Over the city hung a taint of evil strong enough to make Melaki want to heave.
“Let us make haste.” Talin rode ahead, robes flapping in the breeze of his passage.
He sighed, stopping the attempt to sense anything. He waved at everyone else and rode ahead. Back in Soam's Crossing he had released the chickens to forage. The sheep were free to range. He had pegged the doors with notices that the village was under confirmed claim of Talin the wizard.
The imperial forces had found nothing. The officer had asked if Talin wanted to stake additional claim. He had been surprised when the wizard declined.
Soam's Crossing was once again a town roamed by nothing but ghosts, waiting for the return of life – if it ever happened.
As the caravan of animals, carts and people descended towards Kellerran, he felt as if the future was swallowing him.
* * *
Melaki blew apart another skeleton. “We are getting overwhelmed.”
Before them, a wave of skeletons pressed forward. Talin and Melaki obliterated dozens at a time. Tila worked solo on their exposed flank, dancing among reaching bones, destroying all that she faced. In the rear, Gramm swung his ridiculously enormous two-handed sword, plowing through skeletons as if through weeds.
“We can not keep this up,” Melaki said. Sweat was on his brow.
Sala turned and delivered a perfectly-aimed kick to a skeleton that had gotten past Tila.
Talin grunted. “Perhaps you are right. We need to be in a better position to defend.”
“There's a gated structure through that archway,” Tila called. She pointed, then went back to dancing around the skeletons, sword slashing and shield smashing. She was sweating, too.
Talin sighed. “Melaki, make a force shield here so we can turn to that structure.”
Melaki did not complain or object. Making a force shield had been very difficult for him. Very draining. Almost as difficult as healing. He patterned the shield, feeling the drain. He was at his end.
The skeletons battered against his shield of something unseen. The column of animals and humans shifted towards Tila. She drove forward, beginning to scream out in effort. Bones flew as wildly as her braid.
Melaki felt the power drain from him faster than water through a broken vase. Spots swam before his eyes. A buzzing filled his ears, growing louder. He lost feeling in his limbs. His vision spun and tilted. Then he was resting on the cool paving stone of the courtyard.
Such sweet rest.
He was lifted, causing all sorts of nausea.
A roaring growl filled his ears from a distance. A flash and swing of a huge sword ran in and out of his vision. He seemed to be looking down a long, dark tunnel. Everything was so distant.
He felt himself being moved.
* * *
“-- a failure.” Talin's voice said.
“He saved us, gave us time--” Tila said.
“He is weak. Barely able to pass the tests.”
“He passed them,” she said.
“Any initiate could have stood there and endured where he fell.”
“Is that so?” said Bena.
“What do you know of wizardy, woman?” Talin's indignant voice echoed.
“My wife knows much,” Gramm growled.
“My brother is a wizard of the fourth rank.”
Talin laughed at Bena.
Melaki groaned, trying to focus. He had drained himself to exhaustion.
“The fool awakens.” Talin's voice was mocking.
Hands touched his face. Tila's hands. She smoothed his hair back and leaned over him.
They were in a large hall of some sort. A plaza within a building. He could hear the rattle of bones against a shut gate. He moved his head and looked over to the gate. A cart was against it. Nearby stood the mule Sala and the horse Tila, ears forward, facing him. Bones littered the ground.
He groaned again and tried to sit up.
“The fool will wet himself trying to gain his feet.” Talin's head jerked back and forth in mockery.
He stood, though slowly, and retained his breakfast. He also stood dry in his robes.
Talin sneered. “Check everything. Make sure nothing can get in. We will kill whatever controls these in the morning.”
Melaki sat down heavily after Talin stalked off. Tila stroked his hair.
* * *
Melaki spooned up his soup.
“Do you want mine?” Talin offered with a sneer. “You might need it.”
“I am fine.”
“At least you could lick my bowl, then.”
“I said I was fine.” He felt weak.
The curl to Talin's lip showed Melaki that the wizard was getting enjoyment out of insulting him.
Tila bristled. “He is doing fine and he saved us--”
“Oh please,” said Talin. “Any initiate can hold a force pattern for at least twice as long as he without fainting.”
“But he had been battling so many skeletons--”
“Irrelevant.”
“Why? Just because you say it so?” Tila's voice was fierce and defensive. She looked ready to fling her bowl at Talin.
“Of course. I am above you petty mercenaries.”
“I am not a mercenary--”
“No, of course not.” Talin glanced at his fingernails in the air.
“Neret was of noble birth--”
That startled Talin. “Was he?” He dropped his hand. Then he raised it again. “Well, he is dead now, is he not?”
“He was still noble--”
“And now dead. As weak as Melaki here, if not weaker.”
“You dare!”
“Oh, plug a hole with your outrage.”
Tila glared menacingly at Talin.
“Leave it,” Melaki said to Tila. “He thrives on dissension and insult.”
“I do no such thing,” said Talin. “I merely demonstrate my intellectual superiority to you lessers and--”
“Lessers?” Melaki said.
“Do you not understand the term?”
“I understand the term, you dumb ass--”
“Dare you call me such!”
Melaki smirked at Talin. “I dare.”
“May I have a bit more soup?” Gramm said. His voice ws pleasant, but his eyes watched.
Tila handed him the pot without comment.
“If I did not need you tomorrow to hold light--”
“That is all you wanted me for.”
“Well, of course,” said Talin. “You are not worth anything else.”
“Such as destroying skeletons.”
“Exactly. Worthless.”
Melaki cleared his throat. “I seem to remember killing more skeletons than you--”
Talin's voice drowned out everything else. “Nonsense. I was the one who—”
“Who what? Who can now kill two or three skeletons at a time because I showed you how to do it?”
The sneer on Talin's face became hate.
Tila tugged on him. “Maybe you should sleep.”
Talin's lip curled. “There you are. Right. Drag him off to lick his wounds. After all, they are so huge.”
Melaki growled, but he was clay in Tila's hands.
She deposited him in a room and lit a fire on her own. She left and returned a little later with their gear. She even wiped his face with a wet rag, removing the grime of combat.
Her eyes gazed down into his.
That night, in the middle of an evil city, she removed her clothes and slipped into his blankets with him, naked.
Finding his sleepiness receding while other things grew, he caressed that warm, bare skin.
Their lips met. Their passion flared brighter than the fire in the fireplace.
* * *
Melaki nodded. Again.
“Are you sure.” Talin glared at him.
“I am sure, wizard. I am rested.”
A wordless growl from Talin's throat promised punishment if otherwise.
But Melaki did feel we
ll. He was rested and had eaten enough to carry him through the day – if the evil taint in the city did not make him heave it up.
If it does, I will aim for Talin's robes. The thought made him smile. Then the smile fled. He would just make me clean them.
“Gramm,” Talin said. “You should be safe here. We should return before the end of the day.”
“Have no worries, wizard. The camp is secure.”
“Let us go, then.”
Gramm lifted the bar and the gate swung inward from the weight of the skeletons pushing against it. The wood was gouged and scratched from a night of clawing.
Melaki formed his patterns and went to work. He centered his thoughts on efficiency, trying to conserve as much power as he had. His ears rang and then ceased hearing anything. His vision was unfocused. His arms stabbed out and swung and when they did skeletons fell in an explosion of bone.
Talin worked next to him until the tide of skeletons lessened, and then finally ceased. Bones littered the alley outside the gate up to knee-height.
“Fool,” said Talin.
“What?” His thoughts were hazy as he began concentrating again on other things. His power had flowed more efficiently and used less of himself in the process. He would need to note this discovery down later.
“You did not need to try impressing me by killing more skeletons.”
“I did?”
“I told you to conserve your meager--”
“I did conserve.”
“You did no such thing.”
He sighed. Talin would not believe him. “Are we going to go get a cachement or are we going to listen to you brag about your abilities again?”
Talin's mouth snapped shut and he strode forward and out the gate.
“You handle him well,” said Tila.
“You believe so? I am not sure most of the time.”
“You poke his greed and he shuts up.”
Melaki nodded, thoughtful. Turning to his animals he said, “Come, Sala.”
The donkey's ears stood up and she turned a head to Tila the horse to show some teeth. Tila nickered. The donkey trotted forward and followed Melaki. As she came forward, she swished her tail into the face of the horse. Tila tried to bite it.
He sighed.
The gate was barred shut behind them and they began climbing over the bones until Melaki grunted in frustration. He formed a couple patterns, oily and force, and blew the bone pile out of their way.
“I told you to conserve yourself.” Talin's voice itched.
“It was nothing.”
Tila gripped his arm, gently.
He recalled her eyes in the firelight, the shine of her hair, and their passion from the previous night. He smiled down at her.
Talin led the way. Their walk along aged columns was uninterrupted. The city was dead around them, only seeing life when a bird fluttered through. The ocean breeze was very slight, but enough to ruffle curtains through open windows.
Melaki reached out his senses a few times to see if there was anything right around them. Now that they were drawing closer to the palace, he could discern three evil entities. One was very strong.
“Stop that,” Talin said.
He sighed.
“When we face them down, I want you at your best and a shield in place.”
“Yes.” Melaki glanced at Tila.
She twisted her mouth.
“Think of the gems,” he said.
Her eyes got big.
“What?” said Talin. “What of them?”
“Think about how they will be glowing--”
“You are not getting more than your share and I am generous for giving you what I do.”
He was right, but he was still an ass.
“Think of the wealth.”
“Oh, I see. You attempt to insult me by claiming I harbor greed.” He thrust his nose in the air.
“Are you not?”
“Am I not what?”
Melaki shared a look again with Tila. “Are you not greedy?”
“Of course not. I could never fall to such base levels.”
“Oh?”
“I am simply taking what is mine.”
There was little warning. “Undead.” Melaki formed a shield against magic, feeling his power drain – but far less than maintaining a physical shield of force.
Zombies ran forward from a building on their left, their eyes rolling in their heads, looking all around. Zombies were far more powerful than skeletons, allowing the controller to use their bodies from a distance. Much more than mere puppets, like skeletons, these were deadlier, smarter, faster and very strong.
There were six of them.
Talin worked fast, obliterating two with the trick Melaki had shown him. Two more went down just as they reached for the wizard.
Tila barreled into one with her buckler and Melaki formed a force and threw the last one back. That gave Talin enough time to kill them both.
He released the patterns. He still felt fine.
Talin dusted off his robes though he had gotten nothing on him. “The controllers must be powerful.”
The palace was ahead, partially in ruins. One side had caved in as if something large had struck it. They walked slower towards it, careful now of their surroundings.
They could feel it, or them, waiting.
“No more skeletons?” Melaki said.
“They know we can defeat them. Useless waste of power.”
“Ah.”
“They pressed us close yesterday,” Tila said.
“Using skeletons, they do not know as much.” Talin said. “They are a limited vessel.”
The courtyard held a grisly sight. An enormous pile of human bones were piled in a charred pyramid.
“The necromancers of Kellerran,” the wizard said. But the imperial forces had only been hunting necromancers. “Now we clean up what was left behind.”
“How did the imperials fail to finish cleaning--” Tila said.
Talin waved her off. “The necromancers would have summoned things, such as what we have faced. But sometimes also more powerful things. Hidden by magic, the imperial forces missed them all. As the necromancers died, their magic dissipated, at once releasing and revealing their summoned spirits.”
“I see,” she said.
The entry was torn open, double doors strewn inside.
“I am certain the things we seek will be in the throne room.” Talin's nose led the way.
Melaki pointed to Sala. “Stay here.”
Her ears waggled.
The throne room was gloomy, part of the ceiling gone and open to the outside.
“Light,” Talin said.
Melaki started to form an oily pattern and a light but started a chain reaction of events that interrupted him and that he would forever regret.
From two sides rushed sickly green ghouls, eyes blazing red with the fury of hell. Both Talin and Tila were shocked into inactivity for a second.
There was no time. Melaki slammed a pattern of force against the one rushing Tila. Then he turned and saw something falling from the gloominess above them.
Talin destroyed the ghoulish thing that had rushed him with an astounding display of raw power. But he was oblivious to the thing falling on him from above. It had a mouth as wide as the wizard's shoulders. One bite and Talin's head would be removed.
No time.
He formed a force pattern and pushed. The thing was hit by magic and diverted away.
Talin noticed it. But he squinted at Melaki.
He formed an attack pattern as the thing scrambled to its clawed feet. It screeched as it launched itself again at Talin. It was too close.
Tila cried out but so did the thing she was fighting.
He could not spare a look. The thing almost at Talin's throat was the powerful one he had felt from so far away. Some demon of some sort. He saw Talin manipulating his spirit magic. He would not be in time. Melaki reached out and touched that silvery and slimy cord of pattern
he detected, something to do with the spirit usage. The creature stopped, maw open in a soundless shout.
He could feel it straining. He could feel its surprise.
Talin finished his manipulation and his attack caused the thing to shake violently.
Melaki saw the magic in his mind. He saw the silvery-slimy cord of magic from Talin. It was aimed at the thing's head.
The demon struggled, jaws snapping just out of range of Talin's outstretched fingers. Then its head exploded. Black blood, gore and wet flesh that sizzled as it struck them showered over the throne room.
Talin whirled on Melaki. “What have you done!” His shout echoed in the silence.
Melaki blinked. He glanced at Tila. She was laying face up, breathing raggedly. The demon-thing twitched next to her, dead. He started to move towards her.
“Melaki!” The shout stopped him. He felt Talin begin to manipulate magic. “You have used what is forbidden on pain of death!”
“I saved your life.”
“No! Giant magic is forbidden! It is evil! The curses of the gods fall on those who use it!” His shouting was loud. His face was red. His eyes hysterical with rage.
“Heretic?” Tila said. Her voice was pained and she gasped as she struggled to sit up. “Heretic?”
Melaki saw the horror in her eyes.
“Die! Damn you!” Talin's shout alerted him. His hand shot out.
Melaki reacted with a magic shield. The resulting collision blew him backwards to skid along the ground. Too powerful. His strength is incredible...
Talin advanced. Thrusting another hand.
He did not have time to restore the shield. Magical claws of the spirit raked down his face. It sank deep and tore flesh in a jagged swipe. He cried out in agony.
Talin raised his other hand, manipulating.
Melaki felt it. Another attack like the one against the demon beast. His head felt like it began to swell.
Too powerful.
He desperately sought out the manipulation with a delve.
Talin laughed. “You want to see the power that kills you? Pity you learn nothing from it. You can not even resist me. You might as well watch.”
The Melaki Chronicle Page 12
