by Gary Gygax
Is a poor ur-kheri-heb of Thoth so important as to create an interruption in the festivities? Nay, nay, dear people! Please go back to your revelry, for I have come only to speak a word or two with your host; then, I fear, I will have to hurry off."
A babble arose from the guests. Someone shouted, "The very devil himself!" and a dozen guards leaped from their positions of attention around the chamber and rushed toward Inhetep, who stood unmoving. He folded his arms and smiled more broadly still into the confusion.
— 11 —
HIDE AND SEEK
Two of the soldiers were ready to drive their broad-bladed spontoons at Inhetep's chest even as another pair were approaching fast to reinforce that attack. From somewhere above, someplace hidden by pillar and drapery and decorative work, a pair of arrows zipped down to pierce the Egyptian just as the spearpoints would. Their target was unmoving, a small crook held in one hand, the other crossed with a flail as if in imitation of some Pharaoh. Just as the steel tongues of spear and arrowhead were about to strike home, however, Setne's arms uncrossed. The spontoons were caught by the crook and swept aside as if they were straws, even as the many little tails of the sweeping flail brushed aside the speeding shafts as mere flies would be swept from their course by such an instrument. "Come, come, Aldriss! Haven't you instructed your guardsmen better than this? Surely they need know that such as they can do no harm to a real kheri-heb!"
Every guest in the hall was silent at those
words. The bard arose from his high-backed chair at the head of the banquet table. His aqua-blue and emerald-green velvet robe, all embroidered with silver-thread trim to betoken his station as the Great Bard of Lyonnesse, rippled and glittered as he moved. "You dare!" Aldriss roared. Yet his face was paler than normal, and there was a faint tremor in his voice.
"You mean to ask how I managed to pass through your enmeshing magicks, I think," the wizard-priest said as he walked slowly down to where the bard stood. Celebrants flinched and shied from the Egyptian's approach—some because they thought him a vile assassin and plotter against their kingdom, others for reasons less pure.
"STOP!" The command seemed to thunder through the hall with unnatural force and clarity. The bewildered soldiers froze in their tracks, and the revelers likewise ceased their attempts to get clear of the coming confrontation. The snow-clad figure of Tallesian stepped from behind a thick column and cried, "I believe I had better deal with the murderous Egyptian!" At that, guards and gentry alike unfroze and began fleeing frantically. The bard remained standing where he was, and for some reason the six musicians nearby likewise stayed put.
Inhetep, too, was motionless. He watched as Aldriss gave a small sign and the players began to perform, viele, harp, lute and the rest striking up a soft but moving air. From where he stood, Inhetep could see both of his antagonists. "This is a useless charade, druid," he said tonelessly as the fellow began to slide sideways, the first small motions of a conjuration evident in the movements of Tallesian's fingers and hands. "You, too, Aldriss the Gwyddorr. I have come for your prisoner. Free Rachelle now, and I will not be hard on you."
A radiance as bright as the white of the dru-id's gown appeared as a halo above Tallesian's head. It brightened into a silver intensity, then suddenly became ebon. The nebulous blotch then spat forth jagged bolts of electrical energy. Each was only as long as a man, no thicker than a spear shaft, but where their argent tips touched, stone blackened and broke, oak burst into blue-flamed incandescence. These flashing darts of deadly electricity flew from above Tallesian's head as fast as a man might snap his fingers. They rained upon the wizard-priest like a hailstorm. "Feel the fury of Dagda!" the druid cried, directing more and more of the lightning bolts upon the motionless Egyptian.
Setne was ablaze, only it was not Setne. Where the wizard-priest had stood was a tall bennu, the phoenix-like bird whose very essence was lightning. The creature's beak darted here and there as a great heron might spear fish. The bright bolts of energy were as fish to the bennu, and the bennu was Inhetep. Then it ceased devouring the lightnings and flapped its rainbow-bright pinions. The sudden gust of air drove Tallesian back, his snowy gown whipping wildly about his body, then the druid fell. Almost simultaneously, the long-billed head turned, and the bennu spat back the stuff it had devoured. One bolt shattered the shalms and laid low the man who had been playing them, another sent the viele into ruin along with its musician. Four more in such rapid succession that the eye could not follow, and no more orchestra played to the bard's behest. Then the bennu again became Magister Setne Inhetep. "Did you think that I was so dull as to ignore the heka you would evoke with your musical henchmen there?"
The demand fell on deaf ears, for Aldriss was seeking desperately to bring forth alone the magick he had hoped to work through his band of chanters, those journeymen nearly bards themselves. They had seemed naught but minstrels to the party-goers, but it was evident that the Egyptian had recognized them for what they were. Aldriss' tenor voice rose strong and sweet in a call for supernatural prowess even as he picked out accompanying chords on the little harp he had grabbed from his table. Suddenly the instrument felt cold and unnatural in his hands. Aldriss looked down and shrieked, for the harp had turned into a cobra, weaving and spreading its hood just above where he grasped it. The bard flung the reptile away and yelled, "May you rot in cold darkness, Egyptian!"
Setne easily avoided the flying cobra. As if to further demoralize the Kelltic spell-weaver, the snake turned into a musical instrument again as it sailed through the air, and smashed to flinders against a stone column. "I would have no urseus treated so," the magister said mockingly to the unbelieving Aldriss. "Now lead me to where you have her held captive." The deadly threat was heavy in his tone.
"Never!" the bard snarled in reply, and with that he sat roughly in the chair behind him. When he struck it, the tall seat toppled over backwards against a curtain, and Aldriss was lost in a swirl of drapery and the overturned chair.
A quick glance showed the wizard-priest that Tallesian was still unmoving on the floor. He must have struck his head severely, for he now lay unconscious, allowing Setne to devote his entire attention to the fleeing Aldriss. Naturally the cowardly man wouldn't run far—not until he felt safe to do so. That meant the bard would head straight to Rachelle to take her hostage. Inhetep ran to the table and bounded over it, long legs showing coppery in the process, flowing kilt and short cape streaming behind as if he flew. Wrenching aside the thick curtain, Setne saw an alcove with three doors in its walls. A glance upward revealed a trapdoor overhead, and beneath his feet was yet a fifth means of egress. A concealed exit could be found quickly, but the chance of guessing correctly was not so likely. Each false way would be riddled with traps to slay the unwelcome pursuer, and even the correct passage would be guarded by deadly mechanisms.
Setne knew that sorcerers preferred the depths while most others sought height as a means of security. To the right the passage must eventually lead to warrens amid the interior walls of the manor, while the left-hand door would take one to the outer wall and whatever secret corridors existed there. The one straight ahead could lead up, down, or to a hidden chamber. There was a smudge of heat evident to Setne's heka-enhanced eyesight on that last portal, so he shoved it open and ducked into the low space beyond. A slight creak warned him, and he pulled back just in time as a weighted timber dropped down halfway to the floor. A skull could be crushed, a spine smashed by the force of its fall. Scrambling on all fours to pass under it, the wizard-priest entered a small secret room some eight feet wide and a little deeper. "How clever of you," he said aloud upon seeing the place, for in it were five more exits—two flights of stairs down, two going up, and a door straight ahead. "The telltale of your passage makes the multiplicity of choices useless when one can see body heat," the hawk-faced man cried aloud as he bounded up the leftmost stairway.
When the sound of Setne's running feet faded, another noise could be heard. Muffled thuds and stifled cri
es drifted from a portion of the wall along the passage the wizard-priest had just fled. A panel slid sideways. Aldriss stepped out of the cell which the open panel revealed with his captive, bound and gagged. Rachelle struggled, trying her best to give cries of warning through the cloth. "You be silent, bitch!" the bard hissed, "Or else I'll slit your throat here and now!" Rachelle ceased her noise. Should Aldriss fulfill his threat, she knew that Inhetep would be so struck by the sight of her corpse that his enemy could smite him with heka, perhaps mortally, as shock slowed the Egyptian's reflexes. "Better," Aldriss said through clenched teeth. "Now move those pretty legs of yours quickly—run! I want „ us back in the salon where we'll set our ambush for your master." He gave her a shove, which nearly sent Rachelle sprawling on her face. The force of the bard's strong arm propelled her into the little passage, where she rebounded from the far corner and along the narrow corridor toward the salon as if she were a ball bouncing.
"Bravo!"
The cry made Aldriss start and jerk his head to the right. His worst fears were confirmed. The green eyes and sharp smile of the shaven-headed Egyptian shone from the top of the steps. "You!" the bard gasped.
"That's right, bard, me. Did you really think
you could fool me with this child's maze?" He was laughing, but there was menace, not mirth, in Inhetep's voice. "I let you think me off on a goose-chase, so you would release Rachelle and come into the open. Your early cooperation in separating yourself from her was an unexpected but most welcome blunder. I had thought you would be more careful, and I would have to risk myself in a more close quarters situation."
Aldriss allowed the man to rattle on as his fingers found an acorn he had sequestered in his garment. The nut was charged with preternatural energy. The bard hurled it as hard as he could, slamming it into the stairs at Inhetep's feet. Aldriss shouted as the acorn burst and a shower of blazing sparks and thick smoke instantly screened the priest-mage from his view. With the sulfurous cloud obscuring his movements, the man dived down the passage into which he had pushed Rachelle, rolling and regaining his feet in a smooth motion. Perhaps the missile's magickal explosion and choking fumes would do scant harm to the accursed Egyptian, but it gave Aldriss time to grab the amazon and use her body as a shield. His fellow conspirators could handle the wizard-priest once and for all.
But even as the last of the blazing tongues of flame were dying, Inhetep was in action. He didn't dare to send a counter-blast down the narrow passage after Aldriss, for Rachelle might still be in the corridor. Instead, Setne leaped down the steps and followed the fleeing Kellt. As soon as he entered the passage, the wizard-priest crouched so as to present as small a target as possible, traveling almost like an ape on all fours.
The bard was setting himself up to work great mischief on his pursuer, but he hadn't reckoned with Rachelle. When the girl saw Aldriss with his back to her, obviously readying to use some magick against Inhetep, she flung herself upon the man. She struck Aldriss behind the knees, and the man fell forward with a thud. At almost the same moment, Setne emerged from the passage into the salon.
"Nice work, my dear child!" he exclaimed as the girl struggled to rise from the tangle of the fallen bard's legs. "Here, I'll get you shed of those damned ropes," he murmured, pulling Rachelle upright. He used the knife from his broad girdle to cut the bonds from her wrists.
"Hmmmh, mmmth!" she said, wild-eyed and panting.
"Yes, of course," Setne said with a slight grin. "It was merely a matter of priorities. . . . He severed the heavy cloth strip holding the gag in place.
"Setne! I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever show up and get—" Rachelle cut off her words when she saw that the fallen bard had suddenly changed into a monstrous bear.
As the amazon looked frantically around for some weapon, Inhetep used his little wand to good effect. Aldriss had arisen, his bear-form a towering threat of claws and huge fangs about to sweep priest and warrior into its deadly hug. Setne was suddenly a thing of spines, a ball-like hedgehog with quills two feet long. The bear's paws swept out heedlessly. There came a snapping as of dry twigs and rattling of spines. The blow knocked Inhetep some distance away. At the same time, there was a roar from the bruin; the striking paws were now pierced, each looking like a pin cushion thrust through and through with the barbed spines. The injured, bloody bear paws beat the air as Aldriss-bruin vented his fury and pain. Then the form shimmered, and instead of a brown bear there was a pit viper whose body was as thick as a man's thigh and whose length was greater than two tall men.
"Very wise, bard," Inhetep cried. "The serpent has no extremities to remain pierced by quills. I give you credit for your cleverness." The wizard-priest had himself returned to human form, his garments torn and stained by a splotch of red where the claws had done damage. He seemed little harmed, though, and even as the giant viper coiled to strike, Setne was busy with his own magick. Perhaps the sudden transformation would have given Aldriss the edge he sought, but the bard reckoned without Rachelle again. The girl saw the serpent readying to strike, and this time she flung a chair at Aldriss.
The missile didn't harm the viper, but the impact caused the deadly strike to miss its target by a fair margin. "Thanks!" Inhetep called to Rachelle, and then the magister became a huge, thick-scaled lizard whose long jaws sported scores of small, needle-sharp teeth. It was just the sort of reptile made to dine on poisonous snakes the size of Aldriss the Great Bard of Lyonnesse.
Of course, that left little choice. As Aldriss shed his viper-form, the coils sprouted feathers. In another instant, a huge marsh hawk stood where the serpent had been. "Keeaah!" the raptor shrieked in triumph as its wings beat the air. Aldriss was obviously going to fly from the contest now, content with escape, victory forgotten.
As the hawk rose so did an equally huge eagle owl, for Inhetep too had altered form to counter the bard's tactic. The two fierce birds met in the air, and with a storm of flying feathers, fought and fell to the floor. As the two struck, they changed again, Aldriss and Inhetep throttling each other.
"Enough!" The word of command came from Rachelle's throat as she held a sword to the bard's neck. Aldriss stopped his struggle.
"Now I recall just why I went to so much trouble to rescue you," Inhetep remarked as he arose and straightened his garments. "Admirable work, girl!"
Aldriss lay unmoving, glaring up at Rachelle and the tall Egyptian with equal hatred. "Shall I finish this foul and treacherous kidnapper now?" The warrior woman put a little more pressure on the steel so that the blade's edge just barely cut Aldriss' skin.
"Great gods, no," Inhetep said with feigned shock, as if he thought Rachelle was actually about to sever the man's neck. "Master Aldriss will surely have a lot to say to us now, and I believe that his words will buy his life. Do spare it until we find out if my prediction is correct, Rachelle." The wizard-priest looked down mildly at the pale-faced bard. "You do have some things to tell me about, don't you, Gwyddorr?"
The girl held the brand hard against the bard's neck, but Aldriss was no coward. "You may rot in your foreign hell, Inhetep, before I say anything to you."
"Tch. I am shocked," Setne responded. "Yet I believe you will certainly admit that you are the one who kidnapped Rachelle, won't you?"
"She came with me of her own accord," the man snapped back. "I merely held her here after she had willingly come."
"He speaks but a half truth, Setne," the amazon said hotly. "He called on me that evening after the revel and said you had sent him to get me and bring me to where you waited."
"And you went like a lamb? Rachelle! Why didn't you heed the warning?!"
The girl looked puzzled, and so for that matter did Aldriss. "You warned her about me? How in—" He bit his query off short.
"That's right, Master Great Bard and murderous plotter, I did just that. But why did you ignore the caution, dear girl?"
"Well, I ... I didn't get the warning," Rachelle admitted.
"Of course you did," Inhetep counter
ed. "I placed it in the note I left for you about my not going to the festivities at the castle. Down the left-hand margin, as clearly as anything, I told you B E W A R E A L D R etc'."
"Oh." The pretty mouth was hesitant. Before she had opportunity to explain that, in her haste and anger at the wizard-priest, she had failed to pay attention to his note, Aldriss spoke.
"You are a filthy Eastern dog, Inhetep!" the bard spat. "I said from the first that you would be trouble!"
"Really?" Setne said mockingly. "And just who was it you said that to?"
"No matter to you, burn-skin, and your doxy either, for that matter. You'll find out soon enough, and then it will be too late!"
"Doxy!" Rachelle cried with fire in her dark eyes. "And you, doing your utmost to get me into bed, putting your hands all over me when I was tied and helpless! You . . . you ... Now I'll show you what it's like to have unwanted attention when there's nothing to be done to prevent it." Her arm tensed, grip tightening on the sword.
"Easy, Rachelle," Inhetep cautioned. "Aldriss is going to explain just who he was warning about me—aren't you bard?" There was stoni-ness in the Egyptian's eyes as he spoke.
If the Kellt saw danger in those emerald-hard eyes, he was either very brave or very foolish— or both, for he ignored the look. "Both of you are now as good as dead," Aldriss spat. "Think you that the Master of Jackals would let two petty ones such as yourselves upset his plans? Never!" There was such conviction in Aldriss's voice that a chill went flashing up Rachelle's spine. Even Inhetep drew back a little. "You are doomed now!" the bard cried, one arm shooting suddenly up and pointing.
Perhaps it was the oldest trick in the book, but Rachelle grabbed Setne and the two of them went sprawling away from where Aldriss pointed. This allowed their prisoner to regain his feet and mount a new attack.
"Fallen foes abandon action," Aldriss sang even as he stood upright. "Helpless, hopeless, stifling sanction. Fearful, frozen, pitifully palsied; Laid low, the fallen foe!" The last couplet completed his quatrain and bore the ring of the bard's triumph as he voiced the strain of the cantrip. Its power was slow to come, but the initial singing had sufficient effect to give Aldriss the chance he needed. Suggestion was strong, and the dweomer he spun by his lyrical chanting weighed down the two and made their movements ponderous and uncertain.
