Darkness Weaves (28 page)

"Don't count Efrel out just because you don't see her," warned Kane. "That witch is sure to have a few deadly tricks left to her yet. Dolt forget we're attacking her in her own lair."

"Well, the Scylredi can't help her on land," said Imel with considerable relief.

"That's true." Kane scratched his beard in thought. This night would settle the fate of too many opposing ambitions. Perhaps his own, as well. He grinned ruthlessly and drew his sword.

"Let's get started," Kane ordered.

"Your time grows short!" hissed Efrel, drawing a final detail to the pair of complicated pentagrams on the stone floor. Weak from terror and the foul drugs she had been forced to swallow, M'Cori lay moaning within one of the complex figures. In the other Efrel had positioned herself, along with several articles she would need for her final incantations.

Efrel was haggard from lack of sleep, but her deranged mind drove her on to the completion of her grand design--pausing only to take meals and snatches of rest. The spell of transmigration was complicated and difficult in the extreme. Many of the components had to be prepared explicitly for the spell, and often many pages of incantations had to be read over a single phase. Two full days had gone to the preparation of an ordinary-looking paste that had to be used to form a tiny, but essential, figure within the twin pentagrams.

Now the last preparation was complete. Sealing her pentagram, Efrel moved to the center and fastened a chain to her ankle. "When you awake to find yourself in my body, I wouldn't want you to wander about and hurt yourself," she told M'Cori solicitously. "After all, it will take you quite a while to get used to walking on only one leg."

Efrel paused a moment to savour the despairing sobs of her captive; then she took up her grimoire and began the final incantations.

To M'Cori's drug-clouded mind, the abominable incantation went on forever. An eerie chill stole over her body--a numbness that invaded every fiber of her being. Waves of nausea racked her, broken by searing blasts of intolerable pain. An all pervasive lethargy made even breathing an unendurable effort. Slowly she felt her soul being sucked down into a whirlpool of darkness, her physical self drifting farther and farther away from consciousness...

The guards at the city gate still thought nothing amiss when a gang of fellow soldiers staggered up to them and demanded in drunken tones to be let out. Then suddenly knives flashed, and the Pellinite guards died without an outcry. Quickly the gates were opened, and Kane slipped through--followed by silent files of his soldiers.

"All right, here we split off and head for Dan-Legeh from different routes," he ordered. "Each group captain remember: Keep together, move fast, and try to raise as little hell as possible. Tell people anything, and try to avoid fighting until you reach, the fortress. This has to be finished before the Pellinites can suspect anything. Good luck!"
Kane tersely whispered final instructions to Imel and Lages, then strode away with Arbas at the head of his own band.

The march through the streets was largely uneventful, and only a few occasions necessitated swordplay. But as Kane's men converged on Dan-Legeh, the populace knew something was astir--and the wise ones bolted their doors and prepared to mind their own business.

At Dan-Legeh, the guards had been alerted by the sight of a small army advancing through the streets toward the citadel. The fortress's basalt walls were bristling with men and weapons hastily summoned in the middle of the night. Even so, discipline had been lax following the great victory, and a good percentage of the man were still out celebrating. The reduced garrison looked nervously down upon the encircling soldiers. An attack on Dan-Legeh at this moment was absurd to contemplate--thus only a skeleton force had grudgingly remained to man the stronghold.

"What's going on out there?" demanded the captain of the guard from time to time. Only silence answered him. Lies could do nothing but verify their suspicions.

Finally Kane judged his men were in position-and shouted a challenge. "This is General Kane! I've uncovered a full-scale plot by Oxfors Alremas to seize control of the army! I've come to arrest the conspirators! As your general, I'm ordering you to surrender Dan-Legeh to my men! If you don't, I'll pull it down on your heads!"

The captain was not buying any. "Treason, is it! We owe allegiance to Pellin, not to a devil of a pirate mercenary!"

"Open fire!" yelled Kane, and a volley of arrows shot from his soldiers' ranks, raking the parapets. Their fire was answered, and the battle for Dan-Legeh began. The Pellinites were short of men and unprepared, but they had the security of a formidable fortress. Kane knew it was going to be a bloody struggle, and that it must be quickly concluded.

Using anything for shelter, Kane's soldiers kept up a deadly fire at the defenders. Arrows and spears fell in an invisible hail of death, and the night air was filled with shouts and cries of pain. Curious citizens came to investigate--and quickly fled, or were cut down by those in the rear. Alarm of the combat immediately spread to the soldiers encamped beyond the city walls--but those who were loyal to Pellin found the gates of the city held by Kane's men. Then, as word of Kane's coup d'étàt circulated, they were instantly set upon by factions loyal to Kane. Fighting erupted throughout the city.

A moat surrounded the fortress, crossed at the main gate by a drawbridge. Improvised bridges of wagons and other loose material allowed men to cross to the walls, advancing beneath interlocked shields and crude mandate. Covered by punishing fire from Kane's archers, they finally succeeded in climbing to the top of the wall, although initial casualties were spectacular. But the Pellinite guard had no reserve to replace its fallen, while Kane's force outnumbered them heavily. A death blow was struck when some of Kane's men atop the wall succeeded in overturning a vat of boiling pitch onto the soldiers who rushed to repel them. By the time the Pellinites struggled over the flaming pile of dead, Kane's soldiers occupied a section of the battlement.

A foothold was established. Then more and more men were swarming up the ropes and ladders, forcing back the desperate defenders of the gate. It was a vicious fight, but finally Kane's men reached the controls of the drawbridge and dropped it. The main gate swung open. At the head of his soldiers, Kane led the howling band into the fortress itself.
The pain passed, then the sickness. Even the cosmic blackness at last began to fade into grey.

Light.

One eye opened. Images took shape. Images subtly distorted from their familiar patterns.

Two eyes opened. Emotion shook their unaccustomed focus. Tears blurred the shapes that leaped from the gloom.

Hesitant fingers softly caressed the smooth lines of her face.

A laugh of ghoulish triumph echoed from lips that had never formed such tones before.

Efrel was admiring her new body in incredulous delight when Oxfors Alremas came dashing into the chamber. He gaped at the uncanny scene before him in astonishment.

"Hello, Alremas," smiled Efrel, and posed provocatively. "How do you like me now?"

Alremas gasped in stunned disbelief and stared at the blond beauty who spoke to him with Efrel's inflections. He was unutterably shocked, even though Efrel had hinted to him of her intended revenge. His mouth opened foolishly for a moment, before he found speech.

"Efrel! By Lato--have you really done it! Have you indeed transferred your spirit into M'Cori's body?" Efrel laughed prettily. "Shall I prove it, then? On the night of my sixteenth birthday, I met you in the gardens as you had begged me to do, and you suggested that we move back from the path to talk..."

Alremas stood stunned as she finished the anecdote. None other had ever known of his attempted seduction that had proven the reverse once they entered the shadows.

"Now take that silver dagger from the stand, and open this pentagram," she ordered. The tone and inflection were Efrel, although the voice was M'Cori. "There's keys there too for these chains. Hurry up! I want to feel what it is to walk about again."

Collecting himself, Alremas rushed to comply, explaining in agitated tones: "You've got to come immediately! The fortress is under attack! Kane has risen against yow! He's at the gate this moment with hundreds of men behind him. I understand the devil has even brought Lages with him. Things look bad for us!"

Efrel's beautiful face was demonic in rage. "Hurry with these chains, you fool! I should never have let him live after he killed Maril! Another general could have finished with Lages and his pathetic remnant of the Imperial army. Curse his thrice-damned soul! Kane shall pay for this treachery as no man has ever I'll prepare a reception for Kane that he wasn't expecting!"

The last chain fell loose. Howling imprecations, Efrel ran up the stairs from the chamber--not even pausing to cover her nakedness.

Behind her in the silent chamber, M'Cori slowly regained consciousness. She opened her single eye, gazed at her body--and screamed.

With the entrance to Dan-Legeh secured, Kane's forces quickly overran the guards along the wall and passed into the sprawling citadel. Inside, soldiers were boiling up like bees from an invaded hive. The Pellinites fought hard, but Kane had the strength of numbers. Foot by bloody foot, he and his men gained ground.

His right arm was nearly healed--thanks to his preternatural recuperative powers--and Kane was able to use it sparingly. A long dagger in his right fist, sword in his left, Kane fought like a madman. Faces rose and fell about him as he steadily hewed his way through the stubborn Pellinite resistance. Behind him, his men kept up the relentless pressure.

With M'Cori primarily in his thoughts, Lages soon separated from Kane in the spreading melee. With a band of his own men, he pushed his way through the maze-like corridors of Dan-Legeh, searching for his beloved. Doubt tortured him, as Lagos had no certainty that M'Cori still lived--or whether she would want to live if he did rescue her. Perhaps she had been murdered at the inception of the attack.

Lages and his men, encountered fewer and fewer soldiers as they followed through the winding hallways, getting ever farther from the canted battle as they descended to the lower levels. Leaving the fight to Kane, Lages pressed on, intending to search the fortress dungeons for M'Cori. If be was too late...

Then he saw her. In the darkened passageway beyond, naked and terror-stricken, running toward him, her blond hair flowing past her white body.

"M'Cori!" he cried, crushing her trembling body against him. "Thank all the gods that I've found you safe! What have they done to you! Kane said that Efrel was going to..."

Efrel buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed. "Kane! Don't speak that accursed name to me! I've only now escaped from his private chambers. Oh, Lages--it was terrible! That first night he came in and forced me to do his will! I fought but he was always too strong. He'd beat me until I couldn't take any more pain--I had to surrender to his depraved lusts. I begged him not to..."

The hallway swan before Lages in a crimson haze. "Kane told me you were imprisoned by Efrel," he began in a strange voice. "I joined forces with him to rescue you and to kill the witch."

"Oh, I know! Kane boasted tome of his plans before he left for Thovnos. Lages, Efrel was never behind this conspiracy! She died months ago on Thovnos. This has all been a plot by Kane. He found some mutilated beggar-woman to pretend to be Efrel, and used that deception to form the nucleus for the rebellion he has secretly led all along. Now the Pellinites have begun to suspect his ruse, and they've started a move to get rid of Kane. Kane had to destroy them before that could happen. So Kane tricked you into helping him solidify his phantom rule."

Her face twisted in terror. Hysterical tears choked her words. "Oh, darling, now he'll kill you, and take me again to... No! Kill me now! Please! I couldn't endure his lusts far another night!"

Lages felt a roaring in his brain. He fought to, speak coherently. "Hide in the lower chambers. I'll come for you when this is over. There's no need to fear Kane any more. I'll bring you that treacherous devil's heart!" Lages turned and ran down the hall--babbling of treachery, ordering his men to spread the word to attack Kane's followers.

Efrel doubled up with laughter.

The first group Lages came upon was led by Imel, who with a few score men was searching the lower levels for Pellinite survivors.

"Treachery! Kill the lying bastards!" shouted Lages. "We've been betrayed!"

After only a moment's hesitation, Lages's men turned on the rebels. The passageway flamed into a seething, deadly brawl.

"What the hell!" Imel yelled, and pulled his blade up just in time to miss being spitted by Lages's rush. "I've found out the truth of your schemes!" snarled Lages, slashing wildly. "Did Kane take me for a fool?"

"You've gone mad!" rejoined Imel, retreating in confusion.

The halls erupted into a chaos of struggling soldiers. The Imperial soldiers were in the majority, and the rebels were falling fast. Only the cry of "Treachery!" was understood in the confusion but it was enough to detonate the barely restrained antipathy between the Imperials and the rebels.

Imel realized his plight and fought with renewed vigor. But Lages fenced with blood-mad rage behind his blade, and his powerful strokes were numbing Imel's arm, slashing apart his buckler. The renegade felt panic gibber through his brain. Frantically he sought to defend himself but against a better and stronger swordsman. He was the only rebel left standing now. Bitterly Imel remembered Arbas's long-ago warning and cursed the day he had become involved with Kane.

His defense was faltering, and. he knew it. A sudden blow glanced off Imel's sword and struck him across the ribs. Imel gasped in pain and dropped his guard. With a powerful stroke, Lagos clove in Imel's skull.

"There's one traitor down!" he roared. "Now where's the blackest of them all?"

The Imperial soldiers raced through the labyrinthine hallways, picking up support as they went. Throughout the citadel, soldiers who had just fought side by side suddenly turned on one another. Constant suspicion and smouldering enmity exploded in a violent reaction.