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Bookbinding Page66

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The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

First, the narrative that I'm providing here is actually split into two parts, the first of which should have gone with Page65 but which I didn't provide last Spring. The second goes with this page.

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Two days later at the Hall of Judgment, the Outer Courtyard is filled with forty-dozen armed and armored figures that shift and grumble their way into rough lines. The broken sunlight rebounds from a lake of roving stars over the dirt and cobblestones as hastily polished shield rims and spear tips lean and sway in the cool air. The nagging barks of sergeants carry over the walls and echo faintly throughout the building proper, filling the grounds with a cloud of unease that has outlived the evaporated morning dew. An array of curses punctuates the commands, drawing a net of confusion and subtle desperation over the assembly by its needlessness; the lines seem ever-determined to challenge the integrity of their shape, but for every shiver there is a quick self-correction and return to the strength and stillness that marks the soldiers' goal.

"It could be far worse," a voice speaks in an upper room overlooking the Outer Courtyard.

*********************

Luther ignores Captain Tarkin's comment, continuing his quiet stare out the window for several more slow breaths before speaking. "I think it was a mistake to sound the Muster," he says without turning from the glass. "I'm afraid we'll regret it."

Behind him, the Captain of Dernhem's City Guard shifts loudly in his seat. "Then we're even," the gruff voice sneers. "I think it was a mistake to give the Scholar leave to stay down there, guarded or not."

The chair creaks again. "Besides," Tarkin continues, "you'd reconsider your opinion about the Muster if you knew what I do."

"It's doubtful," said Luther Vandermoor. "The Regiment can't help in this. Not really. You've called together a group of conflict-eager lads and lackeys trained only to apply force to an already boiling kettle." He paused for effect. "They're likely to knock it over."

Tarkin snorts. "I didn't summon them to help in this. I brought them here to prepare them for what's bound to happen when the Heads of Drea Aliandis' family learn that their esteemed daughter has disappeared."

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Enjoy! =)
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I have only belatedly twigged to the possibility of an Aliandis army laying siege to Dernhelm. What a plot twist!

"Dah-dah-dah-Dum! Derhelm! A city under attack from without and within, in the path of an army of vengeful invaders, riven by internal discord, its undercity stalked by a shadowy menace preying mercilessly on its fairest maidens. Who will step in to save the day?"
 
"It's a job for LUTHERMAN!" (Or perhaps not, given his dubious track record) Would that make his enemy  Lex Super?

 Just think! Medieval siege weapons! Mangonels!Ballistas!Springalds! Onagers! Battering rams! My all-time favourite, the trebuchet ( I have a 1/8 scale model of one sitting on my coffee table)! Siege towers! Boiling oil! Bring it on!

 Just think of the possibilities. Just when Elina, alone and cornered by the latest incarnation of Mr. Evil, thinks her doom is upon her, a tunneling crew, working to undermine Dernhelm's walls, breaks through, causing a mountain of stone to crush the demonic meanie! What a way to save the day!

 ( In the interests of full disclosure, left-over champagne may have had a role in the composition of this comment. Happy New Year!)