Tartarus Beckons, Edmund Batara [bts book recommendations .TXT] 📗

us dead now,” said Tyler. “But I won’t be the judge of your fate. Magna will do that, and you better pray you’ve done good by her.”

At Tyler’s words, the High Thegn quickly picked himself up and angrily glared at Tyler.

“Her? House Anari is going to judged by a Lesser House? That bitch? That…”

Galar was suddenly unable to say anything more. He struggled to speak, but it was as if all the muscles in his face were frozen. Then he became perfectly still, but as his body became immobile, his eyes moved wildly in panic. Tyler noticed that the High Thegn’s companions had suffered the same affliction. When everybody saw what happened, all attention was again on Asag. The mage was beginning to really worry about the demon and its powers, he clearly had underestimated the entity.

“Tsk. No name-calling, you foul-mouthed, dung-eating, motherless skunk. We’re civilized mortals here,” severely reproached Asag. “Now stay still and be a good dokkalfr, or whatever they call your kind.”

Tyler didn’t know whether to laugh or be further worried. Asag displayed a seeming innocence at times, though again, the mage couldn’t tell if it was all an act. But the kind of power the demon had shown kept him on edge, and Tyler admitted to himself that he was now terrified about what the monster was really capable of.

The casual exhibitions of magical energy by Asag indicated that he considered them little tricks. Even the giant stone golem was nothing compared to the reality of the extreme difficulty in managing thousands of smaller constructs. In a battle, no less. That kind of magical control shockingly eclipsed anything he had seen, and only a fool would believe that was the limit of Asag’s power. Tyler had suddenly realized that fact and hoped that the others also noticed it. But then again, what Asag had shown so far had already ruined the acceptance by any of the company of the demon’s guise of an ancient, though magically proficient, warrior. Hopefully, the companions would take appropriate precautions.

“So! Now that this fellow is quiet, what do we do next?” asked Asag expectantly. “Personally, I really would like to see how this drama plays out.”

“Magna, please step forward,” requested Tyler.

“May Hoenir join me, my lord First Mage?” asked the dokkalfr warrior.

“Of course. It’s now your decision whether or not to spare what House Anari sent as their welcoming party. And tied with their fate is what will happen to the army down there,” replied the mage gravely. It was a serious matter and deserved a solemn approach, though he hoped  Asag could keep his mouth shut for the duration of the trial. If there was one thing he wanted Magna to understand, it was the burden of deciding the life and death of thousands of her race. Snarky and snide comments from the demon would be unwelcome distractions.

The two dokkalfr strode forward and stood in the rough circle formed by those on the rise. Magna spared Galar a quick glance and then addressed the mage.

“This matter is left up to me, my lord? Or more precisely, according to the custom of my House?” asked the High Jomsviking.

Tyler nodded. As soon as the mage dipped his head, Magna swiftly spun, ran to the three prisoners, leaped high in the air, upraised and glinting blade held with both hands, and brought the weapon down on the High Thegn, vertically slicing the dokkalfr in two. As soon as the sharp sword finished its gory work, it quickly rose in a diagonal arc, cutting through the dead Galar’s right thigh as it vivisected the dokkalfr who stood on the Thegn‘s right side. As Magna’s new victim was carved through, the weapon came back and again sliced through the noble’s neck on its way to behead the dokkalfr left alive. The three didn’t even have the chance to cry out.

As Magna jumped back, Tyler could see that the dokkalfr warrior was spotless, not a drop of blood was on her, and the bloody remains of the dead trio were just starting to drop to the ground. The mage was himself shocked and bewildered at the sudden and lethal development, and knew that only his enhanced visual sense enabled him to see in its full gory detail the actions of the female warrior. He looked at the rest of the companions and saw that they had the same reaction to what happened – shock and surprise were on their faces. Only Asag had a different expression on his blood-splattered face. The demon was nearest to where the execution took place and took no action to avoid the sprays of blood and gore. Repulsively, the entity had a gleeful smile on his face as he wiped off the blood on his face with a sleeve. Then he took a long lick of the blood he had cleaned from himself.

“Interesting. A fetid and repulsive vintage. Quite acceptable,” murmured the fiend to himself. Unfortunately, the mage could hear every word.

Oh, my God. What have I unleashed? Tyler was horrified.

Magna went back to the bodies lying on the ground and carefully wiped her sword on whatever part of their clothes unsullied by the red gore. Then she came back and stood in front of the mage.

“A foul and despicable individual. As were the ones who came with him, I will not honor them by mentioning their names, but they were his claws. One dealt with assassination and the other with devious and cruel schemes for power in total obedience with that worm’s wishes.”

Tyler could sense the venomous hate in Magna’s words, but still couldn’t understand the reason for her actions. Kobu beat him in asking the inevitable question.

“Why?” was the exile’s simple query. The mage saw Asag had eagerly turned to listen.

Right. That damned demon is starved for knowledge and information. He wasn’t even that familiar with the dokkalfr, observed Tyler.

“Knowing what we do, and having suffered as I did, the decision was easy. The First Mage did say the matter was to be decided according to the practices of my House. In House Haffson, where the guilt is certain, the sentence is carried out