Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) by J. Langland Read Free Book Online

exhausted, he gave up.   This is it, thought Tom.
    Shortly thereafter, he smashed into the ground at terminal velocity.

Chapter 5
    "Well what are we going to do?" Jehenna asked, as she looked up from the missive she had just read.  Her gaze was directed at Lenamare, who was reclining in a thickly upholstered red chair behind his massive oak desk.  His hands were steepled in front of him, his eyes lightly surveying the stacks of paper and books on his desk.
    He looked up, but not at her; he looked over her shoulder, out the tower window.  It was open, the velvet curtains drawn aside to let the spring sunshine into the richly appointed room.  This was Lenamare's private study.  Towering bookcases lined the walls, ancient tomes, carefully tended and dustless, crammed the shelves.  Here and there, between books, were assorted implements of magic: skulls, vials of colorful, yet potent, chemicals, thuribles, beakers, cymbals, chalk and bone.
    The floor was carpeted with a deep red pile rug.  Four elegantly carved chairs were placed strategically around the room.  The two small tables in the room, near the chairs were, like the desk, overflowing with manuscripts and scrolls.  Lenamare was the headmaster of the school, he could live as sumptuously as befitted his glorious position and he did.  The accouterments , however, were only that; his truly prized possessions were not the elegant and expensive furniture and rugs that he owned, no, Lenamare's pride and what he considered wealth, rested in the books and papers scattered across the room.  For in these books was knowledge, and knowledge led to power.
    He looked thoughtfully out the window. "What can we do? You know I can never submit to that pompous moron, Exador , even if the Archimage of Turelane backs him.  I will not turn my school over to the bastards in that guild.  If they want my knowledge and my school, and the other thing, let them beg for it.  Let them pay the price."
    "Exador says he's willing to use force to get what he wants.  If he wants the school, he'll probably succeed."
    "You know, as well as I, it's not the school he wants.  No, that is only a cover.  All that legal mumbo jumbo in there is just a pretext, completely made up.  They don't dare let the rest of the world know what they want, and what we have." His gaze switched over to the bookcase on his right, behind which was a special, secret, magically protected safe.
    "Well, whatever, I bet he's not above acquiring his own new school, in the process of getting the book.  And more to the point, whatever else he wants, he'll be here in a few weeks." Jehenna pointed out.
    "We'll be ready; this arrogant note has given us warning.  We will not give him what he wants.  Prepare the school for siege…and, just in case, prepare our escape route.
    "I promise you.  Exador will not get that book!  It is mine and I swear to Hierelan, I'll fight to keep it, even if I have to destroy everything else I own to save it."  Lenamare leaned forward and hit the desk with his fist to emphasize his point.
    "Is it really worth losing everything?" Jehenna asked, knowing even so, that it was more than worth it.
    "Exador thinks so, as does the Archimage.  However, hopefully it won't come to that; Exador can't be expecting us to call a fourth order demon to our defense. He's got a little surprise coming."
     

Chapter 6
    Jennifer paid little attention to the thin soup poured into her bowl by Grubeck the cook.  She was still too keyed up by today's events to give the cook a hard time over the dinner offering as she normally did.  She picked up her wooden spoon and turned to look around the small dining chamber that the older students shared. Rex and Alvea were seated at a small table near the only window in the room.  She hurried over to their table so she could join them.
    She sat her bowl down on the rough round wooden table where the other two students were sitting, and pulled out a third stool from under