Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (39 page)

Enin agreed, and then returned his
focus to the prophecy.

"It seems we are required to
act. Destiny is a difficult thing to avoid."

"Are you certain the
prophecies refer to you and Jure?" Holli asked, still unwilling to merely
accept such a presumption.

"Certain? No, but I believe
Ryson received the message from the sword for a reason. That fact cannot be
denied. The two of you were guided to Rachael, and then you came here. I am not
willing to discount such occurrences as simple coincidence. Whether you wish to
believe the prophecies or not, the enchantment of the sword should not be
disregarded. I believe that's direction enough for Jure and I to involve
ourselves, but we are not quite certain who we are to act against. Perhaps it
would be best to deal with the dwarves first. We know..."

Jure cut the wizard off with just
one word.

"Draevols," the elder
wizard stated with hardened confidence.

"Draevols?" Enin
responded first. "You think they are responsible?"

"Yes, I do."

Holli didn't dismiss the thought.
In fact, it held merit. She considered draevols a possible threat when she
first encountered the inferns, but she needed to point out certain issues.
Making unsubstantiated assumptions was as bad as ignoring obvious facts.

"But I did not sense any
draevols," the elf made clear. "Not in Sterling,
not in Huntston, not even in Ashlan."

The elder wizard felt uneasy about
taking the lead, but he could not dismiss the clarity with which aspects of the
story fell into place.

"It's not a surprise,"
Jure explained. "I don't think they were in Sterling.
The dwarves were dealing directly with the goblins. There would be no need for
a draevol to risk revealing itself in a city of dwarves."

"What about Ashlan and
Huntston?"

"I think that's exactly where
they are."

Enin pressed for greater
clarification.

"Why is it you believe
draevols are involved at all?"

"It just makes sense. Holli
said there were inferns guarding the valley. Why would they do that on their
own? They wouldn't. They're following orders. It becomes a question of who is
capable of ordering an infern to guard a pass instead of burning down the
forest. A goblin? A dwarf? I don't think so."

"That's a bit thin to
automatically assume draevols are responsible," Enin noted.

"I would agree, but it
doesn't end there. We also have to look at what's going on in Ashland
and Huntston, and across the valleys. Goblins are taking over farms and inundating
cities. Something much more devious than a goblin has to be involved."

"Prilgrat was the driving
force behind most of that," Ryson offered.

"And what would make a
regional steward allow goblins to infiltrate his lands?"

"I have not been able to answer
that question," Holli admitted.

"Wouldn't a demon be able to
manipulate humans? You have to admit it's possible, at least much more likely
than a regional steward making some kind of handshake deal with a goblin. No,
I'm sure there are two draevols and they're deeply involved with Ashlan and
Huntston. I believe that is where they're hiding."

"Hiding?" Holli
wondered. "You think the draevols knew we were there and purposely hid
from us?"

"To a degree, yes. Didn't you
say that Prilgrat wasn't surprised to see you in Ashlan? It sounds like he
expected you. I'd go as far to say Prilgrat knew you were in the valleys. If he
struck some kind of deal with a draevol, I'm sure they'd share that
information. And didn't soldiers arrest you in Huntston? Seems to me they were
aware of your presence."

"But not the whole
time," Ryson pointed out. "It took a while for the guards in Huntston
to identify us, and the inferns in Ashlan had no idea who I was when they tried
to capture me. To me, that means they weren't sure where we were, and wouldn't
Holli have noticed a demon so active in either place? I mean, she can sense
goblins coming down a tunnel. We were in the same room as Prilgrat. We talked
to him."

He might not have understood
magic, but Ryson knew how to use his own senses. Holli was very sensitive to
the energy. Her missing a demon would be like a delver failing to notice a long
dead corpse decomposing in the next room.

"Not necessarily, not if the
demon wished to hide," Jure explained.

Holli did not wish to sound
skeptical, but she agreed with the delver. She could not imagine a draevol
escaping her notice for such an extended period of time. Yes, it was possible
it could elude her and mask its presence with a shrouding spell, but she
thoroughly explored the city for days.

"We were in Ashlan too long
for a draevol to cover its existence with a spell of its own making."

"No, not a shadow spell or
some kind of temporary cloak, but hiding in another way. You spoke of the
abnormal motion of the magic—how it flowed into the city and then flowed back
out. This was occurring in both Ashlan and Huntston. I believe the draevols
directed that flow, made certain the energy covered them. It is not being
utilized in any spell. It is being used as a curtain."

"Is that possible?"
Ryson asked.

"It is a very rational
explanation," Enin answered, his knowledge of the magic greater than any
of those gathered together.

"Think about it," Jure
continued. "You spoke to a magic caster in Ashlan, and he offered the idea
that the flow of magic was a shove or a reminder. In a way, that was probably
true. The draevols were focusing the magic on the two places where the goblin
activity was the greatest, Ashlan and Huntston. They were reminding the goblins
who was really in charge, but it served another purpose as well."

"If the flow was directed
with the right precision, it could have blocked out any magical revelation of
the draevols' presence," Holli allowed, as she began to follow the elder
wizard's theory.

"Not just a shove or a
reminder to the goblins," Jure acknowledged, "but a distraction as
well. A wave of magic to flush away any signs of the draevols. That also may be
why they restricted the use of magic in Ashlan, to avoid reducing the flow and
allowing the demon to be uncovered."

"But she noticed another
spell caster in Ashlan." Ryson countered. "How was she able to do
that and not sense draevols?"

Jure remained steadfast in his
assumption.

"The flow was not meant to
hide the fire mage. It was directed to cover the activities of a draevol. Think
of it this way... where is the best place to hide a handful of dirty water? At
the bottom of a river. What happens if you place such fouled water at the
bottom of a heavy current? It gets washed away and no one sees it, but what
happens if you place a handful of dirt on the top of a river? It gets spread
out and everyone can see it. The fire mage placed his spell at the top of the
current, where it was noticed."

Jure looked back toward Heteera.
He recalled how the magic surged through the room right after Heteera initially
collapsed. He remembered what Enin had told him, how the sorceress wanted to
bury herself in isolation using the magic to erase her consciousness.

"It's like her. She wanted to
use the magic to flush away her identity. The draevols are doing something very
similar. They are using a great rush of magical energy—not to wipe away their
existence—but to hide their actions."

"It would explain the magic
anomaly," Holli admitted, "something I have been unable to do. It
would even explain the presence of the inferns and their willingness to keep
order in Ashlan and guard the outer rim of the valley. "

"What about the bloat
spiders?" Ryson asked. "They were guarding the valley, too."

Holli answered again, finally
placing all of the elements in order. With the help of Jure, it seemed she had
found the right sequence.

"Draevols have great
influence over many dark creatures. Bloat spiders make excellent deterrents.
The demons wanted humans to leave the valley and not come back. By using
inferns and bloat spiders, they directed the humans through Pride Gap. Strog
wanted refugees heading west across the plains towards Connel. He needed to
keep Enin occupied. He did not want the refugees heading south. Humans by
nature will avoid spiders."

"Is this really what's going
on?" Ryson asked. "Or are we just guessing?"

"It fits everything we have
seen," Holli replied. She did not have to struggle to place the answers
together. They snapped into place with ease.

Jure made the final assertion as
he put one last question to Holli.

"You are familiar with
elflore's description of draevols? I assume it's the same as the legends that I
have studied. How do they come into being?"

Her own answer cleared any doubts
from her mind.

"They are spawned from the
entrails of diseased beast demons. They are spawned in twos."

"Twins," Ryson added, as
a shiver went down his spine. He didn't wish to discount the prophecies—they
had been right before—but he also felt great unease in discovering the answers
to so many questions were prearranged in a book written long ago.

"Yes, twins," Jure
noted. "That prophecy starts looking rather interesting, especially if you
fill it out with probable events. It was called the Chain of Bargains,
correct?"

Holli nodded, but then added one
correction.

"The
Broken
Chain of Bargains."

"We know the dwarves made a
bargain with the goblins and the goblins made a bargain with certain humans. We
can't deny that, but it just can't end there. What would bring inferns to
Ashlan? Certainly not the goblins. Draevols have to be involved. Since Prilgrat
is dealing with the goblins and the inferns, he has to be the connection to
both, and when you're dealing with goblins and demons, any bargain can be
broken. What was it you said about the false leader from the prophecy? Oh yes,
'A bargained unity is nothing more than a disguised agreement to a false
leader's end to no ends.' Not quite sure what that all means, but it certainly
seems to point to Prilgrat."

Jure paused for a moment as he
contemplated his past reflections. He remembered what he felt in the magic to
the east. His recollection only confirmed his suspicions.

"It has to be draevols, and
they had to make a bargain with Prilgrat. Without even considering the
prophecy, it's the only thing that makes sense. Prilgrat is getting something
from this... what it is, I don't know, but I can't dismiss what I sense. I have
felt something far off in the east, something in the magic. I told Enin about
it. I compared it to an old stain that your eyes find whether it's there or
not. The draevols are that stain."

Jure looked to those around him.
He didn't wish to take command of the situation, but he could not stifle what
he saw as the only plausible explanation. Still, he turned the focus back to
the others and respectfully asked for their view.

"I don't know, maybe I'm
wrong, but I just don't think so. Can anyone see something I'm missing... a
flaw?"

Ryson almost didn't speak, but he
had to point out his reservations.

"I'm not sure if it's a
flaw," the delver began, "but I'm worried we might be looking at this
the wrong way. Are we trying to fit a solution to the problem... or to the
prophecy. That's my only concern."

Enin addressed the concern with a
viewpoint focused on the magic.

"We are not simply addressing
the prophecy. We are addressing the totality of everything that has happened.
The prophecies did not lead you back to Connel. Your sword did. Are you willing
to disregard the enchantment that has saved you countless times?"

"No, I'm not." Ryson
admitted.

"I can not find fault with
your theory," Holli stated, "and I have been trying to find a
suitable solution for days."

None of them could contradict
Jure, for there was no flaw.

"So what do we do about
it?" Ryson wondered aloud.

"I will confront
Prilgrat," Enin stated without hesitation. "He cannot lie to me. I
won't allow it. I will know the truth."

"We have to do more than
that," Jure added.

Enin agreed without argument.

"I know. You will come with
me. We will find the so-called twins and we will remove them as a threat as
well. I am not against greater aid. We will let this prophecy of Godson be
fulfilled."

Jure, however, looked beyond
obtaining the remaining answers and confronting the draevols. In a flash of
cognizance, he followed the course of events that were most likely playing out
even as they spoke.

"That's not quite what I
meant. As far as the prophecy goes, what we
let
happen is irrelevant. If greater powers are at work, then the proper outcome
will occur whether we let it or not, but we do have another problem we have to
address, and it can't wait."

"The dwarves?" Ryson
wondered, also seeing the larger elements involved. He understood the danger of
the separatists in charge of Sterling,
but he did not quite take the threat as far as Jure. The delver focused on Sterling
while the wizard looked to the valleys as a whole.

"What the dwarves have
caused..." Jure stated, "...the goblins. You said Strog was close to
the final phase of his plan. He will eventually discover that you and Holli
escaped. He will assume you returned to Connel to warn Enin, and..."

"He will order the goblins to
attack the humans," Holli acknowledged. She thought of the goblin horde.
She thought of Huntston again, and the suffering that would follow.

"We can't allow that to
happen," Jure noted.

Ryson looked to Enin.

"Can you stop it?"

Enin considered the question
fully. It was not a simple request. He did not know how many goblins had
infiltrated the valleys, but he knew the number had to be colossal. He also
considered the distance involved. The valleys stretched across vast sections of
land. If it were just Ashlan and Huntston, he could have handled the situation,
but the problem extended over countless farms and towns.