by Dan McGirt
“That’s business.”
I then realized that my parries were becoming more polished and less desperate as the duel wore on. Even with my layman’s grasp of magic I could see that Overwhelm was adapting to my opponent’s style. It was learning her moves and tactics, adjusting to counter them more effectively. The enchantment on my blade was more powerful than I had previously realized. Our last bout had been too brief for this aspect to manifest.
The longer we fought, the more input it would accumulate. And if my sword could find the flaws in her attacks in order to defend against them, it could turn those same attacks back against her—without the flaws. I smiled. Natalia’s technique, perfected as she could never perfect it, was mine to use. I couldn’t match her strength in this place so far from sunlight, but the advantage of skill, however artificial, was now mine.
I made a conscious effort to take the offensive, surprising her.
“I’ve toyed with you long enough,” I said, feeling giddy. I could beat her. I was sure of it. It was now she who retreated.
“Impossible. You’ve gone from incompetence to mastery in minutes, growing more skillful with every exchange. It cannot be unless… the sword!”
She broke off and ran, putting a dozen yards between us in just a few strides. I stood dumbly in place while she hurled one of her many throwing knives at me. Overwhelm deflected it, but they kept coming, five more in rapid succession. I turned aside four. The fifth skewered the biceps of my sword arm. I dropped Overwhelm and pulled the dagger free as Natalia charged again, kicking my sword across the floor and shoving me to the floor with her free hand. Still hot, the gauntlet burned my bare skin and crisped my chest hairs. So did her metal boot as she pinned me and held her sword in a double grip, ready to deliver the coup de grace.
“You tire of toying with me, do you? No one toys with Natalia Slash!”
“A joke! A bad joke! In poor taste!”
“Poor taste indeed.”
I wasn’t just going to lie there and take it. I grabbed her ankles to pull her off balance. She didn’t budge.
“Are you through?”
“It looks that way.”
I wished I had Overwhelm in my hand—and suddenly I did! Another wondrous power of the sword revealed. I was using my left hand, but it didn’t matter. I slashed upward, knocking Natalia’s sword from her grasp and gashing both her thighs. She leaped away and I sprang to my feet, kicking her sword away behind me. She launched another flurry of knives, but this time I deflected them all. Overwhelm had learned how to judge her throwing style. I advanced and she backed away as slowly as she dared, too proud to turn her back or otherwise acknowledge defeat.
She lunged and grabbed Overwhelm’s blade in an attempt to wrest the weapon from my hand. A flick of my arm and her palms dripped blood through sundered gauntlets.
“That was a desperate move. Why don’t you just give up?”
“I have never known defeat.”
“Yes, I remember how you soundly trounced Yezgar.”
“I mean I have never been bested by a normal man or woman. Monsters don’t really count.”
“Nor do lives when there is a profit to be made by taking them. Right?” She had her back against the wall now. I didn’t get too close, just in case she had another trick up her sleeve.
“I am a professional.”
“A beaten professional.”
“Very well. You have defeated me, Jason Cosmo, though you could not have done it without that cursed sword.”
“You’re not suggesting it would have been a fair fight otherwise, are you?”
“I’m merely pointing out that it was not your skill which beat me. It was the sword.” She lowered herself to her knees and removed her helm. Her face was proud and beautiful despite the blisters and grime which marred it. Long chestnut hair lay against her head in coiled braids as padding. “Do it quickly. I will not beg for my life.” Her hard eyes met mine.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“If you think to make me—”
“Nothing like that. I want you to swear on your professional honor that you will never again serve the Society as long as you live and will, in fact, help me for the duration of this battle, after which you are free to go.”
“You ask much. The Society pays well.”
“Balance that against dying now. Which pays more in the long run?”
“I so swear.”
“Then pick up your sword.” I turned my back to her and went to help Merc. Natalia was utterly ruthless, but honored any bargain she entered into. At least that was what I hoped.
“Woman,” said Asmodraxas. “Slay Cosmo now and all you desire shall be yours when I am free.”
I heard her lift her sword and come after me. I half-turned to meet a new attack.
“We are allies for now, Cosmo.”
We approached the table where the wizards dueled, but the powerful sorcery they had unleashed repelled us. Oblivious to all else, they were locked into a deadly struggle which only one could survive. Natalia and I could only watch.
“Is this your card?” said Mercury.
“Yes, curse you!”
“I’m winning.”
“My turn. Cut the deck.”
“Done.”
“Watch carefully. Pick a card, look at it, replace it.” Merc complied. “I will now set the deck on fire and scatter the ashes.” Erimandras did so.
“What’s the trick?”
Erimandras lifted a pinch of ash, which became a whole card in his hand. He laid it facedown on the table. “That is your card.”
Merc turned the card over. “No it isn’t. I had the three of clubs. This is the three of spades.”
“You lie!”
“You lose.”
Erimandras screamed as his body evaporated. Dissipating into wispy streamers, he clawed his way up the pyramid. Merc made no move to pursue him.
Asmodraxas frowned in disgust. “You have failed me, Erimandras. I am sorely disappointed. I had thought you would free me from my long imprisonment.”
“Master, it is not yet finished.” The Overmaster’s form had almost completely boiled away into milky mist. He was almost to his throne.
“Yes it is. You made the ultimate gamble in using the Cards of Power and you were bested.” The Overmaster’s robe was empty. “You, Mercury Boltblaster, may take his place as Overmaster. I will share with you my wisdom and you may rule Arden in my name, as one with your power should. You have but to lay low my enemy, Cosmo. Abandon the fruitless path of goodness and join me.”
“Tempting,” said Mercury. “Your voice almost compels obedience, but I have no wish to rule the world.” The pulp-grinder rose into the air. “Nor to speak with you further.”
“What are you doing? No! You must not destroy the mirror! You must not leave me once more incommunicado, powerless to influence events. Anything you desire—”
We didn’t hear the rest of the Demon Lord’s plea. The torture machine slammed into the mirror and it shattered like a glass waterfall. The black flame in the pit winked out.
“Is it over?” I asked.
“Not yet,” said Merc. “We’ve still got to get out of here.”
The ghosts returned, this time whole—all wounds healed, all missing body parts restored—and in full living color. They circled happily around me like a great ectoplasmic carousel and gradually rose to streak through the ceiling, presumably bound for the halls of Paradise.
“That is an encouraging sign,” said Merc.
“What manner of man are you?” said Natalia. I didn’t try to answer her question. I wasn’t sure I knew the answer.
“The rest of the Ruling Conclave will be back as soon as they realize they were suckered and I slipped past them. I’m sure they sensed the energies of my battle with their master. I’m not up to facing the rest of them. We can be satisfied with what we’ve already accomplished today. We lopped off the head of the beast.”
I put on the Ring
of Raxx and donned my armor. “So how do we get out?”
“My plan didn’t go that far.”
“We can make for the roof and escape on Golan,” said Natalia.
“That sounds like a good suggestion.”
“Here is a better one, cringing maggots—you can die!” The breathless voice came from above, where a translucent image of Erimandras sat on the high throne. “My dissolution was only temporary. Did you think an arcane grandmaster would not be prepared for the unlikely eventuality of defeat? I have spells to counter even the Cards of Power.” All three of us charged up the pyramid as he spoke. “You have destroyed the Mirror of Asmodraxas and the library. The Society is a shambles this day, but you will not live to savor your victory.” He pressed a hidden panel on the throne and the entire fortress shook in the jaws of a mighty earthquake.
Just as we reached the throne it dropped away, descending straight down a deep shaft. The Overmaster’s laughter echoed from the darkness as the floor cracked, the walls crumbled, and large blocks of the ceiling crashed around us.
“We’ll never reach the roof!” I said.
“That’s okay,” said Merc grimly. “Our job isn’t finished yet. If we can’t go up, we’ll go down.” With that, he leaped into the shaft. Natalia and I exchanged curious glances and followed, hoping we had correctly divined his intent.
* * *
23
Mercury slowed our fall with a spell designed for slowing falls down dark vertical shafts. I assume he used a similar spell to survive his fall in the library. We floated down like balls of cotton and landed gently on the empty throne in a small square chamber far below the fortress. The thunder of Marn’s collapse echoed down the hole, followed by a hurtling chunk of stone.
“Figures the little urchin would make his escape chute a deathtrap for any who follow,” snarled Merc, leaping from the throne.
“You mean we’ll be crushed,” I said.
“Only if we stay. I suggest we exit through that door.”
“It’s blocked by a gigantic wedge of granite!”
“You’re the ones with the invincible swords.”
Natalia and I attacked the barrier, slicing away an opening large enough to crawl through. Merc went first, Natalia followed. I brought up the rear and therefore took the brunt of the Shockwave that hurled us all against the far wall of the next room. It was empty except for a few packing crates and what looked like a big glass box with silver frame and a door in the side. No exit was apparent.
“He has eluded us!” said Natalia.
“Maybe not for long,” said Merc. “Unless I miss my guess, this glass box is a teleportal.”
“Impossible! They never existed!”
“The alternative is that it’s just a glass box and we are entombed with it a mile or so beneath the surface of the Earth. Take your pick.”
Natalia studied the box again. “Perhaps it is a teleportal.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “What’s a teleportal?”
“A box like this. If you know the proper command it will teleport you instantly to a similar box elsewhere. The Empire was rumored to have a whole secret network of these devices which allowed them to send news or personnel virtually anywhere at any time. The secret of teleportation has since been lost.”
“Then it’s our ticket out of here?”
“Right. If we can guess the proper command. Otherwise we suffocate in less than an hour.”
I rummaged through the packing crates, lifting and shaking each one.
“What are you looking for?” asked Merc.
“An instruction manual or something.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
A paper booklet fell out of a box and fluttered to the floor. The title was Teleportal Operation. It was published by the Imperial Teleportal System Authority.
“You were saying?”
“Let me see that.” Merc quickly leafed through the pages of the manual. “This chart lists command words for reaching all the teleportals in the system. See, this is teleportal 40468JM and its word is Mimplecue.”
“That’s great!”
“Not really. This manual is at least ten centuries out of date, we have no idea which teleportals are operational or where they are located, and we don’t know which one Erimandras escaped to.”
“Well, I think the important thing is getting out of here. We can look for Erimandras later after we’ve had time to rest up.”
Merc and Natalia exchanged glances of dismay. “That’s sensible,” said Merc. “But that’s just not how things are done. When an enemy is down, you finish him if you can. If we take time to recuperate, Erimandras will be restored as well.”
“Boltblaster is correct,” said Natalia. “We must destroy him now or we will never be safe.”
“I’ve got a feeling I’ll never be safe again anyway, but I see your point. Why don’t we just pick a teleportal and try it out?”
“We don’t know where we would end up. We could be killed.”
“But we’re just going to die if we stay here. What’s the harm?”
“You learn quickly,” said Merc, stepping into the teleportal and consulting the manual.
“We should not go all at once,” said Natalia. “One should go. If he finds safety he may return for the other two. If he perishes the others will still have a chance.”
“I notice your use of the masculine pronoun he,” said Merc. “I take it you aren’t volunteering, Natalia.”
“Well…”
“I’ll go,” I said.
“No one is going anywhere,” said Merc abruptly, touching a metal panel set in the glass wall of the teleportal. The panel had a metal cup in the center. “This cup holds a magic crystal that powers the teleportal. I’ve just noticed that it is empty.”
“Erimandras took it with him,” said Natalia.
“That would be my guess,” said Merc. “And without it, we’re stuck.”
In frustration, I struck my palm with a fist and felt the imprint of the Ring of Raxx. A desperate thought formed in my mind and I lifted up my hand to display the glittering set amethyst. “I’ve been wearing this supposedly magical ring for weeks and it’s been of no use to me at all so far. Maybe it can provide the power we need.”
Merc gave me a skeptical look. “Whatever that ring’s functions may be, I doubt powering teleportals is one of them—but what have we got to lose? Come press the ring against the panel.” I joined Merc within the teleportal. Natalia stood without. “Come on, Natalia.”
“But—”
“A magic ring only works if it’s worn. If Jason wears the ring, then it teleports with him. If he dies on the other end, we’re stuck here. If he finds safety, he’ll have to come back for us anyway, so we might as well go along the first time. Assuming, of course, that this works.”
Natalia joined us within the limited space of the teleportal. We were crowded together uncomfortably, knees and elbows jammed against one another, Natalia and I stooped over because of our height. I pressed my ring against the panel.
“Tell the ring what you want it to do and concentrate on that,” said Merc.
“Do what?”
“Talk to the ring. I have no idea how to operate it, so you’ll just have to try an exercise of pure will. Be forceful.”
“Right. Forceful. Ring of Raxx, I want you to give power to this teleportal!”
“Now concentrate! Imagine the power flowing from the ring! Exert your will!”
“I’m exerting!”
“Okay, here’s a command word. Ready? Gablazook!”
I felt a draining surge of energy, saw a hot purple flash, and was suddenly swallowing black saltwater. The darkness was broken by another purple flash and we were back in the chamber beneath Marn, falling out in the floor and gasping for air as the water which had come back with us flowed from the teleportal.
“I think we can rule that one out,” said Merc, sitting up. “It’s obviously submerged. I was able to get us back because you
maintained your concentration, Jason. Good thing you didn’t panic.”
“I didn’t have time.”
“At least we know the ring will work. Unfortunately, the manual is now a mass of wet pulp. We’re left only with the command words I happen to recall. Ready to try again?”
“This is madness!” said Natalia.
“You don’t have to come with us,” said Merc. “But if we make it to safety we aren’t coming back.”
“Let’s go,” said the warrior woman, standing.
We crammed ourselves into the teleportal again and I resumed my concentration.
“We ought to be more successful this time just on general principle,” said Merc. “Here we go. Garihart!”
Another surge of energy and flash of purple light brought us to a teleportal in what looked like an abandoned sitting room. The teleportal was against one wall and faced fine quality couches, chairs, and other furnishings, including iron statues of animals. Dark green curtains concealed the walls and a golden brown rug covered the floor. Everything in the room was coated with a thick layer of dust. Boy-sized footprints led from the teleportal to the oaken door across the room.
“Maybe we got lucky,” said Merc, as we emerged from the teleportal. “This could be the place.”
Natalia and I drew our swords.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Wherever unit 22169VS is,” said Merc, reading the serial number from the teleportal. “That could be anywhere, though I’d venture to say we’re not underwater.”
One of the animal statues, a big iron frog, winked at me.
“Merc, that frog statue winked at me.”
“Are you sure?”
The frog opened its mouth, bellowed a rusty croak, and shot its tongue at me. The iron muscle struck my chest like a hammer and sat me down hard. “I’m pretty sure.”
The frog croaked again and leapt across the room, tracing a dusty trail through the air and landing full on my chest. It must have been completely solid, for it nearly crushed my ribs to powder. Only my magic armor saved me from immediate harm, but I lay helplessly on my back, unable to take a breath with that weight upon me.
The frog was joined in its attack by the other statues. An iron butterfly the size of an eagle flew at Natalia to batter her with its wings. A metal war dog snarled at Merc and was joined by an iron ant as big as a dog. A life-size grizzly bear statue growled and sniffed, as if deciding which of us to attack. Choking dust filled the air in gray clouds.