Masters of Fantasy Part 15

You will recall that I was particularly sensitive to the evil magic of the Void. I dare not write more in this note, for fear it will be waylaid. I live in the town of Cunac, about twenty miles north. I beg you to come with all possible haste.

Your friend, Revered Brother Ulien.

Alise frowned. "How could he possibly have known it was you? Hundreds of miles from our homeland.

I don't like this." She handed the missive back.

"Bah!" said Shadamehr with a grin. He tucked the note in his boot and beckoned the barkeep. "Our tab, please. We are leaving your fair city. Of course, Ulien would know it was me, Alise," he added, giving his mustache a twirl. "Everyone for a twenty-mile radius must be talking of the handsome and generous stranger, by now. And his lovely red-haired companion," he included teasingly.

He paid the bill, throwing in enough extra to cause the barkeep to sing his praises for days, and left the bar with Alise.

She snorted. "Your ego will be the death of you, Shadamehr."

"Nonsense, my dear," Shadamehr said, a.s.sisting her to mount her horse. "I will cheat death for the simple reason that all the wonderful things people say about me are true. Which is why you adore me."

He whistled to his own black steed, a horse of a vicious temperament who so terrified the stable boys that they would not come close to him. The horse whinnied in delight at the sight of his master and draped his head over Shadamehr's shoulder, almost purring with pleasure when Shadamehr rubbed the horse's muzzle.

"I don't adore you. I don't even like you," Alise said coldly. "I don't know why I put up with you. You will get me killed someday. Get yourself killed, too, in some hare-brained scheme to set the world right when it doesn't want to go right."

Shadamehr leaned over, kissed her on the cheek before she could push him away. Then he was off at a

gallop, exhibiting his riding skills to the admiring populace, who took off their hats to wave good-bye.

"I should turn around now and go back home." Alise muttered as she kicked her horse in the flanks. She was forced to ride hard and fast to catch up.

Twilight had fallen by the time the two arrived in Cunac, a small town located near the border of the human kingdoms of Karnu and Dunkarga. Once a united kingdom, the two had split apart in a civil war two hundred years earlier. As much as humans of Karnu and Dunkarga hated all those of other races in the world of Loerem, they hated each other more. The town of Cunac was notable for only one thing-it was the site of a large military outpost, built to deter the Dunkargans from crossing the border.

Strangers were not normally welcomed into Karnuan towns, but Shadamehr, with his glib tongue and his charming manner, was never a stranger anywhere long. The guard who had begun by brusquely refusing them admittance ended by embracing Shadamehr with tears in his eyes. He gave them directions to the Revered Brother's dwelling and added an invitation to come drinking in the tavern when the guard was off-duty.

"What did you tell that man?" Alise demanded. She did not speak Karna. "I thought he was going to

throw us out on our ears. What was all that hugging and kissing?"

"A Karnuan tradition when family members meet," Shadamehr said solemnly. "He is my second cousin once removed on my mother's side."

Alise stared at him. "I don't believe you!"

"Ah, but it's true, nonetheless. Someday I will explain. Let us make haste, before Revered Brother Ulien retires."

They secured rooms in the only inn in Cunac and stabled their horses. This done, they left in search of

Shadamehr's childhood friend.

Brother Ulien's dwelling was a small house attached to the local temple. The brother was awake and very glad to see them.

"I would have known you anywhere, my lord," said Ulien, regarding his friend with pleasure.

"And I you," said Shadamehr with such heartiness that Alise knew he was lying.

"I could have walked past him in the street and never known it," he confided to her when Ulien had left

to bring them food and water. "He used to be a tall, good-looking youth with curly black hair. Now he is

gaunt and haggard and gone completely gray."

"He's probably saying the same thing about you," Alise said teasingly. "Especially the part about the gray."

"I am not!" Shadamehr protested. He drew forth the long black tail of hair that fell down his back and studied it by candlelight. "Am I?" His search for gray hairs was interrupted by the return of their host, who told them of his concerns over dinner.

"About a week ago, I first noticed the presence of Void magic." Ulien spoke in hushed tones, his red- rimmed eyes glancing furtively at the window as if he feared they might be overheard. "The feeling was overwhelming. I've known nothing like it. It was as if a black and noxious cloud had settled over the town. I cannot draw breath. I feel as if I am being smothered."

In truth, he gasped for breath constantly. His thin body jerked and twitched nervously at every sound.

"And you say that two strangers arrived in town at the same time?" Shadamehr asked.

"One of them a dwarf, my lord. A Fire Mage," said Ulien.

Shadamehr frowned. "I have never known a dwarf to have dealings with the Void."

Ulien gave him a sad glance, as if pitying such naivete. "He is one of the Unhorsed, almost certainly,

most likely cast out of his clan for some terrible crime. He might well be a follower of the Void."

"Possibly," said Shadamehr, but he appeared unconvinced. "And the other?"

"A newly appointed commander of the fortress. Since Karnu is a military state," he added for Alise's

benefit, "the military commander is also the leading government agent in Cunac. He is an ordinary enough fellow, not especially bright, but he carries a most remarkable sword. The hilt is set with black and red jewels, as is the scabbard. Such a valuable sword might be worn by the Emperor of Vinnengael.

What is a captain in the Karnuan army doing with it?"

"Is it tainted with Void magic?" Alise asked with interest.

"I do not know for certain, Revered Sister," Ulien answered with a shiver. "I have not been able to get close enough to find out."

"If so-and I must say that it sounds very much like a Void artifact-this would explain the sensation

you are feeling," Alise said.

Ulien shook his head. "I am sorry to have to disagree with you, Sister, but I have been around powerful Void artifacts before and I experienced nothing like this. I have been physically ill over it. I am

frightened all the time. I cannot eat. I cannot sleep." He held out his hands. The long fingers trembled and shook. "You see how it is?"

"Then what do you think is causing this, Ulien?" Shadamehr demanded.

"I think . . ." Ulien paused, then said in a whisper, "I think we are dealing with a . . . with a vrykyl."

Ulien waited tensely for their reaction. Alise looked at Shadamehr, who hid his smile by smoothing his

mustache. Ulien gave a great sigh and closed his eyes.

"I feared you would laugh at me, my lord!" he said, almost weeping.

"No, no," Shadamehr said, soothingly.

"What are vrykyl, after all, but tales made up by old women? That's what they said in the Temple in

Vinnengael. That's what any sane person would say."

"Old women are wise," said Alise with a reproving glance for Shadamehr. "And the truths they keep

burning bright through the years are oftentimes the only light we have to guide our footsteps when the darkness comes upon us."

"I say this to you, Ulien, for your ears alone," Shadamehr added, "but we have come to Karnu because I

received information relating to the return of the vrykyl to this world."

Ulien gazed at Shadamehr in awe. "Then certainly the G.o.ds have brought us together!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not," Shadamehr said dryly. "What is it you expect me to do?"

"Why, rid the town of this evil, of course," Ulien said.

Shadamehr shook his head. "If this is truly a vrykyl, that is a foe beyond my ability to fight. According

to the old wives tales, that is."

"It is said that perhaps a Dominion Lord could slay them," Alise remarked. "That has not been proven, however.""But, sir, you are a Dominion Lord!" Ulien protested. "You served under a different name, but-"

Shadamehr smiled and again shook his head. "You are mistaken. I am not a Dominion Lord. I never