The Sorcerer's Ascension (40 page)

“All right, I’ll go with you,” Azerick said laughing.

Once Azerick packed away his alchemic set, books, and some clothes, Magus Allister conjured another portal to the outside. Azerick could see the streets and the sun through the window or doorway that the wizard had created.

“What is that?” Azerick asked, looking at the thing in front of him with a skeptical eye.

“It is a magical doorway; one end is here the other is on the streets above.”

“It looks like it opens just above us in front of the warehouse. Why not just have the other end open on the Academy grounds?”

“There is a pretty strict limit to how far apart the two openings can be," the wizard patiently explained. "The Academy would be much too far away for this kind of spell.”

“I heard wizards can teleport to anyplace they wanted, why not teleport us there?”

“Teleporting is a risky thing, much too risky for any living thing; particular if you don’t have a fixed, properly prepared place set up to teleport to. Even then the odds of all of you ending up in the right place, or even the same place at the same time are not good enough for even the most experienced wizards to hazard,” answered Allister. “Now let’s be on our way before this thing wears off. It is not as easy to create as I make it look. It’s enough to make a man tired and hungry, even a man as experienced as me.”

Master and new student stepped through the magical gate and emerged onto the street. The wizard came to a stop and briefly closed his eyes while Azerick stumbled dizzy and disoriented.

“Try and stand still, boy, and focus on a solid object, the feeling will pass in a few seconds,” instructed the old mage.

Azerick did as he was told and true to his word, the dizziness passed and they continued on their way, the wizard toting his alchemic set, Azerick carrying the worn bag full of books, clothes, and a few personal belongings.

CHAPTER 14

"What do ya got, Maude? It's been four months since we've had so much as a whiff of a job!" Borik Deepstone complained. "That kobold den we flushed out didn't even turn up enough loot to pay for food and damage to our weapons. Those ruins were infested with orcs and we only escaped because Tarth set half the forest on fire!”

"Give me some time, dwarf! Do you think there's treasure just lying in some cave a day’s walk in every direction sitting there waiting for someone to find it?" the big warrior woman asked heatedly.

"As much as I am loath to agree with the dwarf, he is right. We need to come up with something before winter sets in. I hate adventuring in the freezing cold and rain on an empty stomach," Malek chimed in.

"What you think, Tarth?" Maude asked the elven mage.

"I think that my slippers do not match my fingernails. Should I buy new slippers or find a paint that matches my nails?" the elf asked dreamily, holding his slipper-shod foot up near his hand on the barroom table.

"Wow, thanks for that insightful input, Tarth. I don't know what we would ever do without your contributions to our talks of impending financial crisis," Borik said sarcastically, at which Tarth simply tilted his head and smiled a vacuous grin at the surly dwarf, the sarcasm wasted on him.

"Pardon me, my Lords and Lady, but you are adventurers aren't you? Heroes like in the tales?" a comely serving girl asked the group.

"I am a hero, my dear lady, while they are adventurers. What can we do for you?" the handsome cleric asked putting on his most charming smile for the young woman.

She looked around furtively before answering. "It's the laird of our poor town, sirs. He is an evil man who taxes us into poverty and jails and flogs those who cannot pay. Mayhap you can rid us of the evil beast?"

"If he is the legal laird of Duskshire then there is nothing we can do, we are not assassins," Maude explained.

"But he is most foul and has lived an unnaturally long life. I think he practices dark
magics
that surely the King frowns upon," the serving girl insisted.

"Aye, he's an evil one for certain," an old crone shouted across the common room having overheard their conversation. She stood up and hobbled over to where the four companions sat. "He practices magic most foul, magic that requires the blood of goats, sheep, and sometimes men, women, and children."

"Has anyone disappeared from the town that you know of?" Maude asked the old woman.

"Oh aye, most definitely a man named fat Thomas, he's disappeared as well as my own boy. Many people who couldn't pay their taxes or spoke out against him, they'd be gone for days and days and when you saw them again they'd not be the same. They'd look like they'd had the very life sucked outta them they would. His own wife and son disappeared most mysteriously. I heard much wailing and screaming from the manor house round the time they disappeared too I'll have you know," the crone hissed conspiratorially.

Several patrons, farmers, millers, cobblers, and beggars began to all chime in about the atrocities the laird had committed; from townsfolk disappearing, livestock slaughtered, to performing foul magic, and all swore he was a vampire or ghoul of some kind.

"Alright, first thing tomorrow I want Malek to ask around town about these rumors while Borik, Tarth, and I go take a look at this laird's mansion," Maude instructed.

"I don't like the idea of tangling with vampires," Borik said adamantly.

"It's one vampire and we'll attack in daylight so he should be sleeping," Maude assured him.

"If we attack in daylight won't it be hard to get past the guards?"

"That's why we're going to scout out the mansion."

"If you attack the mansion try not to hurt the poor souls guarding it. They ain't there of their own free will and many of em is son's and fathers of the townsfolk. He keeps em spelled
so's
they don't run off or kill him in his sleep," added the crone.

"That makes it a bit tougher, but I'm sure Tarth can help with that can't you, Tarth."

"
Hm
? Oh, of course, dear, I know just the thing. I think I'll dye my hair blue, that will compliment my nails and slippers, kind of pull them both together," the mage replied.

The next morning after they broke their fast, the adventurers split up to learn more about the beleaguered town's situation. Malek went about inquiring about the laird, digging up any useful information he could while Maude, Borik, and Tarth followed the road out of town towards the laird's mansion.

The mansion sat upon a hill just outside the town at the end of a winding flagstone road with immaculately groomed grounds. Drainage ditches and culverts lay to each side of the well-maintained road and not a speck of litter from man or nature marred the perfect landscaping. It was apparent that a great deal of labor had gone into the estate grounds.

The three intrepid adventures watched the mansion from the safety of a thick stand of trees about fifty yards from the mansion wall. It was a solid wall with a stout gate. Several armored guards paced atop the wall, occasionally calling down to someone else on the inside, most likely more guards.

From her own observations and from what she had heard from the bar patrons, there were perhaps a score of guards on the estate, several patrolling the outside grounds, perhaps half a dozen inside the mansion watching over their sleeping master during the daylight hours, and a night shift sleeping in barracks somewhere behind the main building.

Maude and her group watched the guards’ activity and noted the numbers and their patrol cycles. A couple hours later, they returned to the inn and sat in the common room discussing plans over ale and wine. Malek finally joined them late that afternoon.

"Were you able to find out anything more from the townsfolk?" Maude asked.

"Oh yes, let me tell you there are a lot of penitent women in this town. It’s fortunate that I was here to grant penance," the cleric replied.

"I asked you to find out about this laird not cavort with the local maids!"

"Oh they're no maids I assure you," Malek replied with a grin that he quickly dropped and got serious as Maude glared at him. "Right, the laird. Well, everyone I spoke to all agree he is mean and evil and most say he probably dabbles in the black arts. Nearly half insist he is indeed a vampire or ghoul of some kind; half again as many folk say it is possible or at least probable that he is a vampire, and two women claim to have had children that have disappeared over the years."

"It sounds pretty clear to me that we have an undead menace terrorizing this poor little town. As a registered adventuring group I think we have an obligation to relieve this town of this scourge as well as any treasure we find in the mansion of the beast," proclaimed the group's leader.

"Hear, hear, I swore a sacred vow to destroy the undead plaguing the kingdom and would be greatly remiss in my duties as a cleric of Solarian if I turned my back on the poor people of Duskshire," Malek proudly proclaimed to the applause of the afternoon tavern crowd.

"I still don't like the idea of tangling with a vampire. Do you have a plan for getting us past the gate without having to hack our way through?" Borik asked.

Maude explained the plan she had developed from her observations of the compound. Borik grudgingly agreed after he was unable to come up with anything better of his own. The group ate an early dinner and went to their rooms to prepare for the assault the next day.

The party of adventurers found themselves watching the walls and gate of the mansion about an hour after sunrise. Maude sent Tarth and Borik to hail the gate as she and Malek hid in the same copse of trees she had used the day before.

"Hail, the gate," Borik shouted to the guards on the wall.

"What do you want?" one of the guards called down.

"We are traveling mummers and wish to entertain your great lord for a bit of wine, food, and coin sirs."

The dwarf had his armor and weapons covered by a bright robe that draped over his body and hung to his knees. He wore an oversized pair of gaudy pantaloons that bulged out at the hips and clashed horribly with the coverlet. The entire ensemble made him look like an obese court fool.

"Go away. Our lord has no interest in entertainment."

"Please, sir, just give us a moment to show you our act and I'm sure you'll agree that it is worth a bit of your lord's precious time and coin."

Before the guard could object, Borik and Tarth launched into an act of juggling, tumbling, and pantomime that insulted true mummers everywhere.

"I told you fools to leave, now clear the gate and take yourselves back down the road! I've seen better shows involving a donkey and your mother!" the guard called down.

"Well then, that just might make us relation. I wondered what why my mother gave away my bastard half brother!" Borik shot back.

"Clear the grounds or I'll show you the inside of your guts!" the guard threatened, now getting truly livid.

By this time, several more guards crowed the walls near the gate, drawn by the heated shouting.

"You want a show? I'll give you a show!" Borik shout as he dropped his pants and bared his buttocks at the guards that were watching the ridiculous farce.

They exchanged several more insults of increasing vulgarity before the guards had finally had enough.

"That's it, dwarf, you and your weird friend are in for it now!" the guard threatened as the gate swung open.

Several armed guards stalked out of the open gate to thrash the impertinent dwarf and the strange skinny elf and drag them away from the estate grounds.

Fortunately Tarth was having one of his more alert days and cast his spell at the group as they emerged from the gates, sending them crashing to the ground in a magic-induced sleep. Before the three remaining guards on the wall could shout an alarm, Malek burst from his concealment and cast his own divine spell that caused them to become completely immobilized and unable to speak.