Upland Outlaws Read online

  Two sorcerers-no bets on that.

  The second dwarf was an adolescent, but age had nothing to do with prowess in sorcery. He inspected Rap warily. Apparently reassured, he closed the shutters without raising a hand, while Raspnex started for the kitchen door.

  “What the Evil happened to your powers?” he demanded angrily. “Or is this some sort of trickery?”

  “No trickery, ” Rap said. “They’re long gone. I can’t pull a rabbit out of a hutch now.”

  “That’s impossible! “

  “No, but it’s a long story. Who’s the enemy?”

  “My nephew. “

  “Zinixo! ” Just what Rap had feared-but it was a great relief to know that Raspnex himself was not on Zinixo’s side. If he were, Rap would be a devoted slave already.

  “Thank the Gods I have only one!” the dwarf said sarcastically.

  In the ambience, the two of them were face to face. In the slower mundane world, Rap’s companions had barely registered his sudden silence, and Raspnex was trudging across the kitchen, closely followed by his young companion. They wore the drab, shabby work clothes that dwarves preferred, and they were both wet with melted snow.

  So even a warlock dared not use sorcery in the open now? God of Horrors!

  “I thought I had nailed that blackguard into a box he d never get out of!”

  Rap said bitterly. He had used every scrap of his enormous demigod’s power when he sealed his enemy in an occult shielding. How had the former warlock escaped?

  “Thank Bright Water, ” Raspnex growled. He paused to scan the house. “Name of Evil, this place is a labyrinth, isn’t it? ” Approving images of mine tunnels … “She gave him Kraza. “

  Kraza? The name was familiar. Raspnex threw up a brief image of a female dwarf, quite pretty by dwarvish standards, and then Rap remembered. The wardens had sent her as their emissary, the third time they had begged him to take Zinixo’s place on the Red Throne.

  Raspnex had located the correct staircase. He scowled at its ramshackle condition and chose to levitate up it, perhaps not trusting its treads to withstand his great boots.

  His young companion grinned and followed suit. He jangled the ambience less than Raspnex did, which meant he was intrinsically more powerful. His occult image was more solid, too, which was usually a good indication of occult potency.

  And that was the key to the whole mystery! That was how Zinixo had escaped from his cocoon to threaten the world … Rap’s mundane companions were all regarding him with apprehension. As far as they were concerned, he had been leaning against the fireplace and staring glassily at the floor for the last couple of minutes.

  “Stand back from the doorway, Centurion,” he said. “Don’t go for your sword. It will do no good. “

  Hardgraa reached for the hilt automatically, then reluctantly released it. He stepped a pace sideways.

  “Cousin!” Shandie said, jumping to his feet. “Rap? What’s wrong?”

  Even as Rap named the visitor, the warlock hurled the door open and stamped into the room. “You’re a fool, imp!” he growled,. glaring across at the imperor.

  Fury flickered over Shandie, but he bowed respectfully. “You honor us with your presence, your Omnipotence. “

  “You can forget that rot! No more omnipotences. It’s over!”

  Dwarves were not known for tact, or delicacy of phrase. “No more wardens, no more warlocks, no more witches. Why in the name of Evil didn’t you get out of town while you had the chance?” Raspnex stalked forward to the center of the room, dominating it completely, although everyone else was much taller. “Flee, I told you! But oh, no! You had to come into this warren, on the one night in centuries when you would leave a trail through Hub that a blind toad could follow! Idiot! “

  The imperor flushed darkly in the flickering candlelight. The second dwarf followed the warlock in, slamming the door. There was a shimmer of sorcery on him, probably a loyalty spell. He was very young, with a hint of down like gray moss on his sandstone cheeks. His hair dangled in elaborate curls like iron turnings. Typical dwarf, though-his pants and boots had been patched repeatedly.

  “Tell us why you came, Sorcerer,” Shandie said coolly. “I’ll be buried if I know!” Raspnex pointed at Rap. “Well, I suppose I came to appeal to him, but I see now that I wasted my time. I’d hoped he could help, but he can’t. “

  “Who’s your companion?” Rap asked.

  “Grimrix. He’s a votary. Don’t laugh at his hairstyle or he may turn you into a woolly caterpillar. “

  The youngster scowled; blue fire flickered ominously in the ambience.

  “Steady!” the older dwarf snapped. “Well, imp,” he said aloud. “So you didn’t listen to me! Who outside this room knows where you are?”

  “No one,” the imperor said, “except Legate Ugoatho.”

  “Who’s he?”

  “Head of the Praetorian Guard.”

  Raspnex snorted. “They’ll have gotten him already, then. One of the first they’d go for. In fact, it’s amazing they’re not here yet.”

  “The legate is utterly loyal!” Shandie protested. The warlock showed his big teeth. “Not anymore.”

  “Tell them the problem,” Rap said sadly.

  “You tell them. I already tried, and seems they don’t heed me.”

  “I’ll have to be quick, though.” Time was precious, Rap realized. Whether or not Zinixo had brought in his main occult strength yet, if he had perverted the head of the Praetorian Guard, then a thousand men might be on their way already. Four carriages stood outside in the snow, there were tracks. “The problem is Zinixo. I’m sure you remember him. “

  “Former warlock of the west. “

  “Right. He tried to destroy me, and I won …” Then Rap recalled something else, and looked to Raspnex. “A year ago a God told me that this mess was all my fault. That must be because I didn’t kill Zinixo when I had the chance, and the excuse.”

  “You did worse than that,” Raspnex said grimly. “Much worse. But carry on. Can you explain to these mundanes what you did to my nephew?”

  As he described how he had rendered the sorcerer impotent by enveloping him in a magic-proof shielding, Rap wondered what error could possibly have been worse than sparing Zinixo, that vindictive, lecherous, sadistic …

  “So what happened?” the imperor demanded.

  Raspnex shrugged his bull shoulders. “Oh, he went totally insane. He’d always been unstable, even as a kid. He’d always been suspicious and timid, and the greater his power grew, the more timorous he became. You believe that, imp?”

  “I’ve met people like that,” Shandie said. “They think the world is out to get them. “

  A lot of dwarves thought that way-both Raspnex and Grimrix were notably jumpy now-but Zinixo had carried distrust to the point of obsession.

  “So he can’t use his magic,” the imperor said, frowning. “Why is he dangerous?”

  “Because of Bright Water,” Rap said. “She couldn’t break my spell, either, but she must have taken pity on him. She gave him a sorcerer.”

  “Gave him?”

  Raspnex snorted and snapped his fingers. Young Grimrix stepped forward obediently at the summons, but occult fire flickered faintly again. “Sir?”

  “Tell them how you feel about me, sonny.”

  The boy blushed and looked down at his boots. “I love you. “

  “There! See? He’s a votary. I’ve laid a loyalty spell on him. He’ll do anything to help me.” Raspnex glanced at the kid, showing his pebble teeth again. “He’d die for me! Actually, his power’s greater than mine. It took three of us to hobble himme and two of my other votaries. Now do you understand?” The mundanes were radiating horror and fright as they realized the possibilities.

  Raspnex thumped a massive hand on Grimrix’s shoulder. “Go and scout. See if anything’s happening outside.”

  The boy nodded and transported himself down to the front door. He opened it, peered out cautiously, the
n vanished from Rap’s ken.

  It was all so confoundedly obvious now! Zinixo had collected at least a dozen votaries in his brief tenure in the Red Palace. Because he saw danger everywhere, he had also made it his business to identify as many of the other wardens’ votaries as he could. With a sorceress eager to do his bidding, all he had needed to do was set Kraza on the weakest. Then the two of them would have sought out another and jointly imprinted that one. Not just votaries-they must have hunted down every sorcerer they could. And so on … Rap explained to the audience.

  “He’s been at it for almost twenty years,” Raspnex added. “He’s got an army of them now, all loyal to the death. We call it the Covin.”

  Shandie sank down again on the arm of his wife’s chair. His face was taut. “Why did nobody stop him?”

  “Because nobody knew!” the dwarf rumbled in his sepulchral voice. “Except maybe Bright Water, and she was too crazy to care. I think he was extra careful with her brood, anywayhe made his compulsion secondary to hers, to take effect after she died. So she didn’t mind. Now he’s cornered all of the sorcery in Pandemia!”

  The crowded room fell silent as the mundanes struggled to comprehend the disaster. Sagorn sat down again, also, muttering and shaking his head.

  “So although he has no real sorcery of his own,” Shandie said, “he controls an army of sorcerers? How many?”

  “Scores, maybe hundreds. All eager to help. And the little snit may have his own sorcery back too now, if the Covin’s been able to break Rap’s spell. “

  “Surely it was the wardens’ duty to prevent such an abomination? “

  “It was, but they didn’t know it was happening until Bright Water died. ” Raspnex’s eyes were hard as flint. “They brought me in as the new North in the hope I could stop him, because I knew him and how he thinks. But it was too late. “

  The imperor looked around the group, but no one had any comments. “What does he want?”

  The dwarf snorted. “Everything! I told you-the greater his power, the more fearful he is! He knew he’d become a threat to the Four, so he feared the Four, because they were the only power that could threaten him. That’s how he thinks.”

  “That was why you came to the Rotunda today?”

  Thunder rumbled in the ambience. “Of course it was! Why are you so stupid? We expected him to strike when we answered your summons at the enthronement, so he could swat all four of us at the same time. Probably he’d have blasted us as he blasted Ag-an, years ago. Grunth and I got the jump on him. We made you imperor, sonny, but it isn’t going to do you any good. “

  Shandie frowned. “And why destroy the thrones? Zinixo did that?”

  “No! I did!”

  “The four thrones were occult,” Rap said. This conversation was a stupid waste of time! Nevertheless, the imperor had a right to know, and Rap himself had no idea what was going to happen next. If Zinixo’s Covin had already infested the city, then the situation was as close to hopeless as he could imagine. “They were portals into the wardens’ palaces. He could have forced entry through them.”

  “I thought you didn’t know all this?” the imperor said.

  “I didn’t, earlier. Partly I’m working it out as I go along, from what Raspnex told me as he came in-you weren’t privy to that conversation, is all. He hasn’t used sorcery on me yet, although he could. And you’ll have to take our word on that. You can’t trust anyone now, your Majesty. Once Zinixo’s votaries pin a man down, he’s theirs. As Raspnex says, Legate Ugoatho would be a logical first choice. He’ll serve Zinixo from now on, to the death. They all will.”

  “To what purpose?” Shandie demanded grimly.

  Rap shrugged. “He’s mad, he sees danger everywhere. The imperor is powerful, so he must be loyal to Zinixo-everyone must, who has any sort of power at all. He’d make everyone in the world love him, if he could. “

  “Where are the Four?”

  Rap looked to Raspnex. “Good question!”

  “Gone,” the dwarf said. “Most of their votaries have been stolen from them. Lith’rian panicked first and fled to IIrane. Olybino was next. He’s just vanished. Can you imagine what Zinixo will do to those two when he gets his hands on them? No, you can’t possibly imagine. Even I can’t. But it will be long and nasty-that I do know. ” He pulled a face. “And I’m not on his friendship list either. “

  “And Grunth?”

  The dwarf shrugged, rolling his eyes.

  “So Zinixo will imprint me with a loyalty spell?” Shandie demanded, glaring.

  “Slow, isn’t he?” the warlock said, in an aside to Rap. “Of course. It will be easier than proclaiming himself imperor. The Impire is just too big for him to ensorcel everyone, and a dwarf imperor would not be acceptable-he would always be frightened of revolution, see? But you will reign for his benefit. You will serve him loyally to the end of your days.” He jabbed a finger like a crowbar toward the child asleep in Eshiala’s lap. “And so will she, and her children after her! You know how long sorcerers live.”

  “No!” Shandie bellowed. “I won’t have it!”

  The dwarf curled his big mouth into a sardonic smile. “And your so-beautiful wife? My nephew is oddly partial to female imps … Now don’t you wish you’d taken my advice?”

  Shandie put an arm around Eshiala. “What is your advice now?”

  Again the dwarf shrugged his barrel shoulders. “I may be able to get us out of here. May, I said. He’s so suspicious that he tends to be too cautious. He may not commit his real strength quickly enough to block me. “

  That sounded like a very leaky lifeboat to Rap. As soon as the fugitives emerged from the shielding, they would be visible in the ambience. There was no hiding place in that featureless void, no way to outrun a superior force. Only power mattered.

  “If I can escape …” Shandie said. “If we can … If you can get us out of here, what then?”

  “Retire. Hide. You can’t hope to win your impire back, you know. Just go into hiding and maybe, in a couple of centuries, your descendants can come forward and claim their inheritance.” The mundanes stared at one another in dismay, while Raspnex curled his lip contemptuously at them; but in the ambience he was scowling up at Rap with a worried expression. “The kid’s taking a long time, isn’t he?”

  “Let’s hope he’s still yours when he comes back, ” Rap said pointedly. “Zinixo’s here, in Hub?” he added aloud. “Maybe. More likely not, not yet. But he’s sent his minions. I could smell ‘em.”

  “So could I. And I’m not exactly his best friend, either, am I?”

  Raspnex chortled, a noise of ice floes in a polar storm. “Not much, you’re not! You and your kingdom. Your wife and children. I bet the little turd has dreamed of you every night for twenty years, your Majesty!”

  “Why did none of you warn me?” Rap said angrily.

  “Because we thought you knew! Because we thought you were laying low-and because we thought you could handle the matter when you got around to it!”

  “You mean you were all relying on me? Waiting on me to do something? Fools! ” Rap had always assumed that the Four knew how he had lost his paramount power years ago. Probably such an absurdity had never occurred to them, and they had been frightened to spy on a demigod. Fortunately Zinixo must have made the same error.

  “That’s obvious now, but we didn’t know that, did we?” the dwarf snarled.

  “I’m surprised he hasn’t come after me already.”

  “He didn’t know, either! But it won’t be long now. And he couldn’t try to settle with you earlier without alerting the wardens. ” The warlock’s sneer was almost an offer of sympathy by dwarvish standards.

  Rap thought of the battles in which he had defeated Zinixothe brutal one-on-one struggle when the dwarf had attacked him in the Rotunda, and then the greater battle when Rap had singlehandedly stormed the Red Palace, an avenging demigod blasting aside guards and defenses in fiery cataclysms, rending walls in pursuit of his fleeing prey. Z
inixo would have forgotten none of that, especially his own screams for mercy at the end.

  He thought also of Krasnegar, and Inos, and the children, hopelessly vulnerable. Gods!

  “Suppose he does seize the throne,” Sagorn asked hoarsely,

  “the Imperial throne, I mean, not Krasnegar-either in his own name or through a puppet-then what? “

  “He will wipe out any threat, any threat at all. Any hint of disloyalty, any loose talk.” Raspnex threw contempt at the old jotunn, but Sagom had already analyzed the logic to its absurd conclusions.

  “But it will be his Impire then, won’t it? So any threat to the Impire will be a threat to the Living God? The caliph, for example. “

  Surprised, the dwarf nodded. “Exactly. The caliph is a threat to the Impire, so the caliph will have to go. The goblins are about ready to launch their big attack-Zinixo will smash them. Of course he’ll go after Lith’rian and the elves first.”

  Sagorn snapped his teeth shut with a click. “He will rule the world,” he muttered.

  “In a year or two, yes.”

  “Is there nothing we can do to prevent this obscenity?” Count Ionfeu said. Old and frail he might be, but generations of imperial pride showed on his weathered features. Thousands of men like him had built the Impire, and he would sooner die than let it all fall into the hands of a dwarf.

  Silence fell.

  Was there nothing to be done?

  “Surely he can’t have cornered every word of power in Pandemia? ” Rap asked Raspnex privately.

  “Near enough. He has people out hunting down every sorcerer-Evil!-every adept and genius, even. If you go looking for allies, you can’t expect to collect them faster than his Covin can.”

  There was the awful truth, then! “Faerie’s the problem, isn’t it? That’s where I made my great mistake? “

  Raspnex’s shadow image bared its teeth. “That’s it!”

  The mundanes were all waiting for an answer to the count’s question. Was there an answer?

  Rap said, “There might be. It’s an Evilish long shot, but we could try, if Zinixo hasn’t beaten us to it.”

  “Dross!” the dwarf snarled, disbelieving.