The Kingdoms of Evil (27 page)

"Wheel stones out." The Paladin commanded, and both of the other Betweeners did as instructed.

"Hold it out—no, by the stone, not the chord," whispered Levanick.

Phinneas stood with his arms crossed, silent.

Three hands holding three ring-shaped stones stood reflected in the lizard-man's black eyes.
It hissed.

"Naobel," murmured the Paladin.

A deep triple boom washed over the clearing.
Light flared, faded, steadied, and the lizard-man flinched back as if burned.
The shaggor on its back erupted in queasy squirming motion, like a nest of furred worms.

"
sssss
-Top that
ss
."

The Paladin squinted. "Creature, answer my question.
Whom dost thou serve?"

The lizard-man hissed and stuck out its tongue.
It was long and purple-black in the light of the amulets.

"Answer me," said the Paladin, "I command thee in Naobel's name."
At the sound of the name of the god, the Paladin's amulet flared brighter, and the lizard-man pressed back against the tree, shaggy tentacles flopping down loose from its scaly body.
Its
hiss changed pitch, became a squeal of pain.

When the lizard-man looked back up, one of its eyes was no longer black.
White showed around the iris and pupil, the eye now noticeably smaller than its partner.
The muscles on the side of its face nearest the Paladin bunched weirdly, scales flaked off its skin.

"
Hurts
" it gasped. "
Why?
Kill you…"
A tooth fell from its mouth.

"Gibberish," whispered Kendrick.
What was happening to the creature?

The Paladin held up the pitiless amulet.
"Whom servst thou, monster? Naobel."

Shudders wracked the lizard-man's body.
Fur and slime sloughed off the dangling tentacles of the shaggor.
"Sservve…
hurts.
Liar!"

"Yes?" The Paladin's eyes flicked to Phinneas, standing outside the pool of brightness.
"And servst thou the Death, or the Fear?
The Blood?"

The lizard-man spit out another rotting tooth.
"Nots them.
Agh…pain." It looked up at the Paladin, its new, bizarrely human right eye blazing with hatred. "Liar.
Kill---"

"Naobel!"

The monster screamed.

"It serves not the king of the evil." the Paladin called to the
Professor-Colonel
.
"But…I have not heard tell of this so-called Liar fore now."

The
Professor-Colonel
narrowed his eyes as the lizard-man squealed in pain and outrage.

"Maybe he's some new wendigo leader?" offered Levanick. "That sort often gather lesser monsters in around themselves."

"Most likely," the Paladin agreed, "I shall finish the job, now,
Professor-Colonel
Phinneas."

"Wait." Phinneas said, scowling and striding forward.
"Lizard-man, do you know of any creatures in this area who serve the Blood?"

"Liar!" Screeched the lizard-man, "kill you!"

"You shall not," the Paladin raised his amulet higher.

"Wait, strike you, Paladin" said Phinneas, "What about the Death?"

"Kill liar…
you…
liar." The lizard-man was no longer capable of supporting its own weight. It lolled against its restraints, legs kicking, spitting blood and more pointed teeth.

"Naobel." Another wash of light, another scream of agony.

"Wait until it answers!"
Phinneas stood over the shuddering creature on the ground. "Are there any camps of those loyal only to the Skull Throne?"

The lizard-man opened its mouth, but the Paladin was already speaking, "be done, monster!
Thy life is ended.
May Naobel remove thy curse from thee!"

The lizard-man had opened its mouth to speak, but no words came out.
There was a terrible ringing in the air, and a terrible light.
Then the monster was writhing against the tree, squalling amid a nest of befouled tentacles.
Kendrick stared in sick fascination as the tentacles of the shaggor deliquesced into foul slime, then as the bones of the lizard-man seemed to twist under its skin, the skull warping as if deformed by enormous external pressure.
The creatures squealed in anguish as the blessing of Naobel ripped them apart.

"Stop this!" Phinneas's voice rose over the clangor of the blessing as his hand slapped the amulet from the Paladin's fingers.

Darkness swept over them as the Paladin spun, "Corruption and Darkness, Phinneas, how darest thou strike at my hands with thine?"

"How dare
you
disobey an order," Phinneas's voice undercut the Paladin's bellow.
"Whatever the struck-out hell you think you're playing at, Paladin, it ends now.
"

"It was none of your affair."

"What?" Phinneas purpled.
"You say that to me-" he took a breath, visibly wrestling with his temper.
" Emeritus-Professor Paladin, I see the conditions that pertain here have still not become clear to you." He stood straighter, hand resting on the butt of his pistol. "There are not two hierarchies here;
there is
one
.
And
I
, not you, am at the top of it.
So if I give you an order, you obey it.
If I order you to justify your actions, you striking-well justify them.
Do I make myself clear?"

The Paladin's brows lowered, and his mouth opened as if to shout something angry in response.
But then his eyes darted to Levanick, and closed his mouth on whatever he had been about to say.
He nodded, then continued in a soft voice.
"I finished the interrogation."

Kendrick saw Levanick take a small step sideways.

"How?" said Phinneas, "By torturing it to death?"

The Paladin spat. "It is not dead."

In the darkness, the lizard-man mewed wordlessly.
Kendrick stared at it.
One of its eyes had burst, but the other was now small and round, with a white like a human's.
Its face, too, seemed more man-like than before, if horribly bruised and broken.
Was that a nose developing over the slitted nostrils? And what had the Paladin said? Remove the curse? Kendrick's fingers itched to try the Blessing on the thing again.

"But can it answer my question, Paladin?" Phinneas was shouting,
"No, it can't!
Burning libraries, what the struck-out hell is your game, Paladin?"

"Naught,
Professor-Colonel
.
I am fighting this war."

There was a sound from the lizard-man like a bag of water busting.
Levanick took another step sideways.

"No, you are not, you are preventing
me
from fighting it."

"Preventing
thee?
" The Paladin's voice rose again to a roar, "What knowest thou of the battle between Good and Evil?
What knowest thou of the Covenant?

Phinneas sighed, "Thank you, Emeritus-Professor Paladin."
His own voice had cooled, as if he and the Paladin sat on opposite sides of a balance.
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain the current situation.
Levanick, if you move one
inch
from that spot, you will be court-martialed and hauled before a military tribunal.
A
rationalist
tribunal. Is that clear?" Levanick stopped edging sideways.

The lizard-man had begun to whine, a monstrous, maddening sound that made Kendrick wish he could stab his thumb into its remaining eye.
"This is not your war." Phinneas went on,
"This is
our
war, the Rationalists' war.
And while
your
war has gone on for centuries,
we
plan to end ours," Kendrick saw his smile in the darkness under the trees, "by this time next year."

"Now," Phinneas said, "Levanick, Private-Instructor Fairheart, you will go back to your tents.
I will deal with you later.
And you, Paladin, will come back to the camp with me.
Right after I clean up your mess."

"Test me not, Rationalist." The Paladin's voice had dropped as well, but where Phinneas's voice was icy, the Paladin's was steam—hot, pressurized, ready to explode.
"I am a font of the light of Naobel.
I
am protector of this realm."

"Under whose authority?" Phinneas sneered,
"We are not operating under Naobel's law here, but Rationalist Union law, and if you are in violation of that law, I
am
authorized to remove you."

"Authorized, thou may be, but art thou able?" growled the Paladin. "Think you,
Professor-Colonel
to pit your rune-spells against
me
?"

Phinneas looked at him for a moment, the nodded. "No." He said.

There was a heavy clank, and Phinneas's arm came up. "This is a pistol."

Kendrick, who knew what to expect, closed his eyes and covered his ears.
Levanick and the Paladin did not and both nearly fell to the ground as the sound of the shot broke the air in two.

Kendrick uncovered his ringing ears in time to hear the second clank.

"I have cocked the pistol again, Paladin," said
Professor-Colonel
Phinneas, "it fires multiple rounds.
Now come with me to your tent.
And if I see lights or hear bells, I will shoot you, is that clear?"

"Corrupted monster," wheezed the Paladin.

"Now move."

The Paladin did not move. "Cross me," he said, "and you will lose Between."

"You have a very high opinion of yourself," said Phinneas. "Levanick, Fairheart, you will start walking down that hill
now.
Consider this, Paladin: get in my way, and you and your supporters go from being slightly useful native guides to dangerous religious extremists.
Now start walking.
I won't ask again
.
"