by Langland, J.
"You've got to be kidding." Antefalken stated.
Gastropé coughed, "Archdemons? Are they serious?" Edwyrd felt the same way. They knew why the Rod was here, and it had nothing to do with archdemons. At least he didn't think it did.
"They are deadly serious. Moreover, from what I know of Sir Talarius' and his reputation, he does not lie about such things. They, at least, believe this." Damien told them.
"You have a point. I've never met Talarius, but I've heard stories from demons who've been beaten by him. He has also permanently slain more than a few demons. He's the epitome of the goody two shoes mentality. " Antefalken agreed. "Unfortunately, if you also believe what I've heard, he's generally not wrong on such matters."
Damien put his head in both hands. "I had that suspicion."
Gastropé didn't seem to be breathing well, the young wizard was his favorite shade of pale, Edwyrd noted. "Well," Gastropé said weakly, "this would certainly confirm what Lenamare was saying about archdemons."
"And then some," Antefalken added. "Shall we go for a stroll?" Antefalken looked to Damien, who just nodded and stood up slowly.
~
Maelen entered the large foyer of the palace. He'd spent the each of the last few days renewing his contacts in the city. Today, at the local Seer's School, he taken the time to contact Johen and bring him up to date on the current affairs. Johen had concurred on almost all points Maelen raised. He'd also confirmed that the sorcerer, Elrose was one of Lenamare’s masters and thus the two assumed he should be coming to Freehold along with the rest of the school. Given the current situation, Johen had also suggested arranging for some support. Maelen had told him that it wouldn't be necessary for now, but Johen should begin preparations.
Deciding that he was going to be here for a while, he felt it best to get a lay of the land, Maelen took a stroll around the palace. For this pass, he wouldn't try seeing anything, just familiarize himself with the palace. He'd wandered for about half an hour in an upper corridor when two voices arguing took him by surprise. Almost out of habit, he stepped into the shadows in a nearby corner and allowed himself to blend in to the shadow itself. He wasn't sure what prompted him to do so, it just felt right. If there was something he'd learned about prescience in the many years he'd been dealing with it: if something felt right, do it.
It didn't take long for him to see what had prompted him to do so. Two large men were coming down the corridor in heated debate. They were arguing in some language Maelen didn't immediately recognize, but given time he could figure out. As he got a good look at the two men, deciphering the language became less important.
He didn't actually recognize either. One man, the one on the right appeared to be something of a wizard. He was wearing something like long red robes, yet with a breastplate and other armor over the robes, the robes split for horseback riding. The man had grey hair and a beard, streaked with white. He was certainly a commanding presence, standing just over six feet tall. However, he paled in comparison to his companion.
His companion was nearly a giant, almost a foot taller than the robed man. His almost shoulder length black hair was swept back over his ears and held in place by a leather strap. He was obviously a warrior of some form, of apparently incredible strength. He appeared to be in his mid to early thirties. None of this mattered however; none of this was what took Maelen's breath.
What caused his heart to crawl up his throat was the uniform the man was wearing. A black outfit made of leather straps. Trimmed in purple and gold, with a short light purple silk cloak hanging from black metal shoulder pads. Maelen had never actually seen this uniform before. Not with his eyes. Nonetheless, like any good animage student of history, he knew the uniform.
There had only been one group of people to wear that uniform in all of history. While very few would recognize the uniform; legends still persisted to frighten children. Most children in Astlan still quaked at the stories of the Anilords and their feared storm troops, the Time Warriors. Between the use of the Time Warriors and the dreaded Mind Reavers, the Anilords had conquered and ruled most of the world, two thousand years ago.
Until this moment, Maelen, like all of his compatriots, was convinced all traces of the Anilords had been destroyed. Wiped clean after the great Battle of Enfiel. Suppressed and mythologized by the victors. How could one have survived? More precisely, how could the tradition have continued, since obviously no one could have lived that long, not even a Time Warrior. Could a secret band of Time Warriors still exist?
Lost in his thoughts, Maelen allowed the two to pass almost out of sight in the other direction. He'd completely forgotten to try and translate what they were saying. He'd been taken more completely by surprise than he had been in two decades. He tried vainly to catch one last bit of their conversation. He could just barely make out a few more words as they faded in the distance. He still hadn't translated them, but he swore his ears were playing tricks on him. One of the few words he thought he had heard, was Ramses.
Apparently, the sight of the man in the Time Warrior uniform had so completely distracted him that his mind was filling in words to the conversation that couldn't be there. There was absolutely no way he could have heard the name Ramses. No way in the Abyss. Ramses, Commander General of the Time Warriors, the Anilord who supposedly trained and led the Time Warriors, had perished unequivocally at Enfiel. The records were quite clear on that. Sir Astemon had slain him in single combat. They'd burned his body. No, if he had heard it, it must have been as a historical reference to something else. Perhaps some way of inspiring fear in others.
They had certainly instilled fear in Maelen. He would definitely re-contact Johen tonight: get that backup prepared. He knew it had to be some sort of masquerade though. Maelen knew there was no possible way that he'd actually seen a Time Warrior, and even less of a chance that it had actually been Ramses the Damned.
~
Rupert stared out at the night sky above the city from his bedroom window. He'd gotten back and got dressed, then had proceeded to relive the afternoon's fight several times in his imagination. He'd been waiting for the others to come by for dinner. Eventually Jenn, Alvea and their friends had knocked on the door. They were all going out into town and were checking if anyone wanted to go with them.
Rupert really didn't feel like going around the town with a group of kids five to six years older than himself, unless Edwyrd was going to be there. Edwyrd and Gastropé still hadn't shown up though. So Rupert told Jenn that he'd just wait for Gastropé and Edwyrd to return and eat with them. Jenn didn't seem too upset by the idea. Rupert suspected she was about as happy about not having a little kid tag along as Rupert was happy not to have to go. The teenagers left and Rupert tried to read in the remaining light of late afternoon.
An hour or so later, there was still no sign of Edwyrd or Gastropé so Rupert wandered down to the cafeteria to get himself some food. Strangely, he really wasn't hungry after all the excitement he'd had, but he felt he should eat anyway to keep his strength up, and besides, it was something to do. After eating, he returned to the room to still find no sign of Gastropé or his father. Rupert smiled at the word, it was so--thrilling--to be able to say that word, father.
Rupert wasn't too concerned as he stared out into the starlit sky. He knew that his father could handle any problems they might have encountered, so they must just be doing grown-up things, whatever those were. Rupert inhaled the night air; it was so magnificent, the night sky. Rupert figured it would be really exciting to be soaring on the night winds above the city. Thinking back to this afternoon and how free and powerful he'd felt in his true form, Rupert smiled imagining being that way again and soaring above the city.
Not only would it be exciting, it would certainly beat being bored to death in the room. He saw no sign of Edwyrd or Gastropé returning soon, so he didn't have much else to do other than sleep. Rupert was anything but tired, however. As he looked down over the city, a sly thought began to creep into Rupert's min
d. He knew it wasn't probably the best idea. He knew he really shouldn't, but it would be a lot of fun. Being himself was kind of like an addiction; the more he let his true, demon-self free, the more he wanted it to be free.
While human Rupert could crawl out the window, he doubted demon Rupert would fit. Rupert decided he'd just do it. He turned away from the window and extinguished the candles in the room. Quickly he stripped off his clothes so he wouldn't have to get another set. Standing naked in the moonlight that was just starting to come through the open window as the first moon, Uropia, rose above the horizon; Rupert flexed his muscles in anticipation. Quickly he climbed up and out the window. He perched carefully on the outside of the windowsill. He looked around to make sure no one watching him, allowing his eyes to go demonic so he could see in the dark. Assured that no one was watching, he relaxed.
Once again the change came over him, swiftly and with only a mild tingling sensation. Taking one's clothes off in advance was really a good idea, Rupert decided as he flexed his wings. He wobbled a bit, catching his balance as his toes and the ball of his feet had turned into hooves, but by that point his wings had been able to help.
Without further thought, Rupert turned and dove down and out over the city, his wings spreading to catch the wind as Tom had shown him. This was the life, thought Rupert as he swooped over the city like a giant bird of prey. As he reached about twenty feet above the courtyard near the palace, Rupert began to climb. He climbed high up into the sky. While he reveled in being himself and flying, he did not particularly like the idea of scaring the life out of the town’s people. Well, to be honest with himself, Rupert actually did want to scare the townspeople a bit. However, he figured it would end up causing more problems than the momentary fun would be worth.
Rupert circled the city, peering down at the goings on. Unlike most of the towns Rupert had ever been in. Freehold didn't seem to go to sleep right after dark. There were several large torch lit streets as well as several major boulevards with some form of magical globe lighting. On the lighted streets, people milled and streamed, going from tavern to tavern, or to some shops that were still open. With his demon sight, Rupert could also see that there were people on the dark, unlit streets. These weren't so many, and those that there were, tended to move more cautiously, or stealthily.
Rupert circled the city from high above for about half an hour before he decided to venture further. In his circling near the outer walls, Rupert had noticed campfires on the plain around the city. He was pretty sure they hadn't been there when they'd entered the city. Rupert cruised over and above the campfires. Even in the dark, from several hundred feet up, Rupert had no trouble identifying the uniforms of the soldiers in the camp. He didn't recognize the uniforms of course, but there could be little doubt this was the Rod of Tiernon.
Given that these soldiers were out hunting Rupert and his friends, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to be flying above them. On the other hand, Rupert thought, what could they do to him? He wasn't little Rupert any more. He was a powerful...some order...demon. He didn't know where he ranked in the demonic hierarchy. He knew everyone said Tom was fourth, so since his mother was human did that make Rupert the average of the two? Zero plus fourth, second? Rupert didn't know. He really wasn't sure what exactly determined who was a greater demon and who was an imp or whatever. Obviously, it was power, but how did one rank one's self. Rupert frowned, that was a good question. It was pretty clear however that he'd been a lot stronger than the little guy he'd rendered today.
He'd have to ask his father. He would know, actually, Tizzy probably would too. He'd ask whichever one he saw next. It was pretty obvious though, that if Tom was fourth, Rupert had to be less, and if the guy this afternoon was first, then Rupert was more powerful than that. Maybe second order was right, or third. Rupert glanced down at the ground he was flying over. He'd unconsciously moved to hover over the best-lighted part of the camp. It appeared that people were digging or something. He'd also been so busy thinking about what order demon he was that he'd failed to note that he'd been spotted.
Apparently, it had just happened, because people were just starting to point up into the sky at him. Probably time for a hasty retreat Rupert decided. While they couldn't hurt him, he didn't want to give them any more reason to hate demons. As he was taking a last look before leaving, Rupert noticed a big guy in what appeared to be glow-in-the-dark armor leaving a tent. His armor was literally glowing of its own accord. Glowing to normal sight and not just demon sight.
Rupert was transfixed. He'd always heard of knights in magical armor, but he'd never seen one before. As he watched the man pointed his arm up at the sky in Rupert's direction. Too late, Rupert realized the man was casting a spell at him. Rupert braced himself for impact; he wasn't going to have time to get out of the way. Suddenly a brilliant beam of light lanced out of the man's mailed hand, striking Rupert full in the chest. Rupert screamed in pain as he blacked out from the impact of the beam of light.
Chapter 70
Edwyrd shut the door to the room he shared with Rupert softly. He didn't want to wake the boy; he simply wanted to check on him before heading down to his practice room. He'd been a lot later than he'd planned. It wasn't until he and Gastropé had turned down the corridor to their rooms that he'd realized they'd even forgot to pick up Rupert for dinner. He cursed himself, they'd gotten so wrapped up in the demon problem, he'd forgotten about his favorite little demon.
It was now quite late. Gastropé, Damien, Antefalken and he had gone for what was ostensibly a short walking tour of the palace. Damien and Antefalken had used the opportunity to confirm what they'd been told. When they'd gotten back to Damien's quarters, the wizard had looked more concerned than ever. He and Antefalken were both at a loss for where the demons had come from and for how long they'd been there.
They'd spent several hours in discussion trying to figure out what the demons were doing. Or more precisely since it was fairly obvious what they were doing, who they were doing it for. They'd considered all possibilities, Lenamare, Exador, other council members and the even more frightening possibility of some unknown group of archdemons. Edwyrd had sat rather uncomfortably as the other three tossed around the idea that the demon Tom might be involved.
He'd been almost positive that Antefalken would recognize him. Tizzy had never had any problem; however, if Antefalken did, he gave no sign. Also from the tone of the conversation, Antefalken did not sidestep when discussing Tom in a way that might indicate he knew the demon was there in the room with him. The other three had tossed around ideas that Tom was involved with the little demons on behalf of Lenamare, or on his own or on behalf of the higher order demons.
As was becoming more and more of the case lately, Edwyrd found himself amazed at the level of paranoid speculation these wizards engaged in. As wizards go, he thought Damien seemed very reasonable and enlightened towards demons, especially seeing his non-master-slave relationship with Antefalken; nonetheless, even Damien seemed paranoid about demonic machinations. For that matter, Antefalken, who was a demon himself, was just as paranoid. Edwyrd had begun to wonder if being the only non-paranoid person in a world full of paranoids should tell him something.
Edwyrd shook his head and glanced around the room to make sure there were no unexpected demons in his room. As he did so, his eyes swept across Rupert's bed to find it empty. Edwyrd was startled. Where could the boy be?
Quickly, Edwyrd went down the hall to Jenn's room. He tried the same thing with his hearing that he did with his sight, trying to listen into Jenn's room to see if Rupert were there. All he heard was the soft sound of gentle breathing, telling him that Jenn was asleep and alone in the room. Next he went to Gastropé's room and knocked quietly on the door. He had no fear of waking Gastropé since they'd just parted a few minutes ago.
"Is Rupert in there?" Edwyrd asked as Gastropé opened the door.
Gastrope' looked puzzled. "No, just Maelen, who's in some sort of trance." He gestured o
ver to the older man. Maelen was sitting on his bed in the lotus position. He was so still and breathing so softly, that even Edwyrd's demonic hearing had a bit of trouble determining if the seer was alive. "Isn't he in your room?"
"No, I don't know where he went. I'm a little concerned." While he was sure that Rupert was capable of taking care of almost anything, he still worried. Rupert was after all, just a kid, demon or not.
"Did you check with Jenn? Maybe he's with some of those students who came in today." Gastrope' suggested.
"She's asleep. You're probably right." Edwyrd said. That could certainly be a possibility. "I'm sure he's fine. I was just a little worried."
Gastropé nodded, concerned.
"Good night." Edwyrd said as he went back to his own room.
Edwyrd went in and stared at Rupert's bed, wondering where the boy could be. Edwyrd noted that the boy's clothes were folded neatly on his bed. That was strange. Actually, they weren't the same set that Rupert had worn in the morning. Why did he have this other set laid out? If they'd been the clothes the boy had been wearing, Edwyrd would have suspected the boy of stripping and demonizing. Edwyrd looked out the window, searching the night sky for flying demons. He didn't see any.
~
Rupert came to as he crashed through tree limbs while falling to the ground. Eventually he came to rest at the base of a large tree. Apparently, that beam of light had knocked him back quite a ways, into the small grove of trees he'd seen not too far from the Rod's campsite. He ached all over. That light blast had really hurt. Probably as much as the lightning bolt.
Fortunately, he'd been in demon form this time, which was a lot sturdier, and he'd braced himself for it. Nonetheless, he felt like he'd been burned. Actually, it felt like an extremely severe case of sunburn. Not pleasant at all. Rupert shook his head to clear it. As he did, he heard what sounded like an advancing patrol of soldiers. He could also see torchlight advancing through the forest. Dodging up into the sky from underneath the heavy canopy of trees would make too much noise and probably get him shot down again. These guys were just too close. Not knowing what else to do, Rupert changed back into human form.
