Gastropé and Edwyrd surveyed the city laid out below them. The two were standing on the top of one of the palace’s many towers. They’d started to get antsy after a few days of just hanging around Lenamare’s wing of the palace. After lunch, the two had decided to explore the palace a bit, having little else to do. Maelen had gone into the city to look up some friends or associates of his; Edwyrd wasn’t sure which. Jenn was busy having a reunion with friends of hers from the school. Apparently, just before lunch, a group of students who had taken an alternative and longer route from the school had arrived.
They had just sat down for lunch when a girl with frizzy hair had run in and given Jenn a big hug. The girl had been followed in short order by two young men of roughly the same age and a couple of younger teenagers along with some of Lenamare’s soldiers. Jenn had introduced the girl as Alvea and the older students as Willis and Bromagni. The teenagers were Trensom and Ystern. Jenn didn’t know the names of the four guards, but they’d introduced themselves, Krispin, Briem, Zed and Aria. The last had slightly puzzled Edwyrd, but eventually he’d decided Aria was a woman, although it had been extremely hard to tell. She looked nastier than her male counterparts did.
During lunch Alvea had told her tale. By comparison, their journey had been long and uneventful. No ambushes, no demons and only a couple wild boar charges. After lunch, Jenn had gone with the new arrivals to help them settle in. Maelen had excused himself earlier and Rupert decided to go back to the room and read. Gastropé had suggested they go exploring and having nothing better to do, Edwyrd agreed.
As Edwyrd had found the first night the palace was extremely large. They’d wandered down multiple corridors managing to lose themselves completely at several points. The two had passed through several large chambers intended apparently as either audience halls or ballrooms. Eventually they’d found the staircase that wound its way to the top of one of the flat roofed towers. They now stood at one of the stone crenulations looking over the city.
It was at moments like this that Edwyrd felt the full impact of having been suddenly transported to a medieval realm. Except for the palace, almost no buildings were over four stories tall. Most had thatched roofs, although a large number also had red or orange tiles. The streets seemed to wind in labyrinthine mazes, many suddenly ending in a courtyard or just a dead end. Others would go along and then jog at funny angles as some building reared up in its path.
One part of town, on the far side of the palace seemed to have buildings that nearly overgrew the streets, cutting them off from the light of day. Edwyrd guessed this was due to the upper stories projecting over the streets so the owners could throw trash and sewage out into the middle of the street. He liked to imagine that that part of town was the city’s Maze or Warren or whatever the locals liked to call their local thieves’ quarters. Maybe it was silly, making such assumptions, but then who would call a twelve-foot tall greater demon disguising himself as a teenage boy in a fantasy world silly for having such thoughts.
He had to stop and correct himself. He seemed to have forgotten the crucial point. He actually was a teenager, trapped in the form of a greater demon, who was then re-disguising himself as himself in a fantasy world. He shook his head. If he thought about it too much he was going to end up going in circles. He was continuing to have self-identity problems, unsure as to whether that self was the demon or the kid from Harding. He wasn’t sure he liked the way his mental processes were running lately.
“Yello!” Tizzy shouted at them from behind. Gastropé jumped but Edwyrd had heard the demon’s wings buzzing in advance of his arrival. “How goes your sojourn into Lenamare land?”
Gastropé and Edwyrd both turned around to face the demon. “Fine,” Gastropé said, “Lenamare is slightly more congenial than Exador, but only slightly. At least he’s not trying to mutate me.” Edwyrd gave the wizard a sideways glance. Mutate him?
“It’s going about like I expected.” Edwyrd commented.
“Hmm, that well?” Tizzy smiled. “I’ve had fun. Mainly in the city though. Palace is too much of a hassle to really try and bother folks.”
“Too many wizards make you nervous?” Gastropé’ asked.
“No. Too many damn demons. If I’d wanted so many demons I’d have gone to the Courts of Chaos.”
“What?” Gastropé and Edwyrd asked together. “What do you mean, too many demons?” Edwyrd asked.
“It’s a real pain to scare someone as a demon when they’re already up to their necks in demons.” Tizzy went on oblivious to his companions.
“What exactly are you talking about?” Gastropé’ demanded.
