Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 2 - The Crimson Legion (40 page)

As the slaves streamed into the avenue, they ran for the nearest gate into the noble
quarter. The aristocratic armies met them with a hail of arrows and bolts. Rikus cried out
as Jaseela clutched at a shaft in her throat and fell. Behind her, the rest of the slaves
in the first wave also crumpled to the ground, and soon the cries of the wounded drowned
out even the toll of clashing weapons.

It did not matter, for the slaves continued to charge from the templar quarter. They soon
reached the other side of the street, attacking the noble armies. Unfortunately, the
Urikite quarry slaves were poor substitutes for Tynan gladiators, and they died as quickly
as they reached the melee. Nevertheless, they continued to crowd the avenue, and it soon
became apparent that the pressure of sheer numbers would force a breach in the nobles'
defenses.

Closer to Rikus, Hamanu discarded K'kriq's shredded body and looked toward the outpouring
of slaves. His tail began to swing back and forth more eagerly, smashing into the wall
just a few feet away from Gaanon. The halt-giant cringed and pressed himself against the
yellow mudbricks, trying to remain clear of the dangerous obstacle. The sorcerer-king
stepped toward the slave army, simultaneously lifting his mouth toward the sun and
belching forth a puff of yellow smoke.

Gaanon slipped away from the wall. But as the half-giant took his first step, the man-lion
stopped and glanced over his shoulder. A wicked grin flashed across the sorcerer-king's
lips, and Rikus realized that Hamanu had been toying with Gaanon all along.

The mul started to cry a warning, but the cocoon was too tight. Nothing but a strangled
gasp left his lips.

Hamanu's tail smashed Gaanon in the ribs, though not hard enough to cause serious injury.
Cringing, the half-giant looked toward the sorcerer-king, futilely raising his hammer to
defend himself.

Instead of attacking physically, Hamanu stared at his prey. A look of terrible pain and
fear came over Gaanon, who dropped his weapon and grabbed his head, howling in agony.
Blood suddenly began to gush from the half-giant's nose and ears. He Fell to the ground
and began rolling about, leaving long red smears on the streets.

Rikus screamed in rage. Ignoring the searing pain it sent shooting through his entire
body, the mul tried again to free himself.

Don't weaken yourself,
the wraith said.
Wait.

Wait for what?
Rikus demanded, fixing his eyes on Hamanu's back. His lungs were starving for air, and he
could feel himself beginning to grow dizzy.
He's only going to kill me.

Perhaps not,
Tamar answered.
I have summoned help, but even wrairhs cannot move so far in an instant.

It's too late,
the mul said bitterly.
What makes you think I team to live now?

A ball of flame rolled from the tangled melee between Neeva's company and the Imperial
Guard. It passed through the nearest side gate. Then, just inside the noble quatter, it
erupted in a great spray of crimson fire. Dozens of Urikites voiced their dying screams,
and the gateway collapsed into a heap of rubble.

In the next instant, Caelum and Neeva rushed out of the melee and through the smoldering
debris, followed by the rest of their small company. Half the gladiators disappeared into
the noble quarter, leaving only a dozen warriors behind to act as a rear-guard. A large
band of the Imperial Guard quickly pursued, and soon the brutal clamor of battle raged
from the shattered gateway.

What are they doing?
demanded Tamar.

Going for the book,
Rikus answered, allowing a smug note to creep into his tone.
They mustn't!
Tamar snarled.

As Hamanu passed the gate Caelum had smashed, he paused long enough to spray a maroon fog
over the entry-way. As the mist settled over the area, warriors on both sides screamed.
The battle abruptly ended as a handful of warriors stumbled back into the
street,
their steaming flesh dripping from their bones.

The sorcerer-king sent a company of half-giants after Neeva and the others, then took the
rest of the Imperial Guard and continued toward the far end of the avenue. There, the
slave army had captured two side gates and were streaming into the noble quarter at a
steady rate. The rest of the entrances held firm, and the bodies were piled so high in
front of the slaves that it was proving difficult for them to continue their attacks.

Rikus was just beginning to think the slave revolt might succeed when Urikite regulars
began to appear at the other end of the boulevard. For a moment, the mul wondered where
they had come from, then he remembered the troop that Hamanu had sent to seal the outside
of the slave gate. As these fresh soldiers entered the fray, they cleared the street,
driving those they did not kill toward Hamanu.

Thoughts of his helpless prisoner driven from his mind by the battle, Hamanu formed the
remains of his Imperial Guard into a triple rank and began to press the slaves from his
end of the street. As he marched down the boulevard, the sorcerer-king gestured at the two
gateways that had been breached. A shimmering wall of force appeared in each, hardly
visible save for occasional glints of yellow light flashing off the transparent barriers.

Rikus watched the destruction in disheartened silence, knowing that the slave revolt had
been a failure, that the sorcerer-king regarded him as so slight a threat that he had been
left unguarded. Hamanu's response had covered every possibility, and the mul had done
little except play into the sorcerer-king's traps. He had no doubt that a few of his
warriors would survive and escape, but only enough to return to Tyr and tell of the great
disaster that had befallen them in Urik.

The blame for his legion's defeat, the mul knew, did not lie with the soldiers themselves.
Quarry slave, gladiator, dwarf, or even templar, they had all fought as bravely as any
warrior could. They were still dying bravelyÑif foolishlyÑ as Hamanu set about
constructing simple but efficient death traps.

Each time Maetan had anticipated his schemes or pressed him into a corner during the long
trek from Tyr, the mul had believed the misfortune to be the work of a spy, someone who
had betrayed the legion to the mind-bender. Now it was clear to Rikus that he was the one
who had betrayed the warriors. Styan had died fighting, as had all the templars. Caelum
was struggling against terrible odds to recover the
Book of the Kemalok Kings
and to protect Neeva. There was only one person left for Rikus to blame, and that was
himself.

In vain, the mul tried to close the screams of the dying from his mind, but he could not
do even that. The web kept his fingers closed firmly around the Scourge of Rkard, and as
each voice cried out for the last time, it rang in his ears with the clarion knell of a
wealthy lord's death bell.

I wish I could take it all back.

There is no such magic,
Tamar said.
But you can still recover the book.

In the street below, Rikus saw several gray forms rise from the cobblestones. One of them
glided to Gaanon's still form, then slipped over the body. The half-giant's corpse slowly
rose, then lumbered to the fortress wall and climbed up the surface with a grace that it
could never have managed in life.

Just kill me and be done with it,
Rikus said.
I'll never give you the book.

You will keep your promise, Tamar
responded confidently.
It is the one thing left to you.

Gaanon's corpse reached the top of the fortress wall, then removed the cocoon cord from
its merlon and slowly lowered Rikus to the ground. Once the mul lay face-first on the
ground, the wraith abandoned the half-giant's body atop the wall and slipped back down to
the street on its own.

Another wraith limped up in a body so mangled that Rikus could not even recognize the
gladiator to whom it had belonged. This one rolled Rikus onto his back, then used an
obsidian dagger to laboriously cut the cocoon away from the Scourge of Rkard. When the
sword was free, the wraith used the magical sword to slice away the rest of the web.

After he was free, Rikus remained on the ground, refusing to rise. The gladiator's corpse
grabbed him by the shoulder and hoisted him to his feet, then thrust the Scourge of Rkard
at him. Rikus made no move to accept the sword.

You swore on Neeva's life,
Tamar reminded him.
It is your choice whether we leave Urik with the dwarves' book or with her corpse.

Rikus took the sword and screamed.

The Book of Kings

“Caelum, give me the book,” Rikus demanded, keeping a tight grip on the Scourge of Rkard.

The dwarf clutched the leatherbound volume closer to his chest. “I'll carry it back to
Kled myself.”

They stood on opposite sides of the Lubar Townhouse's central courtyard. It was a large
enclosure full of earthenware pots brimming with dazzling, crescent-shaped blossoms. From
a net on the ceiling dangled long strands of sweet-smelling moss, and several small trees
sprouted from circles of ground left uncovered by the flagstone floor.

Rikus had sometimes been kept here as a young gladiator, so it had been an easy matter for
him to make his way through the battle-torn streets of the noble quarter and find the
townhouse. He had hoped to beat Caelum and Neeva to the mansion and recover the
Book of the Kemalok Kings
before they did, but he had not been so fortunate. By the time the mul had arrived, they
had already fought their way inside, leaving the front door smoking and hanging off its
hinges, the bodies of household guards and Tyrian warriors scattered over the foyer beyond.

Rikus lifted his sword and started across the compound, his black eyes fixed on Caelum.

Behind the dwarf, Neeva stepped from a doorway leading deeper into the house. A
blood-soaked bandage covered the wound on her stomach, and she looked as though she were
ready to collapse at any moment. She was using a slave rope to lead a skinny old man with
bound hands. The fellow had a wispy white beard, sad gray eyes, and wore a fine robe of
green hemp. On his forehead was tattooed the Serpent of Lubar, identifying him as a
special slave to be killed upon sight if found outside the family compound. If the old man
was interested in the strangers in the courtyard, his eyes showed no sign of it.

When Neeva saw Rikus, her eyes lit with surprise and joy. “Rikus! How did you escape?”

The mul ignored her and continued to advance on Caelum. “I'll have that book, dwarf,” he
said. “I need it to protect Neeva.”

“Protect her from what?” Caelum demanded. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and fixed them
on the gem in Rikus's chest. “From the wickedness lodged in your breast?”

The dwarf shoved the book into Neeva's hands, then thrust a hand skyward in preparation
for casting a spell. “I have another way to protect her,” he snarled. “A more permanent
way.”

Stop him!
Tamar commanded.
If he destroys me, Neeva's life is forfeitÑCatrion and the others will see to it.

Rikus was already rushing across the courtyard. He crashed through a pair of flower jars,
then reached Caelum just as the cleric's hand turned crimson with the sun's energy. The
mul pressed the tip of his sword against Caelum's throat, and the dwarf pointed his
glowing hand at the gladiator's chest.

“Cast your spell,” Rikus snarled. “Before I die, I'll kill
you.”

Caelum did not activate his spell, but neither did he withdraw his hand.

“What's this all about, Rikus?” Neeva demanded. She stepped from behind the dwarf, being
careful to keep her body between tie mul and the book. “You promised to return the book to
Kemalok!”

“I can't keep that promise,” the mul explained. As he admitted his failure, a deep sense
of shame came over himÑ though he remained determined to do what he must to save Neeva.
“Give me the book.”

“No.” Neeva dropped the slave rope and slipped the tome under her arm, drawing her sword
with her free hand. “And if you kill Caelum, you'll have to kill me, too.”

“Neeva, take the
Book of Kemalok Kings
and leave,” said Caelum, his red eyes still fixed on Rikus's face.

“So you two can kill each other in private?” Neeva scoffed. “No.”

We are anxious to have the book,
Tamar informed Rikus.
Neeva will not be harmedÑunless the dwarf tries to stop us.

No sooner had the wraith spoken than the old slave backed toward the doorway, crying,
“Phantoms!”

A dozen gray silhouettes, their eyes glowing with the hues of various gems, rose from the
cracks of the floor and encircled Neeva. She cried out in alarm and swung her weapon at
the nearest one. The black blade passed through the shadowy form without banning it.

Caelum started to move his hand toward the wraiths, but Rikus pressed the tip of his sword
against the dwarf's throat.

“”Don't,“ he warned. ”You'll get her killed."

The dwarf stopped moving, his red eyes flaring in anger. “If she comes to harmÑ”

“She won't,” Rikus interrupted. “Unless you cause it.”

Neeva swung her sword through the wraiths twice more, then one with glowing yellow eyes
held out its hands.

“Give the book to the wraith,” Rikus said.

Neeva hesitated. “I won't!” She clutched the
Book of the Kemalok Kings
under her arm.

The wraiths tightened their circle, and the one with yellow eyes slipped forward until its
gray hands were almost touching Neeva.

“Give them the book!” Rikus yelled, afraid that his fighting partner would insist on dying
before she gave up. “You can't stop them from taking itÑand if you try, you'll only get
killed.” He looked to Caelum. “Tell her!”

The dwarf scowled at Rikus, then nodded. “Let them have it,” he said. “Rikus's betrayal
leaves us no other choice.”

Neeva stared at the yellow-eyed phantom, then reluctantly held out the
Book of the Kemalok Kings.
As she lowered it into the wraith's waiting hands, the black tome slowly turned gray and
insubstantial. Soon, the book was no more than a shadow.