The Heavenly Host

“Well, they always are,” Tizzy stated.

“Always are what?” Rupert asked.

“Reluctant, innocent, inexperienced heroes.” Tizzy shrugged. “They always are in the bard’s tales. They overcome a bunch of obstacles and defeat the unstoppable evil that people with ten times the power and experience had been unable to defeat.”

Antefalken sighed in exasperation.

“Except!” Tizzy suddenly moved forward, raising his pipe dramatically. “In the real world, they usually end up on a spit or at the bottom of a deep pit!”

“Or corrupted,” Boggy observed.

Tizzy twisted and pointed a finger at Boggy. “Right you are, partner! I forgot that one. Yeah, most of these folks can be bought off with promises of power, eternal life, and of course, virgins!”

“Yeah, and then they accept the offer, relinquish their values, turn on their former allies, and in the end get totally screwed by the Supreme Evil!” Estrebrius clapped his hands and made jumping motions.

Antefalken rubbed the base of his horns. “I’ve been too long in Astlan; I forget what crappy audiences demons are!”

“So is that what happened?” Tom asked.

Antefalken shifted his eyes to look up at Tom under his brows. “To avoid the peanut gallery, that was basically where I was going. He promised his warlocks, both the seven and the lesser ones, great power, but when the chips were down, he sacrificed them in a heartbeat. So, yes, he would protect them up to a point, but he was quick to dispose of them when their usefulness was over.”

“So do you know Orcus?” Rupert asked.

Antefalken chuckled. “No. Not to spoil the Balladae, but Orcus dies at the end...”

“At the HAND OF TIERNON!” Talarius shouted triumphantly from the back of the cave. Everyone jumped.

Antefalken chuckled at how startled they all were by the outburst and the knight’s enthusiasm. “At a hand of Tiernon, one of his senior archons,” the bard admitted.

“The Holy Sentir Fallon! The Hand of Tiernon in Etterdam!” Talarius added, nodding proudly.

Antefalken smiled. “He is correct. The high priests of Tiernon in Etterdam were getting desperate after years of war, and in an act of desperation, somehow managed to summon a supreme archon onto Etterdam. Then, well... things got very bloody. No one alive today, that I’m aware of, knows all the actual details, but after about four hours of battle in the Balladae, Sentir Fallon slays Orcus permanently.”

“The End!” Talarius was shaking a mailed fist in triumph. “As always, the forces of Goodness and Light prevailed!”

“Just a second. This Sentir guy, the archon you called him, is he one of these avatars of Tiernon you were talking about?” Tom asked. Antefalken nodded. “The ones you said were likely to show up in Astlan to investigate?”

Antefalken gave Tom a worried grin. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure no one on the level of a Supreme Archon, like the legendary Sentir Fallon in the Balladae, will have any interest in this.”

∼

“Thank you, lad!” Hilda beamed at Danyel as he handed her a Bloody Tatania. It was still breakfast time, much too early for wine, but a Bloody Tatania was perfect. Tomato juice, hot peppers and spices, and Corswyn Extra Dry 7 Times Distilled Vadter along with a skewer of celery, cheese and sausage. That and a fresh-baked hard biscuit ring with spread. Who said you could not enjoy life in the boonies?

Of course, she had always loved Bloody Tatanias. Particularly when she had been alive. Admittedly, in her afterlife, meeting the drink’s namesake saint and learning firsthand of her grisly martyrdom and thus the source of the drink’s name, had put her off them for a few decades. Really, poor girl — what a ghastly way to go. Hilda shuddered at the thought.

The important thing was to start collecting her wits, now that she could think. Her homemade relic was working fantastically, if she did say so herself. It was such a relief. She was quite pleased with her success with it.

Unfortunately, her link meeting with Moradel, Sentir Fallon and Supreme Archon Beragamos had been of very poor quality, as well quite taxing and unsatisfying, thanks to those stupid wards.

She had managed to let them know that she was in the city, had made contact with Trisfelt, and had interviewed several people with direct knowledge of the greater greater demon, and would be interviewing others over the next couple of days. The key point she had wanted to get across, and she felt she had, was the nature of those wards and how detrimental they were to her, and likely far more so to archons.

They had all agreed that she would try to get out of the city for their meetings if she could. The links from inside the city were just too much of a pain. Once outside, she could physically go to Tierhallon, which would make things far simpler. However, of course, there were days where that might not be possible without blowing her cover, so they agreed not to assume the worst if she missed a day. No need for a Tierhalloc Invasion on her behalf! She chuckled to herself.