Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan)

by Langland, J.

  “Ready for what?” Damien asked.

  The page blinked in surprise. “The purge.” The page answered.

  “What is ‘the purge’?” Damien asked, waking up.

  “The huge ritual the Council is doing this morning to evict all the demons. You were sent a missive from Gandros. The rest have been working all night getting ready and they sent me to get you when you still hadn’t shown up.”

  Damien shook his head. “What rest? The entire council?”

  The page shook his head, “No, just the critical ones for the wards and the spell.” Damien just looked at him waiting for more. “Uhm, Alexandros Mien, Gandros, Lenamare and Jehenna are taking the key positions; then the rest of Lenamare’s team, Gandros’ top rune wizards and conjurors; Zilquar, Sier Barvon and his top three wizards, Davron and the two main aides he had here along with Turelador and the ward team.”

  Damien ran through his head at who was missing, “So no Exador, Randolf or Trevin?”

  “Trevin was invited but declined due to health concerns on her part.”

  “Ok, wait here.” Damien said as he rushed to his dressing room. He started changing into his ceremonial robes, bath be damned. “Antefalken…” he hissed at the demon.

  Antefalken came out of the bath looking puzzled. Damien gestured him closer and bent down to whisper. “The Council is about to evict all the demons, forcibly. Find our friends and get yourselves out of town fast. I don’t know what they are going to do, but I doubt it will be pleasant given the fire power they’re unleashing.” He gestured for the small demon to get going as fast and stealthily as possible.

  ~

  Edwyrd and Rupert were wandering back from breakfast, taking a scenic walk along an upper open air walkway when Antefalken finally found them. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you for the last hour. Where’s Tizzy?”

  Edwyrd and Rupert stopped as the bard came up to them. “Hi, what’s up?” Rupert asked.

  “Haven’t seen Tizzy yet this morning.” Edwyrd replied.

  “We need to get out of town quickly.” Antefalken stated.

  Edwyrd looked at him in puzzlement. “The Council, with Lenamare’s guidance along with Alexandros Mien is doing something to evict all the demons in the city. Forcibly.”

  “What do you mean forcibly?” Rupert asked, concerned.

  “I don’t know, myself, but I’m thinking sort of like a banishment spell, a repelling spell, you know like the reverse of a binding pentacle that keeps us in.” Antefalken replied.

  “So like we’re all going to feel an overwhelming need to flee the city?” Edwyrd said, thinking about the compulsion he’d had to get inside the wards. “What about the wards?”

  Antefalken shook his head, “I have no idea, presumably they’ll be tuned to let us out.”

  Rupert was lost in thought. “Do you suppose any of them thought to open the windows?” The other two demons looked at him in puzzlement.

  ~

  “Are you ready, Councilor Damien?” Lenamare asked.

  “I believe so.” Damien said taking his place and staring at the notes that he’d been given.”

  “It’s very short notice, I realize, but we couldn’t locate you that easily yesterday.” Gandros said.

  “I was working to integrate Lenamare’s and Zilquar’s forces into the city guard and deal with getting them out of the dungeon.” Damien said.

  “Yes, thanks, but this is truly important and we need your power and experience.” Lenamare said, rather tediously. “We are aligning these new parasympathetic pentacles and wards to the main city wards and then aligning them to create a demonic reverse vortex, that will basically suck all the demons, of whatever level, out of the city.”

  Damien’s eyes were rapidly scanning the notes. “Insane, absolutely astonishing, I have to admit to being impressed Councilor.” Lenamare smiled coldly, a gleeful pride shining in his eyes. Jehenna grinned as well. “I would never have thought of something like this; and the scope, the sheer power we’ll be channeling…”

  “Yes.” Lenamare agreed, positively beaming with the adoration. “Ready?” Damien nodded.

  ~

  “A very nice tea, I must say.” Bess complimented Exador. The three allies were in Exador’s suite enjoying tea, toast and fresh fruit as the morning sun filtered in through the wards onto the balcony and through the wide-open French doors in the suite.

  “Hmm. Decent.” Ramses said.

  Exador nodded. “I had it imported from the southern hemisphere, very rare down there even.

  Bess paused while sipping. “Do you feel an odd thrumming noise?” She asked suddenly.

  The other two stopped and listened, there was definitely a thrumming noise, a low-level bass droning that was getting steadily louder, they could even feel slight vibrations in the table.

  Ramses looked out the window. “The wards are getting weird.” They all looked out the open doors to the wards over the city walls. The wards were oscillating, as if the entire sphere was rotating, each slice starting to have a different color. Mostly shades of red, but also violet and green. More colors began to appear, as the rotation of the ward sphere seemed to increase.

  “What in the Abyss is the council up to?” Exador asked.

  “I’ve never seen wards do that before.” Ramses stated.

  Bess swallowed hard. “I don’t know about you, but it’s starting to make me nervous.”

  Exador and Ramses both did a double take and stared at her. Archdemons didn’t get nervous, and if they did, they didn’t say that. Suddenly there was the sound of glass crashing somewhere outside, but in the palace. A moment later another sound of glass shattering and then screams of anger, rage and frustration started.

  Exador got a sick look on his face. “Ok, now I’m feeling nauseous and anxious myself.” Ramses nodded, he was looking a bit paler than usual.

  “This is very strange.” Bess said. “It’s been about three thousand years or more, but if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was having a panic attack.”

  Ramses growled through gritted teeth. “A panic attack is caused by a rush of neurotransmitters in the brain; it’s a chemical reaction. I seriously doubt your body has the chemicals necessary to induce a panic attack.” He was breathing heavily.

  The screams and roars from around the palace were getting louder. There were a few more glass crashing noises. “What the fuck is going on?” Exador looked towards the wards. “Holy shit!”

  They all turned to stare, there were demons flying through the air, from the palace towards the wards. As they hit the wards there was a flash of light and then the demons were on the other side of the wards.

  “It’s a fucking banishment spell!” Exador raged.

  “Fuck, they’re banishing demons from the city.” Ramses raged.

  “How the hell are they doing this?” Bess grabbed her head, she was bent over trying not to puke. “It’s effecting us!” She was taking very deep breathes, they all were.

  Exador grunted. “I can’t, I can’t fucking understand how this is possible. All my demons, they’re fleeing, every one of them.” He was clasping a large talisman on a jeweled necklace. There was an explosion from somewhere, the sounds of stone and mortar being blasted apart. Apparently, some demons were having trouble getting out. Screams from around the palace were getting louder as more demons were being thwarted from leaving.

  “How is it affecting us, all of us, and all of them.” Ramses asked.

  “No fu..uh..cking idea!” Exador raced to a closet door and yanked it open. He pulled out a large rug and gestured for them to help him unroll it. “Since, I am sure, none of us wants to shape change into a flying form and we need to maintain our appearances; I suggest we get on this frigging rug and get the hell out of here.”

  “Amen…” Bess said tears of pain running down her cheeks as she helped the other two unroll the carpet.

  “Fuck.” Ramses shouted. “I really, really don’t fucking like this feeling. Yo
u fucking wizards are a royal pain in the ass, Exador.”

  Exador laughed, “Not me, my friend, this has got to be the work of one, and only one fucking cocksucker; and by all that’s unholy is he going to pay for it. Oh Lenamare, if you thought you had an enemy before…” Exador laughed over his own gasps of anxiety and pain. Exador barely had enough wits about him at this point to order the carpet up and out of the palace.

  ~

  Glass was exploding around them; demonic screams were coming from all over the palace. “Well, I guess that explains what they are going to do.” Edwyrd said. Antefalken was pure white at this point and Rupert was also looking rather Gastropéish.

  “Ahh fuck!” Rupert screamed and dove over the edge of the balcony changing form even as he did so. It was fast and it was furious and he damn near hit the ground before being able to take flight, but then he got up into the air and headed out.

  “I’m with him!” Antefalken stated and took off.

  Edwyrd shook his head. He felt it, he felt it bad. It wasn’t as bad, yet, as it had been when he’d needed to get into the castle. He hoped Tizzy would get out OK. Yes, it was definitely building. Edwyrd flashed to flame and then to his demon form and took off after the others. The feeling was definitely growing in intensity; he was feeling nauseous at this point.

  He turned and flew backwards as best he could, watching as other demons, hundreds of them burst out of windows, a few through walls and headed to the wards and out of the city. There were demons going in every direction, from almost every direction. The vast majority were coming from the palace, but there were quite a few from other parts of the city as well. Were there over a thousand?

  Tom headed through the wards. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t archers shooting down demons, or trying to. Where they failed, wizards were zapping demons with lightning bolts! It was like a demon massacre! Holy shit! The Sky Fleet and the Rod were acting in tandem to shoot demons down where they would then hack them to pieces on the ground!

  This was fucking insane! Those demons hadn’t been doing anything but spying and now they were being butchered? True, they’d most likely just go back to the Abyss, but it would be very painful for them. The vast majority were type I and II demons.

  Tom shook his head in dismay and looked for Antefalken and Rupert. He found Antefalken hovering high, dodging arrows, occasionally batting at one with his harp. “Hey.” Tom said as he approached.

  “This really sucks.” Antefalken said sourly.

  Tom nodded. “Tell me about it. It is starting to piss me off. Have you seen Rupert?”

  “Not yet.”

  Tom, or rather, Edwyrd had managed to get a link on to Rupert last night, fortunately. He could feel Rupert, alive on the other side. It was just a tad bit confusing, at the moment, to follow it; what with all the demons and arrows an lightning bolts.

  Tom scanned trying to find Rupert visually. As he glanced back towards the city, he saw Tizzy come through the wards, sort of drifting aimlessly, staring around at all the commotion. “Tizzy!” Tom shouted.

  Tizzy spotted him and flew over. “What’s going on, what’s with the party?” Tizzy asked.

  “What do you mean?” Antefalken asked.

  Tizzy shrugged, “I was just wandering around this morning and suddenly all these demons start screaming and heading for the wards, like there was some big party going on, and no one had told me.” He shook his head and lit his pipe, which was suddenly in one of hands.

  The other two demons looked at him as if he were insane —which technically—he was, “Didn’t you feel the compulsion spell?” Tom asked.

  “The anxiety, the fear?” Antefalken asked.

  Tizzy blinked and thought for a moment. “Oh, that. I just thought that was a sour stomach. Ate some seriously noxious stuff last night. That and I’m pretty hung over. And, well, I’m just a little twitchy normally so…really didn’t pay it much mind.”

  Antefalken shook his head. He turned to Tom and shrugged, “Well, I’ve heard that fear spells and such don’t work very well, or predictably, on the insane. Who knows?”

  Tom just shook his head. Tizzy never ceased to astonish, he started to look around for Rupert again when about two thousand feet away a flying carpet with wizards came flying out of the wards. The wizards were rolling around on the carpet looking pretty sick.

  “What are they doing? Coming out to observe their handy work?” Tom asked and pointed. Antefalken squinted, telescoping in on the rug.

  “The one guy is Exador, Lenamare’s arch enemy.” Antefalken stated.

  “Notice the one guy, in the leather straps and the two swords on his back?” Tom asked, Antefalken nodded, “Ramses,” they both stated.

  “Who’s the woman?” Tom asked; Antefalken shook his head, not knowing.

  Tizzy piped up. “Her name is Bess. I keep trying to get her in the sack, but she plays hard to get.” Tizzy was rubbing his first set of genitals; however not erotically, more like in pain. “Last time she used acid to burn my nuts off; took forever to grow them back.” Tizzy complained.

  The other two demons shook their heads. “Well, now we know who the three archdemons are.” Antefalken stated. Tom laughed, not really amused.

  “That was one hell of a spell to get rid of Archdemons, Greater Demons and a thousand or more other demons.” Antefalken shook his head. I suppose if one has to have an Accursed Master, there’s no shame in having yours, Tom.”

  Tom gave him a sardonic grin. “Gee, thanks!”

  Tom suddenly felt a rush of panic, he couldn’t figure out what was causing it until he realized it was coming from his link to Rupert. He quickly arrowed in on it, following it down to Rupert. “Oh shit!” Tom exclaimed.

  “What is it?” The other two demons looked at him. “It’s Rupert, the Rod has got him again.” Tom shook his head and took off towards Rupert, the other two following.

  Chapter 79

  Tom flew towards Rupert as quickly as he could; he used his long-range vision and hearing along with the link to figure out what was happening.

  Rupert was on the ground rubbing his right wing where it had apparently been shot; taking him out of the sky and into a circle of Rod members; including the big guy in the glowing armor that must be Talarius.

  “So Rupert Demon,” the knight asked. “How many times am I going to have to kill you?” Talarius drew his sword.

  Rupert stood up straighter and got into something like a fighting stance. “At least this time I’ll be able to put up a fight.” Rupert answered bravely.

  “I don’t think it will be that much of a fight; I’ve taken your measure once before, demon.” Talarius responded very seriously.

  “Well then,” Tom’s voice boomed down from above as he came in for a landing between the knight and the boy demon. “How about fighting an adult? Man to man, rather than slaughtering children for sport?”

  Talarius stepped back in surprise and shock as the giant twelve-foot tall demon landed. The entire circle of priests stepped back giving them more room, the priests behind the front row getting shoved violently back.

  “What lies are you spewing, demon?” Talarius asked Tom.

  “First: I thought you were a Holy man, sworn to goodness? You sounded a bit smug and egotistical talking to Rupert. You know what they say: Pride goeth before the fall? Vanity is the root of all evil? And so on.”

  Tom could see the knight’s eyes twitch within his helmet; he’d hit a nerve. “Second, Rupert is just a child. I don’t think it’s very honorable for a great and glorious knight to go around killing children for sport, do you?”

  “That demon is no child; it’s a demon.” Talarius told Tom sternly, “and removing evil from this world is not a sport; it’s a duty. A solemn duty.”

  Tom shook his head in exasperation. “What, you think demons don’t have children? You’ve seen his human form. That’s what he really looks like; that’s who he really is. And you killed him, in your own tent, for no re
ason other than he’d been flying overhead the night before.”

  “Lies, lies! He came with you through a portal to take over the world!” Verigas pushed his way forward to yell at Tom.

  Tom shook his head in pity at the priest. “Verigas, you were meddling where you shouldn’t have been. I needed a doorway to get my human charges back to Astlan; you simply provided that gateway. No one harmed you. We even arranged for you to escape; if we meant you harm, you wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Liar, all demons lie. You seek to confuse us with your lies!” Verigas shouted.

  “You are as crazy as those damn wizards, blinded by your own paranoia and fear. You can’t even see the truth when it’s presented to you because you are too wrapped up in silly superstitions and prejudices.” Tom told him.

  “Enough chatter demon!” Talarius shouted; “You simply seek to delay us so that your compatriots can destroy us!”

  “Destroy you?” Tom waved his arms around. “We, my compatriots as you call them and I aren’t the ones who were lying in ambush outside the city waiting for us to be driven out against our will where you could begin slaughtering us!” Tom raised his arms above his head in frustration.

  “You have seriously got to be kidding me.” Tom continued. “It is you who seek to destroy us; we are simply trying to get out of Freehold thanks to a spell cast by wizards; the only people getting killed are demons! Look around!” He waved his arms more vigorously

  “Your words are ever so cunning; Greater Demons are ‘greater’ not just for their size but for their cunning and deceptiveness.”

  “Dude,” Tom said, “and I say that in most laid back way I can; you are seriously tripping! I don’t have to be cunning or deceptive; you guys are falling all over yourselves with your own paranoia and self-deceptions.”

  “Why do you prevaricate? Let’s have this out.” Talarius commanded, rather than asked.

  Tom sighed. “So you want to fight me?” The knight tilted his head in agreement. “Very well, here’s the deal. We fight just you and me, no one else; if you win, you guys get to continue on with what you were doing before I arrived. If I win, you and the Rod stop attacking the demons and let them go their own way in peace. Agreed?”