The Heavenly Host

Reggie leaned forward and over to whisper in Tom’s ear. “Does that music sound oddly like the anthem the sailors sang in The Hunt for Red October?”

Tom shrugged. It did sort of sound like the old Soviet anthem, but he was not an expert on empires that collapsed before he was born.

It did not matter. This was his home. His homeland, his people! The booming, very martial music was the perfect capstone on the last day of oaths. D’Orcs united and inspired once more for a bright future! They would take on the multiverse, right the wrongs of the past, and bring justice to the D’Orcs and the Orcs! No more would Lilith or the smugly arrogant Los Alfar be able to look down on their people!

Tom felt like his heart would burst with the pride and joy of the assembled and once more united D’Orcs and D’Wargs as well as their assembled allies. Truly a glorious moment that would remain in their memories for all eternity. Literally, for all of eternity. Immortality, fame, glory; it was theirs to claim! Tom let his breath out softly, realizing it had been stuck in his lungs; he had been inhaling the smell of the moment and had forgotten to let it go. At long last, or well, after forty days, he had a purpose, a place. For the first time since Lenamare had dragged him away from his past life, he could see a future for himself.

∼

“Quite a day,” Antefalken said to Drag-Krallnom, watching the assembled battalions beside him.

“Truly, bard. I confess, I did not think this day would ever come.”

“You know that I am going to have to get you to tell me the real story of what happened four thousand years ago. I know the Balladae Orcusae, but I want to compose a new, accurate song to commemorate it properly.”

Drag-Krallnom snorted. “It would be good to correct the propaganda that Lilith and her brood spews in the Abyss, and those vile alvar in Midgard.”

“Are you saying that Lilith and the alvar are somehow in league with each other?” Antefalken asked in surprise.

“In no way that we can prove,” replied Darg-Krallnom. However, Lilith has plagued us for millennia here and the Los Alfar have done the same in Midgard. It all goes back to tensions left unresolved at Ragnarök. Lilith, and for that matter, many others in multiple worlds, felt those issues were resolved in Etterdam with the treacherous defeat of Orcus. However, as was prophesied, those issues are not resolved.” He chuckled. “There shall be another reckoning, and this time, justice will prevail.”

“Interesting,” Antefalken mused. “This is all way before my time. Clearly, there is a lot that Lilith has never revealed to me.”

“You have met Lilith then?” Darg-Krallnom asked suspiciously.

Antefalken chuckled. “I have. I am, or I suppose was, the preferred bard for the Courts.” He shook his head. “But I am sure I am persona non grata now. She knows that I am, and have been for some time, in Tom’s camp. The Jilted Bride is a jealous mistress and will tolerate no infidelity.” He paused and then added, “In other words, I am not going back to the Courts unless it is flying in formation with a D’Orc army.” They both chuckled.

“The Jilted Bride?” Darg-Krallnom asked.

“Yes. I advise not using that name outside of Doom. She hates that title more than any other.”

“Why? I do not know that name for her.”

“A very, very long time ago, well before Doom was built, she was the intended of a man named Adam. She thought they were in love.” Antefalken shrugged, “Old story; he ran off with another woman named Eve to bear children and live a mortal life.”

“A mortal life?”

“As she tells it, there were four of them: Adam, Lilith, Sammael and Eve. Adam and Lilith were intended for each other, and Sammael and Eve were also intended for each other. However, long story short, Eve apparently ate some bad food and convinced Adam to do the same. Not sure if it was hallucinogenic or what, but the two ran off to become mortal and have babies.” Antefalken shook his head. “I have no idea how much, if any, of that is true, but it’s a version she tells, so it is possibly more accurate than any of the other stories. Of which there are many.”

“So that is how she and Sammael got stuck together?” Darg-Krallnom asked.

“As she tells it.”

Darg-Krallnom said, “Very well then. From now on, the Jilted Bride will be the official term for our enemy.”

They watched as the D’Orcs began to file from the volcano basin, heading to the party. It was a good day.

∼

Tom waited until the last of the D’Orcs had filed out of the throne room and then headed toward the master kitchen, where Zelda was working to get things out. As he crossed a ramp going down to other kitchens, he ran into Tizzy coming up the ramp.

“Tom!” Tizzy exclaimed happily.

“Tizzy!” Tom smiled at him.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Tizzy said.

Tom stopped. “What’s up?”

“There is a pile of mud in an alcove off my kitchen’s main corridor that wants to talk to you,” the octopod said.

“There is a what?” Tom asked, blinking.

“A pile of animated mud,” Tizzy said.

“A pile of animated... mud?”