Chapter 9

Treachery reveled, new mothers, a dragon’s passing, my new pets and an appointment with the mage council

I looked at Elizabeth, “something has been at the back of my mind. Your work gives you knowledge of how bodies work correct?”

She had stopped smiling and was watching me. After my question she nodded, things were coming together in my head, “tell me, the changes Antizel made in mage fertility. How many children could each woman have at one time and how often?”

She sat back while thinking. Looking up at me, “Two to four would be normal, as for how often...”

She frowned and Cat interrupted, “when I was growing up we saw new Mair every 5 or 6 years.”

Elizabeth nodded, “a little accelerated but that would be my guess as well. Why? What is bothering you?”

I looked at her, “the girls that we found with your daughters. The numbers are wrong. There were 30 little ones around 5.”

I glanced at Cat, “we did not check them to see who their mothers were.”

Elizabeth looked at me, “you think you missed someone? More of my daughters?”

I nodded and looked at Cat again, “could you send someone to Amanda, Theresa, Ginger and Beth. I want them to check all the little girls.”

I was also thinking that if I had missed a room then I had missed something else. I looked at Elizabeth, “all I found below Pendar’s was a poorly made crafting room. Unlike your crafting room there were no servants.”

She looked at me as if she did not understand. I thought back to the grizzly workroom Antizel had left, “when I cleared the floors below your Keep, I found a workroom Antizel had used for his necromancy. It was not a pleasant sight.”

Her eyes widened, “you did not find anything like it below Pendar’s?”

I shook my head, “did you know Pendar? Was he anything like Antizel?”

She growled, “yes. He was also around Antizel. He was always trying to copy him but he was never as good as Antizel.”

I looked at her, “and Antizel made sure he had a back door out of his Keep.”

Elizabeth kept frowning, “two actually. His second was out of the grotto.”

Sam came in with Cassy and I turned to her, “I need some runners. One for the Legate...”

I thought about Antizel’s work room, “another for the mage council, ask for Artimas. Warn them it is about Pendar and that I may have missed something in his Keep.”

I looked at Elizabeth as she cleared her throat, “I would like to see the workroom Antizel left.”

I sent Sam on her way and frowned at Elizabeth who held up her hands with a smile, “I will not try to do any magic.”

I nodded and I helped her stand, she did seem stronger. She kept glancing at Cassy as she walked beside her quietly with her head bowed, “your name is Cassy?”

Cassy looked at her quickly before looking back at the ground, “Yes.”

Elizabeth softly brushed her cheek and Cassy looked at her half afraid. Elizabeth smiled at her, “Antizel only let me be with my first daughters. I was never able to do any magic so I could not even place a mage tag but I know my own daughters. You were born with two sisters.”

Startled Cassy looked at her and Elizabeth slipped her hand into Cassy’s as they walked. A slow shy smile came to Cassy’s face and I saw something else in her eyes. Cat caught up to me as we reached the entrance into the Keep. She had a strange expression, “only eleven of the girls were theirs but something is strange. The rest are not related at all.”

I looked at her and thought of how everyone had thought Elizabeth had been killed, “I had Sam send a runner to the mage council. I need another to find out if any mage women have gone missing in the last few years.”

Thinking about my short swords and Cat, “I need my old sword.”

Cassy looked at me, “I will go get it for you.”

She hurried inside while Cat went to find another runner. As we got closer to the stairwell and the workroom I started becoming tense. Cynthia came running up the stairs until she was walking at my side, “what is it you feel?”

I had not thought about it and stopped at the landing into the workroom. Slipping into a light meditation I extended my senses and felt ‘magic.’ it was necromancy. It was coming from behind the door into the workroom and it was new. Cynthia could feel what I did and she growled.

Tom and David came rushing down the stairs laughing. They were being chased by one of the kittens. I grabbed Tom, “go find John. I need men here with weapons quick and David, I need you to go call the guards.”

I released him and gave him a gentle push, “go, hurry.”

I looked at Elizabeth, “go back outside.”

She looked at me startled, “but...”

I growled, “No buts, Go!”

I moved to the door and put my hand on it extending my senses and listening as hard as I could. I could hear movement all around the room and the room seemed to have magic emanating from it. Cassy came hurrying down the stairs and I took my sword before sending her outside to Elizabeth.

I started opening the door when Cat and Sam showed up. I was going to take them into the room with me but something did not feel right about the room, “stay here and guard the door. Do not come in unless I tell you.”

When they started to argue I stopped them, “something is wrong in the room. I want you to stay here.”

I realized that I was afraid for them and why. I took a breath remembering my grandfather’s words to follow my heart. My grandfather was never one to give meaning to only one thing, “when this is over we will talk and I think plan. I am afraid that if you go into the room with me you will be hurt or worse so please stay here.”

I saw something in their eyes as they looked at each other and then back at me before they nodded. I centered myself and extended my senses, “Cynthia, stay with them.”

Cynthia hissed in protest, “you are my chosen!”

I smiled and caressed her in my mind, “I need to know what is happening here as well as in there.”

She sat with her tail whipping back and forth, “be careful.”

I put my hand on the door and started opening it, “you might want to send the kittens outside.”

Stepping into the room I knew I was not alone but saw no one. As I closed the door behind me I closed my eyes. It was like my sparring with my old master, and I turned and blocked a sword. Stepping into the flow I moved through my hidden foes, not pausing to engage any single one of them but just moved through them.

If I cut off an arm or leg it would become visible. I knew those around me were undead. They moved with little or no skill and the smell in the room told me that they had died recently. It was a few minute later that the first sword got through my guard. I felt a slash slide along my left side before my back handed swing took the undead guard’s head.

I tried to stay to the edge of what I felt as a crowd so they would not overwhelm me. It seemed that to kill these undead all I had to do was take their head. I had killed several more and was turning to another presence and thrusting when I took a stabbing thrust into the back of my right leg. I staggered and blocked the pain, continuing my dance.

The next one I killed had not been one of the undead but a mage. I felt the knot of magic that went through the room and continued to make my way towards it, feeling for a loose end. I took another shallow stabbing wound in my right hip and ignored it as I took the head of the undead guard.

I felt only a few undead left as well as another presence. I turned and killed another as I took yet another stab wound. This one in my back, in the left shoulder. I finally reached the knot and found the loose end I was looking for. There was only one undead guard and that other presence left as I pulled on it.

I blocking a wild swing from the undead only to have his sword bounce and slide along my left arm, leaving a four inch gash. Taking his arm and then his head I turned to the last one and found myself facing Pendar himself. He threw a ball of something at me and I pushed out my chi like a shield as I dove to the side.

I did not make it, the magic exploded and tossed me back like a rag doll. I went with it and rolling to a kneeling position and pulling the Sparrow. Taking quick aim I shot him twice in the chest. I stood carefully and crossed to him. Even as I approached I saw the wounds in his chest closing so I shot him point blank in the head.

Even that started to regenerate. Holstering my pistol I grabbed his hair and started cutting off his head. Cynthia called out, “some mages are here! We are coming in.”

They came in the door as I finished removing Pendar’s head. I stood and swayed as the pain from my wounds hit me. John and several men including Gentle and Paul with two other guards followed the mages in. Cynthia rushed to me and rubbed on my leg, “you let some get through! I knew I should have been here.”

I looked down, “you try fighting with your eyes closed against a crowd of invisible zombies.”

I looked up as Artimas and another mage approached. I looked at the head and tossed it to the side, “you do not have to worry about Pendar anymore.”

Cat and Sam moved through the crowed and gasped when they saw the blood. They tried to see all my wounds but I stopped them and faced Artimas, “tell me he is not going to come back from that.”

He and the other mage looked at Pendar’s body and head and then looked around the room. I glanced around the room as well. It looked like a slaughter room with bodies and body parts spread around. Artimas shook his head, “he will not come back. You came in here alone?”

He looked at the other mage who was watching me strangely, “how did they get in?”

I looked at him for a minute before looking at Artimas and raising my eyebrow. He went pink, “sorry Michael I forgot my manners. This is William Starfinder. He is the head of the mage council.”

I looked at William, “I have no idea, yet. This room was searched but I think we missed something.”

James stepped out of the crowd as he crossed to me, “mages fear other mages. Perhaps it is like the entrance to the other hidden place and has no magic.”

William started to say something hotly but I held up my hand, “I would have felt the opening mechanism...”

I was thinking hard, any opening here was leading out, not leading in, “unless there was not one on this side.”

As everyone started talking I leaned on Sam, “Quiet!”

Everyone stopped and looked at me in surprise, “I need it quiet and do not move.”

With Sam helping to support me I moved to the door and started moving slowly along the wall. I was looking for any fresh signs, dirt that had been moved, scuffs, anything. On the far side of the room I found what I was searching for. There were tiny pieces of stone along the base of the wall that had been moved away.

I called them over and showed them. Artimas and William were looking at the wall in a way that told me they were using mage sight. When they stopped and frowned I sighed muttering, “always the hard way.”

Closing my eyes I stepped next to the wall and put my hand on it. I relaxed and started the technique I used to meditate. When I was almost there I reached out and pushed as I slowly moved along the wall until I felt something deep in the rock. Concentrating I felt the edge of the door and moved my senses in deeper.

I found the locking latch attached to the door, it was not the opening switch but maybe it would do. I pushed until it slipped free of the door. I opened my eyes to see everybody watching me, “John? Would you and a couple of other men mind pushing right here?”

He looked at me with his eyebrow raised but moved to the wall and two others joined him. As they put their weight against the wall it moved slightly. They were surprised and he stepped back and looked at the wall for just a second before gesturing for the men to move closer to him. I leaned against Sam and felt Cat applying pressure against the wound along my side and hip.

As the tunnel slowly became visible I looked a Gentle and Paul, “how far is it to Pendar’s from the Keep above?”

Gentle and Paul looked at each other before Paul looked back, “just over half a mile I think.”

I was already very tired, the adrenaline had worn off and the shock of the fight was setting in. Not to mention the pain from my wounds. I sighed and stepped towards the tunnel, Sam and Cat both hissed at me and I felt a resigned sigh from Cynthia as well, “you could at least wait for us to get you a healer.”

I looked down at Cynthia, everyone had heard her, “I suppose I could but somehow I do not think Pendar was acting alone.”

William moved up until he was walking beside us, “you think there are other mages?”

I gestured, “you saw the other one in the workroom and somehow I do not think Pendar could have animated all of those that were here that quickly.”

He looked at me, “how do you know they were not in his Keep and you missed them?”

I glanced at him, keeping my senses extended before us, “because I destroyed the anchor he used in his Keep. It was a large crystal in his crafting room. Besides I could tell by the smell that they had not been dead for very long.”

When we were about halfway there I heard a shout from behind us and stopped. I had kept Artimas and William from creating mage lights and we had no torches. We stopped to wait and I could see several mage lights bobbing along with them. As they got closer I saw Legate Abrams in the lead with four mages and about thirty men.

As he got closer he called out, “I got your messages and came over to talk to...”

He cleared the crowd around me and saw me and faltered, “damn, what happened to you?”

I smiled tiredly, “I almost bit off more than I could chew.”

He stopped next to me, “almost?”

In the crowd of mages I saw Janis and Nathen both and nodded to them. I looked at Artimas, “you asked for more mages?”

Artimas turned red and I could feel his anger as William cleared his throat, “we did not get any messages from you. We were on our way to see you on council business.”

I looked at the other mages and saw Nathen and Janis were mad as well. I shook my head, “it does not matter. Are there any women mages missing or presumed dead within the last five to ten years?”

Janis nodded, “there is five.”

William looked at him and then at me, “why did you want to know?”

I looked at him, “because I have reason to believe they are here.”

I looked at the lights, “put the lights out but be ready to bring them back.”

I started down the tunnel again as they whispered to each other and the lights went out. I knew when we got close because I could smell them. I called for light as the undead rushed out of the darkness. Stepping away from Sam and Cat I pushed a shield from my chi forward at an angle.

There were only about a dozen undead and before I could move towards them the mages cast a spell that set them on fire. It was hotter than it should have been and they crumpled within seconds. The first door was only a hundred feet further down the tunnel which had narrowed into a hallway.

Listening I could hear someone inside chanting a spell. Shifting hands I pulled the White Hawk and stepped to the side of the door. I looked in and saw only one mage chanting as he carved something into a body hanging from chains. Not hesitating I aimed and shot him in the back. Stepping into the doorway I took careful aim and shot him again, this time in the head.

William started to push past me and step into the room but I stopped him and pointed at the crystal in the center of the room. He looked surprised and chanted a word and gestured. The crystal shuttered with lightning bouncing off the walls. Most of it seemed to strike the body of the mage, turning it into a charred cinder.

I half bowed and waved for him to enter. Slowly I walked around the room checking for any concealed doors. When I found nothing I stepped back into the hallway. This time Cat was the one to help support me. The hallway seemed to end one hundred feet down with a door on the left and one on the right.

The door on the right had a feeling of someone standing on a height or cliff top. The door on the left had the feeling of a large room. I could feel more webs of magic coming from it. Even as I stepped up to the door I could feel the webs of magic woven through it. I felt Sam stop one of the mages from pushing forward to the door and Nathen saying something to him.

I was trying to concentrate on the web but my own blood loss had made me a little light headed. Shaking my head to clear it I focused again and saw the knot with an end sticking out. It was a very clumsy awkward thing and at first I though it was a trap until I looked at it close. I pulled the loose end of the spell and opened the door.

The room was probably fifty feet on each side. There were five women chained inside as Elizabeth had been. I stopped William again as he tried to push past me. When he looked at me I ignored him and continued to extend my senses. If this was like Antizel’s trap with Elizabeth then there would be undead guards.

As hard as I tried, I felt nothing. I looked at William, “stay here. The last time I went into a room with someone trapped like this there were undead and mage traps.”

I made a protesting Cat stay and stepped into the room. Carefully I made my way around the room, careful to avoid the five women and the pentagrams around them. When I finished I knew why I could find no undead guards. Pendar had tied them to the power of his Keep and when I destroyed it they had died.

At the door I looked past Cat who had blocked William to keep him from entering, “Artimas? I need you to come look at these girls. We need to determine if they are held the same way as your daughter was.”

He made his way to the front with the other mages trying to follow. Cat stopped them at the door and I heard them cry out names. I looked at them and Artimas whispered that two of the women were their daughters. I nodded and made my way to the first woman. Right away I could see that she was not being held the same way as Elizabeth.

Some of the spells were similar but they were not the same. As we walked around the diagram I pointed some of the spells out to Artimas. When we finished we looked at each other and then I called for the rest of the mages to enter with the directions for them to not get too close to the pentagrams.

I looked at Artimas, “to me it looks like the only thing we need would be blood from Pendar?”

Artimas nodded, “it was done very crudely.”

I looked at the door where Legate Abrams was standing with Cat, “Legate, would you be so kind as to send a runner back for the head of Pendar?”

The legate smiled at me as he was signaling for one of his men, “and which head would that be? There were quite a few heads littering the floor back there.”

I smiled back at him, “it would be the fresh one that was still bleeding when I took it. It will have a large hole in it.”

I held my arm out for Cat and she crossed the room to me and I leaned on her. The mages were walking around the diagrams. Two of them stayed at two different diagrams not checking the others. I called them to me and when they were close I looked at them. They were not mages I knew, “Artimas told me that they are your daughters?”

When they nodded I looked at the girls, “I will get them out. You do know they will need help to get over what has been done to them?”

I hesitated, “I know someone, she is helping Elizabeth, Artimas’s daughter. Her name is Julianna, she is an elf doctor.”

They nodded and as if waking, shook their heads. They introduced themselves and one, Zachary said, “it is a good thing my wife is not here.”

When I only looked at him he smiled, “she would have blown this place up. There would have been a smoking crater a mile wide on this spot.”

It was a few minutes later that the guard came running back with the head wrapped in the shirt of one of the dead that had littered the floor. Taking the head I moved to the first girl and handed it to Artimas. He placed it on a diagram on one point of the pentagram. The woman woke glaring but then stopped in confusion as she saw us.

Cynthia had sat at the edge of the pentagram in front of the woman and I heard, “be patient and be quiet, we will get you out.”

I walked around her with the mages. Unlike the spells around Elizabeth I could see the knot that held the spells and a loose end. More, the spells that ran through her were tied to the same knot. I stopped and looked at Artimas, “was Pendar really this sloppy? Not that I mind but I do not see any traps and the spells are not even tied to her.”

William was the one to answer, “Pendar was never considered the brightest of mages. More of a copier than anything.”

I shook my head and reached out and pulled on the end of the spell. We watched it unravel and the chains holding the woman fell away. She slumped to the floor as the spells that ran through her melted away. Nathen stepped forward and wrapped her in his cloak. Moving to each of the women we repeated the process until they were all free.

As I made my way out of the room I felt drained and weak. If both Sam and Cat had not been helping me I would have fallen more than once. In the hallway I faced the other door and then felt Artimas laying his hand on my shoulder. I felt a surge of energy pass into me and felt revived.

He smiled, “it is only temporary. It should hold you for a little while. You need a healer.”

I smiled at him and stepped up to the door. It had layer and layer of mage traps woven into it but the stupid thing was ... they were all tied to the same place with a loose end seeming to wave in my face. I looked at Artimas and William as he joined us, both were shaking their heads. I unraveled the spell and pushed the door open.

When we entered it was to stand on a balcony overlooking a room with the floor at least a hundred feet below. In the center of the room was a large pile of treasure, lying on and around part of the treasure was a dragon. The dragon was black, maybe twenty feet high at the shoulder and almost one hundred feet long.

It was also looking right at us. I felt an almost physical push against my mind and instantly put a shield of my chi between us and the dragon. In my head I heard, “Human, I have been expecting you.”

I knew it was directed at me, I also felt a kind of humor and something else, a kind of pain I did not recognize. The dragon turned its head as if looking at the web of spells that surrounded it. It looked back at me, “I would meet you at the bottom of the stairs but I seem to be indisposed.”

I looked at the others who were looking back at me. Cynthia patted my leg, “it is being held prisoner and suffers.”

I nodded, “I know that. Unless I am mistaken it is also the dragon that I fought before.”

The dragon answered, “wrong, human. What you fought was my chained and controlled spirit.”

I looked at the dragon and made up my mind. Starting down the steps I told everyone to wait there. Cynthia ignored me of course and trotted down the stairs with me. At the bottom of the stairs I stopped to check the pattern of magic. Carefully I made my way to the dragon and stopped a few paces away from his head.

Cynthia sat beside my feet and the dragon glanced down, “well met little sister.”

The dragon looked back at me, “if you had faced me the day you freed my spirit I would not have hesitated in killing you. Now I lay here with my spirit taken and only feel the pain of its loss.”

Looking into his eyes I could see the truth of what he said. “I am sorry Dragon. I do not enjoy making others suffer.”

It looked at me for what seemed a long time, “then you owe me a debt. Free me, not from these spells they mean nothing. Finish what you started...

He lifted his head and turned it so that the neck was exposed, “cut the vein. It will be relatively painless.”

I sighed somehow knowing he was right, “I do not take a life easily but I can at least offer a painless death.”

The dragon turned his head back, “how can death be painless?”

I knew the dragon was not talking about the manner of dying and smiled, “I wish I had met you earlier dragon. Your questions are like my masters. Always making you look for more than one answer.”

I slowly drew my sword, “I am more sorry than you know.”

I stepped up beside his head and heard, “Human, the mage you killed was part of something called the dark council. They will come for you. Burn an offering for me from their bones.”

Quietly he lowered his head to the floor. I placed the tip of my sword at the based of his skull and reached with my mind. Holding pressure against the artery going to his brain and he was unconscious in seconds. Blocking the nerves around my entry point I slid the sword into the back of the brain where all his body functions were controlled.

Making a slice I pulled the sword away in one motion. Still keeping pressure on his artery I stepped away to avoid the convulsions of his body. As his convulsions slowed I released his artery and turned to see that the others had made their way to the bottom of the stairs. Sam and Cat both saw the tears in my eyes as I gestured for them to stop.

The web of magic that had crossed the floor was mostly gone except for the ones coming from the treasure. Moving slowly to the wall I started around the room. Like before I found that most of the spells went to where an undead guard had been, there was one exception. There was an alcove with what looked like two small dragons.

They leaped at me only to be stopped by a screen of magic. They were small, no more then 30 pounds and behaved like a dog would. I remembered a lesson my master had shown me and I was sick of killing. I stepped in front of the alcove and they came at me again. I used what my master called a command voice, “DOWN!”

The small dragons froze not sure what to do. Again I gave the command this time gesturing with my hand, “DOWN!”

This time they both dropped to the ground almost whimpering. Cynthia moved to the edge of the alcove, “they are not dragons. They are drakes and very young and afraid.”

I looked at her and broke the spell blocking the alcove. I walked slowly to the young drakes and squatted down with a grimace of pain from my wounds. I petted them on the heads and scratched under their chins which they really liked. Standing I looked at them, “come.”

I started along the wall but they did not follow. I stepped back so they could see me, “Come!”

I gestured to my side and they came out of the alcove and moved to me slowly. When they got to me I gave them each a scratch behind the ear. I started along the wall again telling them, “come.”

This time they walked along behind me, happy as could be. I found the hidden passage out at the next corner. I tripped the switch and saw several undead guards crumpled into dust. When I reached the bottom of the stairs several of the guards had their swords out. They were looking at the drakes.

The drakes were making a hissing, growling sound and moved in front of me as if to protect me. Smiling I knelt and laid my hands on them, “quiet, it is ok.”

I patted them and they quieted down until Cat and Sam started forward. Both drakes faced them hissing. (Man were they quick) I put my hands on them, “No.”

They both dropped to the floor whining. I crouched down wincing and placed my hand on their heads. (Whatever Artimas had done was wearing off) Looking at the girls, “one at a time, come forward slowly.”

Sam slowly made her way to me and knelt. Reaching out slowly as they watched her hand she started petting one. I showed her where to scratch and the drake was hers, acting as if it was in heaven. Cat moved up to me on the other side and started petting and scratching the other drake. When William took a step they turned quickly and hissed at him.

The girls just reassured them and they quieted as the rest of the party made its way past. I stood and almost fell from dizziness. Shaking my head to clear it, “Legate, there is an exit tunnel in the corner. The undead inside the opening looked to have died with the spell the other day. I think I will call it a day before I fall on my face.”

He shook his head as he gestured at the drakes who hissed back at him quietly, “I do not know how you made it this far with all that blood leaking out of you. What are you going to do with these things?”

I smiled and looked down at the drakes, “give them a home I guess.”

The Legate shook his head again and gestured for me to go, “you are a softy, did you know that? I will send your share of this treasure once we have done an accounting.”