'Will they follow me?' she asked and looked past him at the hateful troops of juju zombies. Though their bodies were dead, Tazi could see an evil light in their eyes. They shifted in place but made no sounds. Tazi almost wished they would groan just so she would know where they were when she turned her back on them.
'Do you take this on, lady? The choice is, as always, yours to make,' the lich said and glided in front of her. Tazi saw the dwarf raise his axe questioningly.
Tazi looked from the lich to the dwarf and finally to the troops. Another quake shook the building, and she could hear inhuman growls from deep below them. She knew the hell that was loose was her doing, and Tazi shut her eyes solemnly. There was no other choice to be made.
'Yes,' she replied and looked the lich straight in the eye. 'I will.'
'Good,' he answered and seized her by her left shoulder. Tazi felt energy course through her like lightning, and she was joined to the lich. She screamed in pain and shut her eyes tight; all the while, the lich's bony fingers burned into her skin. Her head lolled back, and Tazi felt a strange power course its way through her veins. When he finally released her, Tazi stumbled a bit backward and blinked hard. Her shoulder ached where the necromancer had touched her, and when she was able to focus her vision, she saw a strange mark located there, no bigger than a gold piece where the lich's fingers had been. The burn resembled two hands, one skeletal and one human, gripping each other. She looked at him in wonder.
'They will answer to you now, Thazienne Uskev-ren,' he told her, and Tazi was startled to hear Szass Tam address her by her given name. She briefly wondered what else he now knew about her and what, if anything, she might know about him after their intimate exchange. Save that for another time, she told herself.
Tazi surveyed the number of zombies and remembered the scene from above. 'More,' she told Szass Tam. 'We need more than this.'
'Come,' he told her and Tazi saw he now smiled at her. He floated back along the platform to another passageway and motioned for the others to follow.
'How many tunnels honeycomb this place?' growled the duergar questioningly.
'More than you could discover in several lifetimes,' the necromancer answered. 'And even if you had the time, you would never find what you seek.'
Tazi was certain that Szass Tarn now knew about Justikar's brother through her.
I'm sorry, she thought to the dwarf but got no response.
Farther down they went, all the while the screams and calls grew louder. A violent shudder gripped the building, and Tazi slammed into the wall and tumbled down some of the stairs, the dwarf right after her. Lauzoril struggled with the unconscious Azhir in his arms, and Nevron and Aznar clung to each other. Only Szass Tarn remained upright since he floated above the melee.
The corridor spiraled farther down, and Tazi braced her hands against the narrow walls to keep herself from tumbling again as the quakes continued with hardly a break between them. Tazi seriously wondered if the structure was going to be able to take much more abuse before it collapsed and buried them all. However, a few twists and turns later, they found themselves in another chamber. Not nearly as large as the one that housed the zombie forces, it was still of an impressive size. Tazi swallowed hard when she saw that it sheltered flocks of darkenbeasts. The creatures squawked and pushed against each other, snapping at one another's eyes. Standing as tall as the dwarf, the monsters had wingspans nearly twice that. Their bodies mostly resembled a bat's form, though a reptilian head perched atop their curved necks. Their skin was stretched tight across their skeletal frames, and Tazi could see their bones glowing through. Some were green while others were an odd shade of purple. They had razor sharp claws, and they scratched at the stone floor incessantly. Created by fell magic, the creatures could only survive as they were in the darkness. If sunlight struck them, they turned back into their original, untainted form, be it field mouse or rabbit, and died.
'And how can I control them?' Tazi asked and was afraid that she and Szass Tarn might have to bond again.
'These creatures are a bit simpler to manage. They respond best to mental rather than verbal orders. Pictures in their minds work best. I think you would be best served if you used your pet in this case,' he told her.
'My pet?' Tazi asked.
The lich nodded toward the duergar. Tazi realized that the necromancer was aware of Justikar's mental abilities. Whether he knew that from his brief communion with her, or if he could simply sense the duergar's telepathic abilities, she wasn't sure. And it didn't matter. Tazi turned to Justikar and sat on her haunches before him. Another tremor shook the structure, and the darkenbeasts screeched and cawed at each other even more frantically.
'I can't ask this of you, but I will. Would you do this, Justikar?' Tazi asked the dwarf. 'Would you lead these creatures into a battle we will probably lose for no other reason than to save people you don't even know?'
'With odds like that, how could I refuse, human?' he sniped.
'I mean it,' she said, all joking aside. 'Will you?'
The duergar regarded her with his river rock eyes. 'I never joke,' he replied. Tazi gripped him on the shoulders but restrained herself from embracing him any further.
'Out of my way,' he said gruffly and brushed her hands aside. He stepped past her and the lich and faced the hordes of darkenbeasts solemnly. Tazi's skin crawled as she recollected what it was like to face the monsters in battle. She had no idea what the dwarf felt at that moment.
Tazi watched as he sheathed his axe and raised his hands out toward the screaming creatures as though he were pronouncing a benediction. His eyes widened, and Tazi could almost feel the tug of his mind. She saw that some of the creatures shrieked in apparent protest. Some flapped their wings in anger, while others just ignored the duergar. She could hear Justikar mutter foul oaths under his breath. It seemed to no avail, though, and Tazi thought he had failed. But, after what seemed to be an eternity, the crowd of birdlike things began to quiet down and calm themselves. Amazed, Tazi saw them fold their wings against their thin bodies and focus their small, black eyes at Justikar. Sweat rolled off of the dwarf, and he slowly lowered his hands. Tazi caught a glimpse of them trembling.
'I think we understand each other,' he announced to the silent group, after collecting himself.
Tazi faced the lich again. 'What else have you got hidden here?' she demanded.
'There is one more place to go. Follow me,' he told her.
'Stay here,' Tazi said to the dwarf. 'I can see a gate down there. Does that lead to the mountainside?' she asked Szass Tarn. He nodded and Tazi turned back to the dwarf. 'Wait with them until the last rays of the sun have faded,' she instructed him.
'Then what?' Justikar asked her tiredly.
'Then kill everything in your path.'
'I can do that,' he replied with an evil grin.
Tazi followed Szass Tarn and the others to one last set of barracks within the Citadel. The room resembled a laboratory more than anything else, with shelves of jars and potions and a large vat off to one side. Large, armored humanoids milled about inside. Their stooped posture and pig faces marked them as ores. And these, like the ones Tazi saw with Naglatha on their journey to the Thaymount, had mottled skin the color of dried blood.
The tremors had set the beasts on edge, and they were quarreling with themselves. Unlike the zombies, though, their armor was in the best of condition, and Tazi could also see a wall that held an array of fine weapons behind them. The ores grunted and paced about, itching for something to crush, their yellow eyes flashing.
'These were to be a gift for Azhir Kren,' the lich explained. 'She has been anxious for some time to invade Rashemen, and I would not allow it. I thought if she had a set of new troops to train, it might keep her occupied for a while.
'They've been imprinted to recognize her,' he continued and glanced at Lauzoril's unconscious burden. 'Sadly, I fear she is in no condition to lead them now.'
'What can we do so that they will follow me?' Tazi asked. 'Unless, of course, one of you would like that honor on the field of battle?' The other Red Wizards remained silent. Bits of the ceiling tumbled down, emphasizing how little time they had left.
'What can you do to make them follow me?' Tazi asked Szass Tarn, knowing it would have to be her.
'That is the tricky part. Aside from Azhir Kren, the only other they would follow would be a leader of their own kind.'
