Bride of the Castle

CHAPTER TWO

His name was rance of Corcindor and he robbed graves for a living. Times were difficult.

He was hard up for a grave.

He came down from the mountains above Garlanis into the foothills of Midresh, through which a mighty river raced and crashed as it followed a winding course ever downward, tumbling over cataract and rapids until it spilled into the Valley of Goan and the marshy plains of Veklin, there to swell wide and slow to a lazy crawl and flow past the fertile fields of Gan, the grassy knolls of Tabor and the dusty flats of Vilben. Farther along the river narrowed and rushed again at the foot of the cliffs of Heeth. Then, finally, it slowed and widened once more to flow gently by a huge boulder called, for some reason, Weird Larry.

But he didn't go there.

He came down from the mountains and went the other way, descending into rough land, black rocks breaking up through blacker earth. The air hung thick and fetid, palpable, cloying. Dark clouds hovered. Stale odors seeped from every crack and chasm. This was not a nice place.

He eased his mount to a halt and surveyed. A gnarled scrub forest to the east; a gradual flattening to the west. The sun boiled behind thick clouds on the horizon. Ruins to the south and east. To the west also. In fact, nothing but ruins lay about. This was ancient Zin; the Zinites had built much, and much remained of their handiwork, crumbled and weathered though it was. But the stench of death and decay lay over the land, a pall of oppressive misery and despair hung over all.

"Gods," Rance said. "This is depressing."

Grand edifices these ruins once had been temples, palaces, courtyards, and squares; all now were heaps of tumbled block, here and there a long column, sometimes two together holding up the remains of a shattered pediment. There were, however, a few intact structures. One was an ancient convenience bazaar. The sign read, in ancient demotic script:

STOP 'N' HAGGLE.

He had his eye on the stepped pyramid at the edge of the plain. A tomb, perhaps. Unrifled? He doubted it, but there could be scraps left behind: an interesting potsherd, perhaps a whole urn; even a bauble of some sort, some souvenir that would fetch a good price back in Corcindor. Maybe some trading stamps and a bottle opener.

He would make camp soon, perhaps on this ridge ahead, so he could survey the land below for targets of opportunity. He continued on.

He followed a narrow pass between two craggy outcrops. When he reached its end and came out onto the slope of the hill, he was astonished to find a small town. He had thought nothing lived here.

His mount whickered nervously. He turned his head and watched a vague shadow take on shape and substance. A quaint tavern lay on his right. The rest of the little town had a bad case of the quaints as well, for all that it might have sprung into existence a moment ago-as indeed he suspected was the case. But the spell had likely been cast centuries before, set here to trap the unwary intruder.

He ignored it all. His mount sidestepped, neighing and quivering. He searched the land below for possibilities. He needed money, and badly. There had to be something below that generations of grave robbers had overlooked.

"Hello, cutie! Have the time?" He looked up. A fair-haired woman with a hard but attractive face was smiling at him, leaning out of an upper-story window.

"Time is what I have least of, woman."

She shrugged. "Not even a moment to spare?" She parted her blouse and exposed heavy, pink-nippled breasts.

"I…" He looked again. As breasts went, they were very nice indeed.

But his better judgment told him nay. He turned away from her.

She sniffed. "Well, all right for you."

He kneed his mount, and the beast bolted forward. He had to rein it in.

"Some men just haven't got what it takes."

He ignored that comment and others directed at his back. The town seemed to bunch up ahead, blocking his path, a jumble of shop fronts and houses.

"You look a mite hungry, sir. Care to bide awhile?"

He regarded the portly, white-aproned man walking toward him, then turned his head. Another-tall, gaunt and grim-faced-approached from the opposite direction.

"I care to pass through, if you good people will let me."

"Certainly, honored sir," the innkeeper said, "but you do look a bit peckish. I've just put on a pot of stew. It'll be done after a few mugs of good beer."

"Thank you, no."

The other grabbed the reins. The eyes were dead.

His sword was a flashing reflection of the sun, brief and brilliant. The tall one suddenly lacked a right hand. He screamed and backed away, the stump spurting blood.

The man-if indeed he was a man-stood in wide-eyed astonishment, watching bright blood splash into the dust. "Hey! You… you cut off my hand!"

"Uh… Yes, I did, yes," Rance said.

"I don't believe… Did you see that? He cut off my hand. He cut off my frigging hand, just like that!"

"Hardly friendly," the innkeeper commented.

"I don't believe you actually cut off my hand!"

"Take warning," Rance said, moving on.

The man turned indignant. "Warning? Did you say warning?" He held up the fountaining stump. "This is a warning? Is that what you're telling me? What do you do when you get really pissed off?"

Rance was somewhat nonplused. He sheathed his sword. "Well, I'm sorry. When you came at me, I-"

"All I wanted to do was take your mount into the stable for some water and food and a nice rubdown. But no-o-o-o. It's Mr. Touchy! Mr. Hands-Off! Mr. Macho Guy!"

"See here," Rance began. "You-"

An armored rider came out of a side street, his steed foaming at the bit. The horse stopped, reared.

"Mortal," came a deep, echoing voice emanating from behind a visored helm, "prepare to meet thy doom." Rance's sword again hissed from its scabbard. "Prepare to meet this, spirit!"

"Your sword hisses nicely," the specter observed, drawing his own weapon.

It was the biggest, wickedest blade that Rance had ever seen. Rance swallowed hard.

"Make acquaintance with my sword, Just Avenger," the armored eidolon said. "How call you yours?"

Rance drew himself up. "The name of my sword," he said, holding his blade high, "is Bruce."

"What?"

Rance's shoulders slumped. "Uh, you heard me."

The fearful apparition laughed derisively. "Bruce?"

"I call him Brucie. That's his name."

There was general merriment. The demon with the still-gushing stump stood there giggling along with the rest. " `Brucie'?" the warrior-demon sneered. "What kind of name is that to strike fear into the heart of your enemy?"

"I got it secondhand," Rance muttered. "That was the name given the sword by its maker, and in order to take advantage of all the magical stuff you have to invoke it by its name, and that's its name. Bruce. That's all there is to it."

"Well, it's ridiculous!"

"Well, I'm sorry," Rance said with some hauteur.

"I suppose your dagger is named Murray. And the horse? Butterfly Love Moon? Or perhaps Tittybum Up-your-arse-on-the-Leeward-Side?"

The innkeeper especially loved this. Convulsed, he rolled on the ground repeating "Butterfly Love Moon" over and over. R

ance boiled. "Right, that tears it. Laugh if you must, but you'll be laughing out of the other side of your helm when you get a taste of Brucie's cold steel."

"Oh, steel-tasting time, everyone!" the handless one minced. Then, an aside: "I hear the real pros spit it out and go on to the next sample."

The spectral mount suddenly charged, its rider's sword swishing like a scythe.

Rance backstepped his mount, jerked the reins to the right, then heeled into a canter. He swung and blocked his attacker's slashing swipe. Then his mount broke into a gallop down the middle of the street.

The dust became a mire, his mount's hooves sinking to the first joint. The animal whinnied piteously, struggling to disengage itself from the muck.

The mire did not seem to impede Rance's attacker. The dark rider turned, reared again, and bore down.

Rance fended off another onslaught, then dismounted and led the beast out of the mud, which now began crystallizing into dry crackling.

He remounted in time to ward off another savage blow. This time he followed up and decapitated the rider. The helmeted head fell to earth and shattered like a glass sphere.

The town faded, its new-ancient gables blending with the gray sky. Soon the phantom hamlet was no more, and the hillside was clear again.

But a faint voice lingered. "Ooo, talk about rough trade… "

He sheathed his sword and continued down the slope. Big rocks blocked his path, and his mount scrabbled around them down to level ground. The valley of the Zinites was nearer now, but darkness hovered at the edge of the world. He decided to make camp.

The night was long. Voices wailed in the distance, naming the unnameable, invoking powers of darkness. Greenish mist choked the valley below. Vague shapes moved against the night sky. Rance thought they were dark clouds, but was not sure.

He kicked another dry stick into the fire and huddled closer to the flames.

Presently he opened his bedroll, spread it out, and lay down. He took out a parchment scroll-a back issue of Graverobbers' Forum-and read himself to sleep.

Nothing disturbed him during the night.

He stood looking up at the pinnacle of the immense burial pyramid. The structure was at least as tall as it was wide, and it was very wide indeed, and was set off in steps-he counted seven. An involved sequence of ramps, each quite steep, led to the top. A forced entrance had been cut into the west side of the thing, a gash in the stone like a wound that had never healed.

He could see that there was zero chance of recovering anything of value from this site. Hundreds of tomb robbers had plundered it, perhaps thousands. Generations. What was of value was long gone.

He looked around. And there was nothing else. All had been picked over, searched through a thousand times. He had sifted through piles of bones, skulls-remains of ancient Zinites, or squatters who had died almost as long ago? Zin's history was a muddle. There was no telling. The bones were probably those of ghouls who had succumbed to the inevitable curses and protection devices.

He tethered his mount and untied a packet of tools and other paraphernalia. He slung it over his back and strode forward toward the lowest ramp.