was a simpler way to get what he wanted. He had never entered a Minion mind. It would prove interesting.
Summoning his powers, Einar invoked the spell allowing him to control the warrior’s consciousness. Reznik and Actinius watched with rapt curiosity.
Suddenly the warrior’s head snapped back, and his eyeballs rolled up in his head-sure signs that his mind had been overtaken. Reznik and Actinius marveled at their master’s talent. Being able to penetrate another’s mind was a rare skill.
Satisfied, Einar lowered his hand. Weak from blood loss, the other warriors could only watch.
“Now then,” Einar said, “do you know where the secret entrances to the lower regions are found?”
“Yes,” Derrick answered thickly.
“How many are there?” Einar asked.
“Seven.”
“Good,” Einar answered. “You will show us each one.”
“Yes,” the warrior answered.
Einar smiled. “There’s a good fellow,” he said. He turned to look at Actinius. “After we have gone, kill the other two any way you like.”
Actinius nodded. “With pleasure,” he answered.
“Now then,” Einar said to Derrick. “You may lead the way.”
With Einar and Reznik in tow, Derrick walked numbly from the room. Leading them back to the grand stairway, he started down. As they took their first few steps, Minion death screams rang out from the bedroom above.
Two hours later, six secret entrances had been discovered and marked. As Derrick led them toward the seventh, Einar smiled. This had been a productive day.
Derrick stopped partway down another hallway. Reaching up, he grabbed an oil lamp sconce attached to the wall and gave it a sharp tug. As the sconce angled downward, an oaken wall panel slid open. Using the craft, Einar burned a mark into the wall just below the sconce, identifying it for later use.
Like the other disguised passageways, this one’s steps led down into darkness. Suspecting that the First Mistress would have lined the stairway with radiance stones, Einar waved a hand. At once a pale green light illuminated the way. He looked past the helpless Derrick and into Reznik’s eyes.
“I’m going down,” he said. “I want you to return to the outer ward, then issue the needed orders. Have the craft tools and the Scroll of the Vagaries sent down immediately. Above all, ensure that the Recluse is protected.” Then he looked over at the helpless warrior.
“Feed him to the shrews,” he ordered. “In his current state he will give them no trouble. Be sure that no Minions remain alive, then join me in the lower regions. We are about to make history.” Without further ado, Einar disappeared into the depths.
“Come with me,” Reznik ordered Derrick. Having no choice, the officer followed along.
On reaching the outer ward, Reznik called the shrews, envelopers, Valrenkians, and consuls together. After ordering the craft tools and the Scroll of the Vagaries taken to Einar, he selected several consuls to come forward.
“You are to fly back to the Ghetto,” he said. “Tell our comrades that they may start the shipments.” Pausing for a moment, he looked at the remaining consuls and Valrenkians.
“Continue to clean the Recluse and set things right,” he said. “Once that task is done, join Einar and me in the lower regions. The important work is about to start.”
To Reznik’s delight the Valrenkians and consuls started cheering and shaking their fists in the air. He happily joined in. After today nothing could stop them.
Reznik looked at the shrews. Their numbers were so great that they filled the outer ward, spilled across the drawbridge and lake bridge, and out onto Parthalonian soil.
“As many of you as possible will hide yourselves in the lake!” he ordered. “The rest are to patrol the surrounding area. Devour any strangers who come near!”
Snarling and hissing, the shrews lumbered from the castle grounds. Walking to the drawbridge, Reznik watched as shrews by the hundreds submerged into the lake. As the surface stilled, he smiled.
Returning to the outer ward, Reznik raised his hands to the sky. He couldn’t see the envelopers, but he knew they were there.
“Cease your camouflage so that I might see you!” he shouted. At once the sky filled with envelopers, their gray, sleek skin fluttering in the wind.
“Half your numbers are to patrol the sky above the Recluse!” Reznik ordered. “The rest are to become one with the castle! Go!”
Some envelopers dutifully sailed upward, again disappearing as they took on the sky’s and clouds’ exact likenesses. The others soared toward various places on the castle’s structure. Landing flat against the walls, turrets, guard paths, and keep, they soon blended in perfectly with their surroundings and disappeared.
After ordering Derrick to remain where he was, Reznik walked across the drawbridge, then traversed the lake bridge to stand on Parthalonian soil. Looking back at the Recluse, he smiled.
It was amazing. The castle appeared just as it did before the attack. Any force trying to approach would be drawn in by its normalcy, then cut to ribbons before they realized what was happening. Even theJin’Sai ’s entire Minion army could never take this place.
As he walked back across the bridge, he saw a litter carrying consuls soar over the castle walls, then turn southward. From his perspective it looked strange in its loneliness, because the envelopers carrying it could not be seen against the sky.
On walking halfway across the drawbridge Reznik stopped and looked at Derrick. With a glassy, absent look in his eyes, the warrior stood exactly where Reznik had left him. The Valrenkian beckoned him forward. Removing a knife from his belt, he grinned wickedly into the warrior’s eyes.
“Good-bye, you winged freak,” he whispered.
With one sure stroke he cut the warrior’s throat, then pushed him into the lake. Hungry shrews rushed to the surface. Teeth flashed briefly, then the warrior disappeared beneath the waves.
Wiping the blood from his knife, Reznik headed for the inner ward. Just as he started up the foyer steps the impending storm broke, sending a cleansing shower down onto everything. Soon the castle’s interior would look as normal as its outer walls.
Whistling a happy tune, he started the walk toward the secret passageway.
CHAPTER XXIV
AS TRISTAN RODE ALONGSIDE XANTHUS, PANIC GRIPPEDhim. He could sense the Darkling, but all he could see was a muddled form, matching his forward momentum. He also sensed his horse and saddle moving under him and the reins in his hands, but there was no sound. Even their horses’ hooves were silent. The azure air was thick and heavy, like the densest cloud.
Tristan tried to speak to Xanthus. Smothered by the dense atmosphere, his words arrived only as whispers and went nowhere. Then he remembered Xanthus’ warning.
“Take care not to leave my side,”the Darkling had said.“Alone, death is inevitable.”
Trying to regain his composure, Tristan did his best to keep Shadow near the Darkling and his mount. But because the azure depths were limitless, he couldn’t gauge how far they had traveled, or how long they had been here. After a time an unseen force snatched up his reins. Shadow came to a stop. Tristan tried to call out again, but the result was the same. He peered forward into the gloom.
A golden pinprick appeared up ahead. Growing in size, it formed a pinwheel that started revolving. The sensation was dizzying. Soon it encompassed the entire area before them. With a roaring sound it suddenly imploded, taking the azure fog with it. As Tristan gazed into the distance, his jaw fell.
The forbidding landscape was something straight from a nightmare. The lifeless ground was rust-red, as was the angry sky. Lightning continually streaked across the heavens, its accompanying thunder so loud that he thought his eardrums might burst.
Grotesque mountains loomed all around. Steaming geysers sprayed boiling water high into the sky. The
