The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (34 page)

The Derkaz wizard smiled with a
pleased look on his saeran face, which did not share any of the
shriveled or dry looks of the necromages. “Ah, you are awake,
wizard.”

“
I’m going to kill you,” I
said with a cold fire in my heart.

He smiled, “I see you are angry, show
some respect, you lost, I won.”

“
You have never seen me
really angry,” I said. “Now, let the girl go or I will kill you
slowly.”

He scratched at his chin thoughtfully.
“Which little girl are we talking about?”

“
Ziny, you bastard, she’s
right there!”

He nodded a few times, “Ah, yes, the
little sorceress. Well, the truth is I thought little of such a
young and low Tier sorceress. I hadn’t even sent her to my wife for
conversion yet.”

“
I will kill you,” I noted
again. I looked over at Ziny, who was trying to keep up a brave
front. I spoke softly to her, “It will be all right, I’ll get us
out of this.”

Medrod laughed at me, “No, you will
never escape, and soon you won’t want to, once you serve me as a
necrosoul. I had thought we knew every Sivaeral Third still
supporting the antiquated system of the Ring of Ten, but you are a
welcome surprise!”

I raised an eyebrow at him and then
said, “You are very impressed with yourself, aren’t
you?”

He smiled, “I have reason to be. I
will be the first Second to replace their father as ruler of a
World, and who knows? Perhaps I will be the ruler of all ten
Worlds, eventually.”

I sneered at him, “Personally, I think
you’re whipped, your wife wears the pants now, buddy. I hear your
father kicked your ass, and now you are just some kind of husk or
ghost. You wouldn’t even be talking to me if your wife hadn’t
pulled some séance or something. Face the facts, Jack, she is the
one leading the charge of the dark brigade.”

He laughed, and gestured at the three
other beings watching me, “I am not a necromage, like these three,
nor a ghost, shade or phantom, this is a LIVING body! You, however,
will be killed and brought back as a necromage to serve
us!”

“
How about I just bury you
in some dark hole, forever,” was my reply.

He smiled at me and ignored my sally,
and then said, “When my spies reported a Sivaeral wizard at that
Inn, I had no idea you were a Third! But four mages, of any Tier,
was too good a prize to ignore. I had my forces searching
downstream, so it was easy to sense the arcane battle going on at
that tower. And though we seem to have missed you there, we were
able to set our trap downstream, which ‘netted’ us your precious
‘Ziny’.”

I just glowered at the
jerk.

“
Her capture has made you
angry, I see,” he said with an evil smile.

I tilted my head at him and said,
“Listen, Dead Rod, as I mentioned, you haven’t seen me angry, but
if you hurt that little girl, you will.”

“
You are a Third, and my
prisoner. I do not fear you, or your wrath. The truth is I was
quite vexed with you when you escaped. That fog idea was brilliant.
I’m sure you will make an excellent necromage for our cause. After
you escaped from the river trap, I was thinking of attacking the
capital to take you and any remaining mages, but then you just came
to me! If I knew you would surrender to us I could have saved
myself a lot of trouble!”

I glowered at him, “I only came for
Ziny, let us go and we will depart, hurt her and I will end you, no
matter what part of hell you crawled out of!”

“
Sorry, I am a saeran; we
prefer water Worlds.”

“
Whatever,” I
replied.

“
My wife has become quite
adept at turning mages, so you will serve us as a necromage. After
I’m finished interrogating you, I will send you to my wife to be
killed and resurrected in your new form. However, I have no need of
this sorceress, she knows nothing of interest.”

“
Don’t you dare touch her!”
I said, straining at my bonds.

But one of the necromages went and
unbound her from the post, though her little hands were still bound
behind her back.

“
Nicholas?” she said in a
tiny voice.

“
I will come for you,” I
replied. Then to Medrod, I snarled, “What are you doing with
her!”

“
She will be made one of
ours.”

The necromage took Ziny out of the
room, and I watched her until the door closed.

Medrod walked over to stand a few
paces in front of me, and said, “Before I send you to my wife, I
think we should be properly introduced, as you seem to already
know, I am Medrod, Second of House Sivaeral, soon to be ruler of
Abal, and you are?”

“
Nicholas Sivaeral, Third,
and future dispatcher of the pretender to the throne, one Med,
soon-to-be-dead, Rod.”

Medrod chuckled. “That will be quite
impossible, I think. I have taken Caliburn from you, and you will
soon be turned to a necromage; then you will serve my
needs.”

“
Not in this or any other
lifetime!”

He just smiled and then said, “I have
been thinking about the mystery of your lineage, and I believe I
know who you are. There was a rumor about one of my sisters having
a child a long time ago, whom she named, Nicholas. The child was
stolen, and presumed dead, but he would have been a Sivaeral Third.
She never admitted who the father was, but it was obvious enough
why he was one of our brothers. She was wise to try to hide you on
Earth, for your kind is always hunted by the Houses.”

“
My kind?” I
asked.

“
Yes, you are a bastard son
of two Sivaeral Seconds. I don’t know which of my brothers is, or
was, your father. However, your mother, The White Enchantress, has
been a thorn in our side. Perhaps you will be instrumental in her
downfall once you have joined us.”

I turned my head, “Never heard of
her.”

He smiled, and it was a wicked grin,
“Years ago your mother masked her identity, going only by her title
and barricading herself in her Ivory Castle. I think I finally know
why she goes by the title, The White Enchantress; she has been
attempting to keep your existence hidden from us. She has to be one
of three of my supposedly dead sisters: Tenadeen, Mithrin or Belea.
All the others are either accounted for, or under my control. I
will find out which one she is soon enough when we take The White
Enchantress. Our forces have been stymied by her defenses at the
Ivory Castle; however, once we use you as bait perhaps we can lure
The White Enchantress out and finally add her to our
army.”

“
Bastard or not, I will put
you in your grave, again, permanently!”

He just smiled; my threats did seem
kind of empty while I was tied to a post. Then he said, “You should
know I am not prejudiced, I feel a Bastard will make an equally
fine necromage. As one of our minions, you will be treated just
like all the rest. You will finally taste true equality as one of
my wife’s undead mages!”

“
Just like you, hey?” I
said. “She seems to have made you one of her lackeys
now.”

“
My soul was indeed brought
back from the Ether by my wife, but instead of a dead body, my wife
returned my soul to a living body, one from another mage! Of
course, they must be of a lesser Tier, and their mind is destroyed,
but sacrifices are necessary! They should be honored to be the
vessel of a ruler!”

“
Wow, would you like a
little wine to go with your serving of megalomaniac?” I
noted.

He frowned at me, “You are very rude
for a person tied to a post.”

“
Oh, I’m just warming up,
Frankenfurter. Tell me, since a Second can’t alter their body, or
change the body of another mage, how have you come to look like
your old and terribly ugly self?”

My insults seemed to be slowly getting
to him, and Medrod lost some of his smug demeanor. His answer was
both defensive and angry, “Once in this vessel, my Self Image took
control, and since I am the more powerful mage present, my Self
Image shaped the reality of the form.”

“
Ah, I see, you’ve added
body theft and mind rape to child abuse; you’re quite the
humanitarian, dick weed. I can’t wait to stick a sharp instrument
up your ass.”

He smiled wickedly, “Even if you
killed this body you would only slay the original mage. My soul
would return to the Ether, and my wife would just bring my soul
back. She will then place it in another mage’s body. In fact, I
could have her bring me back and put into your body since you are
still alive.”

“
Try it, I’ll rip your soul
a new one,” I promised. “So, if I kill you then your wife will
bring you back, so I guess I’ll just have to kill your wife
too.”

That made him glower at me. “You will
be our slave forever, I will have you kill many children, in fact,
I will make you kill your precious Ziny, and you will do it with
glee because I command it!”

His reminder of Ziny pushed me over
the edge, and I vowed if I got out of this situation I was going to
have Toji and the others teach me how to use these mage powers.
I’ve had enough of these pompous jerks. But, first things first, I
needed to escape from Medrod so I decided to play for time, and
said, “What are you going to do when daddy comes a knocking? Your
Archimage seems to have snuffed you last time, I’m sure he’ll do
the same this time.”

Medrod sneered, “My father, the Wizard
of Abal. Everyone is so impressed with the ten Firsts like they are
untouchable! They call them Archimages, but they are nothing
special. I, Medrod Sivaeral, have wrested this world from the rule
of my father!”

I snorted, “Sure you have.”

He scowled at me and said, “I bound my
father in a special prison, where he will rot, forever, on Mystical
Island.”

Well, that was news. Now I had another
reason to go to Mystical Island, the man who might restore my
memory was there, and I had to report what I’d stolen from The
Dragon.

Then I considered Medrod: as an evil
mage, Medrod was no doubt powerful, but as an inquisitor of
prisoners, he was an idiot. So far he’d learned my name while I had
learned I was a bastard, which meant my mother and father were
Sivaeral Seconds. I’d also learned the Sivaeral Archimage was also
a captive, held on Mystical Island. He had also told me how Morgain
had resurrected Medrod into another mage’s body. Most
interestingly, at least to me, I’d learned my mother was a person
called The White Enchantress, and she was still out there, opposing
return-from-the-dead Med and his Dokkalfar bitch. This goon was a
veritable fountain of information, and I’d gotten it all while tied
to a post! Now all I had to do was escape from said post, and kill
the bastard.

“
Who are your companions,
and what Houses and Tiers are they?” he demanded, actually
attempting to interrogate me at last.

“
Manny, Moe, and Jack,” I
replied pertly.

Medrod crossed his arms and said
softly, “May I ask you, have you ever been tortured by a more
powerful mage? I don’t think you understand what that means. If you
tell me the truth now you can save yourself a lot of
pain.”

I lowered my head as if giving in, and
then said, “Fine then, there are three of them, the Archimage of
House Friare, a Second of House Bakemono, and a Second of House
Tarvos. They are going to kick your stolen ass, Bub.”

He chuckled, and then picked up a
spoon from the table.

“
What, are you going to
spoon me to death now?” I asked sarcastically. “I told you what you
wanted to know.”

But then the spoon changed shape into
a long silver spike, which looked decidedly more lethal.

“
You told me what you
wanted me to believe, but you are lying, of course,” he said, and
then the tip of the spike glowed red with heat.

I snorted, “No, I’m telling the
complete truth, which should teach you not to mess with Santa
Claus! Now let me loose or I will put you on the naughty list this
year!” My words were flippant, but I was eyeing his hot spike with
some concern as he got closer.

Then he slowly jabbed the spike into
the left side of my chest and burned his way through my flesh and
into my lung.

I screamed something unintelligible;
hey, it was damned painful!

He pulled it out, but little blood
flowed, the hot metal had cauterized the sides of the wound. It
still burned even after it was removed, and I was having trouble
breathing.

He smirked, and said, “Not so funny
now, are you, Third? As a Third you cannot stop me from harming you
directly. Your power is weak compared to mine.”

“
Yeah, but at least my dad
doesn’t want to kill me; it takes a pretty nasty kid to get a
parent to do that,” I gasped.

He shoved the hot spike slowly into
the top of my right thigh.

I screamed again, though this scream
included some coughed up blood from my punctured lung.

“
You know, I’ve decided to
kill you very slowly,” I noted, but then I started to sag in my
ropes, blacking out from the pain.