Authors: Greg Curtis
“I am.” Harl couldn't help but let a small smile grace his face. He was proud of what he was, and of what he'd done. Tricking a Circle Wizard was no small feat. Capturing him was a bigger one.
“I am going to kill you when I get out of here boy. And it will not be an easy death.”
White Tail didn't say it as a threat. It was a promise. But what he didn't yet know was that he wasn't getting out of his cell. Ever. Which was probably because he couldn't see the markings Harl had etched into the floor while he'd been unconscious. If he could have he would have been panicking.
“And me White Tail? Are you going to kill me as well?” Dina stepped in and Harl guessed that his part of the interrogation was over. But he could be happy with that. As long as he saw the wizard gone. That in the end was what mattered. And when White Tail was gone the twelve would be six. Half of them would be dead.
“Dina?” White Tail looked up at them from his cot and in the direction of her voice. “Is that you?”
“It is.”
“I'd heard you got away. I was glad of it. Especially now when we have some vacancies for new Circle Wizards.”
“You know better than that White Tail.” Dina sounded less than impressed with his suggestion. “After what you've done you should know better.”
“So be it.” The wizard shrugged his small furry shoulders and then relaxed back a little on his cot, pretending to be unconcerned. “Then you'll die with the others.”
“You do not care about those you have murdered? At all?”
Erislee asked the question though Harl didn't know why. White Tail had never cared about anyone other than himself. He never would.
Of all the Circle wizards he was the one Harl could most easily have imagined becoming a mass murderer. There was something about his form of magic, about the terrible power he wielded, that seemed to corrupt. The faun had known from an early age that he could make anyone do anything he wanted. That he could have anything he wanted. And that he could never be disciplined. He would always get away with it. To him undoubtedly, other people were little more than tools to be used. And everything Harl knew of him said that he would use them. He always had and he always would.
“And there it is. The voice of the High Priestess. You know I was there girl when you were taken. When your temple was destroyed. And I watched you lying there. Bound yes – but not really struggling that hard. And I knew then that we'd made a good choice in choosing the Temple of Artemis. Its priests were lazy and uncommitted. Its High Priestess was the same. Too timid. You could have struggled harder. You could at least have tried to resist.”
“He's just trying to provoke you,” Harl told Erislee what she surely already knew. But a lie like that could not be allowed to stand. “He's trying to get you to do something foolish.”
But while he saw her obvious anger, it was the sudden glow of the charm hanging around her neck that had him worried. Even having drunk the tea and being collared, White Tail's magic was still breaking through a little. But then White Tail was a powerful wizard. The most powerful wizard of the mind known. Only a mistake on his part had allowed Harl to capture him.
But he had been captured and Harl was determined that he remain that way until the end. So he snapped his finger and let the small spell he'd charmed into the manacles holding White Tail take effect.
Instantly the manacles grew hot and started to burn the wizard. The effect was immediate as White Tail screamed in pain and the glow on the charm around Erislee's neck faded a heartbeat later. That was why he'd added the spell to the manacles. He'd known that no wizard could cast while he was distracted by pain. Not even White Tail.
After about thirty seconds the wizard cried out for mercy and Harl snapped his fingers to bring the pain to an end. Had he left it much longer the burning would have caused him serious injury. Already they could smell burning fur through the bars. And they could hear the wizard cursing them. He was cursing Harl most of all. He knew who'd crafted his restraints.
It was some time before White Tail was calm again. Or at least quiet enough to answer some questions. Harl hoped he would answer a lot of questions before he died.
“You were in the temple when the gate opened?”
“I was one of the twelve who opened it.” White Tail still sounded angry, and maybe a little sullen as well. But there was pride in his voice as well.
“Twelve? You carried the gate in. You were the porters!”
“Of course. We had to. Because we had to be beside it to make the binding. That was the condition. So we dressed in the livery of the king's servants and no one paid us any attention. Not as we walked down the street. Not as we walked into the temple. Not even when we spoke the words of the binding. It was really very easy.”
Even in pain, tied up and facing a terrible fate, the smugness was there in his voice. His parents should have named him White Tail the Insufferable, Harl thought. Or maybe they should have simply strangled him at birth. That would have been far better.
“Who leads those of you who remain?” Dina returned to the role of inquisitor.
“Who leads? No one leads. We all lead. We made the deal as one. We signed in blood as one. We bound our magic and our lives as one. No one leads and no one follows. Not even Maynard the babbling fool followed. He didn't want to sign – some of the time. But he had to. His power was waning as was his mind and he knew the deal was the only chance he had. He didn't need that much persuasion. Only a little push. I'm glad you killed him by the way. He was becoming a problem. And there were all those damned cats!”
“Oh, and in case you were thinking of killing me, think again. The deal we made is a binding. And when it is broken there will be a release of magic such as you have never seen. You will all die with me. And how will your little war continue with your precious High Priestess and your most powerful wizard dead? So don't pretend you're going to kill me. We all know the truth.”
White Tail relaxed again, thinking he had the upper hand. Thinking that he was going to live. No doubt he imagined that he would be freed in time and would have a chance to take his revenge on them. That was not going to happen, Harl swore to himself. Not even if he had to put an arrow through the faun's heart himself. Some things were worth dying for.
“So you all made the same mistake. And Xin tricked you all.” Dina took her turn to berate the wizard. To provoke him into revealing something.
“We got everything!” White Tail raised his voice to a shout as he denied Dina's accusation. “We have the answers and we are so close now to understanding them. Very close. Soon we will all be gods! And then it will be your turn to burn!”
“Forgotten the very first rule of dealing with demons, hmmm? Don't! They always cheat.”
“We forgot nothing old woman! We knew Xin would try to cheat us. But we prepared. We bound him as he bound us. At the start he wanted to give us the answers but only have his dozen lieutenants take the binding. We stopped that. We made sure it was him, not them. And all the way along since then he has tried to cheat us. But we have kept him back. He does not get what he wants until we do!”
“It has been a tough battle. A fierce battle of wits. But we are winning. And now he is almost out of choices. He will yield soon.”
“And how many more will die before then?”
“My dear –,” White Tail suddenly smiled cruelly as he stared at their faces through the door and his blindfold. “ – you ask the wrong questions as always. The real question is how many will we allow to live once we have become gods? And the answer is not many. Certainly not you.”
“When we are done the world will tremble at our feet! And it will not just be the five kingdoms that will know our wrath. Everyone will! But you three most especially. There will be no mercy for any of you. Even death will not save you. We will bring you back to life so that you may die in agony over and over again.”
“No, you won't.”
Harl looked at Erislee and saw anger and determination in her face. Thunder in her eyes. And when she bowed her head and started praying to the Goddess he guessed he knew what would happen next. But he didn't try to stop her. He had already realised that they would learn nothing more from White Tail. Dina didn't try to stop her either.
“What are you doing?” It was White Tail's turn to be frightened as he heard Erislee praying. To start panicking and then he desperately started struggling at his bindings. But he was out of luck. Even had Tyche herself been with him, those bindings would have held.
“No! Stop that! You can't do that!” White Tail kept screaming at them but no one was listening, least of all Erislee as she continued her prayer. And it wasn't long before she was finished. Before she had raised her head once more to stare through the window at the prisoner.
“Any last words White Tail? Any words of regret? Apologies?”
“You bitch!”
White Tail's words seemed strangely apt to Harl. He had always pretended to be a jovial sort. Happy with the vicissitudes of fate whatever they might be. But that had always been a lie. He was a nasty creature who despised one and all.
Those were probably the two most honest words he had ever uttered
.
“Sweet Artemis let this creature be gone from the world.”
The High Priestess spoke the words and instantly White Tail screamed with fear. He had guessed what was coming. But there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to say something. To protest. To offer them a deal maybe. But it was too late.
There was a glow in the room. A strange white glow that set all Harl's hairs standing on end. And then with one final scream of terror the Circle wizard was gone. The cell was empty.
After that Harl stood there with the others, waiting. Wondering what happened next. Would there be another huge explosion of magic? Should he call out a warning to the soldiers above? He didn't know. The others hadn't told him anything of what had happened when they had done this before with Maynard. But then he hadn't asked.
But a few seconds later his question was answered as Harl heard the wizard scream. It was a sound more chilling than anything he had ever heard before. It was his death scream. And he knew without any doubt that it was because the demons of Tartarus had found White Tail and begun chewing on their appetiser. At least the scream was cut short quite quickly.
After that Harl continued to stand there, hoping that nothing more would happen but terrified that it would. He uttered a quiet prayer to Hera, just in case. But all he could really do was wait and hope that nothing more happened. And stare at the others as they too waited silently. It was ages before he realised that that was all there was. That the banishment had worked and that there would be no explosion. Once he did though he drew a sigh of relief.
“That was it?” Eventually he had to ask. The other two though didn't answer him. They didn't appear to be listening to him. Instead, they just stood there staring at one another while he wondered what to do. But finally Erislee spoke.
“The first time when Maynard went, it was a terrible thing. It hurt me in a way I can barely describe. But this? This is justice. Dike Astraea would be pleased. This is the proper end of the hunt.”
“There were still questions we could have asked.” Dina corrected her. Although she really didn't sound all that upset.
“He would never have answered them. Not truthfully.”
“No. I don't think he would have. I don't even know if he could have. I'm not sure he ever knew what the truth was.”
Dina agreed with the High Priestess. And Harl silently agreed with both of them. There had always been something very wrong with the faun. The sages said that to give a man too much power over others was a danger. That those of poor spirit would be undermined by it. That their very souls would wither and die under the temptation. Maybe that was why White Tail had become as he had? The magic of the mind had simply been too much for him. It was fortunate that there were no others with such terrible power remaining.