At that moment, the ground shook and dull exploding “thud” caused dust to rain down from the ceiling. A few stones along the pit walls fell filling the cavern with thunderous noise. “What is that?” Jaga asked nervously.
“As I said, you are not the only ones in the mountain.” Following his words, another rumble shook the ground. “I think the ogres said there were at least five groups here now.” Tembri touched the dragon insignia on Malcor’s armor. “I will pray for you Malcor.” Both bowed their heads and Malcor found himself standing with Tembri on the banks of the River. The River looked different though, dimmer. Black gray tendrils floated around him. He dismissed it.
“It’s good to see you Tembri. I take it that Dar Kendra ordered a full out assault?”
Tembri nodded and smiled, “It is good to see you too Sir Malcor, but damn if you did not get cut up worse than we imagined. We don’t have much time so let me be brief. We are about an hour or so away from a giant golden seal. On the other side is either the lich, the soul gem, the wand of the Jade God, or any mix of those. The Order will not be here when we breach the seal. Your second rite, the plans, it was never intended you would face the lich alone.”
“I am not alone R’Dar Tembri. I have you. I have my new Imperic friends. They know of my desire to fight the lich.”
Tembri choked suddenly overcome with emotion. “Sir Malcor, you do me great honor. I must however counsel you – “
“Stop, the plan was always for me to face the lich. The Order would help, and it has. If the Queen’s will is that I succeed, I will. I know it.”
Tembri looked at Malcor awash in the ether and saw the boy’s glorious faith and determination. He also saw a black splinter like poison radiating from the tear drop scale on his arm. In this place, it hurt to even look at it. He reached out, his own hand radiant like a star and cut through by red and blue bands of light to the wound. Malcor held it forward and described the vision and the circumstances of the wound. “It still bleeds sometimes, though I feel myself changing rather than the wound healing.”
“You must be careful Malcor. Being a knight requires an iron will and undeviating faith in the Queen. Berserkers do not last long in the ranks of the paladin. This can be a gift, but it can also be a curse. We’ll figure it out. There is not a single hero or legendary character in all the world that did not overcome some terrible obstacle or impossible sacrifice in their journey. Even the Queen lost Her Consort when Heaven and Hell rose up from the River.”
Malcor took it all in and said, “We should get back. Try to avoid berserking. You’re a hero. The door with the golden seal opens to something bad. I got it. Tembri, I trust you. We got this.”
The prayer ended and both of them sank back into the River. Malcor felt the blessing like a warm blanket drape over him, and they continued on through the passageway lit by torch and lantern. Trails of dust drifted down in streaming tendrils. Their footfalls and hushed conversation chased them to where the giant seal finally appeared. From a distance it looked normal-sized, illuminated by torches burning to either side. They walked on through the interminable darkness not realizing how large the seal was until suddenly, the darkness ended and they stepped in the light shining around it. A dragon could easily fly through the seal. An inscription at shoulder height wrapped around a hand-sized hole reaching into the seal.
Sako cast a spell and the inscription resolved itself to her view. “It says that treasure beyond our imagination lies behind the seal, and congratulations on having made it this far. That is all.”
Chapter Sixty - The Lich's Treasure
The lich sat on what he had come to think of as his throne. At that thought, the chair shifted and became ever more like a throne worthy of a king. The pool of water he used for scrying had been dark since he had ceased any and all scrying magic in his mountain. “My mountain,” he voiced rolling the words around in his jaw. “My throne,” he whispered, gripping the arm rests and shaking it.
One of the ogres down by the entryway looked up with a mix of dread and interest and then looked away quickly when the lich met his gaze. “You wish to speak?” the lich rasped.
The ogre flinched and then flexed its strong arms and turned to bow to the lich. “It’s nothing my lord. All this time I have served you, never have I heard you speak so.” The lich looked at the ogre and on a whim blinked to stand right next to it. The ogre flinched but quickly recovered and dropped to his enormous knee. “How may I serve you lord?”
“I want to show you something, and while we walk, tell me what you know of Ori, Morbatten, and this new place Taysor.” The lich walked through the entryway into a grand hall. After several hundred steps, stairs roughly cut led down.
The ogre stammered as they walked, “Ori is the city of humans we fight. Well, fought before you ordered us to stop. Every season, we rally war bands to raid their settlements. Sometimes we win, most of the time we are paid by orcs to help. For the other places, I have heard of them but do not know if I ever fought them. Morbatten is the dragon people. Crazy people who think only of dragons. They fight good. Taysor is better. They have bright shiny and valuable gear we can take for treasure. They look nice but not all of them are good fights. I once heard that smart ogres could join Morbatten, but why would that be done? I don’t know. Taysor kills us.”
The lich listened and then asked, “If you were smarter would you, join Morbatten I mean?”
The ogre’s voice rose. “I smart enough. I don’t know. I like fights. If Morbatten had lots of fights, I could.”
The stairs ended at a magically sealed door, a smaller version of the giant seal Malcor had encountered. They stopped there and the lich stared at the ogre making it uncomfortable. Finally, the ogre could not stand it anymore and dropped to his knees, “Master if I offended with jabber, forgive.”
“No, it’s not that. I have a job. A special task that I cannot do for myself. It is very dangerous for you, but if you do well, you will be rewarded with power and wealth you cannot imagine now. I will also increase your intelligence so that you can outwit and outthink any of your fellows, even the clever orcs. Interested?” The lich touched the seal and it rolled sideways into the wall.
The room beyond illuminated with magical lights reflected off a mountain of treasure. The walls themselves, carved through a large vein of gold ore gleamed and sparkled. The ogre sputtered and forgot to breathe. “Master, this is more than we took from Ori – “
“Yes, I know. That is beside the point.” The ogre started to walk in but the lich stopped him from crossing the threshold. “I cannot enter right now. See there?” The lich pointed along the ogre’s sight to a stone dais drowning in metal coins and golden treasure. Only part of its leading edge remained visible and on it rested a green-glowing wand the color of mucus. As long as a man, the grip appeared to be made of a twisting spine and its top lay crowned by a skeletal ram’s head. The ram horns curled down and around the ram’s face framing its empty eye sockets.
Under the ogre’s scrutiny, those voided eyes began to glow and suddenly the ogre felt a need to seize it. The lich touched him, for real this time, and freezing cold shocked the ogre into awareness and he looked to his master. “You feel it too then. This is my problem. That thing appeared here some days ago. It calls to me and offers me things I have never cared about, but over time, I am beginning to care and I should not. I do not know what it is. Do NOT look at it again for now.”
The lich pointed to the massive golden seal door along the side wall to their right. “On the other side of that is the first group that might make it. When they come through, I want to be right here and I want you to go and pick up that green wand so that you grabbing it is the first thing they see.”
Something about the lich’s voice made the ogre feel like that would be the most incredible thing ever. He could already see all his dreams and desires coming true. The wand also seemed to offer him power; what could go wrong? The ogre nodded, “Yes, yes! I will do this for you!”
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br /> To ensure the ogre did not compromise his plans, the lich paralyzed the ogre where he stood. “I’m going to block your eyes so that you don’t find yourself obsessing over the marvelous wand that will make you powerful.” The lich leaned back against the wall and thought about what this Daryx and the Sir Allen had said. It had been so long, too long since he had really thought of anything being his own. “So much changed while I was lost… If I give my soul gem to this Malcor, what then? Can I abide lesser beings? Do I want to be a god?” After a time of being lost in his own musings, he summoned one of his wraiths and sent it wheeling to the other side of the great seal. “Give them incentive to come through or break them,” he ordered. The wraith lingered a bit though and the lich commanded it to speak.
“You ordered us to watch and report to you on the events. The lower group, no one knows where they came from or how they entered the lower fortress. They have split into twelve groups and are destroying any and everything they encounter. Even the vampires, even the orcs and their shamans, even the sorcerous ogres are cut to pieces. They decapitate the fallen so the fallen die. They appear to be searching for something. One of the ogres said they are dragon people from Morbatten. The other group, the ones you met - Sir Allen - have entered the upper chambers. They just finished slaying all of the pool worms. There are some other groups at varying points but they are either trapped or dying or will be soon. Your orders remain?”
“Have the outer armies enter the fortress and attack Sir Allen’s group. Awaken all that sleep and have them attack the dragons. Send word to the orc host that the time has come to destroy Ori.”
The wraith fled to carry out the lich’s orders. The lich noted how the motes of energy had accelerated their pull along its body. His decay horrified him. Always so sure, he struggled with uncertainty of decision. Before, none of this mattered. Things happened because an eldar made it happen. The more powerful, the longer the change endured. The lich knew, a crucial moment had arrived. This next group of moments would flow in a straight line… like an epiphany, the lich slammed his fist into the wall. Time flowed. The consequences would be real. In his mind, that ram skull smiled and whispered to him about a new eternity as god.
Daryx and Allen’s words though conflicted with this Jade God’s promise and the lich suddenly wished he had conversed with Daryx longer. He felt a tidal pull of magic in the next room and knew he did not have much time left. Just in case, walked back to the scrying pool now filled with blood. A spectral green light filled it now making the blood look coagulated and purple-black. That voice whispered, “Come and see! Look on me and reign supreme as my right hand. None shall ever mock or make you afraid again.”
The lich’s hand wavered and he almost scried the treasure room where the ram’s skull wand sat. Instead, he steeled his will and removed his gauntlet. Whispering in the eldar tongue, he touched the stone one last time, maybe and then said reverently, “Malcor, I give this to you. I hope to meet you one day in the body.” The gauntlet bearing the soul gem pulled under the blood and vanished.
Malcor ate some of Tembri’s rations, remembering how much he hated military food back when he was not starving and fighting for his life every moment. It tasted delicious and he wolfed it down. Jaga noted, “This whole thing is a trap. I’m not going to stick my hand in that hole. Too bad Hiroshi didn't… oh sorry Sako. We’ll figure it out. It'll be okay. I promise.”
Sako nodded trying not to choke up again. She sat back against the wall and looked around, “Maybe there are hidden doors, bypasses?”
Though Tembri knew there were not bypasses, he shrugged. “We could look but come what may, we must get to the other side of this door. I’m sure we will not be left alone for long.”
Noboyuki studied the scene from more of a distance. “Such a large door. For such a small treasure. The wealth of Ori does not require a door like this. Neither do the few souls taken in Ori. I have consulted the great god Imperius and though no answer came, I know in my heart that great danger lies behind this seal.”
Tembri walked over to Noboyuki and they both studied the door. “I feel it too. Destiny and valor are on the other side, and I feel great evil. Anxious waiting on this side. I was too long a prisoner to sit here idle. What do you recommend?”
Noboyuki, dwarfed by Tembri’s large frame, was caught off guard by Tembri’s request. “Surely, your own Queen has provided you with –“
“She has not. There is an enchantment over this place that blocks our connection to the divine. At least for communication.”
“Oh. Well, there’s the obvious hole into which a hand or something is supposed to be placed. Jaga, did your map refer to a key perhaps? No,” he saw Jaga shake his head. “We could test it by inserting something.”
Malcor interjected, “If the lich is expecting a hand, I’m sure there is something that would detect that and, assuming it is trapped, would fall to the person inserting the object.”
Sako said, “I could fire a magical bolt into the hole from a distance.”
They all agreed that they should do that. They removed themselves to the maximum distance from which she could cast her magical missile. The four glowing darts Malcor had seen her use in virtually all of their combats shot out from her chest and struck one after another into the hole. Immediately, as if a gong strike, the seal and then the chamber made a loud metallic booming sound. It rose in volume until they had to cover their ears. Eventually, it faded by degrees and they returned to see the inscription had changed.
Sako read it, “My armies come for you. Why so scared? Lend me your hand.”
“I’ll do it,” Malcor stated rolling up his sleeve to the scaled over teardrop.
An argument promptly erupted. If Malcor lost the use of his arm, or were immobilized, they would lose their most powerful fighter. Each would be rendered useless in a fight. So it came to the contributions to a fight. Without meaning to, all eyes turned to Jaga and his look of annoyance spoke volumes about how he felt. “Sako, Noboyuki, you both owe me big time. As leader I will not.”
Tembri smirked and said, “Do it and my Queen will heal you should anything happen, if you’re bold like a dragon.”
“We don’t know anything will actually happen Jaga san,” Noboyuki said reassuringly. “I will help heal you as well should, you know. Malcor has suffered far worse wounds in the past few days than losing a limb. Without him, you, or I, or any of us would have taken those wounds and perhaps died long before reaching this point.”
Sako added, “Think of the treasure and fame Jaga! It will be all you as the fearless and brave leader and his adventurers who saved Ori!”
Jaga seemed caught in indecision and his eyes darted from their eyes to the hole in the door. “I…”
“Jaga,” Malcor said. “I will come back to Ori with you and tell everyone of your heroic exploits.”
“I, uh, okay, but give me a second.” Jaga flexed his left hand and paced. He rubbed his fingers together and stared at his hand compulsively. “You guys better get ready because once I do this, I’m either going to die or the door will open. Give me some space and be ready.” He started hyperventilating and his pacing became a bit more frantic. He uncorked a small potion flask, "Sake,” he said and swallowed the small mouthful. “I was saving it for something special. Kanpai!”
The others made ready. Jaga appeared to work himself into a frenzy and then screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran at the door. He hesitated and slowed as he went to shove his hand in the door. The others cried out their encouragement, and at the last moment, Noboyuki shoved Jaga’s hand into the space. Jaga’s scream became a shriek and his entire body froze. Everyone waited while beads of sweat rolled down Jaga’s body for something to happen. But when moments turned into enough time that Jaga exhaled and then took a shakey breath, everyone relaxed.
“I feel a gear wheel of some kind,” Jaga said. “I really want to take my hand out now. I think I should turn the wheel?” Everyone nodded and he flinched antici
pating the worst as he strained to move the gear. Somewhere in the door, a counterweight creaked and then thudded. At the creak and noise, Jaga ripped his hand out of the space and fell back behind Noboyuki’s armor. Pale and sweating, he downed the rest of his sake.
Another groaning noise and then chains began clattering. Then they stopped. After a tense moment, a massive counterweight dropped and they felt the thud in the ground. Slowly, ponderously, the golden seal began rotating open. “The trap was to make us think there was a trap?” Malcor speculated. He walked up to the edge as an outline of light appeared.
It took several minutes for the door to move enough for Malcor to see. What he saw confused him. “I see a room full of treasure, more wealth than I have ever seen before. Enough to fill the Fountain of Dragons! There is also an ogre? He is stumbling across the floor with gold ore and coins slowing him down. He seems hypnotized. There is a mound of treasure blocking what he is walking towards, but whatever it is, it is shining with a weird green light.”
As Malcor said that, Tembri pulled him back. “That’s the wand. I know it. I can feel it. That's the evil I felt. We must be on guard. This entire thing just became a thousand times more dangerous.”
The Imperics looked at them both and Malcor said, “Wand? Why would a wand matter? You talk like I know, but I don’t.”
Tembri sighed remembering that Malcor had a character to play here. “Malcor, every Tanian knows about the Jade God right? Tania came here, I came here in case the Jade God tries to capture the lich. When things like this happen, somehow the Jade God’s wand, a physical token of his necromantic power always, always seems to appear. If you look at it, it will take possession of you forever. If you touch it, you are dead. If it touches you, you are dead. If the wand feels threatened, it can attack and by itself is as strong as one of that God’s hellhounds.”
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