Inferno

24

“What the hell are you talking about?” Stryke demanded. “Where are we?”

“It’d be easier to explain,” Dynahla rasped, “if you let me draw a breath.”

Stryke had the shape-changer’s collar bunched so tight it was crushing his windpipe. He grunted and let go.

“Thank you,” Dynahla said evenly, massaging his throat.

“So what is this place?”

“It has lots of names. The Barred Sector, the Proscribed Zone, the Perpetual Discontinuity…”

“Bugger what it’s called,” Haskeer interjected. “What’s it for?”

“A long time ago, a very long time ago, it was… fashioned. A quartet of great adepts worked together to create it.”

“Why?” Stryke pressed.

“Its purpose isn’t completely understood. But the story goes that the four fell out, and they built this environment as a place in which to settle their differences.”

“Like some kind of arena?” Pepperdyne said.

“Sort of, though it’s more complex than that. We don’t know the outcome of the battle the sorcerers fought here. They’ve long gone, but this zone remains, and it’s potentially very dangerous. That’s why it’s off limits to those few capable of entering it.”

“Why are we here?” Stryke wanted to know.

“Serapheim brought us.”

“What for?”

“Because this is where he is.”

Stryke cast an eye over the strange terrain. “I don’t see him.”

“Well, it’s… almost where he is.”

“You taking us for fools?” Haskeer growled menacingly. “He’s either here or he ain’t.”

“Explain yourself, Dynahla,” Stryke said, “in a way we’ll understand.”

“Serapheim’s done something similar to what the four wizards of old achieved here. He’s built himself a pocket universe.”

“I said in a way we’d understand,” Stryke warned him.

“He used magic to create a private world, a secret retreat outside of time and space.”

“Why?”

“It keeps him alive. He’s old, older than you’d believe, probably, and even he can’t hold back the effects of ageing for ever. The world he’s made cocoons him from the worst of growing old. It slows down the process.”

“How can that be?” Dallog interrupted, showing especial interest.

“As I said, his world exists apart from space and time. He can reduce the rate at which time passes. So although the conditions there can’t make him immortal, they can help preserve his life.”

“I still don’t get where he is,” Jup confessed. “How can he be almost here?”

“It’s more accurate to say we’re almost where he is. Though, to be honest, it’s a big almost.” Dynahla saw the looks on their faces and tried again. “Serapheim piggybacked on this place when he built his pocket universe. He fused his magic with the magic here to attach his sphere to this one. Think of it as like putting a new wing on a house, or adding a tower to a fortress. The entrance to his domain is here, in this world. We just have to get to it.”

“How do we do that?”

“By always travelling north.”

Stryke took in their bizarre surroundings again. “How do we know where north is?”

The shape-changer pointed to a spot just above the horizon. A speck of light hung there, brilliant as a diamond. “The northern star. Not that north here is the same as north on Maras-Dantia, Ceragan or any other world.”

“My head’s starting to hurt,” Coilla said. “Is anything about this place normal?”

“You can die here.”

“That sounds like the kind of normal we know. What does the killing?”

“Almost anything; it’s unpredictable. Things happen at random here. That’s one of its properties, and why travel is so dangerous.”

“Why do we have to?” Pepperdyne wondered. “Travel, I mean. Couldn’t Serapheim have just taken us straight there, to this pocket universe of his?”

“No. Even with all his great powers he couldn’t transport us directly to his world.”

“What’s stopping him?”

“If it was easy to enter his world it wouldn’t offer him much in the way of protection. We have to make our own way to its entrance.”

“Why should we?” Stryke said.

“Because Serapheim’s your only salvation. If you want a chance to have a reckoning with Jennesta, and to help prevent the catastrophe she could bring down on all our heads, you need his aid. In any event we have no choice. The instrumentalities have been nullified. They won’t work in this world.”

“We can’t leave?”

“No. Even if we could, that wouldn’t help you find Thirzarr, who’s here somewhere, along with Jennesta.”

“I’ll have them back then.” Stryke held out his hand.

Dynahla produced the stars and gave them to him.

Stryke put them into his belt pouch and made sure it was secure. “Any other pearls of wisdom before we get going?”

“Only that whatever this world throws at us I’ll do my best to help counter it. I know Serapheim will too, as much as he can.”

“We fend for ourselves. We don’t lean on outsiders.”

“Of course. But try to have some faith in Serapheim.”

“Trust in a human. Yeah, right.”

“There’s no question about it,” Pelli Madayar said, gazing at the endless expanse of desert, “they were here, not long since. And now they’ve entered a prohibited sector: the Sphere of the Four.”

“ All of them have gone there?” Weevan-Jirst replied.

“The Wolverines and Jennesta certainly have. There are indications others are migrating there too.”

“Others?”

“I think the sorceress is importing the rest of her army, and the recruits she gathered on the world of islands.”

“I had no idea she possessed the power to do that.”

“Her magic is extraordinarily potent, the more so when coupled with the strength of even a duplicate set of instrumentalities. But I don’t think she’s the only one bringing life-forms in. There are signs of another force at work.”

“The situation is descending into chaos,” the goblin hissed. “Unauthorised beings in a forbidden zone, armed with two sets of artefacts. Think of the havoc they could cause. This has become a crisis of the highest order.”

“It always was,” Pelli said. “It just got messier.”

“It’s more than we bargained for. Have you ever entered a prohibited sector?”

“No more than you have.”

“But like me you must be aware of the peril such a place holds.”

“Of course.”

“And the Sphere has a particularly unpleasant reputation.”

“I know.”

“Surely now is the time to consult Karrell Revers.”

“Later.”

“When? You must report this to him.”

“I will. But we’re going to the Sphere first.”