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

were also in for a lot of trouble, which was definitely not good.
    ~
    Master Enchanter and Sorcerer Elrose arrived in his preferred spot outside of The Raunchy Orc in a flash of light and a scattering of long dead leaves blown away by the air displaced by his teleportation spell. Master Trisfelt loved this tavern for some reason, it was nearly 500 leagues from the school in the middle of a dense woodland. Admittedly, remote enough to avoid any spying or eavesdropping by anyone that might know Lenamare or Jehenna. 
    Elrose adjusted his djaellaba and checked that his nimcha was secure on his belt and headed out of the woods into the cleared area around the tavern.  Torches along the front of the tavern created a feeling of security around the building. There were only two horses in the adjacent stables as Elrose approached the door.
    Entering the tavern he was immediately assaulted by extremely loud drunken laughter to his right.  He glanced over to observe two satyrs holed up at the corner table under the stairs; their backs to the wall, legs spread to display their wares to anyone in the room.  Elrose shook his head at their crudity.
    Further into the room, halfway to the kitchen was Trisfelt at his favorite table, already piled high with books, scrolls and of course wine.  Elrose smiled and moved to the table and sat down.
    “I see you’ve started without me, my friend.”  Elrose observed as Trisfelt chuckled and gave him a twinkly eyed smile through his round glasses. 
    “Half the reason I started coming out to these woods was for the reasonably priced local beer and wine.  The satyrs make exceedingly good beverages of almost shocking value.”
    “You spent time with them didn’t you?” Elrose asked, gesturing to Hilda, the barmaid for a pint of elderberry juice.
    “Indeed I did, I spent a couple different seasons with the locals in the area, trying to ferret out the secrets of both their wine and beer recipes.”  Trisfelt smiled fondly, remembering.
    “So then, here’s a question you can answer, why do satyrs go around naked, and always seem to inadvertently expose themselves to everyone in sight.”  Elrose shook his head disapprovingly.
    “What, are there some things a sorcerer doesn’t want to See?” Trisfelt asked with a wry grin.
    “Yes.”  Elrose said drily.
    Trisfelt chuckled, “There are many reasons, but mostly I think they consider it to only be polite.”
    “Polite?” Elrose asked.
    “Sort of like a greeting card, an advertisement if you will, an invitation to any that might want to spend some intimate time with them.  They feel you should see what you’re getting.”
    “Ugh, enough.” Elrose shook his head, still smiling.  “Let’s talk about the other naked being with hooves that showed up today.”
    “The demon?”  Trisfelt asked.
    “Of course the demon.” Elrose shook his head.  “You flashed me the vision of it when we met in the great hall after the summoning.  That is why we are meeting tonight.”
    Trisfelt laughed and nodded, “It did seem to disturb you a great deal.  I realize that it was a rather spectacular event, and achievement, but it ended well, so what is the matter?”
    “I’ve Seen that demon before.”  Elrose stated quietly.
    Trisfelt shook his head, “I was there, it was a fresh catch, an unbound demon.  There is no way you could have seen it before.”
    “No, I mean I Saw it, in the scryings I’ve been doing to try to uncover what exactly Lenamare is up to.”
    “You mean you saw it coming?”  Trisfelt nodded in thought.
    “Well, I saw it among multiple possible paths.  It’s appearance today helps narrow down which road we are about to go down.”  Elrose said.
    “Well, that seems helpful.”  Trisfelt shrugged.
    “Helpful, perhaps, but as such it’s a bad portent.”  Elrose stated, going silent as Hilda dropped off his juice and her assistant put down plates of chicken, bread and fruits and cheeses.  The table was near