Chain of Bargains dm-5

by Jeff Inlo

  He imagined the creature was using the same method of communication to spread the attack orders to all the goblin minions. The message itself, however, was a bit of a shock. So many seasons had passed with the goblins becoming a fixture in the city, a common sight throughout the Great Valleys, the thought of a goblin uprising was suddenly difficult to envision. He also had no warning, not that he expected one from the fiend, but he couldn't hide his surprise.

  "I didn't expect it to happen so soon," the steward admitted, knowing that the creature could hear him but not comprehending how.

  "I am surprised the dwarves were as patient as they were," the voice countered.

  "What's going to happen here? What about Ashlan?"

  "Did you think it was going to be spared?"

  "Not really, but I'm curious about the plan."

  "The plan is simple. The humans are completely unprepared. The goblins will tear them from their homes and businesses and remove them from the city. I expect very little resistance. They will be sent west. They will be pushed completely out of the valleys and into the central plains."

  "What about the inferns?"

  "The inferns will not interfere."

  "What do you need me to do?" the steward asked

  "Nothing. Nothing at all. It is best if you stay out of the way. Stay home."

  "I can do that."

  Prilgrat, however, was not a man who enjoyed placidly standing by and letting others take all the action, and all the spoils that went with it. He stepped to the window of his bedroom and looked down upon the street.

  "Will I be able to see anything?"

  "Very little. The goblins know to leave your home untouched. They will usher any humans out of the area, but my orders are to keep the destruction near your house to a minimum."

  The mayhem unfolded quickly. The diminutive monsters acted much more viciously than the steward expected. Watching goblins crash into his neighbors' homes and violently remove them kicking and screaming out into the streets left him uneasy, not about his neighbors' well-being, but about his own safety.

  "Are they going to enter my house?"

  "I said your home would be untouched. Does that word confuse you?"

  "No, but I wondered about my servants. I don't want to get caught up in some scuffle. I'm also going to require their services when all this is finished."

  "When I say untouched, I mean it. Your servants will be spared, as long as they remain inside."

  "Maybe I should tell them."

  "That is your decision."

  Prilgrat showed no urgency to warn anyone, and instead, monitored the activity he could see from his window. He saw some smoke in the distance and heard several more screams. He wanted to know more of what was happening.

  "Will the city be destroyed?"

  "Partially damaged."

  "Are you going to let any humans, besides me and those that serve me, remain in Ashlan?"

  "Quite a few, actually. Not enough so they can stir up any trouble, but just as you require servants, so will I."

  The steward realized what that meant. The creature was taking over… not just Ashlan, but the entire region. The majority of humans would be dispatched. Goblins would become the main inhabitants-creatures that would not honor his authority. His rule as regional steward would be over.

  "You know, I'm giving up a lot," Prilgrat announced rather sadly.

  "What is it you are giving up?"

  "Control. Influence. Almost everything I have."

  The creature laughed.

  "Would you have been able to keep it if I decided not to include you?"

  "Maybe."

  "Do not delude yourself. You have seen the power I possess. Would you have really wished to fight me?"

  "No, I wouldn't," Prilgrat admitted, "but others might have been able to stop you."

  "Who? The dwarves conceived the plan. The goblins were already making inroads when I contacted you personally. My brother was already deeply rooted under Huntston. He knew the captain of the guard was weak. That was why I told you to work with him, and I knew you would work with me. I could tell. If you chose not to, I would have found someone else. No one could have stopped this. It was a wise choice to join us."

  The steward did not quite agree. He was often underestimated and he had always found a way to overcome seemingly terrible odds. Still, he reached the position of steward because he knew what was important. He always focused on the true prize. Power over people of the valleys was not power at all if it was fleeting, and to humans, power is always fleeting because their time is always limited. Prilgrat, however, had other ideas.

  "You remember our full bargain, right?" the steward asked.

  "Of course I do. I am thrilled to see you remember it as well."

  The fire mage Brenn was in his basement when he heard the crash at his door. He couldn't believe it. Ever since the elf entered his home, he had been much more careful about his spell casting. He did not wish to bring attention to himself, but it seemed as if he couldn't avoid it. He wondered if an infern had simply walked too close to his home at the wrong time and noted the light residue of a minor spell he cast.

  Resigned to face the consequences of his actions, he walked up the basement stairs to give himself up for questioning. He believed he could explain the situation. Spell casting had been restricted, not abolished. He could say he was being careful and kept the spells limited in scope and power. He also restricted the energy to his basement where no one might be harmed, and that was at least partially the truth. He also didn't wish to be noticed, but he didn't have to make that admission.

  He was prepared to meet human guards-perhaps even a group of inferns-when he opened the basement door and stepped into his living room. He found neither. Disbelief struck him first, and then anger. What he saw defied explanation, and as he looked out his front window, he realized that the invasion of his home was also occurring everywhere he could see.

  "Get out of my house!" he shouted.

  Nearly a dozen goblins appeared stunned by the forceful admonishment, but only for a moment. Their expressions of surprise quickly dissolved into masks of giddy belligerence. They sprang upon the mage, intending to take hold of him and throw him into the street.

  Brenn reacted out of total instinct. His hands rose out of a reflexive need to hold off the goblins, and the words of the spell spilled from his lips without much conscious desire. A fireball that would have consumed a large shag burst from his open palms and incinerated the goblins.

  Most of the tiny monsters simply turned to ash, but a few in the back managed to stay alive long enough to race about shrieking in agony. As the fire from their bodies quickly spread across the bottom floor of Brenn's house, the remaining goblins quickly collapsed into the flames.

  Brenn ran across the floor, holding his arms across his face. He leapt through the broken remains of his front door and out onto the front porch. At first, he looked back at his house in dismay as the flames shot up to the second floor in an instant. He knew there would be nothing to save, but then he worried about the entire block. He was about to call out for help when he remembered the goblins had not just targeted his home.

  Turning about, Brenn witnessed the horrors of the goblin uprising in full. He saw neighbors and friends dying in the streets, goblins looting corpses and destroying anything and everything within their reach. He found more than despair, he found fury, and just as the goblins had released their hostilities upon the humans, Brenn decided to let loose the magical abilities he kept guarded for so long.

  He threw spell after spell at each goblin he saw. He singled them out from the people they attacked and used his fire with great skill to focus his anger on goblins alone. He never scorched another human, and other than his own home, never set another building to burn. Arrow flames shot from his fingers, and fireballs exploded from his palms.

  The goblins nearby recognized the threat and turned their attention toward the fire mage with a rage of their ow
n. They did not appreciate the interruption to their plans, and so they collapsed upon him from all sides.

  Disregarding the staggering numbers that surrounded him, Brenn unleashed the full fury of his power. After burying his talents, he released them with a roar of flame. A ring of fire erupted from his midsection, incinerating goblins in every direction that dared stagger too close.

  Many of the goblins realized the folly of their attack, but it was too late. The horde behind them pushed them forward and forced them into the flames of their death. As they kept flinging themselves at the mage in hopeless rage, the stench of burning goblin flesh rose high above the street.

  "Enough!" a voice from deep behind the goblins shouted. "Make way!"

  The goblins halted their assault, fell back, and made a clear path for three inferns that marched toward Brenn with their eyes blazing red.

  "You wish to fight with fire? Very well, but you will not fight goblins."

  Brenn did not fear fire, for it was a part of him, but his control over the flame allowed him to see deep into the core of the infern's blazing essence. Despite being only half-demon, the heart of the creature was pure evil. The fire mage saw malevolence in the fiery depths and he realized how demon fire could burn the soul. He did not wish to battle such creatures of hate, but he had no other choice. The goblins had the street blocked, and he was well aware of the inferns speed.

  Without considering the consequences, Brenn unleashed his most powerful spell. He knew he could not outmaneuver the half-demons, or outlast them. His only hope was to surprise them. He did so with raw power.

  Choosing to go beyond the flames of fire, he focused his energy on reaching into the cores of the inferns and stoking their very essence into a self-feeding storm. The half-demons never had the opportunity to fight back as the fire within them turned into pure boiling plasma and consumed their entire beings. The heat became so intense that the three inferns collapsed into each other. The burning winds that pulled them together were so strong that they actually became one glowing mass until there was nothing left.

  With no energy left to defend himself, Brenn fell to his knees. He was given only a momentary reprieve as the goblins stared dumbfounded at the small pile of infern residue in the center of the street. Their shock lasted but a few heartbeats, long enough for the mage to appreciate the true power of the spell he cast. It would be his last. He prayed his end would be quick, and since the goblins were ferocious with the desire for immediate revenge, it actually was.

  Chapter 24

  Before Holli revealed much detail regarding the events in the valleys, Enin brought both her and Ryson to Heteera's bedroom where Jure kept watch over the dormant sorceress.

  "Any change?" Enin asked, as he peered into the room but did not enter, deciding it was best to remain outside so as not to risk disturbing the sorceress.

  Jure got up from his chair and met the threesome just beyond the doorway.

  "No, she hasn't moved on her own. No real reactions at all, not even a cough, but at least the magic appears completely stable."

  Jure nodded a greeting to both Ryson and Holli. He was surprised to see them and wondered what news they brought back from the Great Valleys.

  "They just returned," Enin explained. "I wanted you to hear what they said. No sense in them repeating things."

  Enin finally allowed Holli to recite all that she and Ryson had learned. Both wizards remained silent throughout. Neither asked any questions until the elf guard concluded her findings with the prophecy as explained by Reader Rachael.

  "Rachael was certain about the two wizards casting white magic?" Enin wondered.

  "She had extreme confidence in the prophecies," Holli admitted.

  "Not too many spell casters can cast in pure white," Jure noted. "Doubtful that there would be two others so close to the crisis that would be willing to work together."

  "I doubt there are any in the valleys," Holli added. "The regional steward put harsh restrictions on the use of magic. I even asked him about it. The magic was the one area where he showed uncertainty. I do not think he is comfortable around it. I believe the inferns are enforcing the casting restrictions. A wizard with the ability to cast white magic would have found such restrictions unacceptable and would have left long ago."

  Enin agreed, and then returned his focus to the prophecy.

  "It seems we are required to act. Destiny is a difficult thing to avoid."

  "Are you certain the prophecies refer to you and Jure?" Holli asked, still unwilling to merely accept such a presumption.

  "Certain? No, but I believe Ryson received the message from the sword for a reason. That fact cannot be denied. The two of you were guided to Rachael, and then you came here. I am not willing to discount such occurrences as simple coincidence. Whether you wish to believe the prophecies or not, the enchantment of the sword should not be disregarded. I believe that's direction enough for Jure and I to involve ourselves, but we are not quite certain who we are to act against. Perhaps it would be best to deal with the dwarves first. We know…"

  Jure cut the wizard off with just one word.

  "Draevols," the elder wizard stated with hardened confidence.

  "Draevols?" Enin responded first. "You think they are responsible?"

  "Yes, I do."

  Holli didn't dismiss the thought. In fact, it held merit. She considered draevols a possible threat when she first encountered the inferns, but she needed to point out certain issues. Making unsubstantiated assumptions was as bad as ignoring obvious facts.

  "But I did not sense any draevols," the elf made clear. "Not in Sterling, not in Huntston, not even in Ashlan."

  The elder wizard felt uneasy about taking the lead, but he could not dismiss the clarity with which aspects of the story fell into place.

  "It's not a surprise," Jure explained. "I don't think they were in Sterling. The dwarves were dealing directly with the goblins. There would be no need for a draevol to risk revealing itself in a city of dwarves."

  "What about Ashlan and Huntston?"

  "I think that's exactly where they are."

  Enin pressed for greater clarification.

  "Why is it you believe draevols are involved at all?"

  "It just makes sense. Holli said there were inferns guarding the valley. Why would they do that on their own? They wouldn't. They're following orders. It becomes a question of who is capable of ordering an infern to guard a pass instead of burning down the forest. A goblin? A dwarf? I don't think so."

  "That's a bit thin to automatically assume draevols are responsible," Enin noted.

  "I would agree, but it doesn't end there. We also have to look at what's going on in Ashland and Huntston, and across the valleys. Goblins are taking over farms and inundating cities. Something much more devious than a goblin has to be involved."

  "Prilgrat was the driving force behind most of that," Ryson offered.

  "And what would make a regional steward allow goblins to infiltrate his lands?"

  "I have not been able to answer that question," Holli admitted.

  "Wouldn't a demon be able to manipulate humans? You have to admit it's possible, at least much more likely than a regional steward making some kind of handshake deal with a goblin. No, I'm sure there are two draevols and they're deeply involved with Ashlan and Huntston. I believe that is where they're hiding."

  "Hiding?" Holli wondered. "You think the draevols knew we were there and purposely hid from us?"

  "To a degree, yes. Didn't you say that Prilgrat wasn't surprised to see you in Ashlan? It sounds like he expected you. I'd go as far to say Prilgrat knew you were in the valleys. If he struck some kind of deal with a draevol, I'm sure they'd share that information. And didn't soldiers arrest you in Huntston? Seems to me they were aware of your presence."

  "But not the whole time," Ryson pointed out. "It took a while for the guards in Huntston to identify us, and the inferns in Ashlan had no idea who I was when they tried to capture me. To me, that
means they weren't sure where we were, and wouldn't Holli have noticed a demon so active in either place? I mean, she can sense goblins coming down a tunnel. We were in the same room as Prilgrat. We talked to him."

  He might not have understood magic, but Ryson knew how to use his own senses. Holli was very sensitive to the energy. Her missing a demon would be like a delver failing to notice a long dead corpse decomposing in the next room.

  "Not necessarily, not if the demon wished to hide," Jure explained.

  Holli did not wish to sound skeptical, but she agreed with the delver. She could not imagine a draevol escaping her notice for such an extended period of time. Yes, it was possible it could elude her and mask its presence with a shrouding spell, but she thoroughly explored the city for days.

  "We were in Ashlan too long for a draevol to cover its existence with a spell of its own making."

  "No, not a shadow spell or some kind of temporary cloak, but hiding in another way. You spoke of the abnormal motion of the magic-how it flowed into the city and then flowed back out. This was occurring in both Ashlan and Huntston. I believe the draevols directed that flow, made certain the energy covered them. It is not being utilized in any spell. It is being used as a curtain."

  "Is that possible?" Ryson asked.

  "It is a very rational explanation," Enin answered, his knowledge of the magic greater than any of those gathered together.

  "Think about it," Jure continued. "You spoke to a magic caster in Ashlan, and he offered the idea that the flow of magic was a shove or a reminder. In a way, that was probably true. The draevols were focusing the magic on the two places where the goblin activity was the greatest, Ashlan and Huntston. They were reminding the goblins who was really in charge, but it served another purpose as well."

  "If the flow was directed with the right precision, it could have blocked out any magical revelation of the draevols' presence," Holli allowed, as she began to follow the elder wizard's theory.

  "Not just a shove or a reminder to the goblins," Jure acknowledged, "but a distraction as well. A wave of magic to flush away any signs of the draevols. That also may be why they restricted the use of magic in Ashlan, to avoid reducing the flow and allowing the demon to be uncovered."