Estelle Ana Baca

Tag: Stolas

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part X

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX.

    “What will you have me do now, madam?” Caius asked.

    “Well—Stolas should be calming down right about now and on his way to come kill me,” Astaroth said. “I know you’re partial to the body of that Prussian primate, but it’s time to let it go. Leave it, and leave here. You don’t want to be around when at least one angel shows up. I’ll call for you when I’m finished here.”

    “As you wish, madam,” Caius replied. He sat down in a chair in their suite. The body that he had possessed went limp, falling into the deep unconsciousness characteristic of a coma. The essence of his Neku self had departed.

    “Did you have to destroy my Kazuko as well when you destroyed all the other Nekus?” Svipul asked Astaroth. “It’ll take me at least two centuries to develop that kind of loyalty in another Neku.”

    “I can’t argue with that. Nekus don’t really grasp their utter dependence upon their Apokomistai masters for at least half a millennium,” Astaroth said. “But you do realize, my dear Svipul, that you have a better chance at getting an audience with God than you do in extracting even the slightest apology from me.”

    “So—what is your plan now?”

    “I give Stolas not long at all before he’s here to try to take back my ellamadus,” Astaroth said. She migrated to the middle of the suite where there was an open space on the carpet.

    “And then?”

    “There’s the rub, isn’t it?” Astaroth said.

    “You’re not even going to provide a hint as to what to expect?” Svipul asked, joining her in the open space.

    “You can expect fun. Draw your sword. If you would be so kind as to provide me with support, I’ll see to it that you’re rewarded for your bravery.” Astaroth held the Ashera Didilak in her open palm. She muttered a few phrases, and the ellamadus glowed brightly again.

    “Is that the Ashera Didilak?” Svipul asked.

    The ellamadus went dull in her hand. “Break my concentration again and you’ll find out just how much damage the Ashera Didilak really can do. Now—be ready. We don’t know how ready for battle the half-primate will be,” Astaroth ordered.

    Svipul drew her sword.

    Astaroth pronounced a few more phrases in the ancient, forgotten language, and for a few moments, her voice changed, so that the timbre of her voice more closely resembled a percussion instrument than a vocalized sound. The Ashera Didilak’s lavender light grew as unbearably bright as the sun for a fraction of a moment, until its light collapsed in on itself. The ellamadus phased out of sight for a similarly tiny amount of time and reappeared in Astaroth’s palm as it had before she had channelled its magics.

    Rose Nielsen materialized out of thin air, and she fell on her knees onto the floor. She looked as if she had been awakened from a nap. Nonetheless, it appeared that she had sensed that she was being unexpectedly ripped from the comfort of where she had been, and with the one hand she had, she had gripped what was closest to her to anchor her. Much to her horror and Astaroth’s delight, it was a similarly sleepy and disoriented Adelaide Grayson.

    Rose and Adelaide quickly tried to scramble to their feet, but Svipul held her blade at Rose’s throat. Svipul said with a voice filled with unnatural menace, “Keep to the floor and quiet. Both of you.”

    Adelaide’s shock took the better of her. Her entire complexion turned grey, and she fainted again.

    “Look, Svipul! Sitri isn’t the pathetic warrior we thought he was. I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that you’re unarmed, Miss Nielsen. I’d be willing to bet that you’ve forgotten your blade, too,” Astaroth said with an unnervingly giddy expression.  “That primate might be able to lend you a hand in a very literal sense, but unless you brought your own weapon to disarm her, she’s useless to you now in every other meaningful way.” She directed her attention to Svipul and said, “What do you think? One pun too many?”

    “Why do you want Adelaide?” Rose demanded.

    “This has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with a miscarriage of a wager. I might even let the primate go when this is all over,” Astaroth said.

    “My father and Kivati will be here soon,” Rose threatened.

    “I’m counting on that,” Astaroth retorted. She held up the Ashera Didlak again and resumed eliciting its magics. The lavender light flowed out of it in long threads that circled Rose until they formed a faint chamber around her. Rose tried to protest, but the chamber only echoed her own sounds back to her. She looked panicked, and she started pounding on the walls of the chamber.

    “Take the female primate with you and leave,” Astaroth said.

    “I’ll meet you at my flat in Antwerp,” Svipul replied. She lifted Adelaide off the floor, and the two of them vanished.

    Astaroth was alone in the suite with Rose inside her mystical chamber for no longer than a few long moments when Stolas appeared.

    “Astaroth! I want it back!” he cried.

    “I told you I just wanted to borrow it. You’ll have it back before you know it,” Astaroth said.

    Rose was furiously kicking at the walls of the cocoon in a demonstration of futility when the entire character of the room shifted: Itzamná and Kivati had arrived.

    Human eyes would never have caught everything that happened during the few seconds in which it all transpired: Astaroth tossed the Ashera Didilak in the air, drew her blade and vanished; Stolas caught the ellamadus; Kivati struck Stolas down and killed him; Itzamná struggled to break into the chamber to save his daughter; Astaroth rematerialized behind Itzamná, struck him with her blade and killed him. There was a jarring blast of light that burst in the room from Itzamná’s death, like supernova in the supremely miniature, and while Kivati was stunned by the explosion of Itzamná’s Graces, Astaroth seized the Ashera Didilak. She issued one final command to the Ashera Didilak, and the walls of chamber around Rose rapidly drew in to crush her and kill her. Kivati struck out at Astaroth to engage her in battle, but Astaroth’s merely lobbed the Ashera Didilak back at her and vanished.

    The hotel suite went still. Kivati was alone in the silence with Caius’ dying human host and a clump of black material that resembled obsidian where Stolas had met his end. There was a shift in the atmosphere of the room from the detectable metaphysical markers that an angel and a Nephil had perished there.

    Kivati reported back to Heaven that Astaroth had been involved in Itzamná’s death, and she requested permission to pursue, detain and destroy her. The response she received infuriated her: no further action was to be taken, for Itzamná had disobeyed when he left his post once again to save his daughter from an Apokomistis with a reputation like Astaroth’s. Rose hadn’t had much of a chance in the hands of any Apokomistis with an ellamadus. Had they not responded, Itzamná’s lifeforce would have remained in tact, and he wouldn’t have died. Without an ellamadus, Astaroth was no more dangerous than the average Apokomistis, and pursuing her wasn’t of the any immediate importance. Kivati was ordered to return to her post immediately and without complaint.

    Kivati eyed the Ashera Didilak carefully in her palm. Her fingers closed around it, and she smashed it, obliterating one of the most powerful magical objects in ever in existence.

    *          *          *

    Adelaide was still unconscious on the floor of Svipul’s flat when Astaroth joined them. Svipul said, “I have an idea on how to tie up this Thomas Carver loose end. You can use the Ashera Didilak to—”

    Astaroth interrupted, “I gave the Ashera Didilak to Kivati before I left the scene, and I’m sure that by now she’s turned it into a useless pile of metallic powder.”

    “Why?”

    “Stolas is no more. I will lay claim to all his territories and possessions at the soonest, after we’ve taken care of Thomas Carver.”

    “But the ellamadus—your power would be unquestionable with it.”

    Astaroth grinned. “My power is unquestionable without it. The only purpose it could serve in the future would be to deliver my own downfall, just as it did for Stolas. The only reason one ever needs a ladder after one has ascended to a rooftop is if one has the intention of coming down. I have no intention of ever relinquishing my title of Queen, and I no longer require the ladder that allowed me to reach this height. That, Svipul, is power.”

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part XI.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part VIII

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VII.

    Demons, like angels, have their own system of classification that is remotely similar to the angels’ Orders. Apokomistai and Nekus alike are divided into what demons call Estates. Whereas our Orders are were permanent and were assigned to us by God based upon the gifts we received from our Graces, the Estates are, for the most part, a hierarchy based upon a demon’s abilities in terms of their strength and intelligence, with strength typically tipping the balance whenever there is a dispute. Unlike the Orders, a demon’s Estate can change over time, so that a demon can acquire more power and/or territory over time, and many demon wars have occurred as a result of attempts to ascend to a different Estate. There are thirteen Estates, and they are, from the highest rank to the lowest, Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, Presidents, Chancellors, Dukes and Duchesses, Margraves and Margravines, Counts and Countesses, Viscounts and Viscountesses, Barons and Baronesses, Knights and Dames, Generals, Devils and Demons. To date, no Neku has ever been able to claim an Estate higher than General, although there have been a few exceptions in which a handful have received the Estate of Knight or Dame as an honorary distinction that isn’t recognized by anyone except their master. All the other ranks are reserved exclusively for the Apokomistai.

    Temple of Athena Nike
    A contemporary postcard of the Temple of Athena Nike.

    Princess Astaroth, as she was styled at the time, went to Athens to seek out the Apokomistis Stolas, who was then the King of Greece and Anatolia. Stolas’ power wasn’t necessarily in the territory he held but in the objects that were within his control. He had obtained his Estate when he rescued all the grimoires, both ellamadi and a shocking number of other magical objects from the destructive fires that consumed the Library of Alexandria. The result was that Stolas was able to wield a profound amount of magical power and he gladly took the credit for having burned the Library to the ground in 48 BC, even though the true source of the blaze that swallowed all that ancient human knowledge came from a drunken dare gone horribly wrong by a few of Julius Caesar’s soldiers. After he left Egypt, the Viscount Stolas went to Athens and made a play for King Dantalion’s territories. Dantalion’s magical knowledge wasn’t enough to compete with Stolas’ dumb luck, and Stolas encased him within a mystical pocket in which he is still trapped at this very moment. King Stolas remained in Athens, minding his treasures and his reputation with a legion of Nekus in his command to help him look after the wares that propelled him upward from his relative obscurity as a Viscount. However, given the method of his claim to King, he often looked after his affairs with a more than adequate measure of paranoia. He consequently steered clear of almost all of the other Apokomistai and had an alarmingly high rate of turnover with his Nekus, usually killing them within a year of their birth. Most Nekus live to be a few hundred years old at the very least.

    Astaroth arrived alone and unannounced on the steps of his opulent palace in the late evening hours of that same day, June 4, 1936. The twenty-nine infant Nekus who were serving as the outdoor sentinels provided some resistance to her confident march into the palace, and they invited a dozen more from inside the palace to join in the struggle until they all understood what she was based upon her strength. They immediately backed off in fear and sent word to their King that a Princess had arrived. She strode unaccompanied into a drawing room in which Stolas was feasting upon a young boy that his Nekus had kidnapped for their master’s enjoyment.

    “I need it,” Astaroth announced.

    “No. But it’s nice to see you again, Asta,” Stolas answered, and he wiped the boy’s blood off his hands with an embroidered handkerchief. “You know I don’t like being interrupted, and I know you wouldn’t come in here asking for such a valuable object. Not really. You have something else in mind, don’t you?”

    “I don’t. I want it. You’ll have it back in a year. Exactly a year from today, if you like. I’ll give you whatever you want as collateral,” Astaroth said.

    Stolas issued an amused chuckle. “It’s not for loaning. It’s not for anything except admiring with genuine awe. It’s mine, and it’s not going anywhere.”

    “Fine. King Sitri wants it,” Astaroth said.

    “Sitri wouldn’t send you on an errand to claim such a thing. He’d come to claim it personally. So let’s not dwell on that non-negotiable,” Stolas said. “Would you like a boy before I throw you out? My Nekus brought me a fresh batch just today. They’re from Crete. You can actually taste the Mediterranean in their flesh. Come on—try one.”

    “I’ve never acquired a taste for primate flesh,” Astaroth replied.

    “You’re missing out if you only dine on their souls,” Stolas said. He turned to a Neku and said, “Bring her a boy and a proper soul-drinking vessel.”

    “I suppose I could stay for a moment. I might be able to convince you to part with it—” Astaroth said.

    “Not a chance. But I’m not having all my Nekus forcefully eject you from the premises until you’ve tried one.”

    Astaroth remained in the palace for an hour, carefully extracting the soul of the boy that Stolas’ Nekus had brought to her and savoring it slowly. She thanked Stolas for his hospitality, made a final plea for it, left without further complaint and went to meet Caius in the hotel suite that he had secured for her barely a couple of hours prior.

    “Was my initial diversion large enough?” Astaroth inquired.

    “It was perfect, madam,” Caius answered.

    “You were able to get in?”

    “Yes, madam.”

    “And were you able to lift it without any of those incompetent Nekus ever suspecting anything?” Astaroth asked with growing enthusiasm.

    “Yes, madam.”

    “And you’ve got it now?!” Astaroth demanded excitedly.

    “Indeed, madam,” Caius said. He handed her a small, silvery mechanism that looked like a combination of a pocket watch and a tiny globe. It was the same object that Stolas had refused to loan her. It was the most powerful thing he had, for it was a store of the most potent magics available. It was an ellamadus.

    Happy New Year to all of you who mark time using the Gregorian Calendar! Dominus vobiscum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part VII

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VI.

    It’s the solstice! Did you see the eclipse last night? Eclipses are always so beautiful. I watched it with Sidriel and Orifiel, a Cherub who helps me watch the Holloways.

    As the Apokomistis is capable of manipulating his or her appearance, most prefer to assume a human form that resembles a wealthier, idealized version of his or her environment’s common denominator. Astaroth, too, used to shift according to her geographic location, but during the 1920s, she discovered a form from which she doesn’t often vary. Astaroth has ever since fashioned her appearance to resemble that of the Hollywood blonde bombshell in the prime of her youth. Her features are always perfectly proportional, and were it not for the delighted menace that accompanies her smile, she would indeed be beautiful. She most often appears to be wearing light-colored, tailored suit—eggshell is her favorite color—thus indicating that she is a woman who lacks for nothing.

    Lobby of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco
    An old postcard of the lobby of the Fairmont.

    Of course, women who dress as such are frequently seen in the most lavish of surroundings, and she doesn’t disappoint. Thus, when Sitri had returned from his misadventure, he found her and Svipul, along with a sampling of their Nekus, in the penthouse suite of the Fairmont. He dismissed the Nekus and explained what had happened, along with expressing concern at remaining in a place so close to the action.

    Astaroth wasn’t pleased. “Are you trying to make this more difficult for me? This could be considered a breach of your terms, and then you’d have to forfeit for the second time today. Your prize would be mine, which, I have to say, would be a lot easier than taking on Itzamná.”

    “And Kivati,” Sitri added.

    “There was no discussion about Kivati in our initial wager. If you want Kivati, you need to go after her yourself. I only agreed to one Watcher,” Astaroth said. “Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to let her identify you.”

    “She grabbed me and transported me. She knows it was me,” Sitri said. “I know that I—”

    “If you don’t keep that pathetic explanation you’ve been rehearsing to yourself, I’ll add your name to my list,” Astaroth threatened.

    “So what’s your plan?” Sitri asked.

    “I should think that you’d be aware that I want to win this wager. That said, what makes you think that I would tell you and give you the chance to spoil everything, just as you’ve done so far?” Astaroth said.

    “Kivati will be looking for you. You should leave, Sitri,” Svipul stated.

    “She’s right. You need to disappear. If you’re here, you’re only going to involve more angels. Why not check in with that Neku in Cyprus you’ve been baiting?” Astaroth said.

    “Will you see that the terms are met?” Sitri asked Svipul.

    “You have my word,” Svipul affirmed.

    Without any further salutation, Sitri was gone.

    Astaroth told Svipul, “There aren’t many options available to us now. Heaven knows that Sitri and I go way back, and they might already know I’m here. The Nephil isn’t likely to leave that primate alone. We’re going to have to recruit an Apokomistis who’s dumb enough not to suspect that he or she is our bait, and use him to draw out the Nephil and then the Watcher after. With them out of the way, I’ll be able to work on that primate.”

    “Rose Nielsen is a talented Nephil. If Sitri’s to be believed, she knew that he was there before she got close to him. We have to believe that she’ll be able to sense us in her proximity. She won’t make the same mistakes that a younger Nephil would make, either,” Svipul said.

    “She’s half-Watcher, yes, but she’s half-primate, too. We just have to appeal to her ‘humanity’ and offer her what she wants most, if only temporarily. What else do we know about Rose Nielsen?” Astaroth said.

    “I’ll send my Neku Kazuko to find out everything on her,” Svipul offered.

    “Svipul! I thought you weren’t supposed to help!”

    “Sitri got two angels after us within half the day. What he doesn’t know…”

    “…will cost him dearly.”

    “And he’ll deserve it,” Svipul added, and she stalked off to converse with her Neku.

    Astaroth called her Neku Caius to her. She said, “Tell the others that we’re leaving, and check us out of this hotel. Do assure them that we appreciated everything and make a reservation for this same suite for this same week next year. I’m coming to appreciate San Francisco in June.”

    Stolas the Apokomistis
    Stolas was an Apokomistis who lived in Athens. He was drawn as such in Collin de Plancy’s Diccionaire Infernal, and was so furious at the depiction that he was solely responsible for de Plancy’s subsequent fervor for Catholicism.

    “Might I tell the others where we’re going?” Caius asked.

    “No. Give them leave for exactly seven days to do as they wish and to await your instructions at their finish. You, however, are coming with me. Send a wire to Athens and make our usual booking there,” Astaroth said.

    “Shall I notify Stolas that we will be at his doorstep?” Caius wondered.

    “If you do, I’ll destroy you,” Astaroth replied with her unnervingly pleasant smile.

    Happy Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! If you and your family celebrate something different at this time, please accept my warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday. Dominus vobiscum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VIII.

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