The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (32 page)

I had Hydan keep at it for another
four hours, which is when Oberon announced he was back to full
capacity.

“
So, now that you know
someone falsely documented your relationship, what are your plans,”
Oberon asked.

I considered, and then said, “Well,
this was a long shot anyway. I had hoped my parents could help me,
I grew up a Hidden Soul on Earth, and don’t know much of my
heritage.”

“
Well, you have to be the
son of Gunder or Braun Sivaeral, they are the only surviving
Seconds,” he noted, “that is, besides me. Are you going to try to
visit them next?”

I shook my head, “No, I have a little
saeran girl to rescue, she was taken by Medrod.”

“
Medrod!” Oberon bellowed,
“He’s dead!”

“
Yes, but still kicking, it
seems Morgain brought him back somehow,” I noted.

Oberon looked out toward the walls,
though he really couldn’t see anything from where we were. “That
bitch, she needs ending.”

Hydan spoke at this moment, “What of
your Archimage? He was not at the capitol, I wondered if he was
here at the front with you?”

That caught my attention, perhaps my
Archimage was here, and he could finally help restore my memories,
including what I’d stolen from The Dragon!

Oberon shook his head, “No, I have
heard nothing of our Archimage, not for some time. But Gunder and
Braun, are protecting some of the remaining strongholds, I assume
the Archimage is as well. And, seeing I am alive, so must he be,
somewhere. I had thought he was in the capitol.”

My first thought was ‘crap’, I’d
really hoped he was here, and now it seemed no one knew where he
was located.

Oberon continued, “Perhaps he has
hidden away to create a new Actuality weapon with which to battle
the Island Witch.”

I made no mention of Caliburn, which
was strapped to my hip, the rune covered blade hidden in a sheath I
had created. For all I knew Oberon would demand it to use Caliburn
in this battle, and I needed it for my assault on
Morgain.

“
You really think you can
sneak onto Mystical Island, and rescue a little girl?” Oberon said
with doubt obvious in his voice.

“
No, but I’m going to do it
anyway,” I stated.

He looked at me for a moment, and then
grinned, “I wish you were my son! I have decided to help you as
much as I can. I can’t let you Five Point travel from within the
town, that would open Ouroboros to incursion by the Island Witch’s
cursed necromages, but we have a secret tunnel you can use to get
away from the town. Let us supply you with some food, and then
we’ll get you going.”

“
And drink?” Hydan said
hopefully.

Oberon smiled, “I have met a few
Friares in my travels, so I won’t forget the spirits.”

“
Oh, I hope you mean
alcohol and not more ghosts and shades!” Hydan exclaimed, but he
just winked at me.

“
I’ll bring some of our
finest brews,” Oberon promised.

Hydan beamed at him.

“
Thank you, for all your
help,” I said to Oberon.

He clapped me on the back and led the
way.

I followed the big saeran, but I was
depressed, I mean, I had finally thought I was going to meet at
least one of my real parents and get some answers, but someone out
there was messing with my past, and I wanted to know who, and
why.

Chapter
Thirteen

Well you must be a
prisoner in disguise

-Linda Ronstadt

I was expecting their secret tunnel to
lead us to some hidden exit out beyond the tree line, but this
wasn’t the case. We were taken to the basement of a building, and
down there was a door which opened into a natural cavern that went
below the river. Some distance in, we came to a guard post, right
before we had to get down and crawl under a really low ceiling,
where it came down to within one or two feet of the
floor.

The guards there told us to follow the
caves, which would lead us to our destination. That’s where they
left us on our own.

The caverns were damp and dripping,
with lots of stalagmites and stalactite formations. It went for
some distance, though how far was hard to judge in the twisting,
winding cavern. And then we came to a larger chamber, which seemed
to be a dead end.

“
What the hell?” I
noted.

Myrka was creating light by holding up
a ball of Derkaz energy over her hand, much like she’d done when I
first met her back in Chichen Itza. Now she expanded the size of
the strange blue fire and lit the entire cavern. That’s when I saw
the blackened circles on the floor of the cave.

“
It looks like a lot of
Traveling Stars have been made here,” Toji noted.

Hydan nodded, “Ah yes, I see. This
cavern is beyond the StarWard Oberon has created in the Town, yet
since there is no exit, no one can find their way in from the
surface. The only way they could be found is if a mage shares an
image of this place.”

“
And that’s why they keep a
guard further back, right where any attackers would have to crawl
through and into their blades,” I noted.

Toji nodded, “Still, that was pretty
trusting of Oberon to let you see this location.”

I agreed, “True, but there were
several branches back there, I bet they will just seal off this one
if attacks start coming through.”

Toji nodded.

Hydan created a burning red pentagram
and when it was ready, he said, “All right, you sure you are ready
to head for Mystical Island?”

“
As ready as I can be,” I
noted, “They have had Ziny for over a day now, I’m getting
worried.”

Hydan nodded, “As am I, you have to be
prepared for the worst, Nick.”

I knew what he meant, the little
saeran girl could already be dead.

“
So, the four of us against
the Island Witch, her resurrected husband and their army of
necromages, all to rescue one little saeran girl,” Toji
noted.

“
Are you worried,” I asked
him.

He half bowed to me, “You shame me,
Master Justnick. It will be my honor to die during such an
honorable quest.”

I smiled at him, “Let’s try to live
through it instead, just for kicks.”

“
As you say,” he said,
giving me a salute with one of his tantos.

I turned to Myrka, “What about you,
Myrka? You didn’t sign up to die on a mission to rescue a little
girl who you don’t care about.”

“
I will rescue her if it is
in my power,” Myrka replied.

That made me pause, “Why? You tried to
kill her.”

Myrka scowled at me, “That was when I
thought she was a threat to my mission, and before I owed her a
life debt.”

“
A life debt?” I
asked.

Myrka only blinked at me.

So I turned to Hydan, “And what about
you, Hydan. This isn’t an outing to a new pub, or anything all that
fun, amusing or interesting. Why are you coming?”

He smiled, “But Nicholas, you ARE fun,
amusing and interesting; at least I have found life around you to
be so. I do not fear death; it is just the next great
entertainment.”

“
So you are willing to
die?”

He mused, “Willing, no, expecting,
possibly, but I will not bow down to death; I will do my best to
avoid it! However, I just refuse to fear it, what fun would that
be?”

“
What fun indeed,” I
agreed.

Hydan looked at me strangely, “And
what about you, Nick? Are you trying to save Ziny because she saved
your life? Do you feel you owe her a life debt?”

I thought about it and replied, “No,
not really. I appreciate her saving me, but that is not why I am
going to her rescue.”

“
Why then?”

I shrugged, “Because she doesn’t
disserve to die. I guess it is as simple as this, there are a lot
of bad things in this world, and not enough good ones, and she is
one of those rare things, a good person. Moreover, she was under my
care, so I will not abandon her to the Island Bitch.”

Hydan nodded and then gestured to the
burning pentagram.

Once again, I expected to arrive on
the coast and be looking out at an island, but instead, I was in a
forest.

After I regained my balance from my
spinning arrival, I spoke to Hydan who had also arrived. “Where the
hell are we?”

“
As near Mystical Island as
I dared to take us. This is one of the places I remember,” he
replied.

I looked around and saw there was some
kind of a stone cliff to our left, which fell into a pool of dark
water. “What was so memorable about this spot?” I asked.

Hydan walked over toward the pool of
water, as he replied, “Well, right over here was where I made my
escape from Morgain’s necromages,” he said, pointing to an old
blackened pentagram on the stone near the water.

“
And what were you doing on
Morgain’s island?” Toji asked.

Hydan shrugged, “I went to see what
all the excitement was about. There are all these necromages and
other dark powers, it is quite the mystery. I was just kind of
curious as to what she was up to and why.”

“
You were curious?” I
asked.

He nodded, “My curiosity gets me into
the most interesting situations sometimes.”

Myrka snorted, “I’m surprised you
Friares even survive. They will stick their nose into a burning
fire to see why flames are hot.”

“
Well, why are they hot?”
Hydan asked with a grin.

Myrka scowled at him, “Because there
is a fire!”

Hydan lifted his hands, “So you say,
but how do you know unless you experience it yourself?”

Myrka just took a breath in as if she
was going to answer, and then exhaled. “There is no use in talking
to a Friare. May I kill him yet?”

“
No,” I said absently, I
was thinking about Ziny, and I was worried.

It was only about two mectors to the
coast, but as we traveled through the woods, Hydan explained the
situation.

“
Morgain keeps an
encampment along the shore on this side, that way it is difficult
for any attacking army to launch ships to cross the channel. Sure,
the saerans can swim across, but they can’t bring large siege
weapons with them. We’re going to have to try to sneak past the
encampment, and get into the ocean so we can swim across to
Mystical Island.”

Myrka snorted, “Mystical Island; that
sounds pretentious, even for a Dokkalfar sorceress."

I looked at the girl and said, “I
thought House Dokkalfar embraced the Derkaz, just like your House.
Aren’t your Houses allies?”

I had to take a step back from the
ferocious expression suddenly on Myrka’s face. “We are nothing like
the Dokkalfar demons. Those fools wish to end the
universe!”

I did not know what to make of her
statement.

Soon we came to the end of the trees.
Ahead was a dark wall, about twenty feet high, and it ran along the
bluff overlooking the beach below. It kind of reminded me a little
of the Great Wall of China, it had a wide top, where lots of
soldiers could easily move and fight. At periodic points, there
were lookout towers, and these, no doubt, held garrisons of
soldiers, mages, and possibly some of those necromages.

The wall wasn’t designed to keep ships
from landing people on the beach; it was designed to keep people on
shore from reaching the water.

We were all hiding behind tree trunks,
looking over the situation. There were many guards positioned along
the wall, keeping a sharp eye out on the forest.

“
OK,” I asked, “What’s the
plan? Are we going to build a ballista and shoot ourselves over the
wall?”

“
Good plan,” Hydan replied,
“But I’m not sure it is feasible.”

Myrka was frowning, “How would we make
ourselves act like large bolts?”

“
I was kidding,” I
noted.

Myrka shook her head, “This, or any
other time, is no time to make jokes. I suggest we charge the wall,
and then two of us will clasp hands at the base while one of us
makes themselves light. Then they fling this light person up onto
the wall. That person kills all the guards and then lowers a
rope.”

I looked at the Tarvos sorceress and
said, “Other than just one of us having to take on all the guards,
it’s not a terrible plan, but I have to ask, why do all of your
plans involve someone killing everyone?”

“
Killing them removes them
from your list of problems,” she answered.

I nodded slowly, and drawled “Right.”
But my sarcasm was lost on the sorceress. Then I turned to Toji
because I was still pissed at Hydan for the Trebuchet plan. “What
is your idea?”

Toji considered, and then said, “We
wait until dark, and then slip to the wall and throw a rope up,
using magic to make it lasso a merlon. Then we simply climb up the
wall, slip over the other side and into the ocean.”