Beyond the High Road

16

From the depths of a third floor arrow loop gleamed a pair of darting crimson eyes, framed by a face of inky darkness and a halo of wildly tangled hair. The broad band of a tarnished crown sat low on the figure’s brow and seemed in danger of slipping down over the eyes, and that was all Azoun could see of the creature from his hiding place across the road. He waited until the thing’s red eyes shifted away, then pulled away from the curtain and closed the gap through which he had been peering.

“That is the ghazneth, most certainly.” He shook his head in wonderment, then turned to Merelda Marliir. “My thanks for your sharp eye, Lady Marliir-and for allowing us the use of your home to spy upon it.”

Merelda, adorned at midday in jewels and a chiffon ball gown, curtsied deeply. “You are most welcome, Sire. After hearing Dauneth’s description of the fiend, I could scarcely believe my own eyes when I saw it landing atop the White Tower.”

“And you are certain the queen was with it, Mother?” asked Dauneth. Like Azoun and the rest of the company crowded into Lady Marliir’s spacious dressing chamber, the High Warden was dressed for battle.

Merelda scowled at her son. “I know the queen when I see her-even if she was not quite as radiant as usual.” She gave Azoun a concerned look, then said, “Of all the places in Arabel, I can’t imagine why it would be stupid enough to take her there. I have heard that is the armory of the war wizards.”

“It would certainly seem foolish for the ghazneth to show itself anywhere within the citadel,” said Azoun, dodging Merelda’s half-asked question. Given her kindness in volunteering her own dressing chamber as a staging area for an entire company of Purple Dragons, he had no wish to insult the woman by lying to her-but neither did he wish to confirm the armory’s confidential location to one of the biggest gossips in the realm. “But it would be a mistake to think of our foe as stupid. He has, after all, been eluding us for nearly a tenday now.”

Azoun caught Dauneth’s eye, then glanced from Lady Marliir to the door.

Taking the king’s hint, the High Warden turned to his mother. “I hate to ask this of you, Mother, but I’m sure you will understand.”

Lady Marliir’s expression grew wary. “What is it?”

“It’s a small matter, really. We’ve been discussing strategy all day and our throats are dry. I wonder if you would fetch us something to drink?” Without waiting for an answer, the High Warden took his mother by the arm and started toward the door. “I’d send for the servants, of course, but we’ll be making plans and can’t have anyone of less than the utmost trustworthiness near the room.”

“I should have thought of that myself.” Lady Marliir beamed at her son’s flattery. “I’ll have the entire wing emptied.”

“Yes, we thank you for your prudence,” called Azoun. He could barely force himself to wait until the woman had left the room before turning to Merula the Marvelous. “How many can you carry into the armory?”

“At once?” Merula glanced around the room, studying the heavy armor in which his companions were adorned, then closed his eyes to do some quick addition. “No more than four and myself, but I could summon-“

“No!” said Azoun. “That would take magic or time, and either could cost us the queen.”

The king turned to the men at his back. Though he had not asked for volunteers, he saw in every man’s eye the fervent hope of being picked to enter the tower with Merula. Azoun clasped Dauneth’s shoulder, then waved forward two Purple Dragons he knew to be excellent swordsmen-and even better marks with a crossbow.

Azoun turned to Merula. “How do these men strike you?”

“As well as any others,” said the wizard. “But what of the fourth?”

“You are looking at him, of course.”

Merula’s eyes grew as round as coins. “But Sire, there is every risk-“

“She is my queen,” said Azoun. “More than that, she is my wife.”

“Yes, but you pointed out yourself that the ghazneth is very cunning,” he said. “This may be a trap.”

“Merula, I am not asking your opinion.”

The wizard was unfazed by Azoun’s stern tone. “And even if it is not, there is the afterdaze. For a moment, we will be almost helpless.”

“Merula!” Azoun barked.

The wizard fell silent, but looked less than contrite.

Mungan Kane, one of Owden Foley’s Chauntean monks, stepped forward to speak. “Sire, if I may, there is much to what Merula says.”

Merula narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and Azoun glared.

“Is everyone in this chamber determined to defy me?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Mungan raised his palms to calm the king. “You have worked the Mystery with Queen Filfaeril, and it is only fitting you go after her, but the afterdaze will be a problem. If the ghazneth doesn’t slay you or someone else outright, he may flee.”

Azoun considered this, then nodded. “Right you are, Mungan. My thanks.” He pulled the weathercloak off Merula’s shoulders, then turned to his men. “I need a volunteer to stand atop the White Tower. It may be that you’ll face the ghazneth alone.”

Every hand in the chamber shot up. Azoun nodded his thanks, then passed the cloak to a grizzled lionar he knew to be as shrewd as he was quick with a sword. “You know how to use this?”

The man nodded. “Aye, I’ve served with a war wizard or two in my time.” He flung the cloak across his shoulders, then bowed deeply. “The ghazneth won’t pass with the queen. If it tries, I will be honored to die stopping it.”

Azoun nodded grimly and clasped the lionar’s shoulder, then turned to Merula.

Mungan Kane stepped to intercept him. “There is one other matter, Sire. I should be one of those to accompany you.”

“To see that the Royal Temple is represented in the battle?” mocked Merula.

“To see that the creature’s wickedness doesn’t deprive you of your wits-as it did Vangerdahast,” countered Mungan.

Merula’s eyes flashed. “I would not waste my magic-“

“It is my magic,” interrupted Azoun. “Unless the war wizards no longer serve at the pleasure of the king.”

“That could never be, Majesty.” Merula bowed to Azoun, but continued to glare at the priest. “I thank the king for pointing out the error of my assertion.”

“You are quite welcome,” said Azoun. “We must remember the service Harvestmaster Owden and his assistants provided in restoring the royal magician and myself to our wits-a service which they may need to provide again for the queen.”

Merula’s face only grew stormier. “Of course. If the king wishes to exchange one of his dragoneers for a mere priest-“

“The king does not.” Azoun turned to Mungan. “The battle will be won or lost in the first moments, and I will have greater need of swords than sanity. I fear we must try to hold our own wits long enough for you to take the long way around with the rest of the company.”

Mungan’s face fell, but he nodded his understanding. “If I cannot be with you, then perhaps you will allow the All Mother to go in my place.” He reached into his robe and withdrew five wooden amulets carved in the shape of a unicorn, handing one to Azoun and each of the men going with him. “These will offer some protection until I can join you.”

Merula regarded the amulet with a sneer, then thrust it back at the priest. “I have no use for this.”

Mungan refused to accept it. “It is for the king’s protection.”

“It is to insinuate Chauntea into the royal graces.” Merula dropped the amulet on the floor, then turned to Azoun. “I trust my loyalty does not yet dictate my faith?”

The wizard’s emphasis on the word yet was not lost on the king. He looked at the men accompanying him. They were eyeing him expectantly, holding their amulets in their palms and waiting to follow his lead. Azoun sighed wearily. In his gratitude to Owden, perhaps he was beginning to favor the Church of Chauntea more than was appropriate.

“You men do as your own consciences dictate.” He returned the amulet to Mungan. “I think I can hold onto my sanity until you arrive in person.”

“That may be so-but do you really want to risk the queen’s life on that chance?” Mungan tucked the amulet cord through Azoun’s sword belt, then stepped back. “It will be there if you need it.”

The Purple Dragons nodded at the priest’s wisdom and tucked their own amulets into their sword belts, but Dauneth Marliir did not. The High Warden tied his around his neck.

Filfaeril lay pressed to the naked ghazneth’s side, draped across his wing and garbed in some filthy piece of gossamer pulled from a festhall trash bin. The room was beginning to seem less an armory than a bedchamber, and she could not imagine what was taking Azoun so long. Already, the pile of weathercloaks on which they lay felt like a silk-covered featherbed, and lascivious carvings were beginning to appear in the oaken cabinets along the walls.

The queen suppressed a shudder. She had learned through hard experience that Boldovar’s illusions always reflected his inner desires. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath, then cooed softly into his pointed ear and ran her fingers through the lice-infested bristles on his chest. It had taken days of subtle manipulation to lure her captor into the one place she knew the war wizards could take him by surprise, and she would do anything to keep the ghazneth distracted until Azoun arrived.

Boldovar opened his lips and gargled out a mouthful of rings, all gray and dull now that he had absorbed their magic. Filfaeril forced a light giggle-it was not difficult to sound slightly demented-then took a commander’s ring from the huge pile of magic beside her and held it over the ghazneth’s mouth.

“Another?”

Boldovar’s crimson eyes shifted toward the arrow loop overlooking Marliir House, and Filfaeril knew he was still too skittish for her plan to succeed.

“You don’t want it?” She slipped the ring down between her breasts, planting it just deep enough so that the tourmaline winked up from her cleavage like a pale blue eye. “Then I’ll keep it for myself.”

The ghazneth’s gaze darted back to her chest and fixed on the magic ring. He stared at it for a long time, his face an expressionless mask, and Filfaeril wondered if she had been too obvious. Over the past few days, she had grown steadily more congenial through a conscious effort of will, but never before had she tried to beguile him.

Perhaps she had been too bold. Whatever else he was, Boldovar was also cunning and intelligent. He had proven that many times over the past tenday, moving her from one hiding place to another daily and ambushing the war wizards almost twice that often. At first, Filfaeril had not been able to figure out why her captor remained in Arabel. If all he wanted was a real queen to sit on his delusionary throne, he could have established a far more peaceful palace in any number of dark wilderness lairs. Then she began to notice a peculiar pattern. If the ghazneth went even half a day without being attacked, the tangibility of his illusions began to fade. After giving the matter some thought, the queen had realized that her captor was feeding off the magic used to attack him. She started telling him where to find items of increasingly powerful magic-both to ensure her own survival and to prepare him for the day when she could lure him into the White Tower.

Now that day had come, and where was her rescue party? A stream of lunatic thoughts, an unavoidable consequence of consorting with Boldovar, coursed through Filfaeril’s mind. Perhaps her husband had finally given up on her, persuaded by her inability to escape that she preferred life with Boldovar. After all, the ghazneth was far more powerful than Azoun, and, having survived more than a thousand years himself, he could certainly offer her things beyond the grasp of even the wealthiest human king-but no, that could not be, Azoun loved her. Or did he? He was a king and she a queen. Theirs had been as much a political marriage as a romantic one, and Filfaeril was neither deaf nor blind. She had heard rumors of noble children who bore an uncanny resemblance to her husband, and she had seen for herself that some of them were well-founded.

Filfaeril shook her head, trying to drive Boldovar’s delusions from her mind. Whatever else he had done, Azoun would never abandon her-not in a hundred life times. “Is something wrong, my dear?” The ghazneth smiled, baring his yellow fangs. “Are you a little nervous about our consummation night?” Boldovar’s red tongue shot down between Filfaeril’s breasts and flicked the ring back into his gruesome mouth.

Azoun and his companions emerged from the timeless darkness to find themselves not in the White Tower’s magic armory, but in a murky boudoir lined by debauched carvings of unspeakable violations against woman and nature. The king’s first thought was that Merula the Marvelous had teleported them into the secret playroom of some deranged noble-one of the Illances or Bleths, most likely. Then he saw the ghazneth, lying on a silk-sheeted bed at the far end of the room, its face all but buried in the chest of a gossamer-clad figure cradled in the palm of its wing, and he grew even more confused. That could not be Filfaeril. The woman did not seem to be struggling, and the queen would never allow such a thing-not to any man but her husband!

Then someone yelled, “Move, Sire!”

Azoun felt a pair of hands shove his shoulder. He recalled their plan and hit the floor rolling, confident that everything would make sense again when he recovered from the afterdaze. He came up holding his royal shield in one hand and his new cold-forged sword in the other-Vangerdahast had warned him not to use an enchanted sword against the ghazneth-and turned back toward the silk-covered bed.

The phantom seemed to be struggling with its companion. She was sitting on its wing, clinging to its neck and shrieking at it to protect her from the assassins. Burdened as it was by the hysterical woman, the creature was hardly able to rise, much less launch itself at the king or his men. A series of golden bolts shot across the room toward the ghazneth’s abdomen, but it brought its free wing around as fast as always and prevented them from striking.

The woman turned toward Merula and thrust out her hand, crying, “No… no magic!”

And that was when Azoun recognized her, all but naked beneath a shift of sheer gossamer filthy enough to shame any trollop in Arabel. He was so stunned that he nearly let the sword drop from his hand. That woman was, indeed, his wife.

Dauneth and the Purple Dragons started across the room at a charge, and the ghazneth finally peeled the queen off its neck and dropped her to the floor. Azoun rushed forward, confused and angry and hardly able to believe that Filfaeril had betrayed him for… what, some sort of demon?

Dauneth and the dragoneers slammed into the ghazneth at a full charge, their iron swords arcing in from all angles. The first blade bit deep into the creature’s arm, beating down its guard and clearing the way for the High Warden to open a deep slit up the thing’s bulging abdomen. The third attack came in high, sweeping in toward its neck with enough power to separate even an ogre’s head from its shoulders.

Filfaeril was cowering at the ghazneth’s side, staring up at the battle in horror. Azoun angled toward her, blood boiling and ears pounding with the fury of a jealous rage.

“Harlot!”

Filfaeril’s eyes widened, and as she began to scramble away backward, the ghazneth’s black talons swept past her head to catch the second dragoneer’s arm. The sword slipped from the man’s grasp and bounced off an oaken cabinet without coming anywhere near the phantom’s neck, then the ghazneth tore the limb off at the elbow and slammed it into the first dragoneer’s helmet. Both men dropped instantly, one howling in pain and the other as silent as death.

Azoun stepped past Dauneth, trying to slip around the melee to get at Filfaeril, and found a huge black wing coming down to block his way. He ducked beneath it, then heard the ghazneth roar as the High Warden’s blade bit deep into its abdomen. As the king stepped behind the creature, he brought his sword around to slash at the creature’s back. Though the blow would have cleaved a man’s spine, it cut no deeper than a finger’s width into the ghazneth’s tough hide.

A soft patter sounded ahead. Azoun looked down to see Filfaeril cowering on the floor, tears welling in her eyes and her filthy harlot’s shift drawn up around her waist.

“Azoun?” she gasped.

“Traitorous whore!”

The king wrenched his sword free of the ghazneth’s back and started toward her-then saw a wall of darkness sweeping toward him. There was no time to duck or raise his sword before the wing caught him in the face and launched him across the room. He slammed into an open oaken cabinet and dropped to the ground, weathercloaks and battle bracers tumbling down all around him.

Dauneth disappeared around the other side of the ghazneth, trying to reach Filfaeril, only to go tumbling past her when the creature caught him in the helm with a lightning back fist. The High Warden came to a rest against a debased wall tapestry, groaning and shaking his head, but alive.

Now that there was no one in contact with the ghazneth, Merula cut loose with a deafening thunderbolt. The creatore’s wing swung around to shield itself The spell struck with a blinding spray of light and dissipated across the leathery appendage in a brilliant fan of silvery forks, but the blast still carried enough force to knock the ghazneth off its feet.

Filfaeril sprang to her feet and rushed the wizard with her hands out, crying, “No-you can’t use magic!”

“Watch her, Merula!” Azoun cried. “She’s betrayed us.”

This was enough to stop Filfaeril in her tracks. She turned to face Azoun-then suddenly vanished inside a cocoon of sticky white strands.

“That’ll hold the trollop!” the wizard declared.

The ghazneth leaped up and flung itself across the room, placing itself between Filfaeril and the others. Merula instantly clapped his hands together and struck two long fans of magic fire, which he directed at their foe. The phantom raised a wing and turned sideways. When the flames touched the wing’s surface, they simply sputtered and died, and the leathery appendage started to glow with a luminous crimson light. The ghazneth began to inch toward Merula, taking care to keep both itself and the queen well-shielded.

Azoun staggered to his feet and circled around to flank it, only to have Dauneth stagger over and grasp his arm.

“You look none too steady, Warden. Merula and I will keep this devil busy. You see to the harlot.” Azoun gestured at his wife’s sticky white form.

“Harlot? Majesty, have you lost your…” Dauneth’s gaze dropped to Azoun’s waist, then the warden reached down and jerked the unicorn amulet from his belt. “Put this on!”

Azoun shook his head. “This is no time-“

“Do as I say!” Without awaiting permission, Dauneth looped the amulet’s leather string over the king’s helm and jerked it down over his neck. “Now say ‘Chauntea save us!’”

Azoun scowled. “Who do you think-“

“Say it!”

Dauneth’s eyes widened at his own tone, then Merula called out from across the room.

“Majesty? Some help, perhaps?”

Azoun looked toward the wizard’s voice and saw nothing but the interior of the ghazneth’s wing. He turned to help, but Dauneth grabbed the collar of his breastplate.

“Please, Sire.”

“Very well!” Azoun knocked Dauneth’s hand away, then sprang after the ghazneth, crying, “Chauntea save us!”

And instantly, even as he raised his sword to strike, the room changed from a bedchamber to an armory, and the debauched carvings vanished from the faces of the oaken cabinets, and he saw the beauty of Filfaeril’s plan, and how she had used the only weapon she had to buy her rescue party a few precious moments to reorient themselves after teleporting into the room-and how it must have hurt to have her own husband call her a harlot and traitor.

“Dauneth, the queen!” Azoun stopped just inside the reach of ghazneth’s wingtip and ducked a wild attempt to bat him away, then darted forward to meet the slashing claws at the ends of its arms. “Save the queen!”

With the king beyond its first line of defenses, the ghazneth was forced to turn its attention away from Merula to attack. Azoun parried slashes from first its wounded arm, then its good arm and brought his iron blade down on its collarbone.

The ghazneth roared and hurled itself forward, determined to bowl him over and overwhelm his defenses. No longer being a fool, the king hurled himself at the creature’s feet and rolled, his armor filling his ears with a clamorous din. He crashed into a wall cabinet and brought the contents down on top of himself Convinced his foe would be on him before he could rise, he flung the debris away from his chest and raised his sword in a blind block.

The expected blow never came. Instead, a strange gurgle erupted from the creature’s mouth, and the king scrambled to his knees to find the thing only a pace away. Merula was draped over its shoulder, struggling to draw his iron dagger across the ghazneth’s leathery throat. Azoun brought his sword around and lunged forward and drove the blade a mere finger’s length into the monster’s bloated abdomen.

The ghazneth stumbled back, roaring and trying to shake Merula from its back. Azoun glimpsed Dauneth rushing toward the queen with a war wizard’s weathercloak wrapped around his shoulders. According to their plan, it should have been the High Warden or a dragoneer attempting to slit the creature’s throat and Merula preparing to escape with the queen, but the king was happy enough to see Dauneth grab hold of Filfaeril’s cocoon and reach into the cloak to find its escape pocket.

The metallic clamor of armor began to knell up from somewhere lower in the tower, drawing the ghazneth’s attention toward the armory’s stout oaken door. It was barred from the inside, but the creature knew as well as Azoun that the door would last only as long as it took a magic-user to utter his spell. Spewing a filthy curse, the phantom brought a hand up and slammed the heel of its palm into Merula’s brow. There was a sharp snap, then the wizard’s eyes rolled back, and he dropped out of sight.

The ghazneth turned toward Dauneth. Azoun gathered himself to intercept-then the High Warden finally found the right pocket and vanished with Filfaeril.

Azoun turned toward the barred door, but the ghazneth sprang across the chamber and beat him to it.

“Queen stealer!” it hissed. “Usurper!”

Azoun leveled his sword and circled around so that he would not be directly in front of the door when Mungan arrived. Though a steady flow of dark, rancid smelling blood was oozing out of the ghazneth in half a dozen places, the dark thing looked little the worse for the wear.

“Who are you?” Azoun asked. “What are you?”

“Boldovar, King of Cormyr.”

The answer was as mad as the ghazneth itself, but there was no time to argue. The clamor reached the landing outside the door and stopped. Azoun threw himself to the floor.

“Now, Mungan!”

Mungan’s voice rang out from the stairwell, and an instant later a terrific lightning bolt blasted the door into splinters. The ghazneth spun to face the rescue party and bellowed, and the room went dark.

The tumult of anguished voices began to fill the air. Azoun leaped to his feet and pressed his back to the wall, his sword weaving a blind defensive pattern before him. He was not fool enough to believe he could block one of the ghazneth’s blows with a mere sword, but perhaps it would buy him enough time to dodge or roll away.

The cacophony continued to grow louder for the next few moments-it seemed like forever, though it could have been no more than seconds. The thud of falling bodies reverberated across the floor with alarming regularity, and twice Azoun danced away when his sword brushed against some unseen menace. He kept expecting to feel the ghazneth’s talons ripping through his breastplate, but the blow never came. The battle din merely subsided, then men began to crawl across the floor and call each other’s names, and finally someone stumbled across a commander’s ring and spoke the proper word, filling the chamber with light.

The room lay littered with wounded and dead-most felled by their own comrades, judging by the sword gashes in their flesh and the narrow dents in their armor. Only Mungan and two men behind him, all lying in the doorway with their throats ripped open, appeared to have been slain by the ghazneth. There was no sign of the phantom itself, but Azoun felt a cool breeze in the room and knew that someone had opened the door to the roof.