Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (66 page)

The demon was red all over.  He had completely human legs except that they ended in hooves.  Actually, aside from the hooves, a horse's tail, the traditional bat-like wings and ivory horns, the demon looked nothing so much as a fat, red, short human.  He was also completely bald, but his ears were normal.  He had rather chubby cheeks to go with his large paunch.  Oh, he also had, Rupert noted, some rather nasty looking fingernails.  The demon was wearing a small red
loincloth.

The demon smiled evilly at Rupert.  The demon had wickedly pointed fangs also.  Short, but wicked looking.  Actually, Rupert was only guessing that the smile was rather wicked looking.  He supposed that it was at least supposed to be wicked looking, but Tom was much better at it.  Rupert wondered if he should act terrified.  He supposed that would be the appropriate human response, but frankly, even Tizzy was scarier looking than this fellow. 

"Where do you think you're going, little boy?"  The demon chuckled, again in what Rupert guessed to be a suitably terrifying form.   Maybe it would look better if he played along a little bit.

He supposed he should at least be polite to one of his fellow demons.  He really didn't know demon etiquette.  That was one of the problems with a human upbringing
, he supposed.  If he'd grown up in the Abyss, with Tom, he'd probably know better how to handle the situation.  "Well, I saw this doorway here," he pointed to the one he'd came through.  "It was rather curious, being invisible and all, and since it wasn't particularly locked.  I decided to check it out."  Rupert told the demon truthfully.

The demon stopped smiling,
apparently, annoyed Rupert wasn't a quivering mass of gelatin.  "It wasn't well-locked because I'm here to guard it."  The demon concentrated what Rupert guessed to be a stern/evil stare at him.

"Oh."  Rupert
said matter-of-factly.  "That would make sense.  Why are you guarding it?  Is there anything interesting behind that door?"  He pointed to the other door.

"Wouldn't you like to know
, kiddie?"  The demon snarled nastily. 

"Yes, actually, if it's not too much of a bother."

The demon blinked.  "Well kid, I've got orders to let no one pass.  That includes you.  I don't like to have to kill kids...but I don't see that I have an alternative."  The demon shrugged, flexing its claws.

Rupert frowned.  "Isn't that a bit drastic?  I was just curious.  I thought the council was supposed to be full of good
guys? Killing an innocent little kid for his curiosity seems a little harsh and out of character."

The demon smiled, apparently more evilly, it was certainly showing more teeth.  "I don't work for the council.  My master is a bit more powerful than those pathetic windbags.  He's ordered me to kill anyone entering without his approval.  You entered. You weren't approved.  You  gotta die."

"Are you sure?  No escape clause or anything?"  Rupert quizzed the demon.  It was really looking annoyed.

"Given that you are just a kid, I could probably get away with letting you go.  However, since you saw the door, you are obviously some snot-nosed wizard brat.  If I let you'll go, you'll only grow up to be a wizard and enslave more demons.  Thus if I kill you now, I'll save some demon a lot of misery.  Thus you might say it's personal."  The demon smiled.

"I really don't think..." Rupert began, but was unable to finish.  The demon had reached forward and swatted him with his claws.  "Aaaggghhh."  Rupert cried.  He went spinning across the room to the corner from the force of the blow.  His chest stung severely.  He looked down to see red, bloody tracks running across his chest where the demon had clawed him.  He crouched on the floor where he'd been flung.

He looked to the door he'd entered.  It seemed to be invisible again, this time from this side.  He looked back to the demon.  The demon was smiling extremely wickedly at him this time.  There could be no mistake.  The demon was about to play hardball.  Rupert didn't think the demon intended to let him live.

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.  Look
ing 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 Gastrop
é 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.