Blinded by Power: 5 (The Death Wizard Chronicles) (2 page)

“Torgon, answer me this:

What do warriors accomplish by killing their enemies?

Would not all have died in the future, regardless?

Would not warriors benefit more by slaying the worst enemies of all:

the delusions that are the cause of our suffering?”

—Sister Tathagata in a lecture to The Torgon, two hundred years before her enlightenment.

VEDANA COULDN’T believe that Rathburt was sobbing again. It was as if the pathetic Death-Knower had a split personality, either crying like a baby or yelling so loudly he frightened her. Both disgusted the demon.

But Vedana still was in need of the slump-shouldered wizard, so she was forced to tolerate his erratic behavior. Rathburt was at the crux of her plan to defeat Invictus. Without him, failure was assured.

It had been Peta, of course, who had foreseen Rathburt’s role. Unlike the demon, the ghost-child seemed to enjoy Rathburt’s company. Ah, well. Both were goody-goodies, and those types tended to stick together.

Three days had passed since she had left Tathagata standing alone on the border of Anna. Since then, Vedana had been too busy to pay any attention to what had occurred in the Tent City after her departure. Part of her duties had included entering the Realm of the Undead to deal with a potential uprising among her children. Destroying Uraga had had the desired effect, frightening them all back into timidity, but it had left Vedana feeling uneasy. In the old days, the mere hint of her presence would have sent them scurrying to the darkest corners—so to speak—of her realm; yet now she was forced to resort to extreme measures to get their attention. This was further proof that her plan to unseat her grandson must not fail.

Once she gained full control over a new Sun God, she would rule all. And she would spend the early days of her reign taking revenge on everyone and everything that had ever offended her. Which meant that just about all of them would get their comeuppance. Afterward she would create new subjects in her own image—and do a much better job of it than Invictus had done with his pitiful golden soldiers.

Speaking of pitiful
 . . .
the once-mighty Bhayatupa fit that description even better than the two-faced newborns. Vedana knew from the start that the arrogant dragon would never willingly accept the erasure of his precious memories, and she also had known that Invictus would not be deceived so easily.

All right, so Peta had told her this in advance. So what? Vedana would have figured it out on her own. Why else had she chosen to tell the dragon such a distorted version of her plan? That way, if Bhayatupa were to succumb and tell Invictus everything he thought he knew, it mattered little. In the meantime, the “Mightiest of All” was serving as a sort of glorified chauffeur. Talk about
Adho Satta
! A lady had to love it—though a part of her, she hated to admit, felt a bit sorry for the grumpy old lizard.

On the other hand, Vedana didn’t feel the least bit sorry for the druid queen. Since the defeat of her precious army,
Kattham Bhunjaka
had quivered in her dark hiding place, terrified that she would be the next to fall. Fewer than ten thousand druids remained in Dhutanga to protect her, and they too were frightened, knowing they now were no match for the white horsemen, especially since the dragon jewel no longer existed to strengthen them. And it got even better. The despicable vampire—who had joined sides early with Invictus and never given Vedana the respect she deserved—had perished in a spectacularly painful fashion.

How sweet! Bye-bye, Urbana.

But back to Rathburt’s sobbing. When Vedana incarnated a portion of her essence into the Realm of Life in the form of an elderly grandmother, she discovered Peta stroking the wizard’s shoulder and murmuring comforting words. Not spoken words
 . . .
the blind girl was
singing
to him.
Uggggh!
And in a voice that was quite accomplished, dammit! What next? Would she make him a gourmet dinner?

“What’s wrong now?” Vedana said, doing her best to disguise her disgust.

If Peta was startled she didn’t show it, but at least the interruption stopped the irritating singing. “If you think hard enough, even you’ll be able to guess.”

“Aren’t you funny? So
 . . .
he has a few worries. Don’t we all? Tell him to join the club.”

“A few worries? Is that how you describe it?”

“As Mala likes to say
 . . .
whatever.”

“Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’d find it amusing to emulate Mala?”

“
Emulate
 . . .
quite a vocabulary for such a little girl.”

By now, Rathburt had roused himself and was sitting up, wiping his eyes. When he looked at Vedana, the demon took a step back. But this time, at least, the Death-Knower seemed to have no desire to throttle her.

“How much longer?” he said to them both.

“Huh?” Vedana said.

“How
 . . .
much
 . . .
longer
 . . .
before it happens?”

“Oh,” Vedana said. Then she turned to Peta. “You tell him. He doesn’t take this kind of news well from me.”

Peta sighed. “I don’t know the exact day.”

“That’s a lie,” Vedana thought.

“Give me your best guess,” Rathburt said.

“A week
 . . .
maybe two.”

“I still might refuse.”

Vedana’s eyes blazed. “You’d better not, you yellow-bellied—”

“Mother!” Peta interrupted. “For your own sake
 . . .
shut up
!”

Vedana snarled. Then took a long breath and managed to smile with sickening sweetness, even if her incarnated teeth were gnarled and discolored. “What I meant to say was,
please
don’t refuse, dear sir. So much depends on your spectacular courage.”

Rathburt spat. “Peta’s right. Shut up.”

“
Hmmph!
I’ve never met two more ungrateful snots.” Then Vedana glared at the ghost-child. “I’m going to Nissaya now to have a look-see. Are you coming or not? The brave and mighty Rathburt can take care of himself while we’re gone.”

THE DAY AFTER Invictus had bested him again, Bhayatupa was forced to lie motionless on the rooftop of Uccheda, the midafternoon heat as intense as a forest fire. Now his only choice was to behave. The slightest transgression would doom him to unimaginable pain. Truly the great dragon was the sorcerer’s slave.

As dusk approached, Invictus appeared from a hidden portal, looking uncharacteristically distraught. Even his shoulder-length blond hair, usually perfectly combed, was disheveled.

“Come, dragon! We must fly to Nissaya—immediately.”

“As you order, my liege,” Bhayatupa said. “But didn’t you say that you would not intervene?”

Bhayatupa feared the sorcerer might lash out at him for even posing the question, but Invictus appeared too preoccupied to react with anger.

“I’ve seen something that disturbs me. Something
 . . .
unexpectedly powerful.”

“Your word is my command,” Bhayatupa said, lowering his long, massive neck and inviting Invictus to mount.

“Yes, it is.”

The great dragon soared to the upper heights, where the prevailing winds were blowing conveniently to the southwest, in the direction of the fortress. Even so, it would be close to midnight before they reached Nissaya. Now the quarter moon, ablaze in the starlit firmament, dominated the western sky.

Bhayatupa ventured another question, tossing his words into the wind. “If I may ask without offending you, what is it that you have seen?”

For a disturbingly long time Invictus did not answer. Bhayatupa braced himself, expecting the sorcerer to press his thighs against the chain around his neck, adding a terrible jolt of agony to the steady pain he already endured.

But rather than become angry, Invictus finally responded in a bemused tone. “The king of Nissaya is not quite as pathetic—or stupid—as I had deemed him. Henepola was able to conceal something from me . . . a weapon, of sorts.”

Now it was Bhayatupa’s turn to be bemused. “Surely no weapon exists that could harm you, my liege.”

Invictus chuckled. But his skittish mirth contained a hint of fear. “Maybe ‘weapon’ isn’t the right word.”

“And the king plans to use this thing against Mala in some fashion?”

“The king?” Invictus said. “No, no. If it were just Henepola bearing this
thing
, I would have remained in Uccheda and watched the proceedings with amusement. Nay, it is not the king
 . . .
but rather a snow giant. Did you not see him when we flew over the fortress?”

“My mind was on other things,” Bhayatupa said, cringing as he recalled the pain Invictus had forced upon him—and remembering also the sight of the despicable Chain Man, which always made the dragon angry.

The sorcerer shook his head and seemed to regain the better part of his confidence. “It’s not a problem that can’t be solved. But just to be
cautious
, I want to be there—out of sight, of course. When we arrive, you will circle the fortress from high above, where even the Tugars can’t see you.”

“
Bhavissaama anuvattatum
(Thy will shall be done),” Bhayatupa said.

“Indeed.”

They flew for more than a bell without further discussion, but as the quarter moon plunged beneath the western horizon and the fortress grew near, it was Invictus who broke the silence. “Do you believe that fate plays a role in our lives?”

Bhayatupa puzzled over this before saying, “Until I met you, it never seemed so. I had always been able to direct my own destiny, in whatever manner I chose. But now I’m not as certain. Why do you ask, my liege?”

Invictus sighed and pointed toward the stars. “Sometimes, it feels as if there are beings out there that are—how should I put it?—scheming behind my back. Perhaps when our task here is finished and we return to Uccheda, I will have you tell me what you know of Vedana’s plan, after all. If you do so, without resistance, I will reward you.”

“Reward me first, and then we shall see.”

“Ha!” Then, “Maybe
 . . .
but only if you behave until then.”

“I’ll be as obedient as a whipped dog.”

“Yes, you will.”

WHEN THEY FINALLY arrived at Nissaya, Invictus watched the proceedings unfold far below. It wasn’t so much what he saw as what he felt that disturbed him. Just as Torg had a psychic connection with the Tugars, Invictus had one with Mala—and he could sense that his pet was faltering.

Of all the rage Invictus had ever experienced, none compared to what he felt now. If the
Maōi
wielded by this new snow giant had the power to defeat Mala, might it not also threaten even him? Barely realizing it, Invictus’s body began to glow so brightly that the entire sky became filled with yellow light.

Bhayatupa howled and reared, but not before Invictus unleashed a beam of magical energy as torrential as the vomit of a star. The great dragon, no match for such a godlike expenditure of power, was pummeled backward; and the two of them tumbled across the sky and then fell for a long, long way before smiting the base of a mountain many miles north of the fortress. Afterward, both lay still.