The Imperator sneered in vexation and something resembling mockery. 'Was,' he corrected. 'Farkarrez was a sadist.'
The wizard's bad eye seemed to twinkle with foul thoughts. 'No,' he answered with a skull-like smile. 'I mean is.'
The spellcaster's cackling laughter tore through the forest and sent a chill wafting across the winds.
Logan stared at the ground as the four horses made their way through the trees, lost in his musings. Up until that morning, he realized, he had only tolerated this world. He had been zapped here and had no say in the matter, so he had come to the conclusion that he'd travel across the land, get the Smythe's help, and leave. He had not even noticed the land's good points, especially, as Moknay had pointed out, the people. Still, Logan longed to return to his world, his way of life, his occupation, his apartment with running water and toilets.
Sparrill, he came to the conclusion, was a nice place to visit, but he didn't want to live there.
Peering at the dirt beneath his horse's hooves, Logan did not even see the Jewel in his saddlebag flare yellow and then dim.
Cyrene drew her horse up alongside Logan, and a soft hand touched his shoulder. 'Is something the matter?' she asked.
Logan blinked. 'No, no, just wrestling with my thoughts,' he answered, and could not help noticing the lovely smile Cyrene watched him with. It was odd, but the blonde was almost glad they had reached the forest. Wouldn't she ever stop hoping to run into Vaugen?
Every nerve in Logan's body exploded, and the young man was seized by a paroxysm of agony as the sensation of disharmony brutally ambushed him. Sweat splashed across his brow, and his throat constricted, denying his lungs air. Gasping, he nearly pitched off his horse, but Cyrene's soft hand steadied him. Moknay and Thromar whipped about, instantly alarmed when they saw the young man's pale face and convulsive actions.
A soft hum began to split the air, and Moknay could feel the hairs on his arm prick up as if at attention. Quizzically, the Murderer swung his head in the direction of the buzz, and his grey eyes widened. A swift glove tapped Thromar upon one arm and the fighter also spotted what Moknay had. Wonderingly looking from Logan to his friends, Cyrene caught their startled gaze and also faced northwest.
A flare of man-shaped blackness was steadily making its way toward them.
Sickness flowed throughout Logan as the overpowering feeling started to recede. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he spotted the humanoid figure of blackness stride toward them, a bizarre hum surrounding the form.
'What… What is that?' the young man forced out, drenched by perspiration.
Moknay's grim mien was grimmer than usual. 'A Black-body,' the Murderer explained, grasping his strap of daggers tightly.
Blackbody? Logan asked himself. Damn, that sounded familiar. Back on Earth a black body was something used in physics, right? Had something to do about being the perfect absorber and emitter of radiation, didn't it? Blast! Logan was no physics major… he still had trouble deciphering fractions! But he did recall something about black-body radiation and that its applications were pretty much limited. Now how in the world did a creature such as a Blackbody exist here? Was there a connection between the worlds somewhere?
The Blackbody advanced, flickering with an eerie aura of ebony light. As it neared, the hum accompanying it grew louder, and they all could feel the power vibrating through the air.
Cyrene's deep blue eyes were overspilling with horror. 'But I thought Blackbodies were cosmic,' she protested. 'What in the name of Agellic is one doing here?'
Like an empathetic leech, Logan sensed the girl's terror and felt his own fears bubbling into existence.
'Blackbodies are cosmic,' Moknay informed the blonde, 'but remember what Logan has in that saddlebag. We're carrying something that's threatening the very balance of order, and this Blackbody has probably come to find out about- last night's excitement. They are responsible for the very fundamental nature of matter and would be a little concerned if matter started to fall apart.'
Like on Earth! Logan noted, ignoring the Murderer's sarcasm. Black-body radiation was used by physicists to study the fundamental nature of matter and quantitative…? No, quantum mechanics.
The Blackbody came closer and then stopped, tilting its flaring black head in their direction. Vaguely, Logan could see two white orbs of light where its eyes should have been.
'You hold sway to the entire multiverse,' the Blackbody accused, pointing a blazing ebony finger at Logan; it shook its head. 'You should not be here.'
The young man looked at Moknay. This thing wasn't referring to the Jewel-it was talking about Logan himself!
The fury instantly flared into life inside him. 'I don't want to be here!' Logan barked at the astonishing black form. 'I am going back!'
The Blackbody took two more steps toward them. 'But already you have uncovered a portion of the Macrocosm,' it stated. 'You must not be allowed to do so again if you ever wish to return to your world. You must give me That Which Balances the Wheel.'
'Get out of our way, Blackbody,' Thromar warned. 'We are taking the Jewel to the Smythe, and we're not about to hand it over to some creature that can't control it any better than friend-Logan here!'
'Silence, inferior organism,' the Blackbody ordered. 'I am a Being of the Megacosmos and have come to warn you. Know you not that no power was released during the previous revolution of your sphere? There was an upheaval in the natural Balance of things, yet the Equilibrant was quenched before discharging its energies. This has caused much of the Balance to fragment.' The white orbs flamed. 'There must also be some Order to Chaos. I have come to drink the release that was staunched.'
At that, Moknay freed a large dagger from his belt and jerked on the handle. A second blade slid free from the first and proceeded to unfold into three separate blades on one hilt. Moknay now held four shafts of steel, and Logan saw the resemblance to the Indian knife, the katar. What the Murderer held was a combination sliding and forking katar, and it looked exceptionally dangerous in his grey-gloved hands.
The Blackbody ignored the knives and continued forward.
There was a moment of quiet as Logan scanned his companions. Moknay and Thromar both were edgy, weapons out and ready. Cyrene had drawn back, her face pale from the fear that billowed up inside her. Turning his attention to himself, Logan disregarded the wrongness that still lurked within him and pulled free his own blade. This ebony thingamajig wanted to bleed the Jewel of more energy-and they couldn't allow it to do so.
'We will not hesitate to slay you,' Moknay told the crackling form.
The Blackbody paid him no heed, its white eyes wavering as it closed in on Logan.
Roaring, Thromar rushed the creature, swinging his blood-caked sword in a powerful downward sweep. The Blackbody walked on as the fighter spilled from his mount, his weapon passing harmlessly through the flaring blackness. Logan caught the stifled gasp from Cyrene as the Blackbody approached, its eyes lusting after the Jewel at Logan's side.
'Logan,' Moknay said over his shoulder, 'perhaps you should take the Jewel and flee. I don't think our weapons will stop it.'
Perplexed, the young man looked once more at the oncoming Blackbody. At least it didn't emit radiation… he hoped.
'I think your friend is right, Matthew,' agreed Cyrene. 'There's no way to defeat a Blackbody.'
'Only because no one has ever confronted one before,' Moknay put in, grey eyes locked on the blazing beast.
Angered by his initial attempt, Thromar heaved himself off the forest floor and hacked at the glowing form. Numerous times his sword slashed through the black energy, but the creature's eyes remained riveted to Logan.
Logic beat back the anxiety and Logan felt it better to flee. So far the Blackbody did not appear to be a threat to their lives, nor did they appear to threaten its life. It was probably better to get away from the beast rather than let it walk through the trees to suck the Jewel dry.
As Logan pulled on his horse's reins, the Blackbody shrieked, sensing what the young man had decided. The energy-being lunged, stretching out fingers made up of pitch-black power. Moknay yelled a challenge, positioning himself between the creature and Logan, his katar jabbing out. Thromar let out a frightened curse as the
