The Sword Of Bheleu

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The party sent to Ur-Dormulk consisted of Deriam, since he knew his own city better than anyone else; Shandiph, since he alone could use the spell that would show them the way to the crypt that held what they sought; Karag, who insisted upon accompanying them; and Thetheru of Amag, who refused to remain behind if Karag went. The four rode the finest horses in the High King's stable; Chalkara, with the aid of a subtle spell, acquired retroactive approval for this from the King an hour or so after the quartet had slipped quietly out.

The stealth was considered necessary because of the presence of the Baron of Sland. He had already protested the existence of secret meetings of wizards in the High King's castle and tried to force Karag to tell him what was under discussion. Only the presence of the other wizards had kept him from resorting to violence.

Two of his six soldiers had vanished since their arrival, and Karag suspected that the Baron was keeping his own secrets. His men did not desert; they did not dare.

Therefore, the four wizards had begun their journey an hour before dawn, while the Baron and his men slept. A simple spell of drowsiness kept the gatekeeper from noticing their departure.

Once out of the castle, they rode night and day, using invigorating spells to keep their horses alive and moving. Such travel was hard on the older two, Shandiph and Deriam, but did not seem to bother Karag at all-and Thetheru concealed his own fatigue rather than admit that Karag was more fit. Ordinarily, each would have avoided the use of so much magic so quickly, but with such a threat hanging over them and such a promise of greater power before them, it seemed foolish to worry about conserving relatively trivial resources.

They were slowed by the necessity of crossing the Great River, which they reached early in the second day, but they nevertheless managed to arrive at the gates of Ur-Dormulk by the sunset following their ferry ride.

It then became necessary to conceal their haste, and they struggled to appear as if nothing unusual were taking place-as if the four of them had decided on a casual visit to Deriam's home. They received curious glances from pedestrians as they made their way through the streets, while Karag and Thetheru displayed their own curiosity in studying the city around them. Shandiph and Deriam were both natives of Ur-Dormulk, though Shandiph had left it as a child to become a wanderer, and they were accustomed to its peculiarities; but the other two had never before seen it.

The entire city was built of stone and was so ancient that the stone had been worn and weathered on even the newest buildings. The older structures did not have a single sharp corner remaining, and some resembled mounds or natural rock formations as much as they resembled anything man-made. The streets were all paved with great slabs of stone, yet there were grooves worn in them where countless cart wheels had passed, and wider, shallower depressions where the majority of the foot traffic had gone.

Deriam's home was a tall, narrow house on a busy avenue, of no special distinction save that there were gaps in its ancient granite walls where softer stones used as trim had been weathered away completely.

"We'll have to hide the horses," Deriam said as he dismounted at his door.

"Why?" Karag asked.

"There are no horses in Ur-Dormulk," Shandiph replied. "It was probably a mistake even riding them past the gate."

"What will happen if we just leave them here?" Thetheru asked.

"I don't know," Shandiph said.

"They'll probably be stolen," Deriam said.

"Then put a warding spell on them," Karag suggested. "Shandiph, you're good at that."

"I'm tired, Karag."

"It's a good thought," Deriam said.

"Then you do it," Shandiph replied.

Thetheru objected. "I think we should just hide them."

"We're wasting time," Deriam said. "Shandiph, put a ward on them and let's get on with it. You're outvoted, Thetheru."

Wearily, Shandiph assented, and cast a simple ward on the horses. The four then left them tied to the door handle while they entered the house.

"If we're in such a hurry," Thetheru asked, "why are we here instead of going directly to the crypts?"

"We are going directly to the crypts," Deriam said. "They can be reached through my cellars. There are easily a hundred entrances, and this is the one I know best. The crypts of Ur-Dormulk are a true marvel, you see; they extend…"

"Shut up, Deriam, we haven't got time for that," Shandiph said, made irritable by fatigue.

Offended, Deriam made no reply, but instead pulled a bell rope and called for his servants.

"You do well for yourself," Karag remarked. "I have no servants to wait on me."

"Ur-Dormulk is a rich city," Deriam replied. "And besides, I was not so foolish as to become a servant myself. I do not work for the Overlord here, but on my own behalf."

"I doubt that you suffer from your lack, Karag," Shandiph remarked. "After all, you have the run of the Baron of Sland's castle and staff, don't you?"

"More or less," Karag admitted. "I can command the household workers, but have no authority over the guards."

The conversation was cut off by the arrival of Deriams retainers. He sent one to fetch food and drink, another to bring the keys to the cellars, and the third and last to take a polite greeting to the Overlord and tell him that his faithful Deriam had returned but was resting from the journey and not to be disturbed.

The three vanished without comment on their various errands, and the four wizards settled down to await the promised meal. "We shouldn't take the time;" Shandiph said, "but I'm hungry."

"Yes, and cold and thirsty as well," Thetheru added.

While waiting, the newcomers looked over Deriam's parlor. It was lush to the point of ostentation, with thick patterned carpets overlapping to cover every inch of floor, rich tapestries covering every wall, and ornate carved frames around every door and window. The furnishings included a myriad of cushions of silk and velvet and an assortment of tables, chairs, pedestals, statuettes, display shelves, bric-a-brac, and general clutter, every item made of costly materials and showing elaborate workmanship. A few of the cushions had old stains on them, and one carving of a handsome young couple was chipped through the woman's arm.

When the servant he had sent for the keys delivered them, Deriam sent the youth after as many lanterns and torches as could be found-in the house. "We'll need light in the crypts," he explained, "and there's no sense in wasting magic."

The food, when it arrived, consisted of a plate of fruit, nuts, and cakes; the drink was a decanter of yellow wine and a steaming pitcher of a brownish liquid Karag and Thetheru did not recognize.

"A discovery of my own," Deriam explained with an air of patently false modesty. "It's an infusion of herbs and spices in boiling water and it's really quite invigorating. Try it."

Karag refused the unfamiliar brew and confined himself to cakes and wine; Thetheru took a cup of the steaming concoction and an assortment of fruit and pronounced both to be good.

Both wine and herbal brew were warming and felt so good to the weary travelers that they made no effort to silence Deriam when he began a long description of the history of the crypts.

"They aren't exactly crypts in the usual sense of burial vaults or areas for underground storage," he said. "They're actually another city that used to stand on this same site. Ur-Dormulk, you see, is the most ancient city in all the world and has stood here for longer than any records have existed. It was once called Stur-dar-Malik, which means `City of the Old Ones' in the language of the time. Even then it was old. The most learned scholars in the city, who are of course the wisest and most learned in the world, say that there must once have been a great catastrophe that destroyed much of the city, and the survivors built the new city upon the ruins without bothering to excavate them. The old cellars and passages were forgotten for centuries, until finally someone broke into them while digging a new wine cellar. That was, I have heard, in the Eleventh Age, about four thousand years ago. Since then they have been explored and extended and elaborated, until now they are so complex that no man living knows them all-and I personally doubt that anyone ever did. They reach under every corner of the city and extend out beyond the walls for miles in every direction, as well as continuing quite deeply down into the earth. There are said to be many strange and wondrous things in them, and there are tales of men and women who have become lost down there only to be preserved by the unnatural powers that lurk in the darkness, to wander about forever."

"That's a cheering thought," Thetheru said.

"Oh, it's just a legend," Shandiph replied.

"We thought that the great old magicks were just a legend," Thetheru returned.

"If the crypts are so extensive, how can we hope to find these magicks we seek?" Karag asked.

"There are signs," Shandiph replied.

"Signs? You mean that these carefully hidden things, too dangerous to leave where they might be misused, can be found by following signposts?"

"Not exactly. The signs can only be read by means of an enchanted glass."

"Where do we find this glass, then?"

Shandiph reached down to a pouch on his belt. "It's right here," he answered.

"Let me see it," Karag asked.

"Not yet," Shandiph replied.

Karag started to protest, then caught sight of Thetheru's smile and thought better of it.

They finished their repast in silence. As Deriam drank the last of the wine, his servant reappeared with a double armful of prepared torches and with four lanterns.

The torches were distributed evenly among the four wizards. Karag suggested that Deriam's servants accompany them, but Deriam overruled the notion immediately. "That is beyond their duties," he explained.

"Besides, we want to keep the whole thing secret," Shandiph added.

Accordingly, the servants stayed where they were, while the wizards made their way through Deriam's kitchen and down the stairs into his wine cellars. From there they descended another flight into a fruit cellar, where a trap door opened to reveal a ladder leading down into utter darkness. The light of the lanterns did not reach the bottom.

With the torches bundled on their backs, the four descended, Karag first, followed by Deriam, Shandiph, and Thetheru. The ladder swayed beneath their weight but did not break or fall. After what seemed an incredibly long time, they finally came in sight of the bottom.

When they stepped from the ladder, they found themselves on a flagstone floor buried in a thick layer of dust. At Shandiph's suggestion they lit one torch apiece to provide additional light.

They were in an immense chamber of stone; their footsteps echoed from the bare walls, which even the light of torches and lanterns combined revealed only as vague and distant patches amid the all-encompassing darkness. Three of the four stared about in uneasy surprise at the room's extent; Deriam remarked casually, "I haven't been down here in a long, long time; I'd forgotten just how big it is."

"Where's the door to the crypts?" Karag asked.

"We are in the crypts, Karag," Deriam replied. "This chamber has a dozen doors opening on various rooms and passages."

"Which way do we go?" Thetheru asked.

"I haven't any idea," Deriam answered.

Shandiph carefully placed his torch and lantern on the stone floor and fumbled with the pouch on his belt. He brought out a small sphere of yellow glass and held it up to his eye.

After a long moment he said, "I see nothing."

"What do we do now?" Thetheru asked.

"Pick a direction at random," Karag suggested.

Deriam shrugged, and led the party to the wall of the room, choosing his route by walking forward in the direction he happened to be facing.

The wall was bare stone and faintly dusty.

"Now," Deriam said, "I propose that we walk along the wall until we find one of the signs Shandiph mentioned."

No one objected, and the foursome moved along the wall.

Almost immediately, they came to an open doorway; Deriam looked at Shandiph, who shook his head. They moved on.

A second doorway was passed, and a corner of the room. At the third doorway Shandiph asked, "Does the pentacle above the door mean anything?"

"What pentacle?" Thetheru asked, holding up his lantern. The stone lintel was blank.

"I think we've found it," Karag replied.

Shandiph lowered the glass from his eye and stared at the lintel in puzzlement. "I still see the pentacle, though," he said. "Don't you see it?"

"There is nothing there, Shandiph," Karag replied.

"We see nothing but bare stone," Deriam added.

Shandiph looked at the glass, then back at the stone. "I thought I had to look through it," he said. "It appears I was wrong." With a shrug, he led the way through the door and into the passage beyond.

The passage was more of the dull gray stone, huge blocks of it stacked together without mortar, forming a corridor ten feet wide and twelve feet high. It sloped downward for a hundred yards or so and then ended in a T-shaped intersection. Karag had moved into the lead and now stopped, unsure which way to turn.

"The pentagram is on the left," Shandiph said as he came up. Karag immediately turned left, and the party advanced.

Following Shandiph's directions, the foursome made their way deeper and deeper into the crypts, through corridors and rooms that ranged from mere cubicles to vast caverns, up and down ramps and stairs, across bridges that spanned seemingly bottomless chasms, and past doors of wood, iron, and brass that stood ajar or were tightly sealed, with no discernable pattern. The first torches burned down to uselessness and were discarded, and the lanterns dimmed and died as they wound onward. There was no light save what they carried, and the only sounds were their own footsteps, their own breath, and occasionally the distant dripping of water. In one room they found a spot where drops of water fell and saw that it ran from the tip of a five-inch stalactite clinging to the low ceiling, to land with the smallest of splashes on a stubby projection from the floor. The chamber they were in was not a natural cave, but man-made; the water came through a crack between the stones of the ceiling.

The second set of torches died, and the third was lit; Deriam began complaining of the stupidity Shandiph had displayed in not bringing food and drink. Karag came to the Chairman's defense, pointing out that he had no way of knowing how long the search would take, while Thetheru remained silent. When Deriam demanded that the Amagite choose a side, he ended the argument by saying, "I'm too busy trying to remember our route."

"I hadn't thought of that," Deriam said after a moment of silence.

"I've been too busy finding our way forward," Shandiph said.

"Can you lead us back out?" Karag asked.

"I'm not sure," Thetheru admitted.

"Maybe we should turn back. Do we even know what we're looking for?" Deriam asked. "How will we know these wonders when we find them? Have they really survived for three hundred years in this damp darkness?"

"Darkness wouldn't hurt anything," Karag retorted.

"But we don't even know what we're looking for," Thetheru said.

"I assume that we'll find a few chests somewhere," Shandiph said, "and perhaps a shelf of books."

"I hope so," Deriam answered.

They were discarding the last of the fourth set of torches when Shandiph, who had moved on ahead while Karag lit the new torch from the stub of his old one, called out, "I've found something."

"What is it?" Karag called.

"This door has the pentagram sign on it, and another pentagram inside the first."

"Is it open?"

"No. It's locked."

The other three came up to join him and found that the Chairman was standing before a large oaken door bound in rusty iron; he was pulling and pushing at the great iron handle. The door did not move.

"Whatever we're looking for must be in there," Karag said.

"How do we get in?" Deriam asked.

"Break it down," Karag suggested.

Shandiph and Deriam looked at each other; Deriam shrugged, "Let him try; he's the strongest of us."

The other three stepped back, and Karag took a short run toward the door, slamming his shoulder against it.

Immediately, he was flung back against the far wall of the corridor in a shower of pure white sparks.

He lay stunned on the dusty stone. Thetheru said unnecessarily, "It must have a warding spell on it."

"I never saw a ward like that," Deriam replied. He was blinking, trying to help his eyes readjust to the dim yellow torchlight after the vivid brilliance of the sparks.

Shandiph looked at the door for a moment and then said, "I suppose they wanted to be sure that no one who just happened along could get in. We are the rightful heirs, though, so there must be some way we can annuli the wards."

"There was no mention of this in your directions?"

"No. You have to understand, I know very little more than you do. When I became Chairman I was given the seal of office and a box of charms, and taught a spell that would tell me what each charm was for when the need arose; that spell told me that the yellow glass would show me the way through the crypts, but it said nothing of this door."

"Did you bring the other charms?"

"No. That shouldn't matter, though; I know what almost all of them do. Besides, if one was needed here, the spell should have told me before I left Kholis."

"Perhaps the spell has become muddled over the years."

"Aal and Amera, I hope not!"

"Is there some hidden instruction in the pentacle, perhaps?" Thetheru asked.

Karag was climbing to his feet once again. He said nothing, but stood unsteadily, staring at the door.

"Did you bring any magic besides the yellow glass?" Deriam asked Shandiph.

Before the Chairman could answer, Karag said, "I can see the pentagram now."

"What?" The others turned toward him in surprise.

"I can see the pentagram. But you said there was another pentagram within it, Shandiph, and it's not a pentagram, it's the Council seal."

"It is?" Shandiph also stared at the door; to him it still appeared to be a pentacle inside a pentacle. A possibility occurred to him, and he reached inside the neck of his tunic to pull forth the golden medallion that he as Chairman of the Council of the Most High, wore at all times. He placed it against the center of the pentagram and announced, "I am Shandiph, heir to Hemmaron, Chairman of the Council of the Most High, chief among the wise and first among equals!"

Nothing happened.

In desperation, Shandiph reached out and pushed once more at the iron handle. The door swung open.

The chamber beyond was utterly black, and the light of the torches did not penetrate. The four wizards stared into it for a long moment, none daring to step into the unnatural darkness.

"I think that magic is called for," Deriam said at last.

Shandiph nodded. "Hoi, khiri! I'a angarosye t'aryo ansuyen, o mi alekye i zhure Leuk!" he called. "Hear me, spirits! I am an agent of the lords of demons, and with this talisman I invoke Leuk!"

The room was suddenly flooded with golden light, and the four stared in astonishment.

The chamber was perhaps thirty feet wide, but so long that its far end could not be seen in the conjured light. The walls were lined with shelves of books, row after row of chests, hundreds of pegs from which hung amulets and talismans of every sort, and racks which held scepters, staves, orbs, jewels, swords, daggers, cups, plates, goblets, spears, stones, carvings, statues, sacks, pouches, jars, phials, and a hundred other implements and objects. More chests were lined up down the center of the room. Many objects glowed or glittered, and soft rustlings could be heard.

Directly before them stood an immense reading stand carved of some dark, rich wood, which held a great black-bound book.

Everything was brightly and clearly lighted for fifty yards of the room's length, but without shadows and with no apparent source of light.

"How did you do that?" Thetheru asked Shandiph.

"You mean the light? I learned a little theurgy years ago; it's a simple invocation. If you mean the door, I didn't do anything except what you saw. It must have been ensorcelled to recognize the seal of office."

"What is all this stuff?" Karag demanded, astonished.

Shandiph shrugged. "How should I know?" He stepped forward and looked at the lone book on the stand. "I think that this must be here where we see it for a reason." He opened the book at random and let the front cover fall back against the stand.

Pages flipped over without his touch; when they stopped, he read aloud, "This book is the true compendium of all arcane knowledge gathered in this room, compiled to guide those who come after us in the use of our arts."

"Useful," Deriam remarked.

"How can one volume explain all this?" Thetheru asked, gesturing at the thousands of books and tens of thousands of other objects.

Pages turned, and Shandiph read, "This book has been enchanted and will answer your every question. Speak, and you shall be answered; ask, and you shall know, that the glory of the Council of the Most High may be reborn upon the earth." He smiled. "So much for secrecy," he said. "It appears that our predecessors didn't expect it to last forever."

"Shandiph," Deriam said, "this is all too much for me. What are all these things? This is far more than I had imagined we would find."

A single page turned, and Shandiph read, "Gathered before you is every magical spell and power known to our members at the end of this Twelfth Age, save those thought too minor to waste space upon, and those that have been withheld by the power of the gods or reserved for the continued use of the Council's master."

"I think this is more than we can handle," Thetheru said. "I think we should contact the rest of the Council before we go any further."

A thick sheaf of pages flung itself over with an audible thump, and Thetheru looked at it in surprise. "I didn't ask a question," he said.

"The Greater Spell of Summoning has been embodied for your use in spheres of red crystal, stored in the first chest on your left," Shandiph read. "The shattering of one of these crystals in the heart of a well-drawn pentagram will bring you instantly whomsoever you shall name aloud while the smoke is thick."

"The thing dares to advise us!" Karag exclaimed.

"We should use it, though," Thetheru said. "Where is chalk for a pentagram?"

A page riffled over, but Shandiph did not bother to read what it said, as Deriam announced, "There is already a pentagram here, on the floor, inlaid in gold."

The other three looked, and Deriam was correct; a thin layer of dust had hidden the golden star.

Shandiph was already on the way to the chest indicated by the book by the time Karag and Thetheru had convinced themselves of the pentagram's reality. He opened it and found that a dozen identical spheres of red crystal, each the size of a clenched fist, were arrayed in a tray at one end. The rest of the chest held an assortment of other fascinating devices, but he resolved to leave those for later. He picked out a single red globe and, with a careful toss, flung it into the center of the pentagram. It shattered spectacularly when it hit the floor, and an impossibly thick cloud of red smoke billowed forth.

"Chalkara of Kholis, Derelind the Hermit, Miloshir the Theurgist, Herina the Stargazer, Veyel of Nekutta, the sorceress Zhinza, the mage Ranendin, the Baron Dor of Therin, Kala of Mara, Sharatha of Ilnan," he recited quickly.

The smoke continued to roll outward in a solid, spreading mass, with no sign of thinning; Shandiph continued his listing. "Kubal of Tadumuri, Haladar of Mara, Sherek the Thaumaturge!" He was beginning to have trouble remembering which other councilors had been at Kholis. "Amarda the Blood Drinker! Linder the Nightwalker!"

Vague shapes were becoming visible in the seething red cloud, which had reached out far enough to surround the original party of four. "The Seer of Weideth!" Shandiph added. There were still one or two others, he knew. "The wizard Alagar…" Were there still more?

The smoke showed the first signs of dispersing, and it occurred to him that he need not restrict himself to those who had attended the meetings. He remembered one more who had been at Kholis, though, and named him first, saying, "Phamakh the Wise!"

Abruptly the red fog thinned and vanished, and the room was suddenly crowded. Every person he had named was present, jammed together in the area around the golden pentagram; all were looking about themselves with varying mixtures of surprise and fear.

Shandiph realized that he had missed an opportunity to settle Shang's fate definitely once and for all by summoning him as well; or he might have called for someone who could provide a firsthand account of recent events in Dыsarra. He considered using another of the crystal spheres, but decided against it.

There was a sudden babble of voices as the new arrivals all began to talk at once; the only question that was decipherable in the confusion of noise was one that was repeated by several speakers, though the pages of the guidebook riffled wildly in trying to answer every startled query.

"Where are we?" was the one question that could be understood.

"Fellow councilors!" Shandiph called. "Your attention, please!"

The questions ceased, the book's pages lay still, and the entire group turned to face him.

"You are in the vault where our ancestors placed much of their magic for safekeeping; you were brought here by an ancient spell because we felt that the unexpected wealth of this lost magic was more than we four could handle by ourselves. If you will look around you, you will see that there is far more here than was anticipated; every single thing in this chamber is magical, it appears, and every book here contains arcane knowledge. As may be determined by the ease with which you were brought here, using a single, simple device-beware that you don't step on those shards of glass-much of this magic is extremely potent by our standards. We thought that all of you should have some say in the management of this treasure trove."

"You thought so, Shandiph, you and Thetheru," Karag said. "We four were appointed as representatives, and I see no need to waste time in further debate. We were sent to find powerful weapons to use against the overman Garth, and there are undoubtedly powerful weapons here around us. I say that we should find them, using that guidebook, and then go and deal with this overman and his magic sword before he becomes any more dangerous than he already is."

There were a few calls of support from the gathered crowd and several shouted questions; once again, the guidebook tossed pages back and forth, attempting to answer them all at once.

"Shandiph, where are we? Where is this vault?" someone called over the general din. Shandiph looked for the speaker and tried to call an answer.

Deriam and Thetheru were each beset by two or three of their comrades demanding explanations; most of the others crowded around Shandiph, barraging him with questions and opinions. Karag, too, drew his share of attention; the wizard Alagar and Kubal of Tadumuri, both old friends, came toward him. One or two individuals wandered off down the long room, looking at the thousands of trinkets and talismans.

Karag saw an opportunity in this complete disorganization and made his way to the reading stand, where he asked in a low voice, "What are the most powerful weapons in this chamber, and where are they to be found?"

Alagar and Kubal watched with him, saying nothing, as the pages turned and revealed a long list-much too long to be of use.

"Which of these are the three mightiest and most effective?" he asked.

Two pages flipped back, and Karag read, "The Ring of P'hul, on the Chairman's ring finger, the Great Staff of Power, first in the third rack of staves on the right-hand wall, and the Blood-Sword of Hishan of Darbul, fifth in the second rack of blades on the right-hand wall."

"We can't use the Ring," Alagar whispered.

"You both intend to join me; then?"

"Yes, of course," Kubal replied. "These fools will be arguing for hours. They'll thank us when it's done."

"True enough. All right, book, what is the fourth most powerful among the weapons here?"

The book turned a few pages. "The Sword of Koros," Kubal read. "I'll take that."

"I'll take the other sword," Alagar said.

"And I'll take the staff," Karag agreed.

"Karag, what are you doing?" Shandiph called. He had finally noticed that the other was using the guidebook.

"I thought that the book might be able to advise us on how to proceed."

"Has it?"

"No, not yet; give it a few more minutes."

"Well…" Shandiph was uncertain. Karag was impetuous, he knew, but usually meant well. Several of the newcomers had given him news that directly concerned Karag, but he was distracted by another question about the guidebook's working before he could tell Karag. He decided to trust Karag for the moment and to wait before telling him that his secret departure from the High King's castle had led to a dispute between the King and the Baron of Sland. Chalkara said that the Baron had accused the King of kidnapping Karag to deprive the Baron of his services. There was a. great deal of acrimonious talk going on, though no action had yet been taken.

While Karag and Shandiph spoke. Alagar had been using the book; when Karag looked down again it was to find complete instructions for the use of the three weapons chosen. He read through them quickly, as did Alagar and Kubal.

Shandiph remained distracted; the Baron of Therin had been conjured in his true person, rather than the simulacrum that had come to Kholis, and was therefore able to relay information. The disappearance of the other magicians was creating quite a stir, and Dor's other self, together with Sindolmer of Therin, who had arrived after the foursome had left and therefore been excluded from Shandiph's listing, were trying to calm matters. The coincidence that both the apparent survivors were from Therin did not make their task easier.

Deriam had become entangled in a debate concerning the nature and origin of the crypts, and Thetheru was explaining the red crystal spheres to Sharatha and Miloshir. No one paid any attention to Karag, Alagar, and Kubal.

"What is the quickest means by which we three may be transported, with our chosen weapons, to wherever we may find Garth of Ordunin?"

Karag read the answer, and then closed the book.

"It is yours, Shandiph, to do with as you please," he called.

"Thank you, Karag. I'll want to speak with you in a moment."

"You have no objection if we look around, do you?"

"No, not if you're careful." Shandiph was too busy to be really suspicious; he was trying to answer questions about the vault room even as he asked his own about the Baron of Sland and affairs at the High King's castle.

Moving casually, so as not to draw attention, Karag and his two comrades gathered their chosen weapons, ignoring the questions and comments of the other wizards. When they were armed, Karag opened the first chest on the right and took out a blue crystal sphere very much like the red one that had summoned the majority of the Council.

At that point it became impossible to hide their actions and intentions any longer, and Kubal and Alagar, brandishing their swords, ordered that the pentagram be cleared.

Startled, the other councillors obeyed.

The three stood in the center of the golden star, and Karag announced, "We are going to do what must be done, without wasting any more time. We go to face Garth of Ordunin!" With that, he dropped the blue sphere.

It exploded in a cloud of bright blue smoke; when the smoke cleared instants later, the three wizards were gone.