Into the Abyss

Tom felt his cave dissolve around him. He sighed, expecting to see the stone conjuring room appear around him. Instead, he was surprised to see that he was in the middle of a small clearing among some trees. What’s more, Lenamare wasn’t the one conjuring him. It was the old man he’d seen earlier. He wasn’t sure what this meant, but at least it was interesting, something to take his mind off the brooding he’d been doing the last few days.

“Demon... knowst that I am Hortwell, and that I have summoned thee by the power of will and warding, and by the power of thy name which binds thy soul. Knowst that thy spirit and body are mine to command. Dost thou acknowledge my right to command thee?”

This guy was like all the rest, however, rather than fight it, Tom figured he’d just go along with it. He didn’t know for sure how far this man’s power to command him went; but he didn’t want to test it by ripping the guy’s guts out as had been suggested to him as a test. “Very well, mortal what do you want?” This time he didn’t use his Darth Vader voice, instead he answered simply impatiently. To his surprise, his voice still came out extremely deep and sinister, not quite so booming, but impressive nonetheless.

“The school of Lenamare is under attack by the wizard Exador and his minions. Currently, Exador has sent demons and wizards to try and break the wall of force around the castle. You are to go and destroy all the demons attacking the school. You will in no manner aid Exador, or cause him to be aided. You will in no manner harm the force wall or those inside it. Is this clear?”

“You want me to destroy the attacking demons?” Tom was excited about dealing with other demons; but he wasn’t thrilled with killing them. They certainly didn’t deserve to die, and he had no reason to want them dead. Besides, remembering the dragon, he didn’t know that he could kill the demons. He knew what he was capable of, and how fast he recovered, and Hortwell had implied that there were more than one. “That might be a bit difficult.”

This caused Hortwell to pause and think for a moment. “They are all weaker than you, and I will be summoning up lesser backup demons for you. But you are right in suggesting that their actual destruction will be tricky. Very well, simply see to it that they are damaged enough that they have to return to the Abyss, and can no longer harm the school, or myself.”

“Very well,” Tom said. This still wasn’t going to be fun; but Tom remembered the other day when he’d been lax in following orders. He had better do as much as he could rationally to get rid of the other demons before the compulsion made him act irrational. If he managed to stay rational he might be able to come up with a way of following these orders without anyone really getting hurt.

“Now, I am going to release you from the pentacle. You shall not harm me in any manner, nor cause harm to come to me or mine. You shall go directly to carry out your assignment, and when finished return here. Is this understood?”

“Yes.” This fellow was getting annoying. Tom had already said he would do as asked. What more did the guy want?

Hortwell stepped back and waved his hands in a few peculiar gestures down at the pentacle. As he did this, he whispered some words that Tom did not catch. Just as when Lenamare had done it in the tower room, Tom felt the invisible restraining walls part before him as he stepped from the pentacle.

“Now go.” Hortwell pointed to the castle. Tom looked in that direction, and then took to the air, heading to battle.

This definitely was not a good idea, thought Tom as he neared the battle. Before him he could see Lenamare’s castle. It was enshrouded in a hemispherical white mist that was difficult to see through. This, Tom realized, must be the barrier he’d ran into when he’d been trying desperately to complete his last mission. He remembered the dome and he vaguely recalled seeing the army encamped outside of it. At the time though, he had paid no attention to it, he’d been too out of his mind.

Now however, he was in full control and could observe the situation calmly. The castle was protected by the dome of force. Camped about the castle, surrounding it, was what Tom supposed was a typical medieval army. It consisted of about two thousand men, mainly infantry with perhaps a few hundred cavalry. There were also seven wooden towers and five catapults. Essentially it was just what one would expect from a besieging army, which this apparently was. The only difference from the history books was the force wall, and from his own experience he would have to say it was a major difference. Actually it seemed to Tom that it would be extremely difficult to break, but apparently Lenamare feared that that was exactly what might happen.