his fist into the sand to pop the sound free, but it would not come. For several minutes he struggled, his arms twitching and his eyes stinging with salty tears. A dull pain started to throb in the base of his neck and pulse upwards between his ears as the realization that he might not finish began to form.
In desperation Alodar flailed about and untied the pouch with the sphere from his side. He grasped the coldness and held it at eye level, hoping somehow to tap its reputed powers to aid in finishing the charm. He stared at the closed eye, but his thoughts crackled with tenseness. The strange feeling that poured over him outside of the Cycloid Guild would not come.
With a final effort he twisted his lips into the correct form and squeezed his sides. A raspy growl dribbled from his mouth and then his head seemed to explode in a flash of light, as if he had been struck by a well-aimed mace. A searing pain raced through his body. With a feeling of his skin being stripped away, he slid from consciousness.
'The queen explicitly left him in our custody,' a voice shouted angrily.
'Then you did not discharge your duty with much competence,' a second answered. 'Well, we have what we need to know, and one barbarian life more or less does not matter.''
Alodar blinked his eyes open and then quickly squeezed them shut again. He moved his head slowly to the side and felt a sudden throbbing that continued unabated for several minutes. He wrapped his arms about his stomach, but the pressure did not help, and he kept his lips firmly pressed together, trying to force back the queasiness. Kelric had been right; he had pushed too far and misspun the enchantment.
Alodar felt a gentle touch on his brow and cracked one lid open to see Aeriel bending over him. 'You have been in a swoon for over a day,' she said. 'And during the night, Basil carried out the rest of his plan.'
Alodar propped himself up on one elbow, grimacing at the pounding the motion started in his head. 'Then what did the apothecary learn?' he asked weakly. 'I think my sorcery will not be the means by which we deal with the nomads.'
'Their camp is to the north, beyond the rocky point,' Aeriel said. 'Their group is a small one; their men number no more than ours. They plunder as much as they hunt. On the morrow they will move southwards, looking for shipwrecked booty from the storm. We must either retreat before them or make the conditions of confrontation our own choosing. From the way the captive related their history, a civilized parlay is out of the question.'
'Are they the only ones with whom we can deal?' Alodar asked.
'No, there are others scattered throughout the north. The larger tribes are in the hills to the west, seeking the game that winter drives down from the higher peaks. But enough of that. Let the other suitors carry forth the queen's banner for awhile. From the looks of your face, you need more rest. I can fetch you a meal, as well.'
Alodar slowly shook his head. 'Had I succeeded, there would have been no denying my primacy,' he groaned. 'As it is, now I must strive all the harder not to loose more ground.'
'Keltic warned that it takes more than a week for a misspinning to fade,' Aeriel replied. 'Are you truly ready to contest again after a single day?'
Alodar tried to push himself to a sitting position, but his arm trembled with the effort, and he collapsed back to the ground. 'Perhaps just a little while longer to gather my strength,' he said.
'And the meal?' Aeriel asked.
Alodar clutched his stomach. 'Food I can still do without.' He looked into her face filled with concern. 'But your presence would be a comfort indeed.'
Aeriel smiled, sat down beside Alodar, and placed her hand lightly on his shoulder. Alodar managed to smile back and then turned his attention to the loud voices around the firepit.
'Sweetbalm on their prowess!' Feston said, pounding a fist into an open palm. 'We still outnumber them by one or two. If we strike at dusk, surprise will carry the day. And it is only force that these barbarians respect. They will submit to us no other way.'
'You speak with the imprecision of a neophyte,' Duncan shot back. 'Suppose we were to take their camp. What would we have when we were done? Half of our men slain and half of theirs. Our numbers would be no greater than what we have now. And we would have traded ten stout hearts for an equal number who will serve only with a sharp blade at their backs. Let us retreat south, I say, as best we can. Even if they catch up, my sphere will protect the queen from harm.'
'A fight in their camp would not be as bad as all that,' Basil said, 'if we could fell the chieftain with one of the first blows. According to our captive, his hold on the group is slight. He bullied them to rob anyone who ventured this way, regardless of the profit in it. Why, their treasure he bragged of was no more than some alchemist's rotting samples they had plundered a week ago. You look with scorn at what I have done with a barbarian. But apparently that was nothing compared to what this chieftain delights in whenever a civilized man falls into his clutches. If we can kill the leader, then the rest just might lay down their arms and follow the victors.'
'Such a blow will not be swung easily,' Grengor said quietly. 'These nomads are a suspicious lot. They would insist we drop our arms before entering camp. And if we rushed them, the leader would be in the center. We would have to hack through them all to approach him.' He stopped and rubbed his chin. 'It would take a berserker to slash through the defense?a berserker or perhaps someone like Feston's guard whom we saw on the royal barge. His own safety concerned him not. Indeed, he took more than one mortal wound without even flinching.'
'More sorcery,' Duncan sneered. 'That plan is no better than any other.' He looked at Kelric, propped up against a rock a little distance away, his arms sagging limply at his sides, and then over to Alodar, barely managing to hold his head off the ground. 'One nearly dead and the other unable to complete an enchantment. I say that the key to our dilemma somehow involves the use of my sphere and that we should not act until we discover it.'
'Then what is your proposal, Duncan?' Vendors asked. 'If we cannot gain by arms or guile, how does your magic assemble the army that I need?'
Duncan looked back at the queen and then dipped his head in silence. For a long moment, Grengor and the suitors stood shuffling their feet in the sand, saying nothing. Finally Vendora turned to two other marines standing further back. 'Bring me Kelric,' she said.
The two men fetched the sorcerer. With a hand under each arm, they brought him to stand before the queen. Vendora looked at the sagging form and spoke softly. 'Master Kelric,' she said, 'I am sorry that your loyalty to the court has brought you such distress. But with the conditions being as they are, can one final enchantment make any difference?'
'You are so tactful with your words, my fair lady,' Kelric wheezed without bothering to raise his head from his chest. 'Since my hours seem numbered and no one cares how many remain, why not one final gesture for the glory of Procolon, you say.' He nodded his head back and forth. 'There are not enough jewels in Basil's coffers to make me want to attempt it.'
A flicker of irritation crossed Vendora's face, and then she pressed her lips in thought. After a long moment, she reached forward and touched Kelric's arm. Frowning with the effort, she bent over and brushed her mouth against his cheek. 'I am not so removed from the gossip of the palace that I do not know for what reasons you ply your craft,' she said. 'We have ignored your plight since we landed, one and all, it is true. But if you perform this labor in my cause, then your nurse and comforter shall be none other than the queen of Procolon.'
Kelric raised his head and looked at Vendora through half open eyes. 'And if that comfort requires a caress or two or perhaps even a lack of haste to resmooth a gown blown above the knee by the wind?' he said.
'We shall see later what it entails. Perform for me what I require and you will be appropriately rewarded.'
'You are no different from the lowest chambermaid,' Kelric said. 'Full of vague promises that must be wrenched out of you, once the deed is done.'
Vendora drew erect and placed her hands on her hips. 'There are two important differences, sorcerer. First, I am none less than the queen. And second, even if I were not…' She left the sentence unfinished and curved her lips into a slight smile.
Kelric's eyes widened as he drank in Vendora's beauty. 'But, my fair lady,' he said, 'in refusing an enchantment before, my words have been true. With full health I would fail; now even if I desired it as nothing else, the result would be the same.'
Alodar frowned in concentration as he sensed the opportunity. The suitor that resolved the course of action would gain, relative to the others. Despite how he felt, he must enter the discussion. He ignored the weakness and
