The Heavenly Host

“I’m connected to it. I may have a few things to work out and understand,” Tom said, shaking his head.

“Great One, may our people approach and directly swear our fealty to you now?” Zelda asked. Tom had another “oh, shit” moment.

If he did this, he would be locking himself into being their leader under false pretenses. There would be no going back. It was a huge step. However, if he did not, who knew what would happen, how they would react. He was busily racking his brain trying to think how this sort of scenario played out in books and movies he had read and watched. At last, he gestured to Zelda. “Come to my throne; I would consult with you directly.”

Zelda nodded in acceptance and carefully climbed the dais, then approached the throne and knelt briefly before standing again. He gestured for her to come up close on his right-hand side, which she did.

Tom leaned down to speak with her privately. “I know this must come as a complete surprise, and very sudden for the people. We must, of course, have the swearing; however, are you sure that all of your people are ready and prepared for this after so long? I seek complete, unwavering loyalty and if we do this too quickly after so long, some may end up with reservations. I want no reservations.” He was pulling this out of his butt; he just needed to buy time to talk with the others.

Zelda blinked at this, uncertain, perhaps puzzled. He hoped he had not insulted her or her people. “I, uhm, had not thought of that. I just know that we have been waiting. Many were... on the verge... of losing hope. Many did lose hope, and so perished. You are right, My Lord, this is sudden. We should have a feast prepared to celebrate the oaths; we do not. We were not expecting you.”

“I think a celebratory feast is clearly necessary,” Tom said, grasping at anything. “How long will that take to prepare?”

Zelda shook her head. “I do not know; perhaps a few days. We need to get supplies from somewhere...”

“We need to plan. This must be done right!” Tom said decisively. “We will set the date once we have the feast planned.”

Zelda looked at him and nodded. “Perhaps I might simply introduce my commanders today?”

Tom nodded and stood up. “My people,” he began. Okay, that was presumptuous; he needed to play the part, though. “The Oath Taking is a momentous event and will deserve a celebratory feast. We will need time to prepare the feast; we must therefore plan for that and plan a time for the Oath Taking. Thus, for now, I would have Zelda present her commanders to me.”

Tom sat down and motioned to Zelda, who moved forward to address the crowd. “Commanders, attend!” At this order, about twenty D’Orcs came forward and knelt before the dais. Tom gestured for Zelda to bring them forward. She looked at him and made a gesture of one or all.

“Bring them all up together, as we will be for war councils,” Tom said, getting smiles and cheers from those who heard. The twenty D’Orc commanders came up the dais and knelt before Tom. It was getting a bit crowded; these D’Orcs were big.

“While we are at this, I should also introduce... uh, my entourage.” Tom could not think of what word to use. He seriously doubted that dark overlords had “friends.” He gestured behind the throne, hoping the others would see and come up, cautiously filing two by two around the throne and into view of the D’Orc commanders.

One of the commanders suddenly choked and grabbed for his battle-axe. “Treachery! A knight of Tiernon!” The others all stepped back, suddenly very concerned and nervous.

“Relax!” Tom ordered, realizing this was all about to blow up. “He is my hostage.” Something true! “He will not harm you, nor will you harm him. He is part of my strategy.” He glanced at Talarius, who of course was glaring at him through his visor, or at least Tom assumed he was by his stance.

“Ack!” another, older-looking D’Orc said as the previous D’Orc’s motion had freed this one’s line of sight. “This is a validation of the prophecy I did not need!” He was pointing at Tizzy.

“Hey, Darg-Krallnom! Long time no see!” Tizzy smiled and waved.

“You know this demon, Darg?” the first upset D’Orc asked.

“Yes. The master used to allow him the run of the mount, and on occasion sought his advice,” Darg-Krallnom said.

“Yes,” a third older D’Orc warrior with a broken right tusk said. “Probably the only prince in the Abyss to listen to that trickster!”

Boggy looked over to Tizzy. “Well, apparently you haven’t changed much in four thousand years or so.”

Tizzy shrugged. “What can I say? You stick with what works!” Tizzy turned to the third D’Orc. “Good to see you too, Arg-nargoloth! Still haven’t seen a dentist?”

A D’Orc beside Arg-nargoloth had to restrain the D’Orc commander from rushing forward to throttle Tizzy.