Into the Abyss полностью

Lenamare rose his hands to shoulder height. “Ziarostelan sid fiernon, by the Laws of Rienon I summon thee Tomasedwardperkinje. From the depths of the Abyss, I Lenamare, by the power of my will and the Laws of Binding conjure and abjure thee to appear before me. Knowest thee that I, Lenamare, am thy true and only master. Riastelon ted corbeth. Nos faltum y crenin. Come demon, come Tomasedwardperkinje, appearest now, humble vassel, before thy true and mightiest liege, lord and master, Lenamare.” Lenamare felt the conjuring go out, spiraling outward from Astlan to the Abyss, searching for the demon so conjured. The special summoning runes inside the circles grew red hot from the power of the magic they contained. Unfortunately, nothing appeared inside the principle pentagram.

Lenamare’s brow twitched in frustration. “By lord Hierelen, Lord of Fire, Lord of Demons I conjure thee Tomasedwardperkinje. Ekfeltos tral kiev, urbido Dominae. Sig norium sed layum. Demon Tomasedwardperkinje thou art commanded by the covenant of Man and Demon as set forth by Varn and Hierelan in the first millennium. Thy true name compels thy obedience, attend! These are my words of command to thee. Thou shalt appear in this room before me now. Kristem sid torium let fialtos sed miercoles. Trist absum sed fierkum. Nos kriegum sed vienton merienton torme.”

Smoke began to fill the air, the sigils and runes etched upon the floor flashed pure white with intensity. The braziers burned faster and hotter than ever. Sweat trickled down both Lenamare’s and Jehenna’s brows. The build-up of magic in the room was beginning to be felt physically as something similar to a build-up of static electricity. Red mist began to form in the center of the pentagram, and vaguely large canyons with huge boulders could be seen. Periodically, jets of flame seemed to burst across their vision.

Realizing that it was of no use, Lenamare quickly began to perform the release spell that would safely discharge the magical energy that had been built up. The summons simply wasn’t working, and Lenamare needed to dispel the summoning energies, lest they start interfering with the world around them. It took him about a minute to get the energies down to a minimal level and when he did he looked to Jehenna.

“Well,” Lenamare’s face was about as red as the demon’s. Jehenna could tell he was on the verge of screaming.

“Apparently someone or thing is blocking our attempt to summon the demon.” She stated, trying to draw his attention off along safer lines. She didn’t want him raging about a demon that wouldn’t obey him. He was likely to start causing random damage.

“Exador?”

“Possibly, although short of having taken control of the demon, I don’t think he could do it.”

“What then? You surely don’t suggest a Demon Prince is shielding it, preventing me from summoning it?”

“No, none that I know of are aware of what we’re doing. Of course, if they were, then they very well might.” That gave Lenamare pause, and he actually leaned back on a table to think. “Actually, there are also two other explanations.”

“Yes?” Lenamar asked.

“Actually, I’m sure you realize them, but I’ll just point them out. First, the demon could be even more powerful then we believed. True even a fifth order would have at least been forced to show its presence in the pentagram, even if it didn’t obey you completely. However a sixth order wouldn’t have to have obeyed that particular summons.”

“True. But that’s impossible. We know the demon’s fourth order, we bound it with a standard fourth order spell. Second?”

“A minute. What you’ve said is true; however, when I summoned it with the ring, as I said, I didn’t feel in control. It is possible that it simply allowed itself to be bound by the fourth order spell.” That made Lenamare’s eye’s light up in thought. “Remember, it appeared as a low order, only revealing itself later on. We didn’t understand what was going on. Perhaps it is playing a longer game?”

“However, my best guess is possibility two.”

“Which is?” Lenamare asked.

“He’s still in Astlan.”

Lenamare looked at her more seriously this time. “That definitely would explain it. The summoning spell could only draw it from the Abyss. It would certainly be the easiest explanation. Except for one thing.”

Jehenna nodded, knowing the one thing. “Why would it still be here?” she agreed.

“Exactly, there is no possible reason!” Lenamare exclaimed raising his right hand in frustration.

“True, it should have done the job assigned, possibly killed the girl and then left. There would have been no reason for it to stay, in fact it should have automatically returned.”

“Unless, remind me? You said it did say that it came of its own free will?” Jehenna nodded. “In which case it’s here until it decides to leave.”