Rupert did as he was told, resting his head outward on Tom’s shoulder, as the demon took off again. Rupert hadn’t wanted to tell anyone, but he was tired. He hadn’t thought he’d be able to take too many more steps before collapsing. Now, however, he could relax. Feeling the heavily muscled, scaly shoulder under his cheek, the rhythmic beating of the bat like wings, and the gentle claws on his back, Rupert felt that he could finally relax. Not completely, not yet, but more so then he had in a long time. For the first time that he could remember, in an incredibly long time, he felt completely safe and protected.
The sun had set about a half hour ago, only the blue horizon to the west indicating that it wasn’t long down. They’d continued for about two hours after Tom had started carrying Rupert. Tom could make out Rupert’s deep breathing indicating that the boy was sound asleep. He flew as smoothly as he could so as not to wake him. Tom wasn’t sure why, but he really liked the little guy. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that he was the only human who didn’t treat him like the demon he was.
Jenn and he hadn’t spoken a word since he’d started carrying Rupert. He couldn’t figure her out. One moment scared witless and fainting, the next, openly hostile. He couldn’t decide if it was an Astlanian trait, a wizard’s trait, or just a female one. Whatever it was, she was definitely not the best company in the world.
As he was musing this, he was startled by the sun rising behind him. The entire valley was suddenly lit like a giant flashbulb went off. Thunder rolled across the sky above him, and the horses on the road seemed to shake. A hot, harsh wind buffeted him from behind. Smaller rocks and boulders slid down the mountainside. Frightened, the horses started neighing and dancing, Jenn was forced to stop them in an effort to calm them. Both looked behind them to where the intense golden light was fading slowly, a huge cloud, like a cupcake with a really big top on it, rising higher than the mountaintops behind them. It seemed oddly familiar to Tom.
“What the hell was that?” Tom asked.
“Lenamare, I think.”
“I knew he was pretty smart, but I never thought of him as being quite so bright,” Tom commented wryly. He caught a brief grin on her face, before she remembered who made the comment.
“It wasn’t him,” she replied coldly. “It was the surprise he’d left behind for Exador.”
“An explosion,” Tom guessed.
“Yes, some sort of device of his. One of his greatest achievements, he claims. It uses some strange, extremely rare unstable material. He focuses a beam of concentrated energy on it until the innermost structure of the stuff splits up into more stable materials. In the process it apparently releases great quantities of energy. He explained it to all the masters and students who could understand it the night before we left.
“Which is one reason he stayed behind. In addition to giving us a head start, he wanted everyone out of the way before activating it. Apparently, in addition to explosive damage it also has a built in area affect sickness spell.”
Tom thought for a moment, surprised, and then shocked. “Are you saying he used a nuclear weapon on his enemy?”
She looked at him puzzled. “If that’s what you call it. It figures that a fiend from the depths would know of such destructive things.”
Tom ignored that remark, this changed several things. He’d always thought of these people as backwards medievalists who also happened to have real witches. If these people could control nuclear devices, then in their own way they were as advanced as his own people. Somehow it seemed to make the whole thing seem much more real. “So let me see if I understand this,” Tom said to Jenn, since she seemed somewhat willing to talk. “Lenamare decided to pull out of his keep, where he was securely protected from his enemies. He sent all of his people out ahead to escape and then did a suicide destruction of his enemy.”
“Hah,” Jenn laughed, “Lenamare, sacrifice himself for anyone! Hah! That’s a joke. No you can be sure he set some sort of timer and then teleported away, after removing the wards, for fullest effect.”
“O.K. but then where are the rest of the people, surely that wasn’t everyone in the castle back there.”
“No, we split into different groups, for maximum diversion and the greatest hope of some people getting away. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be working too well.”
Tom couldn’t say anything to that, but he did ask, “Why? Why would he abandon such a secure position? That force field of his seemed pretty potent, and with the resources he had to call on.”
“Not quite, the wards were failing. When you so obligingly forced us to open it, Exador sent fireballs in and killed a lot of our people, including one of the people maintaining the wards, who happened to be my close friend!” Jenn’s anger at the demon coming back.
