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Rule of Darkness -Book II Chapter 3 Last Update 19 June 2008- Book I Completed
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<blockquote data-quote="Ghostknight" data-source="post: 3431815" data-attributes="member: 15338"><p><strong>Chapter 20</strong></p><p></p><p>D'Fir sat in the war council and listened as the King's advisors discussed the planned attack.</p><p> </p><p>General D'Haan was the focus of attention around the table. "The defences around Crossroad are minimal; the slave pens are an easy staging ground into the city itself." </p><p> </p><p>D'Fir looked at the ancient general; one who had proven himself in battle many a time, but also one that had never faced an enemy from the outside. His battles had always been against those from beneath the earth.</p><p> </p><p>"With all due respect I question your intelligence on this, General D'Haan. The town you speak of is a major staging ground for the devils. The town is known as a crossroads; the defences are there, just not visible. Speak to our allies, particularly those from Harmony Lake whose Outwalkers make our scouts look like children playing in the park. You do not even know the town's true name, referring to it by the name that slaves are forced to use for it, Crossroad. You know the real name for it? K'op D'Regh. You speak infernal, the Devil's tongue? Well, in case you don't it means 'The Gate of Red'"</p><p> </p><p>D'Fir leaned forward, "You know why it is called that? It refers to the amount of blood they spill to open a gate between Crossroad and their cities across the entire continent. Attack Crossroad and you have every major city on the continent funnelling their armies against you!"</p><p> </p><p>General D'Haan smiled.</p><p> </p><p>"I may be old, but I am not stupid. I speak infernal almost as well as my native tongue. I know of Crossroad, and its other name. I still say we attack it." He leaned back, an enigmatic smile on his face.</p><p> </p><p><em>Ok, what has the old soldier got in mind?</em> "Care to enlighten me as to why we should attack a city that can bring more troops to bear than we have people living in the entire city?" D'Fir looked at the old General, awaiting an answer from the experienced officer.</p><p> </p><p>"A diversion. We attack there, but keep another force ready to attack elsewhere. The most likely place for them to bring troops from is Whale Bay, a naval town with a massive garrison that they use to keep the coastal communities in line. Most of the time they sit around idle, garrison troops with nothing to do. Ill disciplined they will be the first to be brought in, the first troops to bolster the defence. For our purposes, Whale Bay is too far away. There is no way for us to get enough troops there to threaten it. The next most likely garrison they are likely to strip is the Fort of Peaks. A city within a military installation; few enter it that are not fiends, half-fiends or their descendants. The ones that live there are arrogant; secure within their walls, secure in the mistaken belief that none would dare attack." The General stood up, walking around the table, placing his hand on D'Fir's shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>"The main problem we face is; how can we keep the forces at Crossroad tied up long enough to get them to siphon forces off from not only Whale Bay but from the Fort of Peaks as well? The secondary problem is not that much easier to solve, how do we get our forces in place to attack?"</p><p> </p><p>D'Fir looked at the old General in awe. And I thought to lecture him! Time to show him the deference he deserves, it's obvious he has something in mind...</p><p></p><p>D'Fir looked over his shoulder, placing his hand on top of the General's hand that lay upon his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>"Ok General, what's the plan? I can see that you are just dying to tell me."</p><p> </p><p>The General laughed and moved back to his place at the table. He looked around the table, his gaze locked with that of the King and then D'Fir.</p><p> </p><p>"I am hoping our friends here can help us." The General turned to Eria and Sister Egrit. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Eria, but you are capable of teleporting a group of people." He turned and looked at Sister Egrit, "As can your kind, I believe, and many of the mages from the Tower Arcane. Between all of your resources, how many soldiers would you be able to transport?"</p><p> </p><p>Eria looked at the General incredulously. "You want me to transport your troops? What makes you think I will do this, place myself at risk?"</p><p> </p><p>Sister Egrit gave Eria a dirty look, before looking at the General, "I can bring about ten; the other mages from the Tower Arcane should be able to bring another five hundred, but few of the mages will stay to fight. They are academics, not warriors."</p><p> </p><p>D'Fir turned to Eria. "Come now, Ambassador. Your Master promised us assistance. Surely helping us to move troops is an action he can take?"</p><p> </p><p>Eria looked at the people gathered around the table. "I will consult with him, and hear his answer." He stood up, moving the chair out of his way. "I will need to change to my natural form. I hope no one will be too offended," his sardonic glance around the table, following his last statement, a challenge to all present to voice their dissent. His figure blurred and expanded outwards, his figure growing, forcing him to bend over as he was too tall to stand within the room. He sat down cross-legged, with his massive head bowed, the horned crest above furrowing into the stone roof. He closed his eyes, hands clasped in front of him. </p><p> </p><p>He opened his eyes and a stream of blue energy shot from each one, intersecting in a ball of eye burning brightness just above his hands. Slowly the brightness passed, and the head of Secheriab appeared in its place. </p><p> </p><p>"You disturb my recreation. This best be of import; my concubines await my return, and a most delectable morsel is screaming in the dungeons below." The head rotated, taking in the room behind Eria.</p><p> </p><p>"Ahh, you are not alone then, my Ambassador. Greetings to you King D'Miniel, Prince D'Fir; and is that General D'Haan sitting in council? A true honour General, your reputation is well known to many."</p><p> </p><p>The General looked taken aback, his eyes narrowed as he regarded the conjured image.</p><p> </p><p>"How do you know of me, fiend? I have had no truck with any of your kin!" The General's voice was harsh, the tone demanding.</p><p> </p><p>"Come now, General. Do you think Jelial is the only one who can infiltrate spies into your city? We have watched the goings on within your city for over a decade. The cities of the Dark Paeons and many others have been under observation at the same time. The only places we have not been able to infiltrate have been the Tower Arcane and the cities of the Arleogh. The first due to the presence of the few celestials amongst them, as well as the Tower's arcane protections, the latter due to their mental prowess and the impossibility of our spies to hide amongst them." Secheriab paused, his face smoothing out as all watched, his eyes changed to hollow orbs before returning to their previous appearance.</p><p> </p><p>"Someone seeks us! They are trying to trace me through this arcane connection. Speak quickly; tell me what you contacted me for, why you risk bringing Jelial down on me."</p><p> </p><p>"The natives seek our assistance. They wish us to help transport their troops to battle." Eria spoke quickly, his voice gruff. "I seek your guidance, do I assist them, place myself on the battlefield; perhaps even use some of the lesser fiends to assist?"</p><p> </p><p>Secheriab looked thoughtful, his eyes once again disappearing. "Help them Eria, but do not risk yourself unnecessarily. I will also send a group of the Gir'Thia to assist." </p><p> </p><p>The image disappeared suddenly, far quicker than Eria had expected and the backlash of arcane energy from its disappearance a blazing lance that caused him to clutch his head and bellow in pain. He recovered quickly, his form blurring as he changed back to his alternate shape. He turned to look at the King and his advisors.</p><p> </p><p>"It seems that you are getting what you wanted and more! For those of you that do not know, the Gir'Thia are an elite group of warriors, all with some measure of arcane power. A full squad of them can transport your entire army, and siege weaponry, if you so desire. General, however many of your troops you need transported, we can move them."</p><p> </p><p>The General smiled, "We have what we need then. The Fort of Peaks isn't going to know what has hit them!"</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Vinian sat in a deep, plush, blue velvet covered chair. He sipped from a long crystal flute, the sparkling wine within reflecting the light from the torches set along the walls of the office.</p><p> </p><p>"So you are looking for allies to fight against the devils, to stand up to the scourge that was able to wipe out the entirety of our worlds armies and heroes without any measurable slowing in their conquests. Now, from hiding, with all of us living in terror and our armies but fractions of their size that they once were, you want to try and defeat them?"</p><p> </p><p>Vinian swirled the wine in its glass, watching the bubbles rise. Jeria started to speak, only to stop as Vinian raised his hand. </p><p> </p><p>"I put it in the harshest possible terms so you can understand the difficulty I will have taking this proposal to the ruling council. We have a major issue that is not going to go away; one that is going to make many people very uncomfortable. How did you all get in? How did you even find the hidden gate?"</p><p> </p><p>Vinian stood, leaving his glass on the desk behind which he had been sitting. He walked around, sitting on the desk's edge, facing the two travellers.</p><p> </p><p>"Our last major defence is gone. For over two thousand years, it kept us safe and hidden. With it in place, no magic could find us and no devil could infiltrate us. We have grown complacent, the entrance ways left unguarded. Our hidden kingdom covers six cities, our water is pure and clean, never from the outside in case of contamination. You are the first outsiders to enter our kingdom in all this time. "</p><p> </p><p>He shook his head, tears visible within his eyes. "We are vulnerable, who knows if the devils know where we are, if they are right now standing out there with an army, descending the ramps. No one living today understands the runes or knows the meaning behind them. We cannot repair the wall; our defences are weak, even if they are still partially effective. There is no way for us to retain our current life, our complacency."</p><p> </p><p>"Will you help us?" Jeria spoke softly. He had been surprised at the large number of fiend-blooded individuals in the city. Most of the population showed some hint of fiend blood within them. In the week since they had been let out of the dungeon, he had wandered through the city when he had not been involved in talks with Vinian. He had been astounded that Gyv, her features scarred but obviously free of any fiendish blood or taint had attracted more stares than his blatantly fiendish features had. It had been hard for her to accept the stares and comments as she passed the people in the streets. With her former beauty hidden by the disfigurement, the emotional impact of the stares and comments had driven her into herself, an introspective despair discolouring her life. The result was the complete opposite of what experience had taught him was reality, he did the negotiating, better able to communicate and identify with the Master of the Market than the pureblooded human could.</p><p> </p><p>As he waited for an answer, Vinian returned to his seat, slowly sipping at his wine. He remained quiet, disturbingly quiet.</p><p> </p><p><em>What is he waiting for? He seems to be wasting time, waiting for something to happen.</em> The door to the office opened and two guards came in, dragging a comatose being between them. They dropped the person at the feet of the chairs of Gyv and Jeria, and the face of Mekior, battered, bruised and disfigured stared up at them. A pale faced, emaciated woman entered the room. She wore a black leather apron over dark linen clothes. Suspicious stains covered her hair, dried blood stuck beneath her fingernails. Her dark eyes resembled those of a cat, her mouth a sharp line across her face.</p><p> </p><p>Vinian's query broke the silence, "Ahh, finally. Please, tell us, Frizes, what did our unconscious friend on the floor there have to tell you?" </p><p> </p><p>The woman's voice was high pitched and grated on their ears; a piercing whistle accompanied each word as air whistled between needle shaped teeth.</p><p> </p><p>"Nothing interesting about the fiends, but interesting in other ways I suppose. He is a traitor to his own kind. He took on the shape of a boy that had been captured, and killed by fiends, watching as his fiendish companions faced, and were killed, by the forces of the city. He moved into the human city and lived with them, became one of them as far as he could. HE altered his native magic to hide him, prevent detction, making him far less powerful than many of his own kind. He became an expert at finding and killing his own kind to protect the humans. Even more surprising is that he actually loves the woman here, but was too scared of rejection to tell her the truth." She laughed. "Yes, a fiend that has fallen in love with humanity, and with a human. I, for one, would vouch for him. As a fiend he is not powerful, but as an ally he would be most useful!"</p><p></p><p>Gyv looked down at the unconscious Mekior.</p><p> </p><p>"He truly loves me? It was not just the act of a fiend trying to deceive us all?" Tears started pouring down her ruined face as she knelt by his side, her hands stroking his face. <em>He has loved me and sat by me while I felt sorry for myself. He has looked past my face, my betrayals, my past to love me, can I do any less?</em></p><p> </p><p>Jeria watched her and then looked at Vinian. "So, what now? Is he free, are you going to assist us?" </p><p> </p><p>"I will take your request to the ruling council, the representatives of all six cities as well as to our militia and what religious authorities have survived. They will need to take decisions on how to defend us now that our main protection is breached. I will also ask them what to do about your request. In the meantime, enjoy our city; you are free to go where you would, as is your companion. When he awakens, apologise for his discomfort," Vinian looked at Frizes before continuing, "I'm afraid that some extremely painful means were used to extract information and to make sure he was telling the truth. He has been healed, though the memories of what was done may take a while to lose their sting."</p><p> </p><p>He stood up, bowed to the three, and left the room, trailed by Frizes and the guards. It was clear to the three travellers that negotiations were complete.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>"What have you learnt, Gerion?" Jelial's voice was dangerously calm. Gerion had known him long enough to read the danger signs and knew that the recent developments were worrying Jelial.</p><p> </p><p>"We know that Secheriab has been sent by the Lord of the Eighth to head his forces on this world. We also know that Eria has been sent as his second in command." Gerion paced in front of Jelial's throne. "We also think the Lord of the Eighth has sent some of his elite forces with them. Not many, but it may be enough to cause us some problems."</p><p> </p><p>Jelial squinted at Gerion. "How did you find this out, and what elite forces are you talking about? How much of a problem are we talking about?"</p><p> </p><p>"We learnt this when Secheriab talked to Eria using an arcane connection. Khiss was able to intercept part of the communication, but not all of it. We don't know what is planned but we do know that Eria is to help the natives, as are the Gir'Thia." Gerion hesitated, seeing the look of horror coming onto Jelial's face.</p><p> </p><p>"We doubt that Secheriab will let them be put directly in harms way. The most likely scenario is that he will send one or two of them to provide token support to whatever plan the dwarves and their allies are concocting."</p><p> </p><p>Jelial looked at Gerion incredulously. "You think the Gir'Thia will accept such a passive role? They are a bunch of bloodthirsty warriors who specialise in hunting down their own kind and administering punishments on behalf of the Lords of Hell. I should know; I was once one of them before I grew into my full power. I was mistaken; I thought this was the initial foray, that the Lords would test me before committing great force to this conflict."</p><p> </p><p><em>He is scared! He talks of the Gir'Thia as if I have never encountered them. He forgets, I have faced and defeated them in the past and shall do so again. I can make this work for me, use his fear against him and usurp his power and throne. </em> "My Lord, what.."</p><p> </p><p>"Quiet, Gerion. You will use whatever means you can to find out what is planned by the vermin that infest my world." Jelial watched as Gerion left, his thoughts whirling as watched Gerion’s form disappearing from his hall. <em>He grows restless; I wonder how much he can still be trusted. He also abuses Khiss. Those kobolds are essential, they are few and we cannot afford the loss of one as powerful as Khiss. Perhaps the time has come for Gerion to be lost in battle.</em> </p><p></p><p>"Priet." Jelial's summons was soft, but the attentive attendant arrived to genuflect before Jelial in mere seconds.</p><p> </p><p>"M'lord, you called?" Priet stood before Jeliel awaiting his orders,</p><p> </p><p>"Priet, get hold of Redili, he will be needed soon."</p><p> </p><p>"M'lord, as you wish," Priet left the throne room, hastening to fulfil his orders. <em> What does he want with the Master Assassin, especially straight after a meeting with Gerion? I wonder what this would be worth to Gerion if I were to dangle this piece of information before him?</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ghostknight, post: 3431815, member: 15338"] [b]Chapter 20[/b] D'Fir sat in the war council and listened as the King's advisors discussed the planned attack. General D'Haan was the focus of attention around the table. "The defences around Crossroad are minimal; the slave pens are an easy staging ground into the city itself." D'Fir looked at the ancient general; one who had proven himself in battle many a time, but also one that had never faced an enemy from the outside. His battles had always been against those from beneath the earth. "With all due respect I question your intelligence on this, General D'Haan. The town you speak of is a major staging ground for the devils. The town is known as a crossroads; the defences are there, just not visible. Speak to our allies, particularly those from Harmony Lake whose Outwalkers make our scouts look like children playing in the park. You do not even know the town's true name, referring to it by the name that slaves are forced to use for it, Crossroad. You know the real name for it? K'op D'Regh. You speak infernal, the Devil's tongue? Well, in case you don't it means 'The Gate of Red'" D'Fir leaned forward, "You know why it is called that? It refers to the amount of blood they spill to open a gate between Crossroad and their cities across the entire continent. Attack Crossroad and you have every major city on the continent funnelling their armies against you!" General D'Haan smiled. "I may be old, but I am not stupid. I speak infernal almost as well as my native tongue. I know of Crossroad, and its other name. I still say we attack it." He leaned back, an enigmatic smile on his face. [I]Ok, what has the old soldier got in mind?[/I] "Care to enlighten me as to why we should attack a city that can bring more troops to bear than we have people living in the entire city?" D'Fir looked at the old General, awaiting an answer from the experienced officer. "A diversion. We attack there, but keep another force ready to attack elsewhere. The most likely place for them to bring troops from is Whale Bay, a naval town with a massive garrison that they use to keep the coastal communities in line. Most of the time they sit around idle, garrison troops with nothing to do. Ill disciplined they will be the first to be brought in, the first troops to bolster the defence. For our purposes, Whale Bay is too far away. There is no way for us to get enough troops there to threaten it. The next most likely garrison they are likely to strip is the Fort of Peaks. A city within a military installation; few enter it that are not fiends, half-fiends or their descendants. The ones that live there are arrogant; secure within their walls, secure in the mistaken belief that none would dare attack." The General stood up, walking around the table, placing his hand on D'Fir's shoulder. "The main problem we face is; how can we keep the forces at Crossroad tied up long enough to get them to siphon forces off from not only Whale Bay but from the Fort of Peaks as well? The secondary problem is not that much easier to solve, how do we get our forces in place to attack?" D'Fir looked at the old General in awe. And I thought to lecture him! Time to show him the deference he deserves, it's obvious he has something in mind... D'Fir looked over his shoulder, placing his hand on top of the General's hand that lay upon his shoulder. "Ok General, what's the plan? I can see that you are just dying to tell me." The General laughed and moved back to his place at the table. He looked around the table, his gaze locked with that of the King and then D'Fir. "I am hoping our friends here can help us." The General turned to Eria and Sister Egrit. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Eria, but you are capable of teleporting a group of people." He turned and looked at Sister Egrit, "As can your kind, I believe, and many of the mages from the Tower Arcane. Between all of your resources, how many soldiers would you be able to transport?" Eria looked at the General incredulously. "You want me to transport your troops? What makes you think I will do this, place myself at risk?" Sister Egrit gave Eria a dirty look, before looking at the General, "I can bring about ten; the other mages from the Tower Arcane should be able to bring another five hundred, but few of the mages will stay to fight. They are academics, not warriors." D'Fir turned to Eria. "Come now, Ambassador. Your Master promised us assistance. Surely helping us to move troops is an action he can take?" Eria looked at the people gathered around the table. "I will consult with him, and hear his answer." He stood up, moving the chair out of his way. "I will need to change to my natural form. I hope no one will be too offended," his sardonic glance around the table, following his last statement, a challenge to all present to voice their dissent. His figure blurred and expanded outwards, his figure growing, forcing him to bend over as he was too tall to stand within the room. He sat down cross-legged, with his massive head bowed, the horned crest above furrowing into the stone roof. He closed his eyes, hands clasped in front of him. He opened his eyes and a stream of blue energy shot from each one, intersecting in a ball of eye burning brightness just above his hands. Slowly the brightness passed, and the head of Secheriab appeared in its place. "You disturb my recreation. This best be of import; my concubines await my return, and a most delectable morsel is screaming in the dungeons below." The head rotated, taking in the room behind Eria. "Ahh, you are not alone then, my Ambassador. Greetings to you King D'Miniel, Prince D'Fir; and is that General D'Haan sitting in council? A true honour General, your reputation is well known to many." The General looked taken aback, his eyes narrowed as he regarded the conjured image. "How do you know of me, fiend? I have had no truck with any of your kin!" The General's voice was harsh, the tone demanding. "Come now, General. Do you think Jelial is the only one who can infiltrate spies into your city? We have watched the goings on within your city for over a decade. The cities of the Dark Paeons and many others have been under observation at the same time. The only places we have not been able to infiltrate have been the Tower Arcane and the cities of the Arleogh. The first due to the presence of the few celestials amongst them, as well as the Tower's arcane protections, the latter due to their mental prowess and the impossibility of our spies to hide amongst them." Secheriab paused, his face smoothing out as all watched, his eyes changed to hollow orbs before returning to their previous appearance. "Someone seeks us! They are trying to trace me through this arcane connection. Speak quickly; tell me what you contacted me for, why you risk bringing Jelial down on me." "The natives seek our assistance. They wish us to help transport their troops to battle." Eria spoke quickly, his voice gruff. "I seek your guidance, do I assist them, place myself on the battlefield; perhaps even use some of the lesser fiends to assist?" Secheriab looked thoughtful, his eyes once again disappearing. "Help them Eria, but do not risk yourself unnecessarily. I will also send a group of the Gir'Thia to assist." The image disappeared suddenly, far quicker than Eria had expected and the backlash of arcane energy from its disappearance a blazing lance that caused him to clutch his head and bellow in pain. He recovered quickly, his form blurring as he changed back to his alternate shape. He turned to look at the King and his advisors. "It seems that you are getting what you wanted and more! For those of you that do not know, the Gir'Thia are an elite group of warriors, all with some measure of arcane power. A full squad of them can transport your entire army, and siege weaponry, if you so desire. General, however many of your troops you need transported, we can move them." The General smiled, "We have what we need then. The Fort of Peaks isn't going to know what has hit them!" *** Vinian sat in a deep, plush, blue velvet covered chair. He sipped from a long crystal flute, the sparkling wine within reflecting the light from the torches set along the walls of the office. "So you are looking for allies to fight against the devils, to stand up to the scourge that was able to wipe out the entirety of our worlds armies and heroes without any measurable slowing in their conquests. Now, from hiding, with all of us living in terror and our armies but fractions of their size that they once were, you want to try and defeat them?" Vinian swirled the wine in its glass, watching the bubbles rise. Jeria started to speak, only to stop as Vinian raised his hand. "I put it in the harshest possible terms so you can understand the difficulty I will have taking this proposal to the ruling council. We have a major issue that is not going to go away; one that is going to make many people very uncomfortable. How did you all get in? How did you even find the hidden gate?" Vinian stood, leaving his glass on the desk behind which he had been sitting. He walked around, sitting on the desk's edge, facing the two travellers. "Our last major defence is gone. For over two thousand years, it kept us safe and hidden. With it in place, no magic could find us and no devil could infiltrate us. We have grown complacent, the entrance ways left unguarded. Our hidden kingdom covers six cities, our water is pure and clean, never from the outside in case of contamination. You are the first outsiders to enter our kingdom in all this time. " He shook his head, tears visible within his eyes. "We are vulnerable, who knows if the devils know where we are, if they are right now standing out there with an army, descending the ramps. No one living today understands the runes or knows the meaning behind them. We cannot repair the wall; our defences are weak, even if they are still partially effective. There is no way for us to retain our current life, our complacency." "Will you help us?" Jeria spoke softly. He had been surprised at the large number of fiend-blooded individuals in the city. Most of the population showed some hint of fiend blood within them. In the week since they had been let out of the dungeon, he had wandered through the city when he had not been involved in talks with Vinian. He had been astounded that Gyv, her features scarred but obviously free of any fiendish blood or taint had attracted more stares than his blatantly fiendish features had. It had been hard for her to accept the stares and comments as she passed the people in the streets. With her former beauty hidden by the disfigurement, the emotional impact of the stares and comments had driven her into herself, an introspective despair discolouring her life. The result was the complete opposite of what experience had taught him was reality, he did the negotiating, better able to communicate and identify with the Master of the Market than the pureblooded human could. As he waited for an answer, Vinian returned to his seat, slowly sipping at his wine. He remained quiet, disturbingly quiet. [I]What is he waiting for? He seems to be wasting time, waiting for something to happen.[/I] The door to the office opened and two guards came in, dragging a comatose being between them. They dropped the person at the feet of the chairs of Gyv and Jeria, and the face of Mekior, battered, bruised and disfigured stared up at them. A pale faced, emaciated woman entered the room. She wore a black leather apron over dark linen clothes. Suspicious stains covered her hair, dried blood stuck beneath her fingernails. Her dark eyes resembled those of a cat, her mouth a sharp line across her face. Vinian's query broke the silence, "Ahh, finally. Please, tell us, Frizes, what did our unconscious friend on the floor there have to tell you?" The woman's voice was high pitched and grated on their ears; a piercing whistle accompanied each word as air whistled between needle shaped teeth. "Nothing interesting about the fiends, but interesting in other ways I suppose. He is a traitor to his own kind. He took on the shape of a boy that had been captured, and killed by fiends, watching as his fiendish companions faced, and were killed, by the forces of the city. He moved into the human city and lived with them, became one of them as far as he could. HE altered his native magic to hide him, prevent detction, making him far less powerful than many of his own kind. He became an expert at finding and killing his own kind to protect the humans. Even more surprising is that he actually loves the woman here, but was too scared of rejection to tell her the truth." She laughed. "Yes, a fiend that has fallen in love with humanity, and with a human. I, for one, would vouch for him. As a fiend he is not powerful, but as an ally he would be most useful!" Gyv looked down at the unconscious Mekior. "He truly loves me? It was not just the act of a fiend trying to deceive us all?" Tears started pouring down her ruined face as she knelt by his side, her hands stroking his face. [I]He has loved me and sat by me while I felt sorry for myself. He has looked past my face, my betrayals, my past to love me, can I do any less?[/I] Jeria watched her and then looked at Vinian. "So, what now? Is he free, are you going to assist us?" "I will take your request to the ruling council, the representatives of all six cities as well as to our militia and what religious authorities have survived. They will need to take decisions on how to defend us now that our main protection is breached. I will also ask them what to do about your request. In the meantime, enjoy our city; you are free to go where you would, as is your companion. When he awakens, apologise for his discomfort," Vinian looked at Frizes before continuing, "I'm afraid that some extremely painful means were used to extract information and to make sure he was telling the truth. He has been healed, though the memories of what was done may take a while to lose their sting." He stood up, bowed to the three, and left the room, trailed by Frizes and the guards. It was clear to the three travellers that negotiations were complete. *** "What have you learnt, Gerion?" Jelial's voice was dangerously calm. Gerion had known him long enough to read the danger signs and knew that the recent developments were worrying Jelial. "We know that Secheriab has been sent by the Lord of the Eighth to head his forces on this world. We also know that Eria has been sent as his second in command." Gerion paced in front of Jelial's throne. "We also think the Lord of the Eighth has sent some of his elite forces with them. Not many, but it may be enough to cause us some problems." Jelial squinted at Gerion. "How did you find this out, and what elite forces are you talking about? How much of a problem are we talking about?" "We learnt this when Secheriab talked to Eria using an arcane connection. Khiss was able to intercept part of the communication, but not all of it. We don't know what is planned but we do know that Eria is to help the natives, as are the Gir'Thia." Gerion hesitated, seeing the look of horror coming onto Jelial's face. "We doubt that Secheriab will let them be put directly in harms way. The most likely scenario is that he will send one or two of them to provide token support to whatever plan the dwarves and their allies are concocting." Jelial looked at Gerion incredulously. "You think the Gir'Thia will accept such a passive role? They are a bunch of bloodthirsty warriors who specialise in hunting down their own kind and administering punishments on behalf of the Lords of Hell. I should know; I was once one of them before I grew into my full power. I was mistaken; I thought this was the initial foray, that the Lords would test me before committing great force to this conflict." [I]He is scared! He talks of the Gir'Thia as if I have never encountered them. He forgets, I have faced and defeated them in the past and shall do so again. I can make this work for me, use his fear against him and usurp his power and throne. [/I] "My Lord, what.." "Quiet, Gerion. You will use whatever means you can to find out what is planned by the vermin that infest my world." Jelial watched as Gerion left, his thoughts whirling as watched Gerion’s form disappearing from his hall. [I]He grows restless; I wonder how much he can still be trusted. He also abuses Khiss. Those kobolds are essential, they are few and we cannot afford the loss of one as powerful as Khiss. Perhaps the time has come for Gerion to be lost in battle.[/I] "Priet." Jelial's summons was soft, but the attentive attendant arrived to genuflect before Jelial in mere seconds. "M'lord, you called?" Priet stood before Jeliel awaiting his orders, "Priet, get hold of Redili, he will be needed soon." "M'lord, as you wish," Priet left the throne room, hastening to fulfil his orders. [I] What does he want with the Master Assassin, especially straight after a meeting with Gerion? I wonder what this would be worth to Gerion if I were to dangle this piece of information before him?[/I] [/QUOTE]
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Rule of Darkness -Book II Chapter 3 Last Update 19 June 2008- Book I Completed
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