The Sorcerer's Scourge (53 page)

Wrapped around the left end of the sofa was Sandy. She too wore a golden collar, but larger and sporting spikes not just around the outside, but the inside as well. These would certainly dig painfully into her scales when someone jerked the stout chain attached to it. For now, the end of the chain simply hung from a peg on the end of the sofa.

He saw that her scales bore several scuffs and scratches and she was even missing a few in several places as if she had been fighting. There were cuts and bruises evident on the skin beneath those missing scales.

Standing miserably on the left corner of the platform was Wolf. He too was chained, but his looked of more ordinary make and used simply to keep him from running off. Azerick imagined that the half-elf had tried to escape repeatedly no matter the threat of punishment. His was a spirit that would simply not be constrained. He looked gaunt and beaten down. The weight of Ghost’s death showed in his hollow eyes and hopeless face.

He studied Ellyssa’s downturned face and saw dark, sunken eyes that shown without a hint of the fiery spark they once held. A brief, sorrow-laden glimpse was all she gave him in way of recognition. She too showed visible signs of abuse by way of bruises and scrapes on her face and hands. She also looked as though she had not eaten or slept in days. The fact that Azerick was able to keep from lashing out and destroying the Vila this very instant was a miracle worthy of the gods.

Azerick made a small bow and introduced himself with masterfully feigned civility. “Vila Mushadan, I am Azerick Giles, master of the Orphans’ Academy in North Haven. I come to bid you release the three who stand upon your dais.”

The woman studied Azerick for a moment and then leaned down and whispered something to Mushadan.

“What do you offer me for their freedom?” the Vila asked in slightly accented Valarian.

“I have wealth. Name you price and you shall have it.”

Mushadan laughed heartily. “Surely you do not think you have so much riches you could tempt me?” he asked with a wave indicating the wealth of his palace. “No, but perhaps you do have something more valuable to me and my goals.”

“What is it, Vila? If it is mine to give, you shall have it,” Azerick swore.

“My chain mistress says you are a sorcerer of extraordinary power. Your girl is strong, but a pale shadow of yourself. I would hate to lose the dragon, but she is young and it will be years before she is truly useful as more than a curiosity, and the half-elf is nearly dead already. What I want is you, sorcerer.”

“If I agree to become yours, you will allow the three of them to go free and return to Valaria?”

“Azerick, no!” Ellyssa shouted.

Misha made a small gesture with the hand upon which the ring resided and Ellyssa fell to the ground, writhing in apparent agony for several seconds. When the chain mistress ceased punishing the girl for her interruption, Vila Mushadan continued.

“Become mine, help me seize the throne, and they shall go free. You have my word as Vila.”

Azerick looked into the man’s smiling face and knew it for the lie that it was. He then looked around the vast hall at the score of spell casters the Vila had at his command and knew there was little recourse but to accept his offer.

“Very well, I accept. I give you my word that I shall be yours to command if you free my family.”

Mushadan sat up and clapped his hands loudly one time. “Sorcerer Azerick, I have no need for your word. All I need is for you to wear this lovely trinket.”

One of the robed figures walked forth bearing a set of golden chains and bracelets upon a silk pillow. Azerick looked at the set of chains upon the pad then up into Ellyssa’s face, streaked with twin rivers of tears streaming down her face. He looked at the mage bearing the devices and nodded once.

Another wizard took up the choker and bracelets and affixed them in place upon Azerick’s body. He instantly felt his ever-present connection to the Source severed. He reached out for it, willed it to return to his body, but felt nothing. The two wizards then stepped away and returned to their places near the wall.

“Tell me, sorcerer, why would you willingly walk into the viper’s nest where only a fool would think he could come out unbitten?”

Azerick slowly turned his head as he spoke, directing his words to everyone standing within the hall. “Because I believe everyone has the right to freedom and dignity. A creature once enslaved me in a very similar manner as this, and I know the pain it causes to one’s soul. I will never allow anyone, especially those I care about, to suffer as I did. Mushadan, that creature who enslaved me made a mistake, and for one instant, his control over me wavered. In that mere instant, I brutally slew him with my bare hands. You too will make a mistake one day, and when you do, I pray that those men and women you have enslaved and mistreated will rise up against you as I did against my master.”

Mushadan clapped his hands and laughed. “A very good speech, sorcerer. But I am sure you have already noticed that your magic is lost to you. You shall only use it when and how I choose. You are spirited. I shall enjoy watching your breaking.” The Vila looked at Sandy and Ellyssa and gave a dramatic sigh. “Alas, but I must tell you that I have no intention of honoring our agreement. Why would I give up a talented wizard and my very own dragon for you when I can have you all? I hope you are not too disappointed in me.”

Azerick smiled as he looked down at the golden bracelets on his wrists and shook his head. “Not really, Vila. I did not intend to honor my word either. Men such as you do not warrant such consideration.”

“Ah, but as you can see only one of us shall reap the rewards of our duplicity.”

“On that note, we are certainly in agreement.”

The Vila looked down at Azerick with a quizzical smile. “So you say. Why then do you still smile?”

Azerick looked up, his intense hazel-green eyes now blazing red with demonic fury. “Because you still think it is you.”
Klaraxis, time to come out and play.

Klaraxis, demon prince of the fifth circle of the abyss, second only to the dark goddess herself, leapt to forefront of Azerick’s consciousness. Reaching deep for his abyssal power, he sent tendrils of decaying magic against the shackles that bound him. Near-invisible strands of black energy slithered through the air like shadows creeping across the floor and along the walls and reached out for the golden chains that bound the wizards and dragon. When they touched the magical devices, they blackened and decayed, crumbling into useless dust in the blink of an eye.

For just a moment, the freed slaves looked to the Vila and then to one another. In that instant, every man and woman there faced a fork in the paths of their destiny and warred within themselves for the correct one to choose.

Vila Mushadan raised a trembling, terrified hand and pointed at Azerick. “KILL H—!”

Mushadan never got the chance to finish his command as Sandy, swift as a leopard, pounced with a savage snarl and clamped her powerful maw upon the Vila where his shoulder and neck met. Although he was a large man, Sandy slung him around like a furious child with a doll. With a toss of her powerful neck, she flung Mushadan’s lifeless corpse off the dais to land with a great, bloody splash into the pool of the fountain below.

 At the moment of their master’s death, every man and woman there made their choice. Each of them chose to fight for their own reasons, whether it was for freedom or the sense of loyalty the Vila had forced into them, they chose.

Klaraxis was only an instant slower to react than Sandy was. Summoning some of his most horrific power, he lashed out with both hands towards the two wizards standing atop the dais who were too slow recovering from the shock of seeing Mushadan savaged and killed. Dark, magma-like strands wreathed with black flames flashed out and wrapped around Misha and the other wizard’s waists like twin whips. The demon poured dark power into those strands and jerked, burning and cutting clean through the two bodies and sending the four halves flying in different directions.

Lightning, fire, and arcane bursts of power flashed across the room as the mages battled for freedom and misguided loyalty. Although the numbers were nearly even, the power shift was far from it. While wards deflected much of the power of those hurled spells, none could stand against the devastating power the demon lord unleashed. Azerick was just barely able to control Klaraxis enough to prevent him from indiscriminately killing everyone in the room. He jerked at the demon’s mental leash with all his will, keeping the demon pointed at those who fought against him.

Wolf snapped out of his depression and waded into the pool after the wolf’s head sword buckled around Mushadan’s waist. He turned the Vila over to undo the buckle and saw a wizard raise a hand and point it at him, ready to strike him down. A black blur shot out from behind a column where a young, mute serving boy had just been hiding and leapt upon the mage’s back and tore into him. No one had really noticed that the boy had joined the serving staff a few weeks ago just as no one was likely to take note that he was gone.

Wolf ripped the sword belt from around the corpse and slogged through the water to where Ghost was ending the wizard’s life. The half-elf practically leapt upon Ghost’s back as he wrapped the wolf in a fierce hug.

“I thought you were dead, you big jerk!” Wolf sobbed as he buried his face in the thick black fur. “You have so much explaining to do when this over!” Ghost simply looked up at his friend with a big, doggy grin.

Still standing upon the dais, Ellyssa lashed out in fury at those who foolishly tried to strike back at Azerick, pouring her grief, shame, and anger into every spell. The battle was as furious as it was short-lived. A few of the wizards loyal to the Vila quickly realized they had chosen the wrong path, reversed their decision, and chose to take cover and not to continue fighting.

Devlin ran into the room just as Azerick fought to rein Klaraxis back in and the final exchanging of magic attacks ceased. Just over a dozen mages stood back, their hands up to defend themselves should the demon turn on them despite knowing that such a gesture was futile.

One of the wizards, a woman, recognized the sorcerer as he entered and stood just behind and to Azerick’s left. “Prince Devlin!”

Every Sumaran in the room immediately took a knee out pure reflex. Devlin looked at the aftermath of the magic battle and the Vila’s floating body. He then directed his words to those who were kneeling.

“Go tell everyone that I have come to return this city to my brother, King Yusuf. Tell them to lay down their arms and not to resist the invaders. They are under my command and will not harm them or the citizens as long as they do not oppose them. Go, spread my command!”

The wizards, highest among the slaves and often spoke with the Vila’s voice, raced out of the hall to do as Devlin commanded. Azerick nodded to his mentor then turned his eyes upon Ellyssa still standing atop the raised platform.

“Do you now see why I tell you the things I do? Do you understand the lesson I have tried so hard teach you and that you have refused to learn? There are people fighting and dying right now for me because they know how important you are to me. Many of them came and risked their lives because you are important to them. Do you see now, how everything you do can affect those who care about you? What you do, you never do alone as long as someone cares about you. You are never alone, and the consequences of your actions are never limited to yourself because the people who love you will never let you suffer them alone.”

Ellyssa nodded, shuddering as her sobbing wracked her whole body. “Azerick, I’m so sor—.”

She never got to finish her apology. A wizard, thought dead, raised a quavering arm at Azerick’s back, and with her last ounce of strength, unleashed an awful silvery lance of pure power. Unprepared for the strike, it cut through his wards and defenses, burned through flesh and bone, and erupted out of his chest, shattering a section of marble in the far wall near the ceiling.

Devlin and Ellyssa were slightly faster than Sandy. Both casters struck at the prone mage with powerful spells. Sandy launched herself from the top of the dais with a single thrust of her powerful legs and wings, landed atop the woman’s destroyed body, and savaged it until it was barely recognizable as ever having been human.