“You know,” Edwyrd spoke up, “I think that may be the god he kept calling on. It was certainly Tier something. He told me he was the high priest for his god in Gizzor Del.” Maelen frowned, and then quickly described Verigas, the high priest of Tiernon. “Yes, that sounds like the guy.”
“Why, if I might ask, did you have him tied up?” asked Maelen. He was really going to have to think about retiring. Soon.
“Well,” Jenn answered, “it seems that when we arrived in Gizzor Del, we kind of interrupted his spell casting. He rather went crazy, and so we tied him up so he wouldn’t cause problems.”
“How exactly did you interrupt his spell casting? And why did this cause him to go crazy?” Maelen inquired politely. Jenn gave him an abridged version of the story. “Maybe you should tell me more.” Maelen suggested after hearing this. Jenn, as quickly as she could, gave him the run down on Exador and Lenamare, the fourth order demon rescuing them and taking them through the Abyss to Gizzor Del.
Maelen had to shake his head. “So let me get this straight. Lenamare sends a fourth order demon out to play messenger boy. While it’s gone this Exador fellow lays siege to your school. Your headmaster sets up some fancy pentacles, the demon returns, nearly breaks the wards, forcing Lenamare to temporarily lower them. In the process, one of the ward setters is killed by Exador’s people, making the barrier unstable. You flee the castle through secret escape tunnels, while Lenamare stays behind to single handedly take out Exador’s entire army.
“You were riding through the mountains when a group of Exador’s men, including him,” Maelen points to Gastropé, “ambushes you and kills most of your party. This Jehenna person summons a fourth order demon on the spur of the moment, gets it wrong but the demon comes of its own free will anyway. The demon slays all the enemy except him,” again he pointed to Gastropé. “It then for some unknown reason agrees to escort you to Freehold.” Maelen was sounding more and more skeptical about this.
“Along the way you’re ambushed by Exador’s demons. They cart you off to Exador’s camp, where Exador is not. You are tossed into a tent with him.” He nods to Gastropé again. “In the meantime, this young fellow,” nodding to Rupert, “plots with a demon to free you.” Maelen licked his lips before continuing.
“He and the demon fly back to the school; the demon returns to the Abyss; Rupert allows himself to be caught. Upon being placed in the tent with you, this nine-year-old boy summons a greater demon. The demon burns down the tent and half the camp, meanwhile dragging the three of you off to the Abyss, where Rupert meets him.” Maelen points to Tizzy, who by this point had come over to listen to the story. “All of you decide to leave the Abyss, with the help of the greater demon. In the process of doing so you use a channel opened by a priest doing things forbidden by his religion and scare the crap out of him. Upon immediate arrival, this demon,” he pointed to Tizzy, “departs immediately and the fourth order mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night to go to some sort of demon convention.” Maelen simply shook his head.
“In the morning after, Rupert goes a wandering and randomly runs into his cousin, an entire continent away from home.” Jenn looked a little puzzled by this even. Maelen points to Edwyrd, “Said cousin is more than happy to join forces with a group playing games with demons and tying up respected members of the community. You all jump on a ship, where I have the pleasure of meeting you all,” Maelen smiles facetiously. “And I know the rest from there.” Maelen sighed, “Is that everything? Have I summed it all up?”
“Pretty much.” Rupert said matter-of-factly, as if there was absolutely nothing strange about the story. “Why do you ask?”
Maelen sighed again and rubbed his eyes. “Well... it seems that Verigas was more scared than you thought. The Rod of Tiernon is now following us or someone so close in description to us as to make little difference.”
“The what?” Gastropé asked.
“The Rod of Tiernon. Tiernon’s elite cadre of holy soldiers and knights. They’re principally used to battle evil, destroy the wicked, send the damned off to their infernal torments, that sort of thing. They’re about five miles behind us on this road. From what I was able to pick up, they’re searching for a party of wizards and demons on their way to Freehold. Led by some individual calling himself, Lord Edwyrd.”
All the rest did a double take at Maelen’s words. They all looked to Edwyrd, who looked as confused as anyone did. “Lord Edwyrd? Unless I got a promotion, they must be after someone else.”
Maelen smiled grimly. “And how many parties of wizards and demons recently came across the sea from Gizzor Del, on their way to Freehold, with someone name Edwyrd in them do you think there are?”
“But I’ve never called myself that; you’ve been in this group almost as long as I.” Edwyrd complained.
