03- The Apostles of Doom

by J. Langland

  Gastropé got one of those sinking feelings in his stomach. “Well, I talked to a bunch of people who saw them, even as we all did. If D’Orcs make giant, battle-hardened orcs nervous, filled with awe, don’t you think they would be truly nightmarish in battle? Not to mention the fact that they are demons? We both know firsthand the sort of destruction they can cause; now imagine an orc demon.”

  Jenn raised an eyebrow at him, thinking for a moment, before finally nodding. “I see your point.” She shook her head in what Gastropé assumed was dismay.

  Elrose looked to Maelen. “Has war come?”

  “It is not quite what I was expecting, not this front; however, it feels consistent and I did see orcs. Certainly demons of various sorts. Perhaps some were D’Orcs that I had no context for,” Maelen said. He shook his head. “Given what I have read, mainly here on the Nimbus, it would seem the orcs have good cause for claiming that the alvar have broken the armistice.”

  “And that means?” Jenn interrupted.

  Maelen shrugged. “When it comes to orcs and the alvar, the answer is generally war.”

  “War...” Elrose repeated.

  The Abyss, Near Melted Castle: Fourth Period

  “Are we sure this is a good idea?” Sir Lady Serah asked as they peered around a very large stone boulder in the direction of the melted fortress.

  “No,” Sir Samwell said quite decisively and distinctly through his helmet.

  They were all in full armor, with weapons drawn. Steedless, of course. Sir Samwell had no mount; neither Peace Bringer nor War Bringer were on board the Inferno, and Gaius and Gadius had indicated they were having trouble summoning them. Sir Lady Serah had left Aeros, her hippogriff, on board. The hippogriff’s magical barding would have protected him from the hostile climate, but Serah had thought it best that if some were on foot, all should be.

  Sam, of course, knew very well why the two knights did not want to summon their steeds. Given that they were each other’s steeds, it would have been rather awkward. Naturally, he felt some petty amusement at the thought of the two oh-so-holier-than-thou knights taking turns mounting each other. Of course, Sam reflected, given what he knew of the sex life of unicorns, the fact was that they actually did take turns mounting each other in that other way, so the joke did lose some of its juvenile appeal.

  Unicorn reproduction was one of the slightly odder things that he had observed within the realm of both humanoid and equinoid species. Within their own species, unicorns formed almost exclusively same-sex bonds; however, such bonds were, obviously, not particularly useful for reproduction. Thus, unicorn marital bonds were quite open in terms of sexual partners that were either humanoid or equinoid, provided said carnal relations were with partners of the opposite sex. The whole virginity thing was, Sam believed, more myth than reality.

  The result of this was that all unicorn children were produced by mating with either an equinoid or a humanoid. It was a distinctly odd multi-species arrangement. If he had ever felt the motivation, which—at least in the few million years that unicorns had existed—he had not, he would have explored the oddity. It was only now that he was in close proximity that he felt even a remote kindling of interest.

  Of course, said interest was primarily aroused by the thought of the awkwardness that would ensue should he choose to have a conversation with them in front of their too-religious peers. Quite frankly, he had no real idea what Tiernon’s policies were on such things; however, he assumed that being a stereotypical, overly righteous and punctilious god, he would have issues with it. They all did. Sam detested the overly righteous punctilious hypocrites.

  No one had said anything after his quick denunciation of the effort. That was annoying, he’d been hoping for a snappy rejoinder. Actually, he thought the plan was a wonderful idea, from the perspective of his own curiosity; however, from the point of view of actually locating Talarius, it was a plan obviously doomed to fail. Talarius was in Mount Doom with Tom. Whatever they were detecting here, it was not Talarius.

  However, it was curious. This place was not on any of his maps. His minions were continuously scouring the Abyss for any changes or new developments. They would have reported this. Further, he had been through this region himself within the last year or two. This fortress and the odd lot of demons were definitely not here when he last passed through, en route to a climbing expedition with Moloch.

  The question was, which Denubian DemonTM had set up shop here? And what Denubian DemonTM would also have non-Denubian demon servants? It was indeed quite the curiosity. Delightfully so. Such puzzles were what he lived for. Well, that and out outwitting his Adversary. Sam chuckled to himself.

  Gaius held his hand to the side of his helmet as if listening to something. After a few moments he nodded, presumably to himself, and lowered his hand. “I have just received word from the Inferno. They are in position and ready to start the distraction.”

  “This should be amusing,” Sir Samwell said quietly. He wanted to be almost heard, not officially heard. The “plan,” which had been hatched over half a day or more of Oorstemothian pontification and Knight Rampant ethical vexation, and involved “sneaking in” to an enemy fortification, was ridiculously simple. The Inferno would approach one side of the fortress and reveal itself in a threatening manner, attracting the attention of those in the fortress. Meanwhile, the four knights would sneak in and rescue Talarius.

  Sam had to shake his head. If he had not been there the entire time, there would be no way he would have believed it could have taken them that much time to come up with such an obvious plan. Seriously! Did neither Oorstemoth or Tiernon have even a single half-assed script writer between them? Incredible negotiator that he was, Sam seriously doubted that he could pitch that plot on public access cable, let alone basic! Forget broadcast, and premium cable was not even on the table.

  Okay, it was true there were a few other details. Their scrying equipment was quite remarkable; they had completely analyzed the fortress and found several weaknesses. It was so remarkable, in fact, that it had him rethinking some of the defenses at his own sites. That being said, it was still a seriously overused and blatantly pathetic plan.

  Of course, Sam suddenly thought to himself, no one in the Abyss would even be capable of imagining that someone might try such a brain-numbingly simple-minded plan. In fact, they might actually overlook it as a possibility. That caused Sam to raise an eyebrow. Could these nitwits actually “under-think” an archdemon? This just keeps getting more interesting. Much better than another mountain-climbing expedition. He was so happy he had stumbled upon these poor lost souls.

  The Inferno

  “Verify that defensive shields are in place,” Captain Cranshall ordered.

  “All battle station shields are at optimal strength,” XO Stevensword reported.

  “As we, hopefully, get close to our target, one question still puzzles me,” Barabus said to Heron in the chair beside him.

  “And that is?” the wing arms master asked.

  “You are here to serve justice and the writ of law upon this demon,” Barabus stated.

  “Indeed,” Dante said from the chair on his other side. Barabus gave him a glance and a nod before turning his head back to Heron.

  “So what do you plan to actually do when we confront the demon?” Barabus asked.

  “Serve up justice, execute our writ, of course,” Dante replied once more unhelpfully.

  “Yes, I get that, but in physical terms, what does that mean? Are you arresting him and taking him back for trial? High justice?”

  Heron nodded and started to speak.

  “Exactly,” Dante interrupted.

  Barabus rolled his eyes while facing Heron, who gave him a tight smile.

  “If he will surrender, then we will bring him back for trial. If not, we are authorized to either contain him and bring him back, or if that is not feasible, we will try him here and then execute him,” Heron said.

  “How would you contain him?”
Barabus asked, in shock at that thought. “My suspicion is that he is no simple fourth-order demon.”

  “We have the ability to contain an archdemon, if need be,” Dante told him.

  That caused Barabus to rotate and face the chancellor. “You do? When he is already standing before you? Not summoned?” The arch-vicar general gave the chancellor a suspicious look.

  That caused Dante to frown. “In theory. I admit it might be a bit tricky; we’ve never actually done it before. Not for an archdemon and not on an unsummoned demon, but in theory, it should work.”

  “I see,” Barabus replied. He did, indeed. That option was most definitely not going to happen. He turned back to Heron. “So you have the weapon capacity to destroy an archdemon in the Abyss? Keep it from regenerating?”

  “We have a couple of options on the table. Obviously, we won’t know for sure until we try them. No one has ever tried to slay an archdemon in the Abyss, as far as I know,” Heron replied.

  “Except for Sir Samwell,” Dante interjected. “He said he pursued an archdemon into the Abyss.”

  “Yes, but as I recall, he ended up in the creature’s dungeon, where he was tortured,” Heron replied.

  “Although he did survive, so… I have no idea. We will have to get his opinion,” Barabus said.

  “Assuming of course, the knights are not captured during their mission,” Dante noted.

  Barabus closed his eyes for a moment. “Well, he’s escaped an archdemon’s lair before; we assume he can do it again. It may just be a while.”

  “CSO Halferth, lower the cloaking shields,” Captain Cranshall ordered.

  “Let us see what happens now,” Heron said, staring forward at the main viewing screen as the image of the fortress suddenly became much clearer as they revealed themselves.

  Mount Doom: Fourth Period

  Tom sighed as he made his way into his bedroom. He was just returning from another training session in the Oubliette. He was not sure how much had penetrated; he had still been feeling rather high. He supposed that was the term. He shook his head, remembering his late night musical dance number, or whatever that had been, in the library, communing with a set of robes.

  It did seem to help a bit. He had practiced a few times after returning the robes to their storage case. He was able to make Edwyrd’s skin appear rune-tattooed and baggy. It was a start, he supposed. He would need to get Antefalken to give him some pointers, perhaps tonight, but for now he needed to rest. He had gotten very little sleep last night before the Oubliette crew had come pounding on his door for more training sessions.

  Of course, that had also meant interacting with the AII. That pretty much had to be where these creepy Orcus memories were coming from. He hoped having had another training session today would not lead to more foreign dreams tonight. Or right now, for that matter, Tom thought as he lay down on his bed for a short nap before the Council meeting scheduled for fifth period.

  The Abyss, Melted Castle: Fourth Period

  “I will give the captain this,” Sir Samwell said as the thunder of multiple large lightning bolts rained down upon the Inferno on the other side of the keep. “He did manage to attract their attention.”

  They could not see the battle from their current location, scaling the wall of the castle. They were climbing the rough stone wall towards a lowered region that was out of sight of the watchtowers. Flying, which all could have managed, would have been too obvious. Most demons flew, so someone flying over walls was a high priority for monitoring. Someone scaling walls, and crawling through a low point on the walls that happened to be obscured to watchtowers—that was one of the weak spots that had been identified.

  Of course, given that they were all in full armor, it was not a trivial task. Sir Samwell and Sir Lady Serah had the most difficult go, being in full plate. Gaius and Gadius wore chainmail, which was far more flexible and, in fact, quite light, given its supernatural qualities. However, neither Samwell nor Serah were willing to concede any hardship.

  Sir Samwell, in fact, had boasted that he often went mountain climbing in his plate armor to test his skills. The other knights were skeptical of this, but being an Oorstemothian, they could not be entirely sure that the knight might not actually be that crazy.

  They finally reached the top of the wall, or at least the lower-level target that they were aiming for.

  Sir Gaius peered over the wall, scanning the inner courtyard near their location. “No one is present in the courtyard. There are demons hovering in the distance, but they are all facing the other direction, watching the battle,” he reported.

  “How is the path to the entranceway we identified?” Gadius asked.

  “Clear!” Gaius replied.

  “Upsy-daisy, then!” Sir Samwell said, motioning Gaius to get up and over the wall.

  “That is a very odd expression,” Sir Lady Serah said beside him.

  “It actually comes from the phrase ‘up-a-daisy,’ which is the antonym of lackadaisy, as in lackaday or someone who is lackadaisical. One would presume that someone who is very energetic would be upadaisical, but I don’t recall having ever heard someone use that,” Sir Samwell informed her.

  Sir Lady Serah shook her head inside her helmet. “You are quite the linguist.” She sounded amused.

  “Yes, well, when one grows up in Oorstemoth… the artful use of language is something of a national obsession,” Sir Samwell said.

  “I bet you are quite the charmer,” Sir Serah said.

  “Perhaps once we succeed in our quests and are back in Astlan, you will do me the honor of dinner so that you might test your hypothesis?” Sir Samwell asked.

  “Perhaps,” Sir Lady Serah replied cheerfully She turned to look up and saw that her way was clear to ascend and climb over the wall.

  ~

  “This place is something of a maze,” Gadius exclaimed, looking down at the tracking device he was carrying. They had had no difficulty descending and crossing the courtyard to the passage they hoped would lead them to the tower where they believed Talarius was being held prisoner.

  “Something of a maze?” Sir Lady Serah questioned. “It is a maze. I am not sure I have ever encountered so many branching corridors in so many different odd directions: right, left, up, down and every conceivable angle. It’s like some sort of giant ant colony.”

  “With an amazing number of dead ends,” Sir Samwell added. He suddenly stopped, lifted his visor and peered at the rough wall of the corridor, sniffing it. The others noticed and looked at him oddly.

  He shut his visor and said, “It’s also quite new. These corridors were, I believe, bored out, and given the lack of wear, I would say very recently.”

  “Is that typical of Denubian DemonsTM?” Gadius asked.

  Sir Samwell shrugged. “To be honest, the Denubian DungeonsTM that I’ve been in were not made of this material. This is some sort of stone or melted ground.” He shook his head. “The Denubian DungeonsTM I have been in were also quite non-angular, if you will, but were typically made out of some strange metal. Either that or they were more conventional dungeons that just happened to have Denubian overlords.”

  “What, no TM on Denubian overlords?” Sir Lady Serah asked.

  That stopped Sir Samwell in his tracks. “You are correct. I had been simply using the term for a generic overlord of a dungeon, but as far as I know, they have not trademarked it.”

  “I am not really familiar with this trademark thing that you and the other Oorstemothians talk about,” Gaius said.

  “It’s part of intellectual property laws. Think of it as legal protection for a name,” Sir Samwell told him.

  “Why would a name need legal protection?” Sir Lady Serah asked as they continued down the corridor, following Gadius’s tracking device.

  “To prevent false representation, of course. I can’t imagine that you would be too pleased if some other army went around calling itself ‘The Rod of Tiernon.’ ” Sir Samwell said.

  “Why would they do
that, if they are not?” Gaius asked.

  “Perhaps to swindle, fool or misdirect others? To gain their trust?” Sir Samwell replied.

  “The Rod would put an end to that quickly,” Gadius said.

  “True, but what if you were an organization that is not an army? What recourse might you have to keep someone from representing themselves, or their product, as yours?” Sir Samwell asked.

  “A sword,” Sir Lady Serah said.

  “Yes, but sometimes, violence is not advisable. And in many cases, there can be an honest conflict between two groups wanting to use the same name. Trademarks are legal contracts that work within courts of law to determine who has the exclusive right to a particular name under what context,” Sir Samwell said.

  “Ugh. I do not think I will ever truly understand Oorstemoth,” Gaius said.

  “No offense,” Sir Lady Serah said, looking at Sir Samwell, “but at times Oorstemothian diligence with respect to the letter of the law and contracts and such seems oddly reminiscent of the obsession demons have with contracts and the exact wording of the contract.”

  Sir Samwell paused for a second, but then responded cheerfully, “No offense taken, but now that you mention it, I cannot say that I disagree. What a very odd coincidence!”

  “Does it not strike you as odd that we have encountered no one—no demons, monsters or otherwise since we’ve entered the keep proper?” Gadius asked, peering forward into the dimly lit tunnel ahead. Suddenly there was a thunderously loud explosion, along with a sudden shaking of the tunnel around them, similar to a small quake.

  “I think that might be your answer,” Sir Samwell replied, brushing dust off his visor.

  “Cranshall is really giving it to them,” Sir Lady Serah marveled.

  “Yes, well, let us hope he does not give them too much while we are still in here,” Gaius said, looking anxiously for cracks in the tunnel.

  With that somber note, the party proceeded silently for another one hundred feet before the corridor opened up into what appeared to be a foyer. This was a larger space with three different entrances, including the one they were coming out of, along with a fourth one leading to a stairwell winding upward. Gadius gestured towards the stairwell and upward, indicating the direction they wanted to go.