*
Balan stood atop the dais with his arms folded and a deep frown on his face, sparks clicking off the floor as he tapped his silver-shod hoof. Poltus hovered in the air, drifting from one curving platinum pillar to the next, red eyes sharp and focused.
“Well?” Balan asked, speaking loudly as there was a good deal of groaning from the wounded hobgoblins spread around the room as they tried to staunch wounds and bandage themselves. It was going to take a number of Spiny Devils quite some time to clean up in here.
“I cannot tell, my Lord,” Poltus admitted. “The gate appears no different than it ever has.”
“Poltus, we both saw that bushy-headed monkey disappear and reappear. And these things have never made a noise like that before.”
“Clearly it did work for that particular human,” Poltus acknowledged. “I am saying that, as far as I can tell, the condition of the gate does not seem to have changed, despite being used.”
Wide wings beat the air and Balan turned to see Uella soar into the central tower from the hall by which Nesha-tari and her band had fled. Unlike the little Spiny Devils the wings of the succubus were not ornamental, and Uella pumped hers fiercely as she skimmed the floor, pulled sharply up, and settled on the dais next to Balan.
“Did she kill them?” Balan asked. Uella blinked for a moment.
“Danavod? No, she flew away. Out of the city. Her hobgoblins are still chasing them, though.”
“What was all the roaring then?”
Uella shrugged, glancing with little interest at Poltus as the devil studied the gate posts while rubbing its sharp little chin.
“She yelled at your girlfriend for a while, but then she just flew away. So can we use this gate for anything?”
Uella stepped to one pillar and rapped her knuckles against it, getting only a dull sound from the metal. Balan sighed, put his hoof on Uella’s hip, and shoved her between the pillars. Uella squealed and went down on the other side in a flurry of silk brocade and leathery wings.
“It would not appear so,” Poltus said.
Uella glared red murder after Balan but he was already walking for the hall. Poltus hovered beside him as he descended the dais stairs.
“My Lord, it should perhaps be pointed out that any magic worked here may not be fully in effect, as of yet. It is possible that the Lamia’s party has done something, yet given themselves enough time to escape the city before the full ramifications are felt.”
“I know that,” Balan muttered, clopping across the floor and ascending the stairs back up.
“It should also be noted that, in any event, it is not in your interest for Danavod or her creatures to learn more of what happened here. If the Great Dragon learns of your manipulations, surely her wrath will be great.”
Balan sighed. “If you are saying we should kill the monkeys, and the kitty cat too, I am already ahead of you. As usual. The problem is that our people are spread around every part of this city, beyond summoning distance. All I have in the palace at the moment is a few Bearded Devils and a flock of your brethren. And you can’t handle them.”
“Miss Uella, perhaps, has a friend nearby who might be more effective, Lord.”
Balan stopped. He turned around to look at the succubus, who had arisen on the dais and was sulkily rearranging her gown.
“Probably should have asked a favor before I knocked her on her ass,” Balan muttered, then cleared his throat and held out his hands.
“Honey-pot!” he called in his smarmiest tone. “I am so sorry…”
The Sable City Page 98