by Langland, J.
~
Rupert sat in the tent, worrying about what to do. He was in a nice tent, he'd had a nice cot to sleep on, and been given new clothes. Clothes of a Rod member, but clothes nonetheless. A little bit ago, a soldier had come in and delivered him some food for breakfast. The soldier had also courteously inquired if he could get Rupert anything. At the time there was nothing else Rupert needed. There had been water for washing and a separate curtained off area with a chamber pot. A very nice tent overall. Rupert really had to contrast the way the Rod treated prisoners with the way Exador's people treated prisoners. For comfort, he'd take the Rod any day.
Everyone had gone out of their way to be polite, kind and understanding. Certainly a strange way to treat prisoners. Of course, he wasn't exactly sure he was a prisoner. There didn't seem to be a guard outside of his tent, on the other hand, with so many attentive soldiers all over the place, it didn't seem necessary. The soldier who'd brought breakfast had asked if Rupert would mind if Talarius and a priest were to interview him a bit later in the morning. Rupert had been nervous about that, wondering belatedly if a priest could detect lies. Rupert didn't see much choice but to agree to the interview. The young man had been polite about the whole thing though. The Rod were really nice guys. If only, Rupert mused, they weren't a bunch of genocidal maniacs dedicated to slaying his people.
~
"You say you haven't seen Rupert since yesterday?" Maelen asked Edwyrd over breakfast. Edwyrd had just raised his concern to the seer as they sat down to eat. This morning it was Gastropé, Edwyrd and Maelen eating breakfast. Jenn and her friends had been commandeered early by Lenamare for some task. Edwyrd was thankful for that. He didn't relish having to tell Jenn that Rupert was missing.
Maelen bit into a piece of melon he was eating. He seemed to be thinking for a moment. "I don't know, I can try and search the palace for him, but it will take a while to cover the whole place."
"Would you?" Edwyrd asked.
"Certainly, I'd have to do it anyway, given what I've seen around here."
"Given what you've seen! We forgot to tell you about what we've seen!" Gastropé stated. Gastropé looked around the dining room to make sure no invisible demons were near and proceeded to relate the previous day's events to Maelen. He spoke softly and quickly, trying to avoid any demons noticing them from a distance and getting closer. Maelen raised his eyebrows several times. At first he seemed skeptical, but when Gastropé got to the part where Damien had seen them as well, he became more convinced. When they mentioned what the Rod had told Damien, Maelen got positively pale. "This will certainly require investigation." Maelen said as Gastropé finished.
~
"I was beginning to think they'd never leave." Antefalken told Damien as the last of the council filed out of Damien's quarters. Damien had sent all of the councilors, with the exception of Lenamare, Jehenna, Exador and Randolf, who were suspect, and Zilquar who was still unaccounted for, a sudden and urgent request to join him for breakfast. Each one thought they were individually invited to some urgent private meeting. When they'd all arrived, surprised to see each other, Damien had explained why he'd invited them. Damien hadn't wanted to hold a normal session because of the possibility of alerting the demons. When he'd explained about the demons' presence, there had naturally been the expected uproar. After about half an hour, he'd managed to convince them to at least believe him until they had a chance to verify for themselves that the palace was infested.
That had been the easy part, what followed was three hours of typical discussion about where the demons came from and what they were doing. Damien had also felt obliged to point out what the Rod had said about archdemons. He had not been disappointed by the shock in the others' faces.
Even without this shock, they were still at a loss as to what to do. They could try and eliminate all the demons, but this would certainly notify the master of the demons. That could bring retaliatory action. More precisely, if they didn't get rid of the root of the problem first, they'd run the risk of a blood bath in the palace. For one thing, they'd also have to move very fast to eliminate the demons, before any could go on a rampage, even if they did take out the master first.
The problem, of course, had been the fact that no one knew who owned the demons. What was somewhat clear, was that the demons had something to do with Lenamare and Exador's fight. Probably the book, Damien had thought, but he did not mention this to the others. One suggestion that had been popular for a while was to have a full inquisition with Lenamare and Exador and get the whole issue on the table. Then Trevin D'Vils had brought up the possibility that either Exador or Lenamare could be in league with the archdemons, or under the control of the archdemons, which Damien himself feared but had been unwilling to voice.
That had made the room quiet for a moment. If either of the two wizards was linked to all the demons, or to archdemons, forcing the issue in a council session might not be the best idea. Damien, actually, thought it might not be a bad idea, no one else seemed to agree. As was often the case on anything important, the council ended up deciding nothing. Damien wasn't surprised, he'd come to expect it, he just hoped they could come to some agreement before it was too late. However, he had done his job, he'd notified every one of the problem. Now people could wring their hands over it and not do anything more than if they hadn't known.
Damien just shook his head, looking at his bard, he gestured for Antefalken to follow him as he left the room to climb the stairs to his tower study. At least the councilors were gone. At the top of the stairs was an ironwood door. Damien muttered the requisite key words over the handle, then opened the door to admit himself and Antefalken to the tower room.
Damien looked to the piles of messages still waiting on his desk. Shaking his head, he went to open a window and look out upon the city. Antefalken took up his normal perch. "Do you plan to go ahead and do something without them?"
Damien snorted, "If I had any idea of what to do without them, I would. Unfortunately, I seem to be just as up in the air as everyone else. I hate being a spectator in my own home as unknown combatants wage war in my kitchen." Both were quiet for a while as Damien gazed out the window. "Do you suppose this Tom fellow is behind it all? After all he is certainly linked to Lenamare, and Lenamare is linked to the whole problem. These could be his demons, or perhaps his demons at Lenamare's call."
"I really just don't know." Antefalken shrugged. "No one really knows who this Tom is in the Abyss. I've checked a couple other leads. I've only talked with him the one time."
"Any word on archdemons playing big chess games?" Damien asked.
"I can go dig some more now that we are fairly sure we have three involved. I can at least look for threesomes that seem to be up to no good. Otherwise, just the stuff I heard the first time. The rumored plans for an overthrow of the demon princes by a cabal of archdemons. Standard stuff, doesn't mean much." Antefalken shrugged.
"Standard stuff, huh?" Damien asked, apparently preoccupied with something outside the window.
"Standard stuff, just talk. It's not like anyone has that kind of power. None of the archdemons comes even close. If they did they'd have long since been destroyed or assimilated." Antefalken said.
"Well, I know that I certainly wouldn't feel like trying to deal with a demon prince."
"Not without a really big bag of magic tricks, a true name and a hell of a lot of luck." Antefalken agreed.
Damien chuckled. "An incredibly big bag. The luck would mainly be in getting the right name. I doubt even the demon princes remember their own true names anymore. Getting the right one would be the trick. I doubt there's that much luck in the world to go around."
Damien frowned slightly as he peered out the window. "You know, I'm not sure, but there appears to be a lot more soldiers in the Rod's encampment than there were last night when I left them."
~
"Tolerable, it will do." Lenamare approved as he looked over Jenn's shoulder. "Next time try to be a little cle
aner in your cuts though." Lenamare stood up and looked at his other assistants. Jenn was carving symbols into small amber spheres. Each student was busy preparing another component for Lenamare's next major effort.
He had to admit to himself, that having students around was occasionally useful. It kept him and Jehenna from having to do a lot of tedious work. Assuming, of course, that the students did it correctly. It was for this that Lenamare still had to supervise them closely; nonetheless, it was still faster this way. As he was stepping over to Bromagni, Jehenna entered the room through the door on the east wall.
"Well?" she asked.
"Everything is going well. With good timing and organization, we should be able to proceed tomorrow evening with the spell." Lenamare told her.
Jehenna nodded. "Good. It will be about time. Assuming it works."
Lenamare twisted his mouth in a slight frown. "It had better work. We haven't got much more time. I did some counting. There are more Rod members today then last night. Where they came from isn't clear, but their numbers seem to be growing."
"Growing?" Jehenna asked.
"Growing. That means that they feel that the situation is escalating and they need more manpower." Lenamare failed to notice Jenn's frown of apprehension, or at least ignored it.
"You think the archdemon is preparing to move?" Jehenna asked.
"Possibly. Whatever the case, we can't keep an archdemon and Exador in the dark forever about the book's location. We have to open it. Use the information."
"Use it wisely. We don't want to rush and get ourselves killed in the process."
"Naturally. Nothing shall be done without a plan and a direct purpose."
~
Hortwell surveyed the countryside below him, over the edge of the rug. Very nice actually. Zilquar's invisibility spell was interesting. It made the two of them, as well as Zargoffelstan flying above the carpet and their flying carpet invisible to the outside world, yet the two of them could see each other and the carpet underneath them. The two wizards had decided to go try a little stealthy reconnaissance. They were flying both invisible and close to the tree level. Exador still had wizards with his army. They did not want to risk being shot down.
As they came over the last rise and in sight of the crater, Hortwell’s mouth dropped in surprise. Apparently, they had had no need for invisibility. There was nothing there. Obviously no castle, but no army either. The little peninsula that had contained the remnants of Exador's army was empty. No tents, no soldiers, no sign of the army. Where had they gone?
Zilquar and Hortwell exchanged glances. This was not good. From the sketchy reports they'd received via normal scouts, the army had been there last night. They were gone now. Hortwell scanned the campsite with his wizard's sight. Nothing. No magic, no spells, nothing, the army was really gone, not invisible. Where had they gone? Zilquar directed the carpet in a low level path around the castle site.
As far as either wizards could tell, there was no appearance of a large migration of horses or men from the site. One would have expected some large path of tracks. But there was none. Just the normal tracks that one would expect around a camp that had been there for a couple weeks. Hortwell was puzzled. He would certainly have to report this to Lenamare.
Lenamare would not be pleased. Hortwell also supposed they'd best prepare to move out themselves. He was pretty certain Lenamare would want them with him in Freehold. Especially if a battle was coming. Once again, Hortwell just shook his head in bemusement.
~
"Any sign of him?" Edwyrd asked Maelen as the man seemed to wake from his trance.
"Not yet. I've searched the upper levels of the castle and am working my way downward. I've certainly encountered a lot of demons though. You were right on that account. I don't like the looks of this. Too many demons and Rupert missing, plus other things."
"Other things?" Edwyrd asked.
"Yes. Other, disturbing things." Maelen frowned.
"What other things?" Edwyrd asked. Maelen looked around as if to make sure no one was within listening distance. There was no one. He and Edwyrd were in Edwyrd's room. Gastropé had gone off with Tizzy some place. Hunting more demons, apparently.
"I really shouldn't say. I don't want to cause any unwanted and possibly unfounded concern."
"You don't want to cause any possibly unfounded concern? We are trapped in a demon infested palace with two warring wizards, surrounded by the Rod of Tiernon that wants to hang us, Rupert is lost and missing somewhere in the midst of this, and you don't want to cause anymore unfounded concern? Don't worry."
"Well, last night I wandered across a gentleman in a disturbing uniform. I hope it is just someone trying to pull some sort of hoax, especially given the name I heard mentioned with this uniform."
"You found someone in a disturbing uniform? Personally, at this moment, I find the Rod's uniforms disturbing. What exactly did you see?" Edwyrd was impatient. He was getting very concerned for Rupert's safety and he didn't feel like beating around the bush.
Maelen frowned again, very grim this time. "The uniform was that of a Time Warrior." Edwyrd just looked at him straight in the eye, waiting for him to continue. "The name that I overheard with the person in the uniform was Ramses. As in Ramses the Damned."
Edwyrd blinked. This really didn't make much sense. "You mean like the Mummy?"
"The mummy?" Now it was Maelen's turn to be confused. "Well, yes he was noted for use of mummies to destroy his enemies. But really he was known as the Anilord in charge of the Time Warriors."
Edwyrd had no idea what Maelen was talking about. The only Ramses he knew about had been a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. Supposedly cursed with immortality and entombed as a mummy in the desert. "Ramses the Immortal? Cursed to wander the face of the globe, undying, for eternity? Is this the Ramses you mean?"
Maelen was quiet, staring at Edwyrd for a moment. Edwyrd wondered if he'd said something really stupid, something that everyone knew about, but him. Finally Maelen blinked. "You obviously know something about this gentleman that I do not. Given that, if this really were Ramses the Damned, he'd be well over a thousand years old; calling him an immortal would certainly not be out of the question."
Edwyrd shrugged. "All I know is that, Ramses II, known variously as Ramses the Great, Ramses the Immortal, and Ramses the Damned was a pharaoh in Egypt three thousand years ago. Supposedly he was cursed for some reason, and doomed to wander the world for all eternity." Edwyrd didn't add that all of this had happened in a different world. If it was Ramses, he was wandering the wrong world.
"Egypt? I've never heard of such a place. I am fairly familiar with history and I recall no such land." Maelen looked puzzled. Edwyrd just shrugged, it had been stupid to bring it up, but he'd opened his mouth without thinking. He'd just carried it through. Actually, it was really pointless at this point for finding Rupert. While Ramses had been a real person, he knew the whole mummy thing was just the stuff of grade B movies. It was highly doubtful that a human from Earth would be wandering around Astlan, three thousand years later.
Tom paused at that one. It wasn't completely impossible. He was from Earth, and as had been pointed out to him on multiple occasions, demons were immortal. It would not be inconceivable that he, Tom, would be wandering Astlan three thousand years in the future. Suddenly he got a real shiver down his spine. He'd never really taken that immortality thing much beyond casual face value. The thought, however, that he, Tom, might actually still be alive in three thousand years sent goose bumps running all over Edwyrd's body. The meaning of the word immortal hadn't really sunk in until that moment. Someone a couple hundred years old was easy enough to imagine, but three thousand? It almost seemed unimaginable.
Maelen had seen somebody claiming to be Ramses the Damned though. Whatever the case, Egypt's Ramses or not, Maelen said the man should be over a thousand years old. It didn't seem likely that humans lived that long on Astlan. True, Maelen was very spritely for his age, but he wasn't the inconceiva
bly old of a true immortal.
A true immortal, thousands of years old, would need to be a demon, or an incredibly powerful wizard or something. If a demon, then surely such a demon would have gotten good enough to be a big shot. Especially if he really had already been a major power in Astlan, or in Egypt. If a demon then he would probably be an archdemon. If one believed what Lenamare said, an archdemon was on his way, possibly already here. Believing the Rod meant there were several unaccounted for archdemons already in the palace.
Edwyrd didn't like the way his thoughts were going at all. He had to let them out though. Maelen seemed about the most trustworthy person he could find for such information. "Maelen," Edwyrd said slowly. Maelen looked up at him, curious by the sudden change in tone of voice.
"What if," Edwyrd paused for a second, getting his thoughts in order. "What if Ramses the Damned is literally that?"
"What do you mean?" Maelen asked shaking his head.
"I mean, what if he really is damned, so to speak. What if he's a demon? More specifically what if he's one of the archdemons that are supposed to be hanging around here? Wouldn't that explain how he could be over a thousand years old?"
Maelen said nothing. He just stared at Edwyrd. He stared for a very long time. Eventually, Edwyrd shrugged. "It makes some sense if you think of it, doesn't it?"
Maelen still said nothing for a moment. Then he bowed his head. "It makes very, very, good sense. I'm just trying to figure out why it's not plausible. It can't be. I hope it's not. I really don't want to contemplate that this fellow really is Ramses the Damned, Ramses the Anilord, the Time Warrior. I don't want to think that that historical monster could actually be an archdemon. It makes so much sense that I don't even want to conceive of it."
