Alutar: The Great Demon (74 page)

“Your inability to climb stairs,” answered Zack.

“The man posing as the emperor is a mage,” interjected Kalina, “The spell that he is using to impersonate Jaar will break if we can get him to cast a single spell. I feel confident that we can do so, but he can quickly reinstate the façade. Were we to unveil him in his office, very few people would see the truth, and that is not acceptable. We want you to go with us to see the emperor. Because of your condition, he will have to meet you in the throne room on the ground floor. We plan to make sure that there are enough people present to see the spectacle so that the reign of Emperor Jaar will end.”

“And that will end the war?” scoffed Lord Kimner. “There are still the problems of the puppet master and the heir. By showing that Jaar is dead, you will force the heir to step forward. The noble will then conspire to kill him. Besides, what makes you think that Jaar’s son will be any different than his father?”

“We know the identities of both the puppet master and the heir,” declared Zack. “You will be pleased to know that Jaar’s son is more like his grandfather than his father.”

“Is he now?” Lord Kimner asked with a glint in his eye. “I would love to see the truth of that statement before I die.” The old man’s eyes narrowed as he continued, “You do realize what you are asking of me, don’t you? You want me to smuggle a couple of Alceans into the Imperial Palace for a meeting with the leader of the Federation. You could easily be assassins using me to gain access to the emperor. I cannot do it.”

“We already have people who can gain access to the emperor,” countered Zack, “and the façade will indeed dissolve upon his death, but we do not want to act in that manner. The heir already suspects the truth about his father, but the imposter still looks like Jaar. To attack him without revealing the truth would seem hostile to the future leader of Barouk, and we would prefer to have good relations with your country in the future. The false emperor must be revealed for all to see. If you are concerned about me assassinating anyone, have the palace guards strip me of my weapons and forbid me to get within twenty paces of the emperor. I will agree to such terms.”

Lord Kimner raised an eyebrow at the offer. Slowly, he nodded. “It is worth the risk to see Jaar’s son in control of the empire,” he reasoned aloud. “Jaar has done nothing for Barouk that I see as good. Explain to me what my role is to be.”

Seiko stood amidships staring up at the billowing sails of the Resurgence. The eastern sky was just beginning to lighten, and the head black-cloak sighed wearily. The lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll on him and the men under his command, but he could not afford to let anyone sleep. On his last trip to the stern of the ship, he had actually heard the roar of the sand wall, and that meant that it was getting closer.

“It is within a pace now,” Jong said as he approached Seiko, tearing the leader away from his musings. “If just a handful of our men falter, we will be in trouble.”

Seiko lowered his eyes and turned to look at Jong. “We are in trouble no matter what we do,” he sighed. “We have tried every known spell on that wall, and nothing will deter it. The black maw cannot be far in front of us. It is the end of our journey.”

“We could flee,” Jong suggested anxiously. “If we cannot save the demonstone, what is the purpose of all of us dying? We have done the best we could. No one would blame us for saving ourselves.”

“No,” Seiko replied strongly. “We have a duty to do what we can to preserve the demonstone. I will not hear talk about abandoning it.”

“But it is going to be destroyed anyway,” protested Jong. “Have you gone mad?”

“No,” retorted Seiko. “The demonstone may be sucked into the maw, but it will go in whole. It can be retrieved from there. Only if we let the sand wall destroy it have we failed. We only need to keep this ship ahead of the sand wall until it is sucked down into the maw. Then we may flee. The sand wall will burn itself out when the circle collapses. Don’t you see, Jong, we can actually defeat the Mage here. He may stop us from delivering the demonstone right now, but we have succeeded in bringing it thousands of leagues closer to Alutar. That is no small feat. We can regroup later and figure out a way to retrieve the demonstone from the Sands of Eternity.”

“But you said the entire desert is moving into the maw?” frowned Jong. “I cannot comprehend what that will mean in the future. How will we retrieve the demonstone when it will be covered by leagues of sand?”

“I do not know,” sighed Seiko, “but we will find a way. How we do it is not important right now. What is important is staying ahead of that wall until the ship gets sucked into the maw.”

“How far are we from the hole?” asked Jong.

Seiko glanced up at the sky and saw that dawn was approaching. “We will know soon,” he said. “Walk with me to the bow. By the time we get there, there should be enough light to see it.”

The two black-cloaks walked towards the bow of the massive ship. By the time they reached the bow, the sky had lightened considerably. They stared across the dim desert, and Jong gasped as he saw the gigantic hole and the sand pouring into it. Seiko also gasped, but not at the sight of the maw. He was staring at the circular wall surrounding the ship and the maw. No longer was the circular wall of sand a mere mental image. He could see it now, and that caused a shudder to race though his body. As both mages silently stared at their coming fate, the ship shuddered violently. They both knew what that meant.

“Get them to push more air into the sails,” Seiko said urgently.

“The sails will not hold any more air,” retorted Jong. “They are already full.”

“If they were full,” snapped Seiko, “the wall would not have caught up to us. Do it before we fail.”

Jong did not argue. He raced aft to carry out Seiko’s order. Even in the bow, Seiko could now hear the roar as the sand wall started eating through the ship. He turned around and gazed at the monstrous hole before the ship, mentally calculating how long it would take to reach it. Suddenly, a loud crack split the air, and the ship lurched and bucked. Seiko whirled around in time to see the aft mast falling, it sails fluttering as they dropped to the sand alongside the ship. Seiko cursed loudly and started running aft. When he reached amidships alongside the demonstone, Jong approached from the other direction.

“The mast couldn’t take the strain,” Jong reported. “The sand wall is rapidly eating its way forward now. We are doomed. We will never make the hole.”

“It doesn’t matter if we make the hole,” declared Seiko. “It only matters that the demonstone does. Help me unstrap it.”

Jong’s puzzled face stared at his leader. “You plan to levitate it into the hole?”

“There is no other option,” Seiko replied as he sent a fireball at the ropes holding the demonstone in place. “Help me and hurry.”

Jong also began casting fireballs at the restraining ropes, and they began to pop free as the fire burned through the fibers. Seiko saw some birds winging away from the ship and he cursed again.

“Stop those fools from fleeing,” he spat. “We will need everyone to levitate the demonstone and move it faster than the wall. Go. I will finish up here.”

Jong raced off to halt the desertions while Seiko continued to destroy the restraining ropes. The roar of the sand wall grew louder and louder, and Seiko was soon forced to turn and look in its direction. He gasped in alarm when he saw that only a dozen paces of the ship remained aft of him. As he watched, the sand wall started eating through another mast. Within seconds the ship lurched again, and Seiko knew that he was out of time.

“Everyone rally to me!” he shouted as loud as he could. “Forget the sails and rally to me! Hurry!”

The ship faltered as if it had hit a reef. Seiko was thrown to the deck as the bow of the ship dropped and plunged into the sand. At first he thought they had reached the black maw, but he soon realized the truth. His black-cloaks had answered his call, but they were doing more than merely filling the sails with wind. They had also been levitating the bow to keep it from plunging into the sand. The Resurgence slid to a halt, but the sand wall did not stop. It began chewing up the deck at an alarming rate. Seiko jumped to his feet and saw the demonstone starting to rise. He smiled inwardly as he realized that some of his men were already at work. He shouted for the others to join in as he magically reached out to the demonstone to add his power to the effort. Only then did he hear the shouts of his men. He looked up and saw a dozen demons hovering over the demonstone. They were levitating the lower half of Alutar, and they were taking it far too high to be delivering it to the black maw in front of the ship.

“The demonstone has been saved,” shouted Jong. “They will get it to the Forest of Death.”

Seiko could barely hear Jong’s voice over the roar of the sand wall. He turned and found himself mere inches away from it. He leaped away and then turned to run towards the bow. Some black-cloaks joined him in a race to the bow, but others chose to take to the air in an attempt to save themselves. A few birds shot skywards, but some of the magicians never finished the conversion before the sand wall devoured them.

“Many of the men won’t make it out of here,” Jong said softly to Seiko as they gathered at the bow. “They are too exhausted to transform and fly over the sand wall. Look at those who are already trying.”

Seiko glanced skyward and saw a few birds circling, striving to catch an updraft of any kind. He knew that they would not find one. He shook his head and lowered his eyes.

“Our mission is over,” Seiko said loudly. “You are free to return to the Black Citadel. I will see you there.”

Without waiting for a response, Seiko transformed into a bird and shot skyward. The bird did not bother to look down at the maw and the disappearing ship. Instead it concentrated on the quickly narrowing window above it. Keeping to a tight spiral, the bird climbed above the towering walls and then glided away.

* * * *

General Forshire sat outside the office of General Hartz in the Imperial Palace in Despair. General Hartz was the commanding officer of the 3
^rd
Corps which was the home guard of Despair and the Imperial Palace. He controlled the largest army in the Federation, which numbered over fifteen thousand men, and the traffic into and out of his office was busy. When the door to the office opened, a colonel walked out and disappeared down a corridor. The junior officer who sat at a desk in the anteroom looked at General Forshire and nodded that he could now enter the general’s office. Clint rose and moved through the doorway, closing the door behind him.

“Forshire,” smiled General Hartz as he waved his visitor to a chair. “I have not seen much of you since the celebration. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?”

“I have a great concern about something,” General Forshire said vaguely, “but I need your vow of secrecy before I can discuss it.”

The smile fell from General Hartz’s face. “I am not one for secrecy,” he frowned. “If it is something of a personal nature, I would think that there are others more suited than me to hear your problem. If it concerns the Federation, I can offer no vow of secrecy.”

“Actually,” Clint frowned, “it concerns the Empire of Barouk more than the Federation. The Federation hardly exists any more.”

General Hartz’s brow creased. “What causes a Tyronian general to have a concern about the Empire of Barouk?” he asked.

“I am hardly a Tyronian general any more, am I?” questioned Clint. “I am the Imperial General of the Federation, whatever that is good for.”

“I had heard rumors about that,” stated General Hartz. “So it is true then?”

Clint nodded and produced his proclamation. He passed it across the desk to General Hartz, who read it and passed it back.

“Emperor Jaar must have great faith in you, Forshire,” said General Hartz. “If you have a concern about the empire, you certainly have the ear of the emperor at your disposal. Why not take your concerns to him?”

Clint did not respond, and General Hartz’s eyes widened in understanding. He started shaking his head.

“I am sure that I do not wish to hear any more,” General Hartz stated firmly.

“A lot of blood may flow over this,” Clint said vaguely. “It need not be that way.”

“Look, Forshire,” scowled General Hartz, “I am loyal to the emperor, and I always will be. If my blood must flow to protect him, so be it.”

“I would expect no less from a loyal general,” retorted Clint. “If I did not know of your loyalty, I would not be in your office today. I am willing to place my fate in your hands, but I am not willing to do so foolishly.” Clint rose as he said, “Perhaps coming here was the wrong option. I took you for a man who was reasonable and dedicated to the empire. I will trouble you no more.”

Clint turned to leave the office, but General Hartz’s stern voice stopped him.

“Sit down,” demanded General Hartz. “I will not allow you to impugn my loyalty and then allow you to simply walk out of my office. If you know of a threat to the Empire of Barouk, I demand to hear it.”

Clint turned and stared at the other general. “I did not impugn your loyalty,” he stated defensively, “only your reason. I have no doubts about your loyalty, but your stubbornness to respect my request for privacy lessens your effectiveness at being loyal. Can a man be truly protective while wishing not to hear of potential threats?”

“I am willing to hear your words, Forshire,” sighed General Hartz, “and I would stand prepared to act on them if I thought action was necessary, but I will not let your accusations remain unheard by my superiors if they are treasonous. I cannot offer you a vow of secrecy.”

“Treasonous?” echoed Clint. “What would I gain from being treasonous against the Empire of Barouk? Is there some higher position I can gain for myself? I am already the Imperial General, on a par with Grand General Kyrga. What higher position is there for me?”

General Hartz frowned. “Perhaps you seek gain for someone else,” he posed. “I do not know what you are about to say, Forshire, but I will know treason when I hear it.”