The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (27 page)

I distinctly felt the presence of the
Captain move away from me, which was interesting, since I couldn’t
see him, but I just sensed it.

Squeaky said, “A Third! How is it I do
not know of you?”

“
Ya got me, maybe you
should study the family tree,” I noted.

He continued, “Since you are a Third,
and not tainted by the Derkaz, if I decided to let you use the Hall
of Records what then would you seek?”

“
I would find the location
of my parents, and attempt to go see them, afterward I would then
go find the bitch, Morgain, on her precious Mystical Island and
wring her goddamned neck,” I replied pleasantly.

That last bit surprised him if I read
the widening of his dark eyes and rapid blinking of his twin
eyelids. Then he exclaimed, “You seem very angry with the Island
Witch.”

I shrugged, “Actually, you have never
seen me angry, but I am rather peeved at the witch bitch; she
should never have taken Ziny. I plan to get that little girl back,
and I don’t care if I have to kill a Dokkalfar Second, and her
nasty reborn husband, to do it.”

He looked puzzled and said, “What are
you talking about?”

“
I’m talking about killing
the Island Bitch, and her resurrected Hubby.”

“
What are you referring to
with this term, ‘hubby’?” Timarod demanded.

“
Medrod, her husband, he’s
back, and he was part of the assholes who grabbed Ziny, so I owe
him,” I replied.

“
You lie! Medrod is dead,
killed by our Archimage!”

“
Why would I lie about
this? He may have been dead, but he’s walking and talking now, like
a good puppet of his wife. Obviously, she has brought him back
somehow.”

“
How do you know this?” he
demanded, and I think he was a little scared.

“
Well, I saw him face to
face.”

“
If you did, and he is a
now a necromage, how did you survive?”

I scowled and muttered, “Why do people
always think I should have died?” But then I spoke louder and
replied, “First off, we’re not sure he is a necromage, he didn’t
look like one. He seemed to be a living breathing
asshole.”

That made Timarod frown, and then he
said, “Even as a Third, how can you possibly kill a Sivaeral Second
and his wife, a Dokkalfar necromancer, who is also a Second, and
both are wielding the Derkaz?” the little wizard
demanded.

“
I don’t know, but if they
don’t give up Ziny, I’ll find a way,” I noted, and then added, “and
I have another Third, and two Fourths who have sworn to help me in
this quest.”

“
You would need far more
mages, and an army, to assault Mystical Island, but I see from your
demeanor I cannot dissuade you from this task. Then in light of
your quest to slay our enemies, I will grant your request to view
the Hall of Records. However, the Tarvos sorceress will remain in
custody until you leave these walls.”

“
All right, though she is
to be treated well, and given food and other comforts, as well as
the return of her weapon when we leave.”

“
You would make demands!”
he squeaked.

“
No, I would caution you
about pissing off a Tarvos sorceress; do so at your own risk,” I
noted matter-of-factly.

He contemplated that, and then said,
“All right, it will be as you request. Guards, take him to his
companions and remove the manacles. Release his companions, except
the Tarvos sorceress, but feed her and bring her a chair and other
amenities.”

I raised my hands and my manacles fell
apart to the ground, “No need for the key, thanks.”

I had been working on believing the
lock on them was toast for some time, it was just my way of being a
little belligerent. I didn’t like this officious little rat bastard
and his big chair and threats.

The mage scowled, I guess he figured I
shouldn’t have been able to do that with the Actuality weapon
nearby, but the Captain had taken a step back, so I must have been
out of the weapon’s sphere of influence, at least partially.
Besides, I didn’t give a hoot what the squeaky little shit
thought.

Myrka wasn’t happy, but she bowed to
my orders and scowled at the guards who gingerly brought in a chair
for her to use. She sneered at them when they lifted a key to
remove her manacles, which just turned to dust. Then she ignored
the guards and spoke to me, “I will wait until morning, if you have
not returned by then, I will kill all of these foolish saerans and
come find you.”

The guards were all looking nervous as
hell and gripping their weapons tightly as they backed away from
the Tarvos sorceress.

“
I’d be very nice to her,
boys,” I said and walked out the cell door.

I noticed the saeran captain, with his
Actuality knife, was stationed outside Myrka’s cell door. I wished
him luck with that if Myrka got really pissed; I was thinking of
those skeletal ghosts she had fried, and the influence of the
weapon hadn’t seemed all that strong.

Hydan, Toji and I were escorted by a
saeran guard out onto the streets of Poseidon. The place was a
little like Amsterdam, with even more canals and fewer streets. It
seemed that they had split the Celadon River into many canals
through the city, and then let the water exit out massive drains
which went over the cliffs along the beach. This acted as a
constant sewer system, as fresh water was continually being fed
through the canal system.

There were a lot of saerans here, some
selling things along the streets, or out on boats. Many saerans
swam in the canals rather than walk the roads; saerans were
actually faster in the water. There were poor looking saerans
huddled in various alleys; it was obvious the city had taken in a
lot of refugees from the war.

Hydan purchased a bottle of some nasty
brew from a street vendor as we walked by, and then started
swigging from it with gusto.

“
Ah, it has been too long
since I had a civilized brew!” he exclaimed, smacking his
lips.

Eventually, we arrived at an ornate
hall which was erected in front of a wide and prominent canal.
White marble steps came up out of the water, then a road bisected
them, and the stairs continued up on the other side, leading to an
entrance at the top. There were six large pillars holding up the
peaked roof at the entrance to the Hall of Records.

We took the stairs and entered. Inside
we found a massive oval chamber, with an oval counter area in the
center where several saerans were working.

Our escort stepped to the side of the
entry doors, he was obviously going to wait for us to finish, and
then escort us back.

Until this moment, I hadn’t really
told my companions about my ‘test’, but I did so now.

Hydan pursed his lips, and then said,
“And they were amazed you were a Third?”

I nodded, and added, “I could swear
the wizard who tested me was shocked and worried.”

Hydan nodded, “Meaning he was likely a
lower Tier mage, and therefore, quite worried you would exercise
your right.”

“
My right?”

“
Yes, your right to have
lower Tier mages follow your orders.”

“
Oh. I can do that?” I
asked.

He nodded. “It varies from world to
world, on some, it is considered divine right, and punishable by
death to refuse the orders of a higher Tier. Of course, if the
higher Tier orders something which his superiors do not approve of,
it could then be his life which would be forfeit.”

“
Wow, and that would take
out all his descendants?”

“
Yes, so you can imagine
giving such orders is only done in situations of clear need and
approved by law. However, on some worlds, it is less formal, and
obedience is just expected of lower Tiers, but not enforced by law.
There are even a few worlds where lower Tiers don’t have to follow
orders of higher Tier superiors; of course, those superiors might
attempt to kill anyone who doesn’t follow their orders. On most
worlds, lower Tier mages are like lower ranks in a military
organization.”

“
So, if I was a higher Tier
than that pompous ass, I could have ordered him out of his chair
and taken charge?”

Hydan nodded, “This is assuming a
higher Tier mage didn’t show up and fix the situation. Now, did
another mage show up after you declared your Tier?”

“
No, I only saw Sir
Squeaky, and I’m pretty sure he was the same idiot who exposed us
back on the top of the wall.”

Hydan looked surprised, “That is odd.
Normally, if a lower Tier mage had to deal with a higher Tier
prisoner, the simple solution is to call a higher Tier superior to
the hearing, thereby negating that issue. If one did not
come…”

“
Yes?” I
prodded.

He shrugged, “Then it is likely that
there was no higher Tier available, but I would have thought they
would have summoned one eventually.”

“
Nope, just Sir
Squeaky.”

“
Why are you calling him
‘Sir Squeaky’, surely that wasn’t his name?”

I smiled, “You heard him up on the
wall, not a voice you forget soon.”

Hydan shifted his weight to his other
foot and brought a webbed hand to his chin in thought, “That makes
no sense, why was a lower Tier mage, which would make sense for
wall guard duty, also brought in to interrogate mages? Also, when
he found himself outranked, why didn’t he call in a
superior?”

“
When you put it that way,
it does sound odd,” I agreed.

Hydan nodded, “It is likely because he
had no superior to call! That might be it, mages are becoming
scarce, and perhaps this lowly Fifth or Sixth is the highest Tier
available, or maybe the only mage in Poseidon!”

Toji looked perplexed, “But, if that
were true, this city would be nearly undefended from attack by
Morgain’s forces!”

I spoke quietly, “Keep your voices
down.”

Toji moved in closer, and Hydan said,
“Yes, and the Poseidon leadership would want to keep that a secret,
at any cost!”

Toji nodded, and then added, “If that
is true, why would they let a Sivaeral Third go out on a dangerous
quest, wouldn’t they need him to stay here and protect the
capital?”

I broke in, “But Sir Squeaky said we
could go…”

Hydan interrupted, “Toji is right, I
now believe this Sivaeral wizard was lying to you.”

“
To what purpose?” I
asked.

Hydan thought about it, and took a
drink from his bottle, before saying, “He could be separating us;
he kept Myrka alone in the cell and let us all go free. That gives
him a shot at Myrka without us there to help!”

“
Crap!” I almost yelled,
but managed to lower my voice in time. I glanced toward where our
guard was standing.

“
Can you Five Point travel
to that cell?” I asked Hydan.

Hydan nodded, “I believe so, I checked
earlier and there was no StarWard put up, which is very odd for a
cell containing mages! If there is only a Fifth here, he couldn’t
block me anyway.”

“
OK, here is what we are
going to do, let’s find a place where you can make a Traveling
Star, and then you and Toji are going to get Myrka and bring her
here. Try NOT to kill any saerans, and keep Myrka from starting any
mayhem as well! Meanwhile, I’m going to get the research on my
parents. As soon as we are all back together, we use another
Traveling Star to get clear of this city!”

“
All right, but are you
going to be alright, alone?” Toji asked.

“
Yes, as long as they think
we are here just doing research, they won’t hit us until later;
they probably mean to use another ruse to separate one of us from
the group, so they can take us one by one.”

“
True,” Toji said, but
added, “Still, I would be happier if I stayed with you.”

I shook my head, “No time to argue,
the battle is going to be in the cell, and it might already be
taking place. Now, quickly, let’s move, both of you are going back
there!”

We went to the oval counter and asked
for directions to the genealogy section. Then we headed that
direction. On the way, we passed a closed door, and when no one was
looking, opened it and found a storage room. Toji and Hydan slipped
in and I closed the door with them inside.

Then I was off to the genealogy
section alone.

When I entered the chamber containing
all documented genealogy for the saeran race, I stopped. There were
cubby holes which went up to the high ceiling on each wall, and
almost all of them were stuffed full of rolled up scrolls. It would
take me a lifetime in here to find the scroll I needed!

“
Haven’t these idiots heard
of a damned computer!” I muttered, “Hell, how about old-fashioned
index card drawers! What heathen race doesn’t have a Dewey Decimal
system! A pox on all of you morons!”

That’s when Pox’s sniveling voice
said, “You called, master?”

I whirled around and found my favorite
disgusting dwarf, Pox, sniveling by a table in the center of the
room. He was wringing his gnarled fingers, and bobbing his big
proboscis while showing his yellowed teeth in what he thought was a
smile.