Page 23 of The Morning Star
“You can’t be involved at all,” Gareth told me. “I only want to deal with humans if we’re going to agree to something like this.
I couldn’t be involved. I was the Iblis, a member of the Ruling Council. The amount of grief I’d get for running a company supplying anti-angel magical items would be huge. “I’ll set up the meeting between Kirby and Harper, then it’s all between you guys. I don’t even want to know if you’re doing it or not. Keep me completely in the dark.” That way I could deny any knowledge. Yeah, I could lie, but I still wasn’t very good when it came to believable falsehoods, especially when it came to Gregory.
“What do you get out of this?” Kirby’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“Well, a few laughs to start with. I mean, can you imagine how fucking hysterical it would be to see some angel bouncing off a line of wards? Or discovering there’s a no-fly zone over an entire city? That’s some comedic gold right there.”
“And?” Kirby clearly wasn’t buying that motivation.
“I don’t like it when one group has all the power. I’ve never been thrilled with how the angels view humankind. I just want to see a more equal playing field. I want humans to have some means of resistance that doesn’t involve blowing shit up or killing. And it’s gonna be funny. That too.”
Kirby and Gareth hesitated, then nodded.
“I’ll meet your Harper,” Kirby told me. “Set it up, and I’ll go to her. If it all works out, I’ll set up a marble relay for ease of communication and transportation.”
I put my hands over my ears. “Don’t know nothing. I’ll set up the meeting and that’s it.”
There. I’d done my job. I’d set in motion some chaos. But while I was here…
“Hey, do you guys know of any magical item that can transmute a high-level demon? An Ancient?” Because an Ancient was pretty much like an angel.
Gareth shot me a puzzled frown. “Transmute into what?”
“Dissolve their physical form into sand and destroy their spirit-self. It would need to not only transmute the flesh, but be something that would hold their spirit-being inside of it until their body was dead, so they couldn’t recreate a new one.”
The pair stared at me for a moment.
“If we could do that sort of thing, then we wouldn’t have been slaves to the elves our entire lives,” Gareth told me. “No, I don’t know of anything like that. There are magical items to restrain and hold a demon, although they have a lesser degree of success with Ancients. There are magical items that destroy a physical form, although high-level demons are usually able to survive that and instantly create a new one. That’s it.”
Kirby nodded. “I don’t know of anything that powerful. Is that what your human friend wants to sell? Because I’m only comfortable making defensive items for use against angels.”
“No, not for her. I just was checking. Gathering information, you know. Trying to see if a theory I had was plausible.”
And it wasn’t. Whoever killed those enforcers was an Ancient, and not some human with a magical item, unless the magical item was one of those artifacts from Aaru.
“Then we’re still good.” Kirby shooed me out the door. “Have your human contact me. And get out of here so we can finish up and get to bed before midnight.”
With a smirk I left, taking flight over the gate and choosing to fly to Doriel’s place outside of Dis rather than teleport or walk. Because I was pretty sure her weird magical forest wouldn’t allow me to make an aerial entrance, I landed just outside the perimeter and made my way blindly down the pitch-black pathways of twisted trees and dense thorny shrubs to the little clearing with what appeared to be a shed that was bigger and far more luxurious on the inside. Her staff promptly ushered me in to a room, got me some snacks, and poured me a generously large goblet of wine.
The Ancient didn’t keep me waiting for long. I’d barely sipped the elven-made beverage when she entered. This time, her human form was a tiny female with golden skin, a helmet of black hair, and some rather heavy eye makeup. She looked like a diminutive Cleopatra.
“You needed to see me? Something urgent?” I didn’t bother with formalities or small talk. It was late. I hoped to get home in time to get some sleep before tomorrow’s meeting.
Doriel’s face settled into the very picture of disapproval at my lack of manners. “Yes. There are a few things I needed to make you aware of, but first I want to ask you about the situation in Aaru.”
That was not what I was expecting at all. “Aaru? I’ve got no idea what’s going on in Aaru. I can’t get in, remember?”
She shot me a raised-eyebrow look. “You do realize there are a whole bunch of Ancients wandering around an empty Aaru right now, wondering what is going on? We expected to encounter a bunch of angels ready to defend the homeland, only to find it vacant. Remiel and the others who stayed remained on high alert, figuring they were going to be ambushed at any moment, that all the angels would return to fight and they’d be trapped there, but nothing has happened. For months, it’s been empty and they’re beginning to wonder where the angels are and why they haven’t returned.”
“They’re not coming back. Remiel and his buds can settle in, because they’re the only ones that are going to be in Aaru for a long, long time.” I suspected the newly formed angels might be able to enter Aaru and live as beings of spirit, but none of us had wanted to risk our offspring to try it, especially when Aaru was being occupied by Ancients who might not hesitate to kill angel young.
“Why?”
“Why what?” I took a sip of my wine.
“Why are the angels not coming back? Why did they abandon Aaru?” She shook her head. “The angels I knew would have defended Aaru to the death, not left it unoccupied. And they would have returned to defend it once we returned.”
I wondered if this was something I should tell her or not. Gregory was worried about the morale of the angels if they discovered the totality and seeming finality of what I’d done, but Ancients weren’t stupid. They were going to figure it out sooner or later. And there might actually be a way I could spin this to my advantage on this side of the gates.
