The Warlock's Gambit

by David Alastair Hayden

“Don’t you want to go in and check it out?” he urged.

  Morgan shook her head, and with a tremor in her voice said, “No … not yet. We need to … to explore the other rooms. Mine can wait.”

  Whatever. She was weird about a lot of things — he’d just add one more to the list. She shuffled along behind him, lost in her thoughts, as they moved on to his room. “Bet it’s a lot bigger than the closet I slept in back home.”

  Morgan whipped around. “You slept in a closet?”

  Arthur sighed. “Not a real closet. My room is just really tiny.”

  “Oh — oh, I think you told me about that the other day, when we first got here.” She sighed and looked across the hallway to see what was opposite his suite. Immediately, she began bouncing on her heels. “Ooh! Arthur — look!”

  He turned and saw: THE LIBRARY. Of course, that would restore her interest. If it had said TECH LAB or COMPUTER ROOM, she probably would’ve rushed across and barged through the doors without a single care about the sigil hanging in the doorway.

  “We have to see the Library!” Morgan said.

  “Shades inside, possibly wraiths for all we know,” Arthur said. He had wandered farther down the hallway. He had just seen the next door down from his suite: THE PALADIN’S OFFICE. A sigil hung in this doorway, as well. “If we’ve got to clear out a room, we should start with the Paladin’s Office. It’s probably going to be more important.”

  Morgan shot him a dirty look, but she didn’t say anything, which meant she knew he was right. She marched down the hallway and muttered, “Well, this one should probably come last.”

  Arthur turned around to face: THE MUSEUM. Yeah, it was going to be hard to rationalize putting their lives in danger to clear a museum. But he was pretty sure that every shade and wraith in the place was — somehow — harming Lady Ylliara and the Manse. Maybe they were draining power away from her, like Entropian vampires or something.

  Arthur continued walking. The next door on his side of the hallway was labelled LYONESSE. There was no glowing sigil, and something about the room just seemed warm and inviting. He reached toward the handle —

  “Arthur! What the heck are you doing?!”

  “No sigil, so it doesn’t have any enemies …”

  “Didn’t we just have this conversation? A room doesn’t have to have shades or wraiths to be dangerous. Do you know what Lyonesse means?”

  “Er … no. Do you?”

  She shook her head. “Until we know, I think we should wait, or go in prepared.” She jerked her head toward the door behind her. “Same thing goes for this one.”

  Arthur walked over to the door labeled THE WASTES — and shivered. It didn’t have a glowing sigil across the doorway, but Arthur’s stomach clenched when he looked at it. He backed away. There was something very wrong about that door.

  Morgan patted the door. “Gives you an oogy feeling, too, doesn’t it?”

  Arthur nodded as he kept backing away. “How can you even stand to touch it?”

  She shrugged with a sly smile. “I like oogy. Why else would I hang around you so much?”

  Arthur rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He glanced at the final doorway that led to the INNER SANCTUM, where Kjor the warlock awaited him. Arthur shivered. “Let’s get the numina and clear the office. I’m ready to find out more about my destiny, and where I came from.”

  * * *

  With Lexi and Vassalus flanking him, and Morgan right behind him, Arthur opened the door to the Paladin’s Office. An almost formless mass of shadow stood just beyond the doorway. The shades, at least a dozen of them, which was how many each dark-heart could summon, crowded near the door. Each shade was skinny and a little more than six feet tall, with unnaturally long arms and legs. They were completely featureless. Gathered like this, it was almost impossible to tell where one shade ended and the next began. Unlike some they had faced before, these were smart enough not to run right into the glowing sigil and destroy themselves.

  But while the shades couldn’t pass through the triskelion sigils, Arthur and his companions could. More importantly at the moment, his raygun blasts could. Arthur opened fire with both guns. White energy circles blasted out from the array at the end, growing from an inch to almost a foot wide as they traveled. Since the guns only hurt what Arthur wanted them to — they wouldn't even kill unless that’s what he wanted — he didn't have to worry about shooting up the room or destroying things accidentally when he missed.

  Arthur let loose, enjoying the distinctive WHUM-WHUM-WHUM sound the guns made. He pulled the triggers as fast as he could. In moments, he had taken out all the shades they could see.

  “Did you get all twelve?” Morgan asked.

  “I couldn’t tell,” Arthur answered.

  “I think you only got eleven,” Vassalus said.

  “Nope, nope,” Lexi replied. “Only ten.”

  “Any sign of the dark-heart?” Arthur asked. The Office was bigger than his Aunt Carolyn’s dining room and living room put together, and the door was in the middle. There was a lot of space to either side where a shade could be hiding, or behind the big desk toward the back of the room.

  “Don’t see it,” Morgan said.

  “Must be out of view,” added Vassalus.

  “Only one thing left,” Lexi cried. “Charge!”

  Lexi rushed toward the door, but Vassalus stepped in front of her.

  “Watch it, garbage breath!” Lexi growled as they collided.

  “We need to let Lady Morgan go first,” said Vassalus. “She has the shield. We follow along behind her.”

  “Boring!” Lexi snarled.

  “It’s a lot safer, though,” Arthur said.

  Morgan stepped into the room with her shield up and spread as wide as it would go. She turned toward the right, and as soon as she did, a shade leapt out from the left side toward her.

  “Morgan, watch out!” Arthur cried.

  “I see it!” she yelled. But she didn’t turn.

  Arthur understood why half a second later, when a shade crashed against the front of her shield. Lexi had been right — there were two of them left: one to each side of the door. Arthur took two shots at the one behind Morgan. One shot soared over the shade’s shoulder; the other blasted one of the creature’s arms off. That didn’t even slow it down. Their arms could regrow. Only a headshot or a shot to the chest could destroy them. The touch of a shade could burn flesh, so all it really had to do to hurt Morgan was run into her. Arthur had gotten burned by one the first day. It had felt like both fire and ice at once. And Morgan wasn't even wearing the companion armor the Manse had made for her.

  Just before the shade hit Morgan, Lexi and Vassalus slammed into it and ripped it to shreds. They were immune to the shades’ burning touch. Wraiths, on the other hand, were a whole lot tougher and more deadly.

  Morgan glanced back and saw what had happened — her eyes went wide — then she bashed the one in front of her with her shield. “Dark-heart is on my side. Above the bookcase in the corner.

  Four shades began to reform in the shadows behind the door. Arthur darted in behind her and took three shots. The second one struck and shattered the stone. All the shades in the room vanished.

  Morgan dropped her shield with a relieved sigh. She held out her hand and Vassalus moved up beside her, so she could scratch behind his ears.

  “You saved my life.”

  “Hey!” Lexi said. “I helped just as much.”

  Morgan rolled her eyes, and Lexi started to say something, but Arthur interrupted her. “Good work, everyone.”

  The Paladin’s Office had wood floors so dark with age they were almost black, and the walls were covered in gold-on-gold wallpaper. A giant desk made of an exotic, deep-green wood dominated one end of the room. The wall behind it was hidden behind thick, velvet curtains. A second, tiny desk — maybe for a secretary — sat under a row of portraits that lined the right side of the room. It held an old-fashioned manual typewriter and a rotary phone, both the
same burgundy red as the curtains. A velvet-covered loveseat and several sets of bookcases stuffed with leather-bound books stood on the opposite side. There were wall sconces and lamps everywhere, but they couldn’t seem to outshine the aura of age and history. World-changing decisions had been made in this room.

  “Well, this place wasn’t made new for me,” he said. There was a door to Arthur’s right that was labeled PALADIN’S CHAMBERS. “I can get straight to my room from here. That’s convenient.”

  “I think Maid needs to get in here,” Morgan commented. “This place smells musty.”

  Lexi trailed a paw along a lower shelf on the bookcase, and then peered at it. “No dust.”

  “It’s just a very old room,” Arthur said.

  “Looks quite modern and fashionable to me,” Lexi said. She often flashed little bits of Arthur’s Grandma Paladin, whom he must have met when he was a baby. She must’ve made quite an impression for her to hang around in his subconscious so long.

  “Check this out, Arthur,” Morgan said. “Pictures of you.”

  She was examining a shelf lined with framed photos of him and his parents. They all looked so happy; he could hardly bear to look.

  Vassalus nosed between the curtains and then uttered a surprised, “Yelp!” It was maybe the most doglike thing he’d ever done.

  “Vassalus, you okay?” Morgan asked.

  “Fine … all … fine, miss …”

  Morgan frowned and hurried over anyway. She grabbed higher up on the curtain Vassalus was tugging open with his teeth — and gasped. Arthur tore himself away from the family photos and rushed around the desk. He skidded to an abrupt stop as Morgan and Vassalus wrestled the heavy curtains apart.

  “Whoa!” Lexi said with wide eyes.

  That was an understatement.

  The entire back wall was a giant window that looked out into deep space. Bright swirls and streaks of color — purples and blues shot through with shades of green, reds bleeding into yellow and white — zoomed past. It was like they were moving through a nebula. And behind it, in the far distance, they could see stars speeding by like meteors. They had to be moving fast.

  “Is that the Song Between the Verses?” Morgan muttered. “It’s — it’s amazing.”

  “Yeah.” Arthur breathed. He tried to find a word to describe it, but the only thing that popped into his head was “awesome,” which entirely failed to do this view justice. “How fast do you think we’re going?”

  “Definitely faster than light, which isn't possible.” The window was so overwhelming that Morgan didn't even seem irritated at the Manse’s newest way of ignoring the laws of physics.

  “I looks kind of like we’re flying through a nebula,” Arthur said. “But they aren't that big, are they? At this speed we’d have already come out the other side, don’t you think?”

  “I think … maybe … maybe it's another dimension of space time?” Morgan said. “Like hyperspace. That would explain how the Manse can move throughout the universe. Because even at the speed of light, it would take four years to travel from Earth to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. At that kind of speed, the Paladin certainly couldn’t rush all around the universe fighting evil. You’d be lucky to have one battle in your lifetime.”

  “Well, whatever it is,” said Arthur, “it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Lexi sat quietly beside Arthur, staring silently. Unless he was mistaken, she was purring softly. Vassalus sat so close to the window that his nose touched. They were all mesmerized, and Arthur would’ve sworn that none of them budged for a good half hour. Eventually though, his legs got tired, and he leaned back against the giant desk, setting his hands on the glass that protected the top.

  The glass suddenly came alive with images and text — the entire desktop was a display.

  “Cool!” Arthur grinned and touched another spot experimentally. “The Paladin’s desk — my desk — is a computer.”

  Morgan spun around and shoved him out of the way. For a moment, Arthur thought she was going to either hug the desk or start drooling. “This is the best thing ever!”

  Arthur nodded toward the window looking out onto space. “What about that?”

  “Well, yeah, okay … this is the second best thing ever.”

  Arthur laughed. “Oh dear. Lexi, Vassalus, do you think you're strong enough to help me drag Morgan out of here?”

  “Well, of course,” Vassalus said. “But why would we need to do such a thing?”

  “Because that's the only way we're ever going to get her away from an alien computer.”

  Morgan glanced at them. “Did you say something about me?”

  “Nope, not at all.”

  The open windows on the computer screen showed video surveillance of different rooms in the house, and were labeled accordingly. They could see into the Great Room, the Dining Hall, the Training Room …

  “This is awesome,” Morgan said. “And I don't just mean because it's an alien computer. Having video of all the different rooms could really help us out.” She stomped her foot and started to say another washing-out-your-filthy-mouth word, but a glance at Vassalus, who was wincing in expectation, stopped her. Instead, she huffed. “All the rooms we haven't visited yet are blacked out.”

  “I bet that's because of the shades, like the way the lights are all dimmed in a room that’s infested with them,” Arthur said. “You know, I didn’t see video cameras anywhere.”

  “I did not either, Master Paladin,” answered Vassalus.

  “Me neither,” Lexi piped in.

  Morgan shook her head. “Maybe they're hidden.”

  “Or maybe it’s magic,” Arthur teased.

  Morgan ignored him and continued to open and close screens and move things around the desk.

  “Can we see into our rooms?” Arthur asked. “We haven’t visited those yet, but they don’t have shades in them.”

  Morgan tapped a few control buttons on the screen. “We can — but we won’t.”

  Arthur held his hands out. “Sorry. It was just a suggestion.” Whatever bothered her about her room bothered her a lot.

  Morgan pointed to the set of four symbols that appeared on each window. “The + and — symbols are obviously for zooming in and out. And I think this one's an ear and the other is a mouth. And that would make sense.”

  “If you say so. You know I don’t have a clue about computers. I've only ever used the ones at school. We don't have one at home. Grandma won't spend money on something she doesn't believe in.”

  Morgan shook her head. “I still can’t believe that. Is she retired?”

  “She works as a travel agent.”

  “And she still doesn’t use a computer. How?”

  “Telephone, notebook, and one of those calculators that prints out on tape.”

  “Really? But that’s so … primitive.”

  “Well, she doesn’t make much money anymore. She’s basically halfway retired. Honest to goodness, she really thinks vinyl records are going to make a comeback, along with typewriters and handwritten letters, once people realize computers are a waste of money and time.”

  “She must be ancient!” Morgan said. “Those things are all cool, but they are never coming back.”

  “She's old, but not that old. She's … I don't know, weird about some things. Especially things she doesn't understand.”

  “Well, I’ll have this figured out in no time.”

  “Not just a pretty face,” Arthur said lightly.

  Morgan actually turned away from the computer. She spun her chair around and gazed at him with eyes like laser beams. Instinctively, he took a step back.

  “You think I’m pretty, Arthur?”

  “Uh, well …” His cheeks flushed. “Yeah.”

  She cocked her head and chewed at her lip as if confused … as if it wasn’t obvious how attractive she was.

  “Morgan, everyone thinks you’re pretty.”

  “Everyone is not someone, Arthur.”
/>   “Huh? What the heck does that mean?”

  “Those people … the ones who think I’m kind of cute or whatever —”

  “Beautiful,” Arthur said, flushing to what he was certain was a deep crimson. He couldn’t believe he was telling her this. “You’re like the prettiest girl in the whole school.”

  Her eyes glinted for a moment, and her cheeks flushed. “Well … I mean … thanks. But … but my point is … those people don’t count.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they don’t know me. You do.”

  Arthur wasn't sure he'd claim to know Morgan, but if she thought so, he wasn't going to argue with her. “So because I know you, and still like you, my opinion matters?”

  “Of course.” She went back to the computer as if the conversation had never happened.

  He started to say something more, uncomfortable with leaving it there, but she stopped him.

  “Shh. Listen.”

  “Can’t hear anything,” he whispered after several moments. The screen was showing Maid cleaning in the Smoking Lounge.

  “Oh, wait. I see how the volume is controlled now. This setup is simple and intuitive, but definitely not like any operating system from Earth.”

  “Doesn’t look simple.”

  She did something, and the sound of Maid’s dust mop got louder.

  “So if we press the mouth symbol …”

  “We should be able to talk to someone in the room we’re looking at,” Arthur said.

  “Exactly.”

  Arthur expected her to give it a try, but she didn’t. She started dragging some of the display windows around through touch, and then she started playing with some of the panels that weren't showing video of the rooms. It really was like one big tablet computer.

  “Luckily, I can read all these strange characters,” Morgan said. “I just don't recognize some of the symbols that would be common to whoever designed this operating system. I don't know what most of these applications do, either. One is for writing documents and another for recording voice, but the rest … I suspect they control different aspects of the Manse or something like that. I'm just going to have to sit here and play with it.”

  She started digging through menus, opening and closing windows. Arthur stood admiring the space outside, until he became restless, then he scanned the bookshelves. There were titles like Space Tactics of the Androzi, How to Conquer Planets and Subjugate Their Populations, and Infiltration for the Faint of Heart. These were probably all books Arthur should have been reading instead of Seventh Grade Literature and To Kill a Mockingbird.