The Heavenly Host

Estrebrius bowed deeply. “I assure you, Great One, my master has no ill intentions. He simply seeks to assist Your Lordship in his endeavors!”

Talarius raised an eyebrow under his helmet at that. Interesting, he had never been so privy to the direct machinations of the forces of evil. Intellectually, he supposed that it was interesting, but frankly, it was the sort of information that he had no need to know. Evil was evil; the how and why was not important. In the end, only the what, where and when mattered, so that one could be there with the right tools to defeat it.

“So anyway,” Boggy said to Rupert, “I told Estrebrius that I’d introduce him to Tom and at least let him pitch the idea.”

Rupert nodded and shrugged. “Sounds crazy to me, but what do I know?” Rupert said.

“Is he inside?” Boggy asked.

Rupert seemed to do a double take. “Oh, sorry — wasn’t thinking. No, he and Tizzy went zooming off that way.” He pointed over Talarius’s shoulder. “Tizzy started making all these weird faces and said something about buttah and a new arrival and that Tom would want to meet it. Whatever that is. What’s a new arrival?” Rupert asked.

“A new arrival?” Boggy frowned; this was very clearly a frown, Talarius thought as he suppressed a small discomfort in his spine. “Damn, I like to be with him for those!” Boggy shook his head in annoyance. “Really strange to have another one so soon.”

“That’s what Tizzy said,” Rupert told Boggy. “What’s a new arrival?”

“It’s a new demon,” Estrebrius told him.

“A new demon? You mean like a baby?” Rupert asked.

Estrebrius shook his head and looked at Rupert as if he were insane. “No, a freshly captured and enslaved demon.”

Rupert blinked. “I’m not sure I understand. You mean like a demon that wasn’t enslaved but now is? Just captured?” Rupert was twisting his head in thought, “so how do you tell that?”

Estrebrius started to open his mouth but Boggy interrupted him while staring at Talarius. “I’ll let Tom explain that to you. It gets complicated.”

“Why are you staring at me, demon?” Talarius asked.

“No reason. I just see no need to bore you with the details,” Boggy said.

Talarius squinted through the eye slit in his helmet. There was something this demon did not want him to know about these new arrival demons. Perhaps some secret in how to bind demons? Something that if he knew, he might be able to sabotage? A way to keep demons from being conjured to Astlan? That would be valuable. Although if they were talking about binding demons, was not a bound demon better than an unbound demon? Hmm, clearly more investigation might be warranted.

Talarius suddenly opened his eyes wide. Was this why he was here? Did Tiernon have a plan for him? Perhaps to uncover something that would allow them to defeat these evil creatures once and for all... Could it be that his downfall was the will of Tiernon? The start of a most holy of crusades? Dared he hope?

∼

Antefalken made his way to the bar. He needed a drink. He had come to the Courts to hear the local gossip and ended up with more than he wanted. He had not been more than a few blocks into the city when these big goons surrounded him and provided him an invitation to see Lilith. They were friendly enough, but it was clear they were not taking no for an answer.

Admittedly, he had thought of visiting Lilith, depending on what the word on the street was. He just had not planned on it being his first stop. The goons had ushered him in to her quarters and then quickly left.

“My dear, sweet Anty!” Lilith cooed as she emerged from behind a curtain. Antefalken felt his shoulders slump. She was in her see-through form. That was never good. It was a very dramatic form where you could see her skeleton and a few select organs, while her body itself was a currently purple, translucent shell. You could see her skin normally; it was simply see-through. On top of that she wore a rather diaphanous skirt and back cape, along with numerous articles of jewelry.

Fortunately, she had not eaten anyone recently. That was always disconcerting: to see her digesting some poor sap that had gotten on her bad side. Unless she was hungry? Antefalken shuddered slightly and bowed to her. “My Lady, so good to see you again.” He smiled brightly.

“And you.” She smiled, coming closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, drawing him over to her divan. “So, it seems you’ve had a near-final death experience?”

“My Lady, as always, is well informed.” Antefalken kissed her hand.

“It must have been very nerve-racking,” Lilith said as she wrapped herself around Antefalken on the couch.

He really did not find this form attractive. “It was indeed,” he said.

“Fortunately, this Tom friend of yours was a bit more than he seemed?” She smiled at the bard.

He could not determine what sort of smile it was, and that made him more nervous. “Very fortunate, my love.” He kissed her left breast, closing his eyes to avoid looking at her beating, glowing red translucent heart.

“So, I assume he has returned to the Abyss?”