The Bohemian Magician

by A. L. Sirois

  But though the nixie was a formidable swordsman, strong on offense, his defense was weak: within moments Guilhem found his way through it and thrust his sword through the Cáervinen’s heart. He immediately turned to assist Baubaruva. The Cáervinen, now confronted by two foes, redoubled his efforts but could not prevail and soon lay lifeless on the ground. Guilhem and Baubaruva ran off to help the other fighters in their platoon, whose blades they heard clashing with those of the enemy in tunnels close by.

  As they rushed to the aid of their comrades they passed through a narrow place in a corridor pierced by several smaller tunnel offshoots. Had they been more observant they might have spotted the enemy combatants lurking in the shadows not far down these sheltering tunnels; but as it was, they had already dashed past when they were surprised by three Cáervinens who fell on them from the rear. The intensity of the enemy attack so surprised them that Guilhem and Baubaruva were forced to retreat in the direction in which they had been headed. Behind them they heard the rattle of weapon on weapon; before them were their new attackers: they were boxed in.

  So fiercely did they fight, however, that they dispatched one of the trio within seconds while still being pushed back. The corridor opened out into a cavern through which ran a quick-flowing river to their right, preventing their escape in that direction. Guilhem, risking a quick glance behind, saw that the cavern terminated after a few paces in a blank stone curtain, under which the river disappeared like a rippling black rug. To their left was a rocky floor pierced with stalagmites that blocked their view so that they could not tell if the open space continued more than a few dozen paces. The luminescent fungi carried by the combatants threw their great shadows on the irregular walls, making it seem as though the true combat took place there among dark, misshapen soldiers.

  Yet the space must be vaster farther on, reasoned Guilhem quickly, as he fought, For the sounds of battle come from there, and the shouts of men.

  Heartened, he redoubled his efforts against their remaining two foes. But these Persons were well-trained, fast and aggressive. They gave no quarter and refused to retreat. The one engaging Guilhem was younger than he, and as skilled a swordsman as Guilhem had ever encountered. It was obvious to both Cáervinens and Fagertärnians that the next man to fall, whichever side he was on, would leave one soldier to fight two: and the outcome would not then be in much doubt.

  Desperate to end the sword fight soon, before he tired, Guilhem flung himself forward, attempting to pierce his man’s guard and stab through to his vitals. But his foe had evidently been prepared for just such an eventuality, for though he had no room to swing his thorn-sword, he brought the butt of its haft down on Guilhem’s helmet, shattering it. Guilhem, dazed, fell to his knees. The nixie brought his sword around in a shout of triumph, but at the same moment Guilhem saw the point of a thorn suddenly appear through the man’s stomach: Baubaruva had won his duel, and instantly leaped to Guilhem’s aid. But even as he died, the mortally wounded Cáervinen managed to kick Guilhem in the side of his head, knocking him into the river beside which they fought.

  The weight Guilhem bore from his insect armor and thorn weapons was not great; yet he could easily have drowned were it not that two circumstances combined to save his life: one, the water was so cold as to immediately shock him back to awareness; and two, the river was broad but shallow; had he waded into it at that place, the water would have come less than half-way to his knees.

  Even before he floundered out of the river, Baubaruva was dragging him up the smooth rock shore.

  “Are you all right?” the nixie asked.

  “Thank you, yes,” said Guilhem, waving a hand in weak assent. He lay there for a short time, pondering the vagaries of fate that had led him to this buried civilization. He ached for his wife and children, while knowing that his task was far from complete and that it would be many a day until he saw them once again. The knowing stung him; to banish it he clambered to his feet. “Well,” he said to Baubaruva. “Shall we go find our fellows?”

  “Aye, indeed!”

  * * *

  The campaign had been successful. Their commanding officer, Ariyāramna, was loud in his praises of them. The enemies of Fagertärn, he reported, having sustained crippling losses, had been driven back to their home tunnels. The Fagertärnian warriors, exhausted but jubilant, were released to return to their households and families. Guilhem, back in the dwelling allotted to him and Oriabel, collapsed into a chair, dirty, blood-stained (though not with his own blood), and weary unto his bones. After a few moments, he heard snoring from upstairs. A crooked grin spread across his face. Mistress Oriabel is in residence, he thought. He dragged himself up the narrow stairs to his own bedroom and lay down on his bed, groaning.

  Some hours later he awoke, stretched, winced at a sharp jab from a small wound that needed its dressing changed, and slowly sat up.

  Oriabel appeared at the door, a smug expression on her face. “I heard the bed creaking,” she said. “So you are awake.”

  “So I am,” he agreed, yawning hugely.

  “That’s good. I’m pleased that you survived your war. But now, do you prepare for our departure.”

  “What? Depart where?” Never at his best just after rising, Guilhem found her meaning opaque. He rose from his bed, groaning at the stiffness in his joints. I grow old, he thought with fleeting sadness as he began donning his clothing. How many more battles have I left in me? “What has obtained since last we saw each other?” he asked Oriabel.

  “Much,” she said. “It will take a deal of explaining. Come break your fast and I will tell it.”

  Downstairs he settled himself in at the table, and while she spoke partook of the food laid out thereon.

  “No sooner had you set off on your adventure than it was time for me to descend once more into the treasure tunnels,” she began. “And so, past the watchful eye of the loathsome Oxartes, I went to the chamber in which we workers don our singlets, gauntlets, and boots.

  “Before we entered the excavation Oxartes called us all to order. ‘Be particularly cautious today,’ he said. ‘The last crew reported an attack by a tatzelwurm. Do not wander off from your assigned locations. We will inform you once the beast has been found and dealt with.’

  “We women trooped off into the tunnels with much grumbling and fearful discussion. You must realize, duke, that for the Persons, working in the treasure tunnels is considered an extreme punishment, because there are no streams or other running water in most of them... and the Persons love water above all. Its lack bothered me not at all, but the Persons complained mightily. Every so often, an overseer would come by and spray them with water to alleviate the most extreme effects of their suffering, but for the most part they had to do without. Moreover, the stones hurt their feet and the dirt galled them most terribly. But I am digressing.

  “‘What is a tatzelwurm?’ I asked my acquaintance Iotapa, never having heard of such a creature; but the others either paid me no heed or else cast unfriendly looks at me, so that my curiosity went unsatisfied, for that time.

  “Iotapa said, ‘The tatzelwurm is a cave-dwelling creature something like a dragon, but smaller, perhaps ten paces long, with front legs but only a snake’s body below its neck. It has but one eye, and a head like that of a cat.’

  “‘Are these beasts common?’ I asked.

  “‘No,’ she said curtly. ‘They hoard gold, which means that finding one nearby is probably a good sign. They are ferocious creatures, though, and attack without warning.’

  “I pondered this news. Perhaps the gold my scrying sense had revealed to me was part of the tatzelwurm’s treasure. If I were to find it, I would win favor, and maybe have the opportunity hide some additional gold for myself, so that you and I could escape this noisome place.” She broke off. “I am puzzled by that look on your face.”

  “Iotapa,” he said.

  Oriabel shrugged. “What of her?”

  “Well, I have learned that she is the wife of a third
brother, now deceased, to Uvaxshtra and Baubaruva.”

  Oriabel raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Indeed?”

  “Yes... and they want our help in rescuing her from the treasure tunnels. She is accused of being a Cáervinen spy.”

  “She told me it was because of taxes.”

  Guilhem shrugged. “Who would confess to being a spy, especially to a stranger, who might well be a spy herself?”

  “There may be something in what you say,” Oriabel admitted. “But shall I continue with my story?”

  “Pray do.”

  Oriabel settled herself in her chair. “Despite Iotapa’s disdainful attitude, then, I did my best to be cordial, knowing that I needed at least one friend in the tunnels that I could rely on.

  “I made sure that I was one of those assigned to work with Iotapa, then waited until the other diggers had moved far enough away from their site that their conversation could not be overheard.

  “‘We can help each other, you know,’ I said to her.

  “Iotapa said nothing for a few moments. Instead, she continued digging at the earthen wall with her spade. That, and a crude hoe, were the only tools we had apart from our hands. As is the case throughout the entirety of the nixie tunnels, small sputtering torches lit our work area. After an interval Iotapa said, “What can you do to help me? All I require is gold, and I can dig that myself.’

  “‘But I can help you find it more quickly,’ I said.

  “Angrily she cast down her shovel and turned to face me. ‘I do not need magic or witchery to help me! I like you, Oriabel, but it could be worth my life to be your friend. Among us, the penalty for having truck with magic is death.’

  “I told her I understood. ‘That is why you have been distant. You think I am using diabolism.’

  “‘Yes!” she hissed. ‘How else is it that you, a stranger, have such good fortune with your finds?’

  “I said, ‘What if I could promise you that at the end of today you could leave this place and never have to return, ever?’

  “She eyed me narrowly for a moment, then scoffed. ‘I note that you do not deny the accusation.’

  “I simply stared at her. I knew I was taking a calculated risk. As I told you, duke, I had sensed treasure nearby that I could not wrest from the ground on my own. In fact, that very day’s excavating had brought my team to within a short distance of what I felt must be a previously undetected tunnel; and in this tunnel, I was certain, lay a massive depository of gold.

  “‘If you trust me,’ I said to Iotapa, ‘I swear to you that you need never again fear being consigned to such labor as this. You could return to your children, and live without care.’”

  Guilhem interrupted her tale at this point. “So you have already seen to freeing her from the tunnels,” he said. “Why did you not say so at the outset?”

  The witch glared at him. “Let me tell it in my own time, will you? Anyway, to continue. Iotapa blew out her breath, and wiped sweat from her forehead. ‘A tempting offer,’ she muttered. ‘What must I do?’

  “‘Dig where I tell you to,’ I said, looking around again to make sure no one was listening. ‘Five paces to our left.’

  “‘I mislike this,’ Iotapa said, but she shouldered her hoe and walked down the tunnel as I directed. ‘Here?’

  “I nodded, and set to work with my pick. ‘It will not take long,’ I told her.

  “Indeed, on my next stroke, I broke through into empty space.

  “Iotapa gasped. ‘How could you know?’

  “‘Stop talking.’ I warned her. ‘You’ll draw attention.’ Looking around, I saw that no one was observing us. ‘Hurry.’ We fell to work enlarging the hole. ‘We can get in there before anyone notices we are gone.’

  “‘But there is no light,’ said Iotapa in a doubtful tone. ‘How will we see? What if there is a precipice, or deep water? At least here I am still alive.’

  “‘O foolish woman! I don’t care what you do,’ said I between my teeth, ‘but I am going inside. Stay here or follow; it is all one to me.’ Within moments the hole was large enough to admit me. I threw my pick to one side and pushed my head and shoulders into the opening. An instant later I had wriggled through and found myself sprawling on the floor of what I judged to be, by the weak illumination from the hole behind me and the echoes caused by my entry, a sizeable cavern. ‘Come!’ I said over my shoulder. The light was momentarily blocked by Iotapa’s body as she scrambled into the cave after me.

  “She got to her feet and stood trembling beside me. ‘Where is this place?’ she whispered.

  “‘Now how would I know that, Iotapa?’ I took a step forward.

  “‘I fear tatzelwurms!’

  “‘Leave the tatzelwurms to me,’ I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt; I am after all not a demon-fighter, merely a simple backwoods healer with some knowledge of basic magic like shape-shifting. Well I know that the essence of magic comes in appearing to be something one is not.

  “Which didn’t mean that I was totally without resources, however. Withdrawing my athame out of my clothing I held it aloft by its handle in the darkness. ‘Lumina, la mine! Descoperi calea!’ I called into the surrounding blackness, using the language of my Romany forebears, the language in which I had learned to cast spells. Immediately the knife’s blade began glowing with a ghostly, near supernal moon-colored radiance.

  “The cavern, we now saw, extended out from us until its farther reaches were lost in gathering dimness. Great stalactites hung from the uneven ceiling high above, reaching down like gnarled fingers of stone. The floor was fairly level but interrupted by huge, crouching stalagmites. The limestone glistened wetly in the athame’s light, the shadows licking them seeming to quiver and jump as we moved forward. The odor of nearby gold tickled the inside of my nose. It was close; I knew it was.

  “As the light spread out Iotapa gasped, ‘You are a sorceress!’ She made as if to turn back to the hole, when we heard an ominous purring sound. Something across the cavern moved in our direction amid the shadows. I could not see it clearly for the rough conical stalagmites blocking my view of the floor.

  “Iotapa clutched at my arm. ‘The tatzelwurm! We have blundered into its treasure chamber!’

  “No doubt she was right. I pushed the nixie woman behind me with a protective sweep of her arm. ‘Stay here,’ I said.

  “‘Nay, let me fly for help!’

  “‘Not yet,’ I said. ‘I will try to best the creature on my own.’ But a close look at Iotapa told me that she was too terrified to stand her ground.

  “The tatzelwurm growled, awakening echoes in the cave. I felt my hair stand on end.

  “Iotapa stared wide-eyed at me. ‘You’re mad! I will go fetch assistance!’

  “Again I refused, saying, ‘Do you wish to share the monster’s gold with others?’ I grabbed Iotapa by the arms, hard. ‘Like Oxartes? Oh yes, he’d make sure there was a fair distribution of the hoard.’

  “Iotapa drew in her breath, then let it out in several quick pants. ‘Y-you’re right,’ she murmured. ‘We would not see so much as a single piece of silver.’ She took another breath. ‘Very well. I will wait here.’ She stared out at the cavern.

  “I knew it was useless to argue further with the terror-stricken Person, so I simply nodded, and patted her shoulder. ‘That’s fine. If anything happens, then do what you must. Do you want my knife?’ I held out the glowing blade, but Iotapa cowered back from it. ‘Very well,’ I said. The hole was feebly lit by torchlight emanating from the tunnel beyond; if she had to flee, she would have no difficulty finding her way.

  “With that I turned away from the shelter of the cavern wall and the hole we’d dug back to the relative safety of the nixie tunnels and faced the shadowy menace at the far end of the cave.

  “As it made its way toward me I saw it more clearly. I tell you, the thing was more fearsome even than Iotapa had described. Its head was indeed rather catlike, but covered with scales rather than fur. The beast h
ad one large eye, and questing tendrils in place of whiskers. It dragged itself along on two powerful forelegs equipped with long black talons. From its shoulders on back it had a thick, legless body ending in a blunt tail. Twin rows of triangular plates, decreasing in size down to the tip of the tatzelwurm’s tail, protected its spine.”

  “A formidable foe,” Guilhem murmured, frowning.

  “Indeed! As I advanced carefully across the limestone floor, I felt acutely my lack of weapons. The athame would not be of much use against such an imposing animal. I was left only with a few spells. I could transform myself into a mosquito, as before, or even a cave-dweller such as a bat; but as ever, the problem was that I would not be able to speak the incantation that would return me to human form. No, I would have to face the tatzelwurm in my own flesh.

  “Fortunately, I was not without certain advantages.

  “The tatzelwurm’s gloomy purring ceased as we closed to within a dozen yards of each other. Its single eye blinked at me, as if in amazement that I dared enter its realm. But its scrutiny lasted only a moment—and then it charged.

  “I would not have survived its onslaught had I not been chanting, under my breath, the spell to increase my sensorium’s rate of perception. As the incantation’s influence waxed around me, the tatzelwurm appeared to be moving ever more slowly. I watched in admiration of the thing’s might as it attacked. Easily evading it, I crouched down and reached out with my knife as the animal rushed past me, thus opening a long slice in its belly where its scales were little more than decorative and afforded scant protection.

  “Its bellow of pain and surprise sounded to my speeded-up hearing like a rumble of distant thunder. It wheeled to come at me again, but to my heightened senses the maneuver seemed to take at least a minute for the creature to complete. In the meantime, I was drawn nearer to it, examining it more narrowly.

  “It was demonstrably more lizard- or snake-like than feline, despite the catlike shape of its head and its ‘whiskers.’ The thing was now moving too slowly relative to me to protect itself, so I seized the tendrils and yanked them out one by one. Given the lightless condition of its customary surroundings, the animal obviously made more use of them in feeling its way around than it did of its immense eye. I had no wish to cripple the thing further, as it was after all only an animal behaving according to its nature—but I was nevertheless determined to make off with its wealth, and judged that without its ‘whiskers’ it would be sufficiently impaired to make it no threat to the miners laboring in the nearby tunnels—at least until the tendrils grew back.”