Hemlock And The Wizard Tower (Book 1) (58 page)

"When Zaringer attacked you, I was able to free the Wand from the altar.  When I did that, his power source was extinguished and he was destroyed.  His passing was a bit…violent, as you can see."

Hemlock considered his words.  "Zaringer," she mouthed.

"Yes; that was Zaringer, my old teacher and mentor.  I must thank you.  He surely would have slain me had you not arrived."

Hemlock did not reply.  She was trying to get her mind around the concept of Falignus being taught by that foul creature.

"I’ll start at the beginning.  I came here to retrieve the Wand, as you have no doubt guessed; and I sought to slay Zaringer, whom I knew would resist being destroyed by the removal of the Wand," Falignus continued.

"I crept into the chamber and began to cleanse the sarcophagi.  I did not have the power to cut off the flow of
power from the Wand
to them all at once, so I was forced to do
it to
them one
by one
.  I cast the
necessary
spell and removed the power from the first sarcophagus.  I then threw the cover aside and cast a lightning bolt into it, incinerating the occupant.  You can imagine my trepidation when I saw that
the victim was not Zaringer–
for the others
were now so old that they could pose no threat.  B
ut
Zaringer
's malice still burned darkly
, as you saw.

"I continued to the next crypt
,
and then
to
the next one.  Still, I had not found
Zaringer
, and my fear and anticipation were getting worse.  I felt sure that at any moment he would burst forth from one of the undisturbed vessels and confront me."

"
Sadly
, my worst fears were realized.  As I dispatched the occupant of the
fifth
sarcophagus, I heard the sickening
sound of stone grating on stone; and in a moment, he was upon me,
"  said Falignus, his voice trailing off oddly as his tale reached its conclusion.

"But there are seven sarcophagi
." noted
Hemlock
haltingly
.

"I know. T
he final one
was
meant
for me."

Hemlock
looked at Falignus
questioningly.  She
then
noticed something odd about his appearance. 
Though his recently evidenced wings were now gone, h
e was
now slightly
fuzzy and insubstantial, and she thought that he bore a skeletal appearance when viewed from the corners of her eyes.

"What's happened to you
?
" she asked, horrified.

"I had to take certain...measures when you turned on me.  I had to invoke powers that have a steep cost."

"Why?"

"I had to know
what
path to take.
  It's an ability that I have;
you might call it a family heirloom.  I can view the future, or a set of possible futures.  But there is a cost, as you
can see,
" Falignus explained, sounding unusually strained.

"You said family
,
" Hemlock muttered, more to herself than to him.

Overhearing her
,
Falignus replied
,
"Yes, I did say family. 
Zaringer was my f
ather
,
Hemlock.  I am descended from an unbroken line straight from the Imperator himself."

"It's not possible
,
" Hemlock whispered.

"It is.  All of these
,
"
Falignus
swept his arm across the set of ruined sarcophagi, "were my forebears. 
My father
sought to corrupt the Wizard Guild
,
and in doing so,
to restore the
full
power
of the Imperator
to our line.  But he realized that the Senate was too powerful, and that it would not be accomplished in his lifetime.  So he
founded the Seventh C
ircle of magic in secret, delving into research that the other
wizards had treated as forbidden.
"

As he spoke, Hemlock
again considered
that
Falignus
was now holding the Wand that had been mounted in the apparatus that had been
feeding
the crypts.  An inner voice
again
cautioned that he might be unstoppable with that
Wand, but she quickly quelled the fear that rose within her
.

"Near the end of his
ability to retain a normal
mortal form," Falignus continued, "he staged a blo
odless coup and instituted the Seventh C
ircle
as the de-facto leaders of the C
ouncil, shrouded in secrecy.  Near death, he had himself perpetuated in this place, along with his
ancestors, who he had sought to preserve and one day restore to some semblance of life
. 
He
destroyed
this
entire realm by drawing the
magical
power from it to sustain
his dark arts.
"

"Despite their horrible nature, how could you
set out to do this to them–
to your family?" Hemlock asked.

"Their sins repulse
d
me.  I sought to extricate myself from them as a youth, but I realized that if I had wavered
from the path that he had set,
then my Father would have killed me and sired another.  If I had done so later
,
then he would have taken another in my place, even if it had temporarily broken the blo
odline, a Steward, if you will. A
nd he would have found a way to conceive a true heir.  No, I had to do this
,
” Falignus replied, darkly.

Again Hemlock eyed the fiery wand that Falignus held, identical to the one that she wielded.

"Falignus, we must destroy these
,
" she said at last.

"No,
" was his simple reply.

"Why? 
You had to destroy your family;
well
,
these are the legacy of your
family,"
Hemlock pleaded.

"True enough, but I can change my family's legacy.  In fact
,
I
fully intend to,
" Fa
lignus
replied, his voice seeming to go out of phase for a second and then snap back.

"How can you say that?  Have these wands ever done anything b
esides spread
authoritarian control and violent exploitation of the weak?"

"They are a tool
–
that is all.  They do not corrupt, they merely magnify.  They can be a force for change
–
positive change."

"Look at yourself
,
Falignus, you are already corrupted.
Don't deceive yourself,
" Hemlock said, weeping gently.

"Will you stand against me
,
then?" Falignus responded in a melancholy voice.

Hemlock considered this question. 

"Everything in my life has built up to this one question.
Everything that Safreon taught me.  I see now that it was needed to prepare me for this," she thought.

She considered her love for him, the only romantic love that she had ever known, and marveled at it.  She still didn’t understand the connection that she felt with him, but its force was undeniable.

But Hemlock recalled Merit’s tale and the path that Safreon had taken.  She now felt a new force of responsibility compelling her to make a choice that transcended her personal desires.

"Yes, I will stand against you," she finally responded.

Falignus did not seem surprised.

"I suspected as much.  I have foreseen it.  Despite our love for one another, we cannot be together.  We are polar opposites, you and I.  I u
sed to fantasize that you were
descended from a royal line similar to my own:  a Princess from another world.  But I saw differently in my recent visions and it became clear to me.  You are desce
nded from the original Wizard;
the founder of the City.  That is where your powers originate from,
and
why you seem imbued with the chaotic nature of
the City.  My line and your line,
we have always battled.  I suspect that we fought even before the City existed.  It is very ironic that we love each other as we do.  It is perfectly tragic."

"It can be different
,
Falignus."

"Sadly
,
Hemlock, seeing the future curses one with a cold pragmatism.  It can't be d
ifferent.  I know that it can't,
" he said softly.

She saw his features harden, then, in an instant, and the fire within his Wand flared violently.

Suddenly a green barrier surrounded her, impeding her movements. 

Even thusly impaired, her speed was well beyond that of a normal mortal, and she darted behind a fallen column.

The green field moved with her, however.

Falignus called from where he had been standing, "I had plenty of time to consider how I’d approach this battle, although I feared that the Wand might require some study to use.  I can see now that my fears were unfounded.  I thought about how I could fight someone with speed and strength greater than my own."

As he boasted, Hemlock leapt out from the cover and jumped in his direction.

She cursed to herself as she saw that the green magic had cut down her speed just enough to allow Falignus to dodge her flying sidekick.

She landed hard, and before she got back under cover, he cast another spell.  She now saw a red field surrounding her legs, layered outside of the green field.

"My legs are burning with fatigue," she thought to herself, cursing again.

"I realized that by using the Wand I could imprison you in a series of permanent wards," he continued.

Hemlock tested her legs and with the level of magical fatigue and artificial slowness, she wondered how she could now fight Falignus.

She heard him attempting to circle around her position, seeking an angle to cast another spell on her.

She was able to look through a hole in the broken column before her and saw that he was moving toward a spot where she might be able to take cover behind a piece of one of the sarcophagi.

Relying heavily on her upper body, which was still not affected by the fatigue magic, she vaulted with superhuman strength over the fallen pillar.

A spell rang out from Falignus, but it missed her.

She landed as she had hoped, behind the fragment of the obsidian tomb and within striking range of Falignus.

She heard him curse and shuffle backwards.

Grabbing the top of the sarcophagi, she launched herself again, but this time Falignus aimed his spell true as she soared downwards toward him.

She did land on target, despite being struck by the magic, and was able to deliver a powerful blow to his face as she landed. But she realized, to her horror, that a red field of magic now encased her upper body as well, magnifying the terrific fatigue which her legs had already been subjected to and bathing her arms in it as well.

She fell over under the strain of the cumulative magical effects on her body.

She saw that Falignus had also fallen under the force of her heavy punch, but he had remained conscious.

He rose unsteadily, and blood poured from his nose and mouth.

Still, he managed an obscene grin as he beheld the results of his spellcasting.

Hemlock was now nearly paralyzed under the weight of his spells.

Falignus was cautious, though.  He cast another green field around her and outside of that another red field around her upper and lower body.

The spells were so powerful that she became aware of her heart struggling to beat, and the simple act of breathing became a heavy labor for her.

Falignus looked at her calmly, a sad expression gradually coming over his face.

Hemlock saw the unmistakable glimmer of tears on his cheek, as he regarded her.

Finally, he spoke. "I can’t let you live.  I can’t.  I know you’ll come after me."

As Hemlock lay there, weakening, she was tempted to give up and accept whatever fate Falignus chose for her.  But her spirit rebelled and she quickly began a desperate consideration of how she could escape her predicament.