Ghost in the Seal (Ghost Exile #6) (31 page)

Caina worked her mouth and found that she could speak. “Maatish. You’re speaking Maatish.” She had spoken in Istarish out of habit, but she switched to ancient Maatish, the strange words falling from her lips. It was a damned peculiar feeling. 

“This is correct,” said the man in Maatish. “I am perfectly capable of speaking Istarish, but it is a barbaric, uncouth tongue, and will not sully myself with it unless necessary.” 

“What did you do to me?” said Caina. 

“The Scholae made the device for us, long ago,” said the man. The jade scarab skittered across his hand and vanished once more up his sleeve. “A useful means of transferring memories, though it does carry a risk of permanent madness. You may also have learned Iramisian as well, as our tongues were closely related.” He scoffed. “I suppose the Scholae is still in existence? They scuttled off like the frightened cockroaches they were when the abomination destroyed the Kingdom of the Rising Sun.” 

“They are,” said Caina, watching the white-robed man. “They settled in Catekharon.” He could not harm her with that knowledge, and perhaps if she offered some information, he would repay her in kind. 

“Indeed,” said the man. “As far from Maat as they could go. Interesting.”

“Who are you?” said Caina. 

The man smiled, the purple fire burning hotter in his eyes. “Have you not yet realized it?”

“Kharnaces,” said Caina, and the man smiled again, inclining his head. 

“Clever,” said the man. “That will prove useful.”

“How?” said Caina. “Your appearance must be an illusion. I saw your body in the throne room. Either you’ve gotten a lot younger in the last five minutes, or you’ve wrapped yourself in an illusion.” 

“Not at all,” said Kharnaces. “My body remains secure upon its throne. But for the last two and a half thousand years I’ve had little to do but practice the arcane sciences. I have developed feats beyond the imaginations of the petty fools who banished me.”

“Such as?” said Caina, her mind racing. Kharnaces had not killed her yet, and he clearly possessed the power to kill her with a wave of his hand. Perhaps the ancient necromancer wanted something from her. Perhaps Caina could yet talk her way out of this. Or maybe he was bored after centuries of imprisonment and simply wanted to chat before he killed her. “That sphere downstairs?”

“Among other things,” said Kharnaces. He gestured at himself. “This, for instance, is merely a projection of sorcerous force. My body and canopic jars remain safe behind their wards.” He waved a hand, and it passed through the nearby shelf. “Though with an effort of will, the projection can become solid enough to handle objects.” He tapped her in the center of the forehead. His finger felt very, very cold. 

“A useful trick,” said Caina. He had said his body and his canopic jars were secured behind wards. Did that mean at least some of the jars were with his body on the throne? Or even all of them, perhaps? 

“Indeed,” said Kharnaces. His eyes pulsed with purple flame, harsh and malevolent. “It is one of the many secrets I have learned from the nagataaru.”

“I had heard,” said Caina, “that you worshipped the nagataaru as your gods.”

“Your statement contains a falsehood,” said Kharnaces. He gestured, and something small and dark slid down his hand. At first Caina thought it was another scarab, but it was a small black bloodcrystal the size of her thumb. It floated off Kharnaces’s palm and started to circle around him. “You imply that I chose to worship the nagataaru as gods. That is incorrect. The nagataaru are gods, regardless of what you and I think. Kotuluk Iblis is the true master of this world…and his wish is to devour it.” 

“Is that what you think?” said Caina. “Or is that what the nagataaru inside of you thinks?”

“There is no longer a difference between us,” said Kharnaces. He gestured, and his shadow spun around him, seeming to hiss and whisper. Kalgri had done something similar a few times. “The nagataaru within me is the Harbinger. For it shall open the way for Kotuluk Iblis and the host of the nagataaru, and this world shall perish in their hunger. It is inevitable. It is our world’s purpose.”

“You’re mad,” said Caina.

“No,” said Kharnaces. “Perhaps I was, once. But then I understood. I studied the lore of Iramis, its history and fables. I learned of the Demon Princes that Istarr and the Prince of Iramis defeated, and I realized the demons within the Demon Princes were great lords of the nagataaru. I summoned one and bound it within me…and the Harbinger told me so many things. The fools of the priesthood did not understand the truths given to me, so they bound me here…and I have worked for the arrival of Kotuluk Iblis ever since.” 

“Have you?” said Caina. “That’s quite a feat, given that you were trapped here.”

Kharnaces only smiled. “You have met Callatas, have you not?” 

Caina blinked. “How did you know?”

He pointed at the lead-lined leather pouch at her belt, the pouch that held the vials of Elixir Restorata. “You carry items fashioned by his sorcery. I recognize his mark, for I taught him much of what he knows.” 

“He came here, did he not?” said Caina. “To learn from you?”

“You have indeed met my wayward student. So talented, but so arrogant,” said Kharnaces. Caina was beginning to suspect that Kharnaces liked to talk to himself. The Moroaica had been the same way. If Caina could goad Kharnaces into revealing useful information…

“I have,” said Caina. “He must have angered you greatly.”

“No more than I expected,” said Kharnaces. “I anticipated his treachery, though the timing was most inconvenient. He came to me after some personal loss or tragedy. I never bothered to learn the details. Some men learn wisdom through suffering, but Callatas was not one of them. He had a grand plan to make all mankind anew, to end suffering and death and pain by creating a new humanity, one that was immortal and invincible. So he came to me to learn the secrets of Maatish necromancy, in hopes of creating a new and immortal mankind.” He shook his head. “He failed to see the truth. Mankind is like a horse with a broken leg. It cannot be healed. It can only be put out of its misery.” 

“That is madness,” said Caina.

“Unquestionably, for the world and all mankind shall be devoured by the nagataaru of Kotuluk Iblis,” said Kharnaces. “I had a use for Callatas, so I allowed him to remain, and taught him many secrets he could not have learned otherwise. He became fascinated with the nagataaru, for he observed the Harbinger, and noted how a nagataaru could bestow tremendous strength and power upon a living mortal.”

“Like the Red Huntress,” said Caina.

“The title is unknown to me,” said Kharnaces. “I presume Callatas began experiments as soon as he escaped from me. He discarded his original plan, and constructed another using the knowledge I taught him. A living human mind has a natural resistance to possession by a spirit. Using an alchemical Elixir, Callatas would break down that resistance in a few thousand subjects. Then he would summon large numbers of nagataaru to take possession of them, creating humans that would have the strength and resilience and violent appetites granted by the power of the nagataaru. His new humanity would then exterminate the old and take possession of the world.”

“Gods,” said Caina. “That’s his plan. That’s his Apotheosis.” All the pieces she had spent the last two years gathering clicked together in his mind. “The wraithblood addicts. There are tens of thousands of wraithblood addicts in Istarinmul. No one knows how many. If he gets his hands on the Staff and Seal, he’ll summon nagataaru to possess them all…”

“And a tide of blood and death unlike any this world has ever seen will be unleashed,” said Kharnaces. The strange black bloodcrystal continued to circle him, beginning to glimmer with emerald fire. “It is a foolish plan. But unlike many foolish plans, it will succeed. All he needs are these relics,” he gestured at the Staff and Seal upon their stone table, “and his work will at last come to fruition. The Apotheosis, he calls it now? How characteristically pompous of him. But he was ever a man who was convinced of his own righteousness.” 

“Is that why you haven’t killed me yet?” said Caina. “You want his plan to succeed. You think Kotuluk Iblis is a god, and even though Callatas doesn’t, he’s going to summon hordes of nagataaru. So you’ll let me go with the Staff and the Seal.”

“Kill you?” said Kharnaces. His purple-burning eyes blinked. “Why should I do that? I’ve been waiting for some like you ever since the loremaster and her tame assassin left the Iramisian regalia here. No, Callatas is going to return here. You’re going to bring him back for me. For Apotheosis will never come to pass.” 

“Why not?” said Caina.

“Because the nagataaru will have devoured this world by then,” said Kharnaces. 

“How?” said Caina. 

“I am the Harbinger, and the Harbinger is me,” said Kharnaces. “I shall offer this world as a sacrifice to Kotuluk Iblis.”

“That sphere in the bloodcrystal chamber,” said Caina. “That’s what it does. That will…let you summon Kotuluk Iblis and the nagataaru?” 

“Certainly not,” said Kharnaces. “It is called a Conjurant Bloodcrystal.”

“Conjurant?” said Caina. “I’ve never heard of a bloodcrystal like that.”

“I created it,” said Kharnaces. “When activated, it shall completely destroy the barrier between the mortal world and the netherworld.” 

Caina blinked. “That will…” She had seen the netherworld, more than once, had seen the malevolent spirits that dwelled there, the nagataaru among them. “That will…that will kill everyone.”

“By design,” said Kharnaces. “It is this world’s destiny to be consumed by Kotuluk Iblis.”

“No,” said Caina. “It is utter madness. It…” A thought occurred to her. “You said you wanted Callatas to return here. That you needed him to return. Why? Surely you can use your Conjurant Bloodcrystal without him.”

“I need him to return,” said Kharnaces, “because I used his blood as the base to grow the bloodcrystal.” 

Caina blinked. “And…you need his blood to finish it.”

“You deduce correctly,” said Kharnaces. “Alas, that was ever the weakness of bloodcrystals, no matter how powerful. Blood must be used as the initial base to grow the bloodcrystal…and the previous owner of that blood is consequently immune to the power of that particular bloodcrystal.”

“I’ve heard that,” said Caina. It had saved her life. Maglarion had grown his mighty bloodcrystal from the blood he had taken from Caina as a child, which had saved her life when he tried to kill her with that same bloodcrystal seven years later. 

“The Conjurant Bloodcrystal is nearly finished,” said Kharnaces. “To activate it, I merely require more blood from the original base. I require more of Callatas’s blood. Unfortunately, he fled my Tomb before I could take it. Fortunately, I anticipated his treachery, and made preparations. I laid a spell over his mind, a compulsion that he would not be able to resist. When he claimed the royal regalia of Iramis, he would return to Pyramid Isle with all haste. He would think it was his own idea. I knew what he intended, and expected his return within a few years.” 

“But the loremaster brought the Staff and the Seal here,” said Caina, “the one place Callatas would never come of his own will.”

“Yes.” For the first time irritation went over Kharnaces’s serene face. “So it has been necessary to wait until someone entered the Tomb to find the regalia. I expected one of Callatas’s agents. One of his foes? All the better.” 

“Why is that?” said Caina. “I intend to kill Callatas and prevent him from using the Staff and the Seal. With no Callatas, his Apotheosis never happens. And with no Callatas, your Conjurant Bloodcrystal is never finished.” 

“No,” said Kharnaces. “You shall bring Callatas to me.”

“And just why I am going to do that?” said Caina. 

“Through compulsion,” said Kharnaces. The small bloodcrystal came to a stop between them. “I do not know who you are, but the Harbinger can observe something your past and nature. I see great victories in your past, powerful foes undone and overthrown. You defeated the abomination, the Destroyer of Maat! You are even capable of thwarting my designs. Therefore, I shall place a binding upon you. You will return to Istarinmul and present the Staff and the Seal to Callatas. Then, since you are capable of defeating me, the spell will kill you.” 

“Really,” said Caina, her throat dry. Was this it? Was this the doom the Sulaman had foreseen for her? “There is a flaw in that plan.”

“That I have just told you everything?” said Kharnaces. “That is true. Fortunately, the solution is at hand.” He gestured, and the rotating bloodcrystal began to shine brighter. “Do you know what this is?”

“A bloodcrystal,” said Caina, watching it. An aura of potent sorcery began to burn around the crystal. 

“A lesser bloodcrystal,” said Kharnaces. “Specifically, a Compellant Bloodcrystal. It can only be used once. It induces a compulsion into your mind, one that you must obey even if you are unaware of it on a conscious level. As an added bonus, it will also remove your memory of the compulsion and this conversation. Once you have completed the compelled task, the bloodcrystal’s power will kill you. Of course, the mental strain may cause insanity, but I am confident your mind is strong enough to complete your task.” 

Caina stared to say something, but Kharnaces gestured, and again she could not speak.

“No, the time for discussion has ended,” said Kharnaces. “Know that you shall accomplish this world’s destiny, and offer it to Kotuluk Iblis at last. I, Kharnaces, decree it to be so.” 

He gestured, and green fire sprang from his fingers and wrapped around her left wrist. The pyrikon let out an angry buzz and glowed with white light, fighting against Kharnaces’s spell. His sorcery was suppressing the pyrikon, blocking its ability to protect Caina. 

One more gesture, and the Compellant Bloodcrystal…melted. 

It dissolved into a thick black liquid, becoming a wobbling sphere of fluid darkness that floated between Caina and Kharnaces. The aura of power around it doubled again. Caina struggled against the invisible force holding her. The pyrikon’s light was starting to quench Kharnaces’s fire. If she could rouse the pyrikon, if she could break free of the spell…