Smart Alec in the Dark Lands

by Donald Wigboldy

  "Helios, friend, have mercy on me."

  Pointing past the wizard, all their eyes went to where Helios had been standing a moment ago. Lying in a pile on the ground, Glint was unmoving. Smoke lifted from the body and everyone could see that, even being shielded by the sorcerer, the hobgoblin hadn't survived the lightning bolt.

  "Should I have mercy like you had on him or maybe like you had on Duerog and Ashram? No, murderer, I have no mercy for you."

  Alec and Shaelamee gasped as Helios plunged his dagger into the side of the bronze dragaoin's neck. Blood coughed out of the creature's mouth almost instantly. Held by the binding spell, Nadron could do nothing else as he coughed up blood or tried to swallow it. He couldn't breathe or speak a word. The others could do nothing but watch. Neither could heal and this was a deathblow, the attack was meant to assassinate his victim.

  Chapter 19- Bright New World

  "Helios, what have you done?" Shaelamee breathed out barely more than a whisper.

  The silver dragaoin wiped his dagger on the dying wizard's tunic before replacing it on his belt. Nadron was still standing, but the blood flow was already slowing from the wound. His eyes were dulling as his life steadily left the dragaoin's body, but Helios' spell wouldn't let him fall as long as the wizard still lived.

  Turning to face the genasi grimly, Helios stated, "I have killed a traitor who killed his own comrades. He tried to kill me as well after I offered to let him surrender.

  "Ask Glint if I was correct to kill Nadron," the sorcerer added gesturing towards the hobgoblin lying dead on the floor near the door.

  Helios moved in front of the dying wizard and lifted a gold disc on a chain made of silver. Lifting it over Nadron's head made his dark brown eyes focus on his killer before him for just a moment. The sorcerer's blue eyes met the other's still looking angry. "The medallion of the Cemeri order given to you from Ciemnosci wizards and now you turn against those who trained you. Did you just use them all those years or did you turn on them as an afterthought as you did your allies here? I guess it doesn't matter. I'll return it to the school for you and let them know how you let them down."

  Nadron's eyes fully glazed over and the wizard slumped to the floor. He was dead before touching the stone.

  Looking at his stunned companions, Helios said, "We should return to the keep. Grab your belongings, Shaelamee, and help Alec find some clothes. Maybe look for coin as well. We'll check for the possibility of leaving for one of the other forts and gather the salamanders to run."

  Shaelamee fought back tears in her eyes, though Alec wasn't sure if the tears were for the fallen wizard or the others who had died. He wasn't even certain if she was emotionally close to any of the others. Maybe being of different races had kept them from getting closer to her, but the girl was upset either way.

  "What... about... Ediyem?" she asked and her voice broke on nearly every word.

  "After we see what the enemy is doing first," the sorcerer stated even as he began to walk away from the room.

  Unable to do anything in the gate room, Alec and Shae followed Helios back through the previous rooms. The genasi tapped each door making it close and seal once again. By the time they were walking up the stairs, Alec couldn't tell where the opening for each room was. The seals disguised each door perfectly and he could no longer make out the switches used even after watching Helios set them.

  Returning through the kitchen and sealing the door once more, Helios went to the front door closing it and barring it while the other two walked back upstairs. Shaelamee took his hand on occasion making certain that the boy stayed with her. They passed the dead bodies of hollows and the koze who had tried to stop Nadron after his betrayal.

  The girl opened a door and led him inside. It felt more feminine than the room Alec had slept in for just a single night. There was a pink blanket thrown across the foot of the bed and a light green flower patterned pillow on a chair in the corner. Alec noticed a wide dresser with a mirror standing behind it and a silver platter with a scattering of brushes, combs and a handful of glass containers with metal caps. Not everything could be identified by the boy, though he recalled a flask on his mother's dresser as a child.

  "Perfume?" he questioned as Alec looked at the organized looking tray.

  Shaelamee was already opening the drawers to pull out her clothing that consisted of many different colors. For someone who often had seemed more comfortable out of them, the girl had a lot of clothes, he thought.

  "Don't your people have perfume?"

  "They do. I suppose the word wouldn't be known to us since Helios' spell can only match things that we have alike. My mother had a single flask of it as far as I can recall from my childhood. It was quite expensive, but my father bought it for their tenth anniversary, I think."

  "My people are experts at making perfume. We are good with nearly anything involving liquids, I suppose," the blue girl stated without ever slowing down in gathering her belongings. She pointed to another pack and Alec brought it over to her. Quickly tossing the remaining contents of her dresser into it, Shae handed it to the boy to carry for her.

  He watched as she produced a carefully hidden pouch from somewhere inside a dresser drawer that had appeared empty a moment before and it jingled as it bounced in her hand. "Cenestraya sends our monthly stipend to us through regular shipments of supplies. I don't even know why. It isn't like there is anyone taking money and conducting trade in this wasteland," the girl said before slipping the pouch into the bag Alec was carrying.

  For someone who had apparently decided to hide her money from those she had worked with for years, it seemed unusually trusting to the boy; not that he planned to steal from her anyway.

  Giving her room one last look, Shaelamee led him to a few other rooms. Looking through other less fancy dressers and their drawers, the girl eventually found Alec some clothing that fit as well as finding more bags of coins. She took the coins without appearing to show any guilt or other emotion as she basically stole from the dead. At his look, Shaelamee stated glumly, "It isn't like they can use it anymore."

  They eventually went into a more official looking bedroom. It was similar to the others but there was a defined office space with a desk and extra chairs for either side of it. Assuming that Ediyem had also conducted meetings with her subordinates here from time to time, Alec didn't ask any questions about it at all until the girl began rooting through the captain's belongings.

  "Should we be looking through Ediyem's things?"

  Shaelamee found a large pouch of coins. The bag that he was carrying had become heavier with each pouch and she had split the load of coin between them, though Alec carried more he could easily guess. A small black velvet covered box held together by a small hinge was picked out of the top drawer of the captain's dresser. The girl opened it to see a pretty silver ring set with what looked like several diamonds of fair size.

  "If they didn't already kill her, and she can be rescued; I will gladly give her possessions back. Of course, if she is dead or dies before I see her again, I will keep them as payment for putting up with her continual complaining about me." She looked over at Alec and added, "The woman acted like she was in competition with me or something. It isn't like there were any Ciemnosci or genasi men here. The other races are more bestial and don't find our people any more attractive than we find them."

  "There have never been any others of your kind here?"

  "Well, when I first arrived there was a male air genasi, but he was only here for about half year before leaving for the home world."

  "Were you attracted to him? You seem to enjoy having other men more like you around," Alec said implying that Shaelamee liked him. The girl had certainly appeared flirtatious enough with him since they had first met.

  "Ew no," she replied with a disgusted face. "He was way too old for me. Jyrian had to be at least forty years old."

  "That's old?" the fourteen year old wizard questioned curiously? Alec certainly felt like forty wa
s much older than he was and maybe it felt nearly ancient, but it was hardly close to old age for humans. He had no idea if genasi lived as long or not.

  "It was to me when I was a young teenage girl arriving here. Jyrian even acted more like a father figure to me, until I exasperated him anyway."

  "I can't imagine you being exasperating," the boy answered with a sarcastic smile.

  "Ha ha," she responded even as Shaelamee stashed the ring in the pack which she carried.

  Glancing around, her face frowned slightly. "I won't miss this room. I don't know how many times Ediyem made me come here just to complain about my performance or whatever else had her annoyed that day."

  Shaelamee started to lead the way out once more when they heard a bell ringing out above their heads. It came from the roof. Glancing upward to the stone ceiling, Shaelamee's face showed worry now.

  "Warning bells, we need to hurry to the main hall. It was where Helios said he would meet us if he spotted an attack from the hollows and Zmaj wizards. If they can pass on the flying spell, even those without magic could clear the walls in a single jump."

  "If the enemy surrounds the castle," Alec asked as the two hurried towards the stairs, "what will we do?"

  Remaining silent save for the sound of her bare feet on the stone as they ran down the two flights of stairs from the floor with Ediyem's office on it, Shaelamee didn't answer him at all. He just hoped the girl was silent because she and Helios had a plan instead of neither knowing what to do.

  The silver scaled dragaoin dropped from above moving between the staircases without laying a foot on any stair. Alec assumed that it was another use of the sorcerer's flying magic and wished that he knew the convenient spell as well.

  "What now?" Alec asked again hoping that maybe Helios would answer him.

  "The Haileni wizards used their magic to open doorways through the walls. Hollows are storming into the courtyard already," the dragaoin reported. "We will go back to the storm gate. I can send you two to Shaelamee's world. Go to the embassy there and have them send word of this rebellion."

  As the three turned towards the hall leading to the kitchen once more, it was Shaelamee's turn to question the sorcerer's plan. "What about you? It sounds like you plan to send us through to Wataris without you. Don't you plan on coming with us, Helios?"

  "Somebody needs to stay and alert the other forts to the danger. Maybe I can even find Ediyem and rescue her as well. Once you are gone, I will destroy this gate."

  "But if you destroy it, no one can come reinforce Naermere directly. We would need to return to Atropos through one of the other forts. It would take a week at least to bring back help," the blue girl added with concern. "You can't hope to face them all. I'm also not certain that you will be able to fly away from them. The spell doesn't last long enough or make you faster to get very far away."

  "I have plans. Don't worry about me. Let's just get you two to safety."

  Alec felt worry as well, not for himself, but for the dragaoin sorcerer.

  The three retraced their steps back to the kitchen. Alec also noted several sources of magic set on the hallway walls. Runes of some sort, he thought, and wondered what else Helios had been up to while the others had been raiding the other rooms. His attention was distracted from the marks before they could open the secret door, however, as the sound of something heavy striking the keep's front door echoed through the mostly empty castle. While the two younger wizards looked down the hall to see the stout looking doors blocking whatever was trying to break down the defensive barrier, Helios placed his hand with exact precision on the practically invisible unlocking stone.

  "Hurry," the dragaoin ordered gesturing for them to go ahead of him.

  They didn't even have time to enter the door before they heard the first explosion.

  "They're already inside!" Shaelamee reported with alarm.

  "I said to hurry!" the dragaoin complained gesturing for the others to move ahead of him.

  The girl ignored him and looking down the hallway she began to cast a new spell. Alec moved to her side and could a hole where the door had once been. Wanting to curse, Helios' clawed hand gripped him by the shoulder and began to drag him across the kitchen to the concealed door. He barely had the time to see a horde of hollows leap through the opened entryway before darkness formed concealing the undead mob as well as the runes in the area. The hallway nearest to them was empty as it had been so he could still see the closest runes.

  Shaelamee turned and said, "That might slow them down and should hide your traps, Helios."

  The girl grabbed the boy's other arm helping to spin him towards their goal. Freed of Helios' grip, Alec joined his new friends scrambling down the stairs much faster than before. The dragaoin resealed the door and leaped down to the bottom floor well before those who ran down the stairs.

  Opening this door as well, Helios didn't wait for them this time. They followed as quickly as they could, but the next door was already opened. The sorcerer reached the final room first and Alec watched him place his hand on the strange looking box attached to the cable and metal on the floor. A hum sounded as the box began to glow. Moments later, dark, stormy looking clouds began to billow up from the straight metal piece sitting on the floor.

  Alec recognized this magic now. He had only seen it once, but Helios had replicated the storm gate in a smaller size than the one he had been pulled through in Alus. A true portal to other worlds, the boy's feet slowed only a moment before Shaelamee pulled him forward.

  The other doors had all been closed by the girl as they passed through each one. Her green eyes shimmered reflecting the magical light given off by the quickly solidifying storm.

  "This goes to Wataris?" she inquired once more.

  Nodding, the silver sorcerer replied, "I used you as the locator. It should be close to your home."

  "My town doesn't have a gate point," the girl replied and shifted the bags in her left hand before taking Alec's in her right. Looking at the boy, she said, "He has most likely opened a doorway into the capitol. It has empire wizards and military officials. We can get word back to Cenestraya from there. Just be prepared, Alec, because Tenayus is very different from Naermere or Atropos."

  Not certain if he should be worried, the boy asked, "Could Helios send me to my world through this?"

  "Only if the empire has created a gate to attach to," the dragaoin sorcerer replied. "Otherwise it would take someone with great knowledge in finding new worlds with their portal magic. I am afraid that I only know the basics of it."

  "If you recall, we warned you that only the Ciemnosci wizards know the most intricate parts of this magic. I am actually a bit surprised that Helios is trained on the gates at all," Shaelamee said eyeing the silver dragaoin curiously.

  Alec looked upward. He had been noticing vibrations that he was pretty certain came from above him. His magical senses told him of eruptions of magic, but now the feeling of magic building outside the chamber appeared to be coming from behind them. Turning his head, the boy warned, "I think whatever magic you set up in the hallway has been thwarted or used up. They're working on the first door now."

  "The wizards know we are here, even if the hollows are too ignorant to figure it out once we've left their sight. If they're in the kitchen, then they must be using magic to force their way through," Helios stated looking in the direction of Alec's attention. "You must leave now."

  "But you have no way out," the blue girl told him worriedly.

  "If you two don't go now, I won't. Now go through the gate before I have to destroy it!" Helios' blue eyes focused on the smaller people in front of him as if angry that they were still there. "Go!"

  Alec started to swallow nervously, but Shaelamee yanked him into the swirling storm clouds with surprising strength. He didn't even have a chance to resist before he was pulled into the swirling vortex once more.

  His eyes sighted on the storms swirling around them. The girl's hand held his tightly still, but she was
sighted on the space before them. Seeing lightning flashing through the clouds, Alec was distracted only a moment before the storm was gone again.

  Blinking as light many times brighter than that in Naermere's cellar nearly blinded the boy, Alec lifted his right hand feeling the two bags in his hand bumping against his side. He didn't let go. Without vision as he rubbed at his eyes, the boy was afraid that letting go might lose them forever.

  Shaelamee let go of his hand and the girl said, "We're here, Alec. You can put the bags down a moment if you want."

  Doing as she said, when Alec's eyes finally could see, the boy was looking at the smaller girl looking up at him with a smile.

  "Halt!" a voice called out drawing the pair's attention to several guards inside a much larger room than they had been in before.

  The boy looked around at a circular room with a high vaulted ceiling coming to a point far above their heads. There were several balconies set into the light blue and golden yellow painted walls. They were painted a creamy yellow, but the men with arrows aimed at them as well as several metal rods, didn't look as sunny of disposition as the colorful walls.

  Stone tiles of white speckled with yellow were under their feet and the boy found that Shaelamee had dropped her bags already as well.

  The girl stepped in front of him and said, "I am Warlock Shaelamee Wateripple, a guardian of Atropos. We will need to see either the Regent Wizard or Garrison Commander immediately. There is a threat which I need to warn the council about."

  "What threat can worry the empire from a barren world like Atropos?" the lead soldier questioned.

  Another man stepped past the armored soldiers and looked at the novice behind her. "You have identified yourself by name, but not your companion. I will also need to see the mark to believe you haven't tried to enter Tenayus illegally."

  Shaelamee pushed her magic into her right forearm. A rune turned green as it glowed long enough for the man to see. She also introduced her companion, "Oh, this is just Alec, a wind wizard trainee. We had to flee before the hollows got us. Our companion sent us through and was going to destroy the storm gate in Fort Naermere so no more should be able to get through after us.