As a Student, Grimm had often tried to envisage spatial dimensions outside the three to which he was accustomed, yet still enmeshed with them. Although he had always failed in this exercise, he now had the benefit of a Questor's mind-training to help him. A thought-word, more like a hiccup, escaped his mouth, and Grimm felt as if his mind had turned inside out.
A mad confusion assailed Grimm Afelnor's physical eyes, but his Mage Sight revealed a grand cityscape, garlanded with graceful cupolas and exotic palaces. Demons milled around a city square not unlike that of Crar. A soupy, orange mist clouded his magical vision, and he could make out few details of the distant, milling demons, none of whom seemed to notice him. Ignoring the clamorous confusion of sound assaulting his ears, the Questor concentrated his attention on the thoughts of the demon horde, trying to find a suitable subject. As he felt the faint pulsing of such a mind, he began to restrict his mental search further and further until he felt sure he had located the demon of information he sought.
Demon, he thought, trying to project his mind toward the specific creature he had sensed. My companions and I are trapped within a mage's ward. We need your help. Will you come back with me to the human world and aid us with information? We are willing to pay you with gold, or anything else we have that you might covet.
Grimm knew he might have nothing the demon desired, but he maintained his mental pressure.
'A mortal!' a tiny voice squeaked at the level of Grimm's ankles. The mage looked down to see a tiny creature standing before him, perhaps six inches in height. The minuscule demon seemed a mere parody of a fearsome behemoth like Shakkar, and Grimm would have laughed if his situation had not been so serious.
'I have met few indeed of your kind,' the miniature monster trilled. 'I have passed through the thoughts of a few who sat day-dreaming by a fire or under a warm sun, unwittingly opening their minds to our world. I find you interesting creatures, with your little worries and preoccupations. It has long been my desire to visit your world in my true form, but your Diabolists seem always to consider me beneath their notice. They prefer to wrestle with the wills of our more fearsome and truculent races.'
Grimm decided not to tell the imp he would have preferred a larger demon but had not the power to do so. It would not do to offend the tiny creature.
'You are a demon of Information, aren't you, demon?' Grimm asked. 'That is what I need.'
'My name is Thribble, human,' the demon sniffed.
Grimm managed a small smile. 'I am Grimm Afelnor, Thribble,' he replied. 'Well met.'
'Well met Grimm Afelnor,' Thribble responded. 'I am indeed a demon of Information. I see all and forget nothing, and I am well read. My fellow demons use me more as a storyteller, since I remember every detail of all I see. I can reproduce the exact accent and mannerisms of all participants in every scandal and tragedy I have ever witnessed.
'The payment I demand from you is that you permit me to travel freely in your world, to gather new information for my tales. If I can learn new, interesting stories with which to regale the other demons, who grow swiftly bored with repetition, my detailed narrations may garner me greater respect. I trust you are not some boring farmhand or bookworm with no life and no tales to relate; otherwise I shall have to refuse your request.'
Grimm shook his head. 'Indeed not, Thribble: I and my companion, Dalquist, are Mage Questors, and our friends Harvel and Crest are adventurers with many stories to tell.'
Some of which may actually be true, he added in a hidden section of his mind.
The tiny figure clapped his paws. 'Good! Let us go, then! I wish to meet these interesting friends of yours.'
Grimm expanded his mind into a large bubble, through which the demon easily hopped. Withdrawing his thoughts from the demonlands, Grimm found the demon standing on his left knee. In this realm, he could see Thribble better. The imp's hue was grey-green, his tail was like that of a mouse, and tiny, pointed fangs like those of a day-old kitten showed in the gaping mouth.
Grimm's companions gaped at the tiny apparition. 'That's… a demon?' Harvel muttered, with a somewhat disdainful expression on his face.
'I am Thribble, master storyteller, and fount of all knowledge, human!' Thribble snorted. 'I am unaccustomed to such derision, even from my own kind! My knowledge of all manner of arcane subjects is unrivalled, and I request that-'
'I am sure Master Harvel meant no disrespect, friend Thribble,' Dalquist interrupted, in a tense voice. 'However, we have urgent need of your help. There is a magical ward surrounding this tavern. How may we defeat it?'
The demon looked around the room and shrugged. 'You cannot.'
Grimm shuddered at the note of utter certainty in the demon's voice.
'The enchantment appears to be one of Master Starmor's little nets,' the imp continued. 'No mortal magic or feat of arms could defeat it. However, all is not lost; in a day or two, it will disappear, in any case.'
Dalquist shook his head in evident frustration. 'That is impossible. We all saw Starmor killed,' he said. 'I assume one of his acolytes has somehow raised the ward.'
Thribble laughed, a tinkling sound like falling needles. 'Master Starmor has deceived you all well!' he cackled. 'He is a demon, like me, and an Immortal to boot. You may have discommoded him temporarily, but you cannot kill him. He must be in one of his horrid little towers right now, plotting something really nasty for you. Even the most powerful of my kind steer clear of that one. Killing him was a bad mistake; he always hates that. After reassembling his mortal form, he is usually in a fouler mood than normal.'
'His tower was destroyed,' Grimm said, 'by a demon called Shakkar, who also believed Starmor to be human. Might you be mistaken, Thribble?'
'Ah! I know Shakkar well,' the demon squeaked. 'Still, he never was the brightest of our kind, and Master Starmor's disguises were always good. I cannot blame him for being fooled. Starmor must be holding you here while he rebuilds his nasty tower. It is a major part of his strength. That is why you are being restrained here instead of being murdered.'
The demon seemed to treat the affair thing as a great joke, and Grimm frowned, beginning to find Thribble's enthusiasm a little tiresome.
'How can we defeat Starmor?' he demanded 'There must be some way to thwart him, even if we cannot kill him.'
'That is improbable,' Thribble said, his brows deeply furrowed as if he were a chess-master poring over a difficult game. After a few moments, his expression brightened. 'You could always send him back to our world. Although those of my kind can travel through a myriad of dimensions with ease, not even mighty Starmor could pierce the inter-dimensional rift between our frames. No demon can, unless invited by a human Diabolist, or another demon on this side of the void.'
Dalquist looked at Grimm, his head cocked quizzically to one side.
'Can we do that, Grimm?' he asked. 'Can you do that? You did manage to bring Thribble here, after all.'
Grimm shook his head. 'It was all I could do to pull Thribble through the void from the demon dimensions,' he protested. 'Pushing matter through the dimensions is harder than pulling it back into this world. Starmor must be over a thousand times heavier than our diminutive friend; I doubt the two of us acting in concert could find the power for such a feat. It might be easier to translocate him to some far distant desert land, where he could trouble nobody.'
'That would be insufficient to thwart wily Starmor,' Thribble trilled. 'He is immortal. All such an act might achieve would be to postpone and amplify his eventual revenge. After a long trek through barren lands, he would, without doubt, enslave many of your kind on his route back to you, and he would locate you with ease.'
To Grimm's surprise, Dalquist nodded in agreement.
'I should have thought before I spoke,' he said, bowing his head. 'Starmor is in our dimension, and we know our magic cannot penetrate this barrier. In any case, spells of Translocation require the casting mage to be thoroughly familiar with the target location, and you have only direct experience of places within about thirty miles' radius of the Guildhouse. I have only experience of locations alongside the standard trade routes, as all of my Quests have been in towns or cities. Where could you hope to send Starmor in this world so that he could pose no
