by James Wisher
Thin lips pursed as she concentrated. Mistress Lenore had the gift, or curse, depending on who you asked, of never forgetting anything. She had a soul force so weak she barely qualified as a sorcerer, but her perfect memory made her an ideal librarian. She could find any book in the place in moments and summarize the contents for you.
“Connor liked anything to do with demons. But his real obsession was the Mad King and the haunted lands. We don’t have much information on them, but he read all of it, more than once according to the records. In fact, he read one history seven times over the course of two years.”
“He read these books when he was a student?” Ann asked.
Mistress Lenore glared at Ann. It didn’t look like they got along. That surprised Damien as he thought Ann was liked by everyone. “Yes, and several times after he passed his final test. He’d visit every time he came back from patrol. I saw him myself right after I assumed my post and just before he disappeared. It’s like he needed to read them every so often.”
“Can you show us?” Damien asked.
Her expression softened. “Of course, but I’ll warn you, this isn’t pleasant reading. Some of the things the Mad King did…” She shuddered.
Mistress Lenore led them around the library, collecting books as they went. Several students reading at the scattered desks looked up as the little group walked by, their gazes lingering on Ann who reveled in the attention. Damien smiled. Some things really did never change.
When they’d collected fifteen thick leather-bound books he thanked Mistress Lenore and he and Ann settled in at an empty table. “Did you ever meet him?” Damien asked.
“Who?”
“Connor.”
“No, he arrived after I passed my test and had begun field work and he had already left when I returned to teach.”
Damien knew they had to hurry, but curiosity got the best of him. “How come you’re not still in the field? You’re young, beautiful, strong. I don’t know how the masters could design a better field sorcerer.”
She patted his hand, but her smile seemed sad. “You’re sweet. I do have all those things you mentioned, but I discovered I lacked something important: the will to use my power in battle. I just didn’t have it in me to kill my opponents. In the field, that inability almost resulted in my master’s death and mine along with him. We were tracking down a rogue sorcerer. I hesitated in battle. She blasted my master and escaped. I healed him, but it became clear to me I was nothing but a liability in a real fight. I had all the necessary skills so Thomas accepted my request to teach. I find it suits me much better.”
Damien nodded. Teaching did suit her. She had a knack for explaining things so others understood. If she couldn’t do what she had to, staying out of the field made sense. He grabbed the first book in the pile, a bestiary describing the most common varieties of demon, and started reading.
An hour later Damien rubbed his eyes. Who would have thought you could fill an inch-thick book with demon varieties? From the sounds of it a demon could inhabit any host, but they preferred vicious creatures with fangs and claws. You could put a demon spirit into a bunny, but the demon wouldn’t have much to work with in terms of natural weapons.
“Please tell me you found something interesting.”
Ann shook her head. “A book full of nasty blood rituals. Heaven’s mercy! Who goes looking for stuff like this?”
“A warlock in the making, I guess. Someone should write down the names of everyone that reads these books. We’d be halfway to figuring out who to keep an eye on.”
“A little late now.”
“A lot late now, but maybe we can spot the next Connor Blackman before he moves past research.”
Chapter 4
Connor Blackman wrapped himself in an invisibility shield and flew into the cold morning sky. He sent a silent prayer to the Horned One that Mikhail didn’t destroy anything in his library or kill anyone with important information. The more he saw of the former merchant the more he feared Morana had been right to warn him away from the stupid young man. Unfortunately, Connor had invested too much time and power in creating the black knight to simply toss him away and start over. Phase two of his plan would begin in earnest within weeks if not days and Connor simply didn’t have time to make a new servant.
Connor flew east toward the Barrier Mountains. His base was only a half hour’s flight from the steep mountain range and when he reached them he stopped and hovered, gathering himself for his second great trial. The tall, jagged peaks marked the eastern border of the kingdom. On the far side lay the haunted lands, a blasted land crawling with demons and undead. Unless you could fly over the mountains, the only way to travel between the kingdom and the haunted lands was a single, narrow pass. On the kingdom side the Order of the Shield, the largest order of paladins in the kingdom, had built a massive citadel.
How he despised the holy warriors. Each of them was bonded to an angel, gaining its power and skill. They were powerful enemies, but arrogant and overconfident. No one had challenged them in many years and they believed no one could. Connor would set them straight in due time.
The order had been formed three hundred and fifty years ago when explorers first discovered the haunted lands. The leader of the order pronounced the reclamation of the haunted lands his group’s reason for existing. The more practical members decided the first item of business was stopping the undead from wandering through the pass and into the newly formed kingdom. The citadel took five years to build, but when they’d finished, combined with the paladins’ holy power, it formed an impenetrable barrier.
Connor grimaced and focused on his mission. He surrounded himself with a crackling barrier of dark energy that should protect him from the worst of the life-draining effects of the haunted lands. For the truth was, the haunted lands were an annex of hell on earth. The living, even a warlock like Connor, had no place there. At least he needed no food or drink like a mere mortal.
The moment he passed across to the far side of the mountains, a familiar, crushing power gripped Connor with an iron fist. He pushed more power into his shield and snarled away the pain. It was nothing compared to the first time he visited the grim locale years ago as a simple sorcerer. He’d feared just crossing the border that first time would kill him instantly. It didn’t and he gained the first and most precious of his artifacts.
He touched the bronze amulet that hung around his neck under his blood-red tunic. If he was right that amulet was the key to everything. If he’d miscalculated Connor would most likely die in the haunted lands, his soul consumed by the Horned One for his ignorance.
Below him the bleakest environment imaginable sped by. No spark of life appeared anywhere in the gray wasteland. Here and there a shambling zombie or a darting, ravenous ghoul broke the otherwise empty landscape. The zombies ignored Connor as he flew over their heads, but the clever ghouls turned hungry gazes toward the meat above them.
He didn’t fear the minor undead; none of them would last an instant longer than he wished. The danger lay with the sort of creature a display of his power might attract. Far mightier and more fearsome things lurked in the wastes than zombies.
Forty-five minutes from the mountains Connor caught sight of the first sign that anyone had once called this land home. A flat-topped, step-sided stone pyramid thrust up from the gray sand. On the top the ancients had built an altar. The Horned One alone knew how many sacrifices that altar had accepted. This was what Connor had flown so far to find. Others had visited the pyramid, warlocks of the old cult, men and women slain long before Connor’s birth. Most considered them madmen and lunatics, but Connor honored them in his heart as his forebears. Everything he’d accomplished he owed to their early efforts. Unlike those pioneers, he didn’t intend to fail.
Connor landed beside the towering pyramid. It rose at least two hundred feet into the air. Unlike stone structures in the kingdom, no sorcerer had fused the stone blocks together. Thin lines showed where the blocks fit. The f
ew scribblings he’d found indicated the final pyramids had been constructed in a hurry.
Connor raised a reverent hand and laid it on the polished stone. A hint of corruption flowed into him. Such power, and it constituted only the barest taste of what waited inside. Connor sent a stream of soul force into the stone, seeking the door. He found it in moments. An ancient ward kept the temple sealed against casual visitors. His power interacted with the ward. Black flames outlined the entrance thirty feet to his left. Massive stone blocks slid inward and to the right, revealing a black tunnel running straight towards the interior of the pyramid.
He stood looking into the darkness, savoring the moment. Years of study and research had led to this and Connor wanted to enjoy it.
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared ten feet above the ground, cutting his savoring short. Power gathered around those eyes and crimson flames flickered to life revealing the massive form of the guardian demon. Ridged plates covered a massive humanoid shape, but darkness obscured most of the details. Connor had expected to meet the monster in the heart of the pyramid, but it must have sensed his power and come hunting. Better to have his first test sooner than later.
Chapter 5
Connor drew deep from the black pit that sat at the core of his body. Once, a golden sphere of energy as pure as the sun filled his core, but now it had been replaced by a tiny fragment of the Horned One’s own corrupt soul. Dark power, dense beyond the comprehension of mortal sorcerers, was his to command. That it had transformed him into something other than human was a small price to pay. With that power Connor could shatter castles, lay waste to whole villages. The question now was, could he dominate the demon blocking his path deeper into the pyramid?
Time to find out.
A river of black flames poured from Connor’s raised hands. The flames struck a deep red barrier and were pushed back. In the sanguine light Connor got his first good look at the creature that opposed him. Curved tusks grew from a distended jaw filled with jagged teeth. Red eyes glowed in a porcine face. Massive legs covered in bristly hair ended in cloven hooves. Behind it bat wings obscured everything deeper in the pyramid and a lashing tail tipped with a mass of spiked bone twitched from side to side.
The demon roared and red flames pushed Connor’s dark fire further back. He sent more power into his attack. This would be so much easier if he could simply kill the guardian. Unfortunately, the demon’s life-force was inextricably bound to the pyramid. If Connor killed the guardian the pyramid would collapse, burying the secrets he hoped to collect.
No, he needed to bind the demon, force it to submit to his superior power. Connor conjured a pair of black, clawed hands and had them clutch the demon.
It snarled and shrugged massive shoulders. The constructs shattered into so many black sparks.
The demon threw its head back then forward. A torrent of red flames spewed at Connor. He fell flat. Heat and vileness seared his back. Though he now possessed demonic soul force his body still retained some of its human frailties, and hellfire destroyed his flesh the way it did anything else it encountered.
Connor didn’t know if he could win going blast for blast with the guardian. His eyes narrowed as he studied it. A crimson cord of power ran from its back deeper into the pyramid. That cord represented the link that bound the demon to the pyramid.
He rolled right. Another blast of hellfire narrowly missed turning Connor to ash.
The creature drew power from the pyramid, augmenting its already formidable strength. Worse, Connor couldn’t sever the link without destroying the very thing he sought to explore.
Connor hammered the demon with a blast of dark fire, forcing it back a pace. The warlock scrambled to his feet. If he couldn’t sever the connection maybe he could block it.
Before the demon regained its balance, Connor slammed a barrier into the cord, blocking the flow of power. Instantly the demon shrank by half. Its massive frame withered and it roared in pain. Not wanting to give it a moment to recover, Connor conjured black chains, binding the demon from neck to ankles. He poured almost all his power into the construct. The guardian tried to shatter it.
Connor held his breath. If the chains broke he had nothing left to continue the fight.
Strain and struggle as he might, the demon couldn’t escape in its reduced form. Connor let out the breath he’d been holding. He’d won. For now at least.
He had to make sure the demon didn’t escape until he finished his search. He sent a stream of energy to maintain the rapidly deteriorating block and a second to maintain the chains. That left him with only a trickle to replenish his almost empty core.
He grimaced. If there were more guardians he’d be in bad shape to fight, though it didn’t really matter. If the binding failed the demon would finish him. Anything beyond that remained speculation and he’d deal with it when it became fact.
Connor waved his hand and the demon slammed into the left side of the tunnel. It let out a guttural snarl as Connor walked past.
The warlock paused. “We serve the same master. Fighting amongst ourselves benefits no one.”
The demon shook and after a moment Connor realized the monster was laughing. “Stupid human. Fighting, killing, consuming: it’s what we do. What we are. Demons have no allies. Only those more powerful that we serve to avoid being devoured and those weaker that we destroy to grow stronger. That is our essence. The pure meaning of being a demon.”
Connor nodded, absently clenching his fist and tightening the bindings around the demon, drawing a snarl of pain. What the guardian said was true and it explained why the princes of hell, like his master, sought mortal agents. Humans understood what it meant to have allies and how to work with others. Demons would never be more than slave soldiers, constantly seeking enough power to challenge their master and take his place.
Though he desired ever greater power and immortality, Connor had no interest in taking the Horned One’s place. No being in all existence had more enemies than a prince of hell. Better to stay in the mighty one’s shadow. Accumulate power by providing good service. If the time came that the Horned One fell from his throne, Connor would offer his services to whoever took the master’s place or, failing that, flee.
The ambitious sought mastery over all, but the wise sought survival above all.
Chapter 6
Damien closed another book. They’d been at it for five days and only three books remained in the unread stack. He now knew more about demons, warlocks, and cults than he ever wanted to and he remained no closer to finding Connor’s hiding place. The only things the books had in common were demons and the haunted lands, and he doubted even a warlock would try hiding in that undead-filled wasteland.
He ran a hand through his hair. They were almost done. He just had to buckle down and finish up.
The library seemed even quieter than usual; the soft rustle of pages being turned or the tapping of students’ shoes on the hard floor no longer filled the silence. They had the whole place to themselves, aside from Mistress Lenore. The library had the hollow, lifeless feeling of a tomb. Damien shook his head. That was the books talking. Spending fourteen hours a day reading about the worst of humanity could put a man in a dark mood.
Ann slid closer to him on the bench, pressing her hip against his. Damien inched away and she slid over again until they were touching.
Damien smiled. She played this game every time he showed signs of flagging and he loved her for it. He slipped his hand under the table and squeezed her bare knee. She flinched and slid back to her side of the bench. He’d discovered that, despite her flirtatious nature, if he showed any interest she backed off at once. Apparently she only enjoyed the game if he didn’t want to play. Knowing that made it even more fun to tease her back.
“Find anything interesting?” he asked.
“Does the fact that some people are every bit as awful as the worst demon count?”
“No, I already knew that. I was thinking about something that might give us
a hint where Connor is hiding.”
“I can’t help you with that. Is there any way to unread all this horror? I never dreamed such awful books existed much less waited for anyone interested to find in our library.”
Damien slid closer to her and put his arm around her.It seemed that, that despite her provocative dress and manner, Ann remained quite innocent about just how terrible the world could be. He felt a little bad about giving her a crash course.
“You’ve been a huge help, you know. What do you say we finish these last three books then head over to the Dancing Pony. I’ll buy you that chocolate cake you like and we can split a bottle of good red wine.”
She smiled, though her eyes still looked sad. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Then it’s a date.” He kissed her on the cheek.
Ann’s face turned red and he forced himself not to grin. Teasing was kind of fun. He understood why she enjoyed it so much.
Chapter 7
Damien woke up in his old spartan room relieved not to have a headache. Ann had drunk more than her share of the wine the night before, saving him a hangover. He feared she wouldn’t be so fortunate. She’d fallen asleep halfway through the flight back to The Tower and he’d had to carry her up to her room and tuck her in. If she rolled out of bed before noon Damien would be surprised.
For his part Damien was eager to track down Connor’s yearmates and see what they had to say. In all honesty he’d welcome anything other than reading in the library. If he didn’t set foot in the place for a year it would suit him just fine.
Damien took his time with his workout, adding half an hour of meditation before heading downstairs to the dining hall. Jaden’s father had devised a new spice blend for his breakfast potatoes and Damien couldn’t get enough of them. He pushed through the swinging doors and found a line waiting. The scent of rosemary and sage filled the room and set his mouth to watering. It appeared Damien wasn’t the only one who liked the new spices. This was the first time he could remember getting to the hall and not being the first to arrive.