Dark Armor: Inside the Carriage

"...Why are you still here?" asked Pallian. "If somebody cut me loose like that, I'd have been gone before anybody could so much as whisper my name."

The thing's face twisted through an unreadable change of expression. "Perhaps I was curious about the one who released me," it said. 

Were you? It didn't seem like a safe question to ask; if the thing had wanted to explain its motivation, it would have. Instead, after a moment's consideration, Pallian admitted: "Well, I'm certainly curious about why you wouldn't want to leave."

A rippling motion passed down its arms, ended with its claws scraping against the floor of the carriage. The were tilting now as their conveyance changed directions, drawn through the air by its nightmarish steeds. "Do you not know this?" it asked. When Pallian didn't answer, it said: "While I remain here, I cannot be summoned again. Without the binding, I can do as I like on this plane. It is... less comfortable than my native land, but I find that trade acceptable."

Pallian nodded slowly. "That makes sense, at least." He hesitated. "What do you intend to do, now that you're here?"

That same rippling motion passed down its arms, an unnatural gesture that should have been impossible for flesh and bone. "I do not know," it told him. "Learn more of this place, perhaps. That is why I came back to you. I need a guide, and you neither banished me nor destroyed me."

Nighted Hells, Pallian thought, I've unleashed a summoned nightmare on an unsuspected population. He paused for a long moment, thinking, and then said: "All right. I released you. I suppose it's my responsibility to help you find a way to live here." He didn't mind helping the thing, at least in principle; there was something plaintive about it, an appeal in the inescapable fact that it wanted help.

 "This is--" It stopped as if unable to finish the sentence. "How do we proceed?"

That, Pallian had an answer for. "When I wear this armor and step into this carriage, I am riding to battle. You understand that?" 

"I know battle," it answered. "I know ages of battle."

Pallian nodded. "This is not your battle. You don't have to help, and it will be better if you stay back and avoid notice. My father and my brother will be there; so will the House of Edrias. Any one of them might take an interest in trying to bind you once again."

The thing seemed to consider. "I would not like that." 

"So stay near the carriage, and keep yourself hidden. When the battle is done, we'll talk more about where you might go and what you might do. Can you look human?"

It blinked. "I do look human." 

Pallian sighed. He should probably have seen that one coming. "Can you shorten your arms, flatten your claws, make your fingers and hands more like the proportions of my body?"

The thing considered that, then drew itself in. It was still otherworldly, too pale and too tall and too skinny, but at least now it might pass for an odd-looking human, or somebody who'd taken a few ill-advised initiations. "Better," Pallian told it. "Hold onto that look. I need to get ready for battle."