Dance of Demons (6 page)

Nergel bowed and hastened off to comply. He loved to see death — any save his own. The hunched demon likewise hated the misshapen boorixtroi, for they reminded him too much of himself. The massive, stupid things with their disproportionately long right arms and shark-toothed, lipless mouths were too disgusting even for the likes of Kostchichie. Thus, the shuffle-footed giants were relegated to police work as it were.

If this tactic worked, Nergel would get most of the credit; that he'd see to. A failure could be laid squarely upon the pale head of Vuron. Either way would bring Nergel closer to Graz'zt's favor. He located a whole section of boorixtroi lounging out of sight behind the baggage train. "Up!" Nergel shouted, and the misshapen giants scrambled erect. "Come!" he ordered, and the dozen-plus things pounded clubbed feet upon stone-hard ground as they ran to obey the demon lord.

Just as he was about to send the boorixtroi and their whining charges out on a sweep around the right flank, however, Nergel was interrupted.

"Stop. You must wait a moment. Lord Nergel." The soft yet piercing order came from a dark elf. It was the beautiful Eclavdra, once high priestess of those who served Graz'zt on the material sphere known as Oerth, now the ebon demon king's vizier and lieutenant general of this force.

Sputtering, Nergel shot back, "Why so? This is impossible! Lord Vuron himself commanded my actions! I will proceed!"

"Be it on your . . . shoulders, then," the dark elven female replied to the outburst. She had hesitated, then chosen the word "shoulders" carefully. Nergel was very touchy about his deformed bones there. Eclavdra saw the great demon noble's face become suffused with anger, his slablike cheeks grow lIvid, and his wattles quiver. Then she spoke softly again. "You see, I have Just spoken with General Vuron, and he sent me here to make certain you did not send forth the velites quite yet."

"You lie, bitch!" Nergel spat, then regretted it instantly. "No ... I am overwrought. Lady Eclavdra — forgive the hasty words," the hunched demon managed, almost choking on his own speech. "Of course I believe you . . . but let us go to our leader immediately to settle the discrepancy."

"Discrepancy? I find no discrepancy, captain. I gave you an order; you will carry it out to the letter."

Without a word Nergel swept past the drow, his uneven gait nearly a trot as he hastened off to find Vuron. Eclavdra followed serenely after the hobblehopping lord of the Abyss, a bland smile masking her lovely features so that no observer could read her emotions.

"She . . . she prevented me from following your instructions, Vuron!" Nergel finally managed to blurt when he found the albino near the center of the array.

Vuron looked first at the dark elf, then down at Nergel. "Yes? So then, how did she countermand my orders?"

This time the hunched demonlord noticed the emphasis on the word as it spat from Vuron's hard mouth. "Time works against us, General, so I hastened to obey your . . . order . . . exactly as you commanded. In fact, I managed to locate twice the expected number of boorixtroi, too! Just as I was going to send them sweeping out to roll up the flank of the enemy harassers, that bi— er. . . the lady general, said you had personally sent her to stop the attack!"

Vuron cocked a red-pink eye toward Eclavdra.

"My pardon. Lord Nergel, but I didn't say not to attack. I ordered you only to postpone the move," she concluded, looking squarely at the misshapen demon.

Before Nergel could counter, Vuron spoke. "As my second in command, Eclavdra has full authority to do as she did. Let us leave it at that, dear Nergel. Now please return to your position and make certain all is in readiness for the surprise attack on the enemy skirmishers. It will come soon, very soon."

Mollified at the soothing tone and respectful phrasing, the malformed demon lord hobbled off with only a single poisonous glare toward the dark elven priestess. Once he was out of earshot, Vuron asked, "What is this, Leda?"

By using that name for her, the beautiful little drow female knew that Vuron was asking for absolute sincerity and truth. Both commodities were as scarce as devas in the planes of the Abyss. Leda was her true name, at least as true as any name could be for a clone grown from another — in this case, one named Eclavdra.

Although she had sprung from a dark elf at least as evil and malign as any demon, Leda had been tempered by certain influences, ideologies, and deeds. Now, although she was not of demonkind, nor did she desire Evil, Leda served the demon king Graz'zt because it was the only hope she had that the forces of darkness would not wash over everything and extinguish Good forever. Similarly, despite his being a demon lord, Graz'zt's chief advisor and staunchest servitor, and moreover a believer in all that was evil, the dark elf trusted and had respect for the albino. Vuron's great intellect comprehended far more of the multiverse than any other demon's. That tempered his demonism, modified his thinking and actions. "I exaggerated, my Lord, in order to assure that the stroke you wished was made a telling one," she explained.

"Go on. . ."

"Our king has sent me to you with reinforcements,

Vuron," Leda said with a note of encouragement in her voice. "Graz'zt knows that you face certain defeat from overwhelming numbers. When I gave him your intelligence, the full enumeration of the great hordes closing in on us here, he was furious at first; then he calmed down. Graz'zt vented his wrath on the idlers around his throne, though, and they, in turn, managed quite suddenly to produce fresh regiments of troops!"

"How many?" the albino general asked without any apparent emotion.

"A full regiment of the bar-lguras, my Lord. Dribs and drabs of babau-ogres, nikomars and ssilhex — about a regiment altogether. There are also two more regiments of fesroo coming soon, and four troops of chasme with them as support."

"Is that the whole?"

"Yes, Vuron."

"Too little far, far too little! Did you bring the lot?"

Leda shook her long, platlnum-hued hair in negation. "Only the bar-lguras and the mixed force of babau, nikomars, and ssilhex," she said slowly. She knew all too well that this was probably a useless token in the face of the horde of enemies who opposed them. Yet there was a scant hope. "The two regiments might be sufficient to trick the foe," she ventured.

"How so?" Vuron demanded.

"Prick the vile dumalduns as you were intent on. That will probably only serve to draw forth cacodaemon reinforcements. When they come, though, you will surprise them by a hook from the other flank by the two regiments of fresh soldiers. The sight of them should make the enemy commanders think we are staging a full-scale counterattack— "

"Yes, yes!" Vuron finished the thought for her. "Mandrillagon will panic and wish to withdraw. Demogorgon, however, will countermand that and instead send his whole mass forward, hoping to catch us and finish the matter in one decisive encounter. What then . . . ? Of course! The troops we use to screen our position will roll away to the left again, form a wing to counter any flanking moves made by the ape-heads. Every other demon I can round up will do the same on the right — the skirmishers, boorixtroi, and whatever else comes to hand. With the Theorpart, I hold the center. The enemy drives itself onto our pikes, and they die there!"

"It is much as I had thought," Leda said without any hint of taking credit.

Vuron nodded and went on. "But it is by no means a sure thing, and to truly succeed I will need the rest of the reinforcements as a reserve — and possibly a pursuit force. When will the fesroo and troops of chasme arrive?"

"They march through Jahklout," Leda told the albino commander, naming a minor layer that abutted the one they fought on. "There they will pick up the greatflys, the chasme. Yeenoghu promised to do his best to furnish a division of gholes with hyaenadons war-trained too, to be there also. I trust that not. In any event, the remainder will not be at hand for some length of time — three days, perhaps, as we drow measure time."

Vuron actually smiled at that. "No matter," he said with assurance. "Time can be subtly altered with this," he told Leda, displaying the twisted distortion that was the Theorpart. "I will employ Tharizdun's own tool against those who seek to free him. With this," he said, shaking the fraction of the relic, "I will bend time so that as seconds march away here, hours will parade past elsewhere — including Jahklout!"

Leda was uncertain. "But the enemy too possesses a Theorpart — two are against us, in fact, though only one here opposing us. Won't the time distortion be discovered? Countered?"

"Of course! It is most gratifying to see your powers of reasoning at work Graz'zt is well served by you, Leda. Still, he does not tell you all. I have the Eye of Deception here, too! If the enemy discovered that, Iuz and his scum would attack immediately, but the transfer was masked and a false aura remains opposing the cambion," Vuron explained. "Once we employ it here, it will be necessary to get it back to our liege quickly, but we have a brief advantage."

"You will use it to make your time distortion appear to be the opposite?"

"Yes, Leda. Even a Theorpart is not so powerful as to make time drag with halting step in a large area while it races elsewhere. Two portions of the arcane relic, though, are sufficient to accomplish that. As you use the Eye to falsify the effect, I will see to it that Demogorgon joins us in our scheme to hasten the arrival of our reinforcements." As he spoke that, the tall albino demon actually tittered. The image of the terrible Demogorgon unwittingly aiding in his own defeat was sufficient to cause such mirth even if the situation Vuron faced otherwise was bleak at best.

The dark elf felt no joy. "Give me the Eye of Deception, please, and let us begin at once. The swarm of enemy skirmishers masking the front surely presages some attack soon. There is no time to waste."

The demon lord cut his laughter short and composed himself with a visible effort. The strain of the long war was evidently beginning to tell on Vuron. "You are abrupt, drow," he almost snarled, "but correct. Here," Vuron said, drawing forth a leather case from inside his cloak Opening the box, the albino demon drew out a silken bag embroidered with sigils of fiery color. The thread was of orichaicum, and the shapes moved as if they were alive. "The Eye of Deception is within. Bring it forth and mask my channeling of dweomer when I raise my left hand, not before."

* * *

Far removed, Iuz and his cohorts wondered why Demogorgon and his allies from Hades and the other netherspheres were so dilatory in pressing their advantage. Graz'zt fought a war on two fronts. With Iuz was his mother, Iggwilv, greatest of witches, and an array of mighty demons, including Zuggtmoy, the cambion's nominal consort and the queen of all fungoid demons. The roster of powerful allies continued: Orcus, Szhublox, Eblls, Azazael, Bulumuz, Lugush, Marduk, Socoth-benothas, Var-Az-Hloo, Abraxas, and a score of lesser demon nobles too. With such a force confronting the would-be ruler of all the Abyss on one front, Graz'zt had shifted the vast majority of his forces to oppose them. That should have allowed the horde of Demogorgon to advance swiftly to threaten the great ebon demonking on the other front. Iggwilv had counseled that strategy, and Iuz had agreed.

As the one front crumbled, Graz'zt would have to shift soldiers there to bolster it. Demogorgon and Mandrillagon would then demand more reinforcements from Infestix. Devils, cacodaemons, dreggals, daemons, maelvis, and dumalduns in their tens of thousands would be poured into the attack by the master of the pits. Infestix would not allow his puppet demons to be checked, his plan to be thwarted.

As the forces led by the ape-headed Demogorgon and Mandrillagon swelled, Graz'zt would be forced to deploy still more of his own remaining strength to oppose them. Because the ebon demonking's territory was contracting, he would have fewer and fewer reserves. Quickly enough the pressure would be sufficient to cause a weakening of the line which opposed Iuz's own faction. Then, with a massive onslaught, all of the cambion's troops would attack. Graz'zt would be struck along the entire front, his defenses shattered at a blow, and his last stronghold would fall into Iuz's hands as if it were a ripe plum. But in order for that to occur, the reluctant Demogorgon had to begin pressure on the other side.

Could Infestix have realized the plan? Possible, but not likely. Even if the daemon had, his dedication to the cause of freeing Tharizdun demanded a continuing war upon Graz'zt, for the black lord of demons possessed one of the Theorparts necessary for Tharizdun's release, just as Iuz did. Naturally, Infestix thought to gam the one possessed by Graz'zt first, then to use two of the portions of the relic to defeat Iuz and his growing force of demons.

It would not occur that way. Never. Iuz would wrest the artifact turn the tables, and drive the invading enemy from the Abyss. Tharizdun would never be loosed, and Iuz would rule many places, including the Abyss and Oerth, too. Five days of inactivity . . . What was the stupid fool Demogorgon doing? Then the scryers saw the other force opposing Graz'zt begin to move and brought the good news to the cambion.

* * *

"It is working?"

"Of course it is," Vuron responded without breaking his concentration on the time distortion he was building. Leda, meanwhile, was using the Eye of Deception — once the most potent artifact in the Abyss, now but a poor fourth to the three parts of the relic that could loose the ultimate entity of Evil, Tharizdun. With the Eye, the dark elf made Vuron's act appear to be hastening time on this battle plane. Leda did this openly, but not obviously. The opposing demon nobles would sense something amiss immediately, then move to discover and counter whatever their foe was doing. One minute of time to Vuron and her and all the others confronting each other was an hour elsewhere.

"I feel Demogorgon," the albino demon lord hissed. "Rash ... he is as rash as we had hopedl Now he perceives we are tinkering with time. He finds it fast. He thinks we will use the distortion to some advantage, so he uses his Theorpart to slow it again, to balance our effort, nullify it."