"Of course not. Beat them to the ground, let none survive who do not make it to the gates. Any who do, though, you do not touch and none of you are to enter the city!" He glanced in the direction of the enemy commander,who had not bothered much to wait for his men. "And make sure that he survives! He'll have much to tell them."
"Yes, warlord…" The Zako demon bowed once, then hesitated. "Not to enter the city? We leave Lut Gholein alone?"
"I want the armor! We will harass them, even do what we can to damage their defenses, but until I have the armor and the head of the one who dared keep it from me, the city will not be touched!" General Malevolyn- Warlord Malevolyn-smiled grimly. "I promised them an end to the battle, that Lut Gholein would not know peace until I had the armor. Once I have it, I will give to them exactly what I promised. A final end to the battle… and the peace of the grave."
Seventeen
"What's that sound?" Norrec asked, looking up from the pattern he had drawn in the sand.
Close to his side, Galeona shook her head. "I hear only thunder, my knight."
He rose, listening again. "Sounds like battle… from the direction of the city."
"Perhaps a celebration. Maybe it's the sultan's birthday."
Norrec frowned to himself, suspicious of her continual denial of what he certainly recognized. Although his memories and those of Bartuc had intermingled to the point where it had become hard to tell one from the other, both sets of memories now aided him in determining that he heard correctly. The clatter, the shouts… they all spoke of violence, of bloodshed…
A part of him felt tempted to join in.
No … he had more important things to do. Horazon's tomb, what the beguiling witch evidently called the Arcane Sanctuary, had to lie somewhere near, perhaps even beneath where he presently stood.
He knelt down again, ignoring Galeona's momentary look of relief. Something about the pattern he had drawn-an upside-down triangle with circles around each corner and three crescents beneath-did not look right. That the fighter should not have even known of such spells no longer bothered him. Bartuc had known them; therefore, Norrec Vizharan did.
"What's missing?"
The witch hesitated. "One of two things. To search for a person, you would need a pentagram in the middle of the triangle. To search for a place, you would need a larger pentagram surrounding all the rest."
She made perfect sense to him. Norrec grimaced at having forgotten something so simple. He rewarded her with a smile. "Very good."
Despite the fact that her magical skills augmented his own growing abilities and her physical charms enticed his baser nature, not for a minute did the veteran soldier trust his new companion. She told half-truths and hid much from him. He could sense her ambition. The enchantress saw him as useful to her own ends, just as he saw the same where she was concerned. So long as she aided his efforts, Norrec had no trouble accepting her lies. However, if she tried to betray him later on, he had no compunction about dealing with her as he would have any traitor.
Some part within him still did battle with what he had become. Even now, Norrec sensed that such thoughts as he had just had about Galeona went against what the veteran had believed in most of his life. Yet, it seemed so easy to accept those thoughts now.
His mind shifted back to his task. He had to find Horazon's tomb, although why still remained a mystery to him. Perhaps when he did discover its whereabouts, then the reason for the quest would finally become clear.
He drew the larger pentagram, choosing to try to find the sanctuary rather than the man. Horazon would be little more than bones, making it somewhat more difficult to fix upon him. The edifice itself represented a larger, more distinct target for the spell.
"Have you cast anything such as this before?"
Galeona gave him a proud look. "Of course, I have!" Her look faltered slightly. "But I've never seen the Arcane Sanctuary nor do I have anything from it."
"That'll be no problem." Norrec already had a plan in mind. He felt certain that he could have both uttered the necessary incantation and focused on the location, but that would have forced him to spread his thoughts and will too much, likely increasing his chance for failure. The Arcane Sanctuary had already appeared to be a place quite unwilling to reveal itself. Even after the armor had fought off Drognan, some other force had pushed Norrec away from his goal. As with Bartuc's own tomb, Horazon's resting place had probably been built with much security in mind. The creators had obviously not wanted it defiled or ransacked and had cast powerful protective measures such as those the soldier had encountered in Drognan's chamber.
But with Galeona casting the spell, Norrec could focus fully on their destination. Surely that would work. If not…
He explained it to the witch, who nodded. "It can be done, I think. We must be of one mind, though, or else our own thoughts might work against us."
She reached out her hands. Norrec placed his own in hers. Galeona smiled at him, but something about that smile repelled the veteran rather than attracted him. Again he saw raw ambition in her eyes. The sorceress thought that by proving her usefulness to her companion, she could eventually control him. That, in turn, brought more dark thoughts of his own, thoughts of what he would do to any who believed that they could do such. There could be only one master-and that had to be Norrec.
"Picture it," she muttered. "Picture where you want us to go…"
In his mind, Norrec imagined the tomb as he had seen it the first time. He felt certain that the initial vision had been the true one, that the force trying to keep him from the sanctuary had afterward attempted to confuse hismemory. The robed skeletons, the stone coffin with the symbol of the dragon over the crescent moon… these surely had to be the true images of the tomb.
Holding tight, Galeona leaned back, her eyes closed and her face toward the sky. She swayed as she muttered the incantation, pulling at her companion's gauntleted hands.
Norrec shut his own eyes, the better not to be distracted by the witch's body while he pictured Horazon's resting place. An eagerness swelled within him. This would work. He would be transported to the Arcane Sanctuary.
And then what?
Norrec had no time to divine an answer to that question, for suddenly he felt his entire body lighten, as if he had become more spirit than flesh. The only tug of weight he felt at all came from his hands, where the sorceress still gripped him tight.
"Nezarios Aero!" cried Galeona. "Aerona Jy!"
The fighter's body crackled with pure energy.
"Aerona Jy!"
A great sense of displacement shook Norrec-
— and in the next moment, his feet landed on hard stone.
Eyes immediately opening wide, Norrec Vizharan looked around. Web-enshrouded walls greeted his gaze and within those walls he saw a line of statues, each distinct in face and form, staring back. Not all of them had names that he could recall, but among them he spotted more than one who had known him well-and known his brother, Horazon, too.
But no-Horazon was not his brother! Why did he keep thinking that?
"We've done it!" Galeona cried, having at last registered their surroundings. She flung herself on him, kissed him with a fury that could almost not be denied-yet, Norrec desired nothing more than to push her away.
"Yes, this is it," he replied, once he had managed to peel her tentacles from his body.
"There is nothing we can't accomplish together," she cooed. "No one who could stand in our way…"
Yes, Galeona definitely sought to seal their alliance. The seductive witch understood full well the power he wielded, the power the suit had at last given to him. If she could have, Norrec had no doubts that she would have tried to wear the armor herself-and thereby cut out any need for a partner. The sooner he rid himself of her, the better.
Turning from the devilish woman, Norrec looked down the ancient, musty corridor. A peculiar, yellowish light illuminated the abandoned edifice, a light seemingly without source. He could not re
call it from his first incursion into this dark realm, but since everything else looked as it should, Norrec paid the one difference little attention. His goal was at hand.
"This way." Without waiting to see if the sorceress followed, Norrec stomped down the corridor in the direction he felt certain that the sarcophagus lay. Galeona hurried to catch up, the dark-skinned woman slipping an arm around his own as if the two were lovers in the midst of a moonlit walk. He did not struggle free, aware that this way he could also keep her under watch.
Now and then a face familiar to him stared out from the dust-ridden statues. Norrec marked each with satisfaction, remembering their order from the vision. Not only did they prove that he headed in the correct direction but particular faces indicated to him that the final chamber had to be only a short distance further.
And yet… and yet something about the statues also caused the veteran some unease, for although outwardly they seemed identical to those he recalled, minute alterations in detail began to haunt him. Certain features on some of the faces looked ever so slightly off-the shapeof a nose, the curve of a mouth, the strength of a jaw. Most of all, the eyes tended toward different appearances. Never completely, but enough to make Norrec finally pause at one in order to look.
"What is it?" Galeona whispered, anxious to move on to their ultimate destination.
The face he stared at, the face of one Oskul, a roundheaded, officious mage who had briefly been Horazon's sponsor to the Vizjerei council, resembled much the visage as Norrec's memory recalled it… but the eyes should have been narrower and the artisan had also given the orbs a sleepy look, not at all in keeping with the ever-active personality of the man. Nothing else about the statue seemed out of place, but the eyes proved to be enough to disturb him yet more.
Still, Norrec had been in the tomb for only a short time and had spent only a fraction of it among the ghostly sculptures. Whatever mistakes he now recalled likely had more to do with the artist's failing rather than anything else.
"Nothing," the soldier finally remarked. "Come on."
They journeyed on for a few minutes more-and at last entered the crypt. Norrec smiled as he studied the ancient site. Here, everything looked as it should. In the niches on the left and right, the skeletal figures of the Vizjerei sorcerers silently greeted the newcomers' arrival. The vast stone coffin atop the dais matched perfectly his vision.
The coffin…
"Horazon… " he whispered.
With growing eagerness, Norrec dragged Galeona toward the sarcophagus. The horror he had suffered during his dream visit to this place had been all but forgotten. All Norrec wanted to do now was open the coffin. He left the witch to the side, then reached up to take hold of the lid.
At that moment, his gaze slipped down to the clan markings again, something about them snaring his attention.
The dragon remained as it had been-but now below it lay a fiery star.
He stepped back, the truth dawning slowly on him. There had been too many errors, too many differences in detail…
"What's wrong? Why didn't you open it?"
Glaring at the traitorous markings, the veteran fighter snapped, "Because it's not real!" He waved his hand at the legion of dead mages. "I don't think any of this is real!"
"But that's mad!" Galeona touched the coffin. "It's as solid as you or I!"
"Is it?" Norrec extended his hand-and as he had hoped, in it he now held the sinister ebony sword. "Let's see what exactly the truth is!"
As Galeona watched in both astonishment and dismay, the soldier raised the sword high above his head, then brought it down hard on the massive sarcophagus.
The blade cut through without pause and yet no line appeared in the coffin. The two halves of the great stone monument did not separate and collapse… and the tattered bones of Horazon did not tumble to the floor.
"Illusion… or something akin to it." He turned to the horrific throng lined up against the walls, glaring at the dead as if they were to blame. "Where is he? Where's Horazon?"
"Perhaps down another passage…" suggested Galeona, her tone indicating she did not completely trust his sanity at the moment.
"Yes, maybe so." Without waiting for her, he charged out of the crypt. For some distance, Norrec followed the single corridor, looking for a side passage, a doorway. Yet, not once could he recall having seen one. In both versions of his dream, it had always been only this single passageway. The great Arcane Sanctuary had always consisted of only this and the actual burial chamber itself. Hardly the immense edifice one would have expected.
Unless what he had seen had been designed simply for the benefit of curious and greedy intruders-and the rest lay hidden elsewhere.
The frustrated fighter paused to glare at the statue of one of his-no, Bartuc's-former rivals. The bearded man smiled in what Norrec felt a very mocking manner.
That brought him to a decision. He raised the black blade again.
"What do you plan to do this time?" snapped Galeona, her patience with him having finally gotten thin. Great power he might wield, but so far Norrec had evidently not impressed her with his running about in circles.
"If there're no passages, I'll make one of my own!" He glared at the statue, desiring very much to wipe the condescending smile off its face. Here would be the perfect location to begin cutting his way out. Norrec held the sword ready, determined to bring down the mocking effigy with his first blow.
But as he swung, as the blade came within inches of beheading the smiling statue, Norrec's entire surroundings fragmented. The floor rose and the walls pulled away, the rows of statues seeming to fall back as if fainting. The enshrouding webs folded in on themselves, utterly vanishing. Stairs bloomed like flowers, twisting and turning. Part of the floor ceased rising and instead dropped lower, leaving the two standing near a precipice. The only thing that remained consistent through the growing anarchy was the yellowish illumination.
"What've you done?" Galeona cried. "You fool! It's all falling apart!"
Norrec could not answer her, unable even to keep his footing. He fell back, the heavy armor dragging himdown. His weapon flew from his grip and as it did, it faded away. The ground shook, keeping him from rising and, worse, rolling him toward the edge.
"Help me up!" he called to the sorceress, growing desperate. The gauntlets tore at the stone floor but could not get a grip anywhere. Around him, the Arcane Sanctuary continued to transform itself without any noticeable rhyme or reason, almost as if the tomb had gone into convulsion as a human might.
Galeona looked his way, hesitated, then looked to her right, where a stairway had suddenly formed.
"Help me, damn it!"
She sneered at him. "What a waste of my time! You, Augustus, Xazax-all of you! Better I relied only on myself! If you can't even pick yourself up, you might as well stay here and die, fool!"
With one last contemptuous glance at Norrec, Galeona started toward the steps.
"No!" Anger and fear vied for supremacy in him, anger and fear of the likes the fighter could never have imagined. As the witch fought her way to what might be freedom-abandoning Norrec to whatever fate awaited him-the urge to strike out, to punish her for her betrayal grew almost overwhelming.
Norrec pointed at her with his left hand. Words of power gathered on his lips, ready to be spoken. With one quick phrase, he would rid himself of the treacherous woman.
"Damn it! No! I won't!" He turned from her, pulled down his hand. Let her flee without him if she liked. He would not have another death on his hands.
Unfortunately, the armor did not agree.
The hand rose again, this time against Norrec's will. He struggled to lower it, but as since almost from the beginning of this terrible quest, the soldier found himself not the master, but simply the means. Bartuc's armorsought retribution for Galeona's failing-and it would have that retribution regardless of what its host wanted.
The gauntlet flared crimson.
Their surroundings still in complete
flux, the darkskinned enchantress had only now made it to the twisting staircase. To her misfortune, however, it shifted to the side, forcing her to readjust her path. As Norrec's hand came up, Galeona managed at last to set a foot on the first and second steps.
"No!" shouted Norrec at the gauntlet. He looked at the fleeing woman, who had not bothered to take even the slightest parting glimpse at her struggling companion. "Run! Hurry! Get out of here!"
Only after he had blurted out the warning did Norrec realize what he had done. Those words more than anything else caused Galeona to pause and look over her shoulder, costing her the precious seconds she had needed.
The dark words that the fighter had struggled not to say burst free.
Galeona saw what he did and reacted, striking back. She pointed at the prone figure, mouthing a single harsh word that some memory not of Norrec Vizharan's past recognized as a spell most foul.
Brilliant blue flames surrounded the witch even as she finished speaking. Galeona raised her head and howled once in utter agony-then burned away to ash in the blink of an eye.
Norrec, though, had no time to acknowledge her terrible demise, for suddenly his entire body became wracked in pain, as if each bone within sought to break apart. Norrec could feel even the tiniest of them slowly but inexorably cracking. Although the armor's magic had destroyed her, Galeona had succeeded in her own spellcasting. He screamed, shaking uncontrollably. Worse, despite his agony, the armor did nothing to helpand instead appeared to be trying to rise so that it now could use the very staircase upon which the sorceress had perished.
Yet although the suit made it to the steps, it could go no farther. Each time it tried, an invisible force buffeted it back. Norrec's fist slammed against air, sending new shockwaves through the already-suffering man.
"Please!" he croaked, not caring that only the armor could possibly hear him. "Please… help…"
"Norrec!"
Through tear-drenched eyes, he tried to focus on the voice, a woman's voice. Did the ghost of Galeona call to him to join her in death?
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