by Jason Kenyon
‘Lovely,’ Archimegadon said.
‘I told the boys when it stormed that day that it was an ill omen,’ Faul went on. ‘They ignored me, but look how it turned out! That treacherous viper Unette went and murdered the King, and now we have rumours of demons and cultists all over again. Never liked her, she was a bad ‘un, make no mistake.’
‘Oh, please, do tell us more,’ Ithalna said, her eyes narrowing.
Faul blinked and looked at her, and Archimegadon coughed to draw attention away and spoke over her.
‘Erm, well, thank you for the information!’ Archimegadon said. ‘It is interesting to see other sides of life in the big city.’
Ithalna huffed behind him, but fortunately fell silent.
‘Oh, aye, life,’ Faul said, chuckling as he watched his “boys” carry away the executed criminals.
Before any further discussion or disruption could take place, Archimegadon directed Ithalna away from Faul, while Obdo wandered along behind them. They passed under an archway and entered a passage that followed the edge of the palace, while to their left they could look out across the river Aren between stone columns. Ithalna tugged her arm loose of Archimegadon and glared back in the vague direction of Faul.
‘The nerve of that man!’ she said. ‘If I were still the Queen, he would be up on those scaffolds himself.’
‘He’s merely an oaf,’ Archimegadon said, but he wasn’t sure that Faul was particularly wrong about Ithalna’s treachery. He checked around for anyone nearby before continuing in a lower tone. ‘Let’s get back on track, shall we? And are you really sure that nobody will recognise you?’
‘I dealt with very few people here,’ Ithalna replied, ‘and certainly never anyone from this part of the palace, though admittedly I visited these gardens on a handful of occasions. Rarely in company, however.’
‘If you’re certain,’ Archimegadon said. ‘Where’s this tunnel of yours?’
Ithalna took in her surrounds and scratched her hair. ‘They must have changed gardener, these trimmings are much lower quality than Hulid’s work. I feel quite lost. In any case, it should be easy enough if we follow the wall for a bit. Give me a minute.’
While the other two watched, Ithalna checked around the bushes that clung to the palace’s wall, which in the garden had seemingly been switched from the dour grey of the courtyard to a more encouraging sandstone. Archimegadon followed Ithalna’s progress, while Obdo watched out for any other people exploring the gardens, but it seemed that they weren’t too popular today. It was just as well, as Ithalna hissed and turned to Archimegadon with an impatient expression a few minutes later.
‘I forgot,’ she said.
Archimegadon waited for her to clarify for a moment, but no answer was forthcoming. ‘Erm, what?’
‘We sealed the passageway, of course,’ Ithalna replied. ‘You need to cast the Sigil of Zhrrakash to open it.’
‘The what?’
‘It is a dark spell,’ Ithalna replied. ‘One we commonly use to “lock” our concealed doorways.’ She moved her hand through a strange, jerking series of movements. ‘You must perform these motions, call on the power of darkness, and intone the words Kala e Zhrrakash ra.’
‘You… want me to cast a dark incantation?’ Archimegadon asked.
Ithalna smiled, her eyes glinting. ‘Indeed, Sir Mage, unless you wish to do the unthinkable and hand over your key.’
A moment later, her smirk was replaced by surprise as she stared at the key in her hands.
‘Well, that was easy enough,’ Ithalna said, and she reached up to unlock the binding around her neck.
Obdo boggled. ‘Sir Mage, are you sure about this?’
‘I don’t want to cast dark incantations,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘We’ll put the damn thing back in a moment, Mellara doesn’t need to know.’
‘We don’t even know if this Sigil business is true!’ Obdo said.
Archimegadon blinked. ‘Oh, erm…’
It didn’t matter, though, for Ithalna sighed and tossed the key back to him before he could finish the thought. ‘It is not the right one,’ she said. ‘How about Obdo’s?’
‘Sorry, miss, but you’re a dangerous cultist, and I’m no fool like Sir Mage,’ Obdo replied.
Archimegadon, deciding that risking Ithalna being free was better than learning dark spells, slipped his hand into Obdo’s pocket while he spoke and grabbed the key, withdrawing it with a triumphant laugh. As Obdo spluttered, Archimegadon handed the key over to Ithalna, but that met with similar success. Ithalna pursed her lips.
‘You know, I have had my suspicion that Mellara has kept the only decent key to herself all this time in spite of what she claimed,’ she said. Her dark smile returned. ‘She would certainly be wise to keep it away from you, Master Forseld. Nevertheless, this leaves you with a choice. You may attempt the Sigil of Zhrrakash yourself, or we can go back to the inn. Of course, there is always the option of entering via the front.’
‘Erm, well, show me this Sigil of Zra-thing again,’ Archimegadon said.
Ithalna repeated the motions, and Archimegadon’s shoulders dropped as he tried to memorise them all. He gave it a practice try, but Ithalna shook her head, smiling again, and he tried a few more times. Each one was met with her superior smirk, and Archimegadon felt that there was a far higher chance of a flamebolt taking place if this went on much longer.
‘Do not look at me like that,’ Ithalna said. ‘My imprisonment was the choice of you and your friends.’
‘Just help me do it right,’ Archimegadon said.
‘Do not forget that you will also need to summon the power of darkness to cast the Sigil of Zhrrakash,’ Ithalna said. ‘These hand motions are child’s play when compared to that.’ She looked off to one side. ‘Going by your earlier lessons, it will be rather tricky to teach you to summon dark powers like this. Your friend Obdo here is not secretly a mage as well, is he? Perhaps he can help.’
‘Sorry miss, I used to be a necromancer, not a mage,’ Obdo said.
Ithalna stared.
‘Ignore him,’ Archimegadon said. ‘Look, just tell me the basics of how I can do this sigil casting thingy.’
‘Master Forseld, I suspect that we could be here until long past Salestis’s planned catastrophe and you would still be attempting the hand motions,’ Ithalna said.
‘If you want, I can ask Faul to use his axe to get that thing off your neck,’ Archimegadon said.
‘Temper, temper,’ Ithalna said. ‘Very well. There is one simple root to all darkness spells.’
‘You have to think of mean thoughts!’ Obdo said. ‘Like killing puppies, and frightening chickens.’
Without glancing in Obdo’s direction, Ithalna slapped him across the back of the head. ‘Emptiness,’ she said. ‘Light is energy at its purest and most extreme point. Darkness is the opposite – the cold desolation from which creation was born, and into which it will ultimately descend. You must seek that knowledge within yourself.’
‘So, like, necromancy?’ Obdo asked.
‘Along those lines,’ Ithalna replied. ‘Necromancy draws on darkness, so it follows similar precepts. Where it differs is that it seeks to bring energy back to that void, though for the purposes of control, and re-animation, rather than true creation magic.’
‘Enough of that,’ Archimegadon said, having lost track of what she was talking about already. ‘About this, erm, emptiness. How do you recommend that I draw upon it?’
‘When I was first called upon to do so, I thought of my mother,’ Ithalna replied. ‘Where other children enjoyed the comfort and protection of their mothers, I had none. My father barely loved or cared for me. I never knew my mother, and there were no paintings of her – merely the empty words of my father.’
‘I thought you liked your father,’ Obdo said.
‘I did,’ Ithalna said. ‘That does not mean that he returned those feelings. When I was smaller, the lack of love anyone bore for me threatened to crush me. It was easy,
therefore, for me to manifest those feelings into real force, and power. The darkness of the void.’
Archimegadon blinked and looked around the garden, feeling the sudden need to reacquaint himself with happy things, like flowers and the sun. Then he reminded himself that he needed to capitalise on these darker feelings, and focused on times in his past when he had felt that emptiness that Ithalna had suggested. He recalled his father Marius leaving the household, but that, while upsetting, had hardly filled him with the required emptiness.
Then there was the time that Berus and Kalissa had been killed, so close to the end of the Tarmunath War. Archimegadon could feel the sensation growing within him now. His thoughts moved on to the curse Sen had used on him, and how all his bluster and rage had been sapped from him, leaving him helpless and weak. Then, finally, he knew the last moment that had matched those others – when Yuriath had been killed, and he’d been unable to take back those last moments and prevent it.
Ithalna’s eyes were fixed on him, and her cold smile crept back onto her face. ‘I see it in your face, Master Forseld. Now, the words – Kala e Zhrrakash ra. Face the wall and speak them, while doing the hand motions.’
Archimegadon felt focused now, and he turned to the wall and spoke.
‘Colour a Srakasra,’ he said, waving his hands at random.
‘Well, I suppose the first time was too much to hope for,’ Ithalna said with a sigh. ‘Let us go through the steps again.’
Archimegadon and Ithalna spoke muttering to each other about the incantation for a while, as a few idle walkers went by. Obdo smiled at each and waved.
‘Lovely day, isn’t it?’ he asked.
He was met with glares, and the people hurried away from these strange whispering folk before they caught some form of plague. It was a fair few minutes before Ithalna and Archimegadon stepped apart, and the latter turned to the wall once more.
‘Alright, let’s see here,’ Archimegadon said. ‘Kala e Zhrrakash ra.’
He followed up with the hand motion, and he didn’t even have a moment to lose faith in his casting. A small, ominous black flame flickered at the end of his finger, and just behind one of the trimmed bushes a section of the wall turned see-through, though they could still make out the basic form of the sandstone. Without speaking, Ithalna pushed Archimegadon into the bush, and Obdo needed no prompting to follow along.
Once they were inside, the wall resumed its previous solid form, and the three of them were plunged into darkness. Ithalna gave Archimegadon a shove, and moments later he illuminated the gloom with a small ball of flame.
‘There we go,’ Ithalna said. ‘I swear, I shall be most relieved when I am free of this blasted collar, and can accomplish these simple tasks without constant delays.’
Archimegadon glared at her. She should have appreciated his efforts more, since he’d had to touch such a vile form of magic as darkness. At least she had been telling the truth about this Sigil of Zrak-whoever opening the secret tunnel.
‘Where now, then?’ Archimegadon asked.
‘I would like for us to visit the old Cleric meeting room,’ Ithalna replied. ‘It is where I met with the Six when I was still doing duties for my father.’
‘Lead the way, then,’ Archimegadon said.
The group shuffled on down the tunnel, and Archimegadon soon found himself wrinkling his nose as he felt webs break against his face, and occasionally twitched as soft sensations brushed his ear. Whether it was the doing of webs, insects, spiders, or anything else, he did not find out, or care to check; he just hoped it would all go away soon.
‘So these fancy tunnels of yours,’ Obdo said as they walked up a set of stairs. ‘Why are they here, again?’
‘The first order of Clerics was involved in assisting King Vortagenses,’ Ithalna replied. ‘When he died, they were largely hunted down by the Mage Order of the time. However, many of them were already leading members of the new government, and they kept their silence during this time. Their children’s children, maintaining their roles, capitalised on the move to Arenfel and involved themselves in the construction of the palace.’
‘Wouldn’t all the builders have known?’ Obdo asked.
‘You are correct,’ Ithalna replied. ‘That is why they were all killed quietly shortly after.’
‘Charming bunch, you Clerics,’ Obdo said.
‘Oh, I feel that you would warm to me, in time,’ Ithalna said.
‘I guess you’re alright, for a lunatic,’ Obdo said.
Ithalna led the group around the winding tunnels for quite a lot longer before they finally reached a sinister wooden door, which was studded with blackened metal. Archimegadon admired the effort the Clerics must have gone to in order to make their secret tunnels as suitably creepy as possible.
Without waiting, Ithalna tugged the door open and stepped inside, only to let out a cry of surprise a moment later.
‘A paladin!’ she called back.
Panicking, Archimegadon pushed past her and briefly saw a figure seated in a chair by a large table, and he pointed at her in a rush. ‘Flamebolt!’
The figure looked around, and surprise was illuminated in her eyes for a split instant before they sharpened, and she spoke an unfamiliar word. A shield of Light energy filled the air between her and Archimegadon, and the flamebolt dissipated harmlessly, leaving an awkward silence.
‘Wait, mage,’ the paladin said. ‘There’s no point in us fighting.’
Archimegadon disagreed quite strongly, but out of curiosity (and the quiet knowledge that a paladin who could block spells might actually be hard to beat), he chose to let her speak. As the paladin rose to her feet, placing a book on the table, Archimegadon inspected her. She had braided blonde hair, though it wasn’t the easiest to tell in this dim light; she’d apparently lit a few torches on the wall and a candle on the table, which did improve matters slightly, but they gave off sickly, orange flickers that sent shadows playing across the room. Quite tall, the paladin was nevertheless slim of build, and her shining armour looked more suitable for social events than actual combat. Fitting the bill for most paladins, this one had blue eyes, and her unworn face suggested that she’d little real experience in battle, unless her healing powers were particularly effective in that area.
‘Who are you?’ Archimegadon asked, stepping over to the other side of the table across from the paladin. ‘Be warned, I shall destroy you and your book if you cause trouble!’
‘There’ll be no need for that,’ the paladin said. She smiled. ‘Your two friends can stop hiding as well. If it’s Unette back there, I’ve already guessed you were coming.’
Ithalna stepped out of the gloom hesitantly, while Obdo stayed just behind her.
‘Who are you?’ Archimegadon asked again.
‘Sorry. I’m Lyssina, and I’m the aide to Salestis,’ the paladin replied. ‘Since you left that obvious threat with the corpse in Vildred, I’ve been expecting you to come back, and I figured you’d be dropping by your old Cleric haunt.’
Ithalna looked quite speechless.
‘It was either because you didn’t care if we knew you were coming, or because you were a bit dumb,’ Lyssina said. ‘I’m nice, though, so I’m going to assume it was the first one, right?’
Archimegadon nodded falsely.
‘Begging your pardon, miss, but are you going to kill us?’ Obdo asked.
‘I don’t think I can fight all you Godslayers alone,’ Lyssina replied. ‘That’s who you are, correct? Mal got that much out of the Blade before he had to run away. We found out that Unette might be hiding amongst the Godslayers, and then we got a threat about remembering Ferrina when Salestis’s secret little assassin was killed. You had to expect that at least one of us would add things up.’
‘Erm,’ Archimegadon said.
Lyssina smiled. ‘Come, sit down. I’m not here to hurt you. I want us to talk.’
‘That is a bit of a change for you paladins,’ Ithalna said.
‘I guess it is,�
� Lyssina said, her smile twisting into a frown. ‘But please, sit down. I want to speak with you all.’
‘Let’s give it a try,’ Archimegadon said. ‘We have nothing to lose now from talking.’ He decided not to mention that half of his reasoning had to do with wanting to sit down for the first time since they’d left the inn.
While the others walked over to the table, Archimegadon settled down in the chair right next to him and glanced at the book Lyssina had put down when he’d attacked. The words Across Boundaries had been printed in gold lettering on the side, which wasn’t a title he recognised. Lyssina noticed his inspection and flushed, quickly retrieving the book and tucking it out of sight on her lap.
‘Alright, paladin, talk,’ Ithalna said. ‘It is three of us, and just one of you, so you had better have something of value for us if you intend to leave this room still breathing.’
Archimegadon glanced at her in surprise, only to be distracted as he noticed Obdo dozing off in the chair next to her.
‘My name is Lyssina,’ the paladin said. ‘As I said, I’m Salestis’s aide, but I used to be her friend before we even joined the Order. Well, I guess before we actually started training – she was pretty much set to be in the Order before she was born.’
‘I care little for who or what you are, paladin,’ Ithalna said. ‘You have a reason for waiting here for us – get to the point you wish to make.’
‘Please, just hear me…’
‘You and your kin have hunted me across Valanthas for the past month,’ Ithalna said. ‘I have no reason to listen to you now, and every reason to kill you.’
‘Calm down,’ Archimegadon said. ‘Let’s hear what she has to say.’
‘You haven’t been…’ Ithalna began.
‘I have been on the run from the Order for nearly as long as you,’ Archimegadon said. ‘Moreover, I have been the target of your assassin at the same time. Give her a chance to speak.’
Ithalna grumbled and folded her arms.
‘Thank you,’ Lyssina said to Archimegadon. ‘There’s a point to why I was saying about knowing Salestis from a long time ago. I can’t ask you to forgive her, but I do at least want you to understand what’s going on.’
