Into the Abyss

Jenn, like all of the older students who had been present, knew that the secret weapon was the fourth order demon; however, all those present had been warned not to speak for fear Exador might learn, and attempt to gain more demonic support of his own. Actually, Jenn wasn’t all too sure that what one fourth order demon could do to improve the efforts of seven or eight lessor demons against a huge army was worth the risk involved in controlling such a beast. She imagined, however, that the psychological effect of confronting a wizard powerful enough to control it, and the fear the demon itself would instill in the enemy soldiers would probably be worth it in and of themselves. Minor demons tended to scare normal people, more powerful ones even made trained wizards nervous.

Of course it wasn’t shear power that made the higher order demons fearsome, it was also their trickiness. In addition to being more powerful, they also tended to be smarter and so could use their power to greater effect. It was these demons that wizards had to be especially careful of; the miswording of any order could be the undoing of the wizard’s entire cause. All too often one heard horror stories of some hapless wizard who overlooked a loophole in his or her command, only to find themselves spread out all over their tower in tiny pieces. Of course, Jenn had never known any of these wizards or even knew of anyone that actually had known one of these wizards, who was ripped to shreds. Still, it was a well-known fact that nobody cared to test. Enough proof could be garnered in the form of observation of the sometimes twistedly literal ways demons carried out their orders, and their general threatening manners.

To Jenn, as to all wizards, it was quite obvious that each and every one of these malevolent and foul beings would do anything they could to destroy mankind. As such, they were very much a two edged blade when used in combat. Jenn personally preferred to rely on human strength and other forms of magic, rather than face demons. Especially that new one. True, it was the first demon greater than second order that she had seen, but that had been more than enough. Its huge and hideous form gave her goose bumps just thinking about it. How Lenamare could plan on using something so monstrously powerful and unthinkably old and inhuman, she really couldn’t understand. If Exador had the powerful backing everyone feared he had, then using a fourth order demon would probably escalate things and bring in more high order demons. If the Archimage of Turelane got involved, he too could send in a fourth order demon, perhaps even a fifth, if he really got desperate.

Jenn brought herself to a halt in the forest and began to scold herself for being so foolish in her speculation. A fifth order demon. As if Lenamare’s school could ever be so valuable. No, perhaps the fourth order demon could save them. The goddess knew Jenn prayed that it would never come to even using that.

Off to her right Daphne screamed. Quickly, Jenn spun to her right. She motioned the other three children with her to huddle together as she ran to where Daphne sounded to be. She dodged through a few trees and came upon the frightened child. Siegfrid was cowering with her, both were trying to back away from what menaced them.

What menaced them Jenn quickly saw, was a man. Not just any man either, he was scroungy and dirty looking and wore the trappings of a forester. His cloak however had a bright badge of purple and gold. Exador’s colors. This man, who was advancing on the children with a dagger, with the obvious intention of silencing them before they could give warning, was one of Exador’s scouts.

Fearing for the children, Jenn reached in her pocket and pulled out a small vine. “Esticten tomros sed nesten. Verdet et suprestum entreppum sid faltos. Xiat et lux.” As she said this she concentrated on the forest growth around the man’s feet, she twisted the vine in her hands into a loop.

Mimicking her gestures, the roots of nearby trees and bushes, rose to twine around the man’s feet. Cursing the man stumbled and fell to the ground. Looking up, he grimaced angrily as he saw Jenn. Hurrying, before he could get free, Jenn shoved the children back towards the wagon, and then grabbed more vines from her pocket. Carefully she repeated the spell, this time wrapping the struggling man’s right arm and then his left. After this she roped him around the waist.