Nekdukarr

by Chris A. Jackson

  "Do you know what this means!" Avari nearly screamed.

  "I believe it means that we will be paying our friend Darkmist a surprise visit sometime tomorrow." Shay smiled up at her excitement. "But we must wait until we are adequately prepared, Avari," he warned, worried that she might try to blink off before he was ready to accompany her.

  "Don't worry, Shay," she said. "I've learned a lot since the last time we visited Zellohar Keep. How long will it take for you to recover and prepare your spells?"

  "I do not know exactly," he admitted, thinking that she had, indeed, learned a great deal in that short time. "By tomorrow evening at the very latest, but we must discuss strategy as well. Getting there is no longer a problem. What to do when we arrive is now our most formidable obstacle."

  "Agreed. Now you just rest while Huffer and I settle down and talk strategy. We'll have some plans for you by morning."

  As they turned to converse, Shay sighed and settled in to sleep. "Tomorrow, Zellohar," he mumbled just before dropping off, wondering how the thought would affect his dreams.

  Yenjil Thallon sat on his blankets, chewing on a piece of jerky and worrying. The camp around him was dark and cold, and more than a few disgruntled rumbles drifted to his ears from the closely huddled troops. A commander's orders were not always popular, but the soldiers knew that the cold camp was for their own protection. The road was near the coast here, and a campfire could be seen from leagues away. But what really worried him was Feldspar's continued absence. Beriknor was only one more day's travel. If the wizard did not return this evening, they would have to proceed without him.

  "Some blackbrew, Captain?" the young courier offered, stepping from the darkness with two steaming cups.

  "Yes, thank you, Logan." He wrapped his cold hands around the cup and sipped. Then a thought struck him. "Wait a minute! Who broke my cold camp order to heat this blackbrew?"

  "Uh, no one, Captain, sir!" the youth answered, nearly spilling his own cup. "The cook has a heatstone, sir. No fire was lit, and I thought you might need something warm to drink."

  Thallon's temper cooled immediately. "Very good, Logan. Let's see if the cook can be persuaded to brew enough of this for the sentries. They've got the coldest duty and need to stay alert."

  "At once, sir!"

  The young soldier took a last gulp from his cup, tossed the rest into the grass and dashed off to find the cook. Thallon watched him go with another worry: the welfare of the youngest member of the company. Logan was well trained, but not yet baptized in the heat of battle. Youthful exuberance could be as deadly as a sword stroke if it were not directed carefully.

  "See if you mightn't be able to requisition a cup of blackbrew for the company wizard, too, if you please, Captain."

  "Feldspar!" Yenjil shouted, jumping to his feet and restraining the impulse to hug the tired-looking mage. "How long have you been skulking around the shadows?" He yelled into the night for food and drink to be brought.

  "Since my youth, Captain," the oldster said as he sat, "but only for a moment this night. I was afraid your nervous young lancer would stick a sword between my ribs if I interrupted."

  "He will temper with experience," the Captain predicted. "Not everyone has our years to fall back on, Feldspar."

  "Speak for yourself," the wizard said, accepting a sandwich and a mug from the cook while stretching his shoulders.

  "So what news have you gleaned?" the captain asked.

  "A great deal, but my arms so tired I am lucky to be able to lift my own cup." He took a sip, then became more serious. "First, we are opposed by a Nekdukarr; I have seen him."

  "Avari was right, then," Thallon said, biting a thumbnail.

  "Second, you will be ambushed by an enemy force on the road tomorrow. They outnumber you two to one, and you cannot hope to win a standard frontal engagement."

  "So, what do you propose?" Thallon asked knowing that Feldspar would have an idea. If handled properly, two to one odds were not insurmountable.

  "The enemy assumes that he knows our strength and position, and that we do not know his. Most of their force is afoot, with only a few leaders on mounts of any kind. Our cavalry should be able to lure them into a trap, but two things must be done first: our infantry and archers will have to be hidden, and their aerial spy will have to be eliminated."

  "Will they be likely to fall for a trap if only our cavalry is the bait?" Thallon asked, appropriately worried.

  "Oh, but our entire contingent will be the bait, Captain," the wizard said with a sly smile. "And our infantry and archers will suffer grievous losses, forcing our cavalry's hasty retreat."

  "I think I know what you have in mind." Thallon nodded. "Can you manage an illusion detailed enough to fool them?"

  "Our forces will remain in tight formation until the enemy overruns them," Feldspar explained, finishing his sandwich. "I might even manage a convincing volley of arrows. I will be directing the illusion from above, of course."

  "Sounds too easy," Thallon said, suspecting some hidden fault within the plan. "What did you say about their spy?"

  "Mmmm, yes. That is a problem." The wizard rubbed his eyes wearily. "I don't know the capabilities of the thing. I heard the Nekdukarr call it a zykell, and that tells me it's not of this world. It could very well be more powerful than I think, but I should be able to at least disable it."

  "And if you can't?" Thallon realized just how much this entire plan hinged on the wizard. If he was injured or killed, the rest of them would be in dire straits.

  "Then you are in for a hell of a fight, Captain," the wizard said. "For the enemy will know your intentions."

  The two stared at one another for some time, each gauging the other's capabilities and weaknesses. Thallon had fought alongside Feldspar before and was invariably amazed by the tricks he could pull from his voluminous sleeves. But despite his respect for the wizard's prowess, he had to formulate his own plans for this foray, should things go awry.

  "How badly do you need sleep?" he asked, calling for another cup of blackbrew.

  "Badly," Feldspar admitted, "but I can afford an hour or so if you wish. I'll need to be awakened early if the spy is to be eliminated before the enemy is close enough to observe."

  "I'll wake you myself," Thallon said, spreading a map out in the darkness and calling for a shuttered lantern. As the lantern and more blackbrew arrived he gave additional orders. "Pass the word: full armor for tomorrow's march. Make sure lances are passed out. Double quivers for the archers, and have the mounts checked for the slightest injury. No horse goes afield tomorrow with a stone in its hoof, understood?"

  "Aye, sir!"

  The soldiers hurried off to spread the word. Within moments the camp was bustling with activity. Wagons were unloaded, lance tips sharpened, barding oiled and straps checked. Within an hour all but the sentries would be trying to sleep, the less experienced finding it much more difficult than the veterans.

  By the time Feldspar left to roll up in his blankets, Yenjil Thallon had their entire plan committed to memory, and was working out contingencies for failure at any point along the way. It was many hours before he finally retired to sleep. Orders had been given to three different sentries to wake him two hours before dawn. Tomorrow was not the day to oversleep.

  CHAPTER 32

  Now remember," Feldspar instructed, handing his magnifying tube over to Thallon, "organize the column and move out like usual. If my first spell doesn't kill the spy, I'll try to lure it into bow range. Keep track of the beast with the glass, but don't let your archers fire unless you see me fall."

  "And if you do fall?" Thallon asked.

  "If you do not shoot it down, it will report to the enemy."

  "Very well, but I'd rather not have to knock it down with a volley of arrows." Thallon squinted into the morning sky. "If it's higher than three-hundred feet, a hit would be sheer luck."

  "Be ready, nonetheless," the wizard instructed, pulling a bit of wool from a pocket. "I will wait until
it arrives to go aloft, but my invisibility will have to begin now. Once I begin my flight, keep close track of the spy."

  "Don't worry, Feldspar," the captain assured him as the wizard muttered a few words and faded from sight, "everything will go according to plan."

  "If it does not, your entire expedition will be at risk, not just my own safety."

  "No one knows that better than I, wizard." Thallon turned and shouted orders, irked at Feldspar's reminder. The blood of many of his troops would be spilled before the day was done, even if things went perfectly, and every drop of it would be on Yenjil Thallon's hands.

  "Shay! Time to get up!" Avari prodded the snoring priest with her toe. "Breakfast is ready. I've even made some of that noxious blackbrew you like. How do you feel?"

  "Like I was poisoned yesterday, not you," he said rising from his blankets and furs. "Did I hear you say you had blackbrew?"

  "Yes, but at this point I don't know whether to hand you the cup or just pour it over your head." Avari passed the steaming beverage to the half-elf's quivering hands. "You look terrible."

  "Thank you," he managed, sipping and thinking wistfully of cream. "The night was uneventful, I trust?"

  "Some things splashed around in the lake, but they didn't like the fire. They never got close enough to see." She handed him a plate mounded with bacon and fried potatoes with onions. "How long do you think it will take until you're ready?"

  "Possibly by midday, depending on our plan." He stuffed a slice of bacon into his mouth and sipped blackbrew. "Did you two come up with any good strategies last night?"

  "We were coming up with a great many of plans, Master Szcze-kon," Hufferrrerrr said with a hint of disappointment, "but I am not knowing how goodly being any of them are."

  "Oh, you're just sore because you have to stay behind," Avari said, "but unless we can figure out something else to do with the horses, someone has to stay."

  "I am in the understanding of this, Miss Avari. It is simply being that I am not in the liking of it. I could be of much use to you in the Zellohar Keeping."

  Shay understood Hufferrrerrr's displeasure: the leotaur was a warrior, and it rankled him to be left out of a fight.

  "I will tell you what," Shay offered. "We will leave one of the transposition stones with you. If you can find some nearby farmer with whom to leave the horses, you can follow us. But know that once you blink in, there may very well be no escape."

  "Indeed, there will be no escaping, Master Szcze-kon," he growled, baring inch-long fangs in a predatory grin, "but for the vile dwellers of the Zellohar Keeping, not for myself."

  "Well, what plans have you come up with?" Shay asked as he handed his empty plate over to the leotaur, whose words he did not doubt in the least.

  "Since we might arrive before the dragon even gets there," Avari began, "I was thinking of something like what we did at that temple in the Black Swamp..."

  When the zykell was sighted, Feldspar drew a deep breath, uttered the incantation that bestowed flight, and soared into the air without delay. The spy could return to the enemy column at any moment, and that was one thing they could not allow. He gauged the wind and the beast's trajectory, and headed to intercept. As the wizard neared the spy, he drew a small splinter of crystal from a pocket and whispered an incantation.

  Unfortunately, the zykell's hearing was superb.

  As Feldspar cast the spell, the flying demon wheeled and plummeted. Lightning crackled from the wizard’s hand to within a foot of the beast despite its evasive maneuver, but it pulled out of the dive unscathed and whipped its head around to locate its assailant. Unfortunately, Feldspar’s lightning spell had negated his invisibility.

  The element of surprise was gone.

  "Blast!" the wizard swore. He immediately executed another spell, one he had hoped to avoid using. The light clouds might mask the use of a lightning spell, but flaming whirlwinds were rarely the result of naturally occurring weather.

  A cyclone of magical flame formed around the zykell, which screeched in surprise. Feldspar nodded in satisfaction as the constricting inferno enveloped the creature, but as the fiery tornado dissipated, the zykell emerged, unharmed and angry. It flew directly at him, toothy maw agape and clawed hands grasping.

  Well, at least I now know what you are, Feldspar thought as he twisted out of the way and plummeted, hoping to lure the creature into range of the bowmen below.

  The demon's resistance to the flames had divulged its nature; it was a minion of Phekkar, the Flaming One, and no fire could harm it. Feldspar soared straight down and banked hard, casting again as he turned. The zykell wheeled, but could not match the maneuver. It could also not avoid the rainbow spheres of energy Feldspar sent streaking after it. The spell left bloody rents all along its crimson scales and elicited howls of pain and anger, but did not knock it down.

  The zykell banked sharply and turned back toward the wizard. Feldspar was trying to pull a bit of pitch from his pocket, but his robe had tangled in flight. He could only stare as the demon billowed its wings into a stall right before him.

  "Die, human!" it screeched, and the mage knew at once that there was more than blind rage in the words.

  Feldspar felt the effect of the death spell like a battering ram. His heart faltered, and his vision dimmed. His mind reeling, he fought to maintain consciousness as he plummeted toward the ground. His last thought was that he must pull out of the fall.

  He almost did.

  "Now, lads!" Thallon commanded. "Aim, and FIRE!"

  A hail of two hundred arrows caught the zykell full in its path, and more than a dozen found their mark. The soldiers cheered as the spy fell, but Thallon watched as it dropped into the same copse of trees where Feldspar had fallen.

  "First Squad Horse, with me!" he roared. "The rest of you in defensive positions! Sergeant! If you see that thing again, fill it full of arrows!"

  "Aye, sir!" Kaplan answered, but his words went unheard as the heavy warhorses thundered away into the trees.

  The zykell struck the ground solidly, several bones cracking with the impact. But it was used to pain—its domain, Hades, was full of pain—and it took injuries in stride. In fact, some of its wounds were already healing when it hit the ground. It would recover quickly, but it would first have to remove the arrows.

  The wounded demon struggled to its feet and wrenched one of the shafts from its chest, screeching in pain and gasping for breath. A rustling of the underbrush caught its attention as it reached to extract another arrow. Unbelievably, the wizard who had attacked it emerged.

  "You have caused me far too much trouble, lizard," it seethed, wiping blood from a deep wound on its temple. The zykell stared in astonishment as the human reached into its robe, withdrew several items and began to speak.

  Anger welled in the zykell: anger at its pain, anger at this human and anger that its death spell had failed. Snapping its rows of serrated teeth, the demon charged, but with a strange crackling noise, it skidded to an involuntary halt.

  The pain in its lower limbs faded to nothing.

  The zykell shrieked in alarm as it looked down to see its legs petrifying into granite. The demon writhed and thrashed, beating at itself as its flesh was transmogrified into stone, but the spell was unstoppable. Its screeching cries stilled with one last crack as its jaws stiffened and solidified into solid rock.

  Feldspar approached the statue with caution, confident that the conflict was over, but justifiably wary. As he reached to touch the petrified demon, the foliage behind him exploded with the headlong charge of nine heavy warhorses. He relaxed as Thallon reined in only a step from him.

  "Good of you to come, Captain," the mage said with a smile, leaning on the stone demon. "You can help me carry this back to the column. I think I might keep it for a hat rack."

  "You can't be serious!" Thallon barked, dismounting to wipe some of the blood from the wizard's forehead. "It looks like your hat rack nearly killed you."

  "Fine," Feldspar respond
ed sullenly. "I guess I'll have to settle for a ride back. But I've got to dismantle this thing properly first, so you might want to hold tight to your horses."

  "What—" Thallon began, then stared aghast as the elderly wizard began an incantation. "Hey, wait!"

  But then Thallon had his hands full of spooking horses as a huge earthen hand thrust up from the ground to crush the stone zykell into a thousand indiscernible shards.

  CHAPTER 33

  Pine needles rustling in a rhythmic cadence was the only indication of Avari's relentless pacing. Hufferrrerrr sat near the smoldering fire, alternately watching the crackling ground cover and Shay's apparently unattended spell book, a page of which would turn occasionally as if from an errant breeze. Avari and Shay had been invisible for nearly an hour when the book finally closed and lifted itself into Shay's pack.

  "Done," his voice informed the others. The pack lifted and disappeared as he put it on. "Avari, where are you?"

  "Over here," her voice replied. Pine needles rustled as she returned to camp. "This has been the longest hour of my life."

  "I suggest you grow accustomed to it," Shay said. "It will be many more hours, or even days, before we dare become visible. There is one thing that concerns me, however."

  "Only one?" Avari scoffed. A hissing laugh came from Hufferrrerrr. "We're about to blink off to the center of a keep full of our enemies, and only one thing concerns you. Shay, you are truly a wonder to me sometimes."

  "Why, thank you, Avari. I will take that as a compliment." Shay's voice was somewhat strained. "But this concern regards the amulets. If they are truly identical, and we arrive simultaneously, we could materialize within one another."

  "Ouch," Avari muttered.

  "Ouch, indeed," he agreed. "Travelling concurrently could prove fatal. I will go first, and you can follow after a count of ten. That will give me time to move out of the way."