Apostles of Doom

“Exactly. It is very important to have firsthand accounts. I made a small fortune off my Battle of Vizenheim, which was a firsthand account. Think how different things would be if there had been a reliable account of the Balladae Orcusae.” Antefalken frowned. “Although I don’t think it would have gone over so well in the Courts.”

“I suspect not.” Edwyrd grinned, shaking his head. “We are heading to Astlan to help get people back home. Do you want to join us?”

Antefalken frowned. “I would, but I really think I need to work on this while it’s all still fresh.”

Edwyrd shrugged. “Sounds good — wait.” Edwyrd glanced to the crystal ball. Would it be possible for me to borrow your ball for a few hours? I would like to show everyone who missed the battle what happened.”

Antefalken shrugged. “Sure, go ahead. I do not need it for this part of the work.” He handed Edwyrd the ball. “Do you know how to use it? If not, Damien will know.”

“Thanks!” Edwyrd said, putting the ball in his pocket. Vaselle? he asked through his link with the wizard.

Yes, milord?

Are you ready for a gate?

Sure, just let me move the kettle out of the fire, Vaselle replied. A few seconds later, he said, Okay, all set!

Edwyrd sensed Vaselle’s summoning and opened the gate. The gate opened into the campsite outside of Murgatroy. Edwyrd gestured for Tamarin to step through the hole in reality, and then he hopped through to avoid stepping into the fire. He began closing the portal, noting Damien looking through the hole behind him.

“Antefalken wants to stay there and work on his newest ballad,” Edwyrd said, grinning.

“His newest ballad?” Damien asked.

“Yesterday’s battle. He wants to get it down while it’s fresh.”

Damien smiled and nodded. “That sounds like him.”

Tamarin had run over to a nearby tree and was staring in fascination at the leaves.

Edwyrd shook his head as she spun around and laughed joyously while looking around everywhere. Had she never been to Midgard? He looked around at the others, noting that Farsooth was not around.

Beya noticed his gaze and spoke up. “Farsooth is in town, looking for hordemates.”

“Hordemates?” Edwyrd asked.

Ragala-nargoloth nodded. “I’ve made contact with a shaman of my tribe here in Astlan. He is in regular communication with my cousin and has portal beads that I can use to get to her. We are thinking that establishing regular portal links between the realms will help us all coordinate.”

“So then you are set to get home?” Edwyrd asked. The shaman nodded. “Excellent.”

“I have been unable to contact my counterparts, but should be able to do so later in the day,” Beya said.

“Okay, and then we need to see what Farsooth comes up with. That leaves you three.” Edwyrd pointed to Tal Gor, Vaselle and Damien.

“I have a lock on Horrgus, so I know where my family is. Schwarzenfürze and I can head back any time,” Tal Gor reported.

“I think Vaselle and I are the problem,” Damien said. “I can’t teleport over thousands of leagues, at least not without special preparations on both ends.” Vaselle nodded in agreement.

Edwyrd nodded. “I don’t suppose that Gastropé and his friends have a good way to send you back?”

Damien shook his head. “I rather exaggerated to Jenn and told her that we’d be able to use mirrors to send you and Rupert to her when we located you; however, I was planning on simply having Gastropé pretend to summon the two of you or something similar.”

Edwyrd chuckled. “So we need someone in Freehold to summon me.”

“I am not sure Lenamare’s going to feel like summoning you at your request,” Damien said. He glanced at Tamarin, and a look came over his face. “Tamarin, you mentioned having a contact in Freehold? Could that contact provide us a reference point for a portal?”

The djinni stopped spinning and looked at the wizard thoughtfully. “Possibly, but not until he comes out from behind the wards. I can’t contact him through those.”

Damien gave her a puzzled look. “We took the wards down a few days ago.”

Tamarin grinned and shook her head. “They went back up after the big battle.”

“What big battle?” Damien asked, suddenly concerned.

“That sword of Talarius’s, it exposed Exador as an archdemon and things got ugly,” the djinni said.

“Was anyone hurt?” Damien asked worriedly.

“I don’t believe so. Lots of property damage though.”

“So he was expelled?” Edwyrd asked.

Tamarin nodded. “Yes. Lenamare and Randolf were able to contain him long enough for Alexandros Mien to use meteors to push him through a portal in the floor.”

Damien blinked and shook his head. “Okay, I guess that would explain the property damage. So Randolf worked with Lenamare to defeat Exador? Randolf is not actually on Exador’s side, is he?”

Tamarin shook her head. “Randolf? No he hates Exador more than Lenamare does.”

Damien gave her a disbelieving look. “Exador worked for Randolf! Randolf bent himself into all sorts of contortions to do Exador’s bidding!”