Lord Of Dragons (Book 2) (18 page)

The high priestess babbled nonsensical words and hissed so loud a shower of spittle flew from her mouth and struck Sebine's face. The woman shoved them backwards and cackled as they collapsed to the ground.
 

"Welcome, true believers of Gaa'el...feel and feast in the power of the earth, let it flow into your body and feed the frenzy of your desire for our god." The high priestess leapt about the dais and raged and shouted for music and singing and dance. The worshippers jumped to their feet and obeyed, and Sebine followed, noticing Tael's eyes had changed to an inky pool of blackness and his mouth was open and ranting praises to Gaa'el. She resisted the urge to slap him and break him out of his ridiculous trance.

"Destroy your personal desires," shouted the high priestess. "Attune yourself to the singular, the one, the earth mind...be unified with our god, let your consciousness dissolve into the whole. Allow your thirst to consume your desire, and drink, drink, drink!" The woman spread her arms wide as priests and priestesses carried jugs of wine throughout the worshippers and gave them crystal glasses to drink of the blood-red liquid. The people moved in a frenzy to accept the glasses and sang a song of earnest longing that filled the temple with harmonizing music. They sang and drank until the red liquid bubbled out of their wild, raving mouths, faces desperate and pleading as their hands stretched out towards the high priestess.

Sebine tried her best to mimic the movements of the crazed worshippers, but all the while her mind had been scrambling to come up with a solution to allow them to escape the city. The high priestess screamed and Sebine glanced at the woman, wondering what would happen next.

"Sing to your god, give praises to Gaa'el, beg for him to show you a sign." The high priestess danced and twirled and joined in the revelry, her long, lean body writhing and jerking in wild, frantic movements. When the chaos of the crowd of devotees had reached a dizzying height, Sebine noticed the high priestess aiming her hands at the ground and glimpsed threads of magical energy spreading from her palms to the dais.

Another massive earthquake jolted the ground and shook and swayed the standing people until the adherents fell prostrate and wailed thanks to their god for hearing their prayers. Now Sebine knew the horrible truth. The high priestess had cast a spell and caused the earthquake, the same quake that had killed so many people and almost cost the lives of Tael and her. What kind of a twisted and heartless religion so easily killed its own believers to inspire allegiance to their god?

But the question that Sebine kept trying to answer was whether the other priests and priestesses knew magic? She could find no evidence of it. The only way she could discover the truth was to get the high priestess alone and force her to give some answers. So she waited for a chance, and memorized the face and mannerisms of the old, bald-headed priest who often remained close to the high priestess. If she could stun him and knock him out, or perhaps tie him up and gag him, Sebine could cast a spell of self-illusion and disguise herself as the priest.

So she waited, pretending to follow in the chaotic celebration of the earth god, until many of the people passed out in a drunken stupor and slept in the temple. Sebine joined them and closed her eyes, trying to remain unnoticed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the high priestess and several priests leaving the dais, and Sebine knew this was her chance. She cast a spell of self-illusion and transformed herself into the image of the bald priest in golden robes. She chased after the line of priests now disappearing into a corridor at the back of the temple.

As Sebine followed, she noticed the priests and priestesses entering small rooms and closing the door behind them, leaving only several of the elder priests to flank along with the high priestess. But soon even the elder priests left for the solitude of their chambers, and the high priestess exited the temple and strode through the wasted wilderness, striding over fallen trees in a delicate display of agility. To Sebine's relief, the bald priest cast no magic, and climbed over the trunks and scrambled after the woman.

Sebine found a stick and picked it up, feeling the heavy weight in her hand. She waited for the right moment. Ahead, past a small clearing, she spotted the high priestess ducking into a small temple on the edge of a forest. Now was her chance. She darted forward and cast the stunning spell at the priest, feeling her heart pounding at the exertion. With the priest's body frozen and falling over, Sebine reached the man and clubbed him in the back of the head. She waited for the spell to wear off and anchoring herself against a tree stump, cast another spell and moved his limp body off into the deep brush.

Her heart thudded several beats in quick succession as she spied the appearance of the high priestess at the entrance of the small temple, her crafty eyes staring at her while Sebine strode towards her.

"You're getting old and slow, my pet." The woman reached out to touch Sebine, and in a panic, the Princess cast a quick stunning spell and shoved the high priestess into the temple. When the woman moved again and broke the spell, she cast it again, hoping the spell would still take while she tied the woman's hands behind her back. It worked, but the spell lasted fewer seconds, but still enough time to wrench the woman's arms around and shove her to the ground.
 

"If you resist me, I'll do worse things to you than simply stun you." Sebine seized the cord that held up the woman's gold robe, and tied her wrists behind her back. She removed the spell of self-illusion and glowered at the woman. "I need answers from you. If you provide them, I'll leave you unharmed and you can go back to fooling your flock of followers."

The woman laughed at Sebine, her eyes filled with derision and malice. "You think you can stop me by simply tying up my hands? I can speak a word, one word, and you'll find yourself erased from the world of the living and your body turned into worms."

"And before you can even attempt to speak I can have your tongue ripped from that wrinkled mouth of yours. Now shut up or I'll have you gagged! I don't want to fight you, do I make myself clear? And I don't want to join your religion and I don't want to interfere with your city either. I just want to talk to you and leave with my friend...that's it. You are no doubt concerned as to why your spell didn't affect me, and keep that in mind if you try and attempt any tricks."

The woman's eyes turned wary, but to Sebine's relief, also softened. "What is it you are so desperate to talk about?"

"Your spell caused the earthquake. I've no interest in questioning your morals for doing such a thing to your followers and not to mention wrecking your beautiful city, however I am interested in learning what you know."

"Why would I teach you a thing? Why would one with the powers of a goddess teach a mortal such as yourself?"

Sebine scoffed and shook her head. "You consider yourself as a goddess? Then why weren't you unaffected by my spell? Why were your eyes deceived by my illusion of your priest? I do believe you are quite mortal as myself. Where did you learn of your magic?"

"No one knows of my magic, and you won't be the first to discover the secrets of the earth god. My master taught me well and I made sure he died with a smile on his lips. No one else knows of my knowledge."

"Sounds pathetic to me. What good is knowledge if it can't be shared with others? Look at your situation, if you'd taught your priests your magic, then I would have had a difficult time assaulting you like this, and I wouldn't have taken the risk. But it was pretty easy to see that only you possessed the magical gift."

The high priestess gaped at Sebine as if she were a madwoman spouting heresy.
 

"Oh, how silly of me," Sebine said, her tone mocking. "If they knew you were causing the earthquakes instead of your god, then they'd likely rip you to shreds. Why not just declare yourself the earth goddess? Or a demigod sent to lead them out of darkness. And don't protest, it's not blasphemy if you are the one making the whole thing up."

The woman opened her mouth as if to protest, but confusion spread across her face and she only stared transfixed at Sebine.

"A word of advice, you might want to start by not killing your followers. You need people to grow your religion. And you almost destroyed your city, so there goes your wealth creation. A religion needs money and power to succeed. Next time, maybe just keep the earthquake localized around the temple. You do know how to control your magic? Make it stronger or weaker as you need?"

"I...I'm not sure what you mean," the high priestess sputtered, and for once seemed to genuinely listen to Sebine. "How do you control the power?"

Sebine resisted mocking the poor priestess for killing her master too soon, and instead sighed and gave the woman a sad smile. "It takes control and concentration, and the cooling of the emotions." She rubbed her belly and felt the power swirl inside.

"Why would you ever want to cool your emotions?" The high priestess shifted around until she leaned against the woven wall. "My master taught me that only through rage and ecstasy can one achieve the magical gift."

"I suppose that is one way...and I won't claim to know everything. I'm still young and learning myself. But my master taught me control, when I had none at first." Sebine caused the high priestess to rise off the ground, and the woman's eyes widened in fear. "Control is needed when lifting and moving things, otherwise I'd smash you through the roof." Sebine brought the woman gently back to the ground.

"How did you do that?" the high priestess said, and her expression turned to awe as she stared at Sebine. "Can't you teach me the spell?"

Sebine allowed a sly smile to cross her face. "Of course, if you teach me the spell to move the earth. And I promise to try and teach you how to controls the quakes. What other spells have you learned? Don't look suspicious, I'm not trying to steal from you. Whatever you teach me I'll provide a new spell in return. And trust me, my knowledge will help you grow your religion. That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Do you promise not to try an exert your power over my followers?"

"I can honestly say I have no interest in staying here in Rez'el any longer than I need to. As long as you can ensure me and my friend can get on a caravan to Shaar'el, I doubt you'll ever have to worry about seeing me again. Wait a moment, calm down... I promise not to exert any influence over your followers. Do we have a deal?"

The woman nodded and shifted her arms around. "Will you untie me now? I vow not to attack you, though in all truthfulness the spell of causing the earth to shake is the only offensive spell I know."

"But don't you use magic to control your followers? Their eyes turn black..."

"That spell I cast on you when I touched your forehead merely induced a vision to see Gaa'el, the god of the earth. Gaa'el is real and the control he exerts over his believers is real. I have nothing to do with that."

"I find that hard to believe." Sebine scowled at the woman. "So you are saying that my friend is now controlled by your god? His eyes changed to a pool of blackness." A shiver ran through Sebine at the thought of losing Tael, of him being overtaken by some dark, malevolent god.

"Gaa'el doesn't remove free will from his followers, though when we all come together like we do, singing and dancing and drinking of his wine, the strong bond of oneness with Gaa'el takes over." The high priestess sighed and seemed to struggle for the right words to say. "You haven't experienced it, but it's like swimming in a vast, warm pool filled with the thoughts and emotions of other believers, but deeper in that pool is a blackness so powerful, and so vast, that your toes only barely sense the strength and knowledge of it all. Does that make sense?"

"It sounds frightening..."

The woman laughed and bobbed her head. "It is frightening and beautiful at the same time. The essence of the mystery of the god of the earth lies there in that frightening immensity. We barely swim but for a tiny moment in that infinite sea, but each time we manage to take a small nugget of truth or wisdom from the experience. Some of us swim deeper than the rest, and remember more than the rest. But go too deep and you'll dissolve forever in the obliterating force of Gaa'el."

Sebine sensed the woman wanted to talk, so she remained quiet, and let the high priestess speak. "Can you teach me the spell of illusion? And in return I would offer you the most useful spell you will likely ever learn..."

"Now you've peaked my curiosity. Tell me of this spell?"

A devilish smile spread over the woman's face. At the beckoning of the high priestess, Sebine leaned in and grinned at her whispered words.

Chapter Twenty-One

THE LAST THING King Braxion wanted to think about was whether or not to grant the dwarven slaves permission for conjugal visits with their wives. Why hadn't he thought of bringing administrative officials to handle the details of occupying several dwarven cities? Soldiers and sorcerers ruled Magrad and the two other cities he had conquered, and the dwarves worked tirelessly to produce the armor and swords needed to supply his army with the protection and offensive power required to combat the elves.