monsters, not the work of my people! It is not your work! You must fight with me against the wickedness of the Fallen Temple! We must throw it down! If you go this way, you will lose your soul! You will not be Mar, nor even human! Be on guard against this evil, and help me destroy it!'
He felt exhaustion settle over him with chains of iron. His headache, ever present in the depths of his consciousness, grew in intensity. He wiped his face with his arm and noticed that his skin stung as if he were sunburned. He'd forgotten already about the fire runes. He waved to the sergeant, who pulled a small bottle from a pouch on his belt, unsealed the stopper, and walked down the row of ragged dead, emptying the contents of the bottle on them. Smoke billowed out where the liquid touched the bodies. Moments later, the dead burst into flames that consumed rags, hair, blood, and flesh alike. The soldiers and tarok stepped back from the pyre as oily black- smoke rose over the street and into the dawn's bright light, carrying its stench across the awakening city and all within it.
Lord Garkim turned to leave. He stepped on a bit of debris brought out by his soldiers from the den of death. He looked down, then bent to pick it up.
It was the head of a broken hammer.
Garkim nodded and took it with him.
Lord Garkim was bathed and dressed in time to attend the regular midmorning councilors' meeting at the ministry building, adjacent to the palace. Word of his morning activities had preceded him. The other councilors were eager for any news he bore.
'You say that you and your men entered the house-' said the gray-bearded Lord Erling, Thorass as precise as ever.
'I went in alone,' Lord Garkim corrected. 'My men stayed outside to catch those who fled and to locate other escape routes, of which there were two. They later apprehended a man living across the street, another cultist who hid fugitives in his cellar.'
'Did you use that improved form of invisibility on yourself and your men during your approach, the spell I recommended?' Lady Hetharn leaned forward, eyes bright with interest. A rivulet of sweat trickled from the corner of her brightly painted lips and coursed down over the first of her chins.
'Let Lord Garkim finish his story,' said the Council General with a sigh. 'We can save technical questions for a bit.'
Lord Garkim cleared his throat. 'As I entered, I accidentally triggered the trap-nines on the doorframe, which admitted only other cultists. None of the group were wizards, so they somehow have access to such magic. The protective devices I had on loan from the armory shielded me from the flames, for the most part. Thereafter I was able to drive out some of the cultists and disable the others. The bodies were burned to prevent reanimation. We used a bottle of liko agnar, the liquid fire that Lady Hetharn's laboratory kindly provided for our department.' He nodded to the lady, who smiled back with unconcealed pride.
'Disable?' Lord Erling said, confused. 'You disabled them? I had thought you said you… well, that you-'
'I killed them, yes,' said Lord Garkim readily. 'However, because these cultists often animate their dead, it is as if killing them does not really kill them. I sometimes think I am merely disabling them until we can burn the bodies and truly destroy them. Then, and only then, are they dead and gone.'
The short silence was broken by a subdued Lady Hetharn. 'I am glad that your family was moved into different quarters last year, so that they were not there when… when those of the Fallen Temple-'
'Yes, and I share your relief, believe me,' Garkim said with feeling. 'I am sorry, however, that we could not save our Captain Taergen from the fate visited upon him after he was kidnapped.
My men and I will see to his proper burial tomorrow with full honors in the Field of Heroes. You are all, of course, invited to attend.'
The other lords at the table nodded assent. Some swallowed and looked ill. Others stared in tight-lipped silence at the head of the broken hammer on the tabletop before Lord Garkim. All tried to imagine what sort of people would chop up a man and eat him for their morning meal.
Another sigh escaped from the Council General. 'Let us move along,' he said quickly. 'We have eight dead cultists, one in custody, and no leaders or clues to their plots. Lady Hetharn advises me that we cannot connect any of them to the killing of the soldier and mail-rider outside Eldrinpar's walls the other day-yes, Lady Hetharn?'
'That was most likely the work of aerial monsters.' Lady Hetharn spoke quickly and knowl-edgeably, back in her element. 'There were no tracks beyond the immediate area, and the prints and claw marks we found suggest that giant eagles or griffons were the cause. They must have been attracted by the scent of the horses. We still need to perform certain divinations to-'
'Lord Garkim.' The voice out of thin air killed all conversation on the spot.
'Yes, Your Majesty,' said Lord Garkim, sitting back in his chair. He forced himself to relax, or at least to appear so.
'Go into the Vault of the Stone Arch, and prepare to greet those who arrive there. Bring them to the palace and ensure their comfort.'
'Yes, Your Majesty,' said Lord Garkim crisply. After a pause to make sure there were no other commands, he pushed back his chair and got to his feet. 'My ladies and lords,' he said to the others, bowing swiftly, then left the Chamber of Councilors, striding down the corridor for the stairs.
He shrugged as he went. The gods only knew who he was supposed to meet at the vault. The mage-king never explained himself, and it was useless to try to read his mind; his thoughts could not be read by anyone. No doubt this was a byproduct of his long use of the bloodforge. Lord Garkim frowned as he descended the steps to the main hall of the ministry building. The people at the vault were doubtless just another 'official complaints' delegation from the Free Cities or Edenvale. But why did he have to greet them? Garkim reflected. What was it that the emperor had actually said about this trip? Go into the Vault of the Stone Arch, and Garkim stumbled on the stairs, nearly falling in his shock. He saw the truth: Go into the vault, the mage-king had said! No visitor could get into that building without proper authorization, which meant the visitors were… they had to be…
Near panic, Lord Garkim ran down the remaining steps, then raced for the great hall's doors leading out to the bright morning street. The visitors were coming through the Stone Arch. The gate to Undermountain was opening!
Garkim ran outside, shouting for the startled grooms by the royal stables next to the ministry. A saddled horse was brought for him in just half a minute, though Garkim cursed every second of the delay. He snatched the reins, vaulted into the saddle, and with a shout was off at a gallop. Pedestrians scattered from his path as he bolted through the crowd, urging his mount toward his destination.
The gate in the Stone Arch had not been activated in decades. The visitors were coming from that buried horror of horrors, Undermountain, far to the northwest. Doegan had known little contact with the old lands of the north, but the howling depths of Undermountain, the cavern of horrors, were legendary everywhere.
Still, the mage-king had asked Lord Garkim to greet the visitors and ensure their comfort, which implied they would be friendly. As he rode for the vault, Lord Garkim sincerely hoped this was the case. Anyone coming from Undermountain would be a formidable opponent. To let such a being roam the city freely would be worse than allowing a thousand serpents into one's bed.
Chapter Two
A light breeze from the sea stirred the fronds of the palm trees lining the streets outside the high-domed vault of the Stone Arch. The four guards at the top of the Vault's granite steps came to attention when they saw a sweating Lord Garkim jump from his horse, leaving it untethered in the street, and race up the steps toward them. The guard sergeant stepped forward uncertainly to challenge him.
'The password is zal tran kor mokV Garkim barked, hurrying past the larger man. 'Guard the entry!'
The guards backed off, looking at one another in astonishment. The guard sergeant shouted for two of their fellows down the street to join them, and they took up positions of greater alertness, their weapons drawn and readied for an unknown foe.
