With a sound Laedron likened to the scattering of paper and the shuffling of feet, a man came around the bookcase that had previously obscured him from view. Laedron’s jaw dropped. Kareth, he thought, first noticing the human face and upper body, then the crystal pieces imbedded in the man’s torso, arms, and legs. The man stopped when he saw Laedron and his group, then bolted for a nearby exit, his tattered clothes and long brown hair fluttering behind him.
“Kareth!” Tavin shouted, thrusting his wand toward the man and casting a spell.
The man disappeared through the tunnel just before the bolt of lightning crashed into the wall.
Tavin took off after him.
Laedron, pursuing Tavin into the passage, glanced at the desk and shelves. An amulet forged from crystal? Drawings? Plans of some kind? What has become of this man, having been secluded for so long?
15
Showdown
Racing down the corridor, Laedron couldn’t cast the fear from his heart, for the mere sight of Kareth instilled terror in the pit of his stomach. What lengths of madness has a man reached when he willingly deforms himself? Purposefully inserts shards of crystal into his own flesh? His horror notwithstanding, Laedron kept within a few feet from Tavin the whole way.
Tavin first, then Laedron and the others, burst into another chamber like a torrent of hellfire, out of breath and scanning the room for any signs of Kareth. Laedron was taken aback by the sight of the place. Trappers stood at intervals along the walls of the ringed room, like knights on guard by a king’s throne. Their bodies shone bright and red, and their glow overpowered the luminous crystals placed around the chamber to provide ambient light. Upon a stone platform sat a huge crystal chair, which looked like a vicar’s cathedra. Laedron could make out the lower half of Kareth’s body crouched behind the seat.
Tavin yelled, “Nowhere to run now, fiend! Come out and face us.”
Kareth stood, walked in front of the throne, then sat upon it, holding his staff, which had a shaft of what looked like pure emerald. “Am I the one who should be concerned?” He gestured at the Trappers at either side of him. “You would come into my house and, surrounded by my guardians, make threats? I thought you would have better sense than that, my dear Tavingras. It has been quite a while since we last met, but I thought better of you than that.”
“It would seem that you haven’t forgotten much since you’ve been down here in your little hole.” Tavin approached the throne, and the Trappers moved to intercept him. “Perhaps you remember your crimes? Why we might be here to see you?”
Laedron gestured for his companions to stay back, then he followed Tavin toward the throne.
“Halt,” Kareth said to the Trappers. When they didn’t obey, Kareth jerked his head back with contempt, as if he’d realized something, then donned an amulet around his neck. “I said, halt!”
The Trappers stopped in their tracks, and the red glow dimmed. The amulet. He uses it to control them?
Smiling, Tavin asked, “Struck a nerve, did I?”
“You were there, Tavingras,” Kareth said, his anger apparent. “You know why I had to do what I did.”
“Had to? No, I think not.” Tavingras gave Kareth a glare that dripped with condescension. “I can think of nothing that could justify your murder of the Elder Priest. What would you have me believe? That she attacked you when she appointed Harridan to succeed her? You killed the Far’rah out of envy and jealousy.”
“I loved her, Tavingras, and she betrayed that love.” Kareth’s voice echoed with an ache that only an immortal could hold, a pain that had tortured its victim for years, centuries, as if it had been inflicted anew each day.
The revelation must have been a shock to Tavin because he stood speechless, his mouth gaping.
Finally, Kareth said, “You couldn’t understand, for you never knew the truth. Your master, the one you now call Far’rah, stole my love’s heart and my future. That is what you and your people are good for, Tavingras. Perfect little followers to liars and thieves.”
Tavin shook his head. “You lie.”
Kareth leaned forward in his seat. “In the middle of his own kingdom, a king tells the truth, for who would oppose him? What need would be sated by speaking falsehoods?”
“You mean to trick me. You lie because you are afraid-”
“Afraid?” Kareth let out an unnerving, sinister cackle that resounded from every corner of the cave. “What do I have to fear from one of Harridan’s toadies and a handful of children? Come now, Tavingras. I thought you remembered me better than that. Or do you mean to be disrespectful for disrespect’s sake?”
“If you’re not lying, then what do you hope to accomplish here? Why do you build these crystal abominations and loose them upon the forest? She’s dead, Kareth. You’ve taken your revenge upon her.”
“To punish you and your kind, nothing more. To revisit the suffering you’ve caused me until none of you draw breath. For what reason did you think?”
“To build your own empire from our bones?”
“Ha! You would like to think that, wouldn’t you? Had we spent more time together, you might have had an opportunity to truly know me, Tavingras.”
“I know you well, murderer, but you seem to have grown comfortable in your cave.” Tavin raised his wand at Kareth. “I’ve come quite a long way since we last met, and before you die, I want to impress that upon you.”
“I think you’ll find that we’ve both learned a few new tricks.” Standing, Kareth took his staff in both hands. “Is it to be only you and I, or will these others join our little game?”
Tavin looked over his shoulder. “Keep back. Whatever happens, do not interfere until one of us is dead.”
Insanity Laedron thought. “What good is that? We’ve come to kill the man. Why give up the advantage?”
“If I fall, you’ll have plenty of work ahead of you. Stay out of it.” Tavin turned back at Kareth. “I’ve long waited for this day.”
“Then, I shall make it interesting.” Kareth bowed, then shouted a spell and waved the staff at Tavin.
Tavin ducked, narrowly avoiding a beam of light as it passed overhead. With a flick of his wrist, Tavin returned a blast of deafening thunder. Although Kareth was clearly the focal point of the spell, several of the Trappers standing nearby exploded or collapsed in the shockwave.
Cracks formed in the walls of the cave. Kareth peered down and examined his body, and even from that distance, Laedron noticed fractures in some of the crystals imbedded in the man. The unnatural glow was fading from them. Seemingly undeterred, Kareth thrust his staff forward again and unleashed a hail of ice shards at Tavin.
Tavin apparently recognized the spell because, as soon as Kareth had cast, he summoned a shield of fire. The ice shards passed through, turned to water, and landed harmlessly. Both of the Uxidin released their spells, then walked the perimeter of the platform like scrappers sizing up one another.
“It would seem that I underestimated you, Tavingras.” Kareth gestured at one of the broken crystals in his chest. “How many of my creations did you fight before you learned how to defeat them?”
“Not many,” Tavin said with a full dose of vitriol.
“Ah, then perhaps I asked the wrong question. Maybe it would be more fitting if I asked how many of your poor, pathetic people had to die before you stopped the first one?”
With a shriek, Tavin shot a bolt of lightning from his wand. The bolt struck Kareth in the shoulder. Tavin fired another, and Kareth took cover behind his throne. Enveloped in rage, Tavin hurled bolt after bolt into the crystal chair, knocking chunks off of it with each casting. “Come out, damn you! Quit hiding and-”
Kareth poked the end of his staff between the legs of the throne. Flames erupted from the tip and engulfed Tavin’s legs. Tavin screamed in anguish, then fell to the ground when Kareth ended the spell.
Laedron’s heart sank. He took a step forward, then stopped when Tavin held up a hand.
“No. You m
ustn’t interfere. It’s not over yet.”
“Not over?” Kareth walked out from behind the chair. “You’re finished, Tavingras. You’re no more a threat to me than these children.”
“Finished? Not yet. So long as there’s life in my body, I will oppose you for all that you’ve done.”
“Then, I shall deprive you of that life, that wasted, pitiful, subservient life. I should let you suffer as I have suffered, but I will be merciful to you. More merciful than you and your kind ever were to me.” Kareth approached, his staff outstretched. “In the end, the Zyvdredi were right. The essence of the weak is best used to serve the strong. Now, your essence will serve me.”
“So, you have joined them? Thrown everything you were away?” Tavin asked through clenched teeth.
“Joined? I swear fealty to no Nyrethine house.” Kareth crouched next to Tavin. “I merely understand their philosophy, Tavingras. Quiet, now. The pain you’re in must be excruciating.”
After hearing the first words of the incantation, Laedron knew what spell Kareth was conjuring.
Marac must have recognized it, too, because he whispered, “Lae, do something.”
Not until one of us is dead, Laedron repeated in his mind, watching the still-breathing Tavin. The swirls of dark violet appeared, and Laedron was torn between Marac’s words and the instructions Tavin had given. Did he mean for me to obey even if he lost?
“Lae, we must stop him,” Marac said. “Lae!”
Raising the scepter, Laedron stared at Tavin and realized that he drew breath no longer. The sorcerer’s staff’s purple glow faded. “Bastard.”
“I had almost forgotten you were here, young one,” Kareth said. “Would you prefer a quick death?”
Laedron gestured at the lifeless corpse at Kareth’s feet. “Unlike Tavingras, you know nothing of me. Does that not worry you?”
Brow furrowed, Kareth stood. “Worry me? Tell me, child, what did he offer you to come here? Grand adventure? A share of the spoils? Or did he touch upon your mortal sentiments of right and wrong? If that was the case, then know that I was the one wronged. It is I who suffered by their hands like some plaything.”
“Does any of this matter? Whether I know the truth or not, you’ll try to kill us anyway. Why wait?”
“A quick one, then. Have it your way.”
His hand trembling, Laedron held out the rod, recalling the words to his dispelling ward. Kareth raised the staff high and chanted. When Kareth thrust the staff forward, it exploded in his hands in a flurry of flashing light.
Thrown to the ground, Laedron shook his head and blinked rapidly. A haze of smoke hung in the air. The sting of warm blood filled his eyes, and a pain like broken slivers of glass sliced into his skin with every movement. Where has he gone? Get it together, Sorcerer! Every moment that passes without action gives him another chance to attack. He tried to focus and find Kareth through the smoke, but he couldn’t. What in the hells happened? Searching his memory, he tried to think of something that might make sense of it all, and he finally realized what had caused the explosion. Harridan. He couldn’t, could he? Wouldn’t? Laedron recalled his words to Tavin: I thought you came here to help us, to which Tavin had replied, When the time comes, you’ll know why I couldn’t.
Working backward from that moment, Laedron imagined the meeting-the private talk that Tavin and Harridan had before they left-and he pieced together what had really gone on behind that closed door. A spell placed upon Tavin’s essence, then delivered to Kareth’s staff when that essence was absorbed. That must be the answer. A clever monster led into a trap and defeated by his own nature.
Laedron considered what Tavin must have felt coming there, the quick pace by which he’d led them to that place. All the way down, he had purposefully ran to meet his own death at Kareth’s hands, to be the last sacrifice intended, at last, to free his people of the madman’s tyranny. When the smoke cleared, Laedron rose to his feet and checked his friends. “Everyone all right?”
“Are you?” Valyrie approached. “You were the closest.”
“Yes, fine.” Laedron pulled the strip of linen from his hand and wiped his face. “The shards didn’t go deep.”
“We’re fine,” Marac said, then turned to a rock. “You can come out now.”
Brice peeked over the boulder, then moved to stand beside Marac.
Laedron turned toward the throne and took a few steps, but he stopped when he noticed Kareth’s leg twitch.
Kareth let out a bloodcurdling scream. His arm had been torn away at the shoulder from the blast. “How could you-”
“I had nothing to do it with it. Don’t blame me for your own mistakes, monster.”
“Mistakes? How-”
Laedron, despite his own pain, displayed a smile. “They’ve beaten you, Kareth. Harridan knew what you would do if you won, and you’ve done it. By your own greed have you been undone. They’ve won, and you’re finished.”
Chuckling, Kareth righted himself on the throne. “I can forge another staff. Another arm, too. They’ve done little more than delay my work for a few days.”
This madness ends now. Grabbing at his belt, Laedron searched for the scepter, but then realized he had dropped it somewhere when he was thrown. He scanned the ground nearby, but he couldn’t spot it amidst the rubble and broken crystal.
“Guardians,” Kareth said, and the pair of remaining Trappers stood and approached from behind the throne. “Feast upon them. Devour their essences!”
The Trappers, red from the inner glow, turned and started walking toward Laedron and his friends. I can’t fight them with a practice wand! He glanced at his boot, then reached for his spare. I have to try. If nothing else, I can at least say I tried!
Marac, his sword and shield in hand, ran up and stood on Laedron’s left. “We’ll fight them, Lae. Just like the others.”
My best friend, once so afraid in Azura, has resolved himself to stand at my side.
Brice joined Laedron on his right. “We’re with you. Until the end.” And Brice. Standing with me despite his terror. Even if we don’t survive, I am proud of my companions.
When Valyrie came alongside him, Laedron stared at her bow and the arrow she had notched. The amulet. If we remove it from play, will it disrupt the Trappers? Anything’s worth a shot. “Can you hit that amulet from here?”
With a confused expression, she replied, “I can attempt it.”
“Not try. Shoot it!”
The Trappers reached the throne. The faint red glow grew to a bright scarlet, the same color Laedron had seen in the creature that had killed the wolf. After what seemed like an eternity, Valyrie released the bowstring. The arrow landed in Kareth’s neck.
The force enchantment rended Kareth’s flesh away. Laedron searched for the amulet, but he couldn’t see it amidst the protruding bones, the blood, and the bits of skin. Kareth was doubled over, wailing from the blow, and Laedron heard what sounded like glass hitting the ground.
Did she? There-she got it! Laedron couldn’t help but grin. He wanted to turn and kiss her, for the amulet that had hung from Kareth’s neck was gone, but he knew that they weren’t finished. The Trappers advanced, so Laedron flicked his wand and recited his teleportation spell. Before one of the Trappers could land a blow, Laedron and his friends had teleported to stand behind the throne. Laedron quickly cast an invisibility spell on his party.
The Trappers swatted the air, as if searching the place where they had been standing. They turned toward their master.
“Don’t worry about me, fools. Get them. Find them,” Kareth said, forcing the words through his damaged throat.
Laedron watched the Trappers return to either side of the throne, as if confused about what they should do. It’s working. I think it is, anyway.
“Get them.” Kareth pointed at where Laedron and his friends had been standing. “Go. Find them. What are you-”
In unison, the Trappers extended their crystalline arms. The glow inside their bodies grew so
bright that Laedron couldn’t look directly at it.
Kareth cried, “No! No! No! N-”
When the light faded, Laedron peered at the throne. Kareth’s lifeless body slumped between his former protectors. A rainbow of colors danced inside the Trappers’ crystal frames. They stood motionless, as if absorbing Kareth’s essence had paralyzed or killed them.
Laedron released the invisibility spell, then whispered, “Have you seen the scepter? Spread out, help me find it.”
After searching through broken rock, shards of crystal, and dust, Laedron had reached his wits’ end. I have to find it. We’ll stand no chance here without something to balance the scales. He picked up Tavin’s wand, but it was snapped in the middle. I’ll take this to Harridan. Perhaps that cold man will appreciate Tavin’s sacrifice, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t. He turned when he heard the shuffling of feet.
“Found it,” Brice said, handing over the rod.
“Let’s get out of here, Lae,” Marac whispered, sheathing his sword. “We’ve done what we came here to do. Kareth’s dead.”
“Not everything.”
“What else is there, Lae?”
“The Bloodmyr Tome. We must find it.”
“Let the Uxidin worry with it. We’ve done more than enough for them.”
“We’ve come too far to leave without it. It must be around here somewhere.”
“Dammit, Lae. Give up on that silly thing, would you? Our lives are more important than-”
“Who are you?” a monotone voice asked from the throne.
“Has the man returned? As a ghost, no less?” Brice, his hand quivering, pointed his blade in every direction. “What’s next, Syril himself?”
Marac grabbed Brice’s hand and struggled with Brice for control. “Put that down before you hurt someone, Thimble.”
“Who are you?” the voice asked again.
“Who are you?” Brice asked.
The Trappers turned toward them. “Myrdwyer.”
The Immortals of Myrdwyer amob-3 Page 16