Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan)

by Langland, J.

  Well then, he too could play hardball. "You shouldn't have done that," he told the demon sternly.

  "Why?" The demon taunted. "Going to run crying to mommy and daddy. They can't help you now kid. You're meat."

  Rupert stood up, lightly touching his still stinging chest wound. "You wouldn't like my daddy, demon." Rupert glared evilly back at the demon. Unfortunately, his human glare wasn't as intimidating as the demon's. The little demon just laughed. Rupert just shrugged. He let himself go.

  The wound in his chest stopped stinging. His boots and pants suddenly constricted him, as did the cuffs of his sleeves. They didn't for long though, it took only a moment before his clothes tore. The demon stopped laughing.

  Rupert now looked down at the little demon, he was easily two feet taller than the other demon. Rupert just fanned his wings slowly, now he smiled in earnest. "Bwah-hah-hah-hah" Rupert chuckled evilly. The little demon gulped. Rupert glared into the demon's eyes.

  "You might consider giving a person the benefit of the doubt in the future, munchkin." Rupert said. He swiped the little demon across the chest in the same way he'd been swiped. Unfortunately, for the little demon, Rupert's claws were a lot sharper and longer, and Rupert was a lot stronger. The little demon went plop into the far wall, goo oozing from its chest cavity as it tried to suck in air to speak.

  "Heh, heh." The demon gasped. "Just playing with you, sir. Hadn't realized exactly who you were, m'lord. No, no, certainly if I'd known, wouldn't have been so harsh. Even so I wouldn't have killed you. Certainly not. Just wanted to scare you a little." The demon tried to grin ingratiatingly. Rupert just stared at him.

  "The question," Rupert stated, "is do I rend you limb from limb, physically. Or do I rend you cell by cell, magically." Rupert certainly couldn't do the latter, and he really didn't want to do the former; however the demon had really made him mad. He deserved to suffer a little fear. If Rupert had been a human, he'd be dead by now, he was sure.

  "Limb by limb if you please." The demon begged. "I'll be forever regenerating the cell by cell thing. Please." The demon almost seemed to whine. "Please lord, if I have to regenerate cell by cell, my master will really be angry with me. He doesn't like his people slacking off, taking his time to regenerate from their own stupidity as he'd say. Just rend me limb from limb, I promise I won't bother you anymore. Please?" Rupert just continued to glare. He was taken by surprise. The little fellow acted as if it were standard procedure in this circumstance. He was actually begging for one method over the other. "Please? Limb by limb?" The demon begged.

  Rupert shrugged. He'd never rendered anyone limb from limb before. He wasn't sure how it was supposed to be done, but he could use his imagination. Rupert waded in. It was all rather messy he'd decided afterward. The demon had wailed in pain most annoyingly. Rupert had been afraid someone would hear, so he stuffed a hoof he'd torn off earlier in the demon's mouth to shut him up as he went about the job. Eventually he had the demon down to pieces no smaller than the demon's hand. Except for the head. He held that in one hand, looking at it and trying to decide what he could do with it. Not knowing how to tear that apart he decided to just stomped on it. As he set the head on the ground, the demon's eyes looked up at him in fearful expectation. Having no body and thus no lungs, it couldn't speak, Rupert was just as glad. Amazing to still be conscious after all of that, Rupert thought.

  The demon's head exploded under his hooves. Much like a melon dropped off a tall building, or smashed beneath a very large rock dropped off a building. As the last of the demon bits splattered to the ground, all the bits began to fade. Rupert looked around in surprised. All the gore, all the goo, all simply vanished from the walls where it had splattered. The blood and junk also seemed to fade and vanish from his hands. That was certainly convenient, Rupert decided. Actually he supposed that he should have been shocked by what he'd just done, but actually, it had been kind of fun.

  Unfortunately, Rupert frowned to himself twenty minutes later; the whole thing had been for nothing. The inner door had been magically locked, and he couldn't get through it. He'd gone through the whole thing for nothing. Well not completely, it had been kind of fun to be himself for a change. It was also nice to be able to see what he could do. He also now knew how to rend someone limb from limb, he'd also come up with a few ideas for improvement the next time he got to do it. At last he'd gotten to be a demon for real. That was good.

  What was not so good, Rupert reflected about half an hour later, was the price he was even now having to pay. Unfortunately, he'd shredded his clothes in the change. Now he had to sneak around the castle naked, with only the few scraps of cloth he'd salvaged to cover himself. Not that they stayed in one piece even, he had to hold the stuff in place. For about the twentieth time in the last half hour he wished for an invisibility spell.

  Invisibility spells were just out of his reach though. Actually, a long way out of his reach, but nevertheless, it would still have been convenient for times like these. He ducked around another corridor to avoid some more people. He wasn't sure this part was worth the fun he'd had earlier. Eventually however, he did manage to make it back to his room. Only a handful of servants scattered throughout the palace had seen him.

  ~

  Exador cursed. Someone had set off a Ward of Warning in his workplace under the palace. He'd gone to investigate, found the first door to have been unlocked, Yrbling to be missing, but the inner door still secure. This was not good. Someone had found this work room. He'd put his most potent illusion on the damned door, but someone had still seen it. They had not managed to break in though. They did seem to have taken out his second order guard.

  Admittedly, a rather weak second order, but it should have been sufficient for anything normal. If nothing else, it should have summoned him if it had been something it couldn't handle. He'd have to find out what had happened. No one was supposed to know about this area. Now someone did, even if they hadn't gone inside.

  "Yrbling Hrastada Norendle, I summon thee from the depths of the Abyss. Come and show thy lowly face before thy true master!" Exador shouted extemporaneously. He'd shut the door to the corridor, so no one should hear him, even if someone was down in this part of the palace. "Yrbling Hrastada Norendle, get your lard belly into this room before I vaporize you off the face of the Abyss!" Exador commanded.

  A small mist formed in the center of the room. "Sire," a voice whimpered from the mist. “I need assistance; I am too weak to form a new body so soon." Exador shook his head. At least the cretin had gone out fighting. He'd give it that much. He waved his hands in the required gestures, mumbling the spell needed to provide the energy for the demon to form. He hated having to resort to such crude means; unfortunately, sometimes it was the only way. People like Lenamare should have to do this to get their demons, not him.

  At last the cringing Yrbling cowered before him. Looking a little anemic Exador thought. "What happened, Yrbling? Make it quick or you're gone for good." Exador commanded.

  "Sire, I beg you, I didn't stand a chance." Yrbling begged.

  "Spit it out, before I rip it out of you."

  "Lord and master, please," Yrbling bubbled, "The room was discovered by another demon. A powerful one. He bested me in combat."

  Exador stared down at his demon, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Another demon? Describe him."

  "Tall, huge bat wings, bald head, and snout. Incredibly big muscles. Huge scaley goat legs, black hooves. Spade tipped whipcord tail. Huge ebony claws and horns." Yrbling cringed.

  Exador looked thoughtful, Yrbling staring at his master's feet didn't notice. "Tall, you mean he was very large?"

  "Extremely, sire, much much larger than I. There was little I could do before its might."

  "You imply that it was powerful?" Exador was looking off into space, calculating, hardly paying attention to his whimpering vassal.

  "Incredibly so, sire."

  "Hmm, on the traditional scale, how would you rate this demon?"

 
; Yrbling bit its lip, indecisive for a moment. "Fourth, sire, certainly as far as I could judge." Exador looked down at it. He might have doubted the demon, such little weasels as Yrbling would say anything to save their wings; this, however, convinced him. No, Yrbling could not have made this up. The description, physically, power, everything. Yrbling hadn't even tried to lie about the demon's rank. Obviously, Lenamare's fourth order demon had been poking its nose around. Probably checking to make sure Exador didn't have the book.

  Except for the fact that the book had been with the girl, and the demon with the girl. Thus why would the demon be looking for the book in Exador's lab? If only he knew where the damn girl and that soon to be worse than dead Gastropé had vanished to. Then he'd have the book. The demon must have lost the girl and the book. Or maybe it hadn't realized the girl had the book? Did the demon want the book for himself or its master? If for his master then surely he would have returned the girl to Lenamare. Then Lenamare would have the book and he wouldn't need the demon to look for the book.

  Therefore, Exador surmised, the demon must be acting as its own operative, looking for the book. He could certainly understand that. The question thus remained, where was that damned girl and the book? He was tapping his foot impatiently as he thought. Suddenly he noticed Yrbling babbling something at his feet. He frowned.

  "Yrbling. Get your wings back to the Abyss and fully regenerate. You're no good to me in this state you moron. When you've got yourself back together, contact me through the usual channels. I'll have a new assignment for you. I think I need someone bigger down here from now on." Exador turned and left the room, the door opening and closing behind him.

  Yrbling stared after his departing master. He was not sure whether to believe his good luck, or worry that it was part of a more elaborate punishment on Exador's part. Either way, for the moment he was still alive. That was enough.

  Chapter 69

  Edwyrd cursed to himself. Tizzy had been right, there were demons all over. He was able to get a lot more practice in changing just his eyes today in order to search for demons. It took a great deal of concentration but like holding the Edwyrd form itself, practice made it easier. They'd retraced the corridors and exactly as Tizzy had told them, there were glowing lights visible only to his demon sight. Concentrating on the spots of light for a few moments allowed him to make out the outlines of demons. All of various shapes and sizes, but none very big. A few of the glowing lights actually had no outline or form; these however were also visible to his Edwyrd sight as dark shadowy spots in corners. Tizzy informed him that these were shadows, amorphous bodiless demons.

  They'd gone through several dozen corridors, he and Gastropé counting well over a hundred demons in about two hours. Gastropé could apparently do something so that he could see invisible objects also. However, it seemed to take Gastrope' about as much effort as it did Edwyrd to do so. They'd gone to dinner and peered around the dining hall cautiously, making sure they were far away from the ever present demons. Even so, they had to sit in the very center of the dining room to avoid the demons in the room.

  "So what do we do?" Edwyrd asked Gastropé. Gastropé just shrugged, frowning, as he sipped more stew from his spoon. Edwyrd pretended to eat. He was worried that with all these demons around, one would spot him for what he was and tell whomever they worked for.

  "I don't know." Gastropé told Edwyrd looking helplessly at his dinner companion. "Tizzy pointed out the second and thirds also. Those really make me nervous." Certain areas in the lower regions seemed to have more powerful demons as well as the little ones everywhere. There weren't many, they'd only encountered about four threes and a dozen or so twos. Nonetheless, Edwyrd was pretty sure that if the general populous knew there would be panic. "I suspect we should tell someone."

  "Who?" Edwyrd asked him.

  "I don't know. Maelen certainly, but that won't do anything to get rid of them. We could tell Lenamare, but I really don't trust him."

  "You either, huh?" Edwyrd said.

  "Yeah, I guess that leaves Damien." Gastrope' shrugged, unsure if it was a good idea. Edwyrd wasn't sure either. They didn't know this Damien, but he was a council member that wasn’t Lenamare, Exador or Jehenna. The only other council members they knew of. The only problem would be if the demons were Damien's. He might not appreciate having them noticed.

  "Well," Edwyrd began, "he is the closest thing we know to a local authority that we even remotely trust. This does seem like one of those things the people in charge should be aware of." Gastropé just nodded.

  The question it seemed was to be taken out of their hands. They had gone to see the wizard Damien, but no one had answered their knock. "Apparently not in. I guess we'll have to think of something else," Gastropé stated. They headed back to their quarters, somewhat relieved to have the need of acting taken out of their hands.

  Several minutes later as they were crossing the main foyer of the palace to get to the other side where their quarters were; the question was put back in their hands. Even as they reached the middle of the large courtroom, Damien came striding through the front doors of the palace. The golden haired wizard was looking rather grim. "Well?" Edwyrd looked at Gastropé. Gastropé just gestured for Edwyrd to precede him to the wizard.

  "Damien." Edwyrd called as they approached the wizard. For a moment, the wizard appeared lost in thought, but then he noted the two young men approaching him. He nodded to them grimly as they approached him. "Councilor, may we have a word with you?" Edwyrd asked.

  Damien sighed, "I'm a little preoccupied at the moment; could it wait until tomorrow?"

  Edwyrd thought for a moment, "I suspect it would be better if you knew sooner than later."

  "Knew? Knew what?" Damien looked wearily and suspiciously at Edwyrd.

  "I think we better go someplace private." Edwyrd told him, "and secure from prying ears." Damien just raised his eyebrows and motioned the two to follow him back to his quarters.

  Damien ushered them into his main room after unlocking the door with a wave of his hand. "Be seated," he told them as he closed the door behind them. Edwyrd looked around then went to sit on a couch nearby, Gastropé' took a chair to his left. Damien hung his cloak on a large cloak rack then moved to a small bar. "Can I offer you anything to drink?" He asked as he poured himself some golden liquid. Edwyrd thanked him, but refused, Gastropé likewise.

  "So," Damien said sitting down on the divan opposite Edwyrd, "what do I need to know that can't wait until morning?"

  Edwyrd cleared his throat and looked to Gastropé. Gastropé simply nodded at him to speak. "I'm unfamiliar with Freehold, perhaps it's just standard practice, but in the event you were unaware, we thought it best to inform you." Edwyrd paused; Damien just looked at him to continue. "Well, there seems, in my opinion to be a rather high number of demons wandering around the palace. Perhaps you're aware of this and it is no cause for alarm, but..."

  Damien started and shook his head, looking as if he'd been splashed by cold water. "What precisely do you mean by a large number?"

  Gastropé answered this time. "Several hundred at the very least, one in every corridor and public room we've been in." Damien rubbed his forehead resting his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand.

  "You're sure?" Damien asked.

  "No question, we both have observed them, as has our...demon." Edwyrd told him.

  "Well," Damien looked up, smiling rather grimly. "You're the second group of people to inform me of this today." He sighed and put down his drink. "I went out to negotiate with the Rod, which is now camped outside the gates of the city. Their leaders insisted that they couldn't trust us to negotiate with them when we'd obviously been overrun by demons. When I asked what they meant, they told me much the same thing." Damien shook his head in consternation.

  "I haven't noticed them, but then I haven't thought to look for them." Damien said. He looked around the room, as if searching for demons.

  "There are none in here, I checked as w
e entered." Gastropé told him. "At least none that we can detect." Edwyrd nodded his agreement. Damien nodded.

  "Antefalken!" Damien called. Edwyrd nearly jumped when he heard the demon's name called. He didn't know what Damien meant by the shout. His question was shortly answered however as the little demon strolled into the room from an open doorway adjacent to the garden windows.

  "Gentlemen," Damien said, "allow me to introduce my bard, Antefalken." He waved an introductory hand to the little demon. Antefalken bowed slightly in acknowledgement. Edwyrd would have started sweating if he knew how. Surely, the little demon would recognize him?

  "Greetings, sirs." Antefalken said as he hopped up onto the back of a chair to Edwyrd's right. Damien looked to his demon.

  "Can you confirm this?" Damien asked.

  "Well, I generally don't go about the palace much, and when I do, I don't usually make the effort to scan. At least not recently. However, I will certainly go check. As I'm sure you will also." Damien just nodded, obviously worried.

  "So this is not standard practice for the council?" Edwyrd asked.

  Damien shook his head. "No. Certainly not. We have some big egos on the council but no one has ever been quite that--irrational--to date."

  Antefalken just looked at Damien for a few moments. "The real question, assuming they are there," he looked to Gastropé and Edwyrd, "is who's are they?"

  "Well..." Damien said, "if you believe the Rod, they belong to a group of archdemons who've taken over the city." Edwyrd and Gastropé shook their heads and just looked at each other in puzzlement.

  "What?" Antefalken said.

  "Well, according to Sir Talarius," he looked Antefalken squarely in the eyes, "there are at least three archdemons in the palace, along with one or more fourth order demons."