CHAPTER XX
SHADOWS WALKING
"You've led us to die, you stupid, rock-brained dwarf!" Agnon near-
snarled at Felin.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" She squeaked in protest.
"It's not your fault, Felin," Palas said, "We should have remembered
the city was to the East. Whatever's inside can't be worse than what's out
here, and we should be able to find a defensible spot in a city." However,
at that moment the undead came into view again, shambling in our general
direction. It was obvious that Marse wouldn't be able to save us this time.
I'd nearly had to drag him along during our flight toward the walls, and he
looked horrible.
I knew a bit about undeads, enough that I dreaded fighting them.
With the walking dead there is no such thing as a clean kill. You slash
open the jugular vein and no blood comes out. You cut off the legs, and
the rest drags itself toward you, unless the necromancer who created the
thing was extremely sloppy in his casting. You can kill them through fire
or divine power, but anything else was likely to be futile. And the wounds
they gave in return were all too often poisonous.
Jolan began casting, and I tensed to jump forward, expecting that
he'd throw magic to take out the first wave of them. Instead, the ground
beneath us rumbled and shook, throwing many of the undead off their feet,
and a semi-circle of stone thrust up beneath us. The ground stopped
shaking and the stone we were on halted when it was level with the top
of the walls, giving us a view of a fairly wide alley, almost wide enough
to be called a street, I suppose. The undead lurched back to their feet,
but we were out of reach. That didn't stop them from crowding around the
platform Jolan had raised, and I began to worry that they might find a way
to climb up. Fortunately, the walls were a little more than twice my
height, so getting down to the alley was manageable, if you hung over the
edge and then let yourself drop. Felin came last, jumping down so I could
catch her.
"I do not like this place." Diana said, summing up our feelings
quite nicely. "It feels... It smells..." She shook her head, "There is
much wrong here." I turned to Marse, who was looking a bit better, if not
much.
"Marse, I've heard that your kind can feel the presence of the
undead. Are there any in the city?"
"It's true that most clerics can tell when the undead are near, but
with so many right outside the walls, I can't say what could be in the city
itself." More good news.
"Well, if there are, they haven't found us yet." Palas said, "So
I guess we have two choices. We can stay here and wait for them to find
us, not knowing if they're even out there, or we can move and risk being
seen. This alley shouldn't be that hard to defend, unless they try climbing
over the walls, or jump down from the buildings next to us." Agnon and
Felin both looked up nervously at that. Not surprisingly, I suppose, they
both spoke in favor of moving.
"Marse, I think you're the critical factor here." I said, after we'd
considered it for a moment, "Can you make it if we move? If you don't mind
my saying so, you look horrible."
"I think I might could make it. I just wasn't expecting to need so
much power for such a simple task." Palas put her head around the corner
of the alley, and surveyed the street. She hurried back.
"You have to see this." She said, "You'd never believe it otherwise."
We went to see what she meant, and discovered that she was right. It truly
was unbelievable.
The street was positively crawling with the walking dead. We saw
the lurching shadows moving down the street, not all of them human. At
least one of the shadows was mounted, the shape suggesting a horse, and
there were things that could have been dogs as well. One, the well-preserved
corpse of a young lady and somewhat quicker than the others, walked right
past us, carrying the badly decayed remains of what looked to have been a
basket. When she reached the walls, she stiffly bent down, delicately
plucked at something unseen, and gathered it into her basket. She stood,
looked down again, and stooped to pluck once more, this time bringing her
hand up to her head, and played a bit with her ear, what little was left
of it. Then, a gap-tooth smile stretching her face, she turned and walked
past us again.
"She's picking flowers." Palas explained, "You watch, she'll come
back in a few minutes." We waited, and she did indeed return, walking past
to repeat her earlier actions, in every detail. "I don't think these care
about us."
"Something is very strange here." Marse said.
"You mean aside from that the city is full of corpses who don't know
enough to lay down?" Agnon quipped, earning several harsh looks.
"Now is not the time for joking, thief." Palas said, as calmly as
she could manage. "You were saying, Marse?"
"Why would anyone, witch or necromancer, waste his time animating an
entire city of undead, and then have them pick flowers?"
"Well, I'm sure they're not all picking flowers, Marse." Felin said.
"That's not what he means, Felin." Vereek said, "I don't think this
is the work of anything so simple as dark magic or dark priests."
"Who cares?" Agnon asked, exasperation clear in his voice, "The
point is, they aren't going to kill us. I bet we could stroll right down
the middle of the street and out the gates without them even noticing us."
"You could be right," Jolan said, "But then, if the gates are open,
the undead outside could easily wander in, and we've already established
that they, at least, want to kill us. And even if the gates are closed,
we'd need to open them to leave, and they're just as likely to be waiting
for us on that side as on this."
"All right then, since I obviously don't know what I'm talking about, what
do you suggest, O great and wise Archmage?" The thief's voice dripped with
sarcasm.
"I suggest, thief, that we learn a bit more about where we are and
what's going on around us before we do anything we may well regret."
"That's a good idea." I said, attempting to ease the tension between
them, "Any ideas on how to do it?" I got several shaken heads for an answer.
I gave the matter consideration myself. Then I turned to Agnon. "Say,
Agnon? Did you mean what you said about walking down the middle of the
street?"
"Yeah," He answered, a bit cautiously, "Why?"
"Because you might get the chance to do just that." I raised my
voice slightly to include everyone. "What if we send Agnon out? In this
fog and with his skill, I doubt if anyone would notice him, undead or
otherwise. It's certainly better than all of us going out, and we can
keep this fairly defensible position." Everyone nodded, except Agnon.
"I'm not about to go out there by myself! Do I look like some
kind of hero to you?" I could see that Jolan was tempted to say something,
but he judiciously held his tongue.
"You'll do for the moment. Look, all I'm asking is that you go out,
see what there is to see, and come back. I'm not asking you to fight them
all single-handedly, I'm just asking you to take a look around." He agreed,
though he didn't seem at all happy about it. He stepped out into the Mist
and vanished.
"While he's doing that, let's see what we can do here." I said, as
soon as he was out of sight, "I think I saw some crates farther back in the
alley, and there may be other things, too. I think we can work some sort of
barricade." Everyone started toward the crates. I held Jolan and
Marse back. "You two rest. Marse, you don't look like you should be able
to stand, much less work. Jolan, I'd like to talk to you."
"What about?"
"I didn't want to talk about this in front of everyone, but you've
admitted to knowledge of necromancy. I was wondering if you could get some
answers for us. I don't know much about necromancy, I'll admit, but surely
you can tell something about the purpose of this place. Like Marse said, I
don't think anybody did this just for the fun of it."
"Well, yes, I suppose I could... I'd need to have one of them to
work with." He shook his head and sighed, "I had hoped that I'd never need
to cast anything like this again. Learning the dark magic was a mistake of
my youth, something I've regretted ever since."
"Well, you've cast that aside now, and you won't be raising the dead
or killing anyone, just finding us some answers. When we're done, perhaps
you can undo the animation."
"Perhaps so. I pray that you are correct." Marse looked at him,
concern momentarily covering the weariness on his face.
"Jolan, are you certain that you should do this?" Jolan gave him a
suspicious look.
"One of these days, Cleric, I'm going to find out just how much you
do know. I'm tired of getting hints and glimpses from you. Yes, I will do
this. I know enough now, I think, that I can handle it." Marse shook his
head, sadly.
"What the Father wills will be." He said, fatalisticly, "I did try."
"What is he talking about Jolan?" I asked, but the others returned,
with more than I'd expected. They found rope along with the crates, and
bits of discarded furniture. We stacked and arranged until we had a fair
sized wall, with a gap just narrow enough for one to pass through. I
explained that we needed to capture one of the zombies, and Palas
volunteered. Jolan objected, of course. I offered to go instead.
"And what are you going to do, try to hold it with your bare hands?"
She asked, sounding slightly scornful, "I'm the logical choice for this.
Jolan needs to conserve his strength, and I'm the only other magic user.
Besides, it shouldn't be too hard to divert the one picking flowers; it's
already living in a world of illusions." Jolan reluctantly agreed, and then
only after she promised she wouldn't let it get too close to her. She
walked out of the barricade and came back a short while later, the zombie
following behind her. She wove a few runes in the air, and the walking
corpse was pushed up against the wall and held there. Another spell created
silver bonds on the thing's arms and legs, looped into the stone it was held
against. "How's that?"
"A good job," I complimented, "And admirably quick. Jolan, if you
would?"
The Archmage stood in front of the shackled abomination and began
his castings. The undead lady stiffened, and what was left of her face
twisted into a look of horror the like of which I hope to never see again.
Sweat broke out on Jolan's forehead, and a picture formed in the air between
them. I say picture, but that isn't right, because it was much more than
that. A moment later, I found myself swept up into the scene.
I stepped out of the house, basket in hand. The guests would be
coming soon, and I'd seen the loveliest bluepetals near the wall, perfect
for my new vase. I found the bluepetals and gathered a good bouquet,
pausing to smell the wonderful sweet aroma of the flowers, and was about to
go back inside, but just on a lark I picked another one and stuck it in my
hair, arranging the stem behind my ear. There, I looked a fair sight, I'd
wager. Now to get back to the...
People were yelling, suddenly, and pointing behind me, at something
up in the air, and there was a strange sound, a sort of long whistle, almost
like a tea-pot left too long on the fire. I turned, and screamed as the
great streak of fire passed over me. I near fainted from the heat that
followed, and I turned around to follow it's course. It screamed along
over the city, low enough that I saw several of the tallest buildings burst
into flame as it passed. I felt a small moment of relief when I realized
it wasn't going to hit the city, but then I was thrown back, as though a
giant had swatted at me, and there was a rumble as though lightning had
struck nearby, and a blinding flash of light.
Then the light was gone, and I picked myself up, feeling a bit
clumsy. Now what had I been doing? Strange, but my head felt like I'd
held it in a river during the winter freeze. Then I saw the basket, and
remembered. I'd seen the loveliest bluepetals near the wall, perfect for my
new vase. . .
The vision stopped, and both the corpse and Jolan slumped, though
the corpse was supported by the silver bonds driven into the wall and Jolan
was not. It was a near thing, but Palas managed to keep him from smacking
his head on the ground. I was near enough that I could have caught him
myself, but I was feeling somewhat dizzy from the experience. When he came
to a few minutes later, he had more bad news to impart.
"We have to get out of here. Now. Whatever it is that holds these
poor souls here will take us too if we're not out of here when the thicker
Mists recede."
"How long do we have?"
"Until dawn. I haven't the least idea what time it is now, so we'd
better hurry."
"But what about Agnon? He's still scouting the city, and I doubt if
he'd like to come back to find us gone!"
"You leave that to me," Palas said, "If you can get me somewhere high
enough, I can locate him with a fairly simple spell, and send an illusion to
tell him what we know."
"How high do you need?" I asked.
"Somewhere that commands a good view of the city. The spell will
make him stand out like a beacon, but too many buildings blocking my view
will obscure him."
"The tower." Vereek muttered to himself, "It would have to be the
tower, wouldn't it?"
"What tower?" I aked.
"The Timekeeper Tower, in the center of the city. They build a giant
timepiece into the tower, to make business move more smoothly. If what Jolan
just showed us is true, then it must have been badly burned when the Stone
passed, and in the legends it has a bad reputation, even for Nadair Shadai.
I shudder to think what it must be like."
"There aren't any other buildings tall enough?"
"Nothing with a view of the city, I'm afraid. For a city of this
size, they had few tall structures. The only other buildings nearly as tall
are the guard posts along the walls, but they were meant for looking outside
the city, not in." I sighed. Why was it always so complicated? Did I do
something in my past life to anger the gods? "Well, I suppose we'll have to
go to the tower, then. Anyone have any better ideas?" No one answered,
"Then do something with that," I gestured at the corpse, which was beginning
to struggle against it's bonds, "And let's be on our way."
Marse grabbed his medallion and looked like he was going to try
drawing holy power again, but Palas stepped in front of him. She paused
briefly with a look of concentration, then began casting. The corpse tried
to scream, but then slumped again, this time permanently. She gestured,
and the silver rings holding the corpses wrists and ankles vanished. The
body fell to the ground and immediately began to putrefy.
"How did you do that?" Marse asked, clearly puzzled, "I didn't think
Magi could turn the dead."
"I found it on an old scroll in Jolan's library. It's a simple
spell variant, designed for removing illusions. I removed the illusion
that she was living."
"Almost exactly the way I turn them." Marse said.
"I thought that holy power of yours burned them?" I asked.
"Not exactly, no. Really, it just lets them know that they're
dead." He looked at his medallion, and quoted "'The Light of Evan is the
Light of Truth' Truth can be a powerful thing."
"Great, fascinating, wonderful," Felin said, "Can we go? I don't
like the idea of being undead, do you?" She was correct, if somewhat
abrasive about it, and we hurried toward the Tower. None of the undeads
in the street tried to stop us, or even seemed to notice us, and Vereek
soon had us at the base of the Tower.
The Timekeeper Tower practically pulsed with the feeling of im-
pending doom that I'd felt since arriving on the island. It was an
imposing wide construction of red brick, stretching upward to fade into
the Mist above. About ten feet from the ground it narrowed somewhat, and
the ledge was decorated with statues of spread-winged eagles and leering
gargoyles. There were small slits at regular intervals, and we could see
that the tower was lit from within, though the light looked too steady to
be from torches. A door of heavy-looking red wood faced into the street,
and it was outlined in the same strange light.
"Do we really have to go in there?" Felin asked.
"Well, you can wait out here if you like..." Jolan began, and she
quickly shook her head.
It took both Diana and I to open the door, which was even heavier
than it looked, and which felt more like stone than wood. We stepped in-
side, blinking sightlessly for a few moments until our eyes adjusted to the
light. When our vision cleared, we saw that the light was emanating from a
glowing ball hovering in the center of the room, a giant duplicate of the
ones Palas and Jolan were using. A ladder against the far wall led to the
next floor. Aside from the globe and the unpleasant feeling, nothing seemed
particularly sinister about the place. We climbed to the second floor, with
Jolan in the lead, but we again found nothing but a glowing ball and a
ladder. On the third floor, however, we found the trouble we were expecting.
Three suits of armor stood in a row facing the ladder, and they
stepped away from the wall as soon as Jolan's head poked out above the
floor. As they slowly approached they raised wicked looking black-bladed
swords. Fleshless skulls with dots of fire filling their gaping sockets
could be seen beneath the helmets, jaws hanging agape as though screaming
or laughing. Jolan scrambled the rest of the way up the ladder, followed
closely by Palas and myself. Once again Jolan cast his magic before I could
react, and the Skull Knights halted.
"Hurry up!" He snapped at us, "I can't hold them forever." Palas
quickly climbed to the fourth floor, with the rest of us following. Marse
elected to remain with Jolan, claiming that he was too tired to make the
rest of the climb. On the fourth floor we found two minor apparitions,
souls so weakly bound that they could do little more than manifest visibly.
They were a very minor irritant at worst, but Palas dispatched them both.
She judged that she was high enough to work her spell, which suited us well
enough. After the surprise on the third floor, we had little inclination to
see what lay on the fifth. I could hear rattling and creaking noises from
above, but I couldn't say if it was from the clock mechanism or something
less corporeal. Palas wove her illusion, and the tower walls seemed to
vanish. We spotted Agnon, marked with a bright red light, in a dark alley
to the north-east of the tower.
Agnon was very much surprised when the image of Palas appeared
directly in front of him. He skidded to a halt so quickly he stumbled
and fell to the ground. He was somewhat recovered and dragging himself
backwards almost instantly.
"You've no cause to haunt me!" He told the image, managing to put
some authority into his voice, "I didn't abandon you, I was asked to leave,
remember? You've no cause to haunt me, not even in this gods forsaken
place!"
"I'm not dead, you lummox!" Palas sent through the image, "I needed
to reach you, so I sent a projection. A projection, not a ghost." Agnon
relaxed a bit after that, and Palas briefly explained the situation.
"Till dawn? That could be two hours or ten minutes from now in this
Deamon-Blasted mist!"
"Watch your language, and you're right, it could be. That's why
we need to get out, now. Can you find the East gate on your own?"
"Of course I can! I was finding my way through back alleys and
sewers when you were still..."
"Decades older than you are now, thief. Just get there, and hurry!"
Palas ended both castings, and we went back down to where Jolan and
Marse were waiting. I was the first one down. Immediately I saw that
something was very wrong. Marse lay on the ground, unconscious, and Jolan
stood over him. The three Skull Knights were still standing where they'd
been when we left, but Jolan didn't seem to be holding them there as he had
been.
"The cleric collapsed." Jolan said, "Come on, grab him and let's
go." I picked Marse up and carried him the rest of the way down over my
shoulder. When we were all assembled at the bottom of the tower, Jolan
told us to stay where we were, and he'd recruit us some help.
"What sort of help?" I asked.
"You'll see." Was all he'd say, a small, satisfied smile on his face.
We heard the clank and creak of armor gone stiff from age, and the Skull
Knights jerkily made their way down the ladder after us.
"This is help?" Felin said, wide-eyed and incredulous. Turning to
Jolan, she repeated, "This is help?! Jolan, are you feeling okay?"
"I've never felt better. As long as these undeads are going to be
animated anyway, why not have them working for us instead of against us?"
Unpleasant as it was, it made sense, and we hurried to the East gate, the
Skull Knights following behind us. Soon, however, other undeads fell in
behind us, specters and zombies and ghosts breaking out of their centuries-
old repetitions to join us.
"This is just wonderful," Diana muttered to me, "An army of the
damned ahead of us and another behind us. I think Jolan's lost his mind!"
"Well, I don't know about that," I whispered back to her, "I mean,
would you rather have just the one ahead of us? Face a legion of the
walking dead, and Marse unconscious and too weak to do anything even if he
weren't?"
"I still don't like it. I thought he hated necromancy?"
"Well, sometimes you do have to do things you don't want to."
"I just don't like the way he seems so... enthusiastic about it.
If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was enjoying this." I couldn't argue
with that, at least. Jolan did seem rather exuberant.
By the time we reached the East gate, the streets behind us were
packed with row upon row of undeads, the Skull Knights in the lead. I
noticed that the Skull Knights' eyes were no longer red, but gold. I don't
know why, but that put a chill through me. The gates were closed, and Agnon
was still missing.
Our legion of the damned was less than orderly, undeads milling about,
shuffling around amongst themselves. Only the Skull Knights held themselves
still. I found myself wondering what such advanced and powerful necromantic
creations were doing in a town populated by undeads apparently animated
spontaneously by the Fire Stone's dramatic arrival. I supposed that there
would always be some things that I'd never learn the full truth of. Which
didn't mean I had to like it, of course.
Felin found the lever that would raise the gate, but we still hesit-
ated to use it. We could hear the zombies on the other side, and none of
us were eager to face them. Except perhaps for Jolan, but he was being
strange again.
Meanwhile, Agnon arrived. As it happens he'd been there for some
time, but had hesitated to join us. I couldn't say that I blamed him,
considering what was behind us. Not to mention what was ahead of us. With
him there, there was no real reason to delay any longer. I called to Felin
to throw the lever. She did, and there was a loud grinding sound, and a
groaning of metal under great stress. The gate moved not an inch.
"Well, what now? Jolan, can you get us over the walls?" I asked,
looking at the gates. When I didn't get an answer, I repeated my query.
That, too, went unanswered. I turned to look for the Archmage. "Jolan?"
Jolan was still there, physically at least. However, I saw right
away that however bad the night had been, it was about to get worse. I'd
seen power-madness before, back in Ombal when Merri went crazy, and I saw
much the same look in Jolan's eyes as I'd seen in hers. Jolan stepped away
from us, and his Skull Knights surrounded him protectively. Jolan turned to
the undeads crowding the streets and he raised his hands. His hands were
wrapped in an amber flame, and Diana started choking. Jolan spared her no
concern, and she finally began breathing shallowly through her mouth. The
zombies nearest Jolan collapsed, and the energy that had been animating
them flowed toward him. His draining spread farther into the milling
crowd, and the undead began to collapse in a widening arc. The air in
front of him pulsated with energy, which he began to slowly draw into
himself. The flames around his hands grew brighter, more voluminous.
"Jolan, if you were going to do that, why not do that to the ones
outside?" Felin asked, having returned from the gatehouse, "You remember,
the ones that are trying to kill us?"
At the same time, I yelled at him, "Jolan, stop! You're choking
Diana!"
The Archmage swung around, and laughed. He looked ten years younger,
his white beard and hair now streaked with darker patches of gray. He lashed
out at Felin, extending his power to surround her, and in moments the dwarf
collapsed, looking withered and frail. Jolan, however, looked strong and
healthy, his face less lined and creased, not a streak of white left in
his hair, and a swath of brown across his brow.
"Oh, I intend to deal with those outside." He threw back his head
and gave in to insane, howling laughter. "An army of death to command! And
I have the power to seize it now. This gives me the power." He raised the
pouch holding the Stone of Earth. "And if any of you try to stop me, I
will leech every last drop of life from you. You want the gates open?
Fine." He gestured at the gate, almost absent-mindedly, and it exploded
outward, shredding those undead who had been pressed up against it.
"GO!" He screamed at us, "Go and I will spare you. Stay, and you will
die. This city is mine!"
Palas pulled me aside quickly. "Firemane, do as he says. He has
enough control over the undeads outside that you can get to the Source.
I'll stay here."
"Are you absolutely insane?" I asked, "Didn't you hear him? He'll
kill you!" She shook her head.
"Maybe he will. But it's my right to stay here. You don't have to
understand it, just accept it."
"And I have a duty to you. I don't want to have to carry news of
your death to your father."
"Gods willing, you won't have to. But this quest is more important
than me alone." She lowered her voice, "Please, Firemane? This is
something I have to do." I looked at her, and saw that she meant it, so I
nodded my agreement. If she was that determined to stay, I doubt if I
could have stopped her from it anyway.
"Come on." I said, calling everyone else together, "We have a friend
to see to, and a Stone to recover. We can worry about this afterward."
"Firemane, you can't mean to leave her here!" Diana exclaimed, having
recovered her breath somewhat, "She'll be killed!"
"I don't really like it myself, Diana, but what can I do? If I
throw her over my shoulder and carry her off, she'd never forgive me.
Besides, she has a right to choose what to do with her life." Diana didn't
have time to argue, because Jolan threw a ball of fire to strike the ground
right behind us, to hurry us along. We dashed out the gates, carrying the
still-unconscious cleric and more-than-slightly dazed dwarf with us. The
undeads ignored us in their haste to get inside, to their new master. About
half of them collapsed as soon as they entered the city, their animating
force going to feed Jolan in his rejuvenation and power glut. We struck
out east, where Vereek assured us the lake was waiting for us. The mists
grew more dense by the second, until I could see nothing of my companions,
and only knew they were there by their sounds. Then, even the sounds stopped
as we reached the shore of the lake. I called out to the others to move
towards me, so that we could keep together as we circled the lake, looking
for the finger that jutted out into the boiling hot water, giving access to
the Source. Nobody answered.
A few minutes later I heard a splash and a scream. I couldn't be
certain, but it had sounded like Vereek. The scream continued for almost a
minute before dwindling back into silence. I feared our brave scholar had
met an unfortunate death. Soon, however, my concern was back on myself,
when I saw myself stepping out of the Mist towards me. I really wasn't
happy to see me, either.
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