The Tomb of the Dark Paladin (14 page)

"As I felt compelled to take this from Carym's unworthy hands before I left his company, I now feel compelled to give it to you. A gift, and a symbol of my devotion the Prophet-General of Ilian Nah."

Shalthazar held aloft an eager hand, bony white flesh stark against the black velvet of his coat, and the device known as Fyrendi's Home drifted across space between the wizard and the assassin. The dark wizard couldn't believe his luck! Umber was desperate to recover this very item, yet the god had not seen fit to disclose why he wanted it. He suspected it had something to do with the being that now occupied the device, though he doubted very much that its name was Mathonry. His mind began to consider the possibilities that the possession, or destruction, of this device could hold for him.

"Zacharya, you and I are going to be great friends," said the wizard softly. "You have no idea how valuable this device truly is," the wizard held the device in his hands, eying it reverently. "I am going to reward you with the power that you seek, Zacharya of Hyrum.

"Baelor told you that you would be 'the Shadow's Blade, did he not?" asked the wizard, Zach nodded. "Then you shall be called Shadowblade. You may forget the Phantom of Powyss, and Cerunnos and the Nyzyr. You are now under my command and my protection, the Dark Disciples do not dare cross me." 

For now
, he said to himself.

"Thank you great one!" said Zach with apparent sincerity. There was a soft knock on the wizard's door. Shalthazar said nothing, but looked at the door as it swung silently inward. Framed by the door was the vivacious woman who had become the bane of Zach's existence, Balzath. After a pause for dramatic effect, the woman sauntered into the wizard's chambers. She was beautiful and voluptuous and had tried her charms on the dark wizard over and over, but the elf who hailed from another world had long ago conquered those baser instincts. Shalthazar never let a woman exert her feminine charms over him, for that was a sure way to allow a woman to have control. His lust was for the acquisition of power and he studiously avoided losing it for any reason.

And yet Balzath was a witch with no equal on Llars, either in power or deadly beauty. She was a powerful magic-wielder, a witch of some obscure order whose name Shalthazar did not care to recall. She was a very determined woman and a Dark Disciple, which made her extraordinarily dangerous. A fact that led the dark wizard to wonder if perhaps Zach's dagger had protected him from the witch's magic. And, he thought wryly, she was mad.

"What do you want, Balzath?"

"Nothing but your boundless love, my sweet!" she purred, leaning suggestively over the edge of his desk. Seemingly from nowhere a ball of flame shaped like a heart appeared in the large room and drifted across it to stop before the dark wizard's desk.

"I don't understand why I tolerate your insanity," he said quietly, using the Tides to snuff out her spell. Somewhere on another level of his mind Shalthazar registered the fact that the spells he had cast to seal his office from all other sources of magic had failed or had been manipulated by the mad woman.

"Oh, but you do love me, Shalthy!" she swooned, letting out a cackling laugh as she withdrew from her master's side. She floated back down to Zach's level and gave him a sly wink, her raven tresses shimmering in the light of the chandelier. Shalthazar's own enhanced senses detected the faintest sigh escape from Zach, bringing an inward smile to the dark wizard; it seemed the man had come to understand Balzath already. If the assassin failed in everything he did for Shalthazar, there was one thing that he had already accomplished: diverting Balzath's attention. "Zachy here has been such a wonderful companion while you and I have been apart."

"I'm sure he has," replied the wizard wryly. "Our new friend now has two remarkable deeds to his credit."

"Two?" she asked, her voice husky and somewhat pouty.

"Indeed. First, he has delivered to me the device which you failed to find." The woman raised her eyebrows slightly at the rebuke. "And that has not escaped Umber's notice."

"Had you but asked, My Lord Shalthazar," she said with exaggerated drama, "I would have delivered you your prize."

Shalthazar pointed a finger at the woman and a beam of sable light shot forth from his finger, sailed across the room, and struck Balzath in the backside. The alluring woman let out a shriek and jumped, rubbing her aching rear.

"Insolent witch!" he hissed. The magical box had been under her very nose and Zach had managed to keep it hidden from her, an impressive feat. "Zach has volunteered to lead you to the Everpool, thereby saving you from another humiliating failure!"

Balzath regained her composure and put an arm around Zach, ensuring that her ample bosom was brushing up against the uncomfortable assassin. Shalthazar knew she was trying to play them both but he would have none of it.

"Zachy is just full of surprises, isn't he?" she purred, running her hand down his back and brushing across his backside. "So intent to please his new lord!" she whispered in his ear. The dangerous edge in her voice told Shalthazar that his efforts to anger her were working, Zach could deal with her dark moods now. "What was the second?"

"Keeping you away from me," he replied. But the wizard interrupted the woman and diverted her attention to the matter at hand before. "You will go to the Ogerwall Mountains and seek an audience with the King of the Ogers on my behalf. That is all you need to know for now. I will send you further orders to be opened only when you have been granted audience." Shalthazar smiled, knowing that none could see his expression. It was clear that the orders were very unexpected to the assassin. "After that mission is complete, Shadowblade will lead you to the Everpool."

"Oh, we are going to have so much fun!" giggled Balzath. "I just love to travel and meet new people. Don't you?" Shalthazar was amazed at how sincere the woman could make herself sound.

"You may go, Zach," said Shalthazar, his interest in the matter rapidly fading.

Zach bowed low. "When and where am I to report?"

"You will report to Balzath in the morning, you leave tomorrow. And when you have found and secured the Everpool for me, you may return to Hybrand to satisfy your debt to Eriagabbyn."

Zach straightened from his bow and stood tall, his face a mask of stone. "As you wish, Lord Shalthazar." The dark elf wizard knew that Zach might be very keen indeed to return to Hybrand to repay Eriagabbyn, in more ways than one. He pondered the possibilities of that scenario as the assassin left the room. Shalthazar was not very fond of Umber's Disciples, and if this assassin had the power and ability to snuff them out then so much the better. He could then replace these conniving monsters with his own, loyal, disciples.

As one level of his mind continued to think out and plan for every eventuality, another recalled Balzath was still in the room. 

"Why are you still here?" he asked, examining the new object on his desk, his tone exasperated. He sensed the displeasure radiating from the woman like a cloud of angry hornets. He very seriously contemplated having Zach make her his next kill. 

"Can I touch it?" she asked. There was mischief in her eyes, her voice was husky. 

Shalthazar's anger flared then, he was growing tired of the woman's constant innuendo. With the flick of a finger the Tides were blocked from the room. Chains of dark energy appeared and manacled themselves to her wrists and ankles. Suddenly the chains became tight and she flew backward through the air, a loud breath escaped her mouth as her body slammed into the stone wall. For a single joyful moment, Balzath was speechless. Shalthazar smiled, hoping to savor the experience. 

"You know why they want it, don't you?" she hissed, anger flaring in her eyes as she slid to the floor.

"Who?" he demanded, eyes narrowed. When Balzath offered to share intelligence, he was skeptical of her motives. 

"All of them want the Everpool."

"Be more specific, witch."

"Eriagabbyn thinks that drinking the water will make him a god."

"Really," he stated. It was an inane assumption. 

"But it won't," she said. Shalthazar freed her from her bonds and she floated down. "It may, however, give him the powers of the Fyrbold, a Firemage."

Balzath squirmed from the intensity of the wizard's stare. While he doubted that this were true, he recognized what a threat the Dark Disciples operating in Hybrand would become. His hold on the Shadowtide was incredible and superior to each of the Dark Disciples individually; however, if one of them were to tap into another of the Tides, or even align themselves against him, his existence could be endangered. It was a prospect worth analyzing. 

"And the others?"

"They believe the same. Each of them, except Cerunnos the Dimwit, has spies seeking the Tomb and the Everpool. Though they all have a healthy fear of the guardian of the Tomb."

"What of Umber?" he asked, focusing on the point that the witch seemed to be avoiding. She met his gaze directly, and the wizard saw sanity peering at him through a haze of madness. 

"Umester," was all she said, and it was enough to give the centuries old wizard pause. Umester was Umber's bastard offspring, imprisoned long before the Dark Paladin's rise to power. From what Shalthazar had learned on his own about the nature of that demigod, they would all be better off if he stayed in prison. 

"Umester resides in this device?" he asked, mostly to himself. He held the box up to the light and gazed at it. Oddly, he had not sensed any divine power within it and still did not. It wasn't until he opened the power of the Tides and used it to see inside that he recognized the terrible, menacing power within. 

"So this was Umber's plan all along," he mused. "But to what end? What will that gain him?"

"You are a pawn, Shalthazar. You are meaningless to him, to them all, and you will be sacrificed." Balzath seemed subdued and unusually coherent, which gave her perspective more credence. Anger stirred within the dark wizard and the power of the Tides roiled in response to his considerable will. He quickly regained control of his emotions and began to plan his next move. "Umber only bargains when he cannot command. And when he bargains, he wins. I know the cost of bargaining with him."

He dismissed the witch with a wave of his hand. Umber's propensity for deceit was well known. He stared at the device for a long time, his mind computing the possibilities against what he knew of Llarsian history. Finally, Shalthazar came to a conclusion and his hand instinctively reached for his 
ring of return
.  He had long wondered what the dark god's true plan was, for all who work in the Shadow work for themselves; but thus far, he had not been able to work it out. 

And now that he knew, he wasn't happy. 

The Prophet-General of Ilian Nah now knew that his favor with the dark god had been an illusion. He had been used and he was going to be discarded, perhaps in a very unpleasant way. Had the witch been lying, or trying to 
charm
 him with her magic, Shalthazar's wards of protection would have alerted him. Though he did not know precisely how, he had already known that the dark god was likely to betray the bargain the two made. The witch's information simply added the missing pieces of the puzzle and confirmed his suspicions. That meant a number of things were likely going to happen soon. Umber would prevent him from using the Tides thereby limiting the wizard's power to simple arcane magic, something that was inferior in strength and power to Sigil magic. It seemed likely that if the dark god were going to kill him, he must weaken the powerful elf first. But Shalthazar had lived a very long time and was used to the treacherous ways of those who dwelt in the shadows. He had been preparing for such an occasion.

Shalthazar had fervently, and with total secrecy, pursued the mystery of the weaker arcane magic. The truth of the matter was that the spoken arcane language was itself the key to the problem. There were a number of arcane languages used on different worlds in the universe and Shalthazar knew a great deal about them all. He had cautiously experimented with a number of spells, interchanging the various words needed to exploit and control native magic until he made a very interesting discovery. Arcanium, the magical dialect language used by spell casters on Llars, had been created in such a way as to deliberately weaken the structure and power of each word. His experiments and lengthy study had revealed that within the written form of each word of this dialect were other words that Shalthazar knew quite well. It was in fact a form of a very advanced cipher, and Shalthazar had discovered the key. To the dark wizard the deception was intentional and made for the purpose of allowing elite, and specially chosen, wizards to have tremendous power beyond those of their peers.