Hederick the Theocrat v-4

by Ellen Dodge Severson

  With the Diamond Dragon, though, Snoop hoped to set up his own thieves' ring. Someplace far from Gaveley, it was certain, but that was fine. He'd heard tales of many cities stuffed with riches that beckoned a clever thieves' ring such as the one Snoop longed to run.

  He'd be cursed if he'd settle for his measly cut of Tarscenian's bounty. Not when he could have that Diamond Dragon free and clear, all his own.

  Snoop tripped over a stone in the gathering dusk, and swore aloud. There was no sense to Gaveley's latest plan. Why order Snoop to follow Tarscenian when everyone in the ring knew the stranger was bound to head straight for Hederick? The question rankled in Snoop's mind, eating away at him until he thought he'd go mad. It was an unfamiliar feeling. He'd never questioned Gaveley's methods before.

  "I could be lounging in the grass behind some tree right now, watching the infernal temple through my glass," Snoop grumbled. "Instead, I'm being eaten alive by mos-quitos, I'm soaked up to my knees trying to keep one eye on some fool who's drifting around the lake in a leaky boat. Damn the luck!" There was no point lowering his voice, not this far out in the woods. "No one out here but the bugs and the rabbits to hear me, anyway."

  He swung up his spyglass… and there was Tarscenian, sitting calmly in the blasted canoe. "Not even rowing, for the gods' sake!" Snoop mumbled. "And he isn't swatting bugs, that I can see. It isn't fair. Gods, how can that canoe be making such speed? And Gaveley and Xam both know where he's going, so why tell me to follow-?"

  He broke off his harangue. There was one excellent reason, it occurred to him, why Gaveley would have sent Snoop on this particular wild-goose chase.

  The half-elf hoped to get to Hederick first and steal the Diamond Dragon for himself.

  The thief-turned-spy sorted out his thoughts. "Not that the guards'd let a half-elf into the temple, of course. Gaveley couldn't get in himself unless…" Snoop thought harder. Example after example came to his mind, instances in which Gaveley had had no trouble at all gaining entrance where he'd been expressly barred. And Gaveley had a hulking man like Xam to back him up. Snoop had no one.

  No one but the man he'd been ordered to trail, that was. The man who knew more than anyone else about the Diamond Dragon-including, no doubt, where Hederick kept it.

  Snoop started to run toward Erolydon. He'd be blasted to the depths of the Sirrion Sea before he'd let Gaveley get the best of him.

  He arrived, sweating and panting, and crouched near some trees just south of the temple. The last worshipers were being let out through a gate in the southern wall. A priest slammed the door behind the chattering people. Snoop heard three bolts being thrown, then nothing. The thief leaned, wheezing, against a tree, and trained his glass on the western horizon.

  There-there was Tarscenian, just arriving at the seaward wall of the temple. Snoop squinted through his lens. The old man was just staring into the water as though he was thinking. Why didn't he hurry, for the gods' sake? Didn't the idiot know the sky would soon be dark? Snoop swore anew.

  He watched, aghast, as the water churned around the small canoe and exploded around Tarscenian, who disappeared into the boiling water-Tarscenian, the only one who could lead Snoop to the Diamond Dragon!

  The thief found himself racing along the shoreline, heedless, for the first time in his career, of who might see him. Tarscenian had to survive to lead him to the artifact, Snoop raged. After that, he planned to end the old man's life with a thrust of his dirk, but until then…

  Snoop drew out a grapnel and rope and tossed the barbed hook atop the wall. He pulled himself up hand over hand until he reached the top. A quick glance showed no one inside the compound-no eyes to see him. There was hope, after all. Snoop retrieved his grapnel and hurried along the wall. He adroitly sidestepped the slivers of sharp metal and chunks of jagged glass that Hederick had ordered set into the top of the marble to discourage intruders.

  Snoop came to the end of the southern wall and turned north. A short dash, and then he was on the wall above Tarscenian-or, at least, above the roiling water where Tarscenian was probably drowning. Snoop squinted in the dying light and saw what appeared to be a huge froglike thing poking at the man over and over. A fish with a harpoon?

  Snoop snugged the rope around a chunk of glass. Then he dropped the grapnel so that it rested just at the surface of the water. Tarscenian saw the hook and made a break for it, the fishlike creature following.

  This wasn't all that different from garroting someone in an alley in Haven, Snoop reflected. He snagged the koalinth just under the gills. The aquatic hobgoblin jerked back in sudden pain, setting the hook. Then it leaped above the water, panic-stricken. Snoop wrapped the rope once more around the wall outcropping.

  There was a jerk, then the koalinth was left shrieking and struggling, its bloody gills dangling just above the waterline.

  Snoop climbed partway down the rope to where Tarscenian was treading water. Both waited until the beast suffocated.

  Tarscenian caught the dead creature's dropped lance and spoke. "I thought Gaveley wasn't in on this."

  "He's not," Snoop replied. "I'm working on my own now. Going solo, you might say. And I'm throwing in with you, stranger."

  Tarscenian regarded him, an impassive look on his face. Finally he said, "As you wish."

  Snoop nodded.

  "Come on, then. I know how to get into the temple."

  Chapter 19

  Snoop dove toward the place Tarscenian had indicated. Twice his own height in depth, the old man had said. The marble wall became some other kind of rock below the surface of the water, and Hederick's workers had not paid as much attention to attaining a smooth surface. Holding his breath, Snoop swam, forcing himself downward, pulling his body deeper by grabbing handholds in the rough wall.

  A good swimmer, Tarscenian caught up with the thief and passed him. They would have to hurry, however, to find an air pocket before they ran out of breath. It was growing increasingly dim in the water. Tarscenian nearly collided with Snoop as they groped along the wall's base.

  Snoop grasped something, then, with a horrified look, drew his hand back. He thrust something soft and squishy behind him. It scuttled away, emitting a cloud of ink.

  And then they saw the tunnel-a thick circle smooth with algae and black as night within. Tarscenian felt for Snoop's arm, pointed with the lance they had taken from the koalinth, and shoved the smaller man toward the hole. Snoop broke away, shaking his head violently. All right, I'll go first, Tarscenian thought. But if I get wedged in front of you, you're done for, my friend. On the other hand, if another koalinth was waiting in the tunnel, Snoop might have made a wise choice.

  Tarscenian fastened the lance to his waist, dove toward the tunnel, grasped the slippery edge with difficulty, and forced himself inside.

  It was a tight fit. Tarscenian made progress only by keeping his arms outstretched before him and his legs tight together. He could swim through the water and the growing muck, but barely. He closed his eyes and scissored his legs feverishly.

  Tarscenian felt Snoop's hand bump against his foot and draw back. The thief followed him closely, then. At least Tarscenian hoped it was Snoop.

  Soon his lungs burned, and Tarscenian lost track of direction. Were they traveling horizontally or upward? Did it matter? He kicked weakly now, at times resting his legs and using his arms to pull himself along. A voice shrieked in his mind: Need air need air need air. He tried to focus on the Diamond Dragon, on his hatred of Hederick. On Ancilla. This would be worth it if somehow she could be saved.

  Then his hands broke water. He came to rest on an incline, his cheek cradled in soft mud-above the surface. Tarscenian allowed himself to fill his lungs again and again; it didn't matter that the air was fetid, the mud foul in his nostrils, the light dim. It was air. Somewhere, water dripped. That and his gasping were the only sounds.

  Then frantic scrabbling at his feet reminded him of Snoop's presence. Tarscenian pulled himself farther out of the muck and heard the thief emer
ge behind him. Snoop coughed, retched, and swore.

  "By all that's holy… old man… I've been in some spots before… but this…" Tarscenian heard more retching, then still more cursing. "Where do we… go from here?"

  "Be quiet," Tarscenian ordered. "Let me think." They needed to let their eyes adjust. He stood guardedly and unfastened the lance from his waist. Warily, he used the koalinth's weapon to probe the space around him.

  "Ouch! By whatever gods there are, man, watch out!"

  Tarscenian grunted an apology. They seemed to be in a second tunnel, this one much larger than the first-tall enough for Tarscenian to stand in. He was ankle-deep in muck.

  His lance poked something soft but solid. He pulled it free and felt again, a bit to the right, with the same result. Then to the left. His lance met a similar obstruction. It was too soft for stone or wood, too hard for mud.

  Tarscenian felt in the pocket that carried his steel and flint. "I don't suppose you have a supply of dry tinder on you, do you, spy?" he whispered.

  "Certainly," Snoop snapped. "In the same pocket with my emerald collection."

  It would have to be magic, then, although Tarscenian had barely any strength left. Each spell had drained him, and he'd had precious little time to rest, these last few days. "Shirak," he whispered, and molded his hands around the point of the lance. The tip glowed like a torch. Tarscenian gazed around him, half-expecting what now met his eyes. Snoop, unwarned, inhaled suddenly and drew his dirk.

  There were four of them-four bodies, facedown-and when Tarscenian lifted the lance-light, he could make out other, similar mounds farther up the tunnel. He lowered the light again. Pale blue slime coated the four corpses from head to foot.

  Tarscenian used a booted toe gently to turn over one of the four. Snoop gagged.

  "The man from this afternoon," Tarscenian said quietly. "He dared to question Hederick. The guards hauled him away."

  He remembered that Snoop had not been at the sentencing of the black-robed mage. Tarscenian overturned another corpse. This belonged to a middle-aged woman; a kerchief was still in place on her head. "One of the women the guards arrested. Also this afternoon." His stare went to the other bodies. Two more kerchiefs. "Her friends."

  Snoop looked like a wild-eyed ferret, partly terrified and wholly nauseated. Tarscenian, on the other hand, merely felt tired and old.

  "I suppose the materbill was sated, so they put the bodies in here," he said. "Eventually the remains will wash out into the lake."

  Snoop burst out, "But what happened to them? What's that coating? There are no wounds, nothing but this blue…" He stooped and reached toward one of the still forms.

  Tarscenian shouted a warning, but too late. Snoop touched the blue substance with his forefinger and, screaming, jumped up. Tarscenian grabbed the thief's hand and used the light of the lance to burn away the ooze. The man's finger turned blistered and red.

  "What is the stuff?" Snoop cried.

  "It's digesting the bodies," Tarscenian replied tensely. "Now be still."

  Snoop controlled himself with an effort. "Why?" he finally whispered. "Who will hear us in here?"

  "Whatever spread this stuff."

  Horror increased tenfold on Snoop's face.

  "I don't know what the monster is called. The man who told me about it years ago referred to it as a slime creature."

  "Where is it?"

  "Somewhere in this tunnel, I'd guess. If it had been in the first tunnel, we'd be dead by now. The creatures spread their ooze on living or dead things, then retire to a cave to wait until the ooze does its job and the prey is soft enough to absorb."

  "Did that man tell you how to fight such a creature?" Tarscenian grimaced. There was something he half-remembered, but he couldn't quite put the words together. It had been a long time ago.

  Snoop gasped in the foul air. "I can handle human enemies, maybe even a hobgoblin or two. But this… I don't know if I can stand this, Tarscenian."

  "You made your decision when you entered the tunnel."

  "But I…"

  "Be quiet," Tarscenian repeated. "Listen." Water splashed somewhere, and a sound, as of something slithering through the tunnel, came to them. "Maybe you should turn out that light," Snoop whispered. "The creature can see in the dark. Can you?" Not waiting for an answer, Tarscenian stepped over the slimy bodies and moved toward the sound. He thrust his lance-light before him.

  Ten feet in front of them, a waist-high mound of pale blue ooze glistened.

  Snoop halted, dumbfounded, then sneered. "That unimpressive thing?" he asked. "That's it? I can probably take care of that beast all by myself, old man." He raised his arm. In an instant the spy's dirk was hurtling through the air toward the creature. Tarscenian's shout came too late.

  The weapon sliced through the slime monster's covering of ooze, then bounced off the creature's hide and landed back in the water at their feet. Snoop slowly bent to pick it up, then halted. He used his foot to nudge the weapon out of the water. The doused weapon was clean and free of ooze.

  Tarscenian frowned. Something still tickled at his memory.

  The monster slithered forward, slow and sluglike, as though it had all the time in the world. "How do we stop it?" Snoop whispered, less cocksure now. He took a step backward.

  "Stay back. It catches live victims by interfering with their thoughts. At this distance, you may be safe. If it gets closer, that won't be so. It will offer you what you most desire. Ultimately you will actually urge it to devour you."

  Snoop shook his head. "That thing? Not a chance."

  'It has overcome stronger men than us."

  The thief doggedly shook his head. "It has to have a weak spot, Tarscenian-someplace where my dirk is welcome." Snoop moved forward. Tarscenian tried to grab him, but the thief shook him off and continued. "It's moving this way," Snoop said. "There must be eyes or something where there's no hide to pro…"

  Snoop's voice trailed off into silence. He stared at the creature, an arm's length away. A whisper hissed through the tunnel.

  "I will give you great wealth. I will give you great power. All the world will thrill to your existence. The world will worship at your feet. You will be rich beyond anything you have dreamed."

  A whimper escaped Snoop. Tarscenian searched through his pockets for something to block his own ears, but he'd lost everything in the lake. His hands would have to do. Covering his ears, he stepped to Snoop's side. He had to remove Snoop from the creature's deadly influence.

  "All of Solace will work to indulge your every wish. You will want for nothing. You will enjoy power and wealth that kings would gladly die for."

  Tarscenian placed a hand on Snoop's shoulder. Snoop gave a small scream and jumped toward the creature. The slime monster turned slightly and now addressed Tarscenian.

  "I will help you attain what you seek, also. Your lady will live again, and Hederick will die. Together, you and your lady will rule Solace. You will have wealth and power. All this will come to pass. You can spread the word of the Old Gods throughout the world, you and your lady. The two of you will never die. Your bodies will become young again; you will be fertile; you will have many children. And these children will worship the Old Gods."

  Tarscenian covered both ears. "It cannot be so," he whispered. "It is against nature."

  "I can make it so."

  Tarscenian pulled again at Snoop's arm. Snoop struck out, sending the older man sprawling back into the mud. The thief lunged toward the monster, but as soon as Snoop touched the creature, he began to scream. In a moment the creature had covered him with ice-blue slime.

  Snoop beat frantically at his torso and legs, trying to remove the sticky stuff that gnawed at his skin. Tarscenian held the lance forward, hoping the light at the tip would be enough to dispel the ooze, but Snoop gave one final cry and collapsed, lifeless, on the tunnel floor. The creature hovered over the thief, eating ravenously.

  The older man seized that moment to dash around the creature
and escape up the tunnel. There had to be a way out.

  The tunnel curved. Tarscenian heard the sound of water ahead at the same time the whisper of the creature behind him stroked his mind.

  "I will give you eternal life. You will have countless lifetimes to worship your gods, you and this mage woman you love. Your bodies will be young, your lives easy."

  Tarscenian bounded around the curve and skidded in the slippery muck. The tunnel ended. Water streamed from two openings in the wall above Tarscenian's head. Between and above them was a trapdoor.

  The slime monster came slithering around the curve behind Tarscenian.

  And at that moment he remembered what would stop the creature.

  "You will be wealthy. And you will be forgiven. All your sins, Tarscenian, will be swept aside at once, like dust. Those years as a Seeker fraud-forgiven. Those years of greed and pride and deception-as nothing. And you will have Ancilla at your side."

  The mound of blue ooze slithered toward him and stopped just short of the fresh water that cascaded from the wall. Tarscenian edged back into the space between the waterfall pipes.

  "Think of it, Tarscenian, a life of ease. You can rest. Don't you want to rest? Aren't you exhausted, Tarscenian? I can help you."

  Tarscenian's clothes were sodden, but the water was clean. He felt the filth of the tunnel slough from his body, and with it, some of his exhaustion. The creature edged aside. Its whisper never ceased, but Tarscenian steeled his mind against it. He bolted through the waterfall and circled behind the creature.

  Tarscenian stepped forward and jabbed the lighted lance at the slime creature. Smoke hissed from the ooze where the lance tip touched it, and the monster jerked backward toward the waterfall.

  "Your lady will live again. Hederick will die. You will have wealth and power. You can spread the word of the Old Gods. You will never die. You will become young. You…"

  Tarscenian slammed the lance into the slime creature as hard as he could. Still the hide resisted, even though smoke curled above the ooze. The light in the lance tip made the slime glow like blue flame. Tarscenian braced his feet against the tunnel wall and threw all his weight into his next thrust. The tip did not pierce the creature's hide, but the force of the blow sent the slime monster sliding back into the cascades of clear water.