'I am at your bidding and service,' the demon mumbled.
'I cannot discern your usually wonderful diction, Balthazar,' Handar continued. 'Speak louder for my companion here.'
'I am at your bidding and service,' Balthazar boomed. 'What task will you give me so that I may have it done?'
'Know then, Balthazar,' Handar said, with a tinge of smugness in his voice, 'that below this very pinnacle several of your kindred have forced their way into the mortal world without being called here by one of my craft. Plunge downward and dispatch them to whence they came. Rend them limb from limb and distribute the essence of their being to the farthest corners of their natural realm, so that eons may pass before they coalesce again.'
Balthazar glanced groundward and stared through the rock. 'But they are indeed of my closest kindred,' he said. 'Spawned from the same clutch in which I was laid. I see they only frolic about, and about them are none of your kind to be harmed. Such action does not deserve unjust wrath from one with your mighty will, master.'
'As I have said, Balthazar,' Handar commanded, 'dispatch your obligation and whine no more about it.'
The tail twitched twice more above the tripod. Then suddenly the demon was gone. The chamber was still, with only the small flicker of flame and a hint of a foul odor to mark his presence.
'Up to the entrance,' Handar said. 'We can see how well Balthazar strives after such a long rest.'
Alodar sprang for the spiral passageway, and the wizard marched after at a more stately pace. In a moment Alodar reached the slab, which was still cantilevered from the steep sides of the pinnacle. Racing out onto it, he looked below.
The campfire flamed in a rainbow of colors. The original three sprites had grown to a swarm of lights that dove and climbed among perhaps a dozen of the smaller djinns. In the center of all towered a giant, from the distance seemingly as tall as Balthazar, hands on bony hips and head tipped back in a fiendish yell as the smaller devils danced about him.
Suddenly lightning flashed. Deafening thunder cracked through the air. As Handar reached Alodar's side, a small cloudlet formed over the blaze. A second flash struck the earth in the midst of the demons. As they scrambled away, a staccato burst of rain fell and doused the fire. In a ball of orange flame, Balthazar appeared in the middle of the smouldering rocks and branches. Without warning, he snatched up two of the small demons, one in each hand, and dashed their heads together in a spray of greenish pulp. With seeming nonchalance, he tore limb from lifeless limb and scattered them airwards to vanish in puffs of smoke and flame.
The demon confronting Balthazar roared in challenge and waved his arms in warning. A giant globule of ice suddenly appeared between his hands; with a snap of his long arms he hurled it at his opponent. Balthazar dropped the remains of his smaller brothers, turned, and caught the missile against his scaled shoulder. It burst into a thousand tiny shards and dashed to the ground, hissing into steam when it touched the still glowing embers. Before the other demon could attack again, Balthazar stomped the ground. A fissure opened at his feet. It raced across the clearing from one fighter to the other. From a small crack, it grew wider till it spanned a full six feet and caused even the pinnacle to rock as the shockwaves spread from the disturbance.
Balthazar's opponent danced to one side and then the other as the jagged crack approached, but it sped unerringly to him. With a guttural yell, he fell into the abyss that opened under his feet. Balthazar stomped the ground again; the earth closed as rapidly as it had split asunder. No trace was left of the demon, except for a few bubbles of green which oozed upwards from the crack that marked the fissure's path.
The smaller demons and imps that had watched the battle suddenly began to scatter, but Balthazar pursued each with relentless precision. He dispatched the sprites with a clap of his hands. In a few moments it was over and Balthazar streaked skywards to stand before Handar on the slab.
'It is done, Balthazar,' Handar said. 'Transport us gently below and then return whence you came.'
In a rush, Alodar felt himself scooped up in a pillow of air and hurled down to the campground with breathtaking speed. Just when he thought that the demon planned some revenge upon his master, they came to a gut-wrenching halt and stood on the firm ground.
'Use the embers,' Handar said. 'It is enough to give you passageway back.' Balthazar said not another word but moved to the glowing remains of the drenched fire and wrapped his tail about him. He stepped upon one of the coals, still red-yellow, and vanished from sight.
Alodar looked at Handar with a stunned expression on his face. The events he had just witnessed were so far removed from anything he had experienced that it was hard to believe they had happened. The raw power of Balthazar pushed his own strivings into insignificance. He felt like a small child, bewildered by the complex world of adults manipulating their surroundings in a way he could never hope to master.
'It is cold,' Handar said, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 'And I am hungry. Repair your camp, and then we will talk.'
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Possession by Design
ALODAR warmed his hands in front of the fire. The events of the past hour were slowly ebbing away. He closed his eyes, but the vision no longer came. He was free of the enchantment which had drawn him to the spire.
He shook his head and looked across the flame at Handar, who was complacently pulling the remains of the meal out of his beard with a small comb. 'Why was I drawn here?' he asked at last. 'For what purpose did you sleep in the tomb? How can demons of such great power cross unbidden into our world?'
'It all will be explained in good time and proper fashion,' Handar said, raising his hand to stop the rush of questions. 'But first I must know more of your journey. How is it that you and no other broke the seal that awakened me? And besides the demons here, how does our world fare elsewhere in interaction with them?'
Alodar frowned with impatience, then sighed when he saw Handar tilt up his chin and close his eyes to mere slits. 'I am Alodar, suitor to the queen of Procolon,' he said. 'And I am here as a result of my quest for her hand.' He paused and let his thoughts tumble back into order. 'From the dungeons of Iron Fist, to the depths of the Fumus Mountains, to the inner sanctums of the Cycloid Guild, through the enchantment of the sorcerer's eye, I have striven to aid her cause better than any other.'
'For a mere queen?' Handar asked.
'For the respect of all men, for a parade of triumph through the streets of Ambrosia, for the glory of the sagas, for a reason for existing.' Alodar flushed as the feelings flooded back through him. He breathed deeply, savoring the taste of his goal. 'But each step along the way led only to the next, the promise of some greater marvel to turn the eyes of the fair lady. Now armies from the south and west sweep into the heart of Procolon. If only I could find the means to swell the ranks of the nomads around her banner and defeat the demon-led hordes which oppose her!'
Alodar stopped and blinked. 'Balthazar,' he exclaimed. 'With his might and the others you could muster, we could rid the warriors who oppose the queen of the fiendish influence which drives them. Or more easily convince Grak and the other chieftains to join in the fair lady's cause. My quest goes onward. It was right to divert our trek southwards so that I could visit this tower. A powerful wizard is just what the fair lady needs in the struggle for her kingdom.'
Alodar halted again and looked at Handar through narrowed eyes. 'But I must admit I view the prospect with mixed feelings,' he said at last. 'My efforts before have benefited others as much as they have aided me. Vendora would look to reward the wizard who did the deed rather than the messenger who brought him.'
'Then do you wish to turn aside what aid I might offer,' Handar asked, 'and continue your petty struggle on your own?'
Alodar was silent for a moment more. He thought of the sprite with its boils and rashes, of the pleasures he was able to resist only with intense pain, of the raw power of Balthazar and the other djinns. Already he had seen and experienced too much of what demonkind could do. He nodded slowly with decision and looked Handar in the eye. 'The demons must be exorcised from our world. No matter who gets the credit.'
Handar returned Alodar's stare. He lightly touched his fingertips together in front of his chest. 'It is well that
