Return of the Sorceress (6 page)

The bone-griffin stopped flapping its artificial wings and began gliding downward toward the top of the tower. As they drew closer, Nearra could see two figures awaiting her arrival. One was short and squat, his body wrapped in a gray cloak, his head and face hidden within the folds of a large hood. It was Oddvar, the dark dwarf who served Maddoc. And standing next to the Theiwar was the wizard himself, wearing the black robes of a mage dedicated to evil. It had been almost a year since Nearra had last seen Maddoc, but the wizard had changed a great deal in that time. He was thinner, his face drawn and haggard. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his beard, formerly a mixture of salt and pepper, now held far more white than black.

When Nearra was five feet above the stone surface the creature dropped her. She tried to land on her feet, but she slipped and fell onto her side.

One corner of Maddoc’s mouth lifted in a cruel half-smile, but the wizard said, “Help our guest up, Oddvar.”

The Theiwar took a step toward Nearra, but she held up a hand to stop him.

“Don’t touch me.”

Oddvar hesitated, and though it was difficult to make out the dwarf’s features in the shadows of his hood, Nearra thought she detected a hint of fear in his large owl-like eyes.

He’s afraid of me, Nearra thought with wonder. No, not me, she realized. Asvoria. Nearra had to keep from smiling. It seemed
she had an unexpected advantage, if only she could figure out a way to use it. She rose to her feet, grimacing at the pain in her hip from where she had fallen.

Maddoc looked up at the bone-griffin who still hovered over them.

“I have no further need of you at this time. Go.”

The bone-griffin squawked an acknowledgment and flew down to the courtyard, where it would presumably await its master’s summons.

Nearra touched her shoulders. Though they hurt, her fingers didn’t come away bloody, and she had no difficulty moving her arms. It seemed the creature hadn’t seriously injured her.

Maddoc’s eyes narrowed as he watched her self-examination.

“I see you’ve become something of a seasoned adventurer since last we spoke face-to-face,” the wizard said. His voice was weak and breathy, as if it took great effort for him to speak. “Assuming, of course, that I am addressing Nearra.”

“Who else would you be addressing?” she said.

Maddoc smiled thinly. “Who else indeed? Well, now that you’re here, would you like a tour? Since this was once your home—or rather, Asvoria’s—you might be interested to see what I’ve done with the place.”

“Stop pretending that I’m your guest, Maddoc! We both know you brought me here by force!”

Maddoc smiled. “Perhaps I merely have an eccentric method of inviting people to my home.”

“Davyn’s told me everything. I know that you implanted the spirit of Asvoria within my body in hope of resurrecting and eventually controlling her. I also know that you suppressed my memories so that it would be harder for me to resist being dominated by Asvoria.”

“A mistaken assumption on my part, I’ll admit,” Maddoc said.
“Even without your memories, you’ve proven to be strong and resourceful.”

“Don’t bother trying to flatter me, Maddoc. Ever since I awoke on the forest path without my memory, you’ve made my life a misery, and the lives of my friends, too! You’ve continuously orchestrated dangerous situations and steered me toward them.” Nearra glared at Oddvar. “With the help of your servants, of course.”

The Thiewar bristled when she said the word
servants
, but otherwise didn’t react.

Nearra continued. “Davyn says it’s because Asvoria’s spirit didn’t emerge the way you expected, and you’ve arranged various threats to try to force her to defend herself and take over my body.”

“True,” Maddoc admitted. “And while those efforts met with a certain amount of success, Asvoria always failed to emerge completely.” He paused. “At least, she hasn’t emerged before today.”

Nearra didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“Not long ago, I detected a burst of mystic energy from Ravenscar. The burst was so strong, it could only have been caused by Asvoria. And the sorceress could only wield that much power through you if she had finally emerged.”

Nearra supposed it was possible. Her memory of what had happened once she fell into the Pit
was
somewhat fuzzy. Nearra had no love for the sorceress who shared her body, and she wanted nothing more than to be free of her. But she couldn’t allow Maddoc to gain control of Asvoria either. As dangerous as Maddoc was now, he would be infinitely more so if he possessed Asvoria’s knowledge of ancient magic.

“When I placed Asvoria’s spirit into your body, I also cast a spell on the both of you: when Asvoria fully emerged, your body would
become completely paralyzed so that the sorceress could not work any magic, allowing me to gain absolute control over her.”

“But I’m not paralyzed.” Nearra held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. “See?”

“That proves nothing. It’s possible that Asvoria has found a way to counter my paralysis spell in the months since I implanted her spirit within your body. I always knew there was a chance she might undo the enchantment. She is, after all, a powerful and cunning sorceress. I was reluctant to bring you here before now because I was loathe to risk harming you. If you were to perish, Asvoria’s spirit would be released from your body and lost to me forever. However, after all this time, my patience has reached its end, and I’m willing to take that risk.”

Nearra felt frost gather along her spine. Was there nothing she could do to fight him?

There was one thing, if she had the courage.

Though she knew there was no way Davyn would ever know her final thought, she nevertheless addressed it to him.

I’m sorry, Davyn. There was no other way.

She whirled and ran toward the edge of the tower. Nearra didn’t want to die, but if that’s what it took to stop Maddoc, it was a price she was willing to pay.

“Stop!” Oddvar shouted and ran after her. But her legs were longer than the dwarf’s and she had a head start. Maddoc rapidly chanted alien syllables of power. Her limbs suddenly felt heavy, and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open.

She was almost to the battlements. All she had to do was get there and … climb … up onto them … and …

She stood upon the edge of a crenelation, swaying back and forth, wanting nothing more than to lie down, curl up on the stone, and sleep. But then a strong breeze wafted over her face. Cool and bracing, it roused her once more to alertness. She leaped
out into space and spread her arms wide as she plummeted toward the stone courtyard below.

Ayanti led Davyn and the others to the edge of Ravenscar, where Bolthor’s animals were kept. The main building was a barn-like structure with a wrought-iron gate in place of a wooden door and bars instead of shutters over the windows. Davyn hadn’t been here for some time, but the rank smell of sour animal sweat mixed with manure was something he remembered quite well, though he wished he didn’t. It was the stink of animals separated from nature, forced to live in squalor and boredom, their only excitement those few moments when they were released to fight in the Pit.

When Davyn had been younger, he’d found the smell disturbing. Now, it nauseated him. He knew what Maddoc would say about that if he were here.

Just shows you’ve grown soft, boy, feeling sympathy for a bunch of dumb animals.

Not soft, Davyn thought with a touch of pride and, surprisingly, sadness. Grown up.

Ayanti clopped up to the gate, removed a key from her vest, and unlocked the door.

“We should be safe enough in here, at least for a short time,” the centaur said.

Catriona didn’t look convinced. “You want us to go in there? With the animals? Are there any more creatures like that boar-thing inside?”

“I sure hope so!” Sindri said.

“The beasts are all locked in iron cages,” Ayanti assured them. “Not even the most unnatural among them is strong enough to break through the bars.”

“It’s not the creatures I’m worried about,” Elidor said, wrinkling his nose. “I fear the stench alone may kill me.”

Davyn smiled. Sometimes it was a drawback to possess an elf’s heightened senses.

“I don’t care about that,” Sindri said. “I just want to see the animals!” And without waiting for his friends to reply, the kender scampered inside.

Elidor sighed and followed, as did Catriona, though she kept her hands near her dragon claws, ready to draw them should trouble arise. Davyn went next, and then Ayanti walked in and closed and locked the gate behind them.

It was dim inside the barn and the dirt floor was covered with soiled straw. A narrow corridor ran down the middle of the building with animal cages in rows on either side. Most of the cages contained normal animals—dogs, wolves, bear, mountain cats—but a few held bizarre conglomerations of creatures: insect, lizard, amphibian, bird, mammal, and other unidentifiable monstrosities. One cage, however, was empty. Davyn knew this was where the lizard-boar had been kept.

The animals looked up eagerly as they entered, but Ayanti spoke in soft, soothing tones. “Hush, now. I know you’re eager to fight—or better yet, be fed—but neither is going to happen right now, so it’s best you all just settle down.”

The animals did as their keeper suggested, lying back down in their pens and closing their eyes to rest.

As Davyn looked upon the unnatural hybrids created by Maddoc’s fell magic, he thought how the wizard had used his power to transform Davyn’s birth father into the monstrosity known only as the Beast. Not long ago, Davyn had been forced to deal the Beast a death blow. He only discovered it was his father when the man resumed human form as he lay dying. Maddoc had always led Davyn to believe that his experiments were mystical
blends of natural animals, but now the young ranger wondered if the wizard had lied to him about that, as he had lied to Davyn about so many other things. What if these creatures, like his true father, had once been human?

“All right, Davyn,” Ayanti said, “you’ve come home and stirred up quite a bit of trouble. I hope you have a good reason.”

“It’s Nearra,” Davyn said. “Our friend who was taken by the bone-griffin. She’s the reason we came to Ravenscar.”

“She’s been cursed by Maddoc,” Catriona said. “We’ve all vowed to free her from the wizard’s foul enchantment.”

Ayanti looked to Davyn again. “You too?”

He nodded. “I originally helped Maddoc with his plans for Nearra, but I came to realize how truly evil he is. Now I want nothing more than to help Nearra and end Maddoc’s evil once and for all.”

Ayanti’s eyebrow raised once more, even higher this time. “I don’t suppose Nearra herself had anything to do with your decision to turn against your father?”

Davyn felt his face turn red, but he avoided Ayanti’s question and said, “My
adoptive
father. And as far as I’m concerned, Maddoc is no longer even that to me.”

“It seems you’ve returned with quite a tale to tell, Davyn,” Ayanti said. “And since I won’t be welcome in Ravenscar after knocking out Bolthor, I suppose I should hear the whole story.”

“Very well,” Davyn agreed. “It all began when—”

A booming voice from outside interrupted him.

“Davyn! Ayanti! I know you’re in there!”

It was Bolthor.

Ayanti scowled. “I knew I should’ve hit him harder.”

    B
olthor won’t stop until he’s had his vengeance,” Ayanti said. “The only way he can remain chieftain is if everyone else fears and respects him.”

“And that means he has to deal with us first,” Catriona finished.

Ayanti nodded. “And permanently.” Her gaze darted back and forth nervously.

Elidor sniffed the air. “What’s that smell?”

Davyn frowned. “This is hardly the time for you to complain some more about the odor in here.”

“Not
that
smell!” Elidor replied. “It’s—” His eyes widened. “It’s smoke!”

Now Davyn thought he could smell it, too. Since Bolthor didn’t have enough men to come in and get them, he was going to try burning them out. Or, if they didn’t leave the enclosure, burn them to death. Either way, Bolthor won.