kind.
The only illumination in the room came from slimy-looking phosphorescent things clinging to the walls here and there. Chandra guessed that the snakelike sorcerers had brought them here from whatever swamp they called home.
With such faint light and no windows, the room was dark, stuffy, and dank. And it stank.
The odor of damp decay, she suspected, was coming from her companions. There were seven Enervants in the room with her. One was still peering into her face; its tongue flicked in and out every few moments, as if testing Chandra’s scent. The other six, who all looked just like the first one, were gliding silently around the room in a figure eight. Their bodies were evenly spaced as they followed the pattern at a steady pace. Their paths steadily intersected without ever bumping into each other or pausing in their flow.
Chandra found it eerie. “What are they doing?”
She coughed a little as she spoke. Her throat was dry and she was dying of thirst. But she’d be damned if she’d ask for anything.
To her surprise, her captor answered her. “Gathering ssstrength.”
“Oh. Can’t they do that elsewhere?”
The Enervant didn’t answer. It just kept staring at her.
She tried another question. “Where am I? The Prelate’s dungeon?”
The snake nodded, its head moving on its muscular neck in a slow, sinewy motion.
She tried to think of what else she wanted to ask, but she was so tired. It was hard to pull her thoughts together or make the effort to speak.
Chandra tried to remember what had happened to put her in this position.
She remembered the man, Gideon, and his weapon. She had never seen anything like it, but she was reasonably certain that he had used some form white-mana based magic to subdue her. Even in her weakened state, the weapon alone could not have pulled her into unconsciousness like that.
As if the Order back on Regatha weren’t burden enough, she was in a dungeon on Kephalai because of some interfering heiromancer? But why would he be in league with these creatures? It didn’t seem right.
Chandra remembered the feel of those coldly glowing white blades wrapping around her, constricting her, and trapping the flow of her fire. Imprisoning her power within her, so that she couldn’t fight or defend herself. Or even breathe…
It surprised her that this Gideon wielded magic. She hadn’t taken him for a mage. He looked like a warrior to her. Or maybe a tracker of some kind; one with special skills for an unusual quarry.
Chandra frowned, puzzled.
In that case, where was he now? Had he given her over, or had he abandoned his prey to superior forces?
Admittedly, Chandra hadn’t been at her best just then, but Gideon’s strength was impressive. Given that he was powerful, as well as quick with his hands, surely he didn’t have to back down in the face of a few soldiers?
Perhaps he had decided he couldn’t take on the soldiers and the gargoyles at the same time.
As Chandra watched the Enervants silently gliding through their pattern over and over in the dark dungeon, she realized that if Gideon had been ordered to kill her, then letting the Prelate’s men have her might accomplish his goal.
But she wasn’t sure he would leave such a thing to chance.
Chandra tugged against her chains, testing their strength as well as her own, and started thinking about how to get out of there.
She reached out with her senses, hoping to tap into the flow of mana. Even though she could feel its presence, she was having trouble concentrating enough to establish a solid bond.
What was wrong with her?
The Enervant who was guarding her suddenly hissed and turned its head away from her, which was something of a relief. She didn’t enjoy being the object of its unwavering, beady-eyed stare. Its attention was focused on the narrow metal door across the room. Chandra looked that way, too, wondering what had drawn its interest.
A moment later, the hinges whined a little as the door opened.
“Oh, goody,” Chandra said. “Visitors.”
Two of the Prelate’s soldiers entered, accompanied by another who she assumed was a telepath. Based on her physical appearance, Chandra assumed the woman belonged to the same order as the two mages who had died in the Sanctum of Stars earlier that day. Or had it been the day before? Come to think of it, Chandra had no idea how long she had been chained unconscious in this room, although the stiffness in her limbs suggested it had been a while.
The Enervants didn’t look up at the newcomers, didn’t even pause in their perambulations. They just kept moving back and forth silently, tracing their figure eight on the floor, over and over and over.
“Just watching them makes me tired,” Chandra said as the mage, moving around the snake-headed wizards, approached her.
“No,” said the woman. “It is not the watching. It is what you are watching.”
“That is not a very encouraging start to this conversation,” Chandra muttered.
“We are not here to encourage. Quite the opposite, really.”
Chandra eyed her.
“They are Enervants.” The mage nodded toward the six individuals moving steadily in their pattern. “This is their work.”
“Yes, I’ve been told. They’re gathering sssstrength,” said Chandra imitating her captor. “I don’t see why they have to gather it here, though.”
The woman nodded. “They are gathering your strength.”
“I thought they were having a little snake dance in my honor.” Chandra scowled.
But Chandra understood. This was dark magic. These strange creatures were sapping her strength. She could feel the direct assault on her energy now that she knew about it.
And they were effective. Considering how exhausted she felt, she suspected they could quickly turn an ordinary mage into a useless husk.
Chandra glared at the telepath. “Your friends tried to read me, and they died for their efforts. Quit while you’re ahead.”
“I can be patient,” the woman said coldly. “You may still be strong enough to resist now. You may even be strong enough to resist on my next visit. But you’re much weaker now than you were yesterday, and tomorrow you will be weaker still. And when you are weak enough, we will succeed. You will not be able to conceal it from me then. I will find out what you did with the scroll.”
“The scroll? That’s what you want? I don’t…” Cold surprise washed through Chandra.
The scroll.
“I don’t know where it is,” Chandra said, baffled by how they couldn’t know this.
“You seem convinced of that, yes. But there are many corners in the mind, many places for things to hide,” said the telepath, her clear blue eyes radiating in the dark of the room. “You didn’t succeed in killing everyone who was in the Sanctum of Stars, you know. Four soldiers survived. They saw you flee into the city streets with the scroll.”
“Uh-huh.” She wouldn’t let herself think about what had happened. Truth be told, she was too tired to think about it, anyway.
“If you want the scroll back,” Chandra said, “why not talk to the man who got it back last time?”
“The Prelate says he’s gone.” It was obvious the woman was only answering because she was curious to see what Chandra’s reaction would be.
“Gone where?”
“I do not question the Prelate.”
“No, of course not,” said Chandra, using the same tone of voice the telepath had used moments before.
“Where is the scroll?” the mage demanded, realizing she was being mocked.
“Why does it matter so much to you?”
