Not only is the heat unbearable for mortals in the Abyss, but fire itself is a constant enemy. Great balls of fire and heated plasma will suddenly expand from nothing in the middle of the air, engulfing all for hundreds of feet before disappearing as quickly as they came.
In addition, the mighty River Styx is said to flow through the center of the Abyss on its eternal journey delivering the souls of the deceased to their final resting place. How it is that the river itself does not boil in the infernal heat is not clear, but then nothing about the River Styx or the Abyss itself is clear.
It is further said, that in the Abyss alone, does mighty Charon, the boatman ever relax his eternal vigilance, and sometimes allow a demon to swoop down and scoop up one of the unwary, yet damned, passengers on the boat. What the demons do with the hapless souls is unknown, as is why Charon should allow this. What is clear is that one should seek to take the boat going the other direction in the afterlife.
This concludes most of what can be said in certainty about the Abyss and the hierarchy thereof. Not much is truly known, for the only way to really know, is to consort with demons. Most demons being unwilling to divulge information freely (most likely they are all merchants at heart) they must be tricked or tortured into confessing what they know.
Needless to say, this is neither an easy nor safe task to undertake. Further, all of what demons say must be considered suspect, since it is well known that among their greatest passions is lying (the others being rape, murder {not necessarily in that order}, cheating, wholesale slaughter, destruction, debauchery, gluttony, and lewd conduct as well as general maleficence. Oh yes, and foremost, thwarting their master’s aims and plans and seeing to his eventual ruination). As that is all that can be said, I thank you for your attention.
Chapter 39
“Well, yeah, that probably was a small nuclear device Lenamare activated.” Tom said as he peered through the distance to where the castle had been. It was dark out, and the ex-castle was far away, but as Tom had discovered, neither was much of an impediment to demonic sight. Not that the dark mattered too much. The crater in which Lenamare’s castle had stood, except for a small finger on which Exador’s army was perched, glowed an unnerving blue. The trees around the crater had been burned to grayish stumps.
“I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for those guys to be camped there,” Tom commented, thoughtfully.
“Why not?” asked Rupert who was twisting around in Tom’s arms to see the encampment.
“Radiation. If, as the blue glow would seem to indicate, that place is highly radioactive, everyone inside will get very sick.”
“Well good,” Rupert said, “they are the enemy after all. However, while I don’t know what this radiation stuff you’re talking about is, you can be pretty sure Exador would have taken precautions to protect his people from it. He’s at least as good as Lenamare.”
“We can hope so, because enemy or not, radiation sickness is pretty bad from what I’ve heard. Besides, we think Jenn is down there. Right?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess that’s right.” Rupert conceded.
“So, how do we find out if she’s there?” Tom asked. “I’m not exactly inconspicuous.”
“Well, I thought about that,” said Rupert. “I can walk down there, acting like I’m lost and crying for my big sister Jenn. They capture me and put me with her.”
“I don’t know,” Tom said, unsure. “One, it sounds kind of corny, and I doubt they’d go for it, and two, it’s way too dangerous for you. Finally three, then you’re all captured, what good does that do?”
“Well, once they capture me, all I have to do is get a fire going, and I have flint and steel, then I can use your true name to conjure you; if you are willing, I don’t need any spells. Then, once you are there, you can maul our way out.”
“Hmm great,” Tom was just thrilled at the prospect of killing more people. “It’s still too dangerous for you.”
“Look, they’re people, they may be the enemy, but they’re not going to kill off a harmless little kid immediately. At the very least if they know I’m a student they’ll want to torture me to make me talk.”
“Oh, that really convinces me there.”
“Look, if they torture me I can use the flames they heat the irons with to summon you.” Rupert said smiling. “Look, they’re not going to hurt me. I can take care of myself.”
“Uh huh, and what if they’ve got more demons down there? They might not care, and just see a little wizard kid and kill him.”
“I’m not afraid of demons.”
“So... I’ve... noticed...” Tom said. “Look, I can’t be responsible for you getting caught, hurt and maybe killed.”
“Tom,” Rupert said, in that way little kids get when they’re exasperated with a stupid adult, “I know what I’m doing. They’re not going to hurt me. It’s the only way, unless you can shape change into a little kid? or an animal or something.”
“Uhmm.” Tom didn’t know about that. He’d never tried and wouldn’t really know where to begin. “Let me think.” What was he going to do? He couldn’t let the kid go down there and get himself captured. Even if they did capture him and didn’t kill him, there was no guarantee they had Jenn in captivity or would put Rupert in the same place as her. He just couldn’t think of a better plan.
This was insane, true, it was keeping in line with every other thing he’d seen these wizards do, but still. Sending a nine year old kid into the middle of the enemy encampment didn’t seem like the heroic thing to do. On the other hand, if he just went marching in, a lot of people would get killed including Jenn.
“All right. It’s against my better judgment, but I don’t know what else to do.” Tom conceded.
Rupert just smiled in triumph at getting his way.
The ground squished muddily under Rupert’s feet. He was trying to get close to the sentry’s position without giving away the direction he’d came from. He wasn’t sure why, since he was going to give himself up anyway, and Tom would be gone back to the Abyss to wait for his call. It just seemed like the thing to do. He’d known Tom would see it his way. It was the only reasonable plan. Further, for whatever Tom’s protestations, he had to know there was no way the soldiers were going to hurt him. He’d come up with the plan on the couple hour flight back to the castle, and he was proud of it. It was his first major battle plan.
His hearing detected the step of a marching sentry nearby. Quietly, he snuck closer to the sentry’s path, and purposefully broke a stick. The sentry stopped. The air in the clearing where they were was quiet. It stunk like ashes, and not even a cricket was chirping. “Who goes there?” the sentry called out. Rupert made a small whimpering noise. He picked up some ashes and threw them in his eyes to make them water. “Halt I say. Stay where you are,” the sentry marched closer to Rupert’s position, but still didn’t see him.
What an idiot, thought Rupert, Exador should have him hung. Well, if I’ve got to do it myself, I do it myself. Rupert made another whimpering noise and then tried to bolt through the long grayish grasses that had been concealing him. He pretended to trip on a root and cried out. “Got you!” said the sentry as he grabbed Rupert by the shoulder as he floundered. “Halt or I gut you.”
Like I am really scared of you, guy, thought Rupert. Nonetheless, he halted and stood trembling in mock fear, tears running down his face. “Who are you?” asked the soldier. Rupert just sniffled and trembled some more. “Come on kid, tell me who you are and I won’t hurt you.”