Dragon Ultimate (42 page)

Ilarin continued to sit and smile and cock her head while her violet, mysterious eyes drew his in. Occasionally she said something sweet and slightly suggestive. But Relkin was no longer enticed. His lust had cooled, as if a bubble had burst. He could feel the sweat congealing on his brow and under his arms.

He was immune to her charms. Eilsa's face had been enough.

Suddenly he was tired, very tired. Drowsiness swept his thoughts away. It was hard to think properly. The dragon was already snoring.

Relkin fell asleep.

The Intruder towered into the sky, marching into the teeth of a hellish storm one massive stride at a time. Clouds of purple and black had massed above, and near-continuous lightning flashed and flickered, crowning the silver skull in brilliance.

On the hills of Varon, beyond the chasm of Huth, the Intruder came upon a straggler, the pyramid of poor Harisia, poetess of the spirits and the wraiths. Her pyramid crawled slowly through the crystalline hills, which overtopped the Intruder by a bare hundred feet. The pyramid came barely a third as high, its mass creeping forward under Harisia's magical impulse.

Deep in meditation when the alert was first sounded, she had received the news of the Intruder late. When she finally awoke to the peril there was only the chasm of Huth to protect her. She had delayed departure, still, convinced that the chasm was too wide for even this colossal Intruder to cross.

The others had raised the storm to help her, but the Intruder plowed right through the clouds and hot winds. The storm could barely slow it down.

Harisia saw the Intruder as it stepped around the nearest of the crystal hills. She spoke directly to the consciousness of he who controlled the monster.

" Waakzaam, you trespass where you promised never to come. You have broken your oath."

"Bah, be silent about oaths. You broke yours to me long ago."

"Waakzaam was once a name that shone with glory. Now you have become a low creature obsessed only with your own evil fantasies."

"You spit out your insults and your lies even now!"

The giant Intruder pulled the great hammer off its shoulder and hefted it in both hands. Harisia would not keep quiet, however.

"I remember Puna, Waakzaam. I remember her most of all. Puna was my friend. You loved Puna because she was the purest of all and because her beauty was like a lantern to all the worlds.

You wanted her to be yours, to be owned by you. She understood that, even then, when Gelderen was fair still, and the black cloud of your envy had not yet fallen across it.

"Puna knew of the coldness in your heart. She understood your secret weakness, and you hated her for that. You succumbed to that weakness, and you killed her with your own great hands. You walked brazenly through Gelderen, and no one knew that you had the blood of Puna on your hands."

"You lie, you filthy whore!" The Intruder bore down and swung the hammer directly into the leading face of Harisia's pyramid.

There was a flash of light; a roaring blast of sound wobbled away through the tumult of the hot air. Dark vapor exploded from the site of the strike. As it cleared, there would be seen great cracks across the carapace and a crater in the center.

Harisia's pyramid rocked back and settled to the surface, embedding in a patch of hot basaltic rock. Her scream of anguish echoed through the thoughts of all her kin.

They screamed with her.

The Intruder swung the great hammer high. Lightning struck it twice at its apex and down it came, swinging with full force into the side of the pyramid. Another flash of light burst forth, even brighter than before, and another boom rippled away through the dense gas. This time, however, Harisia's agonies brought forth no cry, but rather more accusations.

"But when Puna was missed, Los sent Lorn, the Hound of Heaven, to seek her. He found her body and brought it to Los."

"Los the liar! Los the defamer! I would crush him if he dared to manifest himself. Instead he torments me with you and your underlings, the children of the worms."

The hammer rose high and smashed down, breaking away the tip of the pyramid and tearing open the side. Blue fire sparkled in the damaged area, while dust flew away in the superheated air.

"You warred against us, rather than admit your guilt. You chose the path to violence, abandoning your duty. You fell then, and have fallen much farther since."

"I will silence you soon, you stinking liar."

The hammer fell again and again, but Harisia never ceased to praise the lovely Puna and damn Waakzaam for her murder long ago.

Waakzaam's Intruder doubled and swung and brought the hammer down. Shards of the pyramid flew away in explosions of light and dust. Stabbing beams of energy broke out of the ruined interior as its mechanisms were smashed.

Eventually the hammer cut through the final layer of the pyramid's integument and broached the catafalque. In an instant Harisia died, smothered under the heavy, scalding air.

Her death did not stop the destruction. Spewing poisonous curses, Waakzaam worked his golemoid in a passion. The Intruder continued to flail away at the shattered pyramid until it was virtually flattened.

He stopped, raised the hammer above his head in both hands, and roared out his sentence of doom.

"Beware, oathbreakers, for I am come to slay ye!"

Relkin awoke. He was lying on a cot in a warm room with sunlight streaming in the window. He felt fresh and well rested. He remembered very little of the previous evening. All he could recall of the final part of it was that a stunningly attractive girl had brought them some beer.

Bazil had woken up recently, too. He was outside in the courtyard, stretching his legs and working his shoulders and tail.

Asked what he remembered, he shrugged.

"This dragon have strange dream. This dragon was young again. Sitting up on the hills above the village with old Macumber. He say, 'You will have a long career, Bazil, if you keep the sword sharp.' "

"Well, I can testify to that, you've always taken good care of the blade."

"In dream, old Macumber say that dragonboy I have is a good one and that I should keep him alive."

The temple bell rang, a single note, deep and cool, echoing somewhere in the vastness of the temple.

"You know, something tells me that means breakfast."

"Good idea. We think alike."

They left the stables and investigated the temple. The smell of porridge and hot butter soon caught their interest, and they entered the great refectory. The room was large enough for the dragon to stand upright quite comfortably, and the long tables were set far enough apart for him to sit down between them.

Smiling men and women in white uniforms were soon wheeling out a huge bowl of porridge laced with butter and salt for the dragon. Wide flat loaves of fresh-baked bread were stacked on the table, and Bazil ate them in pairs, as a man might eat biscuits.

Relkin had porridge and bread smeared with a thick plum jam. Hot tea was available, but no kalut.

"No kalut, no akh for the porridge," groused Bazil.

"It could have been worse. I mean there's plenty of it, right?"

"Right."

They ate for a considerable time, for when Bazil emptied the huge bowl, the cooks immediately offered to refill it. Lessis and Mirk soon joined them. Lessis had woken several hours earlier and spent much of that time since closeted with Elory and Elory's consorts.

"How did you sleep?" asked Lessis.

"Pretty well, I think," said Relkin. "That was a heady brew we were drinking last night. I think I just about passed out, and I only had a cup or two. Funny thing is I don't feel any aftereffects today."

Lessis smiled, then impulsively reached across the table to squeeze Relkin's hand. She did the same with Bazil's enormous finger.

"I have to say you two are the most remarkable pair of fellows I have ever had the pleasure to work with."

Relkin felt himself blush at such praise. He hesitated, then he squeezed the ancient witch's hand in return. It seemed as if she was saying good-bye. This made Relkin a little nervous.

"You are going to journey to the Higher Realms, Relkin. Do not concern yourself with the how of this. You will first enter the higher planes. There you will transform and be equipped to make the transition to your eventual destination, the world of the Sinni."

"We have seen that world. You say we will transform?"

She nodded gravely.

"So we will be able to survive in that place that we saw in the vision?"

"Yes, of course."

"Oh, well then, it'll be easy, right?"

Lessis shared in his soft laugh.
Alas no, dear child, alas
…

"They come…"

Mirk's warning turned their heads. The twelve beings were filing into the refectory. They had put aside their white robes and now wore radiant armor from head to toe. They carried long spears and heavy swords. Their helmets bore plumes of red and black, and they reminded Relkin of much taller versions of Althis and Sternwal, the guardians of the forest of Valur who had once rescued him from the dwarves.

So. Now they were to be tested, and if they failed the tests, the children of Erris were prepared to slay them.

Bazil had Ecator to hand, but there were a dozen of these tall giant forms, and they would be sure to spear him before he could kill them.

A figure in golden armor stood forth. It clanked to a halt beside where they sat at the table. A visor was raised, and behind it was Elory.

"Good morning. When you have finished your breakfast and prepared yourselves, you are free to enter the Maze of Gold."

"But I thought we had to pass a test?" said Relkin.

"You have already been tested. No taint was discovered either on you or on the great dragon. You are cleared to pass into the Maze of Gold."

"Already tested?"

"Yes. You are cleared to enter the maze."

It must have been the girl, what was her name? Ilaren? She must have been the test.

"What can we expect inside?" he asked after a moment.

"Who can say, precisely?" Elory seemed to smile for a moment. "There is no center to the maze, nor any particular spot that is more active than others. You will explore the maze and then you will exit from a similar maze far, far, from here. There is no sensation involved."

"But how will we know we have gone to the right place?"

"You will be informed, never fear. The maze will know."

"The maze will know?"

But Elory had turned away. The guardians of the gate were heading back through the doors.

Now the time remaining to them seemed vanishingly brief. They washed down under a hose, and Relkin checked the dragon's hide for cuts or ticks or anything he might have missed. All too soon the time came.

At the entrance to the maze they said their farewells to Lessis and Mirk. Lessis, herself, seemed quite affected. Again, she took a hand and a talon and bade them good-bye. Relkin could have sworn that Lessis was going to shed a few tears once they were safely out of sight. He felt a little choked up himself.

Inside the temple they entered a huge room dominated by a wall of what appeared to be solid gold. The wall was twelve feet high and stretched right across the room. There was one entrance, only just wide enough for a wyvern dragon to squeeze through. Inside the space between the walls was wider, but the ceiling, a black shining surface, was uncomfortably low. Bazil was forced to move down on all fours. It would be impossible to wield sword in this confined space.

The maze extended before them, identical golden walls on either side, occasional side alleys opening up, more occasional T-junctions.

Three openings confronted them. For some reason Relkin was sure that the right turn was the correct one.

"How do you know that?" said the dragon.

"I don't know how I know, but I know. We're supposed to go this way."

Relkin didn't know where it was coming from, a tiny voice whispering guidance in his ear.

Each turn brought them to another identical view, walls of shining gold running off into seeming infinity. Sudden openings, blank spaces between the gold, and the black floor and ceiling. The dragon squeezed through the openings, went four-legged down the golden corridors.

They traveled this way for perhaps an hour, and Relkin was past astonishment at the scale of the maze. How they had all this tucked away inside the Temple of Gold was a mystery. It seemed the thing had to be enormous, spread over miles of space.

And then, quite abruptly, they emerged onto a very different scene.

One doorway opened into a passage that was rather more brightly lit than the others. They stepped forward and emerged onto a much wider space, with a silver floor and a vast vaulted ceiling above. Brilliant light came in from the sides.

Behind them the golden wall stretched across the space. They moved out onto the silver surface. It was cool beneath their feet, and yet the air was very warm.

"Where is this?" said Bazil, standing up and stretching after the confines of the maze.

"I don't know. But we're supposed to go out there." Relkin pointed to an opening on the far side of the great enclosure. "We have to find something called the Orb."