The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) Read online

  Reggie struggled to get free. Tom quickly released him as he suddenly realized that the incubus had been extremely aroused by his hug. Tom stepped back and Reggie, realizing he was at full mast, tried to shield himself with his four hands. He was staring at Tom as if Tom was insane.

  “Reggie. It’s me, Tom, Tom Perkinje.” He waved at Reggie.

  Reggie blinked. “Tom?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Tom who I gave the joint to and then he went and died on me?”

  “That’s me!”

  Reggie’s eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground in shock.

  Tizzy started coughing. Coughing and laughing and clutching his guts with all four arms, rocking back and forth. “That’s gotta be the greatest reunion scene of all time!” Tizzy was laughing and somehow wiping tears from his eyes—tears of blood, it appeared, but tears still. “See, I told you! I knew you’d want to come with me!”

  ~

  Talarius woke to darkness. He hurt all over. Every joint, every muscle, every pore seemed to ooze pain. However, none of it hurt as much as the pain in his heart, in his soul. He had failed. As his mind cleared, the events of the day before came rushing back in. He had failed Tiernon. He had failed the Rod. He had failed himself. His hubris had been his downfall.

  He should have been more thorough in dispatching the damn demon and its minions. He should not have been so lenient. The damned monster had turned the tables. It had stolen mana from his god; it had possessed priests and the members of the Rod. It had used the Holy Church of Tiernon against him, and then it had survived an impossible death stroke and destroyed a Holy Artifact of Tiernon. It had then abducted him to the Abyss.

  He was now here and damned for… well, a very long time. He was not quite sure. All he knew was that his immortal soul was possibly lost. That damned clothed demon had been right. If he died here, his soul would die here. He would never…

  “Stop,” the knight ordered himself aloud. He did not have time for this line of thought. He was in enemy territory. Deeper enemy territory than he had ever been in before. Furthermore, he was unarmed, or mostly unarmed. A few small blades inset into his armor, a couple of flash bombs, a Rod of Smiting along with a Rod of Holy Lightning, both also part of his armor. Like the blades, they were designed into the armor to appear as part of it. He also had a garroting wire, lock picks, two vials of healing, and three vials of holy water. But other than that, and his impenetrable armor, he was completely defenseless!

  He did have his Sash of Heavenly Flight as well, under his armor, so he could fly away if he needed. He had been in too much shock to use it when he fell through the hole. That multi-limbed nightmare had grabbed him before he had invoked it. The problem, of course, was where would he fly? He had absolutely no means of extradimensional travel. No way to get home.

  However, if he was going to count the sash as part of his defense, then he’d have to also count his Grefalgar’s Girdle of Grace for the agility and dexterity it provided him, as well as his Gauntlets of Grappling, and his Undergarments of Cleansing. While all useful on a crusade and okay in combat, they were not particularly offensive or defensive devices.

  Of course, the Ring of Invisibility on his left hand was theoretically defensive, but hiding was always a last resort. A coward’s resort. And the pendant he wore with its mana pool did nothing in and of itself; it was just reserve mana for any of the holy rituals he might need to cast. Certainly, his Flask of Holy Refreshment with its unending supply of icy cold water could not be counted as offensive or defensive. Unless he needed to put out a fire —there seemed to be a fair amount of fire around this place.

  And since demons were not undead, his bracelets were useless and thus not to be counted. He supposed the Ring of Blessing on his right hand was equally useless. Normally he used it to bless his allies. He had never tried it on himself, but it seemed just a bit self-serving to bless oneself. A Blessing of Tiernon might, however, have some negative effects on a demon. He just was not sure. It did cause problems for undead; skeletons and zombies in particular.

  He shook his head and sat up. It was no use lying on the ground wallowing in his weakened state and the minimal resources he currently had at his command. He had not planned on coming, so he really had not packed. The floor of this cave was miserable for sleeping, particularly while in full plate armor , but he had been so exhausted that it had not mattered. He did have to admit that, aside from the initial discomfort, he did feel better now, after his nap. How long had he slept? Three, four hours at least.

  There was a scratching noise from across the room, the sound of demon hooves on the stone. Someone was approaching. He needed to adjust his helm’s visor to see in the dark. “So, finally awake?” The Rupert demon said.

  “Yes, fiend.”

  The Rupert demon sighed. “I’m not a fiend. Tizzy and Boggy are fiends. I’m at least a third order, maybe a greater demon.” He actually sounded a bit whiny and defensive, almost like the young boy he had pretended to be. These demons took their deceptions to ridiculous levels, Talarius sighed to himself. Why they were continuing such nonsense when he was clearly at their mercy was a mystery.

  “As you will,” Talarius acknowledged. No need to pick a fight at this point.

  “I was beginning to think you’d gotten a concussion and weren’t going to ever wake up!”

  Talarius frowned in the dark. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, you’ve been out cold for almost a solid day. Or something like that; there’s no Fierd in the Abyss. But I’m pretty sure it’s been a full day since you fell asleep.”

  A day? He had been out for twenty hours? He shook his head. Argh, headache. “You cannot be serious, demon!”

  “Uhm, yeah. Why would I lie about that?”

  “Because you are a demon?” Talarius retorted as if stating the obvious.

  Rupert sighed. “You really are a nut job.” Talarius had the feeling the demon was shaking its head. “Believe what you will, it’s been a solid day for the rest of us.”

  Talarius sighed to himself. The demon probably was not lying; he was just so tired still. However, he had been in a lot of pain, so recovery would be slow. Further, the demons had said he would regenerate here. He had no idea how that would work, but he was a bit better now. “I’m going to light my armor so I can see. I’m not attacking, demon,” he told Rupert. Really not a good idea to accidentally start a fight at this moment. He could have used his visor, but felt that the fewer strengths he revealed now, the better his advantage later.

  “Sure,” Rupert replied.

  Talarius willed his armor to light the room dimly. He did not want to turn it to full power, lest he blind himself with the unaccustomed light. He looked around the cave he and Rupert were standing in. It was large, quite large, but very sparsely decorated. A giant throne crudely carved of stone, a horribly shoddy stone table; and a few objects that he guessed were carved shelves high up. There did not seem to be much on them. Hmm. Was that a dragon tooth on the top shelf? Odd. Of course, it could just be another demon’s tooth. It was higher than his reach, so he frankly did not care.

  Talarius started walking stiffly towards the entrance. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at where you’re holding me prisoner.” He glanced at Rupert.

  The demon shrugged. “Not like you can go anywhere; we’re very high up and in a rather empty part of the Abyss.”

  Talarius nodded and continued up the long, winding tunnel. He barely remembered coming down, he had been so beat. Eventually he reached the cave mouth. There was a reasonably-sized ledge outside the mouth. The demon had been correct. There was a very nasty precipice at the end of the ledge, and no easy route to climb down or up. He would not be leaving here without the sash. Praise Tiernon he had had it on. Of course, he nearly always wore it in full combat gear. One only needed to fall off a flying horse once to realize the need for a reliable backup plan.

  Talarius shook his head. War Arrow would be ne
arly frantic at this point. He imagined Ruiden, his sword, would also be quite bothered. The sword would be very annoyed he had gone off to the Abyss without taking it. Ruiden enjoyed cleaving demons more than nearly anything else.

  The knight sighed and looked around. They were very high up on the side of a mountain in what had to be one of the most rugged mountain ranges he had ever seen. Between that and the oppressive, omnipresent red light from the disturbingly surreal sky, the landscape was almost intimidating. He tried to rub the bridge of his nose, an old habit, but that didn’t work well when wearing a great helm.

  “Ahoy there! Rupert!” A loud, accented voice came from the sky over his right shoulder. He turned to see a man-sized demon with large bat wings and an extremely craggy face coming in for a landing. Talarius backed up to the other side of the ledge. There was a very short, pudgy and hideous fiend behind this one.

  Rupert came out, scowled horribly and then clapped his hands as if happy. “Boggy! Great to see you!” These demons had seriously weird emotional responses. He would have never guessed that that horrendous scowl was meant to be welcoming.

  “I see you’ve got the prize!” The first demon landed on the ledge and patted Rupert on the shoulder.

  “Unholy miracles!” The short, ugly little demon screeched, staring at Talarius. “Are you sure it’s safe to have that thing running around unbound? I’ve heard that Paladins are extremely dangerous.”

  “I’m not a Paladin; I’m a Knight Rampant!” Talarius glared at the annoying demon.

  “Who is this, Boggy?” Rupert asked, gesturing to the ugly demon.

  “Oh, right-o! Sorry about that. Where are my manners?” The demon that Rupert had called “Boggy” shook its head. “This is an old friend of mine, Estrebrius. His accursed master has some sort of business proposal for Tom.”

  Rupert looked at the demon named Boggy as if he did not understand; he then turned his gaze to Estrebrius, who was suddenly looking very uncomfortable. “You mean his accursed master, as in the wizard he is bound to, wants a deal with Tom?” Rupert seemed rather incredulous.

  Talarius found it extremely odd himself; however, everything at the moment was odd. It was widely suspected that wizards had secret deals with these demons. This would of course, prove it. If he ever got out of here, the Rod would have good cause to take out all wizards when they were located. Although, thinking on it , taking out the entire city of wizards might be difficult. Clearly, they would have to plan carefully.

  “I’ve never heard of wizards wanting ‘deals’ with demons before. Usually, it’s just do this or suffer!” Rupert said.

  Estrebrius bowed deeply. “I assure you, Great One, my master has no ill intentions. He simply seeks to assist Your Lordship in his endeavors!”

  Talarius raised an eyebrow under his helmet at that. Interesting, he had never been so privy to the direct machinations of the forces of evil. Intellectually, he supposed that it was interesting, but frankly, it was the sort of information that he had no need to know. Evil was evil; the how and why was not important. In the end, only the what, where and when mattered, so that one could be there with the right tools to defeat it.

  “So anyway,” Boggy said to Rupert, “I told Estrebrius that I’d introduce him to Tom and at least let him pitch the idea.”

  Rupert nodded and shrugged. “Sounds crazy to me, but what do I know?” Rupert said.

  “Is he inside?” Boggy asked.

  Rupert seemed to do a double take. “Oh, sorry—wasn’t thinking. No, he and Tizzy went zooming off that way.” He pointed over Talarius’s shoulder. “Tizzy started making all these weird faces and said something about buttah and a new arrival and that Tom would want to meet it. Whatever that is. What’s a new arrival?” Rupert asked.

  “A new arrival?” Boggy frowned; this was very clearly a frown, Talarius thought as he suppressed a small discomfort in his spine. “Damn, I like to be with him for those!” Boggy shook his head in annoyance. “Really strange to have another one so soon.”

  “That’s what Tizzy said,” Rupert told Boggy. “What’s a new arrival?”

  “It’s a new demon,” Estrebrius told him.

  “A new demon? You mean like a baby?” Rupert asked.

  Estrebrius shook his head and looked at Rupert as if he were insane. “No, a freshly captured and enslaved demon.”

  Rupert blinked. “I’m not sure I understand. You mean like a demon that wasn’t enslaved but now is? Just captured?” Rupert was twisting his head in thought, “so how do you tell that?”

  Estrebrius started to open his mouth but Boggy interrupted him while staring at Talarius. “I’ll let Tom explain that to you. It gets complicated.”

  “Why are you staring at me, demon?” Talarius asked.

  “No reason. I just see no need to bore you with the details,” Boggy said.

  Talarius squinted through the eye slit in his helmet. There was something this demon did not want him to know about these new arrival demons. Perhaps some secret in how to bind demons? Something that if he knew, he might be able to sabotage? A way to keep demons from being conjured to Astlan? That would be valuable. Although if they were talking about binding demons, was not a bound demon better than an unbound demon? Hmm, clearly more investigation might be warranted.

  Talarius suddenly opened his eyes wide. Was this why he was here? Did Tiernon have a plan for him? Perhaps to uncover something that would allow them to defeat these evil creatures once and for all… Could it be that his downfall was the will of Tiernon? The start of a most holy of crusades? Dared he hope?

  ~

  Antefalken made his way to the bar. He needed a drink. He had come to the Courts to hear the local gossip and ended up with more than he wanted. He had not been more than a few blocks into the city when these big goons surrounded him and provided him an invitation to see Lilith. They were friendly enough, but it was clear they were not taking no for an answer.

  Admittedly, he had thought of visiting Lilith, depending on what the word on the street was. He just had not planned on it being his first stop. The goons had ushered him in to her quarters and then quickly left.

  “My dear, sweet Anty!” Lilith cooed as she emerged from behind a curtain. Antefalken felt his shoulders slump. She was in her see-through form. That was never good. It was a very dramatic form where you could see her skeleton and a few select organs, while her body itself was a currently purple, translucent shell. You could see her skin normally; it was simply see-through. On top of that she wore a rather diaphanous skirt and back cape, along with numerous articles of jewelry.

  Fortunately, she had not eaten anyone recently. That was always disconcerting: to see her digesting some poor sap that had gotten on her bad side. Unless she was hungry? Antefalken shuddered slightly and bowed to her. “My Lady, so good to see you again.” He smiled brightly.

  “And you.” She smiled, coming closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, drawing him over to her divan. “So, it seems you’ve had a near-final death experience?”

  “My Lady, as always, is well informed.” Antefalken kissed her hand.

  “It must have been very nerve-racking,” Lilith said as she wrapped herself around Antefalken on the couch.

  He really did not find this form attractive. “It was indeed,” he said.

  “Fortunately, this Tom friend of yours was a bit more than he seemed?” She smiled at the bard.

  He could not determine what sort of smile it was, and that made him more nervous. “Very fortunate, my love.” He kissed her left breast , closing his eyes to avoid looking at her beating, glowing red translucent heart.

  “So, I assume he has returned to the Abyss?”

  “Yes, My Lady, along with the rest of his entourage and his hostage. I simply left them to come report to you,” Antefalken murmured around her nipple. He doubted he could distract her, but he would give it a try.

  “So he’s at his cave?”

  “He has nowhere else.”

  “Wel
l, that’s a shame!” She pulled back from him suddenly and gave him a wide smile.

  “He’s bound to be hounded by who knows how many lickspittles trying to curry his favor! And the paparazzi will be insane. A cave just won’t do!” Lilith stood, marched seductively over to her diamond drink cart and poured two glasses of some blood-red beverage that did not look too much like blood.

  She pivoted with the two glasses and came back towards Antefalken. “He must come visit me! I will provide him, his entourage and his hostage with appropriate accommodations!”

  Antefalken smiled as best he could, taking one of the glasses. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. “My love! As always you are so wonderfully generous!” He raised his glass to hers in a toast.

  She smiled sweetly. “So, when can we expect his presence? I shall have a feast prepared!”

  “Ah…” Antefalken twisted his head slightly. “I will relay your invitation immediately upon my return. I am sure he will be… delighted.” He took a drink. “I can’t, of course, promise that he’ll accept—”

  “Oh, Anty! Do not be so dismissive of your charms! You are the most persuasive demon I know. I am sure you can convince him to enjoy my hospitality.” Lilith sipped her drink.

  “You flatter me, My Lady. I will do everything in my power to persuade him.” She smiled at this. “However, he is a greater demon and I’m simply me…”

  Lilith’s eyes were steel. “Again, I am sure you will succeed. I have every confidence in you.”

  Antefalken ordered a second cup of Denubian Choco-CoffeeTM. This was not something he would be able to get out of easily. One did not turn Lilith down. No one did. Antefalken was sure that even Asmodeus would hesitate. However, he really did not think it a good idea for Lilith to host Tom and friends. For one thing, she hated Tizzy with a passion. He needed to get them out of the Abyss. But how?

  ~

  “So, do you think he’ll succeed?” a tall, reddish-skinned gentleman asked as he stepped through a wall that had simply appeared in Lilith’s parlor. He had black, slicked-back hair with only a touch of gray at the temples along with two small, dark, pointy horns, and a Van Dyke beard and mustache. He wore a somewhat theatrical suit and cloak with large pauldrons. As soon as he had stepped through, the wall vanished.