Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) (8 page)

The smoke rising from the city several miles away was coming from too many places and was far too thick to be cooking fires. The smoke didn’t smell like cooking fires, either. The closer they got to the city, the more Ghorza found it impossible to deny. Parts of the city were burning. The attack they had been worrying about had taken place while they were gone.

“What’s all that smoke?” asked John. “Is there some sort of festival today?”

“I’m afraid not,” Ghorza said, whose half-orc nature gave her a better sense of smell. “The outskirts of the city are on fire. I think that the forces of Salidar have attacked Norlon.”

“What are we going to do?” asked John. “Where are we going to go?”

Ghorza paused, estimating the fires. “I don’t think they’ve made it up to the Magisterium yet,” she said. “If we hurry, we can still make it there before they do.”

“What?” asked John. “You want to go
into
the fighting? Are you crazy?”

“I am a trained member of the Magisterium, although a junior one,” Ghorza answered. “That is where my place is. I need to go and see if I can help.” She turned from the smoke to gaze down at John. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to; however, if Norlon is no longer safe, it won’t be long before all of Tasidar is under their boots.”

“I’ll go,” replied John. “I don’t know what help I’ll be, but I’ll go.”

“Well, then, let’s go with haste. I don’t know how much longer we have.”

Rubic found Solim at the command tent that had been erected just outside the walls of the suburbs. A squad of trolls was at the city wall, pulling it apart with their bare hands so that the command group could advance into the city. The trolls would jab their spade-like hands into the mortar of a joint, grab hold of a brick and rip it out. Periodically, sections of the wall would fall as they were undermined, and a squad of hill giants would move forward to pull the fallen sections out of the way.

The command tent was a bustle of activity, with messengers and leaders of all of the host’s races coming and going. Finding a three-foot tall halfling among all of the giants, trolls and ogres might have been difficult at another time; today Rubic just followed a messenger to where things were the busiest, and there he found Solim.

Rubic could barely hear himself think among the ruckus; at least eight different languages were being spoken, and the hill giants were trying to out-shout the ogres. As bad as the noise level was, it didn’t begin to compare to the smell in the tent. Rubic found himself barely able to breathe, and gagged when he tried to speak.

“You’ll get used to it after a while,” said Solim. “What news do you bring of the foreigner and his friends? Are they dead?”

“They did not come back together,” Rubic said. “When the orc and the boy reached the mountain, the devil had already left. I didn’t know if I should attack the two of them and risk alerting the demon that we were coming for him.”

“Are you sure you didn’t attack them because you were afraid of them?” asked Solim.

“No,” replied Rubic. “I didn’t have a chance to kill them all, so I came back to see what you wanted me to do. I trailed the orc and the boy back to the city; they’re on their way to the Magisterium. You ought to be able to catch them there.”

“I’ve already sent out several groups to find them and kill them if they could,” Solim said, “but I think this may call for more drastic actions.” He turned to the troll standing next to him. “Send a contingent to the Magisterium,” he said, concentrating on focusing his words through the crown on his head. “Have them kill everyone they find there.”

The troll’s eyes glazed slightly as the magic worked through him. “Yes, master,” he replied, looking at the halfling, who was less than half his size. “It shall be done as you order.”

“As for you,” Solim said, turning back to his brother, “I want you to go quickly to the Magisterium and see if you can find out what their plans are.”

“Okay,” Rubic said. He turned to go.

“One more thing,” Solim said from behind him.

“Yes?” asked Rubic over his shoulder.

“You’d better hurry. I wouldn’t want you to be there when the trolls get there.”

Ghorza opened the tunnel door a crack and looked around. A member of the Magisterium, she knew the locations of several tunnels that could be used to sneak in and out of the city. All were booby-trapped in case the enemy found them, but the one she led John through was still clear. So far.

Seeing no one around, she pushed up the trap door, which led into a small shed. Disguised by some of the best illusionists in Norlon, the shed appeared old, decrepit and unworthy of a second glance from the outside. The building was empty, although the smell of smoke was much stronger now that they were closer to the fighting. They could feel the pounding of siege machines trying to tear down the city’s inner walls not far away. Ghorza didn’t think that it would be long before the enemy forces were upon them, if they weren’t here already.

She cracked open the door that led out of the shed and looked around to see what was outside. Satisfied no one was watching, she opened it the rest of the way and whispered, “Come on!” before running across a small lawn to a house. John followed close behind.

“Stay here,” she ordered when they reached the cover of the building. “The owner of this house is a member of the Magisterium. I will see if he is home and can give us any information.” John nodded, and she slipped through the back door of the house.

While he was waiting, John heard a commotion coming from in front of the house and went to look around the corner. The building next to the house was a small cafe. The restaurant was vacant, except for one table in front that was occupied. He was in luck! The devil they had been looking for was at the table, along with three of the largest creatures he had ever seen. John didn’t know what they were, but they had to be at least nine feet tall, maybe taller, and weighed many hundreds of pounds. They almost looked comical, dressed in tattered furs and sitting on benches that were too small for them. All of them seemed oblivious to the events going on around them.

“Hey—” John started to call out, but a strong hand clamped over his mouth, lifting him from his feet and pulling him back around the corner of the building.

“Quiet!” whispered a gruff voice that smelled of sulfur. The voice pulled him back further and slammed him backward into the wall. His head snapped back against the building’s bricks, causing him to see stars. As they cleared, he found himself looking into the face of the real teufling. John didn’t have to be experienced with demonic facial expressions to tell the half-devil was angry. His tail flicked back and forth at the edge of John’s vision; John knew it could strike him, and he would never see it coming.

“Come to gloat with the rest of your evil creatures now that you’ve taken the city?” the teufling asked. “If there’s one thing in this life that I am sure of, it’s that you won’t last long enough to get that drink with your friends out there!”

“It’s not like that at all!” John whispered back. “I’m here with Ghorza. We were looking for you. We went to find you at the mountain, but you were gone. We came back to the city, but it was already in flames.”

“A likely story,” Dantes said. “And you just happened to be going to meet that group out there?”

“I thought the teufling was you,” said John. “I’m looking for you. I came here to tell you that you’ve all been tricked. The real Spectre is still on the loose!”

“The real Spectre?”

“Yes, the real Spectre. He used me to trick you. He got away and came back here...probably to take part in the destruction of this city.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“It’s true,” said Ghorza’s voice from behind him. “We’ve been looking for you, and if you would let him go, we can tell you all about it.”

Her voice soothed his anger. Dantes let go of John and turned to find Ghorza looking down at him. Dantes gave an embarrassed smiled. “It’s good to see you,” he said.

“It would be better if we weren’t surrounded by the minions of hell,” said Ghorza.

“Absolutely,” said Dantes, who was more than passingly familiar with them. “I just got here, myself. I came through one of the tunnels hoping to reach the Magisterium, but before I could, I saw that group out there.” He paused to glance around the corner. The sounds of fighting had moved on, and the group looked as if they had nothing better to do than stop and have refreshments. They had obviously been in the fighting earlier, as bits of gore were splattered all over them, and blood coated the clubs lying on the ground next to them. “I have to do something about the teufling. If I don’t, he will bathe this town in blood, even more so than the other creatures.”

“Wench!” they heard the devil call from around the corner, as if to prove his point. “We want food and wine! We hunger and thirst!” His tone sounded full of promised pain to come. It made John want to go out and confront the teufling; at the same time, it also made him want to run away as fast as he could.

“Coming, gentlemen,” replied a young barmaid in a tiny voice, hustling out with a tray of food and tankards of some sort of beverage. Her hands were shaking so badly that she almost dumped the whole tray onto one of the bigger creatures. Narrowly averting the disaster, she slid the food and drinks gracelessly onto the table in front of them.

“Don’t make us wait again,” cautioned the devil, evil in his voice, “or the next time we might have
you
for dinner instead.”

Dantes turned to Ghorza. “He means to kill her. He’s just playing with her until he’s ready. Part of the fun for him is the fear he is causing her. He lives for that.”

“How do you know?” asked John.

Dantes looked hard at John. “Trust me,
I know
,” he said, his tone giving John goose bumps. Dantes turned back to Ghorza. “You can tell me how we got tricked by someone who is obviously brain dead later,” he said, nodding at John; “for now, though, I have to do something about that teufling.”

Ghorza snuck a glance around the corner. “You did see that there are three ogres sitting with him, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” agreed Dantes. “I can surprise the teufling and probably take one of the ogres, but the other two may tackle me and pin me down. I don’t want to get trapped here any longer than I have to; it looks like all of Salidar is in Norlon today.”

 “I wasn’t expecting combat today, but I do have a couple of chain spells and a haste that might help,” said Ghorza.

“You’re not ready for combat, but you have those available?”

“Well, I knew you might be less than happy to see the Spectre again,” replied Ghorza. “I thought they might be needed to give me some time to reason with you.”

Dantes snorted and a puff of smoke came out his nostrils. “
You
were going to use tact and reason with
me
? The world really has gone to hell today.” He shook his head and looked around the corner. “Hit me with the Haste, and when I kill the teufling, Chain the ogre across from it to the table.”

“What do you want me to do?” asked John.

“Stay out of the way,” replied both Ghorza and Dantes, looking at him. Ghorza turned back to Dantes. “Ready when you are.”

He nodded, and Ghorza commanded, “
Celeritas!
”

Dantes felt the world slow down around him as his movement sped up. He rounded the corner and walked toward the teufling. “Who’s good for lunch here?” he asked by way of introduction.

The teufling and ogres turned to view the newcomer, and the teufling smiled in welcoming. Dantes felt himself ready to burst as he kept his movements as slow as possible. He knew from past experience that he would still seem a little faster than normal. “I’ve been looking for some fun all day,” he said, hoping to cover the Haste; “it’s great to finally find some!”

Dantes watched the teufling turn toward the interior of the cafe in slow motion. “Wench! Bring more wine and—
uh
!” it grunted as Dantes dropped down to all fours like a bull and sprang on him. Dantes cocked his head to the side, driving his right horn through the other teufling’s heart. The only thing sharp enough to pierce a devil’s heart was the horn of another devil, and he used his to great effect.

“What?” it gasped, as it fell to the floor. Dantes rode it down, twisting his head back and forth to ensure that he tore the teufling’s heart apart.

The teuflings hit the ground, and Dantes jumped back up in time to see the ogre on the right upset his bench as it thrust itself to its feet. The better part of nine and a half feet tall, the ogre had light brown skin and a confused look on its face. Dantes didn’t give it time to figure out what was happening. “
Globus Incendi!
” he commanded, sending a bead of fire into the creature’s face. The fireball exploded on contact, cooking the ogre’s face and bathing the entire group in its flames.

Counting on Ghorza to do her part, he spun toward the ogre on the left, jumping over the remains of the half-devil as he attacked. Hasted, Dantes looked like a blur as he dove at the monster. Already partially cooked, the ogre was just starting to get up from the bench when Dantes crashed into it headfirst, spearing it in the chest with his horns and driving it backward over the bench. Dantes’ tail wrapped around one of the ogre’s legs and pulled, helping to overbalance it. Holding onto the creature with both his hands and tail, Dantes rode it to the ground, twisting his horns to ensure he killed it. The ogre hit the wooden floor hard, and Dantes’ horns drove all the way through it. Dantes felt the ogre relaxing in death, so he pulled out and spun toward the remaining ogre.

As he expected, Ghorza had done her part and Chained the ogre to the bench and chair, and it was awkwardly trying to lift itself up while still attached to both pieces of furniture. The animal skin on its back expanded as the creature took a giant breath, and Dantes knew that it was about to yell an alert. Drawing his knife as he charged, Dantes stabbed the ogre with all his might, driving the knife through the creature’s back and into its heart. The only sound the ogre made was a gasp as it fell forward onto the table, which disintegrated with a wooden crash.

There was another crash, and Dantes spun with augmented speed to find the barmaid staring in horror, pointing at him. She had dropped her tray and was about to scream. Although Dantes was fast, he knew he couldn’t close the distance to stop her in time; however, a small hand enveloped her mouth before she could scream.

“It’s OK,” said John, who had entered through the back of the cafe to try to keep her out of the fight. “It’s all over now.”

The waitress’ eyes roamed the destruction of her cafe, taking in the devil and the orc standing over the remains of another devil and three ogres. One of the ogres was still rolling around, its face a mass of cooked flesh. She tried a second scream.

“That’s not helping,” John said through clenched teeth as she bit him. He turned her around so that she could see a fellow human. “It’s OK,” he said again. “We’re the good guys.”

Her eyes were wider than any John had ever seen before, and she was hyperventilating. He smiled at her in spite of his own terror. “Really,” he said, nodding his head, “it’s OK. I mean it.”

She calmed a little, and he let go of her mouth. When she didn’t immediately scream, he removed his hand and stepped back. “This is going to be a bad place to be, especially with the dead creatures here. You need to get away.”

The girl nodded her head, still too scared to speak, her eyes flicking back and forth as if looking for a place to run. John told her how to use the secret tunnel system, and she turned and ran off into the restaurant. Turning back to the scene of the conflict, John found that Dantes had killed the last ogre, and both Ghorza and Dantes were going through the belongings of the creatures. As he walked over to see what they had found, a rank, unwashed odor caused him to gag as he got close.

“It’s the ogres,” explained Dantes. “They don’t bathe much.” He sniffed. “In fact, I’m surprised the teufling was with them. We usually have very sensitive noses, and it wouldn’t have been pleasant to be in their company. Something must have been forcing them to operate together.”

Dantes went back to searching the bodies, trying not to breathe around the ogres. It didn’t take long to search them; there wasn’t much to be found in their ratty and decaying furs. After a brief search of the teufling, though, Dantes held up a piece of parchment. “Success,” he said.

Ghorza came over to look at the parchment. “I don’t read Teufling,” she said after taking a glance.

“They’re orders for mopping up the city after it falls,” he translated. “Damn. They’re looking for us. How could they have known that we’d be together? Why would they care?”

“Are you sure it’s us they’re looking for?” asked Ghorza.

“Teufling, red with purple hair, medium-sized horns, found in the company of a female half-orc, greenish, six and a half feet tall, covered in clumps of hair. You tell me; it certainly sounds like us.”

“That description could also fit almost any other teufling and half-orc,” Ghorza argued.

Dantes raised an eyebrow. “Really? How many other teuflings have you seen in your life? Especially ones with purple hair?”

“Umm...With purple hair?” asked Ghorza. She sighed. “None; just you.” Her brows knitted. “But why? Why would they be looking for us?”