At the Gates of Darkness Part 11

The building was a rough construction, and there were cracks between the boards. The brothers peered through them and suddenly large winged demons descended into view, landing in the marshalling yard and a.s.suming a rough formation: two lines of six.

'They are waiting for something,' said Gulamendis.

'What?'

'I don't know.'

'What do we do now?' asked Laromendis.

'Well, as going anywhere is out of the question, I suggest we just sit quietly here and watch, for now.'

Unable to think of anything else to say, Laromendis fell silent.

Hours pa.s.sed, and nothing of significance occurred in the courtyard; after a while the sun rose high enough to be distinctive and give the inside of the hut faint illumination.

'What have we here?' said Laromendis, almost absently, as he pulled down a sack from a large shelf on the back wall. The bag fell open and red round fruit fell out. 'Apples!' he said.

Gulamendis didn't hesitate, he grabbed one of the orbs and bit in deeply. It was not the freshest he had ever tasted, but the cool, dry storage had preserved most of the fruits.

'What's in the other bags?' asked his brother as he bit down into his second apple. He began a haphazard examination, opening bags and using his heavy knife to pry off the tops of boxes and as he went, the brothers began to wonder.

The boxes and bags contained provisions and clothing. The clothing was human sized, too big for dwarves, too small for the taredhel, and certainly not of a fashion for the other elven tribes.

'What is this?' wondered Gulamendis.

'I don't know, but have some of this,' said his brother, tossing him a hunk of dried meat.

Gulamendis bit greedily into the jerky and began chewing. 'What is this place?'

'You know more about demons than anyone else I know; what do you think?'

'Demons eat everything. They suck life from the living, and then go after whatever's left.' He made an encompa.s.sing gesture and added, 'They don't store fruit, or dry meat. This is not demon food.'

'Then who does it belong to?'

'Let's eat, get some rest and then go and find out,' suggested Gulamendis.

Laromendis said, 'I don't have any better ideas. If no one disturbs our repose, we'll venture out after dark and discover what we can.'

'As you said, I don't have a better idea.'

They sat and began eating.

The day pa.s.sed slowly. Twice they held themselves ready to fight as a company of demons marched by, but no one seemed to show much interest in the pantry. The two conjectures they arrived at, to explain the unexpected storage shed, were that the original builders of this monstrous fortress had been mortals and had been overrun by the Demon Legion, or that the demons had it built for reasons yet unclear. Given the size and look of the place, the latter seemed a more reasonable conclusion.

As the sky darkened once more, the ma.s.sive fortress fell quiet, and finally Gulamendis said, 'We need to explore.'

'Why?' said his brother, antic.i.p.ating his brother's answer. 'Very well,' he conceded before Gulamendis could voice his argument. 'I know, we can't stay here forever, even if there's enough food to last us months.'

His brother smiled and nodded, pointing over his shoulder in the general direction of the fortress. 'If there's any way off this world to one that will lead us back to Home, it is in there.'

'These are the times I wish we'd spent less time learning magic and more times learning how to sneak about unseen, like our forest cousins.'

'It's a difficult choice,' said Gulamendis. 'We can skulk about, or you can enchant us to look like something else, but then we'd reek of magic to anyone sensitive to it.'

'What's your best guess, Demon Master?'

'With this bunch, I have no idea,' he admitted. 'They don't act like any demons I have ever encountered.' He fell silent for a moment, then said, 'Neither those camped in the valley, nor those attacking them, remotely resemble the monsters we faced on Andcardia.

'It's as if we're encountering an entirely new breed of demon.'

'What of their look?' Laromendis asked.

Gulamendis shrugged. 'Before all this, I thought myself familiar with demons, but in the last few days I have seen more creatures which are new to me than I have my entire life. Demons always tend to a type: battle demons are large and powerful, but they can look like bulls or lizards or bulls and lizards, or lions or...' He shrugged. 'Flyers tend to be small, but we saw some very large nasty ones on Hub. I've seen demons in magician's robes.' He sighed. 'I wish we had that human warlock around to talk with; he knew a great deal, as did his friends, Pug and Magnus.'

'If we get Home, let's go visit them,' suggested his brother, dryly, 'but until we do, we should turn our attentions to the matter at hand; illusions or skulking?'

'Skulking,' said Gulamendis. 'Save your energies for other conjurations.'

'Skulking it is,' said Laromendis, carefully opening the door.

The marshalling yard to their left was empty and the shortest distance to the side of the ma.s.sive keep was directly across from them. 'If someone's watching from one of those windows above, we will be seen,' said Laromendis softly.

'It's dark,' said his brother. 'If we hurry...'

Not waiting another moment, Laromendis dashed from the large storage shed and his brother followed, pausing only to close the door behind them, before setting off at a full run. It was not a vast distance, less than fifty yards, but they felt as if they were exposed on every side for the longest time.

Hugging the keep wall, they waited, listening for any sounds of alarm. When none was forthcoming, Gulamendis said, 'Now what?'

'That way,' said his brother, pointing to the rear of the keep.

'Why that way?'

'Would you rather try to walk in the main entrance?'

'Point taken,' conceded the Demon Master and the two elves moved towards the rear of the keep.

Reaching a tower, they moved around its base until they were looking at a large rear yard, half the size of the marshalling yard. Laromendis whispered. 'I see steps leading down to a bas.e.m.e.nt door, and a broad flight of steps leading up beyond that.'

'Down,' said Gulamendis. 'Let's sneak in through the bas.e.m.e.nt'.

'Have you wondered why there are no guards?'

'I presume they're all too busy obliterating other demons wherever it was we were before we came through the portal.'

'One can hope, but I still find it odd that we've only seen that one battle demon and those two small patrols,' Laromendis observed.

'Count it a blessing and move on!' hissed his brother.

They made a dash for the steps leading down and found themselves before two large doors. The latch was unsecured and Laromendis gently pulled the nearest door open just enough to peer through. 'It's a long, dark stairway,' Laromendis whispered.

'Is there anyone there?'

'Not that I can see.' The Conjurer slipped through the door, with his brother following.

'This is the height of madness,' said the Demon Master.

'If I push you back to the wall, do not move. I'm going to make us look like part of the stone.'

As plans went, it wasn't a particularly brilliant one, but Gulamendis didn't have a better one so he said nothing.

They moved down a very long staircase that took them deep into the bas.e.m.e.nt of the keep. It finally ended in a large chamber, and Gulamendis judged they were at least three storeys below the surface. The chamber had four doors, the one through which they had just stepped, two other open doorways with stairs leading up, and a barred, heavy wooden one opposite them.

'That one,' whispered Laromendis.

His brother gave him a tiny push from behind, signalling his agreement, and they quickly crossed the open room. The door had a small, barred window, and they peered through it. 'It's a dungeon!' said Gulamendis.

Through the small window they could see a long hallway: floor-to-ceiling bars separated cells on the right. Evenly s.p.a.ced on the other side, stood three large, heavy wooden doors like the one through which they stared.

In the barred cells, they could see captives: humans, dwarves, and elves. The last were lesser kin to the taredhel, being of similar stature, but smaller than the two brothers. 'What is this?' whispered Laromendis.

'Demons don't take prisoners,' whispered Gulamendis back.

'What now?'

'I have no idea.'

In an inexplicable dungeon, beneath an impossible keep, on a world unknown to them the day before, created by beings also unknown to them, the two elven brothers stood motionless, crippled by the fact they had no idea of what to do next.

CHAPTER TEN - Demon Lore.

JIM GROANED.

The festivities had ended far too late for him to be welcoming the dawn, yet Pug, Magnus, and Amirantha had come into his room at first light, pulled aside the draperies and insisted he awake.

'Water,' Jim croaked.

Amirantha picked up an earthen pitcher on the night table next to the huge bed Jim occupied and filled a mug with water. He handed it to the n.o.ble who took it and drank deeply. Then Magnus noticed that a large lump in the bed next to Jim was moving. Magnus poked his father with his elbow and pointed, and Amirantha followed the gesture.

'Ah,' said Pug. 'We will wait in the antechamber until you are more composed,' said Pug.

'Thank you,' Jim said, his voice still gravelly from the previous night's debauchery.

Once outside they retired to a divan against the wall and sat. Pug said, 'I should have brought along a powder for this sort of thing.'

'Which one?' asked Magnus.

Lowering his voice, Pug said, 'Years ago, before I met your mother, I occasionally indulged in a little too much wine. A healing priest from the Order of Killian had this powder that one mixes with water to banish the effects of such nights; it was very effective, and, it turned out, easy to make. There was no magic involved; just the right mix of herbs and tree bark...'

The door opened and a very attractive young woman slipped out quietly. Her hair and eyes were dark and she wore the garb of a servant, though she was barefoot at the moment. With a slight smile she barely nodded at the three men and hurried across the room, to the hall door.

'Wonder where she left her boots?' asked Amirantha. 'Or if she even remembers where she left her boots?' he amended as he laughed.

Magnus seemed less than amused. 'We have some serious work here for the next few days,' he said.

Amirantha put his hand on the white haired magician's shoulder and said, 'You sound disapproving. If Jim wishes to pa.s.s the day with a pounding head and turning stomach, that's his prerogative. We had a good night's rest and once we've eaten, we'll be off to do our work. The state of his health isn't a matter for concern today, is it?'

Magnus shook his head and said, 'Sorry. I worry too much.'

'Takes after his mother,' said Pug, and Amirantha was struck by the fact that Pug had made the first reference to his late wife that didn't contain a note of sadness. He hoped it was a sign that the magician's black moods were behind him. Too much depended on Pug's leadership in the coming fight.

A few minutes later, Jim appeared, looking far more composed than any of them had expected. He smiled and said, 'We should dine,' and led them to the door leading out of the apartment he occupied.

As if antic.i.p.ating his need, a servant waited to guide them to a small alcove overlooking one of the seemingly endless gardens within the palace. Rather than lying on a divan to eat, they sat upon large cushions around a low table. A variety of foods were provided, several Kingdom dishes like fried cake and savoury sausage, as well as the more traditional sweet Quegan delicacies. To everyone's delight, a large pot of steaming Keshian coffee sat alongside a pot of boiling water and an infuser containing one of the more exotic teas from Novindus.

Jim ate like a man who had been starved for a week, and when he noticed the others staring at him, he said, 'I worked up an appet.i.te last night.'

'Apparently so,' said Magnus with a slight smile.

'You scholars can slight the Emperor's generosity if you wish, and I don't denigrate your reasons, but it would have been an insult had I left the festivities too early last night.'

'We noticed,' said Amirantha. 'She was very pretty.'

'Very smart, too,' said Jim. 'I managed to get out of the orgy by cornering a particularly attractive server, which given the differences in our cultures, my pretty host a.s.sumed had something to do with Kingdom modesty.'

Pug began to smile. 'She was a spy.'

'Of course, and if I get back this way any time soon, I'm going to do my best to turn her.' As if to himself he said, 'Though if she won't turn, I'll have to kill her, which would simply be a waste.' Looking at his three companions he said, 'I was certain the Quegan intelligence service would have several agents watching us.'

'The young woman seated with me?' asked Pug.

'No,' said Jim. 'She is the youngest daughter of a very minor n.o.ble who if the Emperor can't marry off to some minor functionary,' he waved his hand at Pug, 'will have to marry off to some distant cousin, and this Emperor would rather save himself even that modest dowry.' Looking at Amirantha, he said, 'That voluble fellow who bent your ear last night, now he is one of their best men. I doubt you even know how much you told him.'

'Only the truth,' said Amirantha. 'The questions he asked about my homeland were obvious, but it was equally obvious after a while that I knew little he would find useful. He asked about the Maharaja's army, and I said it was big. I had no idea how big, which is true, it's just big.'

Jim grinned, and took a drink of coffee. 'You have the makings of a good spy, Amirantha.'

'I gamble,' said Amirantha. 'I a.s.sume that anyone asking that many questions could read a lie, so I find small truths work well in those situations.'

'Ah,' said Jim. 'We must play cards sometime.'

'What are we doing today?' asked Magnus, knowing the rough plan, but not the details.