The Wizardry Quested

by Rick Cook

  That was proof enough even for zombies. As one they turned away from the drones and ran for the City of Night.

  It was already too late.

  The dragon cavalry of the League had trickled south under a cloaking spell, giving wide berth to the City of Night. Now they swept in around the volcano and over the City of Night on its slopes. Wing on wing of dragons soared above the Enemy’s city and strafed anything that moved on the ground with bursts of dragon fire. The Enemy’s aeries were empty and no dragons rose to oppose them. The zombies that trickled south from the decoy missions arrived in dribs and drabs and were easily burned from the air by dragon fire.

  ###

  The great hall was not merely full, it was jammed. The eight wizards who would send the storming party on its way were pushed back against the wall by the crush. Besides a twenty-foot dragon, most of the castle guard was mustered, armed and ready, and another dozen or so wizards were scattered among them. Mick Gilligan was toward the center with his new pistol. Taking up half the space was a knot of one hundred twenty-seven dwarves gathered close around their king and as far from the dragon as they could manage.

  ###

  Kuznetzov and Vasily came pushing through the crush to stand next to Gilligan. From somewhere the Russians had come up with powder blue berets, striped jerseys and fatigues in a pattern of camouflage that Mick found just a little disconcerting.

  “Brings back old memories, eh?” Kuznetzov said as they positioned themselves.

  Around them the wizards raised their staffs and began to chant.

  ###

  The Colt had sunk quickly, leaving only a small oil slick behind. Charlie had managed to launch the life raft before the plane disappeared, but with the zombie air force overhead Charlie had hidden under it rather than riding in it. The undead riders had made pass after pass on the bright yellow raft, tearing it to waterlogged shreds with their arrows. Then, as one, they had wheeled and headed south, leaving Charlie alone in the water.

  As the last of the Enemy dragons disappeared into the clouds, Charlie inflated his life jacket and surveyed his situation. He was hundreds of miles from land and already the chill of the water was starting to creep through his exposure suit. He had no food, no radio and nothing with which to call for help.

  “Son,” he said to the empty ocean. “It don’t get any more sporty than this.”

  Then he saw dorsal fins slicing toward him.

  Twenty-Seven

  Sneak Attack

  The whole purpose of the operation was simply to distract the Enemy for just this instant. Distraction enough so it wouldn’t notice that Moira was arriving with company. Or what that company was carrying.

  Although the Enemy was naturally multi-tasking, each new assault had spread it thinner and thinner. From the very beginning Watchers had been scrutinizing parts of it, judging its reactions, looking for signs of slowdown and confusion. When they came, when Bal-Simba judged the time was right, a dozen wizards struck against the Enemy’s defenses to push the attackers through.

  They were in an enormous echoing room in total darkness. Glow lights floated up from a dozen wizards simultaneously and the group realized they were standing in a gigantic limestone cavern. Even with a dozen lights the illumination barely reached to the edges of the room and threw eerie shadows into the parts it didn’t quite penetrate.

  According to plan the group divided up. Following separate magic detectors, Moira, Bal-Simba and half the guardsmen went one way, Jerry, Taj, the Russians and the rest of the guards went another. The dwarves formed into a column and marched off in their own direction.

  “How do you think they will do?” Jerry asked the guardsman nearest him as they looked after the dwarves.

  The man rubbed his chin where his chain mail coif met his jawline. “Either turn and run at the first opportunity or break off and start looting.”

  “Well then?”

  The guardsman shrugged. “So we send them off independent. Can’t hurt, should draw some of the Enemy off us.” He paused, considering. “They may even do some damage.”

  “I still don’t like this,” Taj said to Jerry as the other parties moved off.

  “Neither do we, but we don’t have much time to search. This way we have a better chance of finding either Moira’s body or Wiz and his group before the Enemy can seriously oppose us.”

  “Besides,” Kuznetzov said, “this will confuse Dushmann. If we move quickly,” he added significantly.

  Jerry took the hint, checked his horning crystal and ordered his group to move out down a side passage

  ###

  “Sharp lookout now,” Tosig Longbeard commanded. “And mind those side rooms. They might have something in them.”

  As the humans scattered in response to their magic detectors, the dwarves worked through the dungeons more methodically, checking each room and nook for valuables. Thus they moved more slowly and were closer to the arrival point when the Enemy’s first counterattack struck.

  “Something’s coming,” Durgrim told his King.

  “Sound the recall,” Tosig ordered and looked around him.

  It wasn’t an ideal situation. Rather than being in a snug tunnel, the dwarves were in another large room where the Enemy could come at them from all sides.

  “Light,” the dwarf king commanded, and the blackness of the cavern gave way to the twilight gloom dwarves prefer to daylight.

  As the last of the dwarves scurried back to the safety of their fellows, Tosig’s breath caught in his throat. From all sides ragged lines of shambling, twitching undead warriors were converging on the little band of dwarves.

  Against human foes it might have worked. But dwarves are tougher than mortals and bonny fighters beside.

  “Steady the shield wall,” Tosig bellowed. “Here they come.”

  As if by instinct, the dwarves crowded into a tight circle two-deep in the middle of the cavern. Those in front dropped to one knee with their round shields before them. The rear rank shrugged their shields off their arms and stood behind the protection of their comrades’ shield wall with both hands on their axe shafts.

  Heedless of their opponent’s new formation, the undead charged. There was no sound save the scuffling of feet on the cavern floor and the breathing of the dwarves. Soundlessly the zombies lurched forward and soundlessly they struck.

  Then the cavern erupted in the clamor of steel on steel and dwarven battle cries as the undead warriors hit the one-hundred-twenty-eight-dwarf Cuisinart.

  The zombies might be already dead and hence unkillable, but there are certain practical problems in attacking when one’s arms have been lopped off at the shoulder or one’s head is rolling across the floor. Further, zombies’ muscle control is notoriously poor and this handicaps them in hand-to-hand combat.

  The first rank of dwarves was safe, crouched beneath their shields. The second could swing their axes with full force, protected yet unencumbered. About the only weapons that could reach over the shield wall to strike the axe bearers were spears and halberds. But as soon as a polearm extended over the shield wall, the shield dwarves would reach up with their axes and hook it, immobilizing weapon and wielder and leaving both open to a counter-stroke by the axe dwarves.

  Not that it stopped the zombies. Whole or hacked up they continued to come on in deathly silence, pulling themselves forward to the attack with whatever limbs they had left. Again and again they pressed forward and again and again they were cut into ever-smaller pieces.

  Finally, when the last zombie had been chopped into pieces too small to be dangerous, the attack stopped.

  Tosig Longbeard peered into the darkness, seeking other foes. He was breathing heavily and the gold crown upon his helm was battered and scarred. Already those warriors with healing skills were tending to their comrades’ wounds.

  “Casualties?” He did not turn to look at his men.

  “Six wounded,” Durgrim told him. “Four will be able to walk once the Healers finish with them. Two
we must carry.”

  “Well enough then. Anything else about?”

  “Nothing I can sense.”

  The dwarf long hawked and spat upon the still-quivering flesh of their late foes. “Pfagh! Animated corpses. These humans become ever more troublesome.”

  His second-in-command gestured at the pile of bodies strewn about them. “Human these were. Yet I am unconvinced a human animated them. The magic was wrong.”

  Tosig rubbed his chin. “This is a matter to be thought upon. Meanwhile,” his voice rose so all his troop could hear, “stand up and prepare to march! But carefully now. We know not what else we may find in this place.”

  ###

  The magic detector tuned to Wiz led Jerry, Taj and his group down a side passage, through a series of natural caverns and finally to an iron-bound oak door that led off the side of a tunnel.

  Jerry pressed his ear to the door and listened.

  The wizard behind him, a young man named Elias, checked the magic detector around his neck. “There is nothing in there.”

  “Yeah?” Jerry hissed. “Well, that ‘nothing’ is breathing awfully heavy.” Elias frowned and tapped his detector on his palm.

  Keeping his back to the wall, Jerry reached out and pushed on the door. It creaked, but it swung open smoothly, showing only darkness beyond. Now they could all hear the hoarse, heavy breathing.

  “What do you think it is?” Taj whispered.

  “I dunno,” Jerry whispered back, “but it’s cloaked, shielded and probably nasty.”

  Taj regarded the door. “So, do we go in or not?”

  “It would be better if we sent something in ahead of us.” He brightened. “And I’ve got just the thing.”

  A quick call for an Emac, a muttered spell and suddenly there was a fuzzy pink mechanical rabbit standing before them. The rabbit was wearing dark glasses and carrying a bass drum. But he also had a boonie rag tied around his head and an awesomely wicked looking weapon slung across his back. The rabbit did a quick half-turn to orient himself and marched into the dark room, beating the drum.

  Four beats later, the drum was drowned out by the roars, growls, snarls and liquid sucking sounds coming from the room. Then the corridor echoed and rang with gunfire and explosions until the Watchers clapped their hands over their ears to save their hearing.

  Then there was silence. After a few seconds the pink mechanical rabbit appeared out of the smoke. He blew the smoke from the barrel of his weapon, slung it back on his back, adjusted his drum and marched off down the corridor, beating his drum.

  A quick peek around the corner showed there was nothing left alive in the room, although there were enough miscellaneous body parts to stock a good-sized zoo—or a terrific nightmare.

  “Jeez,” said Taj, as he stepped over something that might have been a tentacle and avoided a taloned foot that was still twitching, “what do you suppose this thing was?”

  Jerry looked around. “As a friend of mine likes to say, never ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to. Now come on. Let’s see if we can find the others.”

  ###

  Well, you wanted to die a fucking hero, Charlie thought. Somehow his definition of a hero’s death had never included being eaten alive by sharks. He could just give up, exhale and sink beneath the water, but natural orneriness in him kept him from taking the easy way out.

  Damn! Why couldn’t he have gone down with his plane? At least I won’t end up a zombie.

  The fins drew nearer and Charlie braced himself for what must come. Closer and closer they scythed until he could see the wet sheen on the black flesh of the fins and the smooth ripple of water before them. Barely two yards from him the nearest fin disappeared beneath the waves and Charlie gasped in anticipation.

  Something broke water in front of him. After a second he opened his eyes to find himself facing a very unsharklike snout with the mouth pulled back in a toothy grin.

  “Hello,” the dolphin squeaked. Behind the first one, two other dolphins had their heads out of the water.

  Charlie goggled. It’s a damn good thing I’m already wet, was his mad first thought. Then he laughed in pure relief.

  “Go home?” squeaked the dolphin. “Go home now?”

  Charlie doubled over laughing and got a nose full of water. He choked and sputtered and the dolphins moved in to support him under the arms.

  “Goddamn. You guys are Air-Sea Rescue, right?”

  “Go home,” the dolphin repeated.

  “Okay, son, just lead the way.”

  Supported and pushed along by the dolphins, Charlie headed north, toward the lands of man.

  “Hey, do any of you boys know . . .” He started to sing. “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition . . .”

  None of the dolphins did of course, but they were apt pupils and not in the least put off by Charlies cracked baritone. By the end of the first mile they had joined in with their mosquito-buzz voices.

  “. . . praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,

  And we’ll allll stayyy freeee.”

  ###

  The Executioner’s rock ledges were narrow and slippery and the zombies were clumsy. The second dragon misjudged the landing and was swept into the boiling sea before it could correct. Karin saw a dead man’s head and a dead dragon’s wingtip break the surface before being sucked under the foam. The other undead did not seem to notice.

  They couldn’t stay here. The rock was so small it would be the work of moments for the zombies to sniff out their cave. Once that happened they could be cooked by dragon fire in their lair. But there was no way to get airborne without being incinerated either.

  “Do you have any magic for this?” Karin whispered. Senta shook her head.

  Karin nodded and pulled her sword from its scabbard on Stigi’s saddle. Senta did likewise.

  Karin reached up and took Stigi’s bridle. As quietly as she could, she turned the dragon around until he was facing out of the crevasse toward the zombies. Senta brought her dragon around. By jockeying and shifting the riders were able to get the dragons squeezed in side by side almost lying on each other but facing out the same way.

  “Stigi,” Karin whispered as the first zombies came into view, “fire.”

  Stigi needed no encouragement. A gout of flame swept down the ravine, incinerating the first of the undead dragon riders. As Stigi reached the end of his breath, Senta’s dragon released his flame, causing Karin to avert her head and Stigi to bridle under the heat.

  Twice more the dragons breathed fire turn and turnabout and twice more zombies charred, burned and fell backwards into the foaming sea.

  But it was a temporary victory and both of them knew it. As soon as the zombies got dragons aloft they would be incinerated in turn by dragon fire from the skies. Indeed, as Karin watched, one of the zombie dragons launched off the rock and flew low out over the ocean, wings beating to gain altitude.

  A tentacle lashed out of the water and swept dragon and rider into the sea.

  Another tentacle swept the cliff knocking another dragon and two more zombies into the water. Then another tentacle and another and another lashed onto the shore, seizing dragon and rider alike and sweeping them beneath the foam.

  “Kraken!” Karin hissed. “Keep still!”

  As the living dragons and their riders pressed back into the crevasse a forest of tentacles lashed from the sea and swept over the island, tapping, probing, searching for prey. The zombies did not scream as they were picked off the rock and dragged beneath the water. Their dragons did not roar. But one by one they were all taken as food for the monster of the reef.

  Still the tentacles swept on, feeling for more. Several of them explored the crack where Karin and Senta hid and one of them came so far in that it actually touched Karin.

  It took all her will to keep from flinching when the tip of a slimy tentacle brushed across her boot. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip until she tasted blood to keep from whimpering aloud at the creature’s
foul touch. In the part of her mind that could still function all she could think of was Mick.

  The tentacle passed on and withdrew down the crevasse. There were a few more tentative stirrings and then everything was still, save for the waves and the sea.

  At last Karin dared to breathe again and she and Senta looked at each other across their dragons’ backs.

  “Fortuna,” Senta breathed. “Let us be gone from here before something else happens.”

  Karin could only nod.

  ###

  In spite of the glow lamp the tunnel ahead was dark, as if something was dimming the light. Taj started forward, but Jerry held him back. “Wait a minute. I don’t like the looks of this.”

  “Bunny time?”

  Jerry nodded and spoke the spell. First the Emac appeared and then the pink fuzzy mechanical rabbit, drum at the ready and gun slung across its back, obscuring its battery. The decoy spun mechanically and then marched down the corridor beating its drum. It had barely crossed the threshold when it disappeared in a blinding blue-green flash. Before the Watchers recovered two more energy bolts smashed into the rocks over their head triggering an avalanche.

  Jerry gestured frantically and the rocks seemed to bounce off an invisible shield to pile up and block the tunnel before them. Even after the rocks stopped falling the dust stayed impenetrably thick in the air, converting the humans to shadowy outlines.

  The big programmer coughed and spat out a mouthful of dirt.

  “Didn’t work,” he said unnecessarily.

  “These things learn fast,” Taj said. “That’s probably built into their programs because it’s a survival characteristic. I don’t think we’d better use the same spell twice.”