A Dead God's Tear (The Netherwalker Trilogy) (14 page)

“
Probably dead too," the wizard remarked in an offhanded manner that infuriated the merchant.

Lian felt dizzy, he wanted to scream, to curl up in a ball and cry u
ntil he could feel no more. But the paralysis spell on him was strong. The most it allowed was a stream of tears that even now ran freely down the old man’s face. Denied the right to grieve correctly, Lian did the next logical thing.

He hated. Replacing hi
s sadness with rage, he struggled against the enchantment and thus, the thing in front of him, with a renewed vigor that even caused Erinaeus to give pause. Unfortunately, the old man’s heart just wasn’t enough to overcome reality, for the spell held firm.

“
I tire of this. . . now how should I kill you?” Erinaeus paced around Lian lazily, his voice calm and casual, a mockery of conversational tones used between friends, instead of the true intentions behind the words. “I thought of this moment often over the past twenty one years. I just have so many options. . . I don’t know where to start.”

The wizard gave Lian a sudden shove, forcing him back into his chair with a snap. Lian found himself looking up at the light blue of his ceiling, jaw locked open. Erina
eus loomed over him with his bottle of rum. “What about death by drowning? I did say this stuff would kill you. . . ”

The contents were poured down his throat. Panicking, Lian couldn
’t even gag and he felt the liquid smothering him like a pillow settling in his throat. He couldn’t breathe. Holding his breath as long as he could, the dizziness got stronger, his panic slowly ebbed away. He felt tired. Sleep was denied as the wizard forced his head down at the last moment, the rum soaking Lian’s chest and pants as he coughed it up. Gasping for air, the best he could manage was a death glare at the wizard as he tried to reorient himself. An empty threat they both knew.

“
But I figure, if you die now, that would ruin my fun. What about fire? Ever wonder what a cigar feels like? Judging from the stench of this room, you really haven’t.” The wizard’s ramblings were becoming more eccentric now.

Holding up a single, bony white finger, which now flared a deep scarlet color, he touched it to Lian
’s forearm. Pain shot up the arm like a white hot knife, the putrid smell of burning flesh filled Lian’s nostrils. Erinaeus blazed a trail up the merchant’s arm, leaving nothing but suffering in his wake. He would linger at one area, teasing like a lover, and then jump to another where he would jam the finger hard against the skin. Methodical and merciless, never did he go over the same area twice. Sometimes he would go fast, other times slow. It seemed to go on forever. Losing track of time and fading in and out of consciousness, Lian was barely aware that the wizard had stopped.

“
Well, that was enjoyable wasn’t it?” Erinaeus said cheerfully as he sat on the edge of Lian’s desk, absently examining a paper weight the merchant had gotten at a distant port. It was scrimshaw of the Goddess Avalene, poised, collected and sensual. A unique interpretive view of the Goddess compared to the more conservative images one could acquire around Lorinia. It was one of Lian’s favorite pieces.

“
Bastard,” Lian managed to gasp. Remarkably, when he hazarded a glance, not a single mark from his torture showed itself on his person. Erinaeus shrugged, tossing the statue to the hardwood floor where it skidded a bit before coming to rest against the side of the wall. The wizard maneuvered himself to where he was sitting in front of Lian. He had seemed to have come to a decision.

“
Alright, I’m a busy man. As much as I enjoyed our little reunion, it’s time to end this.” The wizard gripped Lian’s head, forcing the merchant to again stare him unwillingly in the face, most of it still hidden by the darkness of the cowl, at the one flame red eye that even now burned with the fire of the wizard’s will. “This is a spell I made myself, just for you, for this moment. I hope you enjoy the love and effort that I put in to this. You are the first. You should feel honored,” Erinaeus whispered, all pretense of goodwill and sarcasm gone, leaving only his loathing and hatred for Lian.

"Death is too good for the likes of you," he continued, mimicking Lian's earlier words.

The wizard’s fingers started moving in the archaic sigils and runes of the Kra’nael along the sides of the sailor’s head
,
leaving Lian to only speculate of what was in store for him. As the spell casting grew more frantic, Lian, still paralyzed, hoped that perhaps the dwarf and his son had gotten away. Now that he knew death was upon him, he found he had achieved an inner peace with the prospect. There was nothing he could do but sit back and wait. A part of the merchant hated the fact that he had basically given up, but it went ignored.

He could not fight this wizard, and the man had taken everything Lian had considered valuable in his life, coming back to finish what had started twenty one years ago. Lian was done fighting and he was weary of being hurt. Once th
e wizard finished, he would never feel again..

The wizard punctuated the crescendo with a sharp jab to Lian
’s temples with both of his thumbs. The last thing Lian saw was the smiling crimson eye of Erinaeus staring back at him in victory. He let out a slight gasp as his own eyes rolled into his head for a moment, when they settled back, the stare was empty and void of life.

❧　❧　❧

Erinaeus grinned as he dismissed the paralysis spell holding Lian inert, for it was no longer needed. Though the merchant gave no outward appearance of being affected by the wizard’s latest concoction, he could see the man’s hands gripping the arms of his chair hard enough to turn the knuckles white.

He truly enjoyed watching the spectacle before him, the obvious pain in the merc
hant's eyes was a literal high for him. He spent at least several minutes watching each slight grimace, every minute sign of pain, his grin getting wider and wider to match the pulsing red orb that glowed on its own accord. It was something he could have stayed to observe for the entire day.

Alas, the telltale sound of a wizard porting into the room interrupted the show. He knew who it was, so there was no alarm in his movements, after all, there was only one wizard who could manage to make a gate annoying.

“You done here?” Every time Erinaeus heard that tone, he had to restrain himself from roasting the diminutive man right there.

“
I am.” He waved his hand with a flourish over to the prone Lian, still staring into space at the wizard’s side.

“
What did you do to him?” Elrik, completely missing the annoyed undertone of Erinaeus’s reply, scurried over to the merchant’s side. Erinaeus had to remind himself of the benefits of leaving him alive. He moved aside, as much to allow his fellow wizard to inspect Lian as to be away from him.

“
It’s a little spell I concocted.” Erinaeus allowed himself to inject a little pride in his voice. “An illusion spell that forces the recipient to relive his own death in his mind, over and over again. What better way to kill a man more than once?” It truly was a work of art. The complications of a spell that involved warping the mind and then keep it enthralled were very painstaking.

The bald wizard
’s brown eyes grew wide with respect and, Erinaeus noted approvingly, a twinge of panic. He tolerated the small wizard for a few minutes, watching the man wave his hands comically in front of Lian in an attempt to garner the spell struck merchant’s attention.

Erinaeus noted that his cohort seemed a bit worse for the wear, there were burn s
pots along the man’s dark red robes, and the slight smell of sulfur permeated the musky tang of cigars the room had acquired. He even noticed a thin trickle of blood running from the smaller guy’s hand, which would explain why the normally left handed wizard was using his other appendage as he investigated Erinaeus’s handiwork.

Finally, Erinaeus had enough. “
So, since you are here, I’m to assume the dwarf is dead?”

The small wizard nodded, becoming very interested suddenly with the merchant. Erinaeus didn
’t have time to deal with slowly coaxing the small wizard into spitting out what was bothering him.

One second Elrik was watching the now twitching face of Lian, the next he was staring at the eerie pulsing eye of Erinaeus, held by the throat tightly agains
t the wall. He hadn’t even seen the wizard move, even though he had been watching Erinaeus out of the corner of his own eye.

“
Is the dwarf dead?” The hoarse voice of Erinaeus left little doubt at what the wizard would do if the answer wasn’t satisfactory.

Elrik
’s eyes flickered around, looking for an escape route, and Erinaus could feel the rapidly beating heart against his arm. He had already dipped into his own nether sight, for he could see the man was scared. And when a man was this frightened, there is no telling what he would do.

All he was greeted to was the chaotic swirl of disturbed nether around the two men; most likely from the spell he cast on the merchant. There was no gathering of energy by the mousy wizard, and Erinaeus couldn't help but to fe
el a bit disappointed. It would have been a fine excuse to kill him and explain it to the council as insubordination.

"He
’s dead!" The man practically squeaked, his feet flailing as he struggled to keep himself from choking. Erinaeus allowed himself a few extra moments to enjoy watching him squirm before he released him.  He fell from Erinaeus’s grasp, gasping for breath, hunched over the cold wooden floor. The smell of power was intoxicating, and Erinaeus resolved to do this more.  "There was one minor problem. . . " Elrik stammered between coughs. He visibly shrunk as Erinaeus took a step toward him.

"And that is
. . . ?" The wizard's hand started to glow, green flame like energy licking the edge of his sleeves. "You know Elrik, I did invent another spell, I've been
dying
to try it out. . . "

Elrik gulped, pushing himself even further against the wall than he already was, his red robes tearing a bit at the hem in his haste to get as far away as possible. It was a pitiful sight. "S-six d-d-dead Inquisitors, s
ir."

So stunned was Erinaeus that the flames that had been dancing in his hand were snuffed out, completely forgotten along with the diminutive wizard in front of him.

Six? How?

Inquisitors wer
e trained to operate in squads of four, and the expedition to assassinate Antaigne was done by two full squads. Inquisitors were generally a skilled lot, handpicked by the head of the Academy for the sole purpose of enforcing the laws set forth by the institution.

They were not a group to be trifled with, well known for operating with a military like efficiency; even Erinaeus would have had trouble with two squads of them. His eyes flickered back to the condition of his fellow wizard, realization dawning.

"You and Dahna were there?" he whispered. Elrik nodded his affirmation, using the respite to pick himself warily off the floor. "What of the merchant's son?"

"Uhhhh
. . . we didn't see him. If he was in the dwarf's cottage, he died, no doubt about it." Elrik gulped nervously, licking his lips. "Tell you the truth, we kinda. . . uhhh. . . forgot about him." He let go a huge sigh of relief when Erinaeus just shrugged in response.

Erinaeus was too busy being impressed with Antaigne to worry about Marcius, as mu
ch as he hated to admit. Not only did the dwarf manage to severely damage two squads, but he held off two powerful wizards in their own right.

He was starting to think it was a good thing they decided to eliminate the dwarf first. Someone of that power may
have caught wind of what they were doing if they had gone after the other targets first.

It was only Elrik's connections within the Academy that allowed them to "borrow" the services in the first place.  Erinaeus doubted Denician would appreciate finding
six dead Inquisitors, nor the fact that the activities they were killed in were unsanctioned by the Academy.

He had to do damage control. He would just keep an eye and an ear open for news about the merchant's son. It was a loose end he could tie up later.

His musings were interrupted by yet another visitor, the sharp crack of a gate spell once again invading the quiet study. Both Erinaeus and Elrik turned to regard the newcomer, a framed shadow against the window.

Dahna wore a light black, almost gray, ro
be this time. She also eschewed the cover cowls that Elrik and Erinaeus both sported, instead opting to allow her fiery red hair to run free, cascading down to reach the small of her back. Her face would have been considered beautiful, with her sharp, piercing green eyes and a sensual mouth that seemed to skirt the boundaries of a frown and smile, had it not been for the cruel and twisted scar that ran down the side of her face, gently overlapping the edge of her lip.

Even as marred as she was, she had a d
efinite presence in the room. Her force of will hung about in the air, something Erinaeus grudgingly admired. Here was a person he couldn't bully like Elrik; he had to treat this one very carefully.

"I assume Elrik told you about the slight problem we had
with the dwarf?" she asked, addressing Erinaeus.
Blunt and to the point
, Erinaeus nodded. He couldn't help but wonder if Dahna had deliberately sent Elrik as the bearer of bad news as an indirect way of amusing herself.