The Heavenly Host

“That depends on the size,” Horken replied. “Something large, or a large swarm, we would see now.” He shrugged. “One or two demons, though, we won’t be able to detect for at least a day, maybe longer. We have always had problems with smaller demons. Imps, shadows, smaller fiends by themselves are too small to detect. It varies a bit from region to region, depending on the equipment we have in a given region.”

Horken gestured to the main Command Center. “The real calibration will begin once we’ve got full control of both rooms. Then we can start to correlate information from the runes and wards system to the tech systems. That will take a few weeks, or likely months.”

Tom thought for a second, feeling the outer regions of the rune network. “How far out can we go with the tech systems?”

“Sweep times get longer the further out we reach, so it gets tricky, but with this system we can go about thirty to forty leagues out in all directions. Some of the more advanced stuff can go further, much further, but a lot of that is tricky to bring up. Always was, being on the ground and not in a starship.”

A very old DIB snorted. “We got one system we managed to acquire that has a very extreme range. Unfortunately, we have never had enough power to use it, but if we could, it could irradiate a three-dimensional radius of several thousand leagues with huge tachyon flux. We could monitor the damned she-beast, Lilith, herself!”

Horken rolled his eyes. “Even if we had the power to turn it on, none of us are qualified to calibrate it. We have no engineers left that understand FTL engineering.”

“FTL engineering?” Zelda asked.

“Faster than light,” Tom quickly replied.

Horken and the old DIB grinned brightly at him, having not expected him to know the reference. “My Lordship knows his technology.” Varn clapped his hands.

Tom chuckled. “You DIBs know more than I will ever know. Keep up the good work.” He looked over at Zelda. “I need to head to the temple to send invitations to my shamans for the ceremony and party. I also need to check in with Vaselle to see how the cooling devices they are making are coming along.”

“Excellent, My Lord. I am going to head to the kitchens to check on the staff preparing things. Tegdolar is in the temple right now, monitoring for any dream walkers that might show up.” Tegdolar and his sister Tegleesa were the two younger orcs assigned to monitoring the temple along with their mother, Teg-Gala, who was one of Zelda’s best confidants.

“Good lad, Tegdolar,” Tom said with a nod. He had said “lad,” but Tegdolar was probably twice his own age. It was amazing how one fell into certain roles. He nodded goodbye to his commanders and left the command centers. He was feeling pressured and warn out again. He was still fueling at least a third of Mount Doom, and it was getting exhausting. It was a continuous drain on his ever-lowering reserves. They really needed to get some more bodies into this place to generate more mana.

∼

“So do you have a plan yet as to how we prove ourselves human?” Bess asked Exador as they sipped on Denubian Choco-CoffeeTM at the Outpost.

“I and my team have been working feverishly on amulets that will nullify the effects of the wards,” Exador said.

“This assumes they turn the wards back on,” Rameses said. He was normal-sized and wearing an elegant silk robe rather than his war garb. “What if they invite the Rod in with that stupid mirror?”

Exador sighed in frustration. “Unfortunately, I am but a single archdemon...”

“With a staff of over a thousand demons,” Bess noted.

“Most of whom are incapacitated and regenerating after the Freehold incident.” He shook his head. “Further, most of them weren’t any good at wizardry or magic.”

“What about that sycophant of yours?” Ramses asked.

Exador shot him a look indicating the demon was insane. “Randolf? Ignoring the fact that he’s one of the councilors I must convince, he is also singularly unqualified to do much of anything arcane.”

“He’s an archimage, which must mean something,” Ramses said.

“Do I have to keep pointing this out? Archimage is a political title; it means he owns a country! It has nothing to do with skill, of which Randolf has very little,” Exador said wearily.

“So who is this team?” Bess asked.

“I do have a couple of decent demon wizards in my employ, as well as one warlock in Etterdam and two in Romdan,” Exador said.

“You conduct business in Etterdam and Romdan?” Ramses asked, puzzled.

Exador gave him a puzzled look. “Yes, why?”

Ramses shook his head. “Nothing — it’s just that your insistence on living in Astlan for so long had convinced me you had a singular unnatural attachment to that plane.”

Exador shook his head. “It comes and goes. I have estates on other material planes, but the time I spend in Astlan depends on my current interests. Since the Abancian incident, I have spent quite a bit of time in Astlan. Once that arrogant prick Lenamare showed up, I admit that I did end up spending the majority of my time there.”