Barlowe, Wayne - God's Demon полностью

"A most remarkable performance, Baron Faraii," Astaroth said, his voice dry and quiet. "You and your troops are a credit to your lord. Rarely have I seen such zeal. But then you are something of a legend in my wards ... or what is left of them."

"It is good to be highly regarded," Faraii said with an air of confidence, snapping the two batons away from their owners.

"I did not say that, Baron. Rumors still abound since you departed my Wastes."

Faraii's eyes narrowed fractionally.

Astaroth took a deep breath and gathered himself. Eligor knew what would follow; he was familiar enough with the Ritual of Defeat. During Sargatanas' campaigns he had witnessed it many times. "I must concede defeat," Astaroth said, "and, as per the ancient Compact of Demons Major, I, Great Lord Astaroth, humbly ask you to bring me before your lord, the victorious Lord Sargatanas, that he may do with me as he will."

Faraii, Eligor saw, was looking down, weighing the two batons in his hand. He turned and handed them to a hulking trooper. When Faraii returned his gaze to Astaroth it was with his black sword again in hand. With a lazy twist of his wrist he sliced Nebiros' head from his shoulders. The breath caught in Eligor's throat as he started forward. Giant Shock Troopers effectively blocked his and his flyers' way. Eligor realized that even if he and his small cohort could take wing they could do nothing to prevent the inevitable. He could only bristle and watch impotently.

Patting the steaming Nebiros phalera in place upon himself, Faraii gazed for a moment at Astaroth. Faraii tilted his head like a stonemason regarding a block, envisioning it in its reduced form. He was an artist, after all.

"You have no intention of bringing me before Sargatanas, do you?"

Faraii paused. "No."

"Are you no longer loyal to him?"

"His crusade is not mine."

"Be careful, Baron. Remember what you see here at Maraak. When you are facing him across a battlefield."

"Sound advice, indeed, from a broken, old demon. I will be doing Hell a favor by destroying you."

Faraii backed up slowly, leaving Astaroth alone in the circle of Shock Troopers. Faraii caught Eligor's eye, held it for an instant, and then turned away grinning. Whether it was upon a signal from the Baron or not Eligor never knew, but he saw the troopers set upon the kneeling demon with a fury. He closed his eyes. Their ferocious snarls and the sounds of the Great Lord's demise lingered terribly in the air.

Eligor opened his eyes in time to see Astaroth's Great Seal fade away. He saw that Faraii was nowhere to be seen and saw, too, his lord and Valefar arrive on foot, their gaze flashing over the scene.

"What is happening here?" Sargatanas said to Eligor over the din. "Where is Lord Astaroth?"

"He is no more, my lord. There was nothing I could do."

Sargatanas' eyes widened. "Who did this, Eligor? Who disobeyed me?"

Eligor's insides twisted. The admiration, the loyalty, and the closeness he felt for Faraii were suddenly unclear. But his fealty to Sargatanas was not.

"My lord, Baron Faraii's Shock Troopers committed the deed; the Baron did nothing to prevent it," Eligor blurted, realizing his mistake immediately. "In his defense, however, he fought heroically; your goals could not have been achieved without him."

"One of my goals, Captain, was Astaroth's survival."

"Yes, my lord."

"Where is the Baron, now?" said Sargatanas, probing the outside ranks of troopers. They had regained their feet, forming a circle once again, and stared sullenly at him, avoiding his eyes.

Sargatanas strode forward, falcata in hand, pushing brusquely, angrily, into the troopers. He was no Astaroth, weakened and old, but instead was capable of wondrous acts of carnage—a fact not lost on the assembled warriors. Not accustomed to being swept so easily aside, they reacted with baleful, hissing intakes of breath and nothing more.

Sargatanas found Faraii at the circle's center crouched, with Astaroth's disk in hand.

"Baron, what has happened here? Why have you disobeyed me?" The ominous rumble was unmistakable.

"My lord," Faraii said, rising, "it was not I but my troops. They destroyed him." He paused, shaking his head. "You did not see him ... in the miserable condition he was in. My troops, in their overzealousness, did him ... and you as well ... a service by ending his life."

"You decided this? On your own?" Sargatanas' faceplates shifted, and even from where Eligor stood, he could see that the new configurations were threatening. Flames atop the demon's head blossomed wildly.

"I neglected to give my demons explicit orders regarding his disposition; that is my fault." Faraii's free hand nervously played with the hilt of his sword. "But as I said, my lord, he was a broken figure ... pathetic. He would have asked for that end ... a noble end ... if he had been thinking clearly. But clearly the battle's outcome affected his—"

"So you did the thinking for him ... and me as well."

"His demise saved everyone much trouble."