CHAPTER XX SHADOWS WALKING "You've led us to die, you stupid, rock-brained dwarf!" Agnon near- snarled at Felin. "I'm sorry! I didn't know!" She squeaked in protest. "It's not your fault, Felin," Palas said, "We should have remembered the city was to the East. Whatever's inside can't be worse than what's out here, and we should be able to find a defensible spot in a city." However, at that moment the undead came into view again, shambling in our general direction. It was obvious that Marse wouldn't be able to save us this time. I'd nearly had to drag him along during our flight toward the walls, and he looked horrible. I knew a bit about undeads, enough that I dreaded fighting them. With the walking dead there is no such thing as a clean kill. You slash open the jugular vein and no blood comes out. You cut off the legs, and the rest drags itself toward you, unless the necromancer who created the thing was extremely sloppy in his casting. You can kill them through fire or divine power, but anything else was likely to be futile. And the wounds they gave in return were all too often poisonous. Jolan began casting, and I tensed to jump forward, expecting that he'd throw magic to take out the first wave of them. Instead, the ground beneath us rumbled and shook, throwing many of the undead off their feet, and a semi-circle of stone thrust up beneath us. The ground stopped shaking and the stone we were on halted when it was level with the top of the walls, giving us a view of a fairly wide alley, almost wide enough to be called a street, I suppose. The undead lurched back to their feet, but we were out of reach. That didn't stop them from crowding around the platform Jolan had raised, and I began to worry that they might find a way to climb up. Fortunately, the walls were a little more than twice my height, so getting down to the alley was manageable, if you hung over the edge and then let yourself drop. Felin came last, jumping down so I could catch her. "I do not like this place." Diana said, summing up our feelings quite nicely. "It feels... It smells..." She shook her head, "There is much wrong here." I turned to Marse, who was looking a bit better, if not much. "Marse, I've heard that your kind can feel the presence of the undead. Are there any in the city?" "It's true that most clerics can tell when the undead are near, but with so many right outside the walls, I can't say what could be in the city itself." More good news. "Well, if there are, they haven't found us yet." Palas said, "So I guess we have two choices. We can stay here and wait for them to find us, not knowing if they're even out there, or we can move and risk being seen. This alley shouldn't be that hard to defend, unless they try climbing over the walls, or jump down from the buildings next to us." Agnon and Felin both looked up nervously at that. Not surprisingly, I suppose, they both spoke in favor of moving. "Marse, I think you're the critical factor here." I said, after we'd considered it for a moment, "Can you make it if we move? If you don't mind my saying so, you look horrible." "I think I might could make it. I just wasn't expecting to need so much power for such a simple task." Palas put her head around the corner of the alley, and surveyed the street. She hurried back. "You have to see this." She said, "You'd never believe it otherwise." We went to see what she meant, and discovered that she was right. It truly was unbelievable. The street was positively crawling with the walking dead. We saw the lurching shadows moving down the street, not all of them human. At least one of the shadows was mounted, the shape suggesting a horse, and there were things that could have been dogs as well. One, the well-preserved corpse of a young lady and somewhat quicker than the others, walked right past us, carrying the badly decayed remains of what looked to have been a basket. When she reached the walls, she stiffly bent down, delicately plucked at something unseen, and gathered it into her basket. She stood, looked down again, and stooped to pluck once more, this time bringing her hand up to her head, and played a bit with her ear, what little was left of it. Then, a gap-tooth smile stretching her face, she turned and walked past us again. "She's picking flowers." Palas explained, "You watch, she'll come back in a few minutes." We waited, and she did indeed return, walking past to repeat her earlier actions, in every detail. "I don't think these care about us." "Something is very strange here." Marse said. "You mean aside from that the city is full of corpses who don't know enough to lay down?" Agnon quipped, earning several harsh looks. "Now is not the time for joking, thief." Palas said, as calmly as she could manage. "You were saying, Marse?" "Why would anyone, witch or necromancer, waste his time animating an entire city of undead, and then have them pick flowers?" "Well, I'm sure they're not all picking flowers, Marse." Felin said. "That's not what he means, Felin." Vereek said, "I don't think this is the work of anything so simple as dark magic or dark priests." "Who cares?" Agnon asked, exasperation clear in his voice, "The point is, they aren't going to kill us. I bet we could stroll right down the middle of the street and out the gates without them even noticing us." "You could be right," Jolan said, "But then, if the gates are open, the undead outside could easily wander in, and we've already established that they, at least, want to kill us. And even if the gates are closed, we'd need to open them to leave, and they're just as likely to be waiting for us on that side as on this." "All right then, since I obviously don't know what I'm talking about, what do you suggest, O great and wise Archmage?" The thief's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I suggest, thief, that we learn a bit more about where we are and what's going on around us before we do anything we may well regret." "That's a good idea." I said, attempting to ease the tension between them, "Any ideas on how to do it?" I got several shaken heads for an answer. I gave the matter consideration myself. Then I turned to Agnon. "Say, Agnon? Did you mean what you said about walking down the middle of the street?" "Yeah," He answered, a bit cautiously, "Why?" "Because you might get the chance to do just that." I raised my voice slightly to include everyone. "What if we send Agnon out? In this fog and with his skill, I doubt if anyone would notice him, undead or otherwise. It's certainly better than all of us going out, and we can keep this fairly defensible position." Everyone nodded, except Agnon. "I'm not about to go out there by myself! Do I look like some kind of hero to you?" I could see that Jolan was tempted to say something, but he judiciously held his tongue. "You'll do for the moment. Look, all I'm asking is that you go out, see what there is to see, and come back. I'm not asking you to fight them all single-handedly, I'm just asking you to take a look around." He agreed, though he didn't seem at all happy about it. He stepped out into the Mist and vanished. "While he's doing that, let's see what we can do here." I said, as soon as he was out of sight, "I think I saw some crates farther back in the alley, and there may be other things, too. I think we can work some sort of barricade." Everyone started toward the crates. I held Jolan and Marse back. "You two rest. Marse, you don't look like you should be able to stand, much less work. Jolan, I'd like to talk to you." "What about?" "I didn't want to talk about this in front of everyone, but you've admitted to knowledge of necromancy. I was wondering if you could get some answers for us. I don't know much about necromancy, I'll admit, but surely you can tell something about the purpose of this place. Like Marse said, I don't think anybody did this just for the fun of it." "Well, yes, I suppose I could... I'd need to have one of them to work with." He shook his head and sighed, "I had hoped that I'd never need to cast anything like this again. Learning the dark magic was a mistake of my youth, something I've regretted ever since." "Well, you've cast that aside now, and you won't be raising the dead or killing anyone, just finding us some answers. When we're done, perhaps you can undo the animation." "Perhaps so. I pray that you are correct." Marse looked at him, concern momentarily covering the weariness on his face. "Jolan, are you certain that you should do this?" Jolan gave him a suspicious look. "One of these days, Cleric, I'm going to find out just how much you do know. I'm tired of getting hints and glimpses from you. Yes, I will do this. I know enough now, I think, that I can handle it." Marse shook his head, sadly. "What the Father wills will be." He said, fatalisticly, "I did try." "What is he talking about Jolan?" I asked, but the others returned, with more than I'd expected. They found rope along with the crates, and bits of discarded furniture. We stacked and arranged until we had a fair sized wall, with a gap just narrow enough for one to pass through. I explained that we needed to capture one of the zombies, and Palas volunteered. Jolan objected, of course. I offered to go instead. "And what are you going to do, try to hold it with your bare hands?" She asked, sounding slightly scornful, "I'm the logical choice for this. Jolan needs to conserve his strength, and I'm the only other magic user. Besides, it shouldn't be too hard to divert the one picking flowers; it's already living in a world of illusions." Jolan reluctantly agreed, and then only after she promised she wouldn't let it get too close to her. She walked out of the barricade and came back a short while later, the zombie following behind her. She wove a few runes in the air, and the walking corpse was pushed up against the wall and held there. Another spell created silver bonds on the thing's arms and legs, looped into the stone it was held against. "How's that?" "A good job," I complimented, "And admirably quick. Jolan, if you would?" The Archmage stood in front of the shackled abomination and began his castings. The undead lady stiffened, and what was left of her face twisted into a look of horror the like of which I hope to never see again. Sweat broke out on Jolan's forehead, and a picture formed in the air between them. I say picture, but that isn't right, because it was much more than that. A moment later, I found myself swept up into the scene. I stepped out of the house, basket in hand. The guests would be coming soon, and I'd seen the loveliest bluepetals near the wall, perfect for my new vase. I found the bluepetals and gathered a good bouquet, pausing to smell the wonderful sweet aroma of the flowers, and was about to go back inside, but just on a lark I picked another one and stuck it in my hair, arranging the stem behind my ear. There, I looked a fair sight, I'd wager. Now to get back to the... People were yelling, suddenly, and pointing behind me, at something up in the air, and there was a strange sound, a sort of long whistle, almost like a tea-pot left too long on the fire. I turned, and screamed as the great streak of fire passed over me. I near fainted from the heat that followed, and I turned around to follow it's course. It screamed along over the city, low enough that I saw several of the tallest buildings burst into flame as it passed. I felt a small moment of relief when I realized it wasn't going to hit the city, but then I was thrown back, as though a giant had swatted at me, and there was a rumble as though lightning had struck nearby, and a blinding flash of light. Then the light was gone, and I picked myself up, feeling a bit clumsy. Now what had I been doing? Strange, but my head felt like I'd held it in a river during the winter freeze. Then I saw the basket, and remembered. I'd seen the loveliest bluepetals near the wall, perfect for my new vase. . . The vision stopped, and both the corpse and Jolan slumped, though the corpse was supported by the silver bonds driven into the wall and Jolan was not. It was a near thing, but Palas managed to keep him from smacking his head on the ground. I was near enough that I could have caught him myself, but I was feeling somewhat dizzy from the experience. When he came to a few minutes later, he had more bad news to impart. "We have to get out of here. Now. Whatever it is that holds these poor souls here will take us too if we're not out of here when the thicker Mists recede." "How long do we have?" "Until dawn. I haven't the least idea what time it is now, so we'd better hurry." "But what about Agnon? He's still scouting the city, and I doubt if he'd like to come back to find us gone!" "You leave that to me," Palas said, "If you can get me somewhere high enough, I can locate him with a fairly simple spell, and send an illusion to tell him what we know." "How high do you need?" I asked. "Somewhere that commands a good view of the city. The spell will make him stand out like a beacon, but too many buildings blocking my view will obscure him." "The tower." Vereek muttered to himself, "It would have to be the tower, wouldn't it?" "What tower?" I aked. "The Timekeeper Tower, in the center of the city. They build a giant timepiece into the tower, to make business move more smoothly. If what Jolan just showed us is true, then it must have been badly burned when the Stone passed, and in the legends it has a bad reputation, even for Nadair Shadai. I shudder to think what it must be like." "There aren't any other buildings tall enough?" "Nothing with a view of the city, I'm afraid. For a city of this size, they had few tall structures. The only other buildings nearly as tall are the guard posts along the walls, but they were meant for looking outside the city, not in." I sighed. Why was it always so complicated? Did I do something in my past life to anger the gods? "Well, I suppose we'll have to go to the tower, then. Anyone have any better ideas?" No one answered, "Then do something with that," I gestured at the corpse, which was beginning to struggle against it's bonds, "And let's be on our way." Marse grabbed his medallion and looked like he was going to try drawing holy power again, but Palas stepped in front of him. She paused briefly with a look of concentration, then began casting. The corpse tried to scream, but then slumped again, this time permanently. She gestured, and the silver rings holding the corpses wrists and ankles vanished. The body fell to the ground and immediately began to putrefy. "How did you do that?" Marse asked, clearly puzzled, "I didn't think Magi could turn the dead." "I found it on an old scroll in Jolan's library. It's a simple spell variant, designed for removing illusions. I removed the illusion that she was living." "Almost exactly the way I turn them." Marse said. "I thought that holy power of yours burned them?" I asked. "Not exactly, no. Really, it just lets them know that they're dead." He looked at his medallion, and quoted "'The Light of Evan is the Light of Truth' Truth can be a powerful thing." "Great, fascinating, wonderful," Felin said, "Can we go? I don't like the idea of being undead, do you?" She was correct, if somewhat abrasive about it, and we hurried toward the Tower. None of the undeads in the street tried to stop us, or even seemed to notice us, and Vereek soon had us at the base of the Tower. The Timekeeper Tower practically pulsed with the feeling of im- pending doom that I'd felt since arriving on the island. It was an imposing wide construction of red brick, stretching upward to fade into the Mist above. About ten feet from the ground it narrowed somewhat, and the ledge was decorated with statues of spread-winged eagles and leering gargoyles. There were small slits at regular intervals, and we could see that the tower was lit from within, though the light looked too steady to be from torches. A door of heavy-looking red wood faced into the street, and it was outlined in the same strange light. "Do we really have to go in there?" Felin asked. "Well, you can wait out here if you like..." Jolan began, and she quickly shook her head. It took both Diana and I to open the door, which was even heavier than it looked, and which felt more like stone than wood. We stepped in- side, blinking sightlessly for a few moments until our eyes adjusted to the light. When our vision cleared, we saw that the light was emanating from a glowing ball hovering in the center of the room, a giant duplicate of the ones Palas and Jolan were using. A ladder against the far wall led to the next floor. Aside from the globe and the unpleasant feeling, nothing seemed particularly sinister about the place. We climbed to the second floor, with Jolan in the lead, but we again found nothing but a glowing ball and a ladder. On the third floor, however, we found the trouble we were expecting. Three suits of armor stood in a row facing the ladder, and they stepped away from the wall as soon as Jolan's head poked out above the floor. As they slowly approached they raised wicked looking black-bladed swords. Fleshless skulls with dots of fire filling their gaping sockets could be seen beneath the helmets, jaws hanging agape as though screaming or laughing. Jolan scrambled the rest of the way up the ladder, followed closely by Palas and myself. Once again Jolan cast his magic before I could react, and the Skull Knights halted. "Hurry up!" He snapped at us, "I can't hold them forever." Palas quickly climbed to the fourth floor, with the rest of us following. Marse elected to remain with Jolan, claiming that he was too tired to make the rest of the climb. On the fourth floor we found two minor apparitions, souls so weakly bound that they could do little more than manifest visibly. They were a very minor irritant at worst, but Palas dispatched them both. She judged that she was high enough to work her spell, which suited us well enough. After the surprise on the third floor, we had little inclination to see what lay on the fifth. I could hear rattling and creaking noises from above, but I couldn't say if it was from the clock mechanism or something less corporeal. Palas wove her illusion, and the tower walls seemed to vanish. We spotted Agnon, marked with a bright red light, in a dark alley to the north-east of the tower. Agnon was very much surprised when the image of Palas appeared directly in front of him. He skidded to a halt so quickly he stumbled and fell to the ground. He was somewhat recovered and dragging himself backwards almost instantly. "You've no cause to haunt me!" He told the image, managing to put some authority into his voice, "I didn't abandon you, I was asked to leave, remember? You've no cause to haunt me, not even in this gods forsaken place!" "I'm not dead, you lummox!" Palas sent through the image, "I needed to reach you, so I sent a projection. A projection, not a ghost." Agnon relaxed a bit after that, and Palas briefly explained the situation. "Till dawn? That could be two hours or ten minutes from now in this Deamon-Blasted mist!" "Watch your language, and you're right, it could be. That's why we need to get out, now. Can you find the East gate on your own?" "Of course I can! I was finding my way through back alleys and sewers when you were still..." "Decades older than you are now, thief. Just get there, and hurry!" Palas ended both castings, and we went back down to where Jolan and Marse were waiting. I was the first one down. Immediately I saw that something was very wrong. Marse lay on the ground, unconscious, and Jolan stood over him. The three Skull Knights were still standing where they'd been when we left, but Jolan didn't seem to be holding them there as he had been. "The cleric collapsed." Jolan said, "Come on, grab him and let's go." I picked Marse up and carried him the rest of the way down over my shoulder. When we were all assembled at the bottom of the tower, Jolan told us to stay where we were, and he'd recruit us some help. "What sort of help?" I asked. "You'll see." Was all he'd say, a small, satisfied smile on his face. We heard the clank and creak of armor gone stiff from age, and the Skull Knights jerkily made their way down the ladder after us. "This is help?" Felin said, wide-eyed and incredulous. Turning to Jolan, she repeated, "This is help?! Jolan, are you feeling okay?" "I've never felt better. As long as these undeads are going to be animated anyway, why not have them working for us instead of against us?" Unpleasant as it was, it made sense, and we hurried to the East gate, the Skull Knights following behind us. Soon, however, other undeads fell in behind us, specters and zombies and ghosts breaking out of their centuries- old repetitions to join us. "This is just wonderful," Diana muttered to me, "An army of the damned ahead of us and another behind us. I think Jolan's lost his mind!" "Well, I don't know about that," I whispered back to her, "I mean, would you rather have just the one ahead of us? Face a legion of the walking dead, and Marse unconscious and too weak to do anything even if he weren't?" "I still don't like it. I thought he hated necromancy?" "Well, sometimes you do have to do things you don't want to." "I just don't like the way he seems so... enthusiastic about it. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was enjoying this." I couldn't argue with that, at least. Jolan did seem rather exuberant. By the time we reached the East gate, the streets behind us were packed with row upon row of undeads, the Skull Knights in the lead. I noticed that the Skull Knights' eyes were no longer red, but gold. I don't know why, but that put a chill through me. The gates were closed, and Agnon was still missing. Our legion of the damned was less than orderly, undeads milling about, shuffling around amongst themselves. Only the Skull Knights held themselves still. I found myself wondering what such advanced and powerful necromantic creations were doing in a town populated by undeads apparently animated spontaneously by the Fire Stone's dramatic arrival. I supposed that there would always be some things that I'd never learn the full truth of. Which didn't mean I had to like it, of course. Felin found the lever that would raise the gate, but we still hesit- ated to use it. We could hear the zombies on the other side, and none of us were eager to face them. Except perhaps for Jolan, but he was being strange again. Meanwhile, Agnon arrived. As it happens he'd been there for some time, but had hesitated to join us. I couldn't say that I blamed him, considering what was behind us. Not to mention what was ahead of us. With him there, there was no real reason to delay any longer. I called to Felin to throw the lever. She did, and there was a loud grinding sound, and a groaning of metal under great stress. The gate moved not an inch. "Well, what now? Jolan, can you get us over the walls?" I asked, looking at the gates. When I didn't get an answer, I repeated my query. That, too, went unanswered. I turned to look for the Archmage. "Jolan?" Jolan was still there, physically at least. However, I saw right away that however bad the night had been, it was about to get worse. I'd seen power-madness before, back in Ombal when Merri went crazy, and I saw much the same look in Jolan's eyes as I'd seen in hers. Jolan stepped away from us, and his Skull Knights surrounded him protectively. Jolan turned to the undeads crowding the streets and he raised his hands. His hands were wrapped in an amber flame, and Diana started choking. Jolan spared her no concern, and she finally began breathing shallowly through her mouth. The zombies nearest Jolan collapsed, and the energy that had been animating them flowed toward him. His draining spread farther into the milling crowd, and the undead began to collapse in a widening arc. The air in front of him pulsated with energy, which he began to slowly draw into himself. The flames around his hands grew brighter, more voluminous. "Jolan, if you were going to do that, why not do that to the ones outside?" Felin asked, having returned from the gatehouse, "You remember, the ones that are trying to kill us?" At the same time, I yelled at him, "Jolan, stop! You're choking Diana!" The Archmage swung around, and laughed. He looked ten years younger, his white beard and hair now streaked with darker patches of gray. He lashed out at Felin, extending his power to surround her, and in moments the dwarf collapsed, looking withered and frail. Jolan, however, looked strong and healthy, his face less lined and creased, not a streak of white left in his hair, and a swath of brown across his brow. "Oh, I intend to deal with those outside." He threw back his head and gave in to insane, howling laughter. "An army of death to command! And I have the power to seize it now. This gives me the power." He raised the pouch holding the Stone of Earth. "And if any of you try to stop me, I will leech every last drop of life from you. You want the gates open? Fine." He gestured at the gate, almost absent-mindedly, and it exploded outward, shredding those undead who had been pressed up against it. "GO!" He screamed at us, "Go and I will spare you. Stay, and you will die. This city is mine!" Palas pulled me aside quickly. "Firemane, do as he says. He has enough control over the undeads outside that you can get to the Source. I'll stay here." "Are you absolutely insane?" I asked, "Didn't you hear him? He'll kill you!" She shook her head. "Maybe he will. But it's my right to stay here. You don't have to understand it, just accept it." "And I have a duty to you. I don't want to have to carry news of your death to your father." "Gods willing, you won't have to. But this quest is more important than me alone." She lowered her voice, "Please, Firemane? This is something I have to do." I looked at her, and saw that she meant it, so I nodded my agreement. If she was that determined to stay, I doubt if I could have stopped her from it anyway. "Come on." I said, calling everyone else together, "We have a friend to see to, and a Stone to recover. We can worry about this afterward." "Firemane, you can't mean to leave her here!" Diana exclaimed, having recovered her breath somewhat, "She'll be killed!" "I don't really like it myself, Diana, but what can I do? If I throw her over my shoulder and carry her off, she'd never forgive me. Besides, she has a right to choose what to do with her life." Diana didn't have time to argue, because Jolan threw a ball of fire to strike the ground right behind us, to hurry us along. We dashed out the gates, carrying the still-unconscious cleric and more-than-slightly dazed dwarf with us. The undeads ignored us in their haste to get inside, to their new master. About half of them collapsed as soon as they entered the city, their animating force going to feed Jolan in his rejuvenation and power glut. We struck out east, where Vereek assured us the lake was waiting for us. The mists grew more dense by the second, until I could see nothing of my companions, and only knew they were there by their sounds. Then, even the sounds stopped as we reached the shore of the lake. I called out to the others to move towards me, so that we could keep together as we circled the lake, looking for the finger that jutted out into the boiling hot water, giving access to the Source. Nobody answered. A few minutes later I heard a splash and a scream. I couldn't be certain, but it had sounded like Vereek. The scream continued for almost a minute before dwindling back into silence. I feared our brave scholar had met an unfortunate death. Soon, however, my concern was back on myself, when I saw myself stepping out of the Mist towards me. I really wasn't happy to see me, either.