Mage Quest - Wizard of Yurt 3 (37 page)

“But if I keep her with me, she wil not have to the the way al you humans do,” the Ifrit protested.

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Even with my magic, she won’t live longer than King Solomon did. And without my spels, she won’t five longer than any ordinary human. But I can promise to keep her young a long, long time.”

“Then you’d better do your spels right away,” said the Ifrit, deeply concerned.

“No, because I don’t trust you. First let us continue our explorations and then I’l cast my spels. We aren’t trying to escape because we’l always be right here in the valey. This may take a day or two, but we’l never be far away. When we’ve found what we’re looking for, then I shal cast the spels to give your wife long life.”

“Maybe I do not trust you. If you play me false, then God shal play you false. If you don’t come back and make my wife stay young and pure, then I’l crush al your friends.” If we didn’t find a way to get away from the Ifrit soon, before whoever had ordered him to watch for us appeared, we’d al be dead anyway. Rapid crushing would have to be better than undergoing any more of the Ifrit’s fatal “tests.”

“Of course,” I said as firmly as I could.

I turned on my heel and started walking without giving him a chance to change his mind. Kaz-alrhun and Dominic were right behind me. As we hurried on, the mage commented with a smal smile, “It has been two centuries since I was last without access to magic. This should be a novel experience.” Then he added, as though in disapproval, “That was a noble display of generosity, Daimbert. I thought even wizards of the west knew better than to prolong life wantonly.”

“We do. I would never artificialy lengthen the lives of anyone at the royal court of Yurt.” This was for Dominic’s benefit. “But I think the Ifrit’s own magical abilities could have prolonged her life anyway, even though he doesn’t know it.”

And then I realized the mage was smiling. He had not disapproved of my proposition after al. “I did not know that woman was the ifrit’s wife,” was al he said.

We seemed to move at a snail’s pace across the valey floor. The noon heat surrounded us so thoroughly that it felt it must be visible. The sun’s glare made it hard to see. The mage was soon wheezing and I slowed my pace to his; he was twice my bulk as wel as at least two hundred years older. Dominic would have been wheezing even worse at the beginning of our trip, though he now moved almost as easily as Ascelin.

When we finaly reached the boulders that marked the head of the dry watercourse, my first thought was to sit down in their shadow. But I stood up again after a moment, while the mage was stil panting, to look down into the Wadi Harhammi.

It had been our goal since the eastern kingdoms, but now that we were here it seemed almost an anticlimax.

For a place of unimaginable danger, it seemed very quiet The watercourse appeared empty, although a curve hid most of its length. I stil had no idea what Dominic’s father had thought was in the Wadi fifty years ago or what might be here now—or even what Kaz-alrhun thought was here.

It was time to find out. I lifted the onyx ring and said the words to reveal what was hidden.

We scrambled backwards as the ground beneath our feet started to drop away, rocks roling and sand sliding. In a few seconds, the narrow watercourse had grown to cover most of the center of the valey.

“Greetings,” said King Warin. “I knew you’d be here sooner or later.”

II

Dominic and I stopped dead, but Kaz-alrhun did not seem perturbed. “I wish to inquire of you about that onyx ring you gave me for my flying horse,” he said. “It was not the ring I required.” King Warin fixed us with his dead cold eyes, making me shiver in spite of the desert sun. “And your flying horse is not the help you led me to believe it would be.” The enormous black horse stood, completely stil, beside him.

“You should always beware when bargaining in the Thieves’ Market,” said the mage. “Did I make any guarantee of my automaton’s power against Ifriti?” Dominic interrupted them. “King Warin,” he said formaly, “I accuse you before these witnesses of treating us falsely. When we return to the western kingdoms, I intend to assemble a court of our royal brothers to judge you for the crimes of theft and attempted murder.”

“He obtained the onyx ring by stealing it from you?” said Kaz-alrhun with a smile of comprehension. “God’s ways are secret ways; al of us and the ring are now here together.”

“So is this,” I asked the mage with a nod toward Warin, “the danger against which you didn’t feel you could warn me?”

“Not at al,” said the mage. “I did not expect him here, although I always knew his entry into the game at this point was possible.”

“You’ve moved into a separate level of reality,” I said to Warin with what I hoped was a wizardly scowl. Al I had to oppose the king was my magic, and I wanted to make sure he respected it. “The ebony horse won’t fly here.”

“Do you not intend to answer my charge?” said Dominic, crossing his arms. From his manner, instead of being in a desert valey surrounded by rocks, sand, and treacherous magic, we could have been home in the west.

Warin hesitated, flicking his eyes back and forth between us. He might have no respect for the mage and me, but Dominic disturbed him. “I do not understand what you’re talking about,” he said brusquely. “I had nothing to do with that band of bandits.”

“So you do know that we were set upon by bandits,” said Dominic, as though making a point before a judge. “When the strange stories coming out of the east reached you, you learned there was a flying horse for sale in Xantium and its price a certain ring ....”

“The ring you tried unsuccessfuly to find in Prince Dominic’s tomb,” I suggested

Dominic scowled darkly. “No wonder the townspeople have become leery of the Church of the Holy Twins, if its sanctuary was violated by someone who would not hesitate to practice the black arts. I shal add desecration of a grave to my charges against you.”

King Warin seemed momentarily caught off balance. “I know nothing of a desecration of a grave,” he said with what appeared to be sincerity. But neither Dominic nor I were ready to believe him.

“So you stole the ring you had good reason to suspect Arnulf had sent with us,” I continued. “How long did it take you to realize that the ring you gave for the horse, which you hoped would carry you safely to the Wadi and away again, was the same ring that the mage wanted in order to uncover the Wadi’s secrets?”

Except that it wasn’t. Now I was confusing myself. I caught an amused look from the mage.

King Warm puled his lips back from his teeth in what might have been meant for a smile. “I told you I expected you sooner or later.”

“We’re here now,” I said, not daring to lose whatever momentum I had. “We’l let you watch while we uncover the old secrets you hoped to obtain by deviousness and evil.” I rubbed the onyx with my thumb and wondered how many layers of magical reality there might stil be before us. I again spoke the words of the Hidden Language, heedless of whatever permanent damage I might be doing. If this valey was indeed an ancient volcano, leading down into the heart of the earth, maybe it had an inherent, wel-grounded stability, which was why the Ifrit could apparently manipulate reality here so easily. Either that, or he and I were disturbing the magma miles below, and molten rock was even now moving up toward us.

As the air’s shimmering resolved itself, I thought I saw a group of people in the distance, from the corner of my eyes. But fifty yards ahead of us, and much more intriguing, something glittered in the sand of the rift.

I reached it first by flying, snatching it up before King Warm’s hands could seize it. It was a bronze bottle made in the shape of a cucumber.

I hefted it cautiously. It felt empty. The mouth was closed with a lead stopper, but the stopper was loose. When I opened the bottle and shook, nothing came out.

Kaz-alrhun held out a hand and I gave it to him. If this was the secret of the Wadi Harhammi, I was not impressed.

But the mage lifted his eyebrows steeply. “This is a bottle wherein an Ifrit was imprisoned, Daimbert,” he said. “Look at the seal on the stopper.” A seal had indeed been impressed in the lead, but I shook my head, not able to identify it.

“Do you not recognize the graven signet of Solomon, son of David?”

Dominic gave a low whistle.

“This is what Prince Vlad threatened me with,” I said. “He warned me I’d find something dangerous in the Wadi, but he wouldn’t tel me what it was unless I promised to return to his principality. It was an imprisoned Ifrit.”

“Too late now to worry about releasing him accidentaly,” said Dominic.

“Someone did release him,” I said slowly. “In fact, although the Ifrit s story seems a little unclear, he may have been released two separate times. He said at least one of the people who released him was a mage. What mage has already been here and what has he found?” I tried glaring at Kaz-alrhun, but he just smiled.

“This is al that is here,” said King Warm darkly. “The secret of the Wadi was an imprisoned Ifrit from whom your friend Amulf hoped to obtain wishes.” Dominic and I looked at each other in dismay. But I recovered quickly. “No, because the rumors concerning Yurt are much more recent than five years old and we know the Ifrit’s been out at least that long.

So the Ifrit himself can’t be the whole secret.” I frowned at King Warin in an attempt to match his own icy stare. “Why are you trying to mislead us?” I looked at him from under my eyebrows, thinking rapidly. He didn’t answer my question, but he didn’t need to. He was trying to mislead us because he stil hoped to find the Wadi’s secret without us. But if King Warm had become trapped here in the valey, then he could not be behind al the strange events, and someone else, with powerful magic, was stil at large and might arrive very soon.

I felt a sudden, completely irrational conviction that the mage who had freed the Ifrit, five years or more before, was not an eastern mage at al but a western wizard, King Warm’s former royal wizard Elerius.

Warin interrupted my thoughts by turning his eyes on me and giving a completely unconvincing smile. These were real eyes, not the pebbles through which Prince Vlad could see in darkness, but they stil were hard as stone. I tried to reassure myself that he knew no magic himself—unless he was working with a demon whose supernatural powers could mask his abilities from someone like me who used only natural magic.

“Wel, perhaps you’re right after al, Wizard,” he said. “I know what is in the Wadi and you do not. You wil be able to deal with its dangers much more easily if you know what to expect. I’l be happy to tel you.”

I broke my glance away from his. While he looked at me, it felt as though we were linked by a bar of cold iron. “And in return?”

“You’l give it to me.”

I managed a barking laugh. “I don’t like your bargain. It’s a good bargain only for you. I’m the only person here with functioning magical abilities.” If he had had access to supernatural magic, I told myself, he wouldn’t need me. But I surreptitiously checked my knowledge of the Hidden Language to make sure it hadn’t evaporated in the last few minutes—so far, so good. “Of course it’s always better to be forewarned, but I’m not afraid.”

King Warin actualy believed this patent lie. “Perhaps I misspoke. We shal share, although in light of my superior position I should have ultimate control ....” He looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision.

“You’l like this proposal, Wizard. It’s been a year since Elerius left and that school of yours hasn’t been able to come up with anyone competent How would you like to become my new Royal Wizard?” I must have stared at him unbelievingly because he made another of his unconvincing attempts at a smile. “Elerius knew you at the school and always spoke very approvingly of your abilities.” I ignored this highly unlikely statement. “I’m Royal Wizard of Yurt.”

I caught a glimpse of Kaz-alrhun roling his black eyes at me, either in amusement at a western wizard feeling he needed an employer or else in warning. At the same time, Dominic cleared his throat.

“We would very much miss you, Wizard,” he said gravely. “But when we decided to hire a school-trained wizard, we always knew there would be the possibility he would want to leave us for a bigger or wealthier kingdom. Warm’s kingdom wil have opportunities for you Yurt could never offer.”

“You’re quite right,” said Warin in apparent good felowship. “There is stil wild magic in the mountains east of my royal castle, Wizard, and while most of the other lords in the kingdom keep their own magic workers, al of them need the firm hand of a senior wizard over them. You’l have the authority and respect you never had in Yurt. And you’ve seen my castle; I know Haimeric can offer you nothing so luxurious.”

“I’ve been very happy in Yurt.”

“And so you should.” His eyes glinted at me in the desert sun. “I’m sure it has served you wel as a first post Isn’t that what an ambitious young wizard does, take a first post at a smal kingdom to carry him through until his abilities have matured and been demonstrated?”

Against my wil, I found myself weighing the proposal seriously. I would never be able to explain to anyone at the school why I refused it Elerius had gotten the post in Warm’s kingdom right out of school as a reward for his supremely good abilities. The three young wizards Warin had sent back to the City in disgrace had also doubtless been near the top of their classes. I, on the other hand, had at several points been in danger of not even graduating and had developed whatever skils I now possessed through a remarkable number of errors. For me to step into Elerius’s former kingdom would be a tremendous honor. It was also, I hated to admit, exactly what I needed to overcome the ennui I had felt last winter.

For a second I tried to imagine myself constantly surrounded by liveried knights, who rose whenever I rose and arranged themselves around me whenever I was seated. I just couldn’t see it. Maybe I could substitute some of the emir’s dancing girls.

I could feel King Warin’s eyes on me, though I assiduously did not meet them. After al, what reason was there not to take the position Warin was offering? Only the fact that I loved Yurt and did not want to be in the employ of someone who had sold his soul to the powers of darkness.