章 65: Chapter Sixty-Five: Enter Dioclydus
Ronan Affaron dressed for meeting his battalion. He looked at himself in the oval mirror. "I look like a rooster!"
Gaddis chuckled lightly and came up behind Ronan and their eyes met in the mirror. "I have told myself that many times – all to make yourself the focal point of the warriors you are sending out to perhaps die for the cause you have created for them to defend."
Ronan turned away from his image and looked at the Ne'Median Emperor. "Why have we allowed it to go on for so long?"
Gaddis shrugged his shoulders. "We had a good reason at the time," he responded. He adjusted a medal on Ronan's chest and sighed resignedly, "Now we fight to end it."
Together they walked out into the audience chamber and Li'Bann was standing at the portal with the two Crimson Palace guards with lances pointing into the swirling darkness. Li'Bann looked at Affaron and Gaddis curiously. "Something is coming through."
"Something?" Ronan repeated.
Gaddis approached the two palace guards, "Who is trying to gain access to this portal?"
"A daemon," Li'Bann answered, "One of yours, I think."
Gaddis frowned in thought. "One of mine? Dioclydus?"
"Who is that?" Affaron asked.
"Dioclydus is the commander of Kaderyn's guard," Gaddis responded. "I am not certain why he is trying to contact me." He glanced at Li'Bann, "Could he be one of the ones Nicodemus was looking for?"
"Can he be controlled? Affaron asked.
"No," Gaddis replied. He looked over at the Ard Ri.
"Even his kind are enslaved by Kaderyn and his Da'ark magic," Li'Bann said sending a baleful glare at Gaddis. "Perhaps he comes with an accord?"
Gaddis shook his head, "I doubt that, but I am curious to know what he has to say."
"Then we should find out what he has to say," Ronan said.
Gaddis and Li'Bann exchanged wary looks, but Ronan smiled suddenly, "Look at us, three realms standing in the same room allied in one cause. Why not see if this daemon can help us?"
The Crimson palace guards stepped back and the figure emerged from the portal.
Affaron had never seen a daemon up close, and this incredible visage took him by surprise. Dioclydus stepped into the audience chamber and immediately took a defensive stance. He snarled at the lance points pointed at him and knocked them away with the arm guards strapped to his heavily muscled forearms. He turned mottled yellow eyes on Gaddis and dipped his head to his emperor.
This gruesome creature was smaller in stature than a warrior daemon. However, Dioclydus's bulk filled up the audience chamber with his body. He towered over the others in the room, his bulky muscled body was covered in scars that were ill-healed and many looked like they had been infected before scarring over. He turned golden reptilian eyes on the others standing with Gaddis, lingering longest on the Ard Ri.
"Dioclydus, what brings you here?" Gaddis asked.
"I was called." Dioclydus hissed. He had a remarkable command of the Ne'Median language. "I am here."
"You are to join Kaderyn against Rory Affaron?" Gaddis asked.
"I was," the daemon answered. "I have now been summoned to the portal to Arwyn."
Gaddis folded his arms over his chest and regarded Dioclydus. "Do you know why?"
"I do not," Dioclydus carefully stepped past the palace guards' lances, "Kaderyn has summoned me. If I am tardy we will be disciplined – painfully."
"The Da'ark Witch is bringing the Shai'Alomar into the Nu'Ada," Gaddis told the commander. "My guess is Kaderyn will be waiting to take possession of the dagger when she and the Daj Sultana reenter Nu'Ada."
Dioclydus considered the unlikely trio looking at him. "How does this concern me?"
"It should concern you greatly," Ronan said. "You and your kind are not being dispatched as a welcoming party for the Da'ark Witch."
"Why are you all of a sudden concerned for my kind?" Dioclydus asked and drew himself up to his full eight feet of daemon gristle and muscle. It still rankled him that his warriors snarled behind his back that he had been the runt of the litter! However, he still towered over the Ne'Median Emperor and the Nu'Adaian Ard Ri!
Ronan Affaron suddenly smiled. "It does seem disingenuous of me. But it is time to put forth the effort to put our disagreements to rest."
Dioclydus' attempt at laughing was horrifying to Ronan. He tried his best not to show how terrified he was. "So, you have at last discovered treachery in your nest? Your brother has betrayed you and allied himself to the Da'ark Witch."
"I will deal with my brother!" Ronan declared.
"When that time comes," Dioclydus rumbled, "I think you will show weakness and will not have the strength to kill him."
Ronan's fear vanished and he glared up at Dioclydus. "Hold your tongue, daemon!"
Dioclydus snarled back, then turned away, "I am summoned!"
"You and your daemons can be free of Kaderyn," Gaddis said, "All you need to do is help the Daj Sultana."
Dioclydus growled his disdain at them, "You place foolish trust in the female from Arwyn."
"Then decide for yourself," Li'Bann said. "As we all will do when we are gathered on the battlefield."
Dioclydus stepped into the portal and was swallowed up. Ronan turned away. "My brother --,"
"There will be time to deal with him later," Gaddis told him. "Put your thoughts on stopping the Da'ark Witch and her army."
Ronan nodded. "One problem at a time." He picked up his sword and scabbard. "Shall we go see how the battalion looks?"
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