The Heavenly Host

She supposed it would be awkward to return to the guildhall both empty-handed and healed. Not her problem though; as a saint, it was her job to help people, whether they wanted it or not. Tiernon would also be pleased. While he certainly believed in charity and assistance to those in need, he had no patience for slackers and societal parasites. She laughed to herself once more, pleased with her side mission tonight.

∼

The chapel priest had been sound asleep in his bed. His assistant, sleeping near the chapel’s front door to assist with late night supplicants, was asleep as well. Both as Hilda had hoped. She had deepened their sleep and then magically barred the doors to the chapel to keep any other late-night visitors from intruding.

It felt so nice in the chapel. The consecrated space acted as a buffer to the unpleasant sensation of the wards. As she had hoped, it allowed her to focus and concentrate better than at any point since she had entered the city. She headed to the altar, noting the bowl of holy water nearby. Excellent — she would need both to complete the ritual. She pulled the small sapphire amulet from her pocket. Calling it a sapphire amulet was a bit strong; it was more of a small sapphire pendant on a silver chain. However, it should do just fine.

She needed to fashion something to hold the spells to keep the wards at bay so she did not have to actively keep the ritual going herself. This would be only her third holy artifact since she had graduated from saint school, but she felt confident that she would have no problems. Once the necklace was working, she could, with luck, also use the chapel’s sanctity to boost her ability to contact the archons off plane and file her report. These stupid wards were a huge pain in the butt.

∼

“Decisions, too many decisions!” Tom complained. He was sitting on his chair. He felt bad that he did not have furniture for anyone else, but he had never expected to have so much company. Nor had he really had time to build more. He had offered to let anyone who wanted to sit in his single chair, but it was really too big for anyone, including Reggie and Boggy.

“That’s not a common demon problem,” Boggy observed.

Tizzy nodded emphatically up and down while chewing on the stem of his pipe.

“Well, let’s see,” Antefalken mused. The bard had returned a few hours ago from the Courts and brought them up to speed on the reactions there. Tom had introduced him to Reggie as an old friend who had shown up when he had heard about the commotion in Astlan. Boggy then introduced Estrebrius to Antefalken and explained Vaselle’s request for a meeting.

“We’ve got an invitation from Lilith to stay with her at the Courts, and you’ve got a business proposal from Estrebrius’s accursed master, but we don’t yet know what that proposal is. Further, as I said, I think half the Abyss is looking for you and your guest,” Antefalken said, pointing to Talarius.

“I suspect a lot of people will be coming out of the woodwork to be your friend,” Boggy noted.

“Or to kill him permanently,” Tizzy added. Tom glared at the octopodal demon.

“Clearly, Lilith wants you to come to her, and she can protect you from other demons, but she’ll also have you all to herself at that point,” Antefalken said.

“This Lilith, who exactly is she?” asked Tom. “From what you have said, and what I read in Freehold, she sounds like she’s pretty important. I know the name, but they cannot be the same person. Different mythologies.” He made a shrugging motion.

Talarius seemed to shuffle in his armor over in the corner, where he was sitting and listening to them. Tom assumed the knight had also heard her name. Antefalken gave him a puzzled look, apparently wondering if Tom had been living in a cave, given that he did not know who Lilith was. Fortunately, Tom felt their current environment was sufficient evidence that he had, in fact, been living in a cave. Tom would just have to live with that lapse; he was not up to revealing his story to everyone today. Not with Rupert here, in particular.

“Well, don’t be too sure of that.” Tizzy chuckled. “She’s multiversally famous. Nearly every religion features some version of her.”

“Bad breakups will do that.” Boggy nodded.

“Yeah, and this one was bad.” Tizzy puffed out some smoke. “Really an epic breakup.”

“And of course, she came out looking bad,” Boggy said. “Women often do. Even if it’s the man’s fault, the ex-wife always ends up with the bad reputation.”

“I will refrain from joining this discussion,” Antefalken said.

“Are you still sleeping with her?” Boggy asked.

Antefalken gave him a surly look. “I’m not joining this discussion, and not discussing my love life.”

“Okay, I’m not that interested in her past. I am more concerned about the present. Who exactly is she today? If she’s so powerful that everyone knows who she is, is it safe to turn down her invitation?” Tom asked.

Antefalken shrugged. “To be completely honest, I don’t know which is more dangerous: accepting her invitation or declining it.”