The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (29 page)

Hydan stepped up next to me and said,
“Perhaps a more cordial greeting would be advisable.”

“
I don’t do cordial very
well,” I noted with a sniff.

“
I hadn’t noticed,” he
replied with a wink. Then Hydan called out, “Most esteemed Lady
Nimue, we come in great need. The land is wounded with the scars of
Civil War, and the rightful rulers of Abal are in dire need of
assistance. A fell being from another world, whom we call the
Island Witch, is corrupting the mages of this House, destroying the
beauty of this world, and will not stop until Abal is no more. We
come with a wizard of House Sivaeral in quest of
Caliburn!”

A white shape glided up under the
surface, and the water was so clear we could see that it was a
saeran woman, wearing a white gown seemingly made of silver scales.
When she stopped she was on her back, facing upwards, looking at us
from underneath the shallow water.

Her lips did not move, but I could
clearly hear her voice in my head. “I am Nimue. Whom so comes, and
what is thine desire?”

I wanted to say something sarcastic,
but Hydan anticipated me and nudged me with his elbow, so I
rethought my response and said, “I come seeking to, ah, borrow your
sword, Caliburn.”

“
And why dost thou need the
Sword of Kings?” her voice said in my head.

Some sarcastic part of me wanted to
reply, ‘strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no
basis for a system of government’, in Michael Palin’s voice, but I
restrained myself. What I did say is, “As Hydan said, I have an
Island Bitch to slay.”

“
Thou would oppose Morgain
and Medrod?”

“
You’re damned tootin,” I
replied, thinking of the captured Ziny.

Then her voice said, “Let me gaze upon
thee.”

I shrugged; I figured she was already
looking at me, not to mention getting in my head, so what the
hell?

Her face suddenly changed expression
to one of puzzlement. “One of thine line has already wielded
Caliburn in the past, dost thou not know thine
heritage?”

“
I only learned my father
is Oberon today,” I replied. “I am going to stop by and surprise my
pop right after this gig.”

“
Thou dost speaketh
strangely, yet thine words only cloak the great anger I feel inside
of thee.”

“
Honey, you have never seen
me angry,” I retorted. “Besides, ‘thou’ saying I speak strangely is
kind of calling the kettle black.”

She looked at me sternly, “And if I
were to grant thee access to the sword, which is mine duty to
guard, dost thou swear to return it to my care when thine task has
been completed?”

“
Of course, I just need to
borrow your pig sticker long enough to poke an evil sorceress where
the sun don’t shine,” I answered.

Toji spoke softly from behind me,
“Master Justnick, perhaps a politer approach would benefit us? It
is imperative that we obtain this sword.”

Hydan snickered, “Nicholas rubs most
people the wrong way.”

I lifted my shoulders and turned my
palms up as I replied, “It’s a gift.”

But my words didn’t seem to cause
Nimue any angst, and suddenly she had a sword against her chest,
hilt by her chin. Her hands grasped it by the top of the blade,
just below the hilt. She lifted the blade and the hilt came out of
the water. I had to wade out a bit to take it from her saeran
hands.

As soon as I had the sword I gave it a
quick once over, and just like the Actuality knife the Captain had
used, this sword also had strange ruins cut slightly into the
metal, running down both flat sides of the long sword. The blade
was bright silver, and the grip black, with a hexagonal silver
pommel.

“
Bitchin,” I said with a
grin.

Nimue started to glide away under the
water, but her voice came into my head one more time, “Remember
thine oath.”

“
Right, gotcha, kill the
bitch and return the blade before my rental period is over,” I
replied. “Is there a late fee?”

But she didn’t answer, and she was out
of sight.

“
With your rude behavior,
I’m surprised she gifted you with such a precious relic,” Hydan
noted.

I gave him a grin, “I think she was
sweet on me. Girls always love the bad boys.”

Hydan sniffed and then chuckled. “That
must be true. It is interesting how Oberon wielded Caliburn in the
past, I wonder why your father gave the sword back to this
Third?”

“
You’ve got me; let’s go
ask my dad,” I said, and then asked, “Do you have an image of
Ouroboros?”

Hydan shook his head, “I’ve never been
to Ouroboros.”

Toji hadn’t either, and this was
Myrka’s first time on Abal.

Then Toji asked if he could see
Caliburn, so I handed him the sword. He looked it over and took
hold of the grip. I was a little uneasy when he held it ready for
battle, but then he turned and held the blade, presenting the hilt
to me so I could take back the sword.

Then I realized Nimue might have an
image of Ouroboros, so I tried calling back Nimue, but she did not
respond; the lake just seemed empty. The others went to make camp,
and I stood at the side of the lake.

“
Hey, sorceress in the
pond! Yo, keeper of wet swords! Hello!” I called out for the
fiftieth time. Then I muttered to myself, “Crap, I should have
asked her when she was here! What was I thinking? I mean, who else
am I going to ask?”

Then I had a thought, and immediately
spoke out, “Hey, Pox, little ugly dude!”

Pox spoke from behind me, “You called,
Master?”

I spun around, “There you are, you
sneaky little snot. Can you give me one of those images of a place
here called Ouroboros?”

He shook his head, his long nose
moving back and forth swiftly. “I have no knowledge of that
place.”

“
You Prat! What good are
you then?” I demanded.

Pox sniveled, “Perhaps I can bring
someone to aid you, Master!”

I looked at him suspiciously, and then
demanded, “Who?”

“
Fiona Albus, she has been
looking everywhere for you.”

I thought about that, “Fiona is on
Earth.”

He shook his head, “Not so, Master,
she has come seeking you here, on Abal. I saw her at the Hall of
Records, soon after I left you. I was bringing her to find you, but
you Five Point traveled away to an unknown location and have not
contacted me until now. I believe she may still be in
Poseidon.”

The thought of seeing Fiona again was
very pleasurable, but I wasn’t sure what Fiona would make of Myrka,
or Toji, for that matter. Back on Earth she had seemed somewhat
vexed with me when I had confided my missing memory to Hydan, so
who knows what she would think of me taking up with a Bakemono, or
worse, a bloodthirsty Tarvos. But on the other hand, I was almost
aching to see Fiona again. In the end, I decided I better have a
conversation with her first, before bringing her to meet my new
companions.

“
I just want to talk to
her, like I did when I was at Stonehenge and she was at her home at
Camington castle. Can you arrange that?”

“
It would be safer for her
to come to you,” he noted. “If you Summon her the bridge might be
discovered!”

I ignored him and demanded, “Just tell
me how I can talk to her, without bringing her here!”

He shrugged, “If she is not
distracted, she might hear you if you speak her name aloud,
assuming she is listening and wishes to heed the
summoning.”

“
All right,” I said, and
then I looked off into nothing and said, “Fiona Albus, are you
there?” I immediately felt ridiculous, and a little like Scotty
speaking into the old Mac computer mouse in The Wrath of
Kahn.

A cold wind seemed to suddenly blow in
off the lake; it tousled my hair. Then I heard her silky warm
voice, which sounded as if she was right next to me, “Nicholas, at
last.”

Damn that girl had a sultry voice; it
literally sent shivers up my spine. “Yes, I’m here,
Fiona.”

“
Where are you? I’ve been
seeking you everywhere!” she asked.

“
I’m in the countryside, by
some lake, here on Abal.”

“
There are many lakes in
the countryside, where, exactly, are you located?”

“
I don’t know the name of
the lake,” I answered, which was true, though I didn’t mention it
was the one where Nimue Sivaeral resided. “I’ve had some trouble
with a few necromages controlled by Medrod and Morgain.”

“
Medrod is alive?” Fiona
said in surprise.

“
In some fashion,
yes.”

She paused a moment, absorbing what
I’d said, and then replied, “Are you all right?”

I nodded, but then remembered she
couldn’t see me. “Yes, I’m fine. But, Medrod kidnapped a little
saeran sorceress I was protecting, and I’m working on getting her
back!”

Fiona’s voice was very cautionary,
“You are not ready to take on one such as Medrod or his necromancer
wife.”

“
They took Ziny!” I said as
if that was reason enough.

“
I’m sorry, Nick, but if
you are going to have any chance you will need my aid. Have you
located your parents yet? My research showed your father may be
Oberon,” she answered.

“
Yeah, I found that out as
well. I’m headed to see him now, but I don’t know how to find the
town he is at Ouroboros. Can you give me one of those Images of the
place?”

Suddenly my view of the world changed,
and I was seeing a fortified town, where a river wrapped all the
way around the walls.

Then Fiona’s voice said, “That is
Ouroboros, I don’t have an Image from inside the town.” Then the
vision faded and I was back viewing the lake.

“
Thanks, that will at least
get us close,” I said.

“
Us?” she asked, “Are you
still with Hydan Friare?”

I answered, “Yes, and a couple others
we picked up along the way.”

“
Mages?” she
asked.

“
Yes, both Fourths,” I
answered, though I didn’t mention their Houses.

Fiona then said, “Let me help you,
Nick, you are a Third, without current training and mage skills,
and both Medrod and Morgain are powerful and knowledgeable Seconds,
both wielding the Derkaz. Two-Fourths and a Friare Third are no
match for them! Even with my help, I don’t like our chances!
Remember, Medrod and Morgain have taken down an entire world of
mages! They have grown powerful!”

“
I have a secret plan, I’m
going to use a weapon which will help me against those Seconds,” I
explained.

“
A weapon? Is this the
secret you stole from The Dragon? If it is, you need to tell me!
What if you are killed and the secret of how to stop Morgain and
Medrod dies with you? This whole planet and the entire Sivaeral
House might be enslaved if you die without…”

“
No, you don’t understand;
you see I’m not…”

But that’s when I saw Myrka
approaching, so I broke off my conversation, “Look, someone is
coming, we will have to talk about this later. Just trust
me!”

“
Nick, I do trust you, but
trust has to go both ways,” she replied.

“
Don’t worry; I’ll contact
you soon. Now how do I cut this ‘Summons’ off?”

But I was talking to myself now, the
coldness of the connection was abruptly gone, as was
Pox.

I felt a stab of loss, talking to
Fiona, even remotely, made my heart grow warm.

Myrka arrived and said, “I heard
talking, who was that?”

I thought about it, and couldn’t see a
reason not to be truthful, so I said, “I Summoned a friend who
might be able to help us on getting to Ouroboros.”

Myrka looked at me strangely, and then
said, “When did you learn how to Summon, and who was this
friend?”

“
I’ve spoken to her with
what she called a Spirit Bridge once before, back on
Earth.”

“
Her, you mean Fiona, the
Albus Second?” she asked with some interest.

“
Yes.”

Myrka glanced at me and then looked
away as if trying to hide her interest, though I noticed. Then she
asked, “Is she coming here?”

“
Not yet, but she gave me
an image of Ouroboros. She may come to meet us there,
though.”

Myrka accepted my explanation and then
led me to where they had made camp.

In the morning, Hydan showed me how to
share the Image, though he did most of the magic. Once he had it,
we found a large stone, where he made a Traveling Star, and we all
jumped into the burning red circle.

Chapter
Twelve

You may be
right

I may be crazy.

But it just may be a
lunatic you're looking for.

-Billy Joel

Ouroboros turned out to be a town in
the center of an almost perfectly round turn in the river Trent. It
was a place in the river where the water naturally curved around
until it almost met itself on the other side. The town was built in
the center circle of the river, and they had cut a canal across the
short gap in the circle so the town was entirely circled with
water. It differed from Terran construction because the outer wall
was placed in mid-river, so half the river went around, and the
other half was inside. There were bridges, like the spokes of a
wheel, connecting the water bound wall to the town on shore. On the
canal portion of the round wall, there was one larger bridge which
went from the town, across a drawbridge, through the wall, and
across another drawbridge to the far shore, across the canal. That
outer drawbridge was currently raised to protect the town from
assault.