by Dave Dickie
Daesal thought furiously. This had progressed much farther and faster than she expected. If she had been attempting to trade with a demon, how would she respond? It came to her that she would want assurances that the demon would not turn on her. Sambhal did not have a reputation of being fickle, but he wasn’t considered particularly beneficent either. “How will I know you will keep your end of the bargain?” she asked.
Karla laughed. “By making it a real bargain, a demon bargain. Use this vessel, this Karla. I will release my hold on her and give her to you, and she will be yours, I promise it. She has access to the temple’s relics. There are two things I need, the ritual of summoning and the ritual of binding. Have her bring them to you. My name is Kazabul. With my name and those two things, you will know our agreement is good. Bring the priest and use the relics to call me to you. And let me be clear: the ritual of summoning is a request, not a command. If it is anyone other than you, I will not come. If I come and I am not satisfied you are exactly what you say you are, I will kill everyone in the area and leave. And I will kill you, but very, very slowly.
Daesal thought about that for a moment. Then she said, “I accept your terms.”
Chapter Thirty Two
“It’s a trap,” said Stegar. He, Daesal, Jedia, Padan, Tessa, Teinhaj and Delia were sitting on one side of a room in the KNI building. Karla sat on the other side. Everyone tried to avoid looking at Karla, who only had eyes for Daesal, eyes that tracked her every move. Karla had come out of the trance…different. She could speak, she could eat, she could dress herself. But when you looked in her eyes, there was nothing there, no spark of cognition, no glimmer of a personality. An empty shell whose only purpose, only desperate need, was to do anything Daesal asked her.
“Of course it’s a trap,” said Daesal. “But it is an exceedingly well-designed one. Tessa provided the rituals the demon spoke of. She and I have reviewed them and they seem clear, and they worked with Sambhal. The summoning will call the demon, Kazabul. He will be constrained to the conjuration circle, the temporary opening between our worlds, even if the power for that hole comes from his side. And it is not even his physical form. It’s just a projection. I do not think he can even cast spells on our side of the portal. His threats were just bluster. The binding ritual is what Sambhal used to link with his followers, and that ultimately let him achieve godhood. Whatever is agreed to has to be mutual, and it is binding to both parties. And in any case it is my intent to find out what the demons are after without using the binding ritual.”
“It’s a trap,” repeated Stegar stubbornly. Daesal was clearly going through with this madness regardless of what he said, but he wanted it to be clear that he did not approve of it.
“Yes, yes,” said Daesal, clearly exasperated. “But it is the only way we are going to unravel this. So it is a trap. What precautions do we take to keep it from springing shut on us?”
Teinhaj said, “Anti-magic barriers in case he can cast spells. We can rig up destructive spells for the area; maybe electrical or cold, I’m not sure fire is going to do anything to a demon, based on what I’ve read about Sambhal’s original form. But if it’s not even a physical body, I don’t know that damage spells will do much. We can use illusions and other alteration spells for camouflage, either for you directly or to hide other people in the room.”
“Hide me,” said Stegar. “Daesal is not doing this without me.”
“Kazabul may be able to detect that,” said Jedia thoughtfully. “It might be better to have people ready to move in. We have Hasamelis spells that can move a large number of people a few hundred feet. We can get communication spells from the Nitheia temple. Listen in, and if things go awry, send people in.”
“No,” said Stegar. “I will be in the room with Daesal when we do this.”
Daesal looked at him. He stared back. She sighed. “As you wish. I do not think one additional person will be a deal-breaker.” She turned to Padan. “You are comfortable with what I must do to you?”
Padan glanced at Darla. “No. But it must be done for the good of the order.”
Teinhaj looked intrigued. “This drug, I have never heard of anything like it. It could be useful to Kethen Naval Intelligence.”
Stegar saw Daesal glance at Tessa. He and Daesal knew what the “drug” was, and Tessa knew, at least, that it was not a drug in the standard sense. Daesal said, “It’s rare, from Pranan. I have a limited supply and it is almost impossible to replace.”
Teinhaj said, “If you tell me the source, the KNI can pay whatever it costs.”
Daesal frowned and said, “Hold privilege,” which meant it was a Hold secret, not to be shared.
Teinhaj looked a little sour but finally shrugged. “Fine. What else?”
Daesal looked at Tessa. “Anything in your archives, or Sambhal spells that might be useful?”
Tessa shook her head no. “No one was trying to contain or banish Sambhal, or at least, no one that ended up in the Sambhal religion was. Sambhal the god is different from Sambhal the demon. I do not think we can help more than we already have.”
Teinhaj nodded. “Let’s set it up, then. I will get a contingent of Kethem Guard, heavy on the enchanters, for physical security and to set up the area spells. We’ll rig up one of the artificer’s labs as the summoning point. They already have a lot of anti-magic shields and physical protection in case one of their builds goes south. Jedia will provide the communication and movement options. Delia… she’ll be in the room. Even if this Kazabul can sense that something’s hidden, Delia is practically detection proof. He’ll have no idea what it is.” He looked at Daesal, Stegar and Padan. “The rest is up to you three.”
“How long will it take to get everything in place?” asked Daesal.
“A couple of days,” answered Teinhaj.
Daesal nodded. “Then we shall return in two days’ time.”
Delia offered to have coaches take Jedia, Padan, Daesal and Stegar to the Hasamelis temple, which they politely accepted, and less than an hour later they were outside the broad steps of the temple. Jedia offered them accommodations, which Daesal and Stegar politely declined. Daesal saw Stegar fingering his money pouch, and when the priests had said their goodbyes and were out of earshot, she asked, “Do you have a place to go?”
Stegar grinned wryly. “Many places, ones with a cot and a public washroom for a few copper a day.”
Daesal nodded gravely and said, “I have an apartment with a spare bedroom. The rates are reasonable.”
Stegar laughed. “That works for me, if for no other reason than it will make me feel better knowing you are safe until this situation is over. Thank you.”
Daesal started walking, and Stegar walked with her. “It is not far,” she said. “A twenty minute walk, and the evening is pleasant enough.”
“A walk is welcome after being cooped up on that ship,” replied Stegar.
They walked quietly together for a few minutes. Then Daesal said hesitantly, “Do you want to tell me how you ended up on this mission? You were the lead Warden for a hold, a Gold Ring. What happened?”
Stegar grunted. “It’s a long story.”
“It’s a long walk,” said Daesal.
Stegar paused. Then he said, “The short version is that I circumvented Hold policies to bring my younger brother into the Hold as a Copper Ring, and he died during an ultimately successful assassination attempt on the Lord Holder’s life.”
Daesal frowned. “Why would your brother’s death protecting your Lord Holder, even if he was unsuccessful in stopping the assailant, reflect poorly on you?”
“He was the assassin,” said Stegar.
“I… see,” said Daesal.
“I do not,” said Stegar. “It made no sense then, and it does not today. But I put him in a position where he had the opportunity, and I did it by ignoring Hold rules. And he died. My actions, my responsibility, my fault.”
Daesal shook her head. “You put him there, yes, but certainly not with t
he intent of assassinating the Lord Holder. You cannot take responsibility for his actions when you did not know what he intended, had no reason to suspect what he intended. And bending the rules to help him join the Hold… well, there are many, many people that have done things to help family, And many that have done worse things to benefit only themselves. I think you are holding yourself to a standard that would daunt anyone without precognition.”
Stegar nodded agreement. “All true, and all things I have told myself. But I can feel the blood of my brother on my hands, and it will not wash off. It is how things are with me.”
Daesal sighed. “Then things are what they are. If you must carry that burden, so be it.”
Stegar glanced sideways at her and said, “Thank you for understanding.” But he looked at the set of her face, which was thoughtful, and felt it was not the end of that particular conversation.
Chapter Thirty Three
Daesal took a deep breath. Stegar stood a little behind and to the right of her. Daesal could not see Delia, but she knew Delia was there, invisible. The conjuring circle was inscribed in the middle of the kill zone, where a dozen area effect spells were ready to be triggered. Daesal, Stegar and Delia stood outside the radius of the spells. Jedia was listening in with a Nitheia spell that let him hear what happened in the room as if he were standing with them, and with Jedia were a contingent of the Kethem Guard, mostly battle mages, as well as Gyeong and Hantlin, who had insisted on joining. Jedia had his transport spell ready. If anything went south, the group would be in the room instantly. “Ready?” Daesal asked. Stegar nodded. Daesal assumed Delia would speak out if she was not. Daesal took a deep breath and spoke the incantation that completed the summoning spell.
The outside of the conjuration circle glowed brightly for a moment, then dimmed. On the inside, where there had been empty space, stood a tall, dark figure. Nine feet tall, ebony black skin on top, legs that looked like they were covered with equally dark hair or small bristles, and with no clothing that Daesal could discern, Kazabul was terrifying. Eyes that burned like coals did not improve that impression. He was humanoid in form, although he had two sets of thick horns protruding from his head. He had a mouth, strangely devoid of teeth, or perhaps they were as black as the rest of him and just blended in. His first action made him appear like a dog sniffing for a scent, although he had no nose Daesal could see. He looked at her and Stegar, and then at the spot where the invisible Delia stood. Kazabul grinned and said, “Where is the priest or priestess? None of you have the taint of clergy.”
Daesal said, “He is close by. He is waiting for my command to come to us. I will not call him until I am certain of your intentions.” Padan was waiting with Jedia. After talking it through, the group had decided Padan did not need to be under Daesal’s actual control. She had instructed Padan how to simulate it if the strange dance they were doing with the demon required her to bring him into the room. But Daesal thought that, if she were trying to close this deal, she would be cautious about the meeting, so he had remained with Jedia. Daesal thought it unlikely Padan would need to make an appearance.
“I see,” said Kazabul with a grin. Then he said, “Can you hear me?” but Daesal didn’t see its mouth moving this time.
She glanced back at Stegar. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he said, looking concerned. She turned back to look at Kazabul.
The demon spoke again. “We are talking psychically. He cannot hear me. Just you.”
Daesal wasn’t sure where this was going. “Why?” she asked out loud.
“Because what we have to talk about is not for your companions to hear, Eawoarohn.”
Daesal was suddenly frozen in fear, but she didn’t know why. The name reverberated in her ears, in her soul, and she felt the strange prickling sensation that meant her skin was metamorphosing the way it had in the cave back when this all had started. Normal flesh was changing to something black and chitinous. It felt much stronger than it had then, and she suspected entire patches of her skin were vaporizing away. This time, she thought back to Kazabul instead of speaking them. “What does that mean?”
“It is your name,” Kazabul thought back, and Daesal somehow knew it was speaking the truth.
“Daesal, your skin… if there is something I should do, tell me now,” said Stegar, fear in his voice.
“Hold steady, my friend,” she said back. “Things are taking an unexpected turn. I do not know what is happening, but I will find out.” To Kazabul she thought, “Why do you think that is my name?”
“Mostly because you are reacting to it. You would not if it was not true.”
Daesal thought about that. It rung true. She said out loud, “Yet there must be a reason you suggested it in the first place.”
“You don’t know. Interesting,” said Kazabul, still communicating psychically. Daesal was happy enough about that, since she did not want this shared with Jedia and the others listening in from the other room. Her skin, should could do nothing about. Stegar would not say anything. Delia might or might not have noticed, and might not say anything if she had. Daesal would have to deal with that later if it became a problem. “You are a changeling, Eawoarohn. Demons need raw chaos to survive. This world has that locked away behind many doors, doors that take time to open, too much time for a demon to come and unlock them. But you, you have been changed in a way that lets you survive here, without the true form or power of our kind, but still one of us. Your parents were powerful, but I had no idea it was even possible until I saw what you did to Karla. Demonic possession can be eliminated, but it cannot be subjugated except by another demon, or a priest or priestess of Sambhal using some aspect of their demon-god to do the same. That would be unlikely, and you are not clergy.”
Something clicked in Daesal’s head. She was twenty-five years of age. The troll records had talked about two demons and a child, and one of them not returning to the demon plane. It had been the child that had not returned. It had been ….her. “I am the descendant of Beludhal and Lerguzohn,” she thought. Her head was spinning and she felt dizzy. She wasn’t a half-breed, after all. Not even half-human.
Kazabul apparently heard, because it suddenly looked cautious. “So, you know some of what happened, at least.” Daesal tried to get her thoughts under control and worked on dredging up the material in the troll tomes from her memories. The friendly demons, warning the trolls to close the gate because of a coup of some kind on their side of the gate. “Only the names. There are legends. What happened, such that I was left here and they returned without me?”
Kazabul seemed mollified. “The gate to our universe was not controlled by our side. Your parents knew they might perish getting access to it. So they made sure if they failed, you could survive in this world. As it turned out, they did not take control, but instead were banished to our universe. They have been trying to find a way back to you ever since.”
Daesal was sure that was a lie, but she would go along with it for now. “And why now? If they lost control, how did they find the way back to this world without a world gate to assist them? And why is it you instead of them?”
“Another portal was opened to our universe recently by one of these artifacts, the world gates, as you call them. The portal was only open for a short time, but long enough for someone to extract pure chaos and bring it back to this universe, and it was enough to find a path here. From that, we found something interesting, that the Sambhal clergy were tapping into our universe, into our power, a small drain that had not been noticed before. But it is a gap allowed by the rules of order here, which normally prevent such things, and it was enough to find vessels on this side to do our bidding.”
And finally Daesal could guide the conversation to what she wanted to know. “Yes. To help you capture a Hasamelis cleric. Why?”
“Because to enter this universe takes an inordinate amount of power if you are simply punching a hole through to the other side, even more so if you are trying to send th
rough raw chaos. So much that we can only send one or two demons at a time, and then they are chaos-starved and must return quickly or perish. The world gate somehow bypasses all that, but we did not have one, so we looked for another path. The god Hasamelis, it has subtle ways to connect the two universes, a path that is coaxed into existence, a path that allows transfer with minimal cost. We can move demons, we can move raw chaos, we can feed off that and stay here long enough to unwind the structure binding the raw chaos here.”
“You can invade this place, take it from those that live in this world,” said Daesal.
“Occupy. The sentient races here will be useful when they are under our rule.”
Daesal smiled and said out loud, “And how do I know that I will be in a position of power in this new world order once the demons have used a Hasamelis priest to open a door for your invasion force?”
Kazabul laughed, but still spoke into her mind. “Does it matter, Eawoarohn? You are one of us. We will be gods in this world. But you don’t intend to give the priest to me, do you?”
Daesal frowned and stood still for a moment, then said, “Why do you say that?”
Kazabul sent mentally, “Because this meeting is too contrived. I know the priest in Tawhiem was expecting a trap. I don’t believe you managed to learn all of this while he remained unaware. If the Hasamelis priest in the cave knew it was a trap, he knew the images from the other Hasamelis priest’s vision were falsified, and probably by who, and that means you found out about Karla from them. But more importantly, I saw the world gate in your mind when you spoke of it. If you know about that, you know more about your parents than you are admitting. You know they deprived us of that pathway to this world. That is confirmation enough.”
Daesal’s smile returned. Whether Kazabul knew was immaterial at this point. She’d learned what she wanted, and she’d said it out loud, so Jedia and the KNI people knew. But she was curious. “Then why did you come here?” she asked out loud. “I know what I am speaking to is just an image from the demon plane. You can do nothing to me, I can do nothing to you. You did not have to respond to the summoning, you did not have to answer my questions.”