Ways of Power 1: Power Rises (7 page)

"I know, and he is looking forward to your little adventure, just keep in mind that once you get to the house, and he sees his old things, and possibly the corpse of his mother…"

"What?! It's still therre?"

"Yes, a spell was put on the place so that only a member of the family could enter or allow the admittance of others. Of course Rancoth has never returned, and neither has Adroman."

"That's disgusting!"

"Exactly my point, there is no telling how it will affect Rancoth. He will need your guidance, wisdom, and courage my old friend."

"All rright' it'll be fine he's made o' strrongerr stuff then you think. And I'll take good carre o' him. Now get out o' my head!"

"Thank you for the map, Grecrum, it was thoughtful of you, but we really must be going. We're killing daylight, as Dorbin likes to say!" Rancoth exclaimed as he re-rolled the map and placed it securely within the folds of his robe. He approached the Arch Mage, looking him over affectionately before giving him a forceful hug. “I’ll just go see Karakas and then we’ll be off.”

Grecrum smiled, and held him at arm's length for a moment. "Keep an eye on Dorbin, would you? You know how he likes to get himself into trouble."

Rancoth laughed, and turned to go. The knowing glance shared between Grecrum and Dorbin wasn't missed by Rancoth as they left the room.

As Rancoth and Dorbin made their way through the main hall, conversations suddenly hushed, only to be even more vigorously reanimated behind them. It was as if the two men were cutting through the Sea of Discussion, sending out a wake of new gossip to ripple through the room, and of course with time, through the city.

Everyone was curious to know where the Arch Mage's pet warlock and undersized smithy were off to in such a hurry. Rancoth was naturally aware of the effect he was having on the group at large; this only served to prove to him that he had made the right decision. He needed to get away for a while, and as he walked through the tower door to embrace the light and warmth of the sun, he felt invigorated.

After strolling through many side streets, and making their way down more than a few cramped and dark alleys they came to a rather large and lavish house. It was made mostly of dark walnut wood, causing it to stand out from the predominantly white structures of the rest of the city.

It stood at least four stories and spanned half a block of the street. There were no visible windows; instead there were huge skull carvings adorning the outside of the house. Only those who had been inside knew that the eye sockets actually functioned as windows. Two columns in the shape of elongated skeletons stood on the porch, their arms stretched to the heavens to hold up the verandah.

Though a rare talent among the Light Magi, communication with, and sometimes summoning of the dead was a highly profitable venture. Karakas, not only trained Rancoth in his arcane arts, he also sat as the necromancer's representative on the high council, and was among the richest of all the morbid beckoners.

The men approached the door with confidence, and Rancoth knocked firmly upon the solid wood with his knuckles, preferring not to touch the skeletal hand-shaped brass knocker; he never did like the idea of shaking hands with death.

Karakas had made and affixed the knocker himself, finding the idea grotesquely funny. After only a moment or two the door swung silently open.

Rancoth and Dorbin were greeted by an exceptionally corpulent man who was between them in height. He had thick wavy black hair and burnt-orange colored glowing eyes behind small round spectacles. He was wearing a long black and silver robe that went clear to the floor. His pudgy face was clean shaven, and was split in a wide grin.

"Rancoth! Grecrum said you weren't coming today, or for a while yet. And you've brought Dorbin with you, I see. How wonderful, please, please come in." Karakas had a mellow voice, and was always in a pleasant mood. Being a practitioner of death he was all too familiar with its cost, and thus he enjoyed the pleasantries of life as often as possible. He preferred to look in sharp contrast to his skeletal profession, being sure to put on the pounds whenever he felt remotely frail.

"I'm sorry, Karakas, but we can't come in; we've a long way to go, and I'm eager to get started. I need some advice before we depart," Rancoth said with a smile. Dorbin grunted his approval. He liked Karakas, but Rancoth knew he had no desire to enter the bone master's mansion.

"Well, suit yourselves. More cake for me! What can I do for you then?"

"I summoned Gillbrick the other day, at Dorbin’s. It was its usual nasty little self, and for just an instant I thought it was going to turn on me. It was just about to throw a ball of hell fire at Dorbin, and when I made it stop, it looked over its shoulder at me and I knew if I hadn't told it what to do with the fire it was going to throw it right at me."

Karakas's smile was replaced with a look of contemplation. "You have to understand, Ran, that those beasties have to obey your orders. They do not, however, have to respect you, and they certainly have free will of their own as long as it does not interfere with a direct order from you. This means that they can hurt you if you give them the opportunity."

Rancoth sighed. "Have you ever had similar problems with the dead you summon? If so, how did you overcome them? I can't very well be in the middle of nowhere and call upon a minion only to have it kill Dorbin and me."

"Yhea no shite!" Dorbin added from the side.

"Well, Ran, most of the dead I summon are as happy to see their living relatives as those relatives are to see them. So it's not a problem I've ever really had to face. The only advice I can give you is what you already know. Be sure that all of your commands are given quickly, and decisively. Your only other option is to do something that would earn the respect of your minions, and I know I don't have to tell you what that would be."

Rancoth sighed with defeat, but did his best not to let his disappointment show. "Do something evil--I can't do that." 

Karakas patted him on the arm. "I know, Ran, I know."

"Well, thanks for your time; I look forward to seeing you again upon our return."

Karakas smiled encouragingly. "Trust yourself, Ran, and you'll do fine. Take care and safe journey. You too, Dorbin."

Rancoth turned to Dorbin, "Shall we then?"

"You've got the map! Lead the way." Both men waved to Karakas who stood and watched as they started south.

11

              Several hours had passed since Rancoth and Dorbin left Karakas' house. The sun was already well on its way to midday, and had started to warm the land with its loving glow.

"It's get'n hot!" Dorbin exclaimed. "I should've brrought a hat."

              "Well, we're not out of the city yet. We could stop at a shop and get you one. I wouldn't want that shiny head of yours to start turning too red. Some hungry bird might swoop down and start pecking, mistaking it for an apple," Rancoth chuckled.

              "GRRR, Shut it!" Dorbin growled. "Hmmm, though--now you mention it, we should o' been out o' the city forr some time."

Rancoth, who had been walking slightly ahead due to his longer stride, stopped and turned back to face his  companion. "We haven't been going in circles have we?"

              "Nah, the sun's been on ourr left the whole time." Dorbin explained. "Waite look therre, that woman, she's passed us beforre." Rancoth turned to see a tall Elfkin woman, which did indeed look familiar.

              "Somethens not rright," Dorbin whispered, pulling the small ax from his belt, and the shield off his back.

              "Dorbin, do me a favor," Rancoth said, hefting his long smooth pinewood walking staff in a defensive double handed position.

              "What?"

              "Don't talk this time. Pordly, come." With Rancoth's command the stench of sulfur permeated the air, though being outside; it wasn't quite as potent as it had been in Dorbin's shop. Dorbin watched with interest to see what grisly creature the thick inky black smoke would reveal this time. But the smoke just kept growing and growing, until it reached monstrous proportions. Finally a pair of shining, pure white eyes appeared floating around in the midst of the smoldering air.

              Rancoth stood in deep concentration staring at the beast. Eventually the billowing creature began to grow again. As it did, however, it seemed to dissipate, until finally it was nothing more than a thin veil that appeared to cover the entire city as far as the eye could see.

              After a short period of time, the city vanished! Then suddenly, the smoke began to rapidly coalesce and then disappeared. Crumpled on the ground at Rancoth's feet were two men. Brandishing his axe, Dorbin ran forward, ready to maim or even kill either of them if they made any sudden moves.

              Rancoth flung out his arm, palm toward Dorbin in an attempt to halt his charge. "It's okay, they're unconscious, and I know them."

              "What? Who the hell arre they? No….betterr yet. What' the hell just happened?" Dorbin demanded.

"The short red headed one is Hilbran, and the taller blond one is Rowley. They're a couple of illusionists who used to make sport of me when I was younger. Jurile usually had to chase them off." Rancoth then knelt down to make sure they were not seriously injured.

              "Rright well, that answerrs one o' my questions." Dorbin growled.

              "Hmm, oh sorry." Rancoth said, looking back up. "Pordly is a vapor demon. It doesn't have a mouth, and can be very unpredictable. I thought it best to communicate with it telepathically, so that, as Karakas said, my commands could be quick and decisive. Anyway, it feeds off of arcane energy. After making sure it wouldn't harm either you or me, I asked it if it could sense any of its favorite food nearby.

"It did, but only for a relatively short distance. I figured that we could no longer be in the city, because the amount of arcane energy that surrounds that many Magi would have stretched for miles. So, I told it to absorb all the nearby energy, save myself of course, and to bring any people it found, other than you, back to me without killing them. Once its task was finished I ordered it back to its realm."

              "Ahh, well, yes…naturrally," Dorbin said with a hint of sarcasm.

              "I wish I had said not to harm them. Pordly took advantage of my lapse in command. There's no telling what he did to them, or how long they'll be unconscious." Rancoth squinted up at the sun, and then looked back at Dorbin. "Well, any suggestions?"

              "Hmm, well, we could just leave the nasty little bugerrs. It's prrobably what they werre gonna do to us once we werre farr enough off courrse. I don't suppose one o' yourr little beasties is a healerr?"

              "No."

              "Well, tie them up. I'll go get us something to eat."

Dorbin hefted his axe and stalked off towards the woods that were to the west of them. Rancoth pulled some rope out of his knapsack, and tied his childhood bullies together. He then went about gathering the items to start a fire. Not needing anything nearly as hot as Gillbrick would offer, he started it by hand once he had a pit dug out and kindling piled in it.

              Once he had a decent sized crackling flame going, Rancoth stood and wiped the sweat from his brow. He took a few long pulls from the flask of water he had slung over his shoulder. The water was cool and refreshing; building a fire was thirsty work.

              Rancoth then surveyed the surroundings, hoping that they had detected the ruse before getting too far off course. He was in a shallow valley between two grassy hills. He had already noted the wooded area to the west where Dorbin had gone off to hunt. He couldn't see the tower at all. Either they had been traveling for a lot longer than he thought, or they were really off course.

It should have been to the north of them, since they were supposed to have been going due south. The northern hill was small enough that Rancoth could see the horizon past it in the distance, but no tower. To the east there was a small brook, babbling along as it cut at the base of a rising cliff face.

              Rancoth looked back down at his erstwhile tormentors, and decided they weren't going anywhere any time soon. He then climbed the hill just to the south in order to get a better look from the higher ground.
Why those little bastards
, he thought.  As he crested the hill, Rancoth could see, far off in the distance, the glistening white tower. They had been leading them north the whole time!

Obviously the location of the sun had been a part of their illusion. A hint of admiration crept into his breast. That was one powerful illusion
,
he thought. And they're wasting their talents on trickery and games. What fools.

              His irritation at the two men did not hinder his admiration of the vista before him. The brook that was flowing south past the northern hill turned to the east by the hill he was on. Now Rancoth could see that it was not only cutting into the cliff face, it was actually flowing into a tunnel under it. Since he knew of no river that flowed past Tower City, he wondered where the water sprang forth again, or if it was permanently subterranean from this point forward.

              Rancoth then looked to the sea of grass that undulated in the soft breeze. There were sparse trees here and there, which slowly grew closer together the further west he looked until joining in the forest. Some birds flew by, their small bodies, sharp beaks and long feathered wings dancing through the pale blue sky. What bliss to be a bird, Rancoth thought, but his musing was interrupted at the sound of a soft groan behind him. Well, my guests are waking. Hopefully Dorbin gets back soon. Rancoth turned and walked back down the hill.

              His wish was granted. As Rancoth approached the men he saw Dorbin emerge from the forest carrying what looked like two dead rabbits. Rancoth waved, and Dorbin held up his prize, a look of pride beaming on his face. They arrived at the fire at almost the same time.

"Looks like a meal fit for a king!" Rancoth exclaimed, as he knelt down to see if either man was conscious. It appeared as though the groan had been emitted during their continued slumber.

              "Hey now, firre rroasted rrabbit is grreat!" Dorbin announced, a grin still splitting his face. "Now, help me skin them." He tossed one of the small furry animals to Rancoth as he pulled out a knife and started to cut around the shoulders of the other.

Rancoth watched for a moment, and then did the same, careful to follow the old man's lead. The creature bled more than he had expected, and his knife soon became slippery in his hand. After cutting away the soft downy fur, they split open the guts and pulled out the entrails. It was slimy business, but fascinating. Finally, Dorbin showed him how to skewer the corpses, and rigged up a spit out of sticks to roast them over the fire.

              "Well, did you see wherre we arre?" Dorbin asked, now that the meal was roasting.

              "Yeah, they brought us in exactly the opposite direction we had intended to go. We're very far north. If the sun hadn't been at its zenith so that the tower could reflect the full power of its light, I might not have seen it at all," Rancoth said, a look of concern and irritation on his face.

              Distracted as they had been preparing something to eat, and discussing their circumstances, neither of them had noticed that their captives were now awake. "So, are we going to get some of that?" came a voice.

              Rancoth and Dorbin turned to see that it was Hilbran who spoke, eyeing the rabbits. They were now turning a nice golden brown and oozing with juices, which dripped down and sizzled in the flames licking the liquefied fat midair. Both men were sitting up, their legs bound together in front of them at the knee and ankle. Their hands Rancoth had tied down at their sides, to keep them from picking at each other's knots. They were both disheveled, most likely from their encounter with Pordly.

              While Hilbran's hungry dark blue glowing eyes focused on Rancoth and Dorbin's lunch, Rowley kept his pale brown ones firmly locked on his feet.

              "So how far where you planning on leading us astray before pulling the wool from our eyes and abandoning us in the middle of nowhere?" Rancoth demanded.

              Hilbran looked up, "Oh come on, we were just having a little fun. We had heard that you were headed out on some long trip, and we wanted to send you off with a laugh. That's all. You know, for old time's sake." Hilbran said, with a glint of mirth in his eye.

              "Oh a joke was it? I see, Rran, it was just a joke." Dorbin laughed without any hint of sincerity.

              "Yeah a joke!" Hilbran laughed, somewhat nervously, and now Rowley began to chortle too, believing that everything would be all right.

              Dorbin, still chuckling approached the two men, and Hilbran leaned forward a little, so that Dorbin could more readily reach the knot tied behind his back.

FAHWAPP

Dorbin smacked the man hard upside the head, causing him to almost spill over his knees. "IT'S NOT FUNNY YA LITTLE BASTARRD!" Dorbin bellowed, any hint of mirth in his voice replaced with wrath.

While what Hilbran and Rowley had done was not funny at all, seeing the diminutive man wallop them was. Rancoth started to laugh, holding his sides, as the tears rolled down his cheeks.

"We've got shite to do, and we don't need any help frrom the likes o' you!" Dorbin, turned to Rancoth. "Well, lad, what shall we do with them? They'rre yourr torrmentorrs."

"Seeing that was enough for me. They've already made us waste at least a day. I say we just cut them loose, so we can eat and be on our way. In the right direction this time," Rancoth said, still chuckling softly.

Dorbin looked at Rancoth with disbelief, and then glared back down at the two men. "Well, if you think they didn't mean any rreal harrm," he said.

"We weren't going to just leave you, honest! We were going to tell you where you were, and then we could have all laughed about it. We didn't mean any real harm," Hilbran pleaded with Dorbin. Rowley simply nodded his head earnestly.

Dorbin growled fiercely before pulling out his blade.

"NO! Please don't hurt us, we're sorry!" Hilbran exclaimed at the sight of the gleaming metal.

"Shut it!" Dorbin said; as he kneeled down to cut the men's bindings. Once freed, both men ran south over the hill without another word.

After finishing their roasted rabbit, Rancoth and Dorbin finally started south. They traveled until long into the evening. The little 'joke' that was played on them would end up costing them two days, which did nothing to improve Dorbin's mood.

It took almost a day and a half before they were as far south from the city as they had been north, Dorbin grumbling the whole way about immaturity and despicable behavior by those who should know better. Rancoth did his best to listen and commiserate with the man. After all, if he was busy complaining about the misdeeds of others, he wouldn't have time to point out any of Rancoth's own foibles.

As they continued with their journey, the tower now long vanished behind them, a sense of uniformity took over. The country they traveled through was made up of mostly grassy hills. There were a few trees here and there to break the monotony, but for the most part it was an endless green sea.

The dips and swells of the countless hills and valleys, along with the endless breeze, provided the appearance of an almost liquid undulation. If it were not for their feet being firmly planted on solid ground, they might have become sea sick.

The grass they traveled through varied greatly in length. There were times that it was barely tall enough to brush the sides of their boots, and then they would enter a new valley and suddenly be waist-deep. Well, waist-deep for Rancoth, anyway. As Dorbin waded through these areas with the grass tickling his nose, he would release fierce sneezes, causing the birds hidden in the foliage to burst suddenly into flight. This of course would send Rancoth rolling with laughter, and produce a new onslaught of expletives on Dorbins part.