Actually, that was probably where he should be now, anyway. Unfortunately, he’d been unconscious for some time and when he’d come to, he’d been too weak. Then the big boom spell went off, and he’d used up all the mana he’d regained as well as draining his reserve amulet to shield them from the fallout By the time he’d recovered from that, things started getting interesting down in Exador’s camp and he decided to stay the night. Then about an hour ago, it’d gotten interesting again.
He’d just gone up to look to see if things had calmed down any and had spotted the other fires to the south. There wasn’t much he could do about it now; it was rather late. It would probably be best just to try and sleep for the rest of the night. He still wasn’t comfortable sleeping with Zargoffelstan roaming free while he slept, but he had to admit, the demon hadn’t killed him while he was out. In fact the fool thing had even gone and tended him and built a hut! Imagine that, it had certainly surprised Hortwell more than he could possibly admit. Why a demon should behave so out of character was rather unnerving, even if he had known the demon for a great many years. Zargoffelstan had always been a rather low key demon as demon’s went, but even so, this was most intriguing.
He hadn’t probed the demon too hard about it. It was, after all, roaming completely free. He’d like to have penned it up or sent it back, but with all the soldiers around, sending it back didn’t seem too wise, and penning it up seemed a bit rude at this point. Further, the last time he thought he’d had it penned up, it got free and killed the soldiers, so penning didn’t seem too practical, at least not without wasting a lot of energy that could be better spent for other spells.
Things were as things were, Hortwell supposed. He might as well sleep while he could and join Zilquar in the morning. He walked back over to the log cabin and went to his makeshift cot. The demon really had done a remarkable job. He’d have to think of some form of suitable reward for it. Hortwell was a firm believer in just rewards and punishments. Some reward was certainly appropriate in the current circumstances; he would just have to determine what.
Tom stared down at the fainted priest. These people were really unbelievable. The only people who didn’t seem faint were egotistical psychotic wizards like Lenamare and small children like Rupert. He wasn’t sure he’d ever understand them.
“So where are we?” Jenn asked, she was looking around at the chapel.
“Astlan!” Tizzy said, “and under no duress.” Tizzy made a beeline for a barred door at the opposite end of the room. He lifted the bars and opened the door before Tom could halt him. It was dark behind the door, but it apparently led to the outside. Tom could hear crickets, he could also smell something unpleasant. Apparently they were in some sort of city.
Tizzy poked his head out the door, looked around, then ducked back in. He looked to Tom, “Thanks for the gateway Tom. Got some unfinished business to take care of. Later!” and with that he darted out the door and off into the sky. Tom ran to the door, four steps away for him, nearly hitting his head on a ceiling beam and stared out. There was no sign of the little demon.
Tom feared this didn’t bode well. He hadn’t counted on Tizzy coming too. Now the little demon was probably off to messily kill his master. That would be another death on Tom’s shoulders. He just prayed that Tizzy wouldn’t kill anyone else on the way or cause too many other problems. Schizophrenic demons were not a good thing to turn loose on unsuspecting people.
He shut the door. It apparently led into some form of alley, but nonetheless, he didn’t want anyone wandering by to see a large demon standing in the doorway of some church. He didn’t know much about Astlanians and their religions, but he suspected that a demon running around in a church could be taken by some as a bad omen.
“Where did he go?” Jenn asked.
“I think to kill his master.” Tom answered her.
“Oh.” Jenn turned rather pale, Gastropé was already pale. Jenn happened to look over to Rupert, only to find the boy with his hand down his pants, groping for something. “Rupert!” Jenn exclaimed in shock. The boy looked up, and as he did, he pulled a book out of his pants.
“Here, I rescued this for you, from the major’s tent.” Rupert handed her the magical book that her diary had been mistaken for. She blushed, slightly ashamed of herself for her thoughts. That naked demon there, flaunting itself, just kept bringing her mind back to the gutter. She’d forgotten completely about the book in all the confusion. Too bad Rupert couldn’t have gotten her spell components; those would have been more useful at the moment.
