The Staff of the Winds (The Wizard of South Corner Book 1) (32 page)

This answer surprised the sorcerer.  The girl appeared to be telling him what she believed to be the truth, but he was certain that an initiate of his former nemesis existed out there somewhere.  He could feel it in the Realm, further, he had personally summoned the young man to the veil and spoken to him.  Somehow the boy had managed to resist identifying himself at the time, an unusual display of self control, and now he was no doubt safely deposited in the shielded dungeon of Carraghlaoch where he could no longer reach him. How is it that this girl did not know of this young wizard? Is it possible that Gilladhe kept his apprentice a secret even from his close neighbors, and if so, why had he done so?  Unfortunately, continued patience would be required until al Dahrr could take possession of the boy.  In the mean time, it was likely that this girl knew much more about him than she realized.  Careful questioning over time would no doubt reveal much.

After a walk that seemed like a quarter mile through the beautiful, winding corridors, they finally approached a large set of double doors, carved from what looked like highly polished walnut. There was no way for Sarah to know, but these doors were probably the most precious items that she had seen thus far. They had been uniquely crafted for Adham al Dharr and shipped at great expense from the far reaches of the western edge of the realm, the only region in Baraduhne where really fine hardwoods could be grown to any appreciable dimensions. They bore the deeply carved likeness of a snarling cat of immense proportions. The lead guard opened one of the doors—seemingly with little effort and no noticeable sound although it had to have been extremely heavy—then stood to the side watching back down the hallway while the other guard entered, followed by al Dharr and the trailing guards with Sarah.

Through the doors, Sarah entered a room that literally took her breath away. It was larger than her entire home in South Corner, with lush, thick carpets; gilded walls with magnificent tapestries, and well upholstered, intricately carved furnishings.  Mounted on the wall straight ahead was a larger than life portrait of High Lord and Great Sorcerer Adahm al Dahrr.  Two doors lead from this room, one to either side.

They were met by four serving women, dressed in flowing, white gowns, and all with downcast eyes.  One of the women knelt at al Dahrr’s right side so that he could steady himself with a hand upon her head while a second woman changed his slippers.

“These women will show you to your rooms” al Dahrr said, indicating the two women still standing. “They are located through that door on your right. You will be my guest for a time while I investigate all that you have told me. You are welcome to explore these quarters as you wish, but you may not leave these apartments. You would be in grave danger should you do so. You may also not enter my private quarters to the left without my express invitation. If I have time, I hope to see you at dinner this evening.” With these words, al Dahrr and the two women who had helped him departed through the door to his private quarters. The guard had already taken his position next to the door back to the corridor, resting his left hand lightly upon it, and the two remaining women gestured for Sarah to follow them through the door to the right.

After the High Lord had left with Sarah, Kadeen dismissed the soldiers then motioned for Yeva to lift Emily to her feet. With an abrupt gesture of his left hand, Emily’s tattered garments dissolved to pink dust that drifted to the floor. He examined her closely as Yeva held her arms from behind and kept her in place.

“No. Please let me go,” Emily wailed. Kadeen’s demonstrations of power had completely unnerved her. She felt more naked and vulnerable before him than ever before in her life, and to be held firmly thus by another woman only added to her sense of betrayal and helplessness.

“Let you go? No, not yet, I think. You were a gift, my dear,” Kadeen purred, reaching out to caress Emily’s soft skin. “It would be most discourteous of me to discard Commander Bardon’s gift so soon after its arrival.  Besides,” he added with an oily leer and a tweak with his hard fingers, “you really are a most comely young thing beneath all that dirt.  Bardon has good taste.  No we’ll have many hours together, my dear.  You have much to tell me, and much to give.  If you are a good and generous girl, your new life will not be too difficult.  If, on the other hand, you are not a good girl,” he almost snarled, “you must be punished.  Try very hard to please me, my dear.  I fear you would not enjoy my punishments.”

Kadeen clapped his hands and two serving girls who had been kneeling unnoticed by the walls sprang to their feet. “Take her, bathe her and prepare her for me. I’ll want her ready to begin our discussions this evening.” The two young women took Emily from Yeva’s grasp and lead her from the room, still crying and begging almost incoherently to be released.

With a look of irritation, Kadeen turned from the comely sight of Emily’s departure, withdrew Commander Bardon’s report from the folds of his robes (at least he had managed to keep that from Adham al Dharr), and read it again, more carefully. He knew that in such reports, the way that some information was presented and other information excluded often revealed much more than the words themselves.

Apparently, the raid across the Akuaanguis had gone quite well, but Captain Saglam’s failure to acquire the Staff of the Winds from the Old Wizard was a great disappointment.  The Baraduhne were growing desperate for the lands across The Deep as the Maragong pushed them relentlessly south.  It was believed by most of the Order that a new equilibrium leading to an end of the war with the Maragong could be reached if they could eventually fall back and hold this mountain fastness in The Outlet, supplied by the rich lands and peoples they would acquire to the east.  With the crossing of The Deep and the successful garrisoning of the fabled Carraghlaoch the Baraduhne’s plans for survival were well underway, but until The Deep could be drained and the trigitch banished from its dark waters they remained pinned like a butterfly in a glass case against their fortress in the snow capped mountains.  And with each passing month, the case they were in grew ever smaller.

The escape plan of the Baraduhne was well begun, and the captured writings of Gilladhe would doubtless prove invaluable, but it was the Staff of the Winds that was key to Kadeen’s personal plans for the future.  He could not match al Dharr in native strength and at best was only his equal in cunning and resolve.  When al Dharr held the Staff of Inquiry, Kadeen was as a child compared to the High Lord’s power.  Possession of the Staff of Inquiry was one of the primary causes of the seemingly endless wars that the Baraduhne fought with their neighbors.  All knew of its existence in the hands of the High Lord of the Baraduhne, and while all feared its power, many lusted after it at the same time.  Princes and Lords of the surrounding realms were often more than willing to throw the lives of the unskilled and the lesser skilled into war with Baraduhne in the hope of securing the ancient staff for themselves. A temporary alliance of four of the most powerful sorcerers of the kingdom of the Maragong was just the latest and most successful of those aspirants.

Throughout his own rise to power, Kadeen had often plotted ways to make the Staff of Inquiry his own, but between the power of al Dharr, even without the staff, and the incorruptible loyalty of the Watchers to the reigning High Lord, none of his plots held any reasonable chance of success. The only solution he could see was to take possession of the Staff of the Winds. The Winds was no more powerful than Inquiry, their uses were somewhat divergent; but used with subtlety, Kadeen had no doubt that the office of High Lord would be within his reach. And, the prospect of comingling the power of these two ancient artifacts was heady stuff indeed. One man using one of these staffs could not win a war, could not throw back the Maragong for example. But one man of sufficient capability, using the amplification both these articles of power provided, well might. Such a man could raise seas and level mountains.

With Saglam’s failure to secure the staff, or more properly the staff head for the staff itself had been shattered, Kadeen’s plans had taken a major step backward; but with Gilladhe destroyed and his apprentice safely controlled in the shielded dungeons of Carraghlaoch, the situation could perhaps be salvaged.  Artifacts of focus, especially those of such immense potential, called out to persons of power.  Kadeen had no doubt that if he could cross The Deep ahead of Adham al Dharr he would have no difficulty in locating and making the Staff of the Winds his own.

Therein lay the problem—how to make the crossing.  If he waited for The Deep to be drained and the trigitch destroyed, he would find himself in a race with al Dharr.  If he tried to cross using the arch, the proximity of his talent would likely enrage the trigitch so as to make his attempt an act of suicide.  Unless he could in some way mask his power, or distract the beast long enough to make the crossing.  Such attempts had been made in the past, of course, but only upon the surface of those black waters.  All of those attempts had been spectacularly and fatally unsuccessful.  With the separation from the waters provided by the high arch of blasted stone, perhaps it could be done, but the odds of success were very slim.  This is what occupied his thoughts of late.  What would hide him from Gilladhe’s vile creation?  With possession of the Staff of the Winds, linked as it was to the trigitch’s summoning, a knowledgeable sorcerer could likely pass safely.  Lacking that talisman, he would have to find another way.

It was always like this. For some reason, experiences in The Realm of Infinite Possibilities which centered around people that Yeva had never actually met were invariably less detailed, less clear; but once a meeting took place, experiences involving those people became much more accessible and more distinct. So it was with the two young women from the other side of The Deep.

Yeva had foreseen the arrival of Stangar with the girls, of course. Anything of that importance touching on the timeline of the Lord Kadeen would always be available to her nightly meditations days ahead of time. She had also seen the destruction of Stangar and the High Lord’s claiming of the auburn haired girl. She had forewarned Kadeen of all of these events, of course, and of their inevitability. As always, there were optional paths, some of which would have allowed Kadeen to retain both girls, at least for a short time, but they were low probability and all ended badly.

In her meditations that evening, Yeva pondered Emily, the blond and distinctly more feminine of the two young women.  Her presence in the Realm seemed dominant compared to that of the darker haired girl.  It was obvious that Kadeen would be keeping her close for the near future, no doubt far closer than Emily would have liked.  She would be Kadeen’s possession and his plaything for some time.  She appeared on many of the branches in the Realm, but it was not at all clear to Yeva what her role would be in shaping the future of the Baraduhne.  None of her presences seemed to hold significant consequence.  In contrast, the auburn haired girl seemed to be absent from the Realm, at least along paths in the near future.  It seemed that the High Lord would be keeping her close as well, and therefore inaccessible to Yeva, which was interesting—the High Lord was not known for his dalliances, at least not with young women.

Following her usual pattern, Yeva explored the potentialities and prepared herself for the coming day.  There were no critical junctures that she would need to manage.  She paused to check her guardian, then allowed herself to be cast free and drift on the currents the Realm provided.  Initially, the times and events passed in a languid manner, with nothing of real significance catching her awareness.  Gradually, however, the pace of events began to quicken; the currents becoming a flood that propelled her along.  This was common, and not at all comfortable for the watcher—one of the main reasons that so few who delve into the Realm of Infinite Possibilities could maintain their indifference to the stream of possible events and manage to drift as she was doing without being quickly ejected.