I don’t know whether this superstitious gesture exists in this world, but I need all the luck I can get. Or block what other dumb shit is coming my way, reflected the mage.
“Ah, Havard. What a headache you gave our draken friend. You do have to excuse her absence; she mentioned something about trying to understand what she saw,” laughed Dionysus.
At least Dio’s laughing, observed the mage with some relief. But though noticed Hrun was thoughtfully staring at him.
“What she saw? She was going to wipe clean the ground hereabout with me, if the pair of you noticed,” retorted the mage caustically. Tyler knew what Dionysus was referring to, and he wasn’t about to give up the secret of the staff.
“Oh, that was nothing. Probably a buffeting by her wings and a nudge of that spiked tail. You have to understand how upset she was upon seeing this fellow again, and in your company too,” Dionysus brushed aside his objection. “Fortunately, I don’t have a grudge against him, and I hope that continues. His unpleasant reputation does precede him. I was otherwise occupied during his active period in these parts. I do remember something about nearly burying Olympus in a larger mountain.”
“Hey! Their fault. They laughed at me when I said I wanted Athena as my wife,” vehemently protested Asag who was listening from behind the mage’s back.
“That too.” It was a casual comment which subsequently resulted in full-blown laughter from the deity.
“Now don’t you start, Dionysus,” growled the daemon.
Tyler immediately stepped in before another battle broke out, one he was sure the still-recovering wine god was sure to lose. The mage could feel not only the sudden tension, but also the rise of magical energies within the area. He doubted if his shields could withstand the exchange of furiously cast offensive magic, given his proximity to the two potential combatants.
“Could we discuss what’s facing us right now?” asked Tyler sharply as he addressed the newly arrived pair. “And while you were gone, a horde of scorpion-men tried to do away with the ranger.”
At the revelation, Dionysus looked at the elemental. Both were visibly taken aback by the news — a fortunate turn of events that diverted the attention of the god of wine.
Strange tidings you have brought,
To my knowledge, neither
The god of mischief or those spell-wrought,
Under his silvery tongue, mortal or god of power,
Have such creatures under their thrall.
Hrun’s recitation again brought to the fore the being’s penchant for poems and rhymes. The entity could conversationally speak human languages, but strangely preferred verses or coursed what he wanted to say through individuals who could understand his native tongue. The elemental followed with a burst of grating syllables addressed to his companion.
“Yes, I agree. We have to talk in more secure surroundings. Considering what has just happened, it’s too open here, even if we could keep the surroundings safe. I believe a quick but secure discussion is warranted. By your leave, Havard? Don’t worry about your companions; my power will protect them while we are secluded,” said Dionysus.
At Tyler’s nod, the mage’s forested environment disappeared and was replaced by cold walls of rock. Coming from a sunlit area to a chilly cavern didn’t agree with him. Removing his gauntlets, he started to rub his hands together, his staff clinched by the arm.
“Sorry about that,” began the god of wine, “but Hrun had a safe place nearby and… how in the name of Father Zeus are you here?”
The sudden exclamation had Tyler immediately glancing where Dionysus was staring incredulously. There, still at the mage’s back, was Asag, with another of his incomprehensible smiles.
“Oh, I thought I was also invited,” replied the daemon.
Tyler immediately looked at Hrun. If the elemental was pissed off, then he was going to be in the middle of a fight between two ancient and powerful beings, each representing a world. But the stone entity was again laughing in his strange way, apparently enjoying the surprise and discomfiture of his companion.
Thank you, God! The greatly relieved Tyler fervently gave a prayer of gratitude. His entire morning was punctuated by actual and threatened skirmishes between the powerful beings among them. The stress was horribly pummeling his already worried state of mind.
“Well, you weren’t! And there’s no way you could have followed us here!” answered the now upset Greek deity.
“I am bound to the Archmage, and it is in my interest that no harm comes to him from mortal or god,” retorted Asag calmly, ignoring the outburst.
“That doesn’t explain how you were able to appear here! With us!” shouted Dionysus. Tyler could feel the air of the cave starting to heat up from the outraged aura of the wine god.
The mage was again forced to step in and cool down the upset deity, though Asag’s ability to easily brush aside the spells of Dionysus spoke volumes about what he could do against gods. Against mortals, Asag was an unstoppable juggernaut as seen in the battle against the dokkalfr. Measured against deities, it was now evident somebody higher in rank than the god of wine was needed to contend with the daemon. So far, only Gullin was able to stand toe-to-toe with him in direct combat.
I wonder how Viracocha would fare against him, thought the mage, remembering how the ancient deity flattened Ares before the walls of Akrotiri. They both have a penchant for throwing hills and mountains.
Then his eyes fell on Hrun who was still enjoying Dionysus’s tantrum.
And Hrun? Possibly. Labiru did keep Asag a prisoner, though if that old man was Hrun’s elder and more powerful than the latter, recalled Tyler.
Dionysus finally calmed down, enabling the group to have a coherent discussion, though the mage caught him throwing livid looks at Asag. Tyler decided it wasn’t the fact that Asag joined the meeting, preempting in the process any private conversation about the draconic aura the mage exhibited. Instead, it was the ridiculous ease by which the daemon tore apart the wine god’s magic – like it wasn’t there. There was nothing he could do about that, decided the mage. If Asag was more powerful than Dionysus, then that was the undisputed reality. But he now had an idea why it took the power of most of an entire pantheon to force the daemon to retreat, and that was then. Who knew if Asag had grown in power during the period of his imprisonment?
The discussion changed nothing about their plans. Hrun was still going to bring the company as close as he could to the dwarven kingdom. Dionysus did confirm that the gates to Tartarus were somewhere in the region. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been there and asking about its exact location would attract more attention, especially at a time when the Greek pantheon was actively engaged in a war against denizens of that dark place and the minions of Loki’s agents. Only Dionysus’s perceived lack of martial ability didn’t force the deities to insist he take part in the fighting.
Most of the fighting against the creatures of Tartarus was near the gates and in the caves and tunnels leading to it. Battles were also being waged far and wide across Hellas, against warriors and beasts loyal to the Norse god of mischief. The armies and pantheon of the Greeks were struggling for their very lives, and requests for aid from friendly and allied domains went unheeded.
From the west came news of internecine war. The vast empires of the Zhong and the Dual Monarchy were facing numerous threats – internal rebellions and attacks from erstwhile vassal states. Kemet’s allies were being conquered one by one by a powerful alliance of nations and in the land of Aztecha, a disturbing rumor of lost ground being regained amidst the rise of a dark power, one which the previously retreating and desperate remnants of that empire had brought back from the forgotten and bloodier past. Even the barbarian lands were embroiled in conflict, with suddenly powerful tribes attempting to establish dominance over the others.
Friends had now been revealed as enemies within kingdoms and pantheons. Dionysus gloomily reflected that what he had told them was but the surface of a vast lake of molten la
va starting to erupt. The Trickster God, he bitterly concluded, must have been at work for millennia to be able to pull off the continental chaos now overturning everything. And to make matters worse, he hadn’t heard from Viracocha for some time now. It was a truly massive and all-encompassing conflict, large and complex enough to swallow both gods and mortals.
Troubled silence met the wine god’s statements. What he described gave the terrible feeling of suddenly seeing an enormous wall of water rising out of the sea, blotting out the sun as it emerged, threating death and destruction on the lands of Adar.
“I guess I picked the right time to be free then. Chaos, death, destruction. Hah. What more could I ask? Though I might be in the wrong place. There seemed to be a lot more happening elsewhere,” declared Asag, his voice suddenly breaking the prevailing stillness.
“Hush,” said Tyler. “Can’t you see things are dire?”
“And when are they aren’t?” replied the grinning entity. “It’s the cycle of life, young man. A forest needs fire to be renewed. A sword to a civilization gives rise to a new one. You torture somebody to get the information one desires. Some priests flay victims to call forth miserable imps. Imps! And I am glad that Trickster is still alive and kicking; he still owes me a few millennia’s worth of pain. But I’ll settle for the pleasure of filleting him slowly.”
Fucking psychotic or a really bizarre set of values, even for a daemon, reflected the mage.
“That’s close enough to a movie title, Asag. Cycle of life. Easy for you to say, you’re not the one on the receiving end. And what you said about filleting was gruesome,” retorted Tyler with disgust.
“Thanks for the compliment. I was going for gutting, but it sounded lame. And what’s a movie?”
Chapter Three:
Decorating Fossegrim
Dionysus eyed Asag dubiously. The mage wondered why the Greek god of wine didn’t try to communicate with him telepathically but concluded the deity wasn’t sure whether the daemon would be able to overhear their discussion. A hesitancy which meant nobody had any idea of the extent of Asag’s abilities.
A loose cannon indeed, thought Tyler, and I can’t even say he’s my loose cannon even with the geas upon him.
Asag smirked at the wine god as he caught the kind of stare Dionysus was throwing him. Tyler now wondered if Enlil’s forbearance when Asag was defeated was really an act of divine mercy or something else.
If Asag was a powerful, yet ordinary daemon, then the restraint shown by the chief deity of the Mesopotamian pantheon would just be as it was – a magnanimous gesture. But if the daemon was truly something else, bound only by the physical shape it adopted on this world, breaking the material mold which held his real form might have freed the real entity from any constraints. And Tyler doubted if that creature’s name was Asag.
It took the power of a world to hold him to a geas in Tyler’s favor. Something truly exceptional when one thought about it. But the mage decided that, for the time being, he was stuck with the blasted daemon or whatever entity he might truly be.
“So, I guess we’re finished here,” said Dionysus, clearly putting aside in the meantime whatever questions he had for the mage. Any matter related to the draconic aura was clearly something he wanted to hide from the daemon.
“Not yet,” grinned the daemon, who then turned to the mage. “What exactly did that bitch see in you that saw her off? She doesn’t back down easily, that I can tell from long experience.”
Oh, fuck this son of a bitch! thought Tyler irately. Just when I thought I was scot-free!
Surprisingly, it was Dionysus who came to his rescue.
“I believe that’s between the two of them, daemon,” said the wine god. “Those engaged in personal battle do have secrets to keep about what happened between them.”
“Maybe, maybe,” mused Asag. “Another time then. I sense some fun is coming our way.”
Dionysus and Hrun stared at each other. It was apparent that whatever Asag discovered, they weren’t privy to its presence. At a nod from Dionysus, the four found themselves back on the surface.
“What fun were you talking about?” Tyler demanded immediately.
“An army of jotnar is entering the forest. They must have sensed its guardian is gone, though even the leaves themselves show their grief,” Asag replied, indicating the foliage around them.
Tyler looked at where the daemon pointed, and found that what Asag was saying was true. The bright colors of the woodlands had become muted, looking like a washed-out painting. It wasn’t faded when the party first arrived, and Tyler now realized how crucial Eira was to the well-being of Fossegrim Forest. Her mere presence made everything more alive.
“Shouldn’t Fossegrim protect itself? Eira told me an ancient power does reside here,” replied Tyler.
“True,” said Dionysus. “But it can only directly act against magical beings. Against other threats, the forest needs a medium, a channel, by which its power is manifested. That’s what guardians are for.”
The mage noticed the companions had gathered around them and could hear every word. Among them, only Habrok kept his distance. Despite everything they had gone through, it was evident he still found magical beings and deities too nerve-wracking for his taste. Kobu would be at the mage’s side come hell or high water, Tyler reflected. Astrid had become familiar with gods due to her stay with Thaut and the discovery of her heritage. As for Tyndur, the fellow never did give a pig’s shit about deities.
“Jotnar? Coming here?” exclaimed Tyndur, voice marked with excitement.
“They’re approaching the boundaries of the forest, though I wonder how such a force could be this far from their usual haunts,” wondered Asag. “I don’t remember them being so bold as to be on the open plains.”
Hrun suddenly uttered something, but it was in his native tongue. Everybody stared at Dionysus, except for Asag. The daemon obviously understood what the stone elemental said, but kept quiet.
“Abandoned, masterless, the various packs of jotnar sent by the jotunn lord of ice to the fields of western Skaney finally found a warpack leader,” explained Dionysus. “There must have been a lot of them. Hrun counts a couple of thousand approaching the forest.”
When the mage asked why Fossegrim and not the settlements found in the region, Dionysus told them it must because the jotnar were seeking to find a place to establish themselves. Since the defeat of the main host in the last war, they were understandably wary about fighting through town defenses. Defenseless Fossegrim, on the hand, was the perfect place to build a new domain for themselves.
“I’ll be thrice-damned before that happens!” exclaimed Tyndur, as his weapon burst into flames.
“Calm down,” said the mage. “It won’t. There’s more than enough of us here to handle that problem. They picked the wrong time to show up.”
“Oh, I can’t involve myself in purely mortal contests, even if I detect magic users among them. The rules, remember?” reminded the wine god.
“Right. But I still don’t think it’s a major concern, though it will cost us precious time,” replied Tyler.
“Ahem!” came a sudden utterance from Asag, catching everyone’s attention. “With the Archmage’s permission, let me handle it. I could use the practice.”
Tyler stared at the daemon, wondering what to say. But the mention of the rules gave rise to another question in his mind.
“How come you’re not bound by the rules Dionysus mentioned?” asked the curious mage.
“Daemon, not a deity, and those stupid dokkalfr attacked first. Finally, I wasn’t around when those high-strung, self-absorbed, and smugly arrogant bastards bound the pantheons. In prison, remember?” grinned Asag.
“You won’t lay down a stone pavement? Somehow, I don’t think Eira would like that,” replied Tyler as he considered the kind of nagging he’d get from the daemon if he refused. Asag had a way of getting on one’s nerves.
“You’re sure? It would make a nice walkway. But
since you insist, no road, I promise,” said the daemon with a crooked expression on its face, a suspicious look which lay on the much-contested border between a smirk and a smile.
“Just make sure they’re handled away from the boundaries of Fossegrim,” Tyler shouted as Asag started to disappear.
“I wonder what he would do?” said Astrid, voicing what was on everybody’s mind.
Hrun, for once, directly replied in the human tongue without his usual prose, startling everybody.
“I wouldn’t want to be them right now,” he commented simply.
“I do have to leave,” Dionysus told Tyler with a smile. “But I will meet you again along your journey, and hopefully, be able to make the arduous and dangerous quest a little easier.”
When the wine god disappeared, the party went back to their watchful stances. Tyler sat down on the grass to wait for the helpful – so far – yet exasperating dark being. Kobu sat beside him after taking a quick look around.
“A useful yet dangerous entity,” the exile commented.
“I know, Kobu. I pray his presence doesn’t bring bad luck to the company. Have you encountered his kind before?” asked Tyler.
“Oh, the land of Wa is full of such dark spirits. They’re closely intertwined with our culture, these oni. I do have my share of encounters with them, but none as powerful as Asag, excepting dragons and deities. Of course, we also have the shinigami, which are either malicious spirits or lesser deities dealing with death. We have Yama, the king of the underworld, and even the Mrtyu-Mara, a mighty demon of death with three beautiful daughters. But none like Asag. He seemed to be both of this and another reality. A strange observation, I know. But that’s what I felt about that entity,” explained Kobu, a knotted brow marking his forehead as he stared into the sky.
Tyler didn’t reply and instead thought about his guides. The mage directed the question of Asag’s identity to them. Both confirmed that Asag’s demeanor and quirky personality, not to mention the leniency he got from Enlil, were indeed odd and puzzling. But the only entity who could give more insights was that deity himself. But Enlil was far away, and if Loki was to be believed, quite busy with problems of his own.
The Accidental Archmage: Book Seven (Dragons and Demons) Page 4