Chapter 23

Khratoum awoke slowly as dawn lit over the cobblestoned streets and the light reflected off the stone walls of the buildings. The few guards at the gates were surprised by the strangers arriving on horseback and they weren’t particularly awake as the party rode up to the opened gates. The size of the party was a major concern, numbering nearly 50, but the guards didn’t see any signs of a larger party, and with the conflict between the Lords Terimak and Mistrew travelers had been traveling with larger entourages. What they hadn’t expected though was for the party to stop at the gates and a pretty young lady amongst them to politely ask for directions to the Governor’s mansion.

The grim, professional looks of the soldiers accompanying her were also unusual. Even odder was the tall, hooded figure that rode in the midst of the group and the conversation between the young woman and the hood figure sent a shudder down the back of the gate’s sergeant. They arrogant look the woman bestowed on him also suggested he really didn’t want an answer when he asked about their business in town. Best to let the Governor and his pet demons deal with these strangers if they really were a problem. After all, the guards were there primarily to watch for people smuggling goods into town, not to stop Sorcerers. And who else would ride with such a troop and such easy arrogance.

“I really don’t like riding around hidden like some criminal.” Narn’s annoyance was easy to read in his tone after they had ridden past the gate and headed towards the Governor’s mansion. He shifted the hood slightly, “It’s making it rather hard to see where I’m going, and the looks people are giving me, you’d think I was a demon or something come to eat their children.”

Riulan glanced at Narn in surprise, “That’s exactly what they think you are. Either a Sorcerer yourself, with me as your apprentice, which might as well mean you are a Demon. Or my demon that I keep hidden to prevent them from running at the mere sight of you.” Riulan seemed a bit confused by the vehemence in Narn’s voice. The cloak hid him completely in truth, and the depth of the hood made his face impossible to see, but it didn’t look like it prevented vision that much. “We had discussed this before we rode in and you agreed then.”

“I hadn’t realized how much I hated having children run in fear of me before. It’s not a comfortable feeling. It’s one thing to have your own kind revile you as being somehow less than perfect. It’s another thing to see children break down crying or hiding behind their parents terrified of you.” Narn glanced to the side briefly before fixing his gaze forward, “And worse to see the parents believe the children truly should be afraid.”

Riulan glanced to the sides of the streets for the first time and noticed the ripple of fear that seemed to run through the townfolks as they rode into town. “I hadn’t really noticed that before.” She glanced around, noting the children’s reactions before turning back to Narn, “we live in constant fear of the Sorcerers, it’s hardly surprising that they won’t look upon us as anything different. After all, this is why you and your companions are going to be leading us. So that we can change that fear.”

“I know that. Just..” He muttered something inaudible before continuing, “Just because I know something doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I don’t like scaring the very people we are going to try and help. Not like this. I feel dirty about the whole thing, like I was robbing them somehow or something.”

He’s like a child sometimes, not quite innocent but idealistic, Riulan thought with a touch of surprise, Like a child who cries when the butterfly they are pursuing becomes injured because they touch it. “Well it is only for this ride anyway. Once we’ve dealt with the Governor and his demon’s we will handle the rest of the town as we must. Luckily the protocol for these conflicts is pretty well laid out so we shouldn’t have to fight the guard if we can get to the mansion itself.”

Narn’s grunt was the only response and Riulan noticed that he shifted slightly as if to reassure himself of his sword’s presence.

They rode in silence through the rest of the town, though their passage marked a growing circle of whispered rumors. By the time they had arrived at the Governor’s mansion word of their approach had already reached him, and many of the prominent members of the town had also begun to show up to find out about these mysterious visitors.

The Governor’s mansion was a massive building, housing the administrative workings of the town and it’s region, as well as administration for many of the nearby towns as well. Khratoum had long been a major route of trade and had been part of Mistrew’s possession since he first set up his domain. The addition of administrative and economic power had allowed the Governor’s of Khratoum, a never ending line of Sorcerer’s bound to Mistrew, to indulge in opulence. The courtyard before the mansion was similarly built on a grand scale and was crowned by a massive pillar in the center. The current Governor, a Sorcerer named Yung-ta, had gathered up some of his personal guard and the demons he had control of, and stood at the top of the massive staircase leading from the plaza to the front doors of the mansion. Terimak had carefully groomed Yung-ta, working to get him placed in Khratoum in preparation of his coup against Mistrew. Terimak had recognized the power inherent in controlling the administrative details that reached Mistrew, as well as the economic power of the city, and had taken steps to ensure that it was loyal to him when the time came. It had been through those same administrative channels that he had managed to gather support and to prevent any word of his plans from reaching Mistrew. Yung-ta’s support was unquestioned and as such he controlled quite a number of demons, a full score of brutish demons. They stood before the Sorcerer on the steps so that their reddish-brown forms were the first sight that Narn, Riulan and the scouts got when they approached the steps.

Narn studied the demons as they approached, taking in the tall lean bodies of the demons. They stood nearly 7 feet tall and their arms were long, reaching nearly to the knees when hanging down at their sides. They carried halberds, further lengthing their already long reach, and they had the hungry look of predatory animals. They had little in the way of intelligence, making them ideal as simple brute force and their thick skin would be difficult for a normal sword or arrow to pierce, though a spear would likely give them problems if it was thrust with enough force. They looked quick, but only battle would reveal the full depth of their abilities.

Yung-ta, in comparison, was a roundish figure. His paunchy face red from the exertion of moving quickly. He was about average height but obviously overweight. His feature were haughty as he watched the approaching group and he drew himself up before speaking, his voice shrill as he tried to get enough volume to be heard over the entire plaza. “Who are you that come before the Governor of Khratoum, servant of the Lord Terimak, armed as though for battle?”

Riulan moved to the front of the party, the scouts spreading out into a line behind her and Narn, she twisted power from within herself, releasing the spell that had once again shield her fully from detection. She was quite pleased to see the smug arrogance vanish from Yung-ta’s face as he realized how much of her power had lain hidden. “We are the servants of the new lords in Mistrew’s realm. We have come to liberate this town from the Sorcerer's rule and put it under the rule of Lord Galdacil.” Her voice echoed across the plaza, aided by a minor spell.

The even tones, clearly heard by all, contrasted sharply with the Yung-ta’s voice and he could feel his hold over the crowd easing as the balance of perceived power shifted slightly. The strange name, Galdacil, was unknown to him and the woman’s obvious power confused him, as he saw no signs of how she had hidden it, nor had she obviously killed anyone to pull such power so quickly from nowwhere. He fell back on old, ingrained habits of arrogance, for surely even the single demon she controlled couldn’t be a match for the Trellin Demons that Lord Terimak had left under his control. They weren’t particularly bright but they were vicious and powerful physically. They should make short work of the upstart before him, and her protectors didn’t even have the spears that would be necessary to hold off his demons long. “Then you have come to die! Kill them!” he commanded to the demons, releasing them from their places and grabbing the nearest of his secretaries, ruthlessly draining the energies from the unfortunate individual as he built shields around him. He had no wish to win the battle and in the process lose his own life, something that was entirely likely should the strange Sorcereress choose to ignore her own death to kill him.

The demons responded immediately and Narn had a moment of annoyance at how fast the strange creatures were. Despite his first impressions he had hoped that their large size, and massive weapons, would make them slow. He had been wrong about that but their movements and way they held their weapons suggested that they weren’t particularly skilled, simply strong. Dangerous to be sure but as long as his scouts fought together they should be able to keep the creatures confused. He threw off his his cloak at that point, glad to be rid of the encumberance and spurring his horse to meet the first of the demons.

Behind him the scouts also did the same, and he knew that Riulan would be weaving protections in case the Sorcerer tried to attack any of them directly. He put all of that out of his mind though, concentrating instead on that area immediately around him as he deflected the first of the demon weapons and plunged his blade into its open mouth, before continuing on through with his charge.

The scouts, while outnumbering the demons, were more defensive, moving quickly, several using bows from horseback to distract the demons, while others darted in quickly to lash at them with light sabers. Trained to work togethor they deftly avoided the demon’s clumsy attacks, and supported each other. Here and there one of the scouts would fail to move quickly enough and he would be dragged down. But the companions of the fallen scout would move in and take the opportunity to finish the distracted creature, which normally drop it’s weapon to tear the unfortunate limb from limb. All of his scouts were also armed with weapons that would penetrate their hides. The Fae spells Erimbril and Riulan had embued their scimitars with allowed the scouts to penetrate the demon's hides.

Narn managed to kill a second demon before his horse was killed beneath him when one demon severed the left legs of his horse. Narn rolled from the saddle, avoiding the falling body of his mount, and came back to his feet, moving fluidly. His speed was very nearly a match for the demons he faced. He was further aided by his scouts who were watching out for him as well. Outnumbered as he was, for three of the demon’s had concentrated on him, his greater skill, and the arrows of his scouts, served to hold the demons at bay. He noticed vaguely though that several squads of the cities guards were even now forming up. They seemed fearful of joining the general melee already ongoing between the scouts and the demons, but the continuing harassment by the Yung-ta was beginning to wear on them.

He knew that his troops couldn’t hope to fight the demons and an equal number of human troops. And he had no desire to have to fight them since the entire reason for being here was to gain their support later.

“Riulan! We need some help here!” He pivoted and threw himself into a furious assault on the demons in front of him, slaying one of them quickly but feeling the wind of the axes of the other two, he turned to another only to see the shadow of a fourth behind him. He had nowhere to go before it’s blade came down. The sharp crack of noise that echoed across the plaza came as a surprise to him though the sudden blow to his side didn’t.

It took a moment for the realization that it had been a blunted blow not an axe blow that struck him. It was still strong enough to hurl him nearly three feet, but not the death blow he had expected. And while his ribs were bruised he was still in one piece. As he looked up he saw that all of the demons held little more than long poles, the blades having shattered under Riulan’s spell. The demons stared at the poles stupidly for a moment confused about the sudden change in their weaponry.

Narn’s scouts immediately took advantage of the hesistation to swarm over their demonic foes. Their blades, empowered by the Fae spells, bit deeply into the demons and the sudden shock and charge allowed them to finish off their foes in short order.

The sudden demise of his demonic forces left Yung-ta shocked and he cried out even more shrilly to the guards. His spells lashing at the guards though suddenly cut off as Riulan coldly spoke again, “You have lost Sorcerer. Your demons could not stand against us, why should your guards fare any better. Guardsmen, your lives are worth more to us than this creatures. Step away and you will not suffer the consequences of opposing us.”

Ignoring Yung-ta’s cries, growing more desperate with each of Narn's steps, the guards moved back, clearing the way for Riulan and her escort as they moved up the steps. Narn’s glowing blade was raised briefly, and despite Yung-ta’s frantic spells and cries, plummeted, ending the Sorcerer’s life.

Riulan turned to the plaza a final time, “We will expect the town’s leaders in one hour. Do not make us come looking for you.” Turning to the guards she continued, “The gates are to be closed. And nobody shall leave the city. Should I learn otherwise all of the guard shall pay.” And without another word Riulan and her entourage stepped into the Governor’s mansion. The closing doors echoing across the silent plaza.