03- The Apostles of Doom

by J. Langland

“Who is it?” Reggie’s voice called out.

  “It is I, Talarius. Ruiden and I have some critical questions for you.”

  “Uhm, can it wait? I’m a little preoccupied at the moment,” Reggie said.

  Talarius heard what sounded like a couple other people whispering in the background. He frowned, trying not to imagine what sordid things might be happening in the incubus’s room. This was very frustrating. “Very well, I shall be waiting in my room in Lord Tommus’s suite,” he informed Reggie. “Please join me as soon as possible.”

  ~

  Talarius was sitting on a chair in his room, Ruiden leaning against the arm of the chair, when Reggie came through the open door. Talarius looked up and gestured for him to close the door, which Reggie did with a puzzled look.

  “You had questions for me?” Reggie asked, sounding puzzled.

  “Indeed; thank you for joining us.” He gestured to Ruiden before gesturing to a larger chair that Reggie could sit in.

  Reggie sat down.

  “After the battle, when you returned from your mistress while we were drinking, the god Hephaestus stated that you were a newly arrived incubus,” Talarius stated.

  “Uhm, yes,” Reggie said, clearly not knowing where he was going with this.

  “What exactly did he mean?” Talarius asked.

  “Uhm, that I was new here. You remember when I arrived, back at the cave,” Reggie said, clearly uncertain as to what Talarius was getting at.

  “Yes, but where did you arrive from?” Talarius asked, shaking his head.

  “Uhm...” Reggie hesitated. “Did Tom not tell you?”

  “No, and the D’Orcing ceremony has raised serious questions as to where demons actually come from when they are—newly arrived, so to speak,” the knight said.

  “Agh. Yeah, about that,” Reggie said, sitting back. “Well, Tom didn’t specifically tell me not to tell you, he just wanted to save that conversation for later. I guess.”

  Talarius, who did not have his helmet on in his cooled bedroom, simply stared impassively at the incubus.

  “Well, so... uhm, yeah, I’m a new demon. My mistress summoned me from my life in New Jersey. It was very similar, but much sexier than the D’Orcing ceremony,” Reggie admitted. “And I had no idea what was happening.”

  “And this New Jersey? Where is that?” Talarius asked.

  “Uhm, it’s on a world called Earth. Tom and Tizzy told me that it’s on the very far side of the multiverse and that wizards in Astlan can’t recognize people from our world as being humans. They think the lights they see on the Astral Plane are unbound demons,” Reggie said.

  As we feared, Ruiden said to Talarius.

  “So what great act of evil had you committed to be so consigned to the Abyss?” Talarius asked.

  “Nothing!” Reggie shook his head quickly. “I didn’t do anything other than, well, smoke a joint that must have contained some demon weed.”

  Talarius blinked, thinking back to the cave when Reggie had first arrived. The conversation that Tom had engaged in—people passing joints around. He had thought they were talking about human flesh, limbs. He frowned. “What exactly is a joint?”

  Reggie shook his head puzzled. “Uhm, it’s like a hand-rolled cigarette but with weed in it. Normally it’s just marijuana, but in this case the one I smoked had demon weed.”

  “A cigarette?” Talarius asked.

  “Um, a small rolled-up piece of paper filled with tobacco. You put it in your mouth and light it on fire. I guess it’s like a paper pipe, except it gets burnt up with the stuff inside,” Reggie explained.

  Talarius sat silently for a moment. Ruiden remained silent as well. He really did not like what he was hearing. “So you were a human in this New Jersey?” he asked.

  “Uhm, yes.” Reggie nodded. “I was a kid, in school.”

  “A child? How old?” Talarius asked in shock.

  “Well, older than Rupert. I was—am—sixteen of my world’s years. Same age as Tom,” Reggie said.

  Talarius did a double take. “What did you just say?”

  Reggie grimaced. “Maybe I should not have said that. Never mind.”

  “No, I mind. What are you saying?” Talarius demanded.

  “Uhm, well, Tom was this new kid at my school. We had become friends. We were at this party, and, well, I’m the one who gave him the joint that sent him off to the Astral Plane, where Lenamare captured him. You know the rest,” Reggie said.

  Unholy gods! Ruiden said in his head. Can this be true? It makes no sense!

  Talarius just sat there, stunned, barely able to think.

  Reggie fidgeted as he sat in the uncomfortable silence.

  Talarius was busy playing back his memories of everything Tom had ever told him; every scold, every warning. He felt himself going numb. He stood up and put his helmet on. “Thank you,” he told Reggie and gave the incubus a nod of thanks. “I need some fresh air to process this.”

  Talarius walked over to the door, opened it and left, leaving Reggie sitting puzzled in the knight’s room.

  Citadel of Light: Dusk

  Teragdor shook his head while staring at the giant three-dimensional board showing the environment around the Citadel. They were all in the command center, being briefed on current events. Things were escalating quickly; the Storm Lords’ advance units were within a day’s march—or more technically, a night’s march, since many of the advanced forces were night-bound. Shambling zombie hordes fortunately moved rather slowly, as well as preferring the day, and that set the pace for the entire army.

  “We estimate that their main body will be here within about three nights, including tonight,” Grob told the assembled leaders, including Teragdor, Rasmeth, Stevos, Timbly and Hilda.

  “So the advanced forces should arrive by dawn,” Diocate Aeris guessed.

  Grob nodded. “Indeed. We need to get everyone in. The Shield, Rangers and Sky Wardens have been out all day, sweeping the inner regions for anyone still out there. There are still quite a number of refugee groups on the roads. Our troops will be acting as a shield against the advance forces, in case any arrive earlier than expected.”

  “What is the nature of the advance forces? Will they go to ground with daylight?” Hilda asked.

  "That is their standard tactic. The advance forces are typically vampires, dhampyrs, ghasts, ghouls, and sometimes a few specters," Grob informed her and the rest of the off-worlders. "Normally they go to ground, relying on the ghasts and ghouls to take guard rotations under the direction of senior dhampyrs.”

  “Do you work to root out these nests?” Timbly asked.

  “In recent centuries, yes. Those have been more like reconnaissance nests; however, this time we are going to be spread too thin. The Storm Lords are simply coming from too many directions and we have too many civilians to protect,” Grob said.

  “Stevos, Timbly, Rasmeth and Teragdor have important preparations they need to be doing tonight. I, however, am at your disposal,” Hilda said. Teragdor remained quiet; he knew that what Hilda meant was that he and Rasmeth had more training to do. They had spent every available hour the last few days training with their respective saints, learning and practicing the advanced rituals, chants and invocations that had been well above their previous ranks.

  Aeris raised an eyebrow slightly, looking to Hilda. “You are a soldier?”

  Hilda smiled tightly. “Unlife are my specialty. I was canonized for my defense of a village against a horde of vampires, vampyrs, ghasts, ghouls and yes, dhampyrs. I have since spent my afterlife as a patron of all those who stand against the Night.”

  Hilda tilted her head and trained a steely gaze to Grob’s eyes. “So, I think I am uniquely qualified for dealing with the advanced forces you describe.”

  Teragdor chuckled. “She easily defeated the Meat Maker of the Broken Tusk Clan, our local wargtown master, with a single kick.” Wargtown masters were generally the fiercest brawlers in any town. “He got the first punch; she took it an
d then plowed him ten feet back into the wargtown.” There were more than a few murmurs at this.

  Grob grinned and nodded. “I will not disagree, Your Saintliness. I need to be upright for the coming battle.” He chuckled.

  Teragdor chuckled as well. “I can assure you there was no one upright in wargtown at the end of that day, because Hilda bought them drinks and then drank the entire town under the table!”

  Grob raised an eyebrow at this and glanced inquiringly at Hilda.

  She shrugged and simply smiled. “I do like my spirits.”

  Stevos and Timbly both nodded in agreement.

  “Well, perhaps I need a new patron saint!” Grob laughed.

  Day’s March Outside the Citadel: DOA + 17, Late First Period

  “There, there. Everything is going to be fine, my dear. We are going to get you and your family safe inside the Citadel,” Hilda told the sobbing young girl she was gently lifting. The girl’s shoe had gotten stuck in the mud and she had fallen down off the slightly raised road while trudging through the darkness towards the Citadel.

  Hilda sat the girl down and gave her a big hug while reciting a cleaning ritual to remove the dirt, mud and sweat from the young girl, her clothes and shoes. Hilda pulled back from the girl and smiled at her in the torchlight. “See? Already better!” She gestured down the girl’s clean clothes; the girl looked down and gasped in surprise and happiness.

  Hilda smiled and stood, leading the girl by the hand back to her waiting mother and siblings.

  “Thank you so much!” The mother told Hilda.

  “Hilda smiled. “It’s my duty. The Blessings of Tiernon and his Siblings be upon you!”

  The woman and the rather awed children nodded and then turned to continue down the road. Hilda turned back to see several Shield members smiling at her.

  “You Sisters have a far gentler touch than we Shield members,” one of the soldiers she was currently working with, one Sarjeant Jacob Holspice, told her. Jacob was in charge of this particular squad. He was a nice young man from someplace called Hovertly. Hilda did not have the faintest clue whether that was somewhere nearby or on the other side of the planet; she had simply nodded as if she knew exactly where he was from.

  “It’s simply the differences in how we serve!” she said brightly. She had not told any of the Shield members who, or rather what, she was. Having one of Tiernon’s saints working alongside one could be very distracting. Way too much veneration and all that nonsense; it got in the way of getting work done.

  Once they had determined where she could best help—an area where the Forces of Darkness were closer than in other locations—one of Grob’s battle priests had mirrored the commander in the region and had him recite a prayer that Hilda had provided. He had told the commander it would bring them good luck by invoking a powerful but little-known saint who fought the Unlife.

  All quite literally true. True, because by saying the prayer to Hilda, she was able to get a lock on the commander and transport herself to his location, albeit in the woods about ten feet away. This time, unlike the adventure that had started this whole thing, she was in a Sister of Tiernon’s working clothes. These were very different from the robes one often associated with Sisters of Tiernon. The working clothes were designed for rugged, outdoor use; on the battlefield, in particular. It consisted of lightweight cloth armor which was bound to, and served as padding for leather plate armor. It was far more flexible, if less protective than full leathers. Sisters were often on their knees tending the wounded, and the armor needed to allow for a full range of motion while still providing some protection.

  She had been working with this team of soldiers for the entire night. In particular, she had spent considerable time healing those who had been injured, or who were sick and thus moving slower. That was in fact one of the reasons these people were further behind; many of them had family members who were sick, infirm or aged.

  Assisting—or rather, boosting the strength and stamina of the aged at the level required here, was admittedly something she had not had to do a great deal of in her sainthood. Forced marches fleeing massive Unlife armies did not really happen that often in Astlan. It had never happened, in fact, as far as she knew.

  “As I told you when you arrived,” Jacob said, “you are the first Sister of Tiernon I’ve ever met. My grandfather used to talk about them all the time, but their ranks have been spread thin over the last century.”

  “Well, this is an unprecedented attack, so we have to prepared for encountering all sorts of—unprecedented—things!” Hilda beamed at him. “Vicar General Grob thought this region would be in most need of my services.”

  “I think the fact that you actually know, and have talked to, Vicar General Grob Darkness Slayer shows how rare and important the Sisters’ work is,” Jacob told her.

  Hilda beamed. “Aren’t you sweet! But we are all simply servants of Tiernon trying to do our best to stand against the darkness.”

  “Sister?” a voice called for her, and she looked to see a young woman waving at her, leaning over a man who appeared to have twisted his ankle, or perhaps worse. It was difficult to tell in the flickering torchlight. She was not used to such poor lighting, but they really didn’t want to use too much mana and attract undue attention.

  “Coming!” Hilda called, waving at them as she started forward. She was about halfway to the girl when she overheard one of Jacob’s soldiers speaking softly.

  “Have you ever met someone so cheerful, uplifting and pleasant in the face of oncoming apocalypse?” the soldier asked.

  Jacob laughed. “I have to admit, if I have ever met someone with a saintly disposition, it would have to be her!”

  Hilda grinned and hurried on.

  Library of Doom: Late Sixth Period

  “…and this fellow is Prince Asmodeus,” Erestofanes said, gesturing to a very long wall of portraits. “Of course, Asmodeus, as you can see, changed form relatively frequently, so it is quite doubtful he still looks like any of these very often.”

  Erestofanes, Antefalken, Tamarin and Tom were touring the portraits of Orcus’s enemies, or suspect persons, as Erestofanes had explained. It wasn’t just one’s enemies that one needed to be able to recognize, but one’s friends, associates and otherwise dangerous colleagues. Since they had been spending quite a bit of time in the library practicing Tom’s shape-changing, they decided to take a break by having Erestofanes show them the portraits.

  It was quite interesting to note that there was a portrait of Sammael that looked the same as the current Sam. Apparently it was his preferred relaxation form; one could only wonder at the motivation. Antefalken had been able to recognize two of Lilith’s portraits.

  What was also interesting, or rather disconcerting, were the portraits of the Tartarvardenennead. In particular, there was a large group portrait. There everyone was, either the same as they were today, or as Tom remembered them from his dreams. Singkûn was interesting, he actually looked something like a character that Tom remembered showing up in several martial arts movies. Of course, he also looked like an orangish version of one of the apes in the old Planet of the Apes movies.

  “Given our current situation, I don’t suppose you have any pictures of Tiernon?” Tamarin asked the librarian. “Pretty sure there would be no good way to get an image of him.”

  Erestofanes paused in thought, scratching his chin with his upper left hand. “We have no paintings of him. However, Orcus did have his personal Memory Mirror.” He tilted his head and squinted, thinking.

  “Memory Mirror?” Tom asked.

  “It’s a mirror to store saved images from a regular Magic Mirror, like the ones Phaestus, Völund, and several Council members use regularly,” Antefalken said.

  Tom shook his head. “So it stores digital photos?”

  Antefalken scrunched his face. “No idea what those are.”

  Erestofanes was nodding. “Completely different mechanism, but yes, it’s like that. They are the images captur
ed by a Magic Mirror that have been uploaded to the Memory Mirror for later viewing.”

  “So where is this mirror?” Tom asked.

  “That’s what I was trying to remember.” Erestofanes grinned. “He had kept it in his room, but after his death, I thought it best to store it in the library vault. While keyed to the Wand—Rod, I still thought it best to lock it up, just in case. I can look up which one and deliver it to your room, if you wish.”

  Tom nodded. “That would be great, thanks!” It was a bit creepy to look through some long-dead guy’s photo album, but it might have useful information.

  Tamarin clapped her hands. “Excellent! I bet seeing these images will help spur the return of your memories.”

  “Great,” Tom said without a lot of enthusiasm. Maybe this was not such a good idea.

  Day’s March Outside the Citadel of Light: Early Second Period

  “So we are sure there is no one behind us on the road?” Jacob asked two rangers who that had caught up to them from the rear.

  “As sure as we can be in this darkness,” one of the rangers, an alfar, said. “We have very good night vision and obviously can see mana and animus, and have not been able to spot any.”

  “Can you also detect antimus?” Hilda asked.

  “Not so easily in the dark.” The alfar shook his head. “In the light of day, it shows up as a much darker shade of the colors you would normally expect. Ghouls are warm-blooded, so if they aren’t tightly wrapped up or hidden, we can detect their heat emanations. “

  “Same with dhampyrs, but vampires are very hard to detect, since they tend to be close to ambient temperatures unless they have just fed,” the second ranger told her.

  “I’ve heard no word of vampyrs in the advance party. I assume they are simply too blatant and hard to control in a recon situation?” Hilda asked.

  “Exactly. They see someone tasty, get distracted and raise a huge ruckus. The vampires find this annoying,” the first ranger said. The Shield members all nodded in agreement.

  “Ghouls can sometimes be a problem as well if they get hungry, but they are typically less driven than vampyrs,” the second ranger added.