a contingency plan for one of those times an archdemon did manage to manifest might have been a good idea,” Randolf noted.

Damien sighed. “I am wondering if we might need to consult with some religious authorities.”

Lenamare snorted. “I doubt such narrow-minded and opinionated mana channelers would have any useful advice to offer.”

Damien shook his head in annoyance. “They deal with extra-planar beings all the time: ghosts, vampires, undead, saints, angels. As I recall, they also like to do exorcisms; isn’t that demon-banning?”

Lenamare just snorted again and shook his head at the ridiculousness of consulting with clerics.

Jehenna interjected. “It may come to that, but perhaps we can do more research on the subject before needing to take extreme measures.” She glanced at Lenamare to make sure he was mollified.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Zilquar asked.

“Business as usual?” Randolf shrugged.

“Business as usual?” Davron asked non-rhetorically.

Damien nodded in agreement. “We tell Exador that we are investigating testing mechanisms because we must be sure; but for now we take his word as a trusted member of the Council of Wizardry.”

Gandros nodded. “I agree. If he or his friends are archdemons, they have been that way for longer than any of us have been alive, and could have killed us all long ago. So for now, status quo.”

Davron sighed. “I guess. It seems better than any alternative.”

“I am not really seeing any alternatives at the moment,” Damien said.

∼

Tom closed the gate behind the last of the Etterdam hunting party. He figured he had a few hours before he would need to create more gateways. Actually, that would be a problem with his visit to Damien and Antefalken. He would not be able to create a gateway to the kitchens if he was in Freehold. He would need to change that with Antefalken before the bard left.

He headed back towards his quarters, Zelda following. As they walked down the corridors to his suite, he was reminded of the other doors along the corridors. “Zelda, are these other suites in use?”

“No, My Lord. The suites on this level have been closed off since the treachery,” Zelda said.

“Who used them?” Tom asked.

Zelda shrugged. “Various high ministers, some guests.” She pointed to one they were just passing. “It is said that this suite was reserved for Loki when he visited.”

“Loki?” Tom asked. “The same one Delg mentioned?”

“Indeed, the jötunn lord,” Zelda replied. “Although this was a very long time ago, before Ragnarök. He perished battling Heimdallr to destroy Asbrú and thus all access to the realms of Midgard.” Zelda smiled. “Or so I am told; I am much too young to remember this. I know for a fact, however, that Delg would be more than happy to tell you far more than you could ever wish. In fact, my understanding is that if he gets drunk, he might not stop telling his stories, over and over again.”

Tom chuckled and nodded. It would be interesting to know how young she actually was, but he had to assume that asking a D’Orc woman her age was in as poor taste as asking a human woman.

“Can we assign a suite to some of my other friends?” Tom asked. “Talarius and Rupert each have their own rooms, but I think it would be good to have another suite for the rest. I don’t know the layouts, but ideally each should have a bedroom of their own.”

“Of course, My Lord. They can each have their own suite if they want. We have a lot of extra space in the Mount. At its height, we had over twenty thousand D’Orcs stationed here,” Zelda said.

Tom shuddered and closed his eyes; the D’Orcs had lost over ninety percent of their forces. “That’s a lot of casualties.”

Zelda nodded sadly. “We were just under four thousand after the defeat. We have encouraged children, but D’Orc babies are difficult to make and general attrition to Lilith’s forces and despair have taken their toll.”