again.
'And now, My vassals, the best of all,' Iuz said softly with a leering smile. 'The Hierarchs so misread what I was doing that their number brought the turd-head of death, their miserable master, to foil Me. The Reaper reaped naught but something unsatisfactory, for he and the Hierarchs who bussed his bony bum at every step are gone — vanished from the skin of Oerth. With them went an army of the Hierarchs' finest soldiers and bestial servants, a host of great strength.
'Where? Well might you wonder. They are all slain, these lesser ones. They fertilize the good weeds and feed the distended bellies of the scavengers for a hundred miles.
'There is no power of good, not one, nor any being of any menace to us there,' Iuz said reassuringly as he saw the concerned expressions on the faces of his loyal henchmen. 'Of that I am most certain, so let your minds be at rest.' He said this without allowing any hint of his lack of other knowledge to color his reassurance. Iuz was annoyed at being unable to determine exactly what had happened, but the opportunity was there nonetheless, and he had seized it with an iron grip.
'The Horned Society is sorely wounded, and We shall deliver the coup de grace to them as a by-stroke of Our grander scheme. No interference from Hades will be forthcoming.'
The four departed thereafter, and Iuz sat in his chair envisioning his empire to come.
Chapter 18
'Droll.'
'Droll?'
'As amusing as a kitten,' affirmed the Master Cat.
At that, Cord's companions burst into laughter, for his expression was pained at the indignity of the analogy. At the sound of his friends' hilarity, the young adventurer assumed a haughty expression and turned away, ostensibly to admire the pair of massive spotted lions that purred beside the padded armchair in which the Catlord sat.
Gellor came to Gord's rescue. 'Then it was not you who brought us here?'
'Hardly, bard. It is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. Make the best of it — as I am doing. You'll manage,' their host drawled. This brought more, if somewhat uneasy, laughter from the others. 'Contemplating the course of events, I might hazard an opinion,' the velvet-garbed fellow added.
'We would be grateful for your counsel, sir,' Gellor said in a way which indicated that master was not being asked to instruct pupil.
'As you wish,' said the Master Cat with a knowing smile. 'Gord simply botched the spell. He mispronounced the key sounds, as it were, reversing them. His inclusion of me, the incantation of my name, wrought the final stage of the dweomer. Instead of whisking Nerull and his bestial steed off to Hades, young Gord here managed to bring you ail with him here — to my secret domain! Most droll! You related that your comrade… Incosee?… had been made panicksome by the aura of these daemonkin. He was beyond the power of the spell. As to the other… Lizard, I believe you named him… well, the dead are not subject to such magic.'
Gord flushed in embarrassment. 'I meant to call certain powers to our aid. How could I manage to get it so wrong?'
'Better you here than me there!' their host said fervently. 'I have no desire to stand face to face with The Reaper — at least not without great preparation and strong allies! How you managed to bring all here is a conundrum, for this place is hid betwixt and between the Ethereal, Astral, and Prime Material Planes. There is that of the cat in you for certain, Gord. Do not, I pray, become apprentice to a spell-binder, though — else who knows what havoc you will wreak with the recondite arts!'
As the group relaxed in chuckling and banter, the Master Cat looked at them with a not unfriendly gaze. Furred humanoids with feline features and tails appeared. They served the adventurers fermented mare's milk and an assortment of snacks — slivers of fowl, balls of ground raw meat, pickled fish, smoked shellfish. The adventurers ate the food and drank the kumiss with obvious pleasure.
The Catlord arose but insisted that they continue their meal. 'There are matters I must attend to, but I request that you remain and enjoy yourselves as my guests. Such stuff as bread, vegetables, and fruits will come later — it is provender of the sort unusual to this place. When you have had your fill, simply sound this silver bell here. My servants will come and see to your needs. Rooms are prepared for each of you, and there will be those things you require to be clean and comfortable as well. Enjoy yourselves until I return,' he said and simply vanished as he stepped through a nearby doorway.
Melf pulled a long face at the style of the departure. 'That is no great trick.'
'True, Master,' said the halfling Biff, 'for I have seen you do it thanks to that — '
'Enough!' commanded the elven adventurer crossly. 'You will bore these good folk with your silly banter.' Gord and Chert had embraced heartily, pounding each other on the back and giving vent to cries of joy and welcome, when they found themselves together in their initial place of entry — a park and garden surrounded by a circular building of stone and logs and other stuff that seemed to spring from the earth and blend into the greenery that in turn surrounded and sheltered it.
They had fallen from a gray limbo, a gut-wrenching nothingness that made their teeth ache and their nerves tingle, into an idyllic verdure before the feet of a huge statue of a sabre-toothed tiger hewn from ochre-toned feldspar. As if in answer to Cord's wild thoughts of reassuring surroundings, the homely face of a gangling barbarian popped into view. The tangle of curly brown hair and the winsome grin could belong to only one individual in all the multiverse. 'Chert!' exclaimed Gord. 'What on Oerth?!'
Then the salutations and introductions had begun — only to be rudely interrupted by the appearance of a half-score of snarly-visaged jaguars (as these felines were called, they later learned) that surrounded them and kept them on edge until the sudden appearance of their master, the Catlord. Gord, previously acquainted with this august personage, was immediately recognized by this worthy, and the master called off the huge cats.
Gord, with the help of the others, explained the circumstances surrounding their sudden intrusion into the sanctum sanctorum of their startled host. At this same time, Melf, a wizard and fighter of no small skill, and his lieutenant, Biff, a clever little halfling skilled in swordsmanship as well as thievery, made the acquaintance of Gellor, Curley Greenleaf, and the redoubtable Gord of Greyhawk, a person oft mentioned by Chert during his sojourn with Melf and Biff.
Chert, already an old acquaintance of both bard and druid, needed no introduction. In fact, both Gellor and the half-elven druid-ranger had been regaled with many accounts of the adventures of Gord and his hulking companion, so both were well aware of the comradery that existed between the two young adventurers.
'Lizard is not here,' Melf said in consternation.
'I saw him fall, gashed terribly by the monster who served The Reaper,' the halfling had volunteered in reply.
'What of Incosee?' Gord had said, looking inquiringly from the one-eyed bard to the rotund druid.
'Fled in spell-induced panic,' recalled the bald half-elf, shaking his head sadly, 'when last I saw him.'
'Six of us then,' said Chert slowly. 'Three of us, and three of you, Gord,' he explained, meaning that his friend's group equalled theirs. 'This amounts to a most unwholesome number. Still, I think it bodes well, not ill, for us all!'
Then had the Master Cat brought them into his abode and seen to their needs. Now they were well fed, tired, and had naught but comfort and a good night's rest before them. Without further ado, the half-dozen newly met adventurers went to their own chambers to sleep the sleep of the justly fatigued.
Sometime later — hours? days? The time was uncertain here — Gord awakened, completely refreshed and feeling ready for anything. A feline person of indeterminate gender was standing beside the soft couch upon which he had slept for… how long? Who could tell in such a timeless place as this?
'Greetings, man called Gord,' the cat-creature said, showing a mouthful of sharp fangs as it smiled. 'There is a pool which hairless ones such as you and your friends will enjoy bathing in. Thereafter, a repast awaits you in the Court of Dappled Sunlight and Pleasant Stretching. Please follow me, and I will show you the way.'
Gord complied happily, not even bothering to slip on the loose linen garment tossed across the foot of his
