Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (45 page)

Holli knew the way to Prilgrat's
office in the town hall. It was very close and having Enin transport them there
magically would only save a marginal amount of time. She chose to lead them on
foot instead, so that they could evaluate their surroundings before entering
the basement.

The flow of magic into the town
had ceased. Heteera's death ended the overwhelming current, and Holli believed
the draevol lacked the ability to restart it again so quickly after the abrupt
halt. The magical cover across Ashlan dissipated, and the elf could now sense
the demon. She also believed several inferns remained in the city, but they
were only pawns. Enin could deal with them once they eliminated their master.

"I can feel the
draevol," she announced. "It is indeed in the town hall. I sense no
other threats near it."

Both Jure and Enin nodded in
agreement.

Ryson wondered about the plan of
attack, but with two wizards of enormous power by his side, he doubted any
preparation was necessary. He did, however, consider one element that Holli
seemed to ignore.

"What about the twin?"
the delver wondered. "There may be a second draevol hiding somewhere
nearby."

"Not here," Holli
responded in a determined growl. "The other is in Huntston. We will take
care of it as well, but this is the one behind it all. I can tell."

"But can't they use those
transport spells?"

"They can, but it would leave
a clear trail that Enin could follow."

The delver looked to Enin once
more for confirmation.

The powerful wizard nodded.

"Don't worry, Ryson. Neither
of them will get away," Enin advised.

"I'm not worried about them
getting away. I'm more concerned about walking into a surprise."

"No more surprises,"
Holli stated, as if sheer will would force the entire event into a final
conclusion, "and no more mysteries. The dwarves started this mess, the
draevols corrupted it, and we are about to end it."

Nothing further needed to be said,
and the elf quickly located not only the entrance to the town hall, but the
stairs to the basement as well. She took the lead, not even waiting for Enin to
offer direction or advice. She bounded down the steps and found exactly what
she was looking for.

The draevol waited at the center
of the cellar and its pale glowing form filled even the darkest corners with
light. It looked upon the four intruders with fiery red eyes. It did not smirk
or frown, but it certainly did not cast an apathetic gaze upon those before it.
While it did not shrink in fear, the draevol showed proper respect to the
powers of each of the individuals that confronted it.

Ryson had read descriptions of
draevols, but he was still surprised by its appearance. The legends described
the demons as pale apparitions fixated on sickness and disease. They glowed
white hot, but not with anger. They simmered with deliberation on flaw and
failing. They were the bringer of pain and weakness, and the icy hand of decay.
Their white forms might have contrasted with the brown magic of rot they cast,
but the pure paleness of their beings accentuated the lack of healthy color in
their demon hearts.

All of that certainly matched what
Ryson saw, but the overpowering presence of the demon far exceeded his
conception of a creature that embraced sickness. Remembering that Holli
described draevols as plague mages, he expected a twisted and decayed creature.
He imagined he would find a decrepit essence, frail and feeble—not a
colossus—but that is exactly what stood at the center of the enclosed space...
at the center of the anguish across the valleys.

The demon was larger than Ryson
expected—as tall and as massive as a cliff behemoth. There did not appear,
however, to be much firm substance to the fiend. Its form carried distinct
borders, and it was not so ethereal as to appear ghostly, but the creature
seemed to lack true mass. It appeared like a pure white flame that had taken
the contour of a large, hulking beast and suddenly congealed into that form. A
near solid, pale, unflickering fire—that's how Ryson saw the demon's body.

The size and brightness of the
fiend almost served as a great contradiction to its underlying nature, until
Ryson remembered how truly terrifying and powerful plagues and diseases could
be. They might have weakened their victims, but the sicknesses themselves could
easily become tragedies of epic proportions. The overwhelming presence of the demon
served to emphasize that fact. It wasn't simply a representation of the despair
it could cause, but rather the depth of its peril. Plagues of the past had
wiped out cities and towns, entire regions. With that thought, Ryson realized
that was what the draevol had planned all along.

The demon spoke first and it
focused on Jure.

"You are the one who cast the
spells of power. Well played, but how was it possible? That much magic is not
within you."

"Do not tell him," Holli
intervened before Jure could speak. "We do not have to humor him with
answers."

"I do not have to rely on you
for answers," the demon scoffed. "I just did not wish to make
assumptions. I know the magic I brought into the city was pulled from me by a
very chaotic sorceress, but she is not here. Overwhelmed by the magic perhaps?
Yes, I believe so."

Holli wondered if the fiend was
just playing with them.

"If that's the case, why do
you believe he cast the spell?" she asked, as she gestured to Jure.

"I understand the magic as
well as you. He did not take the energy from me, but he certainly used
it." The demon nodded to Jure. "I am impressed."

The draevol then cast a careful
glance toward Enin.

"The mighty wizard is here as
well. I actually imagined you would be the one to defeat the goblins, but I
thought it would require more of your attention. It seems I was wrong. You have
ended my plans much sooner than I hoped. Congratulations, but you should all go
home now."

Ryson recognized the voice.

"The cahltofs!" the
delver explained. "Before we got into the valleys, a cahltof told us to go
home, but it was your voice. Wasn't it?"

"The delver has keen
senses—no surprise."

"Why did you want us to go
home?"

"Is it not obvious? Why would
I want you here? You are an intrusion."

"But Strog wanted my sword."

"Strog wanted many things,
ultimately none of which he was ever going to have."

"So you bargained with
Strog," Holli announced, with no true surprise.

"I dealt with a great number
of creatures; dwarves, goblins, bloat spiders, inferns, even humans. You are no
doubt already aware of my dealings with the human leader of this town. He
believed he could actually outwit me, thought I was underestimating him based
on his appearance. I don't look at the outside. I'm much more interested in
what's within. If anything, I overestimated him. I could not believe he would
fall so easily."

"He was corrupt," Enin
announced. "The corrupt always end up falling. It's just a matter of
time."

"A rather naive point of view
from such a powerful wizard. All of you are corrupt in one way or another. I
would have thought you understood that."

"There is a difference
between being corrupt and being imperfect," Enin shot back.

"We argue over words, not
concepts," the demon allowed. "I understand many concepts, especially
about humans. The most important aspect is that you don't conquer them with
swords, you let them conquer themselves with apathy. That's why when I heard of
the dwarf plan, I knew I had to be part of it. The goblins weren't sure of
whether or not to trust the dwarves after they made their initial bargain. They
came to me for advice. I offered to help them along. In fact, I helped get the
plan moving."

Holli saw another piece of the
puzzle fall into place.

"You cast the spells that
made the people start to leave. You created the unease, the fear, the desire to
run. Not in everyone, but just enough to get the exodus started."

"We had to make room for the
first wave of goblins," the demon admitted. "We couldn't just take
over farms that were already occupied. We had to give a few people a bit of a
push."

Enin thought of what Sy Fenden had
told him of a farmer who had left his land because his crops died, but they had
not died normally. It was all becoming clear.

"You and your brother
traveled through the underground tunnels the dwarves dug across the
valleys," the wizard accused. "The dwarf tunneling made the
underground rumbling that caused the first taste of fear and you built on it.
You withered their crops and left a pall of disease in the air."

"It was my offering to the
dwarves, my way of being kept in as part of the plan. I was able to open
portals over time to bring in more and more goblins. I even cast a spell of
sickness on the dwarf king and queen. I gave the dwarf leader exactly what he
wanted."

"He's not their leader,"
Ryson corrected, "He's just a rebel who's pretending to be in
charge."

"Whatever."

Holli pointed out the rest as she
finally saw the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

"And you offered the services
of the inferns to keep the goblins under control in Ashlan."

The draevol found no reason to
deny the charge. It admitted to even more.

"Absolutely, I also ordered
them to keep watch over the edges of the valleys to ensure the humans left in
the right direction. The dwarf was very concerned about the mighty wizard of
Connel, wanted to keep him occupied with other problems." The draevol
looked cautiously over at Enin, hoping to gauge the wizard's animosity, but
willing to admit certain truths. "I also hoped to keep you distracted. I
believed the goblin scourge would take more of your time and energy, but they
have proven to be a disappointment."

It wasn't Holli who asked the
obvious question, but Enin.

"And what did you hope to
gain by all of this? Even if the goblins required more of my attention, I still
would have eventually defeated them. I never would have let you remain in
control of the valleys."

"Your view of control is
vastly different than mine. I needed time and opportunity. That's how plagues
take hold. I was hoping to spread disease across the land and gain strength
from the decay. I might have even been able to challenge you directly, given
enough time."

"Time is up for you
now," Holli proclaimed.

"That may be true... then
again, perhaps not. Time is always important. That is why I have been so
willing to discuss these matters with you. I wanted additional time."

"What do you mean?" Enin
demanded.

"I told you of many of my
deals. I also had one with my brother. What you are probably not aware of is a
new deal I made with him before you entered. We were going to split the lands
and the power that came from it once our plagues spread. We would not fight, as
we are sometimes prone to do."

"All of your bargains are
over," Holli growled.

"Not quite, elf. My brother
is aware of the goblins removal, but he cannot conceive of how it happened. His
magic was in Huntston, not here. I told him a little white lie. I explained the
magic in Ashlan was distorted by a chaotic sorceress... a fluke spell that got
out of hand and did more than she could imagine. Not altogether false. My
brother could probably sense the upheaval in the magic. Like I said, a little
white lie."

"So you lied to your brother.
That does not change anything."

"In my lie, I altered our
bargain. You see, he never wanted to wait for the goblins. He didn't think we
needed to waste time with
 
mayhem caused
by lesser beings. We were always able to cause enough on our own. Still, he
agreed to wait in order to take advantage of the dwarf plan. Before you arrived,
I told him I no longer held him to that. I advised him to absorb the magic that
flowed into Huntston. You know how much that is. Once he gathers it all, I told
him to let loose his plagues. He was happy to do it. Of course he doesn't know
about you."

The demon paused just long enough
to let the situation sink in entirely. He then spelled it out.

"You could destroy me now. I
have to accept that, but I will fight you if I have to. I believe I will
survive long enough to allow my brother sufficient time to let loose his
plague. Once he does, will you have the time and power to stop it? Perhaps
not... not if you waste both on fighting me. Or, you could simply leave me and
let me flee. I will do nothing to delay you. I will let you deal with my
brother as you see fit. I understand it's a difficult choice, but I have to be
concerned with saving myself."

The draevol did not smile, but he
allowed his essence to grow brighter to accentuate the confidence he placed
within his plan.

"We do not have to make a
choice," Holli announced with pure determination. "Enin, go to
Huntston and stop the other draevol."

"But..."

"No, do not argue with me.
There is no time. We can deal with the demon. You have to stop the plague and
you are the only one with the power to transport to Huntston and still defeat
the draevol."

Enin realized that any delay could
be catastrophic. He did not wish to leave, but the elf guard's strategy was
sound. He
was
the best suited for
stopping the twin. His control over magic was so great, that he created a
simple portal that would allow him to step out of the cellar where they stood
and directly to Huntston. The rift dissolved as he disappeared.

"You dispatched the most
powerful among you," the fiend noted. "You must be very confident in
your abilities, or perhaps you are not too concerned with mine. Aren't you
worried you might have made a mistake?"