Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (68 page)

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  No, if he had heard it, it must have been as a historical reference to something else.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 Gastrop
é 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 Gastrop
é 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 mind.  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.

Edwyrd shut the door to the room he shared with Rupert softly.  He didn't want to wake the bo
y; 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.  Gastrop
é, 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 Gastrop
é opened the door.

Gastrope' looked puzzled.  "No, just Maelen, who's in some sort of trance."  He gestured over 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.

He did so with only moments to spare, as a patrol of soldiers carrying torches arrived at his location.  It was a group of about ten young men, all in the standard Rod uniform and light, summertime, cloaks.  "What the mighty?"  Asked one of the men carrying a sword rather than a torch.  "It's a naked boy!"  Rupert decided it was time for a repeat of the lost waif routine he'd used on Exador's people.  He started sobbing.  He crouched into a fetal ball on the ground.  "You men," the man who'd spoken before continued, "fan out and keep searching.  Ethen and I will talk to this lad.

"Boy, what are you doing here?  This is not a safe place.  And why are you naked?"  The soldier carefully bent down over Rupert.  Concerned, but wary.  Rupert just sobbed some more.  "There, there, we're friends, we won't hurt you, but we have to know what you're doing here."  He lightly patted Rupert on his back.  Rupert didn't have to fake a wince, even his human skin was a bit raw from the light beam.  "Sssh, it will be all right now, stop crying.  We won't hurt you."

"Help," Rupert whimpered.

"Help?  Do you need help?  What do you need help with?"

"Protect...protect me...please."  Rupert sobbed and stammered.  He knew these guys had to be searching for a downed demon.  He'd play on that.  Hopefully it would get him out of this.

"We'll protect you.  But you've got to let us know what's the matter, and why you're here."  Ethen who was holding the torch stepped a little closer as the leader continued to squat near Rupert.

"D.d.d.emon. "  Rupert stuttered.

"Demon.  You've seen the demon
, boy?  Where is it?  We're looking for it.  Did it come down by here?"

"D.d.d.emon grabbed me.  Carried me through the air.  Hit by light.  I.i.it screamed, then dropped me.  Hurt."  Rupert whimpered.  The leader looked up at Ethen, then down at Rupert again.

"Did you see where the demon went?"  Rupert shook his head negatively and just whimpered.  The leader sighed.  "Ethen," he looked at the other soldier.  "Take this lad," he looked down to Rupert again, "what's your name boy?"

"Snnnfff. Wupert."  Rupert snuffled.

"Err, Rupert" the leader continued to Ethen, "to Sir Talarius.  I'm sure he'd like to question the boy.  I've got to find this demon."  He turned his attention back to Rupert.  "Now child, I want you to go with Ethen here.  He'll take you some place safe.  No demon will get you, this I promise, on Tiernon's Rod."  He took off his cloak and draped it over Rupert.  Ethen put his hand on Rupert's arm to help him up.

Ethen led Rupert back to the Rod's campsite.  As they entered the campsite, Rupert noted that the entire perimeter of the camp had sentries stationed every hundred feet or so.  These fellows certainly didn't take chances.  Apparently they took security a little more seriously than Exador's people.

The two wound their way through tents and past several campfires; Rupert estimated there must be several hundred men here.  Eventually they came to the well-lit region from which the individual had shot Rupert down.  Off to his left, Rupert saw a large hill, it was where the light was centered.  It appeared that excavation was in progress.

It really wasn't clear to Rupert, exactly what the soldiers were doing.  It looked like they'd dug away one side of the hill, giving the hill a vertical incline on
one side.  On the flat wall they had dug on the hill, they appeared to be constructing something that looked like a large doorway in the side of the mountain.  A very large doorway, more like a gate to a castle.  It was certainly going to be big enough for mounted soldiers to ride through.

The doorway, or gate, was being constructed from stones, seemingly laid in some sort of pattern. 
The majority of the manual work was being done by soldiers wearing slightly different uniforms.  Supervising the work was a group of men in white robes.  Rupert guessed these robed men were priests.  Suddenly he got a sick feeling in his stomach.  He hoped that priest from Gizzor Del wasn't with them.  That man would recognize Rupert on the spot.  Dodging up through the trees might not have been a bad idea.

Ethen led Rupert to a man in full
armor.  While the armor didn't actually glow, it did seem to reflect an awful lot of torch light.  The man was big, and with so much armor, Rupert doubted he could move very fast.  Ethen called out, "Sir Talarius!"  The big man turned and quickly strode over to them.  The grace and fluidity of his movements completely reversing Rupert's opinions.

One didn't have to be a scholar to figure that this guy was a knight.  A very impressive knight, exactly like in the stories Rupert had been told as a child.  Perhaps the stories he had been told about demons had been biased and overblown; apparently, however, the stories of knights in shining
armor were only too true.  A strange sort of fierce calm seemed to almost radiate from the knight as he came up to Ethen and Rupert. 

He looked down at the shivering Rupert and smiled a kindly, gentle smile.  Rupert's heart almost came up in his throat.  The man seemed so sincere, so warm in his concern.  "What have we here, Ethen, a lost young lad perhaps?"  The knight asked softly.  He reached down to gently lift Rupert's chin and gaze into his eyes.  It took all Rupert's will not to break down and confess.  Confess what, he wasn't sure.  Confess he was a demon spawn?  It didn't seem like a wise idea
; yet even so, he felt he could trust the man with even his greatest secrets. 

"We found him wandering in the forest sir, naked."  Ethen reported.

"Naked?" The man's voice remained calm and gentle, but it did cause him to raise an eyebrow.

"Yes sir.  He was shivering and," Ethen glanced down sympathetically to Rupert, obviously hating to
embarrass Rupert, "uhm, sobbing."  The young soldier was being nice about it, but Rupert would just have preferred the man to be direct and honest it would make his story so much more believable.  "His name is Rupert. He says that he had been kidnapped by a demon, who was hauling him off somewhere.  It was the demon you just shot down.   When the demon was hurt, he dropped the boy into the trees."

"Hmm," Talarius mused, looking Rupert over intently.  "Is this true lad?"  Talarius asked, seeming to be genuinely concerned.

"Y.y.yes lord."  Rupert stuttered.

"Not lord, lad.  Just Talarius.  I'm a knight of Tiernon, not a lord."  The knight corrected gently with a forgiving smile.  "Now why did the demon grab you and why were you naked?"  The knight crouched down in his heavy
armor to look Rupert head on.  His hand resting gently, comfortingly on Rupert's shoulders.

"Uhm, I.I.I don't know."  Rupert snuffled some more.  "I live on a farm." Rupert ran the back of his wrist across his nose, as if to wipe it.  "I woke up thirsty and there was no water.  I went out to the well to fetch some.  As I was filling it, this...this..." Rupert shuddered in what he thought was an appropriate manner. "This demon grabbed my robe.  It dragged me a long ways.  Finally the robe ripped off me."

Rupert began to hyperventilate a little, for dramatic effect.  Trying not to overdo it.  He gulped.  "I ran, ran as fast as I could back to mum and dah.  I screamed for help.  They couldn't help me.  They...they weren't fast enough.  The demon came back.  He grabbed me with his claws."  Rupert closed his eyes, shivering again, pretending to remember the horrible moment. He'd thought this story up as they'd wandered through the camp.  He hadn't had long; he hoped it would hold up.

"It carried me.  We flew a long ways, over that city."  He pointed back to Freehold.  "Then we were over your lights.  The demon, it circled for a little bit. Then...then some glowing man on the ground shot the demon!  It screamed.  Right in my ear.  The next thing, the next thing I know is that I was falling through trees.  Then these men found me."  He tugged on Ethen's cloak.

He hugged himself, and looked the knight right in the eyes, trying to be as sincere as he'd ever been about anything.  "Please, please, Sir Talarius.  Please don't let the nasty demon get me.  I'm afraid.  So afraid."  Rupert shivered some more and then bent his head, as if in shame and fright, staring at the ground.