impossible to see her fingers in this darkness.
What magic was afoot in this place… wherever it was?
Lochivan’s treacherous form faded into a cloaked figure whose face was half-buried in the confines of a deep hood.
“Gerrod?” She was more ready to believe it was just another trick. Gerrod was across the seas to the east.
“It is me, Sharissa. Master Zeree came to me, suspecting that I could follow you where he could not.” The warlock spread his hands in a gesture of embarrassment. “I went astray for a time, but I’ve found you at last.”
“Gerrod!” She hugged him tight, so pleased to see someone with a link to home. The hooded Tezerenee stood with his arms open, uncertain as to whether to return the hug or not.
All is well now. Friends are together at last, came the voice.
Her initial euphoria died as Sharissa recalled the present. She stepped back and looked up into Gerrod’s countenance. “Where are we? What is this place?”
“As near as I can tell, we are deep below the mountain my late and unlamented brother Rendel called Kivan Grath.”
“Then the dragonlord and his people are above us!” Faunon blurted out.
They will not come here. I have seen to that.
“Who is this, Sharissa?” the warlock asked, indicating the elf. She could sense a growing tension between the two and feared that it was she who was the root of it. Never before had she suspected Gerrod of such jealousy, but it was evident in his words and his stance. How long had he loved her? She cared for him, yes, but… did she care for Faunon more?
“This is Faunon. An elf. A prisoner of your father.”
“This is a Tezerenee?” Faunon searched himself fruitlessly for a weapon. Someone, likely their unseen savior, had released him from his bonds. Seeming to recall this, the elf steadied himself in a manner of someone summoning up the will to cast a major spell.
She quickly intervened, for it appeared Gerrod was about to counter Faunon’s attack with one of his own. “No! Stop it, you two! Faunon! Gerrod despises his clan almost as much as you do!”
“Almost?” the warlock snorted.
“How does he come to be here?”
“Simple enough to tell.” Only meeting Sharissa’s eyes, Gerrod related his experiences, including his confrontation with Darkhorse’s counterpart, the Quel city, and the crystal cavern. Faunon took much of it in with skepticism, but the unseen entity, who remained silent during the actual telling, finally acknowledged the truth of it.
Even as I took you and your guards, elf, so too did I bring this one… and your lady. There was no mistaking the pride it carried.
“And what are you?” the elf demanded, turning to face where he believed the unseen being must be.
The laughter that assailed their minds was a bit too uncontrolled for Sharissa’s tastes. Yet, there was something familiar about the creature… something…
She recalled what it was. “I know you! I know what you are!”
Do you?
“I do!” She looked at Gerrod, who would understand what she was about to say. “He-it-is one of the servants of the founders, one of the guardians!”
Gerrod was skeptical. “They abandoned this plane. There was argument over whether they should obey the dictates of the Faceless Ones or even if the founders’ experiment should be continued. There was apparently one that-”
“That broke from their ranks!” Sharissa peered into the darkness, searching for something to focus on. She thought she saw two glittering specks, eyes, perhaps, but could not be certain. “You’re the outcast, the renegade!”
Faunon was about to ask what she spoke of, but her last words had struck a nerve-if it had nerves-of the being.
I am outcast and renegade because I see the future as it must be! I will not be servant to dusty memories! I will be the future!
“And lo, a god was born…” muttered the elf.
Yesss, I like that! I will be a god as they were!
It was time, Sharissa decided, to turn the conversation to another direction. The guardian was building itself up to a megalomaniacal outburst of truly godlike proportions and had to be brought down. “And what about us? Why are the three of us here? Why bother rescuing us?”
Hesitation. Then, I remember Dru Zeree. I remember his knowledge. You are his off-spring. You possess the same traits. When I sensed you among the Tezerenee, I knew that I must take you. Use you.
“He told me something of the same sort,” whispered Gerrod.
“And me?” asked Faunon, not at all sounding as if he really wanted to know.
You are here because of her, but I’m certain you will make yourself useful.
Sharissa was drawing conclusions from what had been said, but she needed more. The sorceress hoped her thoughts were sufficiently obscured, else she was playing directly into the mad guardian’s hands-not that it had any. “What about Darkhorse? Why not bring him here?”
This time she was positive she felt the entity stir in growing anxiety. He has no place here.
“But he, like Faunon, is a friend. A good friend!”
Twin coals, fully ablaze, burst forth from the darkness. They glared at the trio, the eyes of a would-be god, but Sharissa, at least, felt more like a child was trying to make a scary face at her than that she was being menaced by a fearsome being with the power to do anything it wished. How godlike was the guardian? Was it bluffing?
He has no place here. Not in my world.
“What are you going to do with us?” Gerrod wanted to know. He looked weary and disgusted with himself.
Do? Nothing! I am your friend. I am friend to you all. You will witness my experiment and the culmination of my vision. I have succeeded where the founders failed! I will bring to this world the successors they failed to create! There will be so much to do-
“And you want us to guide you!” At last Sharissa understood their place in the outcast’s vision. It had broken away from the others after countless millennia of absolute loyalty. “The Vraad manipulated their world for generations, but you, for all the time you’ve existed, have little or no experience at this! All your existence you have served the founders’ wishes!”
Faunon found this incredible. “He wants us to help him control the lands!”
You will help me… or I will let you leave.
The trio stood there for several seconds, waiting for some clarification, but the guardian was silent. Finally, her patience already thin, Sharissa took it upon herself to ask the fatal question. “What sort of threat is that? What waits for us out there?”
The eyes were joined by the vague outline of a tremendous beast-possibly a wolf. From the way it winked in and out of existence, it was obvious that the outcast was testing forms, trying to find one that pleased it. While we have talked-for longer than you think-the new kings of the land are being born.
Her eyes widened. She had thought that their conversation had been delaying the work of the guardian.
Your thoughts, Sharissa Zeree, and those of your companions, are mine as well. It chuckled again, taking amusement in their confusion and realization.
“What’s happening above?” Gerrod demanded. “What’s happening to my people?”
Concern? For them? I am merely bringing out their true nature-both here and in the splendid citadel they have built. They were worthy of rule before, but now their success is guaranteed!
While Gerrod stared without seeing, his mind on his brethren and the fate the renegade had cast for them, Sharissa sought some way to turn back what had been set in motion. “Your own kind will not permit this, guardian! The land itself, the legacy of your masters, will stir at this affront! You’ve broken the most sacred of laws set down by the founders!”
