“Baliya. That was our first great accomplishment that would be widely known,” Esset added. They brainstormed some other ideas, but few would be widely known or notable enough to target, they decided. The Staggering Tankard, their home city of Sedina, and Baliya were the most likely targets.
“I’ll send animations to those places immediately,” Toman said.
“How sure are we of this? That we’ve chosen the right places?” Tseka asked.
“Sure. Because he’ll pick places he knows we’ll think of. Remember, in the end, he wants to fight us, to prove he’s superior.” Toman spoke with a grim certainty.
“You’re forgetting something important,” Erizen said, although his attention still seemed to be on his adoring harem. Toman, Esset, and Tseka waited, but Erizen’s long silence irritated Esset into speaking up.
“And what would that be?” Esset asked tightly.
“Hm? Oh. Patience, my dear boy. Moloch has a very large capacity for patience, when he chooses to exercise it. He must really hate you, to have been able to provoke him into rashness that night he sent the bulk of his mages after us. Either that, or—” Erizen stopped and tilted his head to the side for a moment, thinking, but then he shook his head.
“No, nevermind,” the mage concluded. Toman knew what he’d been about to say though; either that or Moloch feared them—he hadn’t come himself, after all. Toman remembered Moloch’s enduring rage over the injury Esset—or rather, the phoenix, through Esset—had done him. Could some of that rage been born out of fear? Moloch had certainly never met someone close to matching him, after all. He was always smarter or stronger or both than anyone around him. Smarter. Another thought occurred to Toman.
“And you outdid Moloch too, didn’t you? You built the Greymaker, and he had to copy it,” Toman said.
“Yes, my brilliance is unparalleled,” Erizen replied. “And there’s no way to improve upon it—” He cut himself off and actually paled.
“What? What is it?” Esset asked—he’d never seen that kind of reaction in Erizen before.
“A Ghostmaker,” Erizen said. Tseka, Esset, and Toman exchanged looks. Erizen shooed one of his ladies off his lap and shifted so he was sitting properly in his chair.
“It was after I shared the Greymaker design with him,” Erizen explained, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “We were discussing how it might be improved on, back before I decided it was already as good as it could be. Moloch suggested changing the Greymaker so that it would take everything in its radius. All energy, all life, snapped up in as short a time as possible. He called it a Ghostmaker.”
“Can he do that?” Tseka whispered, aghast at the mere notion.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. There are problems with the amount of energy it would generate. I toyed with the idea later and did some very small-scale experiments to see if it was possible,” Erizen said. Tseka hissed, and Erizen locked his dark grey eyes on her.
“I wouldn’t have shared any successes with Moloch. I may play in morally grey areas a great deal, but there are lines even I won’t cross. I looked into it because I had to know. It was horrific, but I knew Moloch would pursue the idea and I had to prepare for the possibility of his success. A Ghostmaker could be used as a weapon too, you understand. It would take some doing, but if he could create a Ghostmaker over an enemy’s territory without them noticing, he could obliterate entire kingdoms and come out of it with a nearly unimaginable amount of power.” Erizen’s words were greeted with silence. Everyone had gone very still, even Erizen’s harem. Finally Tseka spoke up.
“So what did you find out?”
“In the limited trials I performed, I had minimal success. The smallest-scale ones were successful. In an area up to a square foot it performed exactly as it should have, but anything past that started having issues. The spell structure would be scorched by the energy it was supposed to channel. If anything living—I used mice—was caught inside the radius, the spell would destabilize even further. As far as I could tell, creating a Ghostmaker on any practical level would be impossible,” Erizen said.
“But?” Toman asked. He knew there had to be one, else Erizen wouldn’t have reacted as he had.
“But I never did test it as thoroughly as I wanted to,” Erizen confessed. “And I’m not as certain as I’d like to be that it’s not possible to create a successful Ghostmaker.”
“And Moloch is smart and committed,” Toman added grimly. If anyone besides Erizen could figure out how to make it work, it would be Moloch. Erizen nodded in agreement.
“I doubt he could have designed the Greymaker himself, not from scratch, but given the schematic of the Greymaker to work from… Moloch is clever. I wouldn’t put it past him.” That was a high compliment, coming from Erizen.
They all sat and contemplated that horrifying possibility for a moment.
“Nothing has changed,” Tseka finally said, drawing the attention of the others. “The stakes were always high—now we know how high they might be. If left alone, Moloch will kill many people. So we find him. We have new targets to search. We have three locations. Do we each go to a place, or do we move as a group from location to location?”
“Speed in diversity or safety in numbers,” Esset said quietly—those were their two choices. He didn’t like the idea of any one of them running into Moloch alone, but he wasn’t sure they could afford to give Moloch any more time to scheme and prepare. They’d already spent a dangerously large amount of time trying to find him where he wasn’t.
“I’ll go to Sedina,” Toman said. “Esset, Baliya? They know us there, and you have an easier time staying warm. Tseka and Erizen can go to the Staggering Tankard. They’ve seen a Nadra before there. If anyone finds Moloch, don’t engage him. Everyone can take a few small creatures of mine that can fly with a warning to the others. Keep your heads low and your senses sharp, and if we’re right, we’ll find him. Then we can meet up and destroy him.”
Esset wasn’t sure he liked splitting up, but he glanced around the table and didn’t see anyone else willing to object. The summoner considered saying something, but he wasn’t certain that going the slower route of checking all the places together was that much a better idea, so he held his tongue and went along with the plan.
“We’d best make haste then,” Esset said instead. “I’ve got the farthest to go. I’ll pack a few things and be gone by noon. Good luck everyone.”
The group dispersed quickly—they all had a long way to go.y all had long ways to go.
Esset chose his smoky carrion bird mount and meandered through the realms of the Dark Mage Lords to obscure his flight path. As often as possible, he flew in the clouds or hugged mountainsides so he’d be difficult to spot. He didn’t want anyone to be able to track his path back to the castle’s hidden location.
When he saw the small town that marked the edge of those realms, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could go for speed. Esset landed on a hilltop and banished the carrion bird; a moment later, he’d summoned one of his bright, fiery bird mounts. Anyone looking for them knew they hid in the lands of the Dark Mage Lords; now that he was free of them, he could make haste to Baliya.
Esset’s bird was impossible to miss now as it streaked across the sky in a blaze of fire, even during the day. Now it would be to his benefit for them to see he was coming. Given the aid he and Toman had given in the war against the undead all those years ago, Esset didn’t doubt he’d receive a warm welcome back.
He flew high, but even where the air thinned, the heat of his mount kept the cold at bay. Baliya was weeks away by fast horse, and while he could make it there in a fraction of that time, it would still be a long, grueling trip.
The wind and heat alternately chapped the exposed skin on his face as the light faded in the sky and night overtook him. When his eyes began to blur with fatigue, Esset landed and made a cold camp, passing out as soon as he was curled in his sleeping roll. The following morning he was in the air with the rising of the sun
, and he repeated the routine as the landscape turned snowy beneath him and the air grew even colder. Esset was relieved when he finally saw the jagged peaks of the Wolfsmouth Mountains in the distance; he was close.
Sure enough, within a few hours he could see the walls of a fortress—Castle Ballan. Esset circled a few times to make sure he wasn’t going to surprise anyone before slowly descending into the outer courtyard. Once the bird landed, he dismounted and banished the fiery bird into a tiny puff of ash, smoke, and sparks. A few of the guards eyed him warily, but Esset saw a number of familiar faces, men he’d fought with back in the war. Some nodded or smiled, but none moved to approach him, so Esset simply waited where he was.
Castle Ballan was a fortress in every sense of the word; its size made Toman’s castle look like a village hut, and it had been designed with war in mind. The curtain walls were almost as thick as they were tall—and they were tall. They’d proved their mettle in the war, too, protecting the defenders until the tide of the war had been turned. Great towers marked the corners of the curved outer walls, allowing a vantage point to watch for foes from and plenty of arrow slits to discourage would-be attackers. And even in the unlikely event that the outer walls fell, the inner walls were even taller and just as sturdy, and the keep was formidable as well. Yet Esset knew well that these were only physical defenses; against a magical foe, the fortress could be—and had been—legitimately threatened. Fortunately, with a little help, Castle Ballan stood yet, and Baliya was once again at peace.
But Esset didn’t have long to wait and mull over the past; the captain came through the gates from the inner courtyard after a couple minutes. The captain was a wiry man of average height; like almost every Baliyan man, he wore a full beard, but he kept his trimmed as neatly as his short-cropped hair. His uniform was likewise pristine, and Esset knew the captain took as much care and attention with every aspect of his life and of his job. Those sharp brown eyes didn’t miss much.
“Captain Langson,” Esset greeted him warmly once the captain was in earshot.
“Summoner Esset, good to see you again,” the captain replied, extending a hand. They clasped hands firmly and the captain pulled Esset in to give him a thump on the back.
“Heard tell you were dead. Nice to see news lied,” the captain said, eyeing Esset up and down.
“Not a lie, precisely, but it’s good to be among the living,” Esset responded with a grin. The captain turned and the two of them began walking towards the inner courtyard.
“And your brother? It’s strange to see the two of you apart,” Captain Langson inquired.
“He’s well,” Esset assured him.
“Well let’s catch up over a flagon of spiced ale,” the captain said cheerfully. “I can give you the latest news on what’s been going on up here, and you can tell me what you lads have been up to since last I saw you.”
“As tempting as that sounds, I didn’t just come to pay a visit,” Esset said. Captain Langson measured him with a calculating look before shrugging.
“Well, these are the cold reaches of Baliya. We don’t talk business without spiced ale either.” With that, Captain Langson refused to speak further until they were seated in his office with said flagon and they’d each taken their first sip. Esset had never cared much for spiced ale, for all that it did wonders for chasing away the cold, but he took a small sip just to get conversation moving again.
“How much do you know about a mage named Moloch?” Esset began.
“Moloch, eh? I’ve heard the name. Thought he was some kind of bogeyman made up to scare little ones into good behavior. ‘Eat your greens or Moloch will get you!’ and stuff like that,” Langson replied, watching Esset carefully, since he now knew from Esset’s question that he’d been wrong.
“Unfortunately, he’s quite real. He’s a Dark Mage of incredible power and cruelty. Toman’s predecessor died fighting him, and the two of us nearly followed suit a little over two years ago. But recently we managed to strike a hefty blow against him and sent him on the run. Now we know he’ll try to rebuild his power base and seek revenge,” Esset explained.
“And you think he’ll come here,” Captain Langson added, extrapolating from the information he’d been given.
“It seems likely,” Esset confirmed. “This is where our names first became known.”
“Hmm.”
Esset remained silent while Captain Langson mulled over the news. Esset knew the captain had a sharp mind, one skilled in putting together disparate bits of information to form a whole picture. And given that Captain Langson liked keeping tabs on every bit of news he could glean, no matter how trivial-seeming, it was likely that if Moloch were here, the captain would have heard evidence of it.
“Since we wrapped up the war, it’s been blessedly quiet in our mountains,” Captain Langson finally said. “But in the last week there’ve been reports of folks going missing and turning up dead. Problem is, by the time we find the bodies, it’s impossible to tell how they died. Up until now we’ve been assuming that the animals eating them were killing them too, but maybe not. Folks have only been vanishing from outlying areas.”
“That’s likely how he’d start,” Esset said, not wanting to jump to conclusions but acknowledging that Moloch’s involvement was possible. “He’d need to kill a few discreetly to stockpile a bit of power before he starts laying waste to whole towns and villages and going after bigger targets.”
“Bigger than a whole town?” Captain Langson asked, his narrow eyebrows rising.
“I think he’d try to level Castle Ballan. And I think he’d have more than a chance at succeeding,” Esset replied.
“Lad, we have mages here at the castle. He’d have to—” Captain Langson began, but Esset stopped him with a shake of his head.
“It doesn’t matter. I told you—he’s powerful and he’s cruel, but more than that, he’s smart. He’d get your mages one way or another,” Esset assured him grimly.
“This castle has stood for hundreds of years against foes of all kinds, mages included,” the captain said. He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the concept of a man as powerful as Moloch.
“Be that as it may, Moloch is in another power bracket entirely,” Esset replied.
“Then what do you plan to do against him? You’ve got some handy magic, lad, but you’re not that strong,” Captain Langson said.
“I wasn’t before, but I’ve grown a lot since the last time you saw me, and I’ve learned a lot about Moloch. I believe we can stop him,” Esset said. Captain Langson met his eyes and held him, once against taking his measure. Even as Esset held his gaze, the summoner wondered what the captain saw. Whatever it was, it seemed to convince him.
“Very well. So how do we go about catching him?”
“We start with the missing people. Hopefully we can find him before he escalates to slaughtering whole villages. If you show me on a map where to start, I’ll be off immediately,” Esset said. Captain Langson gave him another implacable look.
“Negative, lad. You’re in no shape to scout, and it’s almost dark besides. We start in the morning. Now you finish that ale and hit the sack. I think you’re done with barracks—it isn’t wartime anymore, after all—so I’ll get a servant to take you to a spare room in the keep. Crack o’ dawn, meet me in the barracks and we can get started. I won’t hear any argument out of you either. Dismissed,” the captain ordered him.
Esset had never been a soldier, not officially, but he’d learned to follow orders just the same. Besides, despite his sense of urgency, Esset knew the captain was right. Tired men got sloppy and made mistakes—they missed things. That was why he obeyed. Esset felt Captain Langson’s eyes on him as he downed his ale, nodded, and left.
A pre-dawn glow was just beginning to lighten the sky as Esset stepped into the courtyard. The cold bit the exposed skin on his face and the air he breathed burned with its icy tang. Esset stepped briskly across the courtyard, eager to be in where it was warm and then off on the
back of one of his self-heated mounts. He knew it wasn’t truly that cold—he just hadn’t acclimated to this weather, having come so quickly from warmer provinces—but that knowledge didn’t make him feel any warmer. He didn’t waste time knocking before pushing open the barracks door.
The door opened to the mess hall, a long room with four long tables. Normally the room was quite busy, but given the early hour, there were only a few off-duty guards in the room. Esset scanned the faces, smiling and nodding as he recognized two of them, then walked over as the captain waved to him.
“I should have known,” Captain Langson said, smiling. “I say dawn, and you show up before.”
“I could’ve sworn you said we’d start at dawn,” Esset replied with a cheeky grin.
“Yeah, right,” the captain said. “Never mind. We’re up, we might as well get started over breakfast. Grab a bowl of gruel from the cook, and I’ll get the map spread.” A couple minutes later they were pouring over the map and Captain Langson pointed out where he’d heard reports from.
“Well, I’d best be going then. I’ll check in—tonight if I can—” Esset began.
“No, I’m going with you,” the captain said.
“But captain—”
“No buts. These are my people, and I won’t be some remote figure on a hilltop when my people need me. I would have ridden out to them before, but I couldn’t afford to be away for so long. Your fliers will make a personal investigation possible.” Captain Langson turned and waved to get another officer’s attention. The officer came over and saluted when he stopped before the table.
“Officer Vern, I’m appointing you Acting Captain until I return,” the captain said.
“Yes, Captain,” Officer Vern responded promptly, saluting again.
“Good, all taken care of. Let’s go, Summoner,” the captain said, rising. “I already briefed Officer Vern earlier, so we can be on our way.” Once again, Esset knew better than to argue.
The sun was just cracking over the horizon when they opened the door outside. The sky had a yellow fire all its own as Esset summoned their mounts, twin fiery birds that melted the frost on the stones into puddles beneath them. The raptors shifted distastefully in the wet as Esset swung up onto the back of one and waited for Langson to mount the other.
Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) Page 28
