The Archmage Unbound (48 page)

“What are those for?” asked Walter.

“Once we get down there we’ll likely be
distracted facing whatever it is in that cavern. You mentioned that you think
it’s calling for help. If any shiggreth come down the tunnel behind us the
lights will start going out, giving us some warning,” I replied.

“If you’re still fighting that thing
there isn’t much you’ll be able to do about them,” he observed.

I opened my pouch and pulled out three
of my deadly iron spheres and handed them to Walter. “Use any spell to damage
them, or just crush them with something and they’ll explode. Hopefully you can
bring down the tunnel ceiling without collapsing the entire cavern on us.”

He held them in his hand as if they
might catch fire at any moment. “You want me to use these after we get
inside?”

I shook my head, “No, only if the lights
start going out. No sense in risking a cave-in unless we have a reason.”

“Why not just toss them in and collapse
the ceiling on whatever is in that cavern?” pointed out Harold.

“Three reasons,” I replied, “One, I
don’t think that would kill whatever this is. I strongly suspect it could
escape one way or another. Two, I need to know what it is. Leaving now just
leaves us with more questions and I’m already drowning in things I don’t
know.” I slowed down since we had reached the entrance to the final cavern,
twenty feet or so and we would be inside.

“What’s the third reason?” Harold asked.

I paused and glanced in Walter’s
direction, “This should be good. You can watch from here, just make sure they
don’t follow us in there if the other shiggreth come running.” I looked back
at Harold, “I want you to lead the way inside. There are two rather large four
legged things in there… try to keep them off of me until I’m done with the
little one.”

“What’s the third reason?!” Harold
repeated stubbornly.

I strengthened my shield and lowered my
staff in front of me like a spear. “I don’t like being afraid of things!” I
shouted at him, “Now move your ass!”

Harold had already put his visor down
but I heard him laugh inside his helm as he leapt forward. Fear and anxiety
had given his voice an edge of hysteria but he didn’t give in to it. “Let’s
make them afraid of us then!” he shouted back.

Harold charged into the cavern as though
he was going to meet an army and I followed closely behind him. As I entered I
pointed my staff at the ceiling fifty feet above and created a burning orb
there to light the room. I could only hope it was high enough that the
shiggreth wouldn’t be able to quench its light.

Light bloomed in the darkness and the
room was filled with brilliant radiance as my spell took hold. Sitting on a
carved stone throne at one end of the chamber was what appeared to be a small
boy. If he had been alive I would have judged his age at around six or seven
based on his size and appearance. Next to him on either side were two enormous
bears, and they too were undead. That was a bit of a shock to me since I had
never considered that the shiggreth might also be able to convert animals.

Harold’s charge came to a faltering halt
as we reached the middle of the room and our eyes took in the scene. None of
the enemy had moved yet and I was considering my next move when it spoke,
“Hello Mordecai.”

A shock ran through me as I realized I
recognized the creature’s face. It was Timothy, the little boy that Father
Tonnsdale had murdered back in Lancaster. Penny had been the only one to see
him commit the evil deed and the body had vanished inexplicably… until now.
“Hello Timothy,” I replied with a confidence I didn’t feel. “Or do you have
some better name for me to use?”

“Whatever my name was it has long since vanished
from the time before I slipped into the void, Timothy will do for our
conversation,” it replied. Unlike the many shiggreth I had seen before now,
this one smiled grotesquely as it spoke, making an effort to project a more
human expression. The attempt only made it look more unnerving as there was
something subtly off about the facial muscles.

“Very well, Timothy it is,” I answered.
“How did this happen to you?”

Timothy’s eyes glittered in the light,
eyes that ignored the brilliant light above, eyes that were obviously blind.
“Do you want to know how the child that was called Timothy came to be like
this, or how I, the being that resides in this body now, came to be an undying
creature of the void?”

The distinction was obvious and yet it
hadn’t occurred to me before, and the answer to either question would be of
interest once I considered it. “Both,” I said loudly.

“You are bold to come here demanding
answers Mordecai. What would you offer in exchange for that information?” said
the undead boy.

“I didn’t come to barter. I came to
clean this den of the filth residing in it. It is your choice whether you wish
to delay that reckoning by answering my questions,” I responded.

Timothy laughed… a dry rasping sound
that set my teeth on edge. “You make several erroneous assumptions wizard.
Your first is that you are capable of threatening me. Your second is that I do
not have information more valuable to you than your own life. Your ancestor
was similarly ignorant.”

The implication that this thing had once
spoken to one of my ancestors was unsettling. Even worse I suspected it was
telling the truth, in which case I had to wonder why it was more interested in
talking than adding me to its collection of walking corpses. “I have nothing
to give. What sort of information would you have that might interest me?”

It smiled again in its disturbing way.
“I see you might be civilized. I propose we exchange questions, one for one,
until one of us refuses to answer.”

I gnawed my lip in uncertainty, but eventually
I came to a decision. “Fine, answer my first question and I will exchange
questions and answers with you.”

“Which part of that question?” it asked
me cleverly.

“All of it, in both senses, if you would
show good faith in this game,” I shot back immediately.

Timothy frowned, “You drive a hard
bargain but I will answer, even though that is truly two answers. Timothy, the
human boy became this way when Millicenth drew his spirit out and opened the
way from the void for me to enter. She did this using the man you know as
Father Tonnsdale as her agent, what you would call a ‘channeler’.” It paused
after that, as if unsure how to continue.

The statement that Millicenth, the
goddess of the dawn had been directly involved in the recreation of the shiggreth
was a shock to me as I had previously assumed it to be the work of Mal’goroth,
but I hid my surprise. “And the rest of your answer?” I said prodding it
verbally.

“I used my art to hide my spirit in the
void, to escape the genocide of your treacherous ancestor. I remained trapped
there until Balinthor released us a thousand years or so ago, and then I was
trapped again another thousand years or more until Millicenth called me out
into this body,” it replied carefully.

“For what purpose do you return from
that ‘void’?” I asked.

“That is a separate question. I believe
it is my turn human,” Timothy replied. “Have you ever heard of ‘Illeniel’s
Promise’?”

That was simple enough, “No.” I
followed with the only question that really mattered to me, “Why did you ambush
the kidnappers that were sent for my family?”

Its answer was immediate, “To gain favor
with the king or a lever against you. Have you fully explored the Illeniel
house in Albamarl?”

I answered quickly, “No.” The question
struck me as odd, for it indicated an unhealthy interest in the Illeniels.
Taken with the previous question I couldn’t help but wonder what the shiggreth
wanted. It made choosing my next question even more difficult. “How does
killing my family gain favor with the king?”

Timothy snorted, or tried to; in the end
he only succeeded in seeming even more disturbing. “You ask stupid questions
human. You squander your information. Killing your family does not help us
gain favor with your king, or a lever against you for that matter.”

My blood pressure was rising quickly,
“Then why did you kill them?!” I shouted.

The monster held up one small boyish
hand, “My question mortal, and do not test my patience. Does the phrase
‘Illeniel’s Doom’ mean anything to you?”

I bit down on my anger and forced myself
to think. Fear and rage were clouding my mind and I could see that I was
missing some obvious conclusions. “Yes, Celior warned me that it would destroy
everything. I haven’t a clue yet what it is.” As I finished answering my mind
snapped into motion and I realized I had been a fool. “Where is my wife?”

It smiled wickedly, and for once it got
the expression right. “She arrived at Albamarl yesterday. Where she is now I
have no way of knowing,” the creature paused thoughtfully before continuing,
“It seems you do have a brain after all. I had begun to despair of you ever
thinking clearly. If Illeniel’s Doom was hidden in Albamarl where would you
think to look for it?”

My mind was racing at the revelation
that Penny was still alive.
I don’t know that, he might have been referring
to her body,
I corrected myself mentally. Still the implication was that
she was alive… as a bargaining piece.
A bargain with whom?
“It would
depend upon who last possessed it, otherwise I would have no clue where to
start,” I said, answering its question. “What bargain did you make with King
Edward?” It was a risky question, for it was possible that it had been someone
else, in which case I had wasted a turn. If my guess was correct though, it
had saved me a question or two.

After an interminable pause the thing
spoke, “We offered him your wife and her guardian in exchange for Illeniel’s
Promise, which you have heard called Illeniel’s Doom. Do you think he can
deliver upon his end of the bargain?”

“No,” I replied honestly, “I doubt he
has any idea what or where it may be. Why didn’t you seek to deal with me
directly?”

The thing that Timothy had become
laughed, “Judging by your entry here I doubted we could have a meaningful
discussion. The King needed a lever to control you and with it he claimed he
could force you to deliver that which we seek.” It stared at me for a long
minute, “Why did you come here?”

“To destroy you,” I said plainly. “Why
do you want ‘Illeniel’s Promise’?”

“To restore my race,” it replied
simply. “Is there anything we can offer you if you find it?”

A chill raced up my spine before being
replaced with a surge of adrenalin. Our conversation was nearly at an end and
I could feel the creature’s anticipation radiating toward me, an almost
palpable hunger. I bared my teeth, “I’d rather be damned than deal with you,
nor will you walk free from this place. The shiggreth are not a race, you are
a creation, and one that must be undone.”

It frowned. “You are wrong mortal. We
created ourselves in a last act of desperation. We are the spirits of the
She’har.” As it spoke it brought up its hand and began weaving signs I could
not recognize though I saw the arcane symbols forming in the air.

I was prepared already and pointing my
staff at it I spoke,
“Pyrren thylen!”
and a focused line of fire and
power struck the abomination before me. It was a spell I had used before, and
in combination with my staff it had sliced easily through channelers shields in
the past yet this time it scattered and fizzled as it struck the glowing
symbols that hung in the air between us. Timothy began laughing as my face
registered shock and dismay.

The undead monstrosities beside him had
not remained idle; they had leapt forward only to be met by Harold’s swords.
He ducked a massive sweeping paw from one and removed its foreleg at the
shoulder. Spinning back he turned to meet the other but it had moved with
unexpected speed and it caught him solidly. This time he was flung like a
ragdoll and sent hurtling into the far wall. He struck with a resounding
clamor and I wondered if he could recover. At the very least he had to be
reeling inside his armor.

I had no time to think however, for the
child-like creature I faced was already weaving more signs. The symbols
writhed in the air as if they were made of living blue fire. Twisting they
stretched toward me rapidly, spreading and seeking to enfold my shield like a
net. It stopped them for a moment before I felt them burning inward, eating at
the power that I had formed my shield with and causing it to sag. It was an
odd sensation, at once similar to the physical touch of the shiggreth and yet
this touch ate away at only my magical strength.

I had mere seconds to react. Seeing my
failure to harm it directly I changed tactics and turned my power directly upon
the ground beneath it,
“Grabol ni’targoth,”
I said quickly, opening a
hole in the earth beneath the childlike creature. It was a spell I had used
once to incapacitate Cyhan and it worked just as well here as it had then. The
undead spellcaster fell into the hole and the magic eating at my shield
vanished as it lost its concentration.