The Heavenly Host

At least, until the Knights of Chaos had started popping; at that point both demons and D’Orcs had slowed down to watch. It was so fascinating and the demons so beaten that the D’Orcs had only perfunctorily maimed and tortured them, the majority of their attention on the battle with the Knights of Chaos.

Of course, once Lord Tommus had started the freezing thing and draining all the mana, regeneration had slowed to almost a halt and they all became frozen and exhausted quickly. And then it was clean-up. He’d done what was absolutely necessary, but then left things to the more rested D’Orcs. Including Darg-Krallnom. The other commanders could assist Lord Tommus in dealing with the defeated demons. As far as he knew, none had died permanently, yet. Lord Tommus would decide which of the enemy would be allowed to regenerate, return to Lilith or otherwise be disposed of.

Arg-nargoloth was too beat to care. For now he was making his way towards one of the kitchens to see what food and x-glargh might be left from the party. He was not hungry, having eaten during the party. He was, however, ready to relax with some x-glargh. He had been sober for way too long. And after this battle, he deserved some x-glargh before it was all swallowed up in the victory celebration.

As he entered the nearly empty kitchen, where they had stored the extra barrels of x-glargh, he spotted a suspicious figure heading down a seldom-used and unlit cross corridor that led to an old storage room. That suspicious figure was quite distinct, as was the smell still present in the cross corridor. He grinned malevolently and went after the suspicious figure.

Arg-nargoloth had not followed this winding passage in many a century. There had not been any real need for going into this storage room. Until the recent hunting trips, there had been nothing in the room.

He entered the room to see Tisdale leaning against a barrel of something. “You!” Arg-nargoloth snarled loudly.

“Me,” Tizzy stated nonchalantly.

“Trickster!”

“Two-bit thug!”

They glared at each other in the dark for some time.

“Hah!” Arg-nargoloth shouted.

Tizzy chuckled.

“You win!”

“I do.” Tizzy grinned despotically.

“You know, I never believed you,” Arg-nargoloth stated.

“Very few did.”

“I thought you were simply spinning a fable to give people hope.”

Tizzy shrugged. “It did for some, yes?”

Arg-nargoloth sighed. “Yes, but not for enough. We lost so many.”

“I am sorry for that. Things took longer than expected.”

“And yet, you did it, and yesterday — the very day of his death!” The D’Orc commander shook his head in disbelief. “And then today? The Jilted Bride seeks to take us unaware and we see the full power of Doom restored!” Arg-nargoloth chuckled and grinned with joy and admiration.

“I had my doubts on the final timing. Afraid we might not finish the swearing in by the end of sixth period. Prophecies are such a bitch.”

“But the attack today didn’t bother you?” Arg-nargoloth asked.

“It gave me pause, but I trust him.” Tizzy shrugged. “He’s a good lad.” He gave Arg-nargoloth a wicked grin. “Plus, once I felt the World Gate open, I knew Sekhmekt would be coming.”

Arg-nargoloth chuckled. “She is good in battle. We should have involved her more the last time around.”

“Hindsight.” Tizzy shrugged.

The two stood there in silence for a moment before Arg-nargoloth said, “I should have trusted you.”

“Yeah, but again, not many do,” Tizzy said.

“I am not sure anyone does!” Arg-nargoloth said, laughing.

Tizzy shrugged and pulled his pipe out of the air with one hand and a foot-long, rolled-up, stuffed paper with another. “D’Orc doobie?”

Arg-nargoloth chuckled and reached for the doobie. “Abyss, you do not know how I have missed this. You were always the best demon weed dealer in the multiverse!”

Tizzy flicked his thumb and offered Arg-nargoloth a light. The D’Orc commander inhaled, bringing the flame into the doobie.

Tizzy lit his own pipe and inhaled deeply as well. “To be honest,” he said, pausing in his smoking, “I don’t have a whole lot of competition.”

“True!” Arg-nargoloth shook his head. “I still cannot get over your doing it!”

Tizzy tilted his head and grinned. “I wrote it down.” The demon took a quick hit off his pipe. “As it is written, so it shall be done!” he intoned solemnly before bursting into a giggle.

Arg-nargoloth burst out laughing as well. “You and that damn book of yours! You were always running around scribbling all sorts of nonsense in it!” Tizzy shrugged.

Arg-nargoloth paused in thought for a moment. “You know,” the D’Orc said, “this time around, I have not seen you scribbling in it. Where is it?”

Tizzy stopped inhaling to think. He grimaced as if trying to remember something, started to say something and stopped as if to think some more. He tilted his head. “You know, I am not sure. I haven’t seen it in some time.”

Tizzy squinted in thought and finally shrugged and said, “I must have misplaced it somewhere.”

Arg-nargoloth frowned. “Couldn’t that be a problem?”