The Dragonstone

CHAPTER 54

Ordrune!" Egil slammed the flat of his hand down to the stone table.

Startled, Mayam said, "Yes, Ya sidi Ulry so named him."

Egil turned to Arin. "This is why I am the one-eye in dark water, love, for I know the layout of Ordrune's lair." Unbidden, Egil's mind flashed back to that terrible time:

Egil was shackled to a ring in the floor and he and the Mage faced one another-one silent, the other sneering.

"I am Ordrune, Captain. And your name…?"

Egil said nought.

"Your silence is of no moment, " said Ordrune. "I will have your name shortly. You will be eager to speak." The Mage turned aside and made his way across the room.

The chamber itself was completely circular, perhaps thirty feet in diameter. Here and there stood tables laden with arcane devices: astrolabes and geared bronze wheels and alembics and clay vessels, mortars and pestles, clear glass jars filled with yellow and red and blue and green granules, braziers glowing red… with tools inserted among the ruddy coals. Small ingots of metal lay scattered here and there: red copper, yellow brass, white tin, gleaming gold, argent silver, and more. And 'round the walls there were casks and trunks and cabinets of drawers and a great, ironbound, triple-locked chest, and desks with pigeon holes above, jammed with scrolls and parchments and papers. And four tall windows equipped with drapes were set in the stone at the cardinal points. Elsewhere, tomes rested on stands; books resided on shelves. Here and there were chairs, equipped with writing flats, with pens and inks and vellum sheets alongside.

This was Ordrune's laboratory, his alchemistry, his arcane athenaeum. This was his lair. This was his den. This was the heart of the Wizardholt.

Egil clenched his fist and shook his head to clear it of these memories, all but one. "I think I have even seen the chest wherein the scroll is kept." Egil turned to Burel. "It is large-" Egil held his hands wide apart-"and bound with iron, and three heavy locks hold shut its hasps."

Burel turned up a hand. "Perhaps. But my mother never described it other than as a chest my sire discovered unlatched one fateful day."

Egil made a negating gesture. "Regardless, Burel, it is to Ordrune's strongholt we need go to find the way to the green stone as well as take our vengeance upon the Mage."

Burel clenched a fist and nodded, but Arin said, "Nay, Egil, vengeance must wait, for the finding of the stone takes precedence o'er all."

"But he is responsible for the death of my father," objected Burel.

"And the torturous slaughter of forty good men," added Egil.

Arin shook her head. "Nevertheless, ye two, stopping the slaughter of a world is of more import than exacting retribution against a single evildoer. Our need is to gain the scroll, and then the green stone. And to that end thy vengeance must wait."

Alos shuddered and said, "This is insane. We cannot hope to steal from a Mage. He will send a demon after each of us, just as he did against Burel's father. Count me out. I'll not take part in such madness."

Aiko stared impassively at the oldster. "As I said before, Alos, whatever lives can be slain."

Alos shook his head. "Maybe so. But we don't even know where the Mage's tower is. And Kistan is an enormous isle-eight, nine hundred miles across in any direction you'd care to go, and all of it jungle. And it's filled with pirates. We'll be forever-you'll be forever finding the Wizard's stronghold if the Rovers don't kill you first. Besides, his chest is locked, probably warded with magic, too."

Ferret said, "As to the locks, I have yet to see one I could not open."

Delon looked at her in surprise.

"My father was a locksmith," she said by way of explanation. "And an escape artist in the cirque, as was I."

"Ah, then perhaps that's why you are needed on this venture, luv," said Delon. "To open the Mage's locked chest when Egil One-Eye leads us to it."

Egil shook his head. "Even though I can lead you to the chest, I cannot lead us to the tower, for I know not where it lies. And Alos is right: Kistan is a great isle, as the charts we bought in Aban show." Egil glanced at Burel. "Did your father say where Ordrune's strongholt lies?"

Burel grunted. "All I know is the name of the place where my sire signed on to Ordrune's ship in Kistan, though whether or no it's where lies the Wizard's stronghold, I cannot say. But the ship sailed out from Yilan Koy, or so my mother said."

"Yilan Koy?" asked Delon. "Is that a town?"

Burel shrugged. "My mother did not know."

Egil sighed. "Well, at least it's a place to start."

"Fools," hissed Alos. "You are all harebrained fools."

After the sounding of the demon horn at dusk, both Arin and Delon sang at the evensong service, Arin's hymn a paean to Elwydd, Delon's an invocation to Elwydd's father, Adon, asking that He protect this refuge from all harm.

Later that night from the open red stone of the basin there echoed the skirl and clang of steel upon steel as by lanternlight Aiko drilled Burel at blades.

Over the next two days, Arin and her companions prepared for the return to the port of Aban. In a storeroom, Mayam found the saddle from the camel that had borne Ya sidi Ulry to the Temple of the Labyrinth so long ago, and she gave it over to Arin, who fitted it to one of the camels for Burel to use. And when he wasn't training with Aiko, Burel prepared as well, for so the rede required: Take these with thee, no more, no less…

Too, Burel needed time to say his good-byes, for not all the acolytes of Ilsitt had sworn vows of celibacy, and they spent the nights visiting him one last time.

During these same two days, Delon and Ferai took long walks together around the steep-walled basin, talking, laughing, singing, sharing: Ferai told him of her early life, up to the time of her rape, but no more; and Delon spoke of his own childhood, living in the fringes of the Alna-wood at the wall of the Gunarring. And these two often met Egil and Arin coming the other way, the Dylvana and Fjordlander laughing and sharing as well.

Alos discovered that the women of Ilsitt had a small store of medicinal brandy, and he wheedled and begged until they gave him a tot just to shut him up. But that was all, no matter his appeals, and he was left with but an empty glass and a terrible thirst.

On the morning of the twenty-seventh of November, seven of the grumbling camels were saddled for riders, while the remaining five were laden with supplies for the trip.

Arin and her companions bade farewell to the followers of Ilsitt, and the women wept to see Burel go, for he had been among them all his life and many now looked upon him as a brother or son, while to others he had been a lover ere they had taken their final priestess vows, while to a few he was their lover still. And these latter acolytes stopped him for one last kiss, and then fell into one another's arms, sobbing, as in breastplate and helm and with his sword on his shoulder he led the procession to the dark way beyond the portcullis.

Into the corridor under the towering canyon wall they went, Burel pulling his mount, a second camel in tow, Aiko coming after, the Ryodoan leading two camels as well, then Alos with two, and then Ferret with one followed by Delon with two, and Egil drawing two behind him, Arin trailing with her animal last.

Into the narrow way they went, the camels hronging in dismay at the tight confines, being drawn through an eye of a needle, or so Ferret had said. In the lead, Burel came to the sharp turn leftward, and then the rightward turn,

Aiko coming slowly after, following his ill-tempered beasts, dragging her own surly animals behind.

And as Burel stepped out into the canyon beyond, Aiko shouted, "Ware!" for the unremitting peril her tiger had sensed since reaching the maze suddenly exploded.

And a stride or two past where stood Burel, the demon stepped out from the face of solid crimson stone and hissed at the man, "At last. By the blood of your father, I knew you would come forth some day." And as if flexing long dormant muscles, with a ripping upward slash of its great, jagged, obsidian sword, the demon clove through the camel's neck, the sundered head flying up and away as the corpse of the beast collapsed in the entry, blood gushing from the cloven stump.

In the tunnel, camels bellowed in fear, their cries of panic blaring as they wrenched and jerked back and away from the reek of blood and the stench of the demon, their feet drumming in terror as they lashed and thudded side to side and tried to turn and flee in the restricted confines of the narrow passage, heedless of the people trapped within.

And outside, Burel hefted his great sword and faced the monstrous foe, the angular creature some eight feet tall and shiny black, its entire being covered with a hard bony layer-smooth, chitinous panes. It was cloven hoofed, and where a knee should be was a joint bending backwards at an angle, and somewhat above that one bent another, this joint flexing forward. Narrow shoulders topped a plated torso, and its head was elongated with fang-filled jaws protruding forward, and its eyes were glaring and wide-set. Angular arms dangled down, ending in long bony grasping fingers, and it clutched a great, jagged, ebon sword half again as long as the one in Burel's hands.

Oblivious of the pandemonium in the tunnel behind- camels bellowing in a frenzy of fear and kicking out, thrashing hindwards, trying to escape-Burel sprang toward the black apparition and cried, "Ilsitt, aid me!" and lashed out with his father's steel, only to have the creature's obsidian blade fling him backward with stunning force, the man stumbling on the crimson stone.

As the demon stalked forward on its ill-jointed legs, Burel recovered his footing, and planting himself squarely he swung his two-handed sword in a mighty, sweeping blow. With a loud chank!-like steel crashing on stone- it slammed into the jagged blade to be stopped cold.

Again Burel swung and again the demon blocked the blow. And again and again.

Then with shocking power, the demon lashed out with its black blade to send Burel's sword flying from his hands. And ere the man could move, the creature smashed him hindwards with a backhanded blow, knocking him into the crimson wall, and Burel fell sprawling and senseless to the stone.

In the tunnel, Aiko was battered backwards by Burel's pack animal, the camel lunging against the rope fastened to the ring in its nose and tethering it to the slain beast lying in the exit ahead, an exit beyond which some creature of horror stood. All the other companions, too, were hammered against the walls by the bellowing beasts, and they lost control of the animals, and could only throw their arms over their heads for protection and try to keep their feet so as not to be trampled. Alos shrieked in fear, Ferret screaming as well, their cries lost in the uproar. And none knew the cause of this pandemonium, only that the beasts were frenzied and trying to escape something somewhere. And even though Aiko cried out "Burel, Burel, deadly peril!" her voice was heard by none.

Yet Aiko, as quick as she was, abandoned her camels and dodged this way and that, and ducked down to scramble under and past the panicked pack animal ahead.

Springing forward, her swords now in hand, she scrambled over the slain creature blocking the exit.

Above Burel, the demon laughed and raised its sword to deliver the final blow, the one that would at last set the summoned fiend free from the Wizard's binding command. Yet the creature waited and waited, waited until Burel opened his eyes, the man yet dazed but looking up at the apparition. Then, down flashed the obsidian blade… only to meet Ryodoan steel.

Aiko had come at last.

Arin managed to drive her bellowing camel backwards under the portcullis and into the sanctuary. Abandoning the fleeing beast and calling to the gathered priestesses for help, she dashed into the uproar of the narrow tunnel once more, several of the women on her heels. With Egil shoving his panicked lead camel hindwards, and Arin and the women hauling at the frightened, thrashing rear beast from behind, they managed to back two more of the terrified animals out from the passageway, the creatures bolting across the ruddy stone as soon as they were free.

Now Egil and Arin and two of the women ran again into the tunnel to aid Delon in backing his flailing camels out.

Shang! Aiko could not stop the powerful demon's downward blow, could only deflect it instead, the obsidian blade shocking into her steel with numbing force and sliding along her sword to Chank! into crimson stone next to Burel's head. Even as the black edge shattered red rock, with a backhanded sweep Aiko lashed her second sword up and at the creature's neck. But, lo! the demon smashed her cut out and away with an upward bash of its angular arm, her blade sliding along the bony chitin like steel sliding along armor.

Yet Aiko lashed her right-hand weapon up in a slashing cut, only to find the demon's black blade blocking the way.

Aiko sprang leftward, along the demon's flank, but stunningly quick the creature whipped about, its sword seeking her. She managed to deflect the blow even as she dodged back.

In a blur of steel, Aiko attacked, yet the creature fended the blows of both of her blades with its single dark sword. Again Aiko sprang back, her breath now coming in harsh gasps.

Momentarily they paused, and as if considering which of these humans to slay first, the creature glanced at Burel, the man yet stunned and ineffectually scrabbling at the ground in an attempt to rise but falling back, unable to gain his feet. Then the demon turned its elongated head toward Aiko, its fangs dripping with a viscous saliva, its wide-set eyes glaring.

"Bakamono!" it hissed in Aiko's native tongue, and then the eight-foot-tall angular monster wrenched its great, jagged, ebon sword up and stalked toward her on its backward-bending, cloven-hoofed legs.

Delon's bellowing camels had been set free of the tunnel, and now he and Egil and Arin went after Ferret's, but as they entered the narrow way, her terrified beast came backing toward them, Ferai's training in the cirque enough for her to manage the beast. Even as this animal was loosed to flee across the scarlet basin, Ferret turned and ran back toward the tunnel, crying, "Alos may be down and like to get trampled to death."

Shing-shang, ding-clang, chang-shang… The steel of Aiko's blades skirled and rang against the demon's sword, as she attacked and retreated, parried and riposted, blocked and counterstruck, but the demon's power and quickness drove her back and back, and it was all she could do to fend the creature off. Never had she faced such a foe, for it was strong beyond measure and blurringly fast, its blows stunning, its guard impenetrable. And it beat aside her own two blades as if they were chaff, trivial, worthless. Her shiruken were gone, lying somewhere on the blood-red stone, batted from the air by the dark sword. And now-ching-shang-clang-ching- the monster drove her against the towering crimson wall of the narrow canyon.

Shing…! The sword from Aiko's left hand flew spinning through the air to strike vermilion stone somewhere in the distance.

Shkk … ! The ebon blade sliced down and across through leather and bronze, and Aiko's scarlet blood welled from the diagonal cut high athwart her chest.

Ching-chang-shing-shang… Now she fended with but one blade, the demon's ebony sword and her own steel but a blur as she fought fiercely against a monster she could not defeat.

Cling…! Now her sole remaining sword tumbled through the air, spinning as it arced up and over and down to land with a clatter on the crimson rock.

Desperately, Aiko lunged for the dagger in her boot, but the demon smashed her back with its fist, and she crashed down to the red rock. Now the monster bent over and with its long, bony, grasping fingers clutched her bronze-plated jacket and snatched her up from the scarlet stone, preparing to behead her. But Aiko's leather armor ripped open along the diagonal cut, and she fell back, the crimson tiger between her breasts exposed.

The demon jerked back, its eyes wide at the arcane sigil revealed, and from nowhere, somewhere, everywhere there exploded an enraged chuff-RRUH!-as if coughed from the throat of a wild savage beast, and in that moment, with a strength she alone did not possess, Aiko twisted the creature's own jagged ebon sword in its grasp and slammed the blade up and into the monster's gut, the demon still gripping the hilt.

Phoom! Furious flames burst forth from the demon's torso, and the creature shrilled in agony and reared up and back and ineffectually tried to draw the flaring black blade from its bony carapace, but in that moment from behind-Shkkk!-Burel's two-handed sword sheared off the demon's head, and the burning, decapitated monster toppled over sideways, dead even as it struck the ground.

Dropping his great blade, Burel snatched bleeding Aiko up from the crimson stone, and in spite of her protests- "My swords. Get my swords"-he headed for the tunnel and the aid of the healers beyond. Just as he reached the opening, Egil One-Eye emerged, the Fjordlander clambering over the dead camel to do so.

"Wha-?" Egil started to say, but in that very instant there came a whelming blast, the shock hurling Burel and Aiko into Egil, slamming all three to the blood-slathered stone.