Tarah Woodblade (11 page)

“
Staying on the move has its own benefits
,” she urged.

He let out a small sigh and took another swallow of the weak ale.
Don’t worry. I only have to wait here one more hour and then we can go back to the scholar’s estate
.

“
And wait there for how long this time
?” she grumped.

As long as it takes. He is our way out of this, remember
?
This was your idea
.

“
Of course I remember. It’s just that this waiting is tedious
.”

Arcon didn’t disagree. Over the last week, they had spent over six hours a day waiting at the scholar’s estate in hopes that he would deign to see them.
The stewards assured me that today would be a better day to gain an audience
.

“
Of course they did
.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

The newcomer had stopped drinking. His tankard was laying on its side on the table in front of him and he was sitting completely still, his back arched as if he had been straining at something. Arcon began to wonder if he were dead. He reached out with a tiny trail of air magic, searching for a heartbeat, but then the man cocked his head and Arcon saw his shoulders move slightly with the inhale of a breath.

Arcon shook his head slightly. Everyone acted strange in this place.

Even if the stewards were lying, you know it’s much safer inside that estate than anywhere else in Mallad
. The scholars were the real power in Mallad and no one dared to cross them. Even the dark wizards left them alone.
You know this is our only way out of this
.

“
Of course, dear one,”
she replied, her voice was deep and throaty again. “
You know best
.”

Arcon felt a rush of pleasure rise within him at the sound of approval in her voice. Bile rose in his throat at the unwelcome feeling. He hated the fact that she was able to manipulate him even without her powers. He had let his guard down again.

“
Don’t react like that, my dear. I was being quite sincere
,” Mellinda cooed. “
You have grown much since we first met. The ordeals you have been through made you stronger
.”

The ordeals you put me through,
he growled mentally and slammed his tankard down on the table top. The rap of the metal against the wood was loud enough to cause a shifting in the shadows at the other tables.
Leave me be, you dead witch
!

“
Arcon-
.” Mellinda’s voice sounded concerned.

No
! Arcon raged.
You stay silent unless I ask to speak with you. I won’t hesitate to lock you away in the darkness again
.

“
Look at the newcomer
,” she insisted. There was a quiver in her voice.

A surge of fear rose within Arcon’s chest. The man was looking right at him. His body was still facing away from Arcon as stiff as ever, but his head had somehow swiveled all the way around. His eyes were large; too large for his face.

“
Don’t look too close!
” she shouted. “
Look away. Don’t let on that you noticed
!”

Arcon did his best to keep his expression blank as he forced his eyes to slide away from the man’s face and focus on a point in the darkness beyond. The man blinked once with enormous eyelids and his nostrils flared. Then a laugh rang out a few tables over and his head swung back around to follow the sound.

Arcon swallowed.
How did he do that? How did he swing his head around like a . . . blasted owl
?

“
Because it’s not a man, you idiot
!” she spat, her tone full of panic.

What is he
? Arcon asked.

“
Just get out of here while it’s not looking
!” she shouted. Arcon began to slide out of his chair. “
And don’t let it hear you
!”

Arcon muted his magic as much as he could, then quickly spun threads of air around his body and the chair beneath him, creating a sound-proof cushion as he slid the chair back and slowly made his way to the nearest exit. He spun another thread of air to absorb the light around him, giving him a protective blanket of darkness as he paused in the shadows by the doorway and peered back at the newcomer.

“
Get out
!” Mellinda demanded.

But Arcon didn’t dare open the door. The light would give him away and whatever it was had already noticed his absence. It stood, its head swiveling as its overlarge eyes scanned the room.

Its bizarre behavior didn’t go unnoticed this time. A loud crash rang out as a table was overturned near the front of the tavern and two men bolted for the main entrance. Arcon could sense the muted cloud of magic surrounding them. The thing darted after the two men. Cries of outrage filled the air as it threw chairs and the people occupying them aside in its haste.

Light flooded the room as the two men threw open the front door and Arcon slipped out the rear. He stepped into the alleyway beyond and let the threads of air fall away as the door shut behind him. Another spell shifted his disguise, changing his hair to a deep red and turning his cloak gray. He ran towards the busy street ahead, not slowing until he reached the edge of the alleyway.

He blended into the crowd, walking away from the tavern as swiftly as he dared. Shouts rang out from the front of the building and the people around him slowed down, turning to look. Arcon kept walking and the shouts turned to screams. To Arcon’s relief, the people of Mallad weren’t stupid. Most of the crowd began to run away from the screams and he ran right along with them.

What was that
? he demanded.

“
That
,” Mellinda said. “
Was a basilisk
.”

No
. Arcon paled. He resisted the urge to turn and look behind him.

He had learned about them at the Mage School. Basilisks were creatures with the ability to mask the true shape of their bodies. No one was quite sure how they did it, but they were adept at blending into their surroundings and the wealthy sometimes used them as assassins. Fortunately they were very rare. Arcon had never considered that one would ever have a reason to hunt him down.

Surely you’re mistaken
.

“
There’s no mistaking what I saw. Blast it, I should have noticed right away. The way the thing was turning its head to look around instead of just moving its eyes. They have a bird-like way of moving if you know what you’re looking for.”

The screams had faded into the background and Arcon was able to slow down, breathing a little easier.
Its eyes were all wrong
.

“Yes. They are good at hiding but have difficulty copying the human body. Their true form is too different. They can never get the faces quite right,”
Mellinda said. She chuckled darkly
. “People used to send them after me quite often during the height of my power
.
Luckily I was hard to kill
.”

Arcon suppressed a shiver. In a very real way, the witch that shared his mind was far more frightening than any creature he could come across. At least for the moment she had no choice but to be on his side.

At the next major cross section, he turned the corner and headed towards the scholar’s estate at a leisurely walk.
Perhaps it was after those other men. The ones that ran.

“
I doubt that. We were simply lucky that they ran. The low levels of magic in the place may have confused it momentarily, but you didn’t fool it with your sly ‘look away’ maneuver. It was going to follow you the moment you tried to leave
.” She sighed. “
In fact, I would say it’s already figured out its mistake. It is likely that it’s on our trail right now
.”

Should I run again
? he asked. He was only a half mile or so from the entrance to the Gnome Homeland. The scholar’s estate was just inside and no dark wizards dared operate inside the homeland.

“
It wouldn’t do any good. The dark wizards might not enter, but a basilisk wouldn’t be afraid. It would just sneak up and kill us while we waited to see the scholar, then take the rings and be gone
.”

Arcon clutched the secret pocket that had been sown to the inside of his shirt, feeling the lump that was the Rings of Stardeon.
I’ll hide my trail then
.
What spell do I need to use
?

“
It’s not as simple as hiding your tracks or disguising your body
,” she said. “
Not now that it’s seen you. Once a basilisk has identified you, it’s over. This thing has more than your scent. It has your magical essence in its mind and probably that of the rings as well
.”

“But-.” Arcon said aloud, his mind in a panic
. So what are you saying? We’re dead? I should just give up now
?

“
No, you fool, but there’s no use hiding. We need to find a place to fight
,” Mellinda said, her voice determined. “
And we don’t have much time. We need to find it quick.
”

Arcon glanced around, looking for a vacant alleyway. Alleys were less frequent in this part of the city. The tall buildings were stacked right next to each other, several in a row sharing walls.
Fight a basilisk? And in the city? How do I do it? Any magic I use powerful enough to fight with will alert the guards
.

“
Very true and it will take a lot of magic to kill this thing. They are more resistant to elemental magic than dwarves. If you kill it, every magic user in miles will know it
.”

I don’t have that much magic
. Admittedly, he was well above average in fire and his air and water talents were decent, but he wasn’t on par with the greats.

Arcon turned down a long alleyway that looked perfect for his needs. There were no vagrants and only a few windows faced inwards. It would have to work.

“
You must put on the rings
,” she said.

Arcon froze.
No. We’ll have to fight it without them
.

“
You know it’s the only way. When you kill the basilisk the surge of power will alert the watchers in the city, but once you take the rings back off, they will have no way of tracing that level of magic to you
.”

Her logic was true, but Arcon hated the rings. He’d been forced to wear them twice before, each time to fight off whatever force the dark wizards sent against him. The surge of power was tremendous, but in his mind the power was far overweighed by the hungry essence of the things, sucking at him, draining his vitality and leaving his body and his fingers . . .

“
Ewzad Vriil found the way around that
,” Mellinda reminded him.

Arcon was well aware. The wizard had overcome that problem by turning the power of the rings inward and becoming one with them. But that situation was permanent. The only way to remove the rings after that had been death.

“Never that,” he said aloud.

“
Then you’ll have to put up with their hunger
,” she replied in exasperation.

Arcon stopped half way down the alley and pressed himself against the wall at the joining of two buildings. He reached out with air magic and pulled the shadows around him, absorbing the light, then reached under his shirt and opened the secret pocket, letting the rings spill into his hand. He shivered at the weight of them.

There were two sets of five rings, one for each finger, and every one of them fixed with a different precious gem. Each set was linked together by gold chains. When they were worn, their wielder’s magic was boosted exponentially and in addition would give him the power to manipulate the body of any creature, man or beast.

“
Put them on
!” she urged.

They’re tangled
. The chains had wrapped around each other. He began untangling them, but the magic he was using made it hard for him to see the rings in his own hands.

Mellinda gasped. Someone stood in the mouth of the alleyway. This person was shorter and thicker than the man in the tavern and he wore a different coat, but the way he scanned the alley, moving and cocking his head, was the same. “
That’s it! Put on the rings
!”

Arcon had the first set untangled and began shoving them on each finger. The rings moved, becoming larger or smaller in order to conform to the size of his fingers. As the rings went on, each finger began to twist and writhe bonelessly as if each digit was an individual serpent with a mind of its own. A rush of power accompanied the change, but Arcon could feel the rings feeding on him as the flesh of his body withered, tightening on his bones as if he hadn’t eaten for weeks.

The basilisk started moving down the alleyway towards him, its steps slow and methodical as if it didn’t see him in the shadows.

“
Put them on faster or both of us are dead
!” she commanded.

You’re already dead
, he pointed out. Putting on the last set of rings was the hardest part. The writhing fingers on his other hand didn’t want to obey and it took a large amount of concentration to get them to hold still while he put the last rings on. The creature was only a few steps away when he finally got the last ring on.

The enormous surge of energy that accompanied that last ring made Arcon forget his fear. His puny masking spells melted away and he extended one squirming hand towards the creature. His fingers undulated in unison as a pillar of fire erupted from the ground under the basilisk’s feet.

The fire roared upwards in a column thirty feet high. The sudden heat caused the windows facing the alley to crack. A squeal ripped from the creature’s engulfed form, but it continued towards him.

Arcon formed a wall of solidified air between him and the basilisk, keeping it at bay while he increased the intensity of the fire. The city’s watchers wouldn’t be able to ignore a surge of magic of this magnitude. Arcon knew he had to end this quickly.