The Melaki Chronicle (7 page)

The other wizard sighed with exasperation. “Perhaps I made a
mistake in selecting you.”

Perhaps I made a mistake in accepting.
He walked to
the door. “Are we leaving?”

The two mercenaries watched from their table, a look of
indignation on the man's face. That anyone should leave before him was
unthinkable.

Maybe he should go with Talin.

“Come, I have created a summoning.”

Melaki reached and felt the oily evil of the spiritwork.
Talin had summoned horses. If any were alive in the surrounding lands, they
would come. He could feel three responses through the connection. He followed
the wizard back to their packs and gathered them up.

The guards at the gate said nothing. One shrugged and
motioned to two others who lifted the bar and opened the heavy wooden doors.

Talin stood, chin thrust forward, eyes lidded. His packs
floated behind him.

Melaki followed him out the gate and gazed at the dark of
the forest outside the port. He saw birds, but little else. Even the birds were
quiet. He carried his packs, conserving his personal energy. The senior
imperial officer had been right; the road was just a remnant. Ferns were
already growing close in on the edges and a few trodden in the road itself
spoke of the imperial soldiers marching them down on their conquest earlier in
the year. The trees stretched overhead and in places blocked any light from the
sky above them.

“Make a light and float it ahead,” Talin said.

He formed the two patterns in his mind – the oily one and
one for a bright blue light. He could maintain those without much of a drain.
Light was easy and the oily pattern was almost an afterthought. He scanned the
trees around him and then tried something risky. Forming a simple third
pattern, he sent his awareness out a ways, searching for necromantic
vibrations.

“What are you doing?”

He let the third one collapse. “Probing for undead.”

Talin grunted. “It was rather weak.”

He sighed but said nothing. Most likely, the soldiers had
scoured the immediate surrounding areas for pockets of anything that might
threaten the port.

Talin's head wagged. “The soldiers have killed everything
nearby, assuredly.”

“I was just thinking that.”

“Of course you were.” Sarcasm dripped from his tongue.
“That's why you cast your magic, to look.”

Idiot. I did both.
Melaki realized talking only gave
Talin something with which to demonstrate his self-ascribed massive intellect
and ability. The other wizard was practiced at it, honed and polished, firing
smooth darts of sarcasm and scorn at anything for any reason – all to make
himself look better.

So he kept his mouth shut.

They passed a village on their left. It was a small clearing
with a few farms and buildings. There was an inn - the roof caved in. One of
the merchants from the First Charter was there, looking over the inn. He held a
sword, poking at things and looking over the walls. He waved to the wizards.
Only Melaki waved back.

If anything, Talin walked faster.

Someone was out the gate before you; how it must gall.

The merchant would be well-set in that spot to offer
stabling, supplies for those coming from the port, and rooms for pay. The other
prime spot would be the crossroads coming from the port where it split from
Dramlos and Kellerran. He wondered if one of the other merchants was already
headed there.

Talin was fast, but how many of the others made it out
the gate ahead of us?

A horse came trotting towards them on the remains of the
road.

“Ah, here is the first of my summons.” Talin grinned,
pleased.

He wondered if the wizard would require all three. Perhaps
he would have to do his own summoning. “Looks healthy,” he said.

“What do you know of horses?”

Melaki sighed.
Talking just gives him an excuse...

The road rose steadily, meandering in a fairly straight
line. They passed two more villages before the next horse appeared. It was a
large stallion, ears forward and nostrils flaring.

“Very nice,” said Talin. “I believe this one is mine.”

I bet you would trade it in an instant if the next one
came with flames shooting from its hooves.

But the next one was a mare, gentle-looking. It was lean and
dirty, its head lowered a little, as if wary, chased, and forgotten.

Talin sneered. “You can have that one. I will release it.
You take over the summons.”

Melaki frowned. He patterned a different form of summoning
and brought the horse to him. She was frightened and her eyes rolled
occasionally, looking about. He reached up and patted her neck, soothing her.
He rubbed her nose and jaw gently. Whispering, he calmed the animal.

“Too bad we do not have any tack,” said Talin.

Of that, he agreed. He led the horse using his summons, not
placing his packs on her back.

“By the gods, I summoned these so they could carry--”

“When I am ready.”

“Senseless fool.”

He walked while Talin clambered onto the stallion. His two
horses whinnied as he used his summons to guide them.

The mare was silent. He kept reaching up and stroking her
neck.

They approached another village as the day began to darken
towards night.

“We will shelter there,” Talin said.

Walls around them would feel more comfortable against the
undead than tent walls – or sleeping out in the open.

“Clean us up a place in that hovel and find a place to
secure the horses.”

Melaki did more than that, to much complaint from Talin.

“I asked you to clean--”

Melaki dropped his scavenged tack next to the mare. “I am
not your maid--”

“You are my aide and I require--”

“I am a wizard of the ninth ward--”

“You are nothing. You failed to pass the tenth--”

“I refused to pass the tenth--”

“Renta was right about you--”

“I care not what that hag has to say.”

“How dare you talk--”

“Shut up, Talin. I am not in the mood to play your word
games.” He sorted the tack and dropped some by the stallion and the other horse
Talin had chosen.

“Do not give me that weathered tack. Give me what you have
over there.”

“I choose from what I find, wizard,” Melaki said. His voice
grated like iron against a grindstone. “If you want better, scavenge it
yourself.”

Talin's face went hard. “You should never have been raised
in the Rukha. Your features are not Altanlean. Obviously some lesser stock of
savage. No wonder you are a failure.”

Melaki was wore out. He ignored the other wizard. He chewed
on some dried meat and a block of cheese and then drifted off to sleep.

Melaki whispered to the mare, petting her neck. He harnessed
her with the tack he had found and placed his packs on her back.

“The horse will carry you and your packs,” Talin said. “We
can just summon more when she dies.”

He sighed.

“You are not using summoning.” Talin's tone was an
accusation.

“No, I am not.”

“Your horse will run away.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Melaki took the lead and drew the horse
along behind him.

Talin pranced around on his irritated stallion and led the
other by a rein attached to his saddle.

Eventually, the mare walked beside Melaki without having to
be pulled. He patted her neck constantly and whispered to her.

“Summoning is easier.” The other wizard informed him in a
manner that implied he was stupid.

“Then I will summon if this one runs off.”

“I doubt you could--”

“Talin, have you ever met a wizard as capable as you?”

“Well, of course not.”

“Of course.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Use your superior intellect to figure it out.”

“I do not understand well the minds of savages.”

“Why not? I thought savages were simple, base creatures.”

“They are.”

“And you can not understand the simple?”

Talin went silent.

Thank all the gods in the heavens above and below and
living in the trees...

*  *  *

They met their first undead at the crossroads to Dramlos.

One of the other merchants had indeed left upon arrival at
Balis Port and rushed ahead.

The merchant was scrambling backwards in the dirt of a
stable trying to bring his sword to bear. Another merchant was swung wildly by
his arm, side to side.

Melaki heard the man's arm break.

The thing swinging the man at the other merchant was a huge
mass of blubber. Dead blubber. But this had been no man in any form of life. It
was a monstrosity of demonic summoning. Its mouth slavered, heavy jowls waxy
and quivering. Teeth gnashed and eyes blazed as if aglow from within.

“Demon,” said Talin.

“Help!” The merchant on the ground rolled away from his
companion being swung like a club. He had seen them.

“We want a share of the gems that one has,” said Talin. His
voice called in demand.

“By the gods, Talin,” said Melaki. “Help them.”

“That demon was summoned and held using necromantic--”

Melaki cut him off abruptly with the formation of the oily
pattern and then another. His horse started to panic. He slid off and finished
the patterns.

“What are you doing?” Talin demanded.

“Saving them.” He patterned a bolt of fire and hit the thing
in the side. He kept it contained to spare the swinging man from being burned.

“You will not hurt that one with fire. Every wizard knows
that.”

“Well, I did not.”

The bolt of fire did nothing to the beast, but it did cause
it to drop the man and start lumbering towards them.

“Now you have done it.”

“Why do you not help, Talin?”

“They have not acceded to my request for a share--”

“Shut up,” Melaki said.
Fire will not hurt it.
He
glanced around. The thing was fifteen paces away. He formed a pattern in his
mind.

“That will not accomplish anything.” Talin sat his horse,
looking weary of it all.

Melaki moved his hands, lifting, twirling, muttering to
himself. A beam rose from the ground and spun to point at the thing. He shoved
and firmed the pattern with all that he had. The beam sprung forward as if
loosed from a ballista. A sickening crunch of bones and ripping of flesh filled
the stableyard as the beam penetrated the chest and burst out the back of the
beast. Being long and heavy, the beam tilted the beast forward until the wood
clumped to the ground. The thing tried to move forward, but the wood spearing
it just dug into the dirt. Its large legs still tried to walk, though.

“Brilliant,” said Talin. His dry tone said he thought
otherwise.

The merchant gained his feet and charged the beast.

“This might be amusing.”

“Talin, shut up.”

The merchant swung his sword down two-handed and severed the
head of the demon. The whole thing flopped over and twitched. The merchant
looked surprised. Then he ran back to his partner who had been flung down.

Melaki trotted toward them, eyeing the still-twitching
demon.

“My thanks to you, friend,” said the merchant. “My thanks to
you.”

“I am not good with healing, but I think I can fix your
friend's arm.”

“Oh, please, good wizard. Please, my thanks to you.” The
merchant was in a panic. The shock of battle still shook his limbs.

Melaki leaned down and delved the wounds of the merchant's
partner.

“I am Relos and this is my brother Kam.”

“Melaki,” he said in response. But he was concentrating.
Kam's arm was broken at the elbow and separated at the shoulder. Other than a
few bruises, he was otherwise uninjured.

“Do not waste your time,” Talin said from his horse.

“Pay that wizard no heed, Relos,” he said to the merchant.
He formed the patterns and moved the arm, straightening it for healing. Kam
groaned, but then sighed in relief.

Relos hugged Melaki and both fell over from the suddenness
of the gratitude. “Oh, my thanks to you!”

He laughed, picking himself up. “I am glad I was here to
help you kill it.” He brushed off his robe and called his horse. “Tila, come.”

“You named your horse?” Talin said. “How primitive.”

“Please, Melaki,” Relos said. “Do not go yet. The beast came
from the cellar there in the barn. Share with us his cachement as our
gratitude.”

Melaki turned a slow eye towards Talin and watched the man's
face fall. A demon's cachement consisted of baubles and necromantic gems to
hold its form here on Earth.

Talin slid from his horse. “Yes it is indeed fortunate that
we came along when we did and that we rendered assistance.”

“Get back on your horse, Talin,” said Melaki. “You rendered
no aid.”

“Nevertheless, I am your master--”

“You are not my master. We are both wizards.”

“You are here to aid me--”

“Aid, not be your slave and not owned by you.”

Talin's chin came up.

“I did not see him render assistance...” Relos said. He
trailed off, not wanting to offend a wizard of any rank, but especially not one
of the tenth ward.

Talin scoffed. “Fine then. There will be nothing down there,
I am sure.”

Melaki nodded to Relos and toward the barn. Kam followed.

Producing a large ball of blue light, Melaki caused a burst
of laughter from Relos.

“A bit brighter than your lantern, yes?” he said to the
brothers.

“I wish we had such,” Kam said. “The thing would not have
grabbed me as he had.”

He held the light aloft and bright while the two brothers
pointed to a corner in the cellar.

In the corner was a pile of human bones. Kam shifted them
gingerly out of the way until a brass coffer was exposed. He said, “I had heard
they liked to hide their cachement under bone.”

Melaki had heard no such thing but had heard little at all
about it. Someone more informed must have told them.

Relos and Kam held the coffer and opened the lid. Inside
glittered several baubles of necromantic origin. Also inside were three gems
the size of apples. They glowed from within with an amethyst hue.

Relos glanced at Melaki. “Please, if you would. We would
like you to have one of the gems. We know their worth. You have helped us today
secure this village and we are very grateful.”

Kam was nodding, fully supportive of his brother.

“Are you certain? The both of you? I would not deprive you
of your--”

Relos chuckled, nervous, but in relief. “Friend, without you
here it would be our bones being added to this pile. Please.”

He looked at the gems and chose the smallest.

Relos pursed his lips. Melaki saw the tears of gratitude
forming that he had not selected the larger ones.

Not wanting to embarrass them, he slid the gem into his
pouch and then clapped the two brothers on the shoulders. “Be prosperous you
two, and may the gods bless you richly.”

He emerged into the greater light and released the light
pattern.

“I told you there would be nothing,” Talin said. He was
looking down his nose at Melaki.

“Yes, well, we can be on our way.” Melaki waved at Tila.
When she did not respond, he said, “Come, Tila.”

The mare's head jerked upwards and she walked slowly to him,
nudging her nose in the air. He patted her nose and stroked her neck. The mare
whickered low.

“Next you will be kissing it,” said Talin.

“I do not require a summoning hold to keep my horse.”

The wizard flicked his fingers. “It is a trivial matter--”

“Are you going to tell me how stupid I am all day while we
let others pass us or are we going to go?”

Jerking his reins, Talin moved off.

*  *  *

Melaki flung fire at a skeleton.

“No,” said Talin. “Try this, instead.”

He watched the wizard's magic. Talin was manipulating the
spirits in pushing, similar to what he did with the beam a few days ago. A
skeleton erupted in a spray of bone bits.

He grunted.

“More efficient,” Talin said.

Melaki worked his own magic using the idea and was satisfied
that he used less of himself in doing so. “Yes, it is. My thanks to you.”

They were sheltering their horses, facing out of the barn's
doorway. Several more skeletons were moving towards them.

“Something is controlling them. Something smarter than that
demon you impaled.”

“Not a necromancer, though? I am sure the imperial forces
were thorough.”

“Anyone might have hid,” Talin said. He destroyed another
skeleton. “But your guess is likely correct. This is probably something vile
left over from the necromancers. And this is what we are here for.”

They were in the village to which they had staked claim. It
was a decent-sized village – almost a town. Much of the buildings were intact,
if poorly maintained during the reign of the necromancers. There was an inn, a
tavern, several intact homes, even a forge. Several farms spread out from it.
All of the doors were broken. The imperial forces had not been too careful of
property in their search. Neither were they careful of the populace. The
charred bones piled in the central square attested to that fact.

Melaki raised an eyebrow.
What if I...
He twisted the
pattern, adding. He swung with his hands. The force moved sideways, impacting a
skeleton from the side and following through into the next one. Both erupted.

“That was an amusing trick,” Talin said. But his tone was
not complimentary.

Melaki shrugged. Those were the last two skeletons.
“Something I thought I would try. My thanks to you for the suggestion on
force.”

“It is nothing.”

“I feel like an initiate still, knowing little. They did not
teach us to explode skeletons in the Rukha.”

“Indeed. Many learn what they need to pass the tests and
then enter a life of exploration of the art. They think of ways to use what
they were taught – new ways.” Talin straightened his robe and walked out to the
bone shards.

“New ways?”

“Obviously. The Rukha only teaches the basics – makes sure
you understand the ability you have. In your case, a lifetime of study and
discovery might not be enough.”

We had been working so well together there, for a minute.
“I suppose you have no need to study?”

“Of course not.”

“You know all there is to know?”

“Of course. Studying is for students and simpletons.”
Talin's eyes lidded and his head bobbed back and forth rapidly.

Melaki rolled his eyes.
What an ass.

“We should not delay,” the wizard said. “Let us find the
thing that controlled these. There will be a gem cachement, surely.”

He followed the wizard in the direction from which the
skeletons had come. He felt Talin manipulate a detection magic – felt the flow
reach out to sense necromantic vibrations. He led them to the graveyard.

Naturally.

But the graveyard was simple and contained nothing that
stopped Talin.

“There,” Talin said. He pointed to a crypt of simple making.

But it was too small to contain... what?

The wizard unlatched the gate and stepped inside. It was
empty except for four shelves of bones and a stairway that led down. He looked
at Melaki and raised an eyebrow.

He formed up a light and sent it floating down the stairs.
The stairway was simple - rough-hewn rock placed as steps. The walls were dirt
and roots.

Talin led the way. At the bottom, he stopped. “Look there,”
He pointed.

Melaki could see that the tunnel ended in a more elaborate
door than any they had seen up above. The door was of rock, etched with symbols
and standing open. “That is different--”

“Yes, the villagers must have constructed their graveyard
over an older barrow. Interesting.”

“What would--” Melaki froze.

So did Talin. A hissing came from the open door. “Can you
make a shield?” His words were fast. He was manipulating a spirit-working.

“Yes.” He did not wait for Talin's order; he made one and
thrust it forward. He felt the drain.

“Forward,” Talin said.

Something vibrated against his shield and slithered over it
like maggots over a rotted piece of meat. Melaki fought to control the oily
pattern, the light, the shield against magic and his stomach. He wanted to
heave up his breakfast. “What in gods--”

His blue light lit a face not of this world. Something
demonic and crawling with evil. It screamed in a wordless hiss as it flung its
claws forward. His shield was battered aside on the second blow.