Into The Dark Flame (Book 4) (18 page)

   'My lord Cerb!' the lizard-soldier cried out.

   The straining giant took no notice. Simultaneously both heads roared; simultaneously both applied one last, supreme effort to be away from the other. Their came a horrible, wet, wrenching sound, followed by creaks, snaps, soft pops and dubious liquid noises. A huge bloody rent appeared at the point between the two necks where they joined the massive torso. It shot quickly down the centre of Cerb's great chest, through the midriff
and on to the crotch. The body peeled apart, its entrails tumbling free, and toppled to the ground.

   'That'll teach you!' gasped the floored first head with its dying breath. The second head furiously swivelled its purple eyes and made to reply, but all that emerged was a gurgle and a sigh. The four eyes blinked and froze, and the giant Cerb Two-Heads was no more.

   The lizard-headed soldier stood aghast. Leth, Harg and Rasgul were obliged to step quickly aside as the raft of Cerb's innards slid towards them across the floor, borne on a sudden springtide of near-black blood and steaming humors.

   Rasgul said, 'That is the angriest I have ever seen him.'

   Harg observed, 'I suppose he will not be accompanying us on our quest, then?'

   A ghastly hot stench began to pervade the air of the hall. The lizard-head cried, 'What am I to do? My master is dead! What am I to do?'

   'I suggest you gather together the rest of Lord Cerb's staff and garrison, and convey to them the tragic news,' Rasgul advised, wrinkling his nose against the stench. 'Then I suppose you had better start making new plans for the future.'

   The lizard-head looked at him stupidly, then turned and rushed from the hall. Rasgul took long strides in his wake. 'Come, I think it is time we took our leave of this place.'

SEVEN

i

   They emerged into the ward outside Cerb's donjon to find lizard-headed guards in disarray. As far as Leth could see they numbered about a dozen, though he imagined more to be within the donjon and outbuildings. Additionally he assumed a household staff of at least three members, most probably more. The guards were plainly stunned, their attitudes uniformly one of dazed passivity as the first lizard-head hurried among them, broadcasting the woesome tidings of Cerb's death.

   Leth, Harg and Rasgul remounted. With Juson and the other three Abyss warriors they rode without hurry to the second gate. First lizard-head was there, jabbering his news to the pair of guards stationed on the ramparts above the gate.

   Rasgul called to him. 'Be so good as to have the portcullis raised. We’re leaving.'

   The lizard-head, standing on the higher of two steps leading into the gatehouse, hesitated, then turned and appraised him. His expression, initially dazed, was now haughty. He put his hands upon his plump hips. 'Well, that’s not yet definite. I do not recall Lord Cerb granting you permission to proceed.'

   'He made no statement to the contrary.'

   'That is not the same thing. I am aware that he had at least half a mind to accompany you, and by that token one might say he did not intend for you to remain. But as he is now quite unable to go anywhere at all, I feel the situation calls for a review. I must regard it in the light of what has and has not occurred, rather than what might or might not have been. Most importantly, what has emphatically not occurred is Lord Cerb's giving permission for you to leave Ardbire Keep.'

   Rasgul leaned his weight upon the pommel of his saddle. 'As you have correctly pointed out, Lord Cerb is no longer in a position to make arrangements one way or the other. However, we were never at any time his prisoners; we chose to come here, and now choose to go freely on our way.'

   'But Lord Cerb did not say that you may.'

   'Nor is he likely to. He is dead!'

   'That’s irrelevant. He was alive when you arrived, and graciously gave his permission for you to enter. He was still alive when debating with you, and with himself, but he came to no final decision as to what was to be done with you. Indeed, he was quite literally in two minds as to what to do. And I say again, he did not at any time grant permission for you to continue on your way.'

   'You are an arrogant scaly upstart,' said Rasgul hotly. 'And my patience is wearing thin. Do you really presume to act in Lord Cerb's stead? By whose decree have you risen in status?'

   The lizard-head considered this. 'I am Lord Cerb's second-in-command, and chief of his staff. Now, in light of his sad demise, I consider my assumption of command to be natural and automatic.'

   Rasgul took a deep breath. 'Very well, I am prepared to acknowledge your authority in that regard. But I would ask
, do you consider us your prisoners? If so, please explain your reasons.'

   'No I don't,' said the lizard-head, clasping his hands upon his chest.

   'Then may we depart?'

   'Not at this time. The situation remains--' he began, then staggered back two steps, to bump against the door jamb. He looked down in some surprise at the stub of the crossbow-bolt protruding from the back of one hand, pinning it and the hand beneath it to his sternum. Then he sagged gasping onto the step.

   'I think that settles that,' said Count Harg, casually cocking the string of his repeating-crossbow. He looked up at the two lizard-head guards on the parapet and said, 'Be so good as to raise the portcullis, would you?'

   The lizard-heads needed no further bidding. The iron portcullis was cranked high and the seven finally rode free of Ardbire Keep.

ii

   'From here on the way is relatively smooth and trouble free, until we approach the Fortress of the Dark Flame.' said Rasgul. He stood gazing out over a broad flat plain which extended before them, disappearing into a haze before the distant Abyss wall, and to either side for as far as the eye could see.

   Leth stood less easily at his side, Count Harg next to him. 'And then?'

   'And then we will find the best way to enter the Fortress. And then you will draw free the Orbsword and together we will fight or avoid the numerous devils that are set between us and the inner sanctum where Ascaria waits. And then it will be up to you.'

   'What form do these devils take?'

   'They’re numerous, so I believe. I’m not familiar with them all. I know of cacosas and goles, and have heard tales of more.'

   'What do the tales tell you?'

   'That we we’ll be lucky to survive.'

   Evening was gathering. The cloud mantle was a lowering filthy purple-brown. Across the plain the misty red luminescence that framed the hidden Fortress of the Dark Flame was a cynosure, closer than ever before and both beckoning and forbidding. Leth's nerves were taut, an oppressive heaviness upon him. At the same time his blood had quickened at the knowledge that Galry and Jace, if they still lived, were now virtually within his sight.

   The company had been travelling for hours since departing Ardbire Keep. Ever descending. Ever drawing closer to the encounter he would have avoided at almost any price, had he been able. For it was not only a matter of slaying Ascaria and saving Galry and Jace, it was the repercussions, the ramifications that this act would have upon his own world. To kill Ascaria, whatever she was. . . . would mean that Orbelon's world could continue to evolve, but that Urch-Malmain would be free to return to Enchantment and wreak whatever mischiefs he wished upon the world. Unless Leth could find some way of preventing him, and he knew of none. Urch-Malmain was far away and safe. With Ascaria gone he would be at liberty to do as he pleased.

   Leth turned away.
Tomorrow, so much to be decided. And he could only act as he must, as any father would, to save his children from a terrible, nameless fate.  

   He made his way back to the camp-fire where Juson was preparing a supper of griddled bacon and doughbread. The three Abyss warriors were seated close by, speaking seldom, each presumably preoccupied with thoughts of what the next day would bring. After a few moments Rasgul and Harg joined them.

   As much to divert his mind as anything. Leth enquired of Rasgul, 'This morning at Ardbire Keep, what did you hope to achieve with your tales to Cerb of quests and adventures?'

   'I hoped to keep my
life, and yours too!' Rasgul half-smiled to himself, his pallid features eerily lit by the dancing orange flames of the campfire. 'Ah, Cerb Two-Heads! He always bickers and carps! Never at peace with himself! In the past I’ve exploited this. I engage elements of his personality with exploits, which are usually fantasies or at least greatly exaggerated, to the extent that he has forgotten the prospect of eating me and has accompanied me as far as and even beyond the gate. But then his other self has risen to the fore and persuaded or brow-beaten him back indoors. With grumbles and apologies he has bidden me farewell and good speed, and tramped back to his fireside broodings, leaving me to continue on my way. Cerb was always a tricky fellow to deal with, pulled this way then the other by his conflicting urges. There have been occasions when I felt my life was suspended by a thread, for he is generally hungry and loves nothing more than a bellyful of fresh meat, be it human, Abyss warrior, lizard-guard or something other.'

   'He eats his own guards?' asked Leth.

   'If his larder’s empty. They don’t mind. They deem it an honour.' Rasgul chuckled harshly. 'I’ve never seen him tear himself apart before, though! This has been an occasion to remember forever!'

   The irony of these last words was not lost on Leth, knowing what he did of the Abyss warrior's background. But he was gradually coming to revise his opinion of Rasgul. At the Tower of Glancing Memory, Leth had perceived him as a sombre, sullen fighter, a soldier, dull and obedient and little more. But in the last two days Rasgul's keen, if ruthless intelligence and quietly commanding personality had begun to reveal
itself. Given the doctoring that Urch-Malmain had performed on the Abyss warrior, Leth wondered as to the nature of Rasgul's impressions of himself. He decided to gently probe Rasgul's memory, and Count Harg's also. 'You’ve passed through Ardbire Keep many times, then. Why?'

   Rasgul shrugged. 'I came with others from the Fortress of the Dark Flame. Initially it was to do Ascaria's bidding, for I was sworn to serve her.'

  'But now you return determined to see her slain. How is that?'

   Rasgul scarcely batted an eyelid. 'I was made to see that I had gone astray, that my previous allegiance had been grossly miscast. Now I know Ascaria for the evil force she is. My goal is to see her destroyed, and all those who willingly serve her.'

   Leth took a breath. Rasgul was speaking with the conviction of a man who had experienced some form of epiphany. 'How were you made to see this?'

  
'Through the beneficences of my loving Master. He saw how I had erred, and made me see also.'

   'It’s Urch-Malmain that you refer to?'

   Rasgul gave a nod.

   Leth sat back, and let his gaze flicker over the other three Abyss warriors.
To have exchanged one form of evil for another, to be enslaved and incapable of knowing it. Here was tragedy, Leth saw, as well as something to be greatly feared. These warriors lives were lived entirely according to the wishes of Urch-Malmain, his own desires implanted in their minds. They believed they possessed free will, yet their thoughts, desires, impulses were not their own. They could never really know themselves or their potential. And their belief, almost certainly, was unassailable.

   Leth was reminded of the factions of Enchantment's Reach, with whom he, as King, had so often come into conflict. Almost all of them taught unswerving, unquestioning obedience to so-called gods, the Higher Ones of Enchantment, who they actually knew nothing of. His forebear, King Haruman, had vehemently opposed sectarian belief and the worship of deities whose existence and nature could not be proven. King Haruman had propounded the Deist Edict, banning such forms of worship, out of concern that they engendered ignorance and blind, dangerous fanaticism, hampering and even prohibiting a genuine search for knowledge, truth and wisdom. Leth had fought, sometimes at great personal cost, to uphold Haruman's cause and keep the Edict in place.

   And now he had actually encountered one of Enchantment's gods, who no doubt, in some form or other, had his followers in Enchantment's Reach. And he had discovered him to be, even in his weakened, dispossessed state, a creature of evil. A skilled and unprincipled manipulator of minds, a corruptor of souls, a being at times quite cruelly capricious, who entertained despicable goals which he intended to achieve by whatever means he deemed necessary.

  
Orbelon, do you know that Urch-Malmain resides here within you? Do you know what he will do if I allow him to escape?

   These thoughts passed through Leth's mind in a moment. He turned to Count Harg. 'And you, Harg. Do you also sing the praises of the loving and beneficent Master, Urch-Malmain?'

   Harg smiled coldly and stabbed at a piece of meat with his knife. 'I owe allegiance to none but myself.'

   'But you do Urch-Malmain's bidding.'  

   Was there just the tiniest flicker of doubt in those deep smalt eyes? Or did Harg honestly believe himself to be his own man?

   Harg shook his head.
'Inasmuch as his wishes correspond with my own, but not more. Ascaria engorges herself on our world. You, Swordbearer, are here to prevent her. And I will aid you, not out of any kind of allegiance to you, but in order that I may live on and pursue a life of brigandry, adventure and, eventually, ease.'

   'And what were you before you took to this life? Tell me of your background. How do you recall your childhood?'

   Harg's smooth brow furrowed momentarily. 'It’s always been this way. I’ve never sought anything else.'

   Leth turned his eyes to the flames. The company of these hollow creatures made him aware more than ever of what Urch-Malmain could inflict if he were allowed to return to his own world.

   'But what of you, Swordbearer?' Harg enquired archly. 'You’re here from the Godworld, come to save us, are you not?'

   'I’ll say only, as I’ve said before, that I am not what people here believe me to be.'

   'But you’ve come to save us.'

   Leth stayed silent.

   'No one but you can bear this rosy weapon, the Sword of the Orb,' Harg pressed. 'Your companion, Lakewander, affirmed that you had come after many years of petitions and summonings. You appeared suddenly, out of nowhere, so I understand.'

   'I have said
, I am not what people think. There is nothing I can add to that.'

   Harg persisted, though there was
an archness in his manner. 'Tell us of the Godworld, Swordbearer. Is it so different to our own? Are all its peoples gods like yourself?'