by Peter Last
“No, I just have a head for directions,” the first one said. “We were here about half an hour ago.”
“And no doubt you wouldn't have brought it up unless you thought it would be helpful,” Lemin said. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“There used to be a four-way intersection right here, but now it only turns right,” the magician said.
“So what, another illusion?” Timothy asked.
“I don't think so,” Lemin answered. “I haven't felt anything, and it's been hours. Molkekk may be able to hide spells, but not for this long.”
“So, moving walls maybe?” the orc magician asked.
“It's possible,” Lemin agreed. “Let's try this one right here.”
Bringing his palms together and thrusting them outward, he cast a spell at the wall directly in front of the group. In a shower of stone fragments, it burst inward to reveal a hidden passage.
“Which way do we want to go?” Lemin asked the first magician who had spoken.
“Straight, I think,” the magician answered.
Lemin stepped through the destroyed barrier and walked straight ahead. It was another twenty feet before he blasted through another wall. The hall here led straight to a door which Lemin approached cautiously.
Vladimir moved to the front of the group and raised a large ward. With one swift motion he threw open the door and moved in. Timothy was immediately behind, close enough to be protected by the ward, and scanned the room as they moved quickly to the other side. The rest of the magicians fanned out behind them, searching for traps. After several tense moments, the room was determined to be safe, and they gathered near a door on the far side. Vladimir was set to lead the charge again with Timothy on his heels when suddenly there was a hiss, and the air began to stir.
“He’s piping air in!” one of the magician exclaimed. “It's sleeping...” He slumped sideways to the floor, followed quickly by the rest of the squad. Vladimir cast a ward over his mouth and nose while Timothy yanked him bodily through the door and slammed it with a resounding thud.
“Are you alright?” Vladimir asked, but Timothy could barely make out the words. He was feeling woozy and extremely tired. The spores were already in his lungs and beginning to work on him. If he didn't purge now, he would pass out. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Timothy cast a ward on himself, followed quickly by a fire spell. The magic started in his lungs, burning the spores there before sweeping up his throat and out his mouth and nose. Even with the ward, the cleansing was excruciatingly painful.
“Protect yourself,” he rasped through parched lips. Vladimir expanded his ward to surround his whole body, and Timothy shot fire through the space around them, burning the spores that lingered there. In a matter of seconds, the air was clean.
“You can drop your shield now,” Timothy said. “Are you alright?”
Vladimir nodded and slid down the wall to a sitting position. He regarded Timothy with a look of defeat.
“What are we doing?” he said. “We're just two kids. There's no way we can defeat Molkekk.”
“That's just the spells talking,” Timothy said. Already he could feel the hopelessness of the situation settling on him.
“I can tell the difference between spell-induced fear and the real thing,” Vladimir argued. “Think about it. We've been stymied at every turn by this tower.”
“Not so,” Timothy interrupted, speaking to convince himself as well as his friend. “We've come this far, and we will continue forward.”
“We made it this far, but our friends have all fallen prey to a trap,” Vladimir said. “If it were Lemin and someone else more experienced than us, they might have a chance, but we're more apprentices than magicians.”
“You’re selling yourself short, Vladimir,” Timothy said. “We may be young, but we’re more than apprentices, or they wouldn’t have allowed us on this mission. And I certainly wouldn’t have been put in charge of it.”
“Why were you put in charge?” Vladimir asked, his panic suddenly pushed to the background. His naturally curious nature couldn’t ignore the obvious breach in logic. “Why take one of the two most inexperienced magicians and put him in charge of any operation, much less this one?”
“I don’t know,” Timothy answered. “Lemin was the one who recruited us for this mission and put me in charge. Either he trusts me a lot more than I trust myself, or he knows something I don’t. He believes in us much more than I would, but he’s the one with all the experience. Maybe we should trust him on this.”
“But we’re just…us,” Vladimir said. “Lemin may think we’re strong, but I don’t see it.”
“Maybe that's the point,” Timothy said. “Elohim said that in our weakness He is made strong, that He uses the weak to confound the strong. We'll find a way to do this; I'm confident of it.”
“If you say so,” Vladimir said.
“Not just because I say so,” Timothy said. “You need to believe that it’s true.”
“I'll try,” Vladimir said. “Elohim hasn't let us down yet.”
“You're right,” Timothy agreed. “Now take my hand, and let's finish this thing.”
Vladimir grabbed his friend's outstretched hand and allowed himself to be hoisted up.
“Well, there's a closed door behind us, so I guess the only direction is forward,” Timothy said.
“Let's do it,” Vladimir agreed, and together the two friends journeyed further into the bowels of Molkekk's tower.
******
Timothy and Vladimir stood just outside the doorway before them, staring into the room beyond. Time was deceptively slow in the tower, and it seemed as if they had been here for ages. The fatigue showed on their faces and in the way they held themselves. They clearly dreaded entering the next room which almost certainly contained another trap like the others they had already defeated.
“We're not going to make it through this next one,” Vladimir said matter-of-factly. It wasn't a depressing statement or one devoid of hope, but simply a statement of fact.
“All we have to do is outlast him,” Timothy said. “We can't go on forever, but neither can he. We just have to have more stamina.”
“He'll kill us before he tires out,” Vladimir countered. “We'll never get the chance to escape.”
“He might kill me, but not you,” Timothy said.
“What makes you say that?” Vladimir asked.
“Just call it a hunch,” Timothy answered. He turned to his friend and saw the look of confusion on his face. “You seriously haven't noticed?”
Vladimir shook his head, so Timothy gestured to his chest and arms. Scratches and gashes covered his armor, some of which had even penetrated deep enough to injure him. Vladimir, on the other hand, had no injuries to speak of.
“What are you getting at?” Vladimir asked. He knew there was probably an important message behind Timothy's observation, but he was too mentally drained to determine what it was.
“Molkekk apparently has no qualms about injuring or killing me,” Timothy said. “Personally, I think I deserve more consideration than that, but apparently not. On the other hand, he hasn't raised a finger against you. He wants you alive for some reason, though what it might be I have no idea.”
“If you're implying what I think you are,” Vladimir began, but Timothy cut him off.
“I'm not implying anything. I know you're not with him, I'm simply pointing out the facts. It appears as though he doesn't want to kill you, which will give you the upper hand.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” Vladimir asked.
“Because I sense that one way or the other, this is going to end very soon,” Timothy answered.
“You think this will be the last trap?” Vladimir asked.
“I didn't say that, but I think we're nearing the end,” Timothy said.
“Well, then, let's not keep Molkekk waiting,” Vladimir said, appearing to get his second wind. “What do you think it's going to be like, meeting such a lege
ndary wizard face to face?”
“We'll find out when we get there,” Timothy said. “Let's take this one step at a time.”
“Fair enough,” Vladimir said. He raised a ward and stepped through the door, ready for anything.
Timothy followed immediately on Vladimir's heels, but as soon as he broke the plane of the room, the magician vanished from sight. In fact, everything seemed to disappear, and Timothy found himself staring into nothing. Then again, he would have expected “nothing” to be pitch black, so perhaps he was staring at everything.
White light so vibrant it almost blinded him surrounded every side. There were no floor, no walls, no ceiling, no texture, just white. He tried to walk, then to swim in every direction, but had the distinct feeling that nothing was happening. Then again, with nothing but the white to get his bearings by, he could have been moving at a hundred miles an hour, and he wouldn't know.
“So, magician, you're here at last, caught in my trap.”
The voice was disembodied and seemed to come from everywhere. Timothy knew it belonged to Molkekk and said nothing, hoping the wizard would leave him alone.
“You're a traitor, you know that?” Molkekk asked
“I'm just doing my job,” Timothy shot back.
“Are you now?” Molkekk taunted.
“I go where they go,” Timothy answered. “I didn't choose this place. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have come within a million miles of here.”
“And yet, you don't regret being here,” Molkekk said. “You relish the idea of what you might do.”
“Any chance I might possibly have to wipe you off the face of the earth is a pleasure,” Timothy said.
“Now, now, Timothy,” Molkekk chided. “Why would you say that to me? I may lose my patience and destroy you.”
“Why would you do that?” Timothy asked. “You already own me. I obey you; what more could you possibly want?”
“Your allegiance,” Molkekk answered. “Give up these dreams of Elohim rescuing you, helping you out of this. He's a joke. He couldn't even rescue a boy’s soul from being sold to the devil. How is he going to rescue you?”
“A boy?” Timothy said, perplexed.
“My little brother,” Molkekk all but bellowed.
“Your brother was sold to the devil?” Timothy said. “That sounds like something you would do. You sold him out, didn't you?”
“Of course I did,” Molkekk answered. “My brother trusted in Elohim, but he, the supposed all-mighty god, abandoned him just like he has abandoned you to me. There will be no help for you.”
“You already own me,” Timothy said. “Don't ask me to swear fealty when you know it'll be a lie.”
“Very well, then,” Molkekk said in a much more subdued voice. “But remember, we had a deal. You protect them, and I deliver on my promise. There is no more to the deal. Simply obeying in this will do nothing for you when Elohim is defeated. And know this: he will be defeated.”
“And you remember that it’s your city that’s occupied and it’s your tower which is infiltrated by the agents of Magessa,” Timothy said. “Your time is almost up whether you want to admit it or not.”
“You are welcome to your own delusions, of course,” Molkekk said. “All you need to do is protect them. That's your end of the deal.”
“Protect Lemin and Vladimir, I got it,” Timothy said. “You don't have to worry about me. I managed to keep them alive when your whole stupid dwarf army tried to annihilate us. I think I can handle whatever you've got in store this time.”
He turned his back, though it was a futile gesture since Molkekk's voice came from all directions.
“One more thing, Timothy,” the voice said. “If I die, the deal is off.”
Timothy felt a sudden flood of anger boil up inside of him. The deal was already off, he had discovered as much, though Molkekk didn't know that he knew. And if the deal was off, what was still tying him to the wizard? There was no reason to obey him, and Timothy had the sudden urge to disobey no matter the cost. What the wizard's plans were, Timothy had no idea, but they involved Lemin and Vladimir. It was too bad since both were good magicians, loyal to Magessa and Elohim. But Molkekk wanted them alive, so they would have to die. He would do it himself, Timothy decided, and he’d do it in front of the wizard as one last act of defiance.
The white began to fade, and Timothy was suddenly aware of hard ground pressing into his back, shoulder, and the side of his face. Someone was shaking him awake, and he could just barely make out the voice.
“Timothy, wake up,” Vladimir was saying.
Timothy cracked his eyelids enough to see the younger magician. The moment he saw Vladimir’s face, a sudden urge to be rid of him and break the pact with Molkekk permeated his being, but he pulled it back in check. Molkekk would have to see him die for this to work.
“I'm awake already,” Timothy growled. “You can stop thrashing me.” He slowly got to his feet, groaning at how stiff he was. “How long was I out?”
“A few minutes,” Vladimir answered. “I was worried for a bit, but now you're back and we've got bigger problems.”
“Such as?” Timothy sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. As he looked around, he finally understood what Vladimir was talking about. They were back in the room they had left hours ago, the one they had left the rest of the magicians in. Though the air appeared to be safe to breath once more, there was no movement from the others.
“Dead?” he asked.
“No,” Vladimir answered. “They're alive but unconscious. I can't get them to come around, no matter what I do.”
“Right,” Timothy said after a long moment. He rose to his feet and stretched. “Let's see what we can do about this.”
It took him less than thirty seconds to come to a conclusion.
“There’s a basic stasis spell covering all of them,” he told Vladimir.
“I know that,” Vladimir said. “I just haven't been able to pull them out of it, which is weird. Stasis spells are usually easy to break.”
“That's true, they usually are,” Timothy agreed; which meant something else was going on here. He cast a look around the room, trying to pierce the veil of magic surrounding them.
“What is it?” Vladimir asked.
“I don't know,” Timothy answered. “You work on taking down the spell, and I'll protect you in case anything goes wrong.”
“Wrong?” Vladimir asked. “Like how?”
“We're in Molkekk's tower,” Timothy answered. “You name it and it could go wrong.”
“Good point,” Vladimir said. After a moment of preparation, he began attacking the stasis spell while Timothy scanned the room again, searching for any signs of danger, either physical or magical. As he did so, he began to form a ward around his left arm, carefully taking his time with it. He didn't have the affinity for shields that Vladimir had and it certainly showed in the time it took for him to create them. For almost a minute, nothing changed. The presence of the stasis spell was as overbearing as ever, and Timothy's ward grew stronger, but aside from this there was no indication of any magic. Almost imperceptibly, the situation changed. There was a variation, a flutter, in the stasis spell; Vladimir was defeating it.
It happened so quickly that Timothy almost didn't see where they had originated from, but in an instant two spells shot across the room straight toward Vladimir. Timothy barely had enough time to step forward, deflecting the first spell to the left and catching the second full on his ward. The shield was overwhelmed and blinked out of existence as the spell detonated, spinning Timothy around and slamming him into the ground.
“You need to break the spell, Vladimir!” Timothy shouted over the ringing in his ears from the spell's explosion.
“I'm working on it,” Vladimir shouted back.
“Work on it faster!” Timothy said as he rose to his feet. He sent two fireballs, a concussion spell, and a lightning burst toward the spot where the spells had come from.
“This isn
't exactly an easy process,” Vladimir said. His eyes were closed now as he concentrated on the invisible magic.
“And getting blasted by magic is easy?” Timothy shot back. “Just hurry up before I get turned into a pile of ash!”
Timothy intercepted the next spell with one of his own, creating a shower of sparks that burned him as they landed. Dancing sideways around the room, he drew the magic attacks away from Vladimir, giving the younger magician some breathing space as he worked on the stasis spell. Why was it taking so long? How could the thing take so long to break?
“Got it!” Vladimir shouted, almost as soon as Timothy had the thoughts. A ward erected instantaneously in front of him, and he looked right to see Vladimir standing at his side, repelling the now constant attacks coming from the other side of the room.
“Let him have it,” Vladimir said in a strained voice as he maintained the shield.
With a nod, Timothy gathered himself and let loose the most stunning barrage of magical power he had ever produced. Non-stop spells of every destructive type flew from his fingers, pelting the other side of the room. Sometimes they disappeared into thin air, evidence that they had contacted the wizard concealed by the illusion spell. Other times they smashed into the stone walls, sending chips of masonry flying in all directions.
Timothy's attack was aided by the other magicians as they shook off the clinging remnants of the stasis spell. The trickle of magic added to the already existent deluge was so small that it was some time before Timothy noticed the effect. While his own attacks had simply held the wizard at bay and prevented him from retaliating, the full might of the magician squad swung the tide of the battle noticeably. A large number of attacks were hitting the target, the largest of which caused noticeable disruptions in the illusion spell hiding the wizard. Through the cracks and breaks, the figure of the wizard could be seen, the shimmering of a ward sometimes around him, sometimes absent.
A particularly large conglomeration of spells hit the wizard in a deafening explosion which shook the tower and rained dust and debris from the ceiling into the room. As the dust gradually cleared, the figure of the wizard appeared from the haze. Clearly his invisibility spell had been broken. Slowly his features came into view, and though many in the room recognized him, none dared to speak his name.