Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (36 page)

Tom supposed that if he were to be objective in fact, preferring this demon form wasn't necessarily totally crazy.  So far, he'd been upset about his seeming brainwashed preference for his demon form over his old human body, but what if it was just his common sense?  After all, if he really thought about it, why shouldn't he prefer the demon form? 

True it was rather frightening and turned people away and caused them to faint.   That hurt, that hurt a lot, but was it always his problem?  How much of it was people's irrational (
OK, so maybe rational, given history
) biases against demons.  If people gave him a chance they'd like him, he was sure.  Look at Rupert; well maybe he was a weird case.  Look at Jenn, she didn't trust him completely, but she was at least starting to deal with him as a person, not an object.  He also had Tizzy and Bogsworth as friends.  Gastropé was still a problem, but he wasn't sure he wanted that guy as a friend anyway.   Yeah, he felt lonely, but no lonelier than he'd been in Harding, and things were getting better.

Now true, the demon form was also symbolic of the slave state he was in, although since Jehenna had summoned him last, and then cut and run, he hadn't had to worry about his slavery too much.  He wondered what those guys
were up to?  In the end, it was also true that he was stuck in this form for a long time.  Well not completely stuck, he now knew he could pretend to look human.  If he really wanted to.  The scary thing was, he was no longer sure he wanted to.  Ever.

After all, if he looked at the positive side, there was a lot to be said.  One, he was stronger and tougher than anybody he'd met, at least physically.  He could fly, that was fun and handy.    He hadn't really worked much with it, but apparently he could shoot some form of energy bolts and things like that.  Or at least his Tae-Kwon-Do was translating a little too literally around here.  All of his senses were keener th
an the wildest animal's.  He had telescopic vision, some form of infrared vision, and who knew what other similar things.  No normal weapons could hurt him, even if they did, it was nearly impossible to kill him.  At worst any wounds would send him back to the Abyss, where he could regenerate.  He could shape change!  Crap, he was damn near a superhero!

He didn't get hungry or thirsty.  He wasn't like one of the little humans so dependent on shelter and weapons to protect themselves from nature. Humans got hungry, humans got sick and came down with diseases.     As far as he could determine from what Boggy and Tizzy had said, he wouldn't age either.  He was immortal!  He could live for thousands of years.

  If he was going to toil his life away in slavery, that could be a problem; but if he went out and did something with his life....  Talk about a chance to overcome existential dread!  Given all that, who would want to be a scrawny teenaged boy?  Who would want to go back into the tiny little alabaster pimple of a body that humans got stuck with. 

Face it Tom,
he told himself,
what are you bitching about?  It was every guy's dream come true.  Superhuman powers, flight, super strength, invulnerability, telescopic vision, trans-dimensional hearing, energy bolts, shape changing, dimension hopping.  What comic book hero could ever do all that?
  If this were a video game, he’d kill to have a character like himself!  He was almost a minor god! 
Well maybe not a god,
let's not get carried away here,
he was not that powerful.  Most the wizards he met could bend him to their thumb.  Something close to godlike but not so powerful, and with more limitations. What he was, Tom suddenly realized, was a demon!

A demon!  Well, it had literally been staring him in the face for some time.  He'd even kind of pretended at it for a while.  It
had simply never hit him like that before.  It was kind of a, what was the word? an epiphany, that was the word.  So what kid wouldn't be thrilled to be a demon?  'I Was a Teenage Demon!'  was a perfect name for a grade B horror movie Tom thought.  A TV show would be ‘Teen Demon’ or better yet, the ‘Demon Diaries’. 
Who wouldn't be thrilled?
  Well apparently he wasn't.

Not to take away from his moment of revelation, but Tom had to admit to himself that he hadn't been having the greatest time of his life. Subjectively, at least.  Of course, it seemed to Tom that that was one of the rules of having an adventure.  'Never enjoy an adventure while you're on it.  Wait until it's over and look back on it with longing.'  That's always the way it seemed to work.  He just didn't have the necessary objectivity to view the whole thing like he was reading a book, or remembering it from a long time past.  How was one supposed to get that level of objectivity?  Tom certainly didn't know.  At the moment this 'adventure' was just a pain.  Tom halted himself in mid-thought.  To be fair, he
had to admit that cruising around Astlan was a lot more fun than sitting in an empty cave waiting to be called by his 'master.' 

On the other hand, compared to just getting up in the morning in his own home where his mom was, and going to high school
every day, caused both cave and Astlan to pale.  At the time, he hadn't really realized what he had in Harding.  Things always seemed better in hindsight. 
So great,
Tom thought,
I now know how stupid I was not appreciating Harding.  So I guess this is the part where I click my Red Hooves together three times and say 'There's no place like home, There's no place like home, There's NO place like home!'

As was to be expected, not much happened.  He still wasn't in
Kansas, or in Tom's case, New Jersey.  Actually, Tom had to admit, a lot of Jersey was more like the Abyss than Kansas anyway.  Tom sighed.  He was just standing there looking down at Edwyrd's clothes.  He tried to walk around a bit, softly, so as not to scare the priest.  He'd love to go out and stretch his wings a bit.  The little Edwyrd body had made him feel claustrophobic and the fact that he kept gouging the ceiling beams with his horns didn't help.  He leaned against the wall so he could stick his legs out and stretch them.  His knees in each leg were starting to get a bit stiff, or so he imagined.  He was sure it was just being cooped up that made him feel that way.

How long had it been? 
How long had he stood there wrestling with the horns of his dilemma, or more precisely with the lack of horns of his dilemma
, thought Tom looking at Edwyrd's clothes.  The others might return soon.  While they couldn't walk in and surprise him due to the bars on the door, if Edwyrd wasn't already back by the time they knocked, it might get tricky.  He doubted he could change back and dress quickly enough not to arouse suspicion.

Of course,
Tom thought, still looking at the clothes,
I could stay in this form; point to the clothes and say I'd gotten hungry and eaten Edwyrd. 
Tom smiled, it wasn't completely wrong, Edwyrd was inside him. He suspected, however, that it wouldn't make Jenn trust him any more than she already didn't.  But...he reminded himself, he could see Gastropé faint again, especially if he could manage to make his stomach growl while he was looking at the wizard.  "Tom, you're just evil," he said to himself softly with a smile.

Edwyrd wandered out of the kitchen.  It really was rather dark in this place since the candles went out.  The light seeping around the doorway didn't do much.  In his Tom form he didn't notice the darkness, but Edwyrd's feeble human eyes had trouble seeing.  Tom supposed that if he ever got good enough, he could probably make improvements on Edwyrd's body.  Strength, eyesight, little things so that Edwyrd still looked human, but had some of the advantages of being a demon.  Unfortunately, for the moment, it was all Tom could do to keep control just being Edwyrd.

There were some cupboards with more candles in them, Edwyrd supposed he should light some, but he wasn't sure how.  He didn't have a lighter or any matches, and didn't know how to use flint and steel even if he found them.  He knew from experience that Tom could probably light them by force of will alone. He was afraid, though, that in his current form, if he concentrated hard enough on creating fire, he'd lose control over his body.  That was his real problem.  No matter what he did he felt like he had to hold part of himself back to maintain control.

Idly he looked through some drawers, hoping to find some way to light the candles.  The priest went "Mmmmphh, mmmmmph."  Tom looked over to the priest.  The priest was wiggling trying to attract his attention.  Actually, Tom thought, here was a chance to maybe get some nonbiased information about Astlan.  Of course the guy only wanted to escape, but maybe he'd talk, thinking that by talking he could get free sooner.

Tom walked over to the priest and sat down rather stiffly on the floor.  It felt really weird to sit down like that.  He hadn't done it in so long.  He kept expecting to bend his tail painfully at any moment.  He pulled the gag away from the priest's mouth.

"Son, son, you've made a terrible mistake, you've been fooled by a group of evildoers."  The priest quickly tried to warn Tom.  "You've got to help me get free.  There is great danger to the entire city. Nay to the entire world!"

Tom would have to try to turn the guy's attention for a bit if he was going to get any information.  "Why should I believe you?  After all, didn't you summon a demon to attack my cousin and his friends?"  Actually Tom was pretty amazed at how easily lying came to him.  He supposed that being a demon made him a natural.

"NO! Not at all.  All to the contrary.  They are demonic cohorts.  At first I'd thought they were slaves of a Greater Demon, but now I see that they're
actually wizards!  Wizards of such vast power as to be able to command the very lords of the Abyss.  They came and brought with them two demons of horrific might."

"I don't see any demons around here now."  Edwyrd commented, looking around as if for demons.

"I know, I know, I don't know where the foul beings went.  I don't know why I am still alive!  I suspect that it is so they can sacrifice me later!  You must beware lest they sacrifice you to."

Egads
, this guy had some imagination.  It was no wonder he fainted.  Tom also had to admit, that if he really were Edwyrd, and had just walked into as strange a situation as had existed this morning, he'd be half tempted to believe the priest.  He looked up at where the braziers were.  "Then do you deny summoning a demon?"

Verigas followed Edwyrd's eyes to the braziers.  His eyes began to fill with tears.  "No, no, I admit to a small
Conjury.  I was just trying to summon a first order demon that occasionally runs some small errands for me.  Unfortunately, it all went wrong this time.  I don't know how or why but my spell was usurped by a greater demon for its evil machinations."

"Hmmm, well it seems to me that if you're going to go around conjuring demons, you get what you deserve."  Edwyrd stated looking the priest in the eyes.  After all, he did admit to being a slave owner.

The priest sniffed sadly, "I know, I know, Tiernon has shown me the errors of my ways.  If I get out of this alive, I'll never summon another demon again."

"Well, that seems pretty reasonable."  At least some of the crazies could be scared into good behavior, thought Edwyrd.   "I know if I'd been through a similar experience I wouldn't want to.

"So what do you do in this city anyway?  When you're not conjuring demons."

The priest did a slight double take at the change of topic.  "Uhhm, I'm the head priest of the God Tiernon here in
Gizzor Del.  I know the Duke.  I can assure you, that if you free me, I'll be able to provide you with the full protection of the church and the Duke's men.  Your cousin's friends won't be able to retaliate."

"Hmm, but you said," Edwyrd paused for dramatic effect, "that they had a greater demon.  If that's true, what sort of protection
are the church and the Duke's soldiers?  After all, you are the high priest and they captured you." 

The priest started getting teary eyed again.  "I know, I know, but we must try, we can't all be vanquished by the evil machinations of wizards and their demons.  We must try and fight for our lives and our city."

The guy, Edwyrd thought, was at least not the total coward he'd seemed earlier.  He at least seemed sincere in trying to stand up against what he perceived as a threat.  He'd been cowering earlier, but given the circumstances, that could probably be understood.  It was sad, of course, that he had to be scared into believing all this.  Edwyrd felt rather depressed that he had to scare the guy so bad, but he didn't know what he could have done differently.

Knock, knock....knock....knock, knock.  Came the prearranged signal at the door that the others were back.  Edwyrd quickly replaced the gag on the cleric.  He gave the man a slightly apologetic smile as he did so.  He then stood up and walked carefully over to the door to unbar it.  He opened the door and stepped aside as Jenn hurried in, followed by Gastrop
é and Rupert.

None of the three seemed to be carrying much in the way of supplies.  "Any luck?" Edwyrd asked.

"Well, I found a sage who had a semi-reliable map."  Jenn answered.  "It looks like we need to head northeast from here."

"Over a sea," Rupert chimed in.

"A sea?"  Edwyrd asked uncertainly.

"Yes," said Jenn, "it appears that we need to cross a small sea to a port called Hoggensforth.  From there
it’s only a bit over a week’s ride to Freehold."

"How are we going to cross the sea?" Edwyrd asked, getting nervous about the answer.

"By boat of course," Jenn answered somewhat condescendingly.

"Yes, but can we afford that
? I don't have any money."  Edwyrd was actually more concerned about being trapped on in close quarters with a bunch of people when he might lose control at any moment.

"That's where I came in," spoke up Gastrop
é.  "We went to the harbormaster and found a ship going to Hoggensforth.  After a lot of persuasion on my part," Gastrope' said with a proud smile, "I was able to get us a discount rate."

"A discount rate," Edwyrd asked suspiciously.

"Well," Jenn said sourly, "it seems there's a slight problem with pirates on this sea.  By convincing the ship's master that he'd have three combat trained wizards on board, he was able to make a deal that we could afford." She looked pointedly at Gastropé with a frown on her face.

"Oh." Edwyrd said, then his brows furrowed. "Three wizards?"

"Well," Gastropé said depreciatingly, "I did have to exaggerate a little."

"A little?"  Jenn asked, obviously annoyed. "I am not combat trained, and I doubt you exactly are either."   Gastrop
é sniffed at this. "And Rupert doesn't even count as a wizard, he's just a very junior student at best.  Besides who would even take a little kid seriously as a wizard anyway?"

"We don't have to tell them which three of us are wizards." Gastrop
é returned.  "We can just let them assume that Edwyrd is the third wizard."

"Oh, yeah, and what if we run into pirates?"  Jenn asked angrily.

"We improvise."  Gastropé threw his hands above his head.  "Trust me, it'll work if you don't lose your calm."

"They'll expect him to be able to cast spells or something if it comes to a fight. I mean..." she suddenly turned her attention to Edwyrd.  "What exactly do you do for a living anyway?" she asked.

"Uhm," Edwyrd was taken unprepared.  He thought quickly, trying to come up with a plausible job for an  Astlanian. Something he could be sure they had.  What was it Rupert had said earlier about Tom? "I'm a, uh,  animage."

"An animage?" Jenn seemed taken aback.  She blinked a couple of times.  "Really?  Why didn't you say so earlier."  Her eyes narrowed slightly, suddenly, and her head tilted.  "Really?" she repeated.

Crap, what have I got myself into, thought Edwyrd, he didn't even know what an animage was.  All he could do to salvage the situation was to try and carry the bluff through.  He noted out of the corner of his eye that Rupert was grimacing.  "Yeah, really.  I mean, I'm not the greatest, but I get by."
That sure sounded stupid
Edwyrd thought even as he said it.

"Hmm," Jenn acted as if she wasn't sure. "Well then, we should talk sometime, I'd be very interested in trading some theories of mine with you.  Get your perspective on some healing issues."

"Yeah, sounds good."  Edwyrd said, almost out of the corner of his mouth, trying to keeps his smile from looking too fake.

"Ok," Jenn said turning back to Gastrop
é, "then at least it wasn't a total lie.  We've got  three mana wielders at least."  The tone of her voice was such that Edwyrd could tell she wasn't totally convinced.  He was going to have to ask Rupert exactly what one of these animage guys was, so he wouldn't say anything too terribly out of place.

"Fine, so," Gastrop
é said, seemingly happy that the matter was apparently resolved, "we need to get ready to go.  The ship leaves with the second tide, this afternoon."