“The spell failed,” said Nathan. “I’ve never encountered such resistance. It’s as if my own power is working against me.”
“Does this mean . . . ?” Kristin asked.
Nathan’s face glowed eerily in the light cast from his staff. “Yes, young lady, it does. It’s true. Now I understand why you claim I never returned from here.”
“This is terrible,” said Greg.
“I thought you said Dolzowt Deth couldn’t possibly hold you,” Melvin said. “What was all that? Just boasting?”
“I don’t know how he’s managed it, but he has,” said Nathan, and before he’d even finished his sentence the air began to prickle and hum. All eyes jumped to the wall where Nathan had appeared as Dolzowt Deth’s image slowly slipped into view.
The sorcerer barely glanced at them when he first arrived, deep in thought on some unrelated matter. “You’re in luck. I found a femur in my cupboard and was able to complete my spell without you. Odd, that’s been happening a lot lately.” But then his eye caught sight of someone taller than expected in the room, and his glowing red eyes shot toward Nathan. “You escaped.”
Nathan nodded. “You didn’t seriously think you could hold me.”
The fear on Dolzowt’s face lasted only a second. Then it changed to doubt, and finally transformed into a confidence equal to Nathan’s own. “Something doesn’t add up. If I can’t hold you, then why are you still here?”
Nathan simply stared back with a confident smile he had no business using. Dolzowt smiled too. Greg might have even said he was glowing, but that seemed redundant.
“You’ve already tried, haven’t you?” said Dolzowt. “I’m betting you escaped your own cell some time ago. But now you find you cannot escape from here. My spell must have worked.”
Nathan waved his staff again. Greg felt his hair stand on end, but little else happened. Yet to Greg’s surprise, Nathan didn’t look disappointed. His smile relaxed, and he stared at Dolzowt as if expecting him to make the next move.
“What was that about?” Dolzowt asked.
Perhaps it was just Greg’s imagination, but he could swear the sorcerer’s glow weakened. Dolzowt noticed too. His glowing red eyes faded to black like cooling embers and took on a worried look. He watched his own radiance diminish, until his image had turned completely solid, and the only light in the room was the soft glow cast by the tip of Nathan’s staff.
“What manner of magic is this?” Dolzowt stammered. “What have you done to me, wizard?”
“Thank you for joining us,” Nathan told him. “I hope for your sake your spell is not so powerful that even you cannot escape it.”
Dolzowt’s eyes filled with rage. “What have you done?” He thrust out one hand, and a ball of blue fire erupted in his palm.
“Ah, ah, think about what you’re about to do,” Nathan warned. “If anything happens to me, I suspect you’ll find yourself here for a very long time.”
Dolzowt stared helplessly for but a moment. His gaze settled on the children cowering by the wall. “Then I’ll kill them, one by one, until you release the spell you hold over me.”
He made as if to throw the ball of fire Kristin’s way, but Nathan’s staff came up just as quickly, and the flame never left Dolzowt’s palm. The sorcerer shrieked as the ball increased in brilliance. He shook and shook his hand, but couldn’t release the fire.
“Enough,” said Nathan, waving his staff again.
The flame Dolzowt held disappeared in a flash, and Dolzowt clenched his hand to his chest, tears in his eyes. “You will die for this, wizard.”
“No one will die here today, Dolzowt, as long as you cooperate with me. After all, we’ll need to work together to overcome this spell of yours.”
“Work together? Are you mad?” He inspected his palm briefly and moved it back to his chest. “Why would I help you after what you’ve done?”
“Because it’s the only way you’ll leave this room alive.”
Dolzowt looked like he desperately wanted to throw something at Nathan, but Greg had an idea the magician would think twice before summoning another fireball. He settled for a burning glare that Greg found nearly as threatening.
“What will it be?” Nathan asked. “Don’t feel too rushed. We have nothing but time.”
Dolzowt scowled, his contempt for Nathan obvious. “What makes you think working together will help?”
“I assume when you entered this cell you intended to leave again. That means there exists some flaw in the spell that I can leverage. You simply need to explain how you managed to accomplish such a feat, and then, if luck is with us, I should be able to set us all free.”
“Oh, luck is with us,” Melvin said, shoving Lucky forward.
“Oh, no, no, no,” said Dolzowt. “That spell is mine and mine alone. Why would I let you in on how I cast it? You and your little friends will just disappear and leave me here to rot.”
“No, you have my word,” said Nathan. “I have no reason to leave you behind. You pose no threat to me.”
Dolzowt looked highly offended by this last, but the poorly concealed fear in his eye also suggested he knew Nathan spoke the truth. “Very well,” he said through clenched teeth, “but if this is a trick, I will hunt you down and make you rue the day—”
“If this is a trick, you will die in this cell,” Nathan corrected him. “But you need not fear. I would not lie to you.”
Though far from happy about it, Dolzowt revealed to Nathan the details of his latest work. Nathan listened intently to all of it, until Dolzowt finished his explanation and eased himself to the floor, defeated.
“Ah, yes, I see,” said Nathan after a time. “Now I must think.” He separated himself from the others as much as possible for the small space and dropped into silence.
Rake swatted Greg to let him know the level of attention he was receiving didn’t match his expectations. Greg didn’t mind. He hugged the shadowcat to him and buried his nose in Rake’s fur. “Oh, Rake, I still can’t believe it’s you. But how? I saw you disappear into the night. Whatever that thing was in the water threw you hard enough to send you all the way back to the shore at New Haven.”
Nathan looked up from his thoughts. “Apparently he was flung hard enough to reach shore, all right, but the shore of Deth’s End, not the one in New Haven. Now if you don’t mind, I’m trying to think.”
“But,” insisted Greg, “even if he did reach land, we’re in an infinitely tall spire . . .”
“Yes, but only half way up,” Lucky reminded him.
“How did he get here?”
Nathan snapped out of his thoughts again, looking annoyed over the distraction.
Dolzowt crawled back to his feet and pulled Greg aside. “Shadowcats are quite mysterious creatures,” he told Greg, “far smarter than people give them credit. You must be a powerful magician, for I have never seen one take to a man before . . . or a boy, as the case may be. And this one seems special, even for a shadowcat.”
“He did summon all his friends to help us get into Ruuan’s spire that one time,” Lucky reminded Greg.
“And he’s constantly warning us of trouble,” said Melvin.
“And helping you out of jams, like on the boat,” added Priscilla.
Kristin, who had no stories to share about Rake, stared at the furry creature in Greg’s arms and offered all she could. “And look how cute he is.”
Greg didn’t really see what that had to do with anything, but Rake seemed to like her comment best. The shadowcat struggled in his grasp until Greg had no choice but to let go. Rake shook off the humility of falling and wandered over to Kristin’s feet, where he rubbed against her legs until she picked him up and cuddled him.
Greg frowned. If Rake was going to be sharing a bond with someone, that someone ought to be Greg. And whether he was ready to admit it or not, Greg wished Kristin would say
he
was cute and offer to hold
him
that way.
“I think I’ve got it,” Nathan suddenly announced, his face beaming with excitement.
“You’ve figured out a way to escape?” said Dolzowt.
“Yes, but first we have other business to discuss.”
Dolzowt’s face turned nearly the same shade of red his eyes had held before Nathan turned him solid. “I knew this was a trick. You lied to me. You never intended to let me out of this cell.”
“Quiet,” said Nathan. “I didn’t lie. We’ll go in a moment.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Nathan removed an object from beneath his robe. Circular and roughly half the size of his fist, it gleamed even brighter than the tip of Nathan’s staff, engulfing the room in an eerie green glow.
“There’s still the matter of the dragon,” he said, and Greg now recognized the object in Nathan’s hand as the legendary Amulet of Ruuan, which Nathan once described as the most powerful artifact ever borne of this world.
Greg wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he had no doubt of the power resting in Nathan’s palm. On his last trip to Myrth he had held all four of the pie-shaped center pieces in his own hand. He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to hold them as they were now, nestled within the center of the fifth and most essential piece, an outer ring used to keep the others in place.
Dolzowt thrust out his chin defiantly. “No. I won’t help you there.”
Nathan offered a sympathetic frown. “With this amulet I can take Tehrer with or without your help, Dolzowt. But you’re the only one he’ll listen to of his own free will. Those on the side of Good were given the edge in the Dragon Wars because the dragon controlled by this amulet did not resist the magicians who sought to control him. Without Tehrer’s cooperation, I’m afraid he’ll be no match for Ruuan. As fierce as he was in his day, his anger and hatred for men has taken a heavy toll on him. He has not aged well.”
“Is he talking about the dragon that bit our boat in half?” Kristin whispered to Priscilla.
Greg could swear he saw the red return to Dolzowt’s eyes. “I told you before, I won’t help you,” the sorcerer said with a hiss.
Nathan frowned. “Then Witch Hazel will most surely win her battle against the kingdom.”
“I care nothing about your witch, or your kingdom.”
“Did I mention that once she controls the kingdom, she will certainly extend her power to the Netherworld as well?”
Dolzowt scowled. “Let her come.”
“But your dragon will be dead. And perhaps I failed to mention that with the amulet Hazel now holds, she is more powerful than I.”
Dolzowt looked less certain.
“And that while I am forgiving to those who stand in my way, she is not.”
“No,” said Dolzowt. “Tehrer will not let you control him. You don’t know him like I do. He’s bitter about his past. He hates everything about men and the kingdom.”
“He must like you,” said Nathan. “You’re still breathing.”
“Tehrer and I have an agreement. I guard the passageway to his lair, and he . . . well, he doesn’t eat me. It’s a good arrangement from both our points of view. But that’s something special between us. He’s not much for cooperating with other humans.”
“The dragon has made agreements with others in the past,” said Nathan, and Greg wondered if the magician knew about Norman Greatheart letting Tehrer live, or vice versa. He supposed Nathan must. He knew Tehrer was alive, which was only possible if Norman had lied.
“That was years ago,” claimed Dolzowt. “But as you said yourself, age has been hard on him. He’s not as reasonable as he once was. He listens to me only out of respect for my power.”
“If that were true, he’d surely listen to me,” said Nathan, “but I think it more likely he listens to you because you are kindred spirits. You share similar views of morality, and he is not alone in losing his race against age.”
“Are you calling me old?” Dolzowt said, his voice rising.
“Not old, exactly. Just too old to take on an opponent like Hazel.”
Dolzowt searched the room with his eyes, as if he might have overlooked a means of escape.
“What will it be then?” Nathan asked. “Should I be making myself comfortable?”
“I will see you die for this, magician.”
“Yes, given what I’m about to attempt and what I know of Hazel, you quite possibly will. But we’re doing it just the same. Now, do we have a deal?”
“Yes, yes, just let us out.”
The tip of Nathan’s staff brightened, and one of the walls that had appeared perfectly solid a moment before melted away to nothing, revealing the open passageway behind.
Nathan bowed slightly to Dolzowt Deth and motioned toward the opening. “After you.”
Dolzowt growled to himself and stormed from the cell. Nathan winked at Greg and stepped out after him, and the children followed. They’d made only a few turns before Greg felt a tug on his robe and realized Rake was scampering along behind, trying to get his attention.
“Rake, I almost forgot you.”
He stooped to pick up the shadowcat and noticed movement in the tunnel behind. To his astonishment, several children were milling about the corridor, peering cautiously in all directions.
Greg glanced ahead, to where Nathan and Dolzowt led the others up the corridor. Each cell they passed shimmered, a nearly undetectable shifting of the rock, and within moments a child emerged on shaky legs—or at least leg—to join the others.
In some cases, those in the hall had to rush in and offer a shoulder of support, because the newcomers could not stand on their own. Other children walked with their hands on another’s shoulder to guide them, as they had no eyes to see. But slowly they amassed—dozens in all, slowly banding together, searching for a way out of the catacomb of tunnels.
Kristin noticed Greg missing and turned. Her eyes nearly sprang from her head, but for once she didn’t scream. Instead, she tugged on Lucky’s robe and let him in on the secret. Within moments Priscilla and Melvin knew too. When Melvin saw the sight he nearly shouted, but Lucky happened to be pointing past the boy’s nose when Melvin spotted them, and he managed to clamp a hand over Melvin’s mouth before Dolzowt was alerted. Once again Greg realized how glad he was to have brought Lucky and his good fortune along.
Knowing no other way, the gathering children followed Greg and the others through the tunnels as Dolzowt negotiated turn after turn, each identical to the last. From every cross-passageway, more joined in, until hundreds walked behind them, their pounding footsteps impossible to ignore. Yet Dolzowt never noticed. The sorcerer floated along ahead of Nathan, still griping to himself, oblivious of the activity behind.