Joint Intentions (Book 9)

by Jeff Inlo

  Ott stepped up to the surprised wizard and shook his head once more.

  "Cute, but not too smart, old man. You see, it's not reflection or even redirection. It's complete reversal. Looks like you might have figured that part out, but it's not based on actions, it's based on intention. You can't hide that from me."

  "Intention?" Jure asked, growing more concerned as he contemplated the meaning behind the assertion.

  "Yup. Tricks don't work with me. See, I knew what you were doing. More importantly, I knew what you intended. Despite where you targeted the spell, you really wanted to remove my magic, and that's what gets reversed, not the actual spell. There was no need to change anything."

  Ott noticed the expression of apprehension and alarm on the wizard's face.

  "Do you get it now?" the innkeeper questioned. "I work on a totally different level. I don't cast spells. I just turn people's own intentions against them. You wanted me to reverse your spell. You hoped by casting it against yourself, it would turn against me. But like I said, I don't work that way. I reverse intentions, not spells, so I did exactly what you didn't want. I let the spell work exactly as it was cast."

  Ott then looked at Ryson.

  "And don't you get any ideas either. It's not just spells. I can reverse anything, just like I did with the arrow. You try to come at me with all your speed and I'll have you tripping over yourself. Whatever any of you want, the opposite will come back at you, and it's based on your true intentions, not some fake acting."

  With his powers revealed, the elf guard knew what they faced.

  "A contrarian," Holli stated.

  "Do they really exist?" Ryson asked.

  "You're looking at one, delver," Ott replied. "I had no idea what a contrarian even was before the magic came back and turned everything upside down. But when some people started casting spells, I figured out I was different too. Not only could I see people's intentions just by looking at them, I could turn their plans completely in the opposite direction."

  Ott could see Ryson's curiosity rising. He saw no danger in explaining his abilities. In the past, it always ended any argument, so the innkeeper freely offered even more details to the curious delver.

  "Someone once told me I was like a serp, but I didn't like the comparison. They don't cast spells either. They just use the magic to enhance their influence, but they still don't work on my level. I've had serps come into my place. Like you, they tried to cause trouble. I don't stand for it. They tried to control my mind with their willpower. They only ended up turning control of their own minds over to me. It was kind of fun, making them dance around the room. Serps still come into my place, swallits too, but they know to behave. That's something the three of you are going to have to learn."

  Fighting a contrarian was a dangerous proposition. All of the magical energy in the land would not help Holli and her companions find victory. Ott's abilities allowed him to turn his adversary's actions against their intent. For Holli to salvage victory, she needed to keep the innkeeper from altering her own objectives, which meant she had to end the conflict without surrendering.

  "Then as a contrarian you should understand my intention is to save the land," Holli stated firmly, hoping to find some common ground for agreement. "That is in everyone's interest and you should wish to help."

  "That's not what I see. I see an elf determined to make me talk whether I want to or not. I don't like that kind of thinking."

  "Then you are not looking deep enough. I am not your enemy."

  "You are when you think you can tell me what I have to do. You made a mistake when you came into my place with that attitude of yours. People who know me know what I can do, that's why they behave in my bar."

  "You would continue to resist assisting us?" the elf asked.

  "Assist? When did you ask for my help? You came into my place and questioned me as if I had no say in the matter. That's not asking for help."

  "I did not know what you were."

  "That shouldn't have mattered."

  "Caution is necessary when dealing with one such as Neltus. You should know this."

  "That's another thing. I know you intend on finding Neltus. You also intended to kill him. I saw that the moment I first saw you."

  "Would you rather I endangered every person in your tavern?"

  "Neltus knew to behave himself when he was in my place. You were the only danger."

  Holli's frustration grew. The innkeeper remained focused on the initial confrontation. She knew she was partially responsible. She could not conceal her zeal from the contrarian. Though she could control her passions to avoid carelessness, she could not simply erase her determination. As a trained elf guard, fortitude was a trait to nourish, and her resolve would remain clearly visible to the innkeeper.

  In understanding the depth of her own character, however, Holli ultimately saw a path to success. Ott's abilities allowed him to see the deepest desires of those he faced, and while the innkeeper could alter those intentions, there was one desire he would be foolish to reverse.

  With a drastic plan in mind, Holli offered Ott one last chance to avoid disaster.

  "I have no time for this debate," the elf stated severely. "If you are a contrarian, you would understand my intention. I do not wish to hurt you, but I must know your connection to Neltus."

  "I do understand what you want. And I could care less about it."

  "Then you leave me no choice."

  Once more, Ott could see Holli's intention of forcing the issue, and he laughed at the elf's ignorance.

  "Aren't you paying attention?" Ott asked. "I'm not going to answer any of your questions. Your wizard is out of magic, and you and the delver are no threat to me."

  "That is where you are wrong," Holli stated with absolute confidence. She then turned to Ryson and issued a surprising order. "Ryson, kill the innkeeper."

  The delver could not believe what he heard.

  "What?"

  "You heard me, attack the innkeeper and kill him."

  "I can't do that!"

  Holli smiled as she stared defiantly back at the barkeep and made a simple pronouncement of an undeniable truth.

  "I know that, and now... so does he."

  "What are you doing?" Ott demanded.

  "Revealing to you just what a threat this delver can be. He is against taking a life, any life. He would actually sacrifice a great deal just to save a goblin. Look at him. Read his intentions and tell me if this is not true."

  Ott looked deeply at the delver, and for the first time since he discovered his new powers, he tasted genuine fear.

  "You see it now, do you not?" Holli questioned. "Your ability will reverse the strongest intention of your adversary. My overriding intention is to force you to answer my questions. I could struggle against you for days and you would turn every effort I made in that regard against me, but what of the delver? What is his priority?"

  Ott did not have to look very deep into the delver's being to see what Holli already understood.

  "You wouldn't," the innkeeper whispered.

  "Yes, I would," Holli declared. "Because I put the thought in his head, he can not ignore it. What will happen if he strikes? His intention would be to subdue you, and normally you would reverse those intentions and force him to subdue himself. Unfortunately for you, he now has an even greater purpose. He would do anything to ensure he does not take your life, and that one consideration is more important to him than any other objective. He would rather let you escape, let you win, than for him to do anything which might lead to your death. Your power would force his hand, reverse his intentions. By your will, he would do the exact opposite of what he wishes to avoid the most. He would kill you."

  Ott knew the extent of his own abilities. He could force bitter enemies to commit acts of kindness to each other and make the best of friends attack one another. More importantly, he could see Ryson's intentions. The delver remained horrified by the position in which the elf guard had placed him.
The innkeeper knew if the struggle continued, he would most likely die at the delver's hands.

  "This isn't right! If I'm dead, I can't answer your questions."

  "And thus, my intentions are reversed as well," Holli confirmed. "I have left nothing to chance. A contrarian has always been able to win because he has the ability to focus on intention as opposed to action. I want your compliance, but the delver places a value on life beyond anything I have ever experienced. You can defy me and refuse giving me the information I need, but if you try to deny the delver, you will only cause your own demise."

  "You would actually do this?" Ott questioned, stunned by the elf's decision.

  "No, you would do it. What happens next is completely up to you. That has always been the case for a contrarian."

  The innkeeper grimaced, as if he felt a stabbing pain in his guts. Since the magic had returned and he discovered his latent talents, he had never lost a battle. He had faced down serps, swallits, and even dangerous human spell casters, but none of them could escape their own selfish intentions. If he faced just the elf and the human wizard, he could have used their desires against them as well. He would have been guaranteed victory.

  The delver was another matter entirely. The delver's overriding concern became a contradiction the innkeeper could not resolve. Ott knew, beyond any doubt, that if he did not surrender, he would die. As upsetting as it might be, there was only one course of action he could take.

  "Okay, you win," Ott finally allowed. "What do you want?"

  "You know what I want," Holli replied. "I want my questions answered. I want to know about you and Neltus."

  "I've told you most of it," Ott confessed.

  "But not all of it."

  "What's left isn't really that important."

  "Do not play games with me. I have little time for such nonsense. I understand now how you were able to control Neltus, but I need greater detail about your encounters. I must know why he wanted us to come here."

  "Neltus came here because he liked to eat and drink," Ott explained, "but he also liked to be safe. He was one of the most powerful wizards in Portsans, but he could be careless, especially when he drank too much. He also liked to show off, and he made quite a few enemies."

  "Did he have any direct conflicts with you?"

  "Just one. He tested me to see if I really was a contrarian. He tried to dump a bowl of hot soup on my head. It ended up on his face instead. He never tried anything again."

  "But you still let him come here."

  "Because he knew how to entertain a crowd. Yes, he was obnoxious, but some people like that kind of thing, especially when they know I'll control it. He could never go too far, so people didn't mind his antics."

  "Did he hold it against you?"

  "You mean did he want revenge? No. I'm sure of that. I would have seen it, but that was never his intention. I don't think he minded the restrictions. I never made him do anything he didn't want to do. I just kept him in check. But I kept everyone in check, that worked to his advantage. It's like I said, he came here because it was safe."

  Holli began to understand why Neltus would find Ott's tavern a sanctuary, and it explained why the red cored wizard visited the establishment in the past. It did not, however, explain why Neltus would have chosen the warehouse as a place to escape. She still believed Neltus picked Portsans because he assumed he would be followed, and she still believed Neltus led them to Ott's establishment.

  "I admit, personal security has always been important to Neltus," Holli stated. "I can see why he would frequent the establishment of a contrarian determined to maintain the peace, but I doubt that is the reason he would have wanted us here."

  Ott shrugged. He could not offer any explanation and willingly revealed as much.

  "I haven't seen Neltus for some time. I told you that before, and it was the truth. I have no idea why he wanted you here."

  All could see the answer was sincere. While Holli struggled with the response, the elder wizard began to see a possible reason in the very conflict which had just taken place.

  "It was safe for Neltus," Jure pointed out, "but it sure wasn't safe for us. We faced a contrarian while you were determined to find answers. Neltus knows you and he knows Ott can read intentions. Considering everything that has happened, a conflict between us was just about guaranteed. I think Neltus believed Ott would have destroyed us with our own power."

  "Would you have gone that far?" Holli asked of the innkeeper.

  "I go as far as anyone who stands against me," Ott admitted. "You should know that. It's not my intention that matters, it's the one I'm up against."

  "And Holli's intention is to stop Neltus," Jure added.

  "No," Ryson interrupted, "her intention was to kill him."

  "He's right," Ott agreed.

  "And so Neltus might have hoped that such an intention would have been turned against us," Jure noted. "I think it's safe to say Neltus wouldn't have been too distraught if we all ended up dead."

  "I think there may be something more to this as well," Ryson suggested. "I think he's telling us that we're not going to get our way, that he's not going to give up his magic under any circumstance. Think about it. If he wanted us to run into a contrarian, he was basically stating he was going to reverse our intentions."

  "Perhaps you are right," Holli agreed, and then she looked to the innkeeper. "Is there anything else of significance you can offer?"

  "Change your intention," Ott responded without hesitation.

  "But my intention is to capture Neltus. He is a threat..."

  "No," Ott interrupted. "Remember who you're talking to. I can see exactly what you want, and it goes beyond Neltus. You want to correct the mistakes you've made. It's understandable, but that's not the same as stopping Neltus."

  Holli did not dispute the claim, she could not. How could she argue with a contrarian about her intentions? He would know them as well as she would, but he would have no reason to obscure them. She would have to put aside her ambition, her doubts, and her pride in order to address the full scope of the dilemma.

  She realized Ott was absolutely correct. She wanted to correct her previous mistakes more than she wanted to find a solution to the problem as a whole. While the two endeavors held to certain similarities, they were not quite the same in principle.

  "You are right," Holli admitted. "I have been far too focused on my errors in judgment and not the root cause of the dangers we face. I will have to accept my mistakes and move on from them. There are more important matters to discuss."

  Holli looked to Jure.

  "I wish to thank you," the elf acknowledged. "You were right about this man. We needed to speak with him."

  "But we really haven't learned anything new," Jure admitted. "We still don't know where Neltus is."

  "No, we do not, but I have realized we have to look further back. We need to focus on other issues."

  Holli then offered a sincere response to Ott as well.

  "I also thank you. I am sorry for my actions, but it seems your wisdom was needed."

  Ott almost wanted to be noble... almost. He thought about wishing the elf well in her mission, knew that she intended on taking his advice to heart. He also understood that the elf guard fully intended on doing whatever was necessary to keep the land safe. He hoped, for all their sakes, she would find success. He wanted to convey those wishes in an appropriate manner, but in the end, he couldn't help being slightly bitter about how he was defeated.

  "Next time you come into my place, act accordingly," Ott remarked.

  He said nothing more as he returned to his inn with a slam of the alley door.

  Holli nodded, understanding the innkeeper's bitterness. Losing was a bitter pill.

  "Jure," she finally stated, "continue to replenish your energy. I will teleport us back to Connel."

  "Not the desert?" Ryson asked. "What about Enin?"

  "I have not disregarded his welfare," Holli insisted, "but Jure was right a
bout that as well. If the dathit wished Enin to be dead, there is nothing we could do to prevent it. It is time to reconsider all that has happened, time to look at this from a wider perspective."

  Chapter 15

  Baannat did not enjoy venturing far beyond the stone tower. When certain conditions allowed—such as a foolish wizard opening a portal into his realm—the ghoul could enter a physical existence, but he found the excursions almost painful. He discovered that remaining near the fringes of nothingness alleviated that pain.

  Rising to the upper levels of the dark lands, the platform of the tower offered the ghoul sanctuary from a domain of harsh realities. The plateau's proximity to overlapping boundaries allowed for Baannat to reach out to the emptiness and cleanse his senses. It was not the horrid stench or the morbid screams which disturbed him. It was the heaviness of the physical substance.

  The dark lands emanated more than just suffering. The thick, humid air drifted across the open space like slow moving waves of futility. The pools of fire and acid offered withering heat, and the ground remained thick with crusty dust. Everything about the realm seemed heavy and overburdened.

  The slink ghoul had grown accustomed to nothingness, an absence of the very qualities which made the dark lands so distinct. As he journeyed deeper into the realm, he longed for the removal of any sensation. Unfortunately, such a reprieve would have to wait.

  He needed to bring the pit demon out of the Lacobian Desert. The giant maintained its hold on Enin, and the coreless wizard had become extremely important to the slink ghoul's plans. Baannat would have preferred to transport the dathit directly to the high plateau, but he could not risk bringing the massive demon to an area of such instability.

  The grounds around the stone spire were infested with dark creatures, and the presence of a demon would have stirred them into a frenzy. The ghoul could not afford a skirmish between the monsters if he hoped to keep Enin alive.

  Venturing away from the spire was not the slink ghoul's only concern. Baannat had also lost his influence over the doppelganger. The arrival of a sorceress casting black magic created sufficient upheaval to create a fracture in his connection to the demon. He had sensed the shape-shifter turn into a rock beetle to escape the tomb of hardened sand, but that was his last communication with the demon.