The Heavenly Host

“It had better be something serious if she wants to actually pull this off,” Lesteroth replied.

∼

Hilda was enjoying a breakfast of fresh strawberries, muffins and a glass of orange juice and sparkling wine when a knock came at the door. Danyel rose to answer it. It had been a long night; first there was the meeting in Tierhallon, and then she had returned and spent until dawn listening to Ruiden’s firsthand account of the battle. Unfortunately, he had been buried in ice for some of the exciting parts. Fortunately, as a sword he relied on his extrasensory perceptions, which had given him a better vantage point than being stuck inside a giant ball of ice would normally allow.

“It seems oddly early for someone to be calling,” Hilda observed.

Danyel opened the door. From the angle, Hilda could not see who it was, but she did recognize the voice. This was most unusual!

“Ah, you must be the young Danyel I have heard so much about,” an old man’s voice said. It sounded different in mortal form, but was still recognizable.

“I am; and you are, sir?” Danyel was clearly puzzled.

“Ah, yes, iconography and statuary are not what they used to be.” Hilda detected gentle humor in the voice. “I am Beragamos Antidellas, and I am here to see the lady Hilda of Rivenrock.”

Danyel’s face went white; Hilda was afraid the poor lad might faint. Of course, it was not every day that the right hand of Tiernon appeared at one’s door. Danyel just stood there in shock, saying nothing.

“Might I come in?” Beragamos asked politely.

Danyel shook his head, trying to recover, and then bowed deeply. “My apologies, your archonship. No disrespect, I was simply overwhelmed!” He scrambled back, gesturing the archon to enter.

Hilda stood and went to retrieve a glass and plate for the archon. Beragamos smiled at her as he entered.

“Your Holiness, what a pleasant surprise. I hope,” Hilda said with a bright smile and a bit of concern in her voice. “We had not been expecting you!” She gestured for him to take a seat. “Ever,” she added more softly.

Ruiden came alert from where he had been resting and recovering mana in the corner. “Archon Beragamos!” the sword said, coming forward and bowing to the archon.

“Ah, you must be Ruiden, sword of Talarius,” Beragamos said nodding. “Forgive me for not shaking your hand, but I just grew these fingers and I’d like to keep them a bit longer!” The archon chuckled.

Ruiden’s sense of humor was not particularly great. “I can sheath my finger blades; however, etiquette demands that I bow rather than shake hands.”

“Ah, yes.” Beragamos’s eyes twinkled. “I hear you had a very exciting day yesterday?”

If a sword could frown, Ruiden would have been doing so. “A rather frustrating and unsuccessful day. I was not able to question Exador.” Ruiden shook his head. “I was encased in ice when the portal to the Abyss opened. This was very unfortunate.”

Beragamos looked slightly puzzled. “Because you were unable to prevent Exador from escaping?”

Ruiden tilted his head in surprise at Beragamos. “No. If I had been able to move, I could have dived through the portal.”

“Why would you want to dive into the Abyss?” Hilda asked shocked.

“Talarius is in the Abyss,” Ruiden explained as if it was obvious. “Once in the Abyss, I should be able to follow my links to him and free him.”

“Ahh,” Beragamos said, slightly surprised. “That is admirable loyalty.” He glanced at Hilda, who simply shrugged. The sword was driven.

“Can I get you some orange juice and sparkling wine? Or I have evenberry,” Hilda offered, changing the subject.

“Why, thank you, my dear! I’ll drink what you are having,” the archon said, sitting down. “I think I need to be more careful when incarnating. I really only wanted the look, not the associated infirmities of a body as old as I wanted to appear. I think it must be a function of how old one feels inside.” He shook his head, his brilliant white bangs shaking slightly. “By the way, your assessment of the ward’s effect on archons was fairly accurate. That is why I had to incarnate a new, mortal body so I could get through the wards.” He sighed. “The mana expenditure is quite high for physically incarnating like this. Doing this on a large scale for multiple archons would be expensive and require considerable effort.”

Hilda poured him sparkling wine and then some orange juice and gestured to the fruit and muffins. “To what do we owe this honor?”

Beragamos simply smiled and held up one finger. He closed his eyes for a second and brilliant golden light suddenly limned the edges of the room before fading to a level only saintly sight could see. “Just to be on the safe side, I have shielded these quarters for our privacy.”

Hilda nodded, noticing that Danyel had moved to a nearby sofa and was simply staring in awe at the archon. She had to smile; it was not every day that you met someone right out of the most sacred texts of your religion. Ruiden took a guarding position near the door.