WoP - 01 - War of Powers

by Robert E. Vardeman

  Moriana was the first to shake free of the spell. 'We must hurry,' she said. 'I feef danger all around.'

  'Some people simply aren't cut out to be travelers,' Erimenes said severely. 'You merely suffer a foreigner's distaste for the unfamiliar.'

  Fost looked around warily. The tunnel had given way to a ledge of ice that sloped gently until it reached the outermost buildings of Athalau. A hundred yards away on their left lay a fallen stalactite of ice a hundred feet long and twenty feet thick at the large end. It had broken into neat segments as though split by a gargantuan woodcutter's axe.

  'Having eighty tons of ice land on my head would be unfamiliar, spirit, and I confess I'd find the experience shattering.'

  Erimenes lifted his nose. He looked more and more like a real, living being. 'That shaft fell centuries ago,' he said disdainfully.

  'Perhaps another's overdue,' said Fost. 'Hist.' Moriana raised her hand, her face suddenly taut and distant. 'I hear something.'

  Fost closed his eyes and concentrated, screening out the sounds of their breathing. He heard it too, a rumbling of different timbre than the internal groanings of the glacier, an intermittent clicking sound and, rising and falling at their hair's-breadth of perception, the babble of voices.

  'I hear them too.' Moriana frowned, her hand falling to rest on the hilt of her sword.

  'Rann?' asked Fost.'Who else?''But how did he get in?' Erimenes stood with one hand cupped theatrically to his ear. 'It is Rann in truth, with more than a score of men,' he said. 'As to how he gained entrance, I fear Guardian is less, uh, perceptive than one might wish.'

  'In other words Rann talked his way in the same as we did.' Fost scowled. 'A fine set of circumstances.'

  'Come,' Moriana said. 'Let's get down to the city. We should be able to reach the Amulet of Living Flame before they arrive.'

  Fost bit his lip at the name. That final question still lay between him and Moriana: Whose should the amulet be? She still seemed willing

  to defer finding an answer. So would he - for now. 'How to proceed?' he asked.

  'We haven't much choice, unless you can climb these icy inclines.' Erimenes gestured. The slope ahead of them was hollowed out into a sort of run that reached down to the city. Steep walls curved up to either side.

  'What made it that way?' asked Moriana. 'It looks worn down. Could worms have done it sliding down into Athalau from the tunnel?'

  'Of course not!' Erimenes's face showed outrage. 'Even such as they realize what a desecration that would be. They remain in their burrows, devouring one another.'

  Fost looked dubious. But Erimenes was right, at least in that they had little choice of how to go. They started gingerly down the slope. Fost took three steps and then lost his balance, his legs flying out from under him. His tailbone hit with an impact that brought tears to his eyes. Immediately he was whizzing down the hill toward Athalau.

  He heard Moriana's alarmed shout behind him turn instantly to a laugh of pure glee. She zipped past him, likewise seated with her knees drawn to her chin, stroking at the ice to go even faster.

  'Unfair!' shouted Fost. Laughing, he pushed himself in pursuit. As they reached bottom, he caught up with her, seized her around (he waist and sent them both sprawling in a laughing tangle on the street.

  'My rump is glowing hot!' Moriana cried, rumpling Fost's black hair.

  He kissed her soundly. 'I'll agree to that,' he said, reaching and squeezing. 'Perhaps some fresh air will cool it off.' He tugged at her breeches.

  'Ahem.' Erimenes's lordly throat-clearing drew their attention. 'Might I suggest you postpone your recreation to a more suitable time and place? Prince Rann approaches.'

  Fost and Moriana grinned at each other, disentangled themselves and stood. They knew that their momentary distraction had arisen from the strain they were under. They couldn't afford another such lapse. Nonetheless they were still grinning when Fost took Moriana's hand and they set off up the street.

  The boulevards of Athalau were paved with some mysterious smooth substance, hard like stone but which flowed continuously, showing no telltale seams between blocks. To Fost's mir.d this was nearly as wondrous as streets of gold would have been.

  The smile faded from his face. Erimenes had urged them to forget their loveplay and get on with the business at hand - Erimenes! The lecherous, long-dead virgin who would propose they fornicate in the middle of a hornbull stampede. Fost shook his head. There was something very wrong here.

  They entered a new block and halted. Sinuous shapes glided out of buildings into the street. A familiar hissing filled the air.

  'So they won't desecrate holy Athalau,' Fost said bitterly, glaring at Erimenes. 'What are those - heretics?'

  Erimenes's eyes bulged at the worms. A half a hundred had poured from the lovely ruins like maggots from a gilded skull. 'I must-that is - this is certainly an unforeseen circumstance.'

  Deliberately Fost slid his sword from its sheath. 'I've a mind to lob your jug to them, Erimenes. A worm's gizzard is a fitting resting place for such as you.'

  Erimenes gibbered in terror. Moriana laid a hand on her lover's arm.

  'Not yet. Erimenes, can you affect the ice-worms' minds?' 'They haven't minds enough!''But you can still work your invisibility trick on Rann's men? 'Yes,' Erimenes said. 'But it's not merely a trick. It is mental manipulation of the most sophisticated . . .'

  'Enough, Erimenes. Fost, can you delay the worms a few minutes?' Fost looked at her, nodded slowly. 'Good. Hold them here. I'm going to have a talk with Rann.'

  'You're going to parley with that eunuch-bastard?' he grated angrily.

  'Not exactly.' She started away, then paused. 'The satchel. You wouldn't. . .'

  'If you mean, would I go on without you to find the amulet, I would not even if the worms let me.' He flicked his eyes toward the approaching worms. Fifty yards still separated them from the humans. 'As to whether I'll let you take the satchel, the answer is likewise no.'

  She looked hard at him, nodded and was off, running back the way they had come. He watched her, wondering whether she wasn't hoping to work some deal with her cousin. He shook his head. ‘ grow too distrustful. The thought's unworthy of me. He faced the worms.

  Moriana heard harsh voices echoing in the huge dome that enclosed the city. She came out at the foot of the street that led to the ice run. A group of men stood clustered around the tunnel mouth. The soft glow of the city looked strange reflected from their naked weapons. Their garb was black and purple, but even without that she would have known the slim, erect figure that stood to one side, surveying the city.

  'Rann!' she called. The figure looked at her and went deathly still. 'Half-man, coward, traitorous offal. Come and get me, if you have the courage!'

  Even at this distance she could feel his rage. Her voice echoed, amplified by the vastness of the chamber. Somewhere vibrations broke loose a giant icicle and it came crashing down. Ignoring it, Rann broke into a run toward her, bellowing to his men to follow. Moriana stood a moment longer, waiting. Rann managed to keep his feet to the bottom of the run, though none of his men did. Moriana spun and fled like a deer.

  Arrows whistled in pursuit. None came near. Making sure she was in sight of the Guardsmen, she led them straight toward the block where Fost faced the ice-worms.

  She rounded the corner. Fost looked back at the sound of her footsteps. A worm lay dead before him, his now useless torch buried in its brain. Another writhed in its death-throes nearby.

  'Fost!' Moriana shouted. 'This way!' He turned, saw her and raced for her. Sensing victory, the ice-worms slid in pursuit, their hissing more chilling than the glacier's cold. By dint of furious leg-work Fost gained twenty yards on them by the time he reached the waiting princess.

  'Erimenes, make us invisible. Use your mind trick, now!' Moriana cried.

  'Certainly,' the spirit said. 'But I must insist...' 'And in the name of the Five Holy Ones Who Died for Athalau, be quiet!'

  The baying voices of
the Guardsmen came nearer. Fost and Moriana hugged each other, not daring to breathe. Would Erimenes's spell work? Or would he betray them to a terrible death?'

  A youth, long-legged for a bird-rider and wearing an officer's silver gorget, pelted around the corner an arm's length from the fugitives. At the sight of the worms he halted. Then the rest swept onto the street, and their momentum bore him and them straight into the tangle of worms.

  Men cried out in pain and fear. Ice-worms blew their foul breath. The Guardsmen fought savagely, but the ice-worms outnumbered them. Man-blood and worm-blood ran in rivers, blending into a ghastly puree that sizzled and steamed in the cold.

  Unseen and all but forgotten, Fost and Moriana slipped from the doorway. They had no cause to feel compassion for the bird-riders, but still the scene appalled them. The worms were tearing the soldiers apart. Black jaws severed arms at a bite, legs thrashed air as toothed maws shredded half-swallowed men. The battle could have but one outcome.

  Only Erimenes's no longer spectral face showed triumph as they made their way around the corner and away.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Hand in hand Fost and Moriana walked through glory. A glory tarnished by time, to a certain extent, with scars showing where ice-worms had laired in buildings or ice had plummeted from above, but glory nonetheless.

  Erimenes floated beside them. He was a small, slender man with a long head, receding hair and a blade of a nose above thin lips. Fost wondered if he put his hand out whether or not it would pass through the spirit or meet the resistance of solid flesh. Beyond the specks of gold light that swirled through him, the only evidence of Erimenes's nature was his feet - or the lack of them. His skinny legs ended in a swirl of dense blue fog from which an indigo umbilicus extended to the pot, which rode at Fost's hip.

  'Now you must do the service you promised us, Erimenes,' said Fost. 'Only you know the resting place of the Amulet of Living Flame.' Moriana's hand squeezed convulsively in his at the mention of the name. He felt a hot flush creep up his neck.

  Erimenes nodded, smiling. 'That I do. It hangs in the nave of the Palace of Esoteric Wisdom, foremost structure in all of Athalau.'

  They hurried along broad thoroughfares toward the center of the swallowed city. The shifting light suffused them with a sense of well-being but it couldn't overcome their urgency to reach the end of their quest.

  'How much farther is it?' Moriana asked. 'The world unravels itself around you, and you have thought for nothing save yourselves.' Erimenes shook his head. 'Great were the Athalar but they are done, dust. I alone remain to appreciate the splendor of what once was.'

  Fost growled warningly. 'Very well,' the philosopher said. 'Another turning of the way and you shall behold the Palace with your own eyes.'

  Unconsciously the pair quickened their pace. The pavement underfoot was solid enough but seemed to lend spring to their steps. Hearts hammering, they turned the final corner.

  A broad square stretched before them. In its center rested a fountain, its tongue of waters long stilled, an abstract of silent tiers. At the far end of the plaza the tower of ruby flowed upward, the fineness of its lines giving it the illusion of movement and flight.

  'The Palace of Esoteric Wisdom,' Fost breathed in awe. To his astonishment, Erimenes shook his head. 'You are deceived. Poor are you in wisdom. This way, to your left. I shall guide you, never fear.' Chuckling to himself, the spirit led the way.

  Puzzled, the two followed. The carved gem tower was the most impressive work of architecture either had ever seen. How could it be other than the 'foremost structure in Athalau'?

  Erimenes signed them to a halt. 'Here, children. Here lies the Palace. Within its sacred precincts awaits eternal life. And more, aye, ever so much more.' He chortled as if enjoying some private jest.

  Fost stared at the building. He blinked slowly. The structure stayed the same.

  'How can this be?' he demanded. Far from the soaring wonder he had anticipated, the Palace of Esoteric Wisdom was a simple basilica of snowy marble, fronted with a portico upheld by columns as devoid of decoration as the rest of the edifice. Its doorway was a single pointed arch, as were the windows of the clerestory. Silver light danced in the windows. 'It's a handsome building, without elaborations or fripperies as you'd find in decadent Medurim. But to call this the foremost?' He shook his head in disgust.

  Erimenes looked severe. 'I wonder why you seek everlasting life so assiduously. You lack the discrimination truly to enjoy it. Hear wisdom, child, though scant is my hope that you'll heed it: That which is of the most worth is not necessarily the gaudiest to behold.'

  Fost sneered, but Moriana touched his arm and said, 'He may be right. I myself en joy ornateness, but something in the cleanness of this place's lines beguiles the eye.'

  'If you find it so pleasing,' a voice said from behind them, 'by all means fill your eyes with it, for it is the last sight they shall behold.'

  'Rann!' The name broke from Moriana in a choked cry.'The same. My gratitude, cousin, for leading me to the Amulet of Living Flame.' Fost and Moriana drew their blades. The bird-riders spread out into a semicircle to hem them against the edifice, five to either side of the prince.

  'How did you escape the worms, half-man?' Moriana asked. 'I left half the men to deal with the worms.' Rann's lips tensed into a grin. 'My men had informed me of the invisibility trick you used to elude them in the ravines. When you lured us into the worms and slipped away, I guessed what you were doing. I managed to extricate these men and come after you. I had a feeling our mutual goal would be somewhere in the very heart of Athalau. So we hid and waited for you.'

  'You're a coward as well as a gelding,' Fost spat. 'To desert your own men!'

  'They gave their lives for the Sky City and its queen. It was an honor I gave them.' The soldiers approached slowly, tightening the net. Rann had pulled out none too soon by the looks of them. Hardly a man didn't bear the marks of the black-gleaming chitin jaws. But their faces were hard with determination, and madness glinted behind their eyes.

  They charged. Fost met an upward thrust with a stop-thrust to the forearm. The bird-rider dropped his blade, cursing. Even as he staggered back, Fost's blade swept around him and streaked to the heart of a second attacker.

  Moriana stood exchanging deft wrist cuts with a brown-haired trooper whose left arm was missing below the elbow. A ragged, bloodstained bandage wrapped the stump. Moriana flicked her sword at his temple. His blade winked up to parry. Moriana's arm pivoted and brought her sword down to chunk! into the man's unarmored side. With a blood-frothing moan he sank to his knees. Moriana sprang past him to engage another.

  Fost found himself facing Rann. The prince showed his teeth in a smile.

  'You are brave and strong,' Rann grunted, easily turning back Fost's powerful attacks. 'We could amuse each other many a long hour, you and I. I am sorry that you must quickly . . . die!'

  Like a serpent the scimitar flashed past Fost's guard, striking for his heart. He swung his right side forward and groaned as the point took him in the shoulder. He leaped away. Crimson gleamed on the blade as it slid out. Rann lunged again. The thrust lacked strength; Fost's mail stopped it, though it bruised his breastbone. He hacked with the strength of pain-born fury. Rann's sword warded off the blow, but it laid open the prince's cheek and sent him reeling back.

  A sword whistled by Moriana's ear, so near it snipped a lock of golden hair. She bled from cuts in her thigh and arm. She danced back as her enemy drove at her, howling with fury.