The Hungering Flame (24 page)

Max
patted Garrett’s knee and urged his embalmed horse back onto the path and rode on in silence.

Garrett imagined the cold weight of a silver mask upon his own face beneath the shadow of his hood.

The green flame of a witchfire torch waved in the shadow of an enormous, rotten tree. Max turned his horse toward the signal, the army of the dead plodding obediently behind.

Cenick stepped out of the shadow of the tree, the torch illuminating him against the gloom of the moonlit swamp. His wore tattered robes, a leather satchel, and a worried scowl, but his eyes brightened when he saw Garrett riding behind
Max
.

“
Garrett!
”
Cenick cried, running out to meet him.

“
Cenick!
”
Garrett responded, lifting his arm to wave. Cenick’s eyes fell on Garrett’s scarred wrist.

“
Garrett, I’m sorry,
”
the tattooed necromancer said,
“
I was wrong...
”

“
We’ll deal with that injustice later,
”
Max said,
“
Let’s concentrate on the business at hand.
”

Cenick’s jaw tensed, but he nodded.
“
I’ve set Jitlowe and the others to sweep the area. They’ve found nothing.
”

“
Any sign of the dragon?
”
Max asked.

Cenick shook his head.

“
You’ve kept clear of their staging area?
”
Max said.

“
No one’s gone near it,
”
Cenick answered,
“
except the forward group.
”

Max nodded.
“
Well done,
”
he said,
“
The audience is seated. Let’s hope the play’s a good one.
”

Garrett saw two more shapes emerge from the hollow of the tree.

“
Marla!
”
Garrett said, sliding down from the saddle.

Marla smiled, still looking a bit tired. The priestess Serepheni stood beside her, a look of tense hope on her face. Serepheni carried a short bow in the shape of two serpents with tails intertwined for the grip. A quiver of green-fletched arrows hung by a baldric from her hip.

Garrett ran to them, bowing slightly to Serepheni then looking at Marla.
“
Are you all right?
”
he asked.

“
I’m fine, Garrett,
”
she said,
“
Sister Serepheni has been caring for me since I arrived. Are you all right?
”

Garrett grinned and nodded.
“
Just fine.
”

“
And Claude?
”
she asked.

Garrett’s smile faltered.
“
Claude’s fine too. He’s a really good flyer.
”

Marla sighed.
“
I was worried about you.
”

“
Nothing to it,
”
Garrett said.

“
We should go now,
”
Cenick said, extinguishing his torch,
“
This way.
”

“
Let’s see what Lord
Dandypants
has got into,
”
Max
said. He swung down from his saddle and followed Cenick through the forest with the others close behind. Cenick dropped into a crawl as he approached the top of a low hill overlooking a hollow below.

Garrett and the others did the same, though Garrett had to pause more than once to free his woolen stockings from a snag in the undergrowth.

They crouched on a ridge above the dark hollow. Tangles of dead trees choked the floor of the small valley, but Garrett made out a ring of standing stones, each taller than Uncle’s house. At the center of the ring, he saw the gray surface of a reflecting pool, too round of shape to be natural. Beyond the pool, a great black void loomed in the side of a hill, the entrance to the tunnel. Garrett thought he saw something move against the shadow, but could not be sure.

“
Oh, Max!
”
Serepheni whispered, her voice betraying her disgust,
“
What on earth are you doing now?
”

Garrett turned to see
Max
holding something the size of a
small
egg to his eye. He looked at Serepheni as though he’d been caught stealing cookies.

“
You mean this?
”
he asked, rolling the pale object between his fingers.

“
Max! Is that...
?
”

Max gave a placating smile and turned the object so that they could see it better.

Marla shuddered and looked away.

“
Well, how else am I supposed to see what he’s doing?
”
Max said.

Serepheni sighed and shook her head.

“
Well, I only took the one,
”
Max mumbled,
“
He
does
have another.
”

Garrett watched as Max raised the eyeball to his face again, turning it to gaze directly into the cloudy iris.

“
What do you see?
”
Garrett asked.

“
Lord
Dandypants
and his men are in the tunnel, nearly halfway to the city,
”
Max said,
“
I hope the Chadiri take the bait soo... ah, yes, there we go.
”

“
What?
”
Cenick asked.

Max
watched through the dead man’s eye, a pained expression on his face. At last, he gave one final wince and shook his head. He looked at them all, tossing the eyeball down the hill.

“
A brave man has fallen,
”
he said,
“
Lord
Dandypants
is no more.
”

“
They followed him in?
”
Cenick asked.

“
Seems that way,
”
Max said, getting to his feet,
“
So let us waste no more time in mourning our dear comrade. Let us avenge!
”

Cenick stood up beside him, pulling a battered metal canister from his satchel and handing it to
Max
.
“
It’s the last,
”
he said,
“
Make the most of it, Deathlord.
”

Max grinned, flipping the canister once in the air to catch it again.
“
Send in the troops,
”
he said,
“
I’ll give them a bit of cover.
”

Cenick ran back toward the waiting zombies as Max stepped to the top of the ridge and popped the lid off the canister. He raised it high above his head, lifting his voice to speak.
“
Nekraandu’Thalam, Nekraandu’Geddera, Nekraandu’Baddohl!
”

Garrett looked at Marla, but she shook her head
, the meaning of the words as much a mystery to her as him it seemed
.

A lambent green mist began to pour from the open mouth of
Max
’s canister, spilling down over his hand to the tangled brush below the ridge.

“
Baddohleh Un’Geddera! Baddohleh Nech Veddoh!
”
Max
cried, and the green fog rolled down the hill into the hollow.

Cries of alarm sounded in the valley as the magic fog grew thicker still. Garrett saw the shapes of men, moving from places of concealment in the woods beyond. Soldiers in red armor hastily formed ranks before the tunnel mouth, fanning out to surround the bleak pool. Lines of men formed moving walls of red shields and glinting steel. Then the fog swallowed them up entirely, as the pool and tunnel mouth disappeared beneath the mist. Only the standing stones stood, like ghostly shadows above the cloud.

“
Nekraandu’Thalam, Nekraandu! Nekraandu!
Gul’Nagroth!
”
Max
screamed.

Suddenly a pulse of violet light illuminated the fog at the base of the standing stones. Cries of terror and dismay arose from the Chadiri soldiers within the mist.

On either side of the ridge, the shapes of dead men moved within the fog, marching down into the hollow to meet the Chadiri at the mouth of the tunnel. As the front lines of the marching dead reached the cloud-shrouded ranks of the waiting Chadiri, the sounds of battle echoed back through the unnatural mist. A single trumpet blared five sharp notes and then the same again.

Garrett looked down the hill, sighting Cenick astride his pony, standing between the two columns of undead. Cenick
rose
up in his saddle and shouted,
“
Thralls of the blood god, hear now the voice of your fallen! They have returned to you. Will you not embrace them?
”

A blood-chilling moan went up from the undead within the mist. Another chorus of the dead answered in the woods beyond the far side of the pool, and then another, closer. Dead men shambled from the shadows of the trees beneath the tattered banners of the necromancers who led them. The moans of the dead filled the air, growing louder until Garrett wanted to clamp his hands over his ears, and would have, had he not been too ashamed to show fear in front of the others.

Ragged masses of undead soldiers in all manner of riven armor and frayed clothing lurched from the
tree line
, spilling into the cauldron of death below. Garrett was grateful that the churning green fog obscured his view of the carnage. Only shadows danced in the mist, and the screams of dying men rose to the uncaring sky.

Max turned back to the others with a wild gleam in his eye. He tossed aside the empty canister and extended his hand toward Serepheni.
“
My dear,
”
he said,
“
would you be so good as to lower the curtain on
this
grisly play
?
”

Serepheni stepped up, joining him on the ridge.
“
It would be my utmost pleasure,
”
she said, nocking an arrow to her bowstring.

Serepheni’s bow creaked as she drew it back, aiming high. She touched the string to her lips, whispering a single word, and the slender arrowhead flared with green witchfire. She loosed it, and the arrow screamed like a hawk, tracing a green arc of fire through the night sky.

Serepheni, sighed, lowering the bow to her side.

A long moment passed. Even the cries of men, fighting for their lives against the undead horde below, seemed to pause for breath. Then came a deep, ominous rumble, and the ground beneath Garrett’s feet trembled with it.

The rumble grew louder, becoming a great, groaning moan from beneath the earth. Then the sound of rocks cracking and bursting beneath an enormous weight, and finally, a massive boom sounded from somewhere beyond the mists. Roiling clouds of green fog rose from the hollow as though a giant had fallen before the tunnel mouth.

Garrett looked up to see Max and Serepheni silhouetted against the rising, luminous cloud. Max held her close and pressed his lips to hers. The serpent bow dropped from Serepheni’s hand, as she wrapped her arms around him, oblivious to the cries of men dying below.

Garrett looked at Marla. She grasped his arm tightly, her eyes sparkling. She was laughing.

“
What just happened?
”
Garrett asked, shaking his head.

“
The ghouls,
”
Marla said,
“
They were waiting for the signal to…
”

The anguished shriek of the dragon carried on the wind from somewhere far away.

“
Time to go!
”
Max cried,
“
Cenick! Order the withdrawal!
”

They raced down from the hill and fled into the night. Garrett glanced back once to see the dragon descend into the hollow, burning away the mist with its roar. Nothing remained of the tunnel but tumbled stones and a pool stained red with the blood of the men who had guarded it.