Chapter 14
Explosions awakened Rys a few mornings later. He muttered a curse and rose from bed. His senses determined that the magical barriers around the manor remained intact, so he took his time getting dressed.
The door burst open and Vallis rushed inside. Her soft blue nightgown did a lot to emphasize the raw size of her chest, but otherwise showed little skin. She stared at Rys in shock.
“How can you waste time getting dressed? We’re under attack!” she spluttered.
Another series of explosions crackled outside. Light shimmered beyond the windows of the manor, and Rys looked over Vallis’s shoulder to check. A few moments later, great thwooms rumbled throughout the walls and floor. Plumes of smoke rose into the air.
“You really need to learn how delegation works,” Rys said. “The barriers are intact and we have a bunch of Ashen on night patrol. We can wander out and see what remains of the attackers. Hopefully, Margrim took some prisoners.”
He walked past Vallis, but paused at the door. “You might want to put some clothes on. I doubt you want to show the infernals your nightie.”
Vallis’s face turned into a tomato and she ran back to her bedroom down the hall.
Outside, Fara stood next to the windows, wearing her robe loosely over her nearly naked body. He hadn’t seen this much of her skin before, and she rolled her eyes when his eyes immediately focused on the fleshy gap in her robe. Unless he was mistaken, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“I know it’s early, but try not to think with your morning wood,” Fara said.
“Good to see you’re not worried about the attack,” Rys said.
“The defenses here are something else. I was awake and felt the first spells. Powerful stuff, by my standards,” Fara said. She leaned closer to the windows, her eyes tracking something in the distance. There was too much smoke for Rys to bother trying. “I panicked. Then the spell hit the barriers and I remembered who I’m working with. Made me feel a little stupid.”
Vallis came out a few minutes later in a simple set of clothes. She scowled at Fara and fetched the fox’s sash, then did it up for her. Fara rolled her eyes, but let the merchant take care of her for once.
Finally, the three of them exited the mansion. Terry stood in the foyer holding a plate of eggs and bacon. The demon captain nodded at them as they approached.
“Morning, boss,” Terry said. “Had a bit of fun this morning. A shame most of the boys missed out.”
“Who and what are they?” Rys asked.
Margrim pushed the door open. “Thought I sensed you. Really should start using mindspeak, boss. Would make things a lot easier. You’re used to it, right? You’d have to be, given your history.”
“I’m feeling very lost,” Vallis said, staring at the blazing fires visible through the door and windows.
“Mindspeak is how we devils talk to each other mentally,” Margrim explained. “They’re like sendings, but entirely mental. Only devils can use it, though.”
“Non-devils can initiate mindspeak with devils, however,” Rys added. “But they need to have formed a connection to the devil in the past, and there’s a range limitation of a few hundred miles. No mindspeaking with anybody on the continents.”
“So you do know it, boss. We should set up a connection with you and the ladies so that we can stay in touch. Sendings are nice and all, but nothing beats mindspeak,” Margrim said.
Vallis frowned. “The name freaks me out a little. I’m not sure I like talking to devils using my mind.”
“They can’t read your thoughts or anything,” Rys said. “We’ll talk about it later. For now, tell me about the attackers.”
Margrim and Terry nodded.
“Bunch of demihumans—maybe fifteen? Hard to say for sure given we toasted so many in the first volley.” Margrim shrugged. “Only interesting one was the mage at the back. She had fluffy ears and a tail, whereas the rest had horns.”
“Prisoners?” Rys asked.
“A few women from the vanguard. We questioned them plus a couple of guys with feathers tied to their horns. Said they were mercenaries from a town near Anceston,” Margrim said.
“Did the mage spot any demons? I’m assuming she got away?” Rys asked.
“Nada to both,” Margrim said. “She bailed the moment I turned her bodyguard into a pillar of ash, so she missed Terry. Then Louie dropped a burning tree on her as she tried to flee into the forest. We’ve put out the fires, but we can’t question a mangled corpse.”
Grimacing, Vallis looked away. She might be used to the Ashen’s casual disregard for life, given she’d seen them kill bandits and assassins before, but she was still young.
Rys let Margrim and Terry finish the cleanup. He ordered them to keep all of the prisoners alive.
“What’s the bet that somebody watched from nearby?” Fara asked, after the infernals left.
“No bet,” Rys said. “Which is concerning, given Terry went outside. It’s safest to assume that somebody saw a demon, but they likely can’t do anything about it yet. I should get him a transformation Gift, so he can take on a human form like Grigor.”
“That’s easy?” Vallis asked. “Somebody big and strong would be nice to have on trips. And Terry’s pretty good for conversation.”
“Human transformation Gifts vary in quality. Grigor’s is one of the very best. It hides his infernal nature but lets him use his Gifts and power at close to his full potential,” Rys explained. “The only Gift he can’t use is his revival Gift.”
“But most are worse,” Vallis said. “Drat.”
“It’s not that bad. But any Gift I get for Terry on short notice would weaken him. Although he could probably still flatten any human knight with his bare hands.”
“This attack is more concerning than any potential demon sighting, however,” Fara added. “The timing is too suspicious.”
“I agree,” Rys said. “Vallis, I think it’s time you focused your efforts on the artifact trade.”
She blinked. “You think the local Kinadain attacked you?”
“It’s a strong possibility, given Barul’s animosity toward me. If I’m wrong, then no harm done. But if I’m right, I’d like to know before I meet with Maria to seal our deal,” Rys said.
The three of them went their separate ways, leaving Rys to focus on his broader plans.
Within the sub-levels, he found Grigor gathering the demons for a trip into the Labyrinth. A few Ashen stood near a dozen demons, while two of the noble demons checked the equipment of their subordinates. One of the noble demons saw Rys watching and snatched a greatsword off a demon, then walked over.
“Morning, boss,” the white-armored demon grunted out. “You deal with that fun upstairs?”
“Margrim and Terry did. Just some locals,” Rys said.
“Heh. Figures it wasn’t anything serious.” The noble demon grinned. “I know you’re busy as shit, but you upgraded our equipment recently. The monsters down here are nasty fucks. Wearing down our weapons and armor.”
The demon held up the greatsword. A pair of familiar runes were etched into the blade, but Rys’s attention was drawn to the sheer amount of wear on the steel. Scratches and even a chip on side of the blade.
Rys stroked his chin. “I’ll try a better durability rune for the next batch. Any idea what’s causing it?”
“Heat, I think. Last few times the lizards have started breathing fire and their weapons glow red hot.”
“That would do it. I’ll work on something. Should be ready for your next dives,” Rys said.
“Thanks, boss. ‘ppreciate it.” The demon slammed a fist into his chest before returning to the rest of the group.
While Grigor and the noble demons had better equipment, the other demons didn’t. Rys had spent some time over the last few weeks upgrading it. It seemed he had underestimated the monsters in the Labyrinth, however.
On the plus side, the noble demons had grown confident enough to talk to him.
Rys left the infernals to their own devices and entered the control room. Inside, he found Orthrus hovering, doing nothing of note.
“Keeping yourself busy?” Rys asked.
“Amusing,” Orthrus replied. “But yes, I am. Watching your infernals has been very interesting. While they haven’t gone past the fourth floor of the Labyrinth, their recent explorations have helped me unravel the mystery of what is taking place.”
Grigor had refused to go any deeper for a simple reason. The Labyrinth remained a one-way path until the fifth floor, at which point it turned into a true maze. Supposedly, the Kinadain had some method of navigation in the Labyrinth, but the infernals could become easily lost.
Backtracking didn’t work. Rooms changed shape the moment they were empty, preventing any reliable method of navigation other than relying on Orthrus.
“Have you found a power conduit?” Rys asked.
“So single-minded.” Orthrus chuckled. “Not yet. But I am close. The undead sleithneir we saw defended what a path to the Gorgrian section of the Labyrinth. I believe another path can lead me deeper into the Kavolaran section and lead us to a power conduit that we can easily access.”
Rys didn’t know what a sleithneir was, and neither did his translation Gift. He assumed it was the name of whatever that dragon had been.
“So we went the wrong way,” Rys said. “But that’s good news.”
Afterward, Rys focused on the power slates. The demons hadn’t found more, which proved that the Labyrinth likely couldn’t create new ones at will. Rys needed to explore new sections of the Labyrinth to find more.
That meant he needed to eke out every drop of power he could from those he had.
What Rys wanted to do was summon additional infernals. He had left himself excess power within the power slate he had, but he was wary of drawing too heavily on its power. Who knew what it might do to him?
But the cost of not using it might be too great. Rys had done horrific things to his soul in the search for power. Things had worked out somehow. He’d manage this time.
Unfortunately, his next summoning ritual required more effort. He wanted to summon a knowledge devil to help him manage things.
Vallis was sharp, but her attention was focused almost entirely on the world outside the castle. Once Rys brought Maria and other leaders under his thrall, Vallis would find herself even busier, as she found herself managing other leaders on Rys’s behalf. A central administrator was a vital role, after all.
But Rys needed somebody to handle more mundane work, and who also understood infernals intimately. There was a more delicate matter he wanted to handle with Maria. Knowledge devils were experts in paperwork and administration. They primarily worked as clerks, librarians, solicitors, analysts, and any job that required handling large volumes of paperwork or numbers.
Darus and Kauros were the exceptions rather than the rule. Most strains of knowledge devils were viewed like imps: convenient underlings that shouldn’t get underfoot or they’d be crushed.
But that was why Rys needed to put in more work. His previous summonings had involved either summoning an infernal he knew personally, or summoning a group of random infernals whose identities didn’t matter. This time, he needed somebody with a very specific set of skills and who wouldn’t be missed in Hell.
The only way to identify a devil like that was using Darus’s knowledge Gift. Rys very carefully trawled through it for a knowledge devil he could use.
Very, very carefully. The type of knowledge devil he was after would almost certainly be female. Given Darus’s reaction to simply bringing up Fara and Vallis last time, he knew this was liable to attract attention.
That took him a couple of days between other matters. He forged new weapons and armor, had a drink with Grigor, and studied some evocation. Vallis contacted him using sending with some intelligence as well, which he passed on to Grigor.
Finally, he drew up the circle and summoned the knowledge devil. After a flash of shadow and light, a young woman appeared inside the circle.
Her figure was petite, but flared out at the hips. She wore a tailored black suit jacket that fit her arms and body very snugly, a black button-up with a v-cut and several missing top buttons to show her near-complete lack of cleavage, and a black miniskirt.
Fairly conservative dress, by the standards of Hell. She looked like any other Calosceme knowledge devil. All-in-all, a cute little thing. If Rys changed the color of her hair and did it up in pigtails, she could pass as a Darus triplet.
Except for two important differences.
The knowledge devil cocked her head at Rys. Two large black and white candy-cane horns stuck out from the top of her head, and a pair of massive bat wings flapped behind her.
Rys stepped into the circle, causing it to stop glowing. He grabbed her by the horns and yanked her toward him.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow—stop, stop! That hurts,” she whined, tears welling in her eyes as she grabbed Rys’s hands.
“The whole point of having a human form as a devil is that you blend in,” Rys growled. “And Calosceme knowledge devils are literally indistinguishable from young human women. Why would you waste that advantage?”
“Because it makes me look different,” the devil wailed. “I work with ten other Caloscemes who look like my twin sisters. Please! If I get rid of the wings, can I stay? Please?”
Rys let her go and she fell to her knees. Her face shot upward, puppy-dog eyes directed at him.
He rolled his eyes. “The horns are fine. But if I spot you using the wings again, you’ll wish that I sent you back.” The horns would hopefully allow her to pass as a demihuman who painted them.
The knowledge devil nodded several times, then stood up. She snapped her fingers and her wings vanished in a puff of prismatic light. They had turned back into magical energy, which then vanished from the material plane.
“I’m Tyrisa,” she said. “I guess you already knew that, given you summoned me by name.”
“You’re greener than I thought you’d be,” Rys mused. “You’ve been working in one of Ariel’s courts since you were ten. I figured you’d be a little more polite.”
Tyrisa glared at him. “You tried to rip my horns off the moment I appeared.” Then she hunched her shoulders and added, “Master.”
The urge to roll his eyes was strong. But Rys felt that he’d be rolling his eyes every time she spoke if he gave in.
“I don’t care what you call me. But yes, I’m your master,” he said. “Your job will be to help with administration, which requires you to pass as a human. Your other duty is to help me with infernal contracts.”
Tyrisa blinked, then tilted her head. “Huh. I’ve done a lot of contracts in Hell, but never any for humans.”
“I already know you haven’t been to Harrium. Don’t try to pretend.”
She blushed and looked down. A moment later, she bounced back with a smile. “Well, I don’t think you’re human anyway. Your soul feels so strange and your emotions are… odd.”
Rys raised an eyebrow at that response. The soulsight of every divine race was different. Angels told truth from lie. Demons could see the general level of magical power connected to a soul or magical essence. Devils saw emotions and emotional connections.
Dismissing her words, Rys continued, “The most important thing is that I don’t want to cover for your mistakes. Act however you want around me. But you’ll be dealing with rulers and powerful infernals. I don’t want to waste time covering up the faux pas of my office drones.”
“I’m not an office drone,” Tyrisa muttered. “But fine. This should be fun.” She looked around. “I don’t see a contract on you. Did you want me to draw up my own contract?” The smirk on her face indicated her opinion of that.
Rys stared at her but remained silent.
After several long seconds, Tyrisa’s face fell. “Wait, when did you…? How am I already bound? What is this?”
“I am a human. My name is Talarys,” he said. No recognition in her eyes. “The method I’ve used to bind you is an old one, but it means you can’t disobey me. It happened the moment I stepped inside the circle to grab your horns.”
He probably shouldn’t have done that, but they had annoyed him so much.
She winced and gripped her horns with her hands, as if to try to hide them from sight.
There was more to do today, so he led her into the manor itself. She stared at the demons as she followed him, her eyes turning into saucers when she spotted a noble demon.
Eventually, they entered a room that Vallis had dubbed the war room. A large table dominated the space, and it contained the map that Vallis had brought here. Brass and wooden figures were arrayed on top of it. A globe sat in a corner, next to bookshelves full of encyclopedias and other books of varying value.
Rys felt that Tyrisa would have gravitated toward the bookshelves in a normal situation. Instead, she froze on the spot the moment the door opened. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at the massive figure who bent over the central table.
“Ah, a knowledge devil? Well met. I am Grigor,” the demon prince said, using his human form.
Tyrisa bowed so fast and hard that Rys swore he heard her spine snap. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir!”
What a difference in attitude.
“Grigor handles my military affairs,” Rys said. He then gestured to Tyrisa and spoke to Grigor, “This is Tyrisa. She’ll be my secretary. Or close enough. We can’t run this like a court or even a small kingdom, and I think that’s the right approach in any case.”
Grigor nodded, ignoring the bowing devil in the doorway. “I assume you have a plan in mind for our Lady Maria. Allow me to brief you on the intel we have received from the Malakin and Vallis,” he said.
Rys stepped up to the table. Tyrisa eventually followed him and shut the door after a glance. She bustled around the room, gathering some paper and a pen to write with. Her face glowed bright red, and she refused to look Rys in the eye.
“Your suspicions have proven correct,” Grigor said. “Although we do not know the full extent of the problem or what is the cause. The Malakin have recordings of meetings between Kinadain traders and Compagnon’s liaisons in Anceston.” Grigor’s massive fingers brushed a few multi-colored recording crystals on one corner of the table.
“Is it enough?” Rys asked.
Grigor grimaced. “I… am not an expert in this area. In the old days, this would be Asa’s field of expertise.”
Asa had been Rys’s head of intelligence. She was the source of his translation Gift and one of Lacrissa’s succubi lieutenants. Lacrissa had originally used her to spy on Rys, but Asa had always been reliable for him. Despite her perennial laziness, she proved a highly capable succubus and an excellent spymaster.
Or maybe that was because she was lazy. She disliked when her subordinates forced her to get her hands dirty. And Asa was very good at getting her hands dirty. She could flatten Grigor without breaking a sweat, and she could control an army with her mind.
Rys wondered what she was up to these days.
“Um,” Tyrisa tried to say. She ducked her head when both men looked at her, then looked at Rys. “I can go over them later and record transcripts. If that’s useful?”
“It is. Do that. It’s faster for me to skim a transcript than listen to hours of recordings full of dead space,” Rys said.
Grigor pushed the crystals toward Tyrisa, who tidily organized them on her side of the table.
“I assume Vallis has confirmed the same thing?” Rys asked.
“That is correct. Between the Malakin and Vallis, we have confirmed Compagnon’s plan, Lady Maria’s story, and the Kinadain’s collusion with Compagnon.” Grigor then tapped a set of wooden figures south of Aretiers. “Which is the problem.”
“That’s a lot of soldiers,” Rys said.
“The Malus League is a powerful nation to the south. These fortresses guard the only pass between here and them,” Grigor said. “Fort Foret belongs to Compagnon on the northern side, and Gravuskeep to the Malus League on the south. We haven’t found any connections between the two yet, but if I were them, then I would be watching closely.”
Rys nodded. “If Compagnon falls, it would be a power vacuum they might try to fill. If we overstretch ourselves, then the Malus League might try to mop us up. The name doesn’t make them sound very nice.”
There was more to the Malus League than their name. The nation consisted of rogue mages who had fled Gauron in order to study whatever they wanted. Their mages studied everything from the forbidden—such as necromancy and infernal sorcery—to schools of sorcery that were considered uneconomical or useless—such as summoning and rune-crafting.
Rys didn’t care what they studied. Modern politics regarding magic was the last thing he gave a damn about.
But he did care that his southern neighbors were a nation of outcasts. Everybody hated the Malus League. And the mages reveled in the hatred they received. Their name literally meant “Evil League,” after all.
Tyrisa scribbled away rapidly while they spoke, and she even sketched down the position of the figures on the map.
They talked for a little while longer, but the bulk of the planning had been done. What Grigor awaited was the go ahead to attack.
That couldn’t happen until Rys met with Maria. If she caught wind that he was already attacking Compagnon, she’d be less amenable to his terms.
“Now that the serious talk is over, I wanted to ask for some advice on infernals back in Hell,” Rys asked.
Tyrisa looked up, eyes wide. “Um, not to interrupt, but…” She took a deep breath when they both looked at her but managed to not shrink in terror this time. “Did you want copies of the meeting notes? Or just the transcripts of the recordings?”
What a dutiful secretary she was.
“Make a spare copy of the meeting notes. You’ll need to give them to Vallis, who I’ll introduce you to later. Leave the transcripts in my bedroom,” he said.
Tyrisa’s eyes widened at the mention of his bedroom, but she nodded.
Turning back to Grigor, Rys continued, “I’m wary of using Darus to ask about people that I’m connected to. So tell me what happened to Asa and some of the others.”
Grigor nodded, and his expression appeared grim. “It has been a long time, and much has changed. Asa is alive, as I’m sure you know. But her laziness finally got the better of her. She fell swiftly in the ranks of the Succubus Queen now that she didn’t have you to cover for her. Most of her time is spent lazing about in the independent regions of Hell.”
Given the satisfied twinkle in Grigor’s eyes, Rys suspected that his friend was privately happy to see Asa taken down a peg or three.
But what Rys took away from this was that his favorite succubus was a free agent now. Once he weakened his seal and gathered enough power to summon her, he’d make good use of her talents.
“What about ol’ Ironspike?” Rys asked.
“Fallen. Your old rival was sent by Ariel to support her contract with Kushan, and died like so many others,” Grigor said.
Kushan. Rys remembered that name.
“Wait, wasn’t he the human mage that invented evocation? Why would he have a contract with the Devil Queen?” Rys asked.
Tyrisa stared at Rys in disbelief.
Grigor chuckled. “Because he wanted power, and quickly. Ariel sent her most powerful handmaiden, Ferra, to help him conquer Gauron. He succeeded, but eventually was slain. Most of Ariel’s best demons were depleted by the battles necessary to defeat the nations of Gauron—the great magical empires of elves; the underground chasms of the dwarves; and the draconic kingdoms atop the mountains.”
Rys realized he needed to brush up on his history. Something to ask Darus soon.
“I’m surprised they died, instead of being banished,” Rys said.
“As was I, and I think even Malusian was,” Grigor rumbled, and he closed his eyes.
No wonder so many of Rys’s Gifts were inactive. Ariel had helped conquer Gauron while he had been asleep—and failed. One of his Gifts had been from Ferra, back when they fought together after the Cataclysm. She had become Ariel’s right hand, only to die on Gauron.
One of Rys’s friends, a demon lord named Araunth, had once told Rys something he kept in the back of his head.
That even the most iconic of memories became a page in the great book of time. Those pages might become dog-eared and reread billions of times. But, eventually, they would be buried by countless other iconic memories. Then almost nobody remembered what had once been common knowledge, and legends faded into obscurity.
Better still to never become a memory.
“What about Araunth?” Rys asked.
“Still the greatest of all demon lords. He is the unofficial fourth archdevil,” Grigor said. “His feats have only grown.”
Tyrisa’s jaw dropped. “You know Araunth? How?”
“Old drinking buddies,” Rys said.
“Bullshit.” She blushed when Grigor looked at her.
“No, really, we were,” Rys said. He smiled fondly at the memories. “There were three of us that used to drink in a VIP lounge in a city on the border between Malusian’s and Ariel’s territory. Duar, Araunth, and I would get together and make plans over drinks.”
“Duar…” Tyrisa breathed. “You’re talking about the Infernal Empire. Who… Who are you?”
“Talarys, Malusian’s lost general,” Grigor said.
One day, the reaction of the summoned infernals might get old. But not today.
He left Tyrisa to grip onto the table and stare at him in bewilderment, and resumed his discussion with Grigor.
“Well, who actually is alive? I get the feeling almost everybody I know is dead,” Rys said.
Grigor remained still for some time, and Rys wondered if he’d touched a nerve.
But then, the old demon said, “Frederick.”
Seriously?
“Fred. Fat Fred? That lazy, fat demon prince is alive when nobody else is?” Rys asked.
Did the last 1500 years selectively choose laziness as its preferred personality trait?
Grigor looked at Rys and chuckled. “Indeed, although I still question your belief that he is lazy. Or fat. But he is more powerful than ever. He holds a comfortable position in one of Ariel’s outer courts.”
That might make it harder to summon him without being noticed. But Rys knew Fred, and that made him a better candidate than almost every other demon prince in Hell.
“Well, that gave me a few ideas,” Rys said. “Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Sorry if I brought up anything you preferred to forget.”
He bumped his fist against Grigor’s arm and the demon prince chuckled in return.
“It was pleasant, Rys. I do hope that the old times might return,” Grigor said.
Rys held his tongue. In his mind, he doubted that could ever happen. Too much had changed.
But that was a conversation for another day with Grigor. For now, he left the demon prince to finalize his plans and carried a catatonic knowledge devil to her new bedroom.
Vallis should return within a few days. Once that happened, Rys would set his plan in motion.