Chapter 10

“Three?” shrieked Terimak in anger, his voice nearly breaking. “How can three men defeat an army? Tell me that!”

The unlucky individual before him, a captain from the defeated army cowered away from the Sorcerer’s anger. “They were as powerful as the Demon Lords themselves m-m-m’lord.” was the pitiful, stuttered, reply.

Terimak, his black silk pants whispering as he paced, looked back at the man, his perfect features thoughtful, the earlier signs of anger erased, “As powerful as the Demon Lords ehh? It would seem so for I have been unable to recall the three I sent with that army. It doesn’t seem possible, since I know all of Mistrew’s spells and servants. Were could he have found three such powerful demons?” He glanced at the captain and then waved him out, “Take him away but do not kill him. He may serve later. The generals that have returned though are to be hung. Immediately. I do not tolerate failure.”

The captain’s collapse highlighted his obvious relief as the demon guards carried him outside of the tent.

He had been the last of the officers to have found their way to the approaching army, and the only one not of the defeated armies’ staff. Terimak had interviewed them all and the implications of what he heard did not bode well. Somehow Mistrew had summoned either demon princes whose names and existence were so well hidden that none of the rest knew of them, or he had created a new breed of creatures to serve him. Nothing else made sense, but nothing Terimak had learned suggested any way his former master could have made such creatures. And while Mistrew had been his master and teacher, Terimak had realized years ago that his knowledge of the arts had surprassed his former masters. And so he had built this army and had expected to take his place amongst the Seven, after of course eliminating one to make room for him.

He had immediately sensed the failure of his first army when the bonds of the demon lords he had placed within it had broken and with them the bonds of the minor demons attached to them. His attempts at scrying the castle had succeeded though for days, and only recently had he found them blocked by a barrier whose flavor was unfamiliar to him. But in that time he had found no trace of Mistrew. The only ones he had sensed were so slight and the energies so minor that they could be nothing more than the works of apprentices, hardly the work of one of the Seven. He had also seen no signs of magical creatures or demons. Even the minor little demons Mistrew kept around seemed gone, a realization that had left Terimak stunned with surprise.

The only explanation that offered itself was that Mistrew was either dead or had burned himself out. The building magic he had sensed weeks earlier must have been Mistrew creating those creatures during the very battle. He had held it together long enough to defeat the army and had then either died of the strain or burnt out his abilities and fled. That was the only explanation that made sense. It was entirely possible that his control of the creatures, if they had been strange demons, had wavered and they had snatched him even as they returned home, to feed upon. Even one of the Seven could be pushed beyond their limits, or make mistakes. After all, Mistrew had trained Terimak himself, creating the one who turned on him.

Terimak smoothed his shirt and picked up a goblet of wine. While drinking from it he turned over the idea of Mistrew’s death in his mind and then discarded it. His magical abilities being burnt out, that seemed much more likely and Terimak smiled. The castle had obviously been abandoned, and while Mistrew’s servants would likely fight anyway, fearing Mistrew’s return if they didn’t, they would unable to truly harm or even hinder this new army. He would continue as planned, and he would notify his troops that he wished Mistrew brought to him alive if found. It would be pleasant to have a chance to savor his victory and there were likely still things his former master could teach him. And in a weeks time he would occupy his former teachers lands, and regardless of whether Mistrew had been found, his very inability to defend his holdings would have signaled his end and that his position was open. Actually, that it had been newly occupied by his former student. As for the demons, they were likely the cause of the strange barrier, and he would find a way to contain them he was sure, when the time came and that would leave him that much more powerful.

With those thoughts he stepped out of his tent and headed towards the prisoners, perhaps he would amuse himself by executing some of his former General’s himself. They had failed him after all and their screams of anguish would be pleasant, as would the rush of power that would accompany their deaths, if he attended to it himself.