Chapter 10
“Does it shock you so, Huma? I was young, unbridled. I probably would have left for other reasons. Disgust for the Test, perhaps, which I still find a barbaric way of trimming the dead leaves.”
Huma slumped back on the bed. To one brought up under the strict beliefs of the knighthood, all magic-users were untrustworthy. A renegade was considered blacker than even the Black Robes, for he would meddle with spells even they would balk at using.
Magius read the look and smiled ruefully. “A renegade is only what he makes of himself, Huma. There are very few, since it is hard to escape the notice of the Conclave, but some of those few are very good people. Not powerful enough, sometimes. Had they taken the Test, most of them would have perished. While they live, they do what little they can to help others. Of course, there is always the other side.”
“Galan Dracos.”
“Yes.” Magius had gone pale. “Even the Queen’s dark clerics fear him. She needs him, though.”
The knight stiffened. “You know a lot.”
“I—I heard much of him as I traveled. I thought he might be the one to aid me, to give me protection. He has no fear of the Three Orders.”
There was motion in the next room. Magius stepped back into the shadows. “I do not think we can continue our discussion for now. Try to understand that everything I’ve done is for good reasons. We’ll talk later.”
Magius melted into the darkness. Leaping up, the knight put a hand into the shadowy corner. Only walls, as he suspected. Whatever portal Magius had opened had just been closed.
With a snarl, Kaz burst into the room. “I heard him! Where is he?”
Startled by the ferocity of the minotaur, Huma stepped back. “What is it, Kaz?”
“This is a trap, as I suspected! My ax is gone! My daggers are missing!”
“What are you talking about?” Huma reached for his own sword, which hung near the bed. Only—
The sheath hung as before, but it was empty now. Hurriedly, Huma went through his belongings. Like Kaz, he was missing all his weapons. They had disappeared even while the two old friends had talked.
Huma put a hand to his head. The room was becoming terribly hot. He felt flushed. Kaz was suddenly by his side, supporting him.
“What has he done to you? Are you ill?”
“I’m fine.” He waved his sympathetic companion away. “It’s nothing.”
Huma had been a fool. He had believed that the past still counted, when now it was all too obvious that the mage had been lying. The inconsistencies, the overlengthy explanations, left more questions than they answered.
Huma reached for his armor. “We’re leaving—somehow.”
Kaz helped him suit up.
The hallway was apparently unguarded, although the knight was sure that unseen servants watched their every move. He wondered how far Magius would allow them to go.
“I don’t like this,” Kaz muttered. He, far more than the human, distrusted the workings of any magic-user.
They reached the long, spiral staircase without incident—which only served to make them that much more cautious. Huma reached out and touched the bannister with one finger. When he felt nothing, he dared to grip it. He took a step downward. Another. A third. Kaz followed as closely behind as his huge bulk permitted. Their pace quickened unconsciously.
On the sixth step down, Huma blinked. He was no longer on the step, but back at the top of the staircase. Five steps below, Kaz whirled about, searching for him. Before Huma could warn him, the burly easterner set one foot down on the sixth step. Huma had only a quick glimpse of Kaz before the latter vanished, to reappear beside him a moment later.
“More tricks,” muttered Kaz.
They tried again, achieving the same result. Each time, the one who put a foot down on the step never noticed the shift. It was magic of the most complex and subtle nature.
They were trapped in some loop. Huma quit first, realizing the folly. Kaz continued for some time after, hoping there might be a way out. In the end, though, the minotaur joined Huma in the corridor.
“What now?”
Huma dropped the pack he had been carrying and undid the empty sheath. “Nothing. We won’t be going anywhere, it seems.”
“We cannot stay here!” The red glare was returning to the giant’s eyes.
“Have you any ideas? There are no windows, and the walls are solid. At least for us.”
“We could climb down to the corridor.”
Huma picked up the empty sheath and walked over to the stairway. He lifted the object over the rail and dropped it.
The sheath disappeared.
While Kaz looked on, Huma turned and pointed to the floor. The empty sheath lay behind them. “We wait. We have no choice.” The minotaur’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
There came a time when sleep forced itself upon them, despite their attempts to stay alert. Thus it was that Huma dreamed. Dreamed of Gwyneth and a mountain. Dreamed of a silver dragon in flight. Dreamed of evil spellcasters and gods battling. They all mixed together so randomly that he was never really sure what the dream was about or how it even began.
It ended abruptly, he knew, for it ended when the voice broke through his sleep.
“Wwaaaakkee.”
It took Huma several moments to realize that the sibilant whisper was not part of his dreams. Rather, it was a misty servant with a summons.
“Maaassteerr. Wiiissshhheess. Sssspeeaakk.”
Huma rose and Kaz, hearing the elemental, did likewise.
“Hhuuumaaaa. Ooonnnly.”
“I will go with him whether your master likes it or not! Now lead on, or I’ll inhale you!”
Whether or not the air elemental actually understood the minotaur’s words, it drifted toward the stairway. Huma followed, with Kaz close behind. The elemental led them downward. There was some hesitation on Huma’s part when they neared the level that had repulsed them earlier. He took a single step. This time, much to his surprise, he found his progress unimpeded. The aerial servant hovered near him, as if impatient to move on. Huma continued down, slowly at first, then more quickly as it became obvious that Magius had set no traps.
A loud shout of anger caused him to quickly look up at the level above. While Huma’s back had been turned, Kaz had attempted to follow the knight. Much to the minotaur’s annoyance, the spell still held him in thrall.
Wordlessly, Huma turned and followed the servant down the twisting stairway and through corridors unseen the day before. These halls were much more like the grove, darker than it seemed possible, in some places. Now and then, things flitted in the flickering light of the few torches. Only when they passed these torches could Huma be sure that he was still following the servant.
“Maaassteerr.”
Huma did not understand at first, for the room he entered was as dark and gloomy as all the corridors had been, and he could see no evidence that it was inhabited. Then he noted the sound of something moving.
A single word was uttered, and the room was lit by the staff of Magius. The sounds Huma had heard were those of the mage rising from a chair. As the other turned around, Huma’s mouth opened in complete shock. To his eyes, Magius seemed nearly twice as old as he had appeared earlier. One would have never believed that the two men were of the same age.
“Huma.” The magic-user’s tone almost begged for friendship. All the anger that Huma had contained within him began to melt away as he studied the sudden deprivation of vitality.
“Magius, what—?”
“I know. I leave you with more questions and fears each time we meet. I’m afraid I can’t change that even now, although I will attempt to clear up a few difficulties. First, I want you to see this.”
The mage led him into an adjoining room, where Huma found himself facing the earth elemental that had led them through the grove. Something lay before the living mound, something unnervingly familiar.
Huma recognized it. “A dreadwolf.”
It was bent at awkward angles, and Huma realized that one limb was torn away. Odder still, it was petrified. Reaching down, he verified the thought. It was like touching a rock.