The Sorceress and her Lovers Read online

  “What is it that you need, Peter?” she asked.

  “You remember Wizard Bassington?” asked Senta, not waiting for Peter.

  “Yes, we’d met.” Miss Jindra’s beautiful features took on a sour expression.

  “Well, Peter is his son. We would just like to confirm that.”

  “I’m sure that can be arranged. Peter, can you help me with this table?” Miss Jindra indicated the small round table that was in a corner. Peter brought it out and sat it in front of the sofa and the chair, as directed. “Now, if you’ll place both your hands on the table.”

  Peter set his hands, palms down, on the tabletop.

  “You too, Senta.”

  “Why me?”

  “It will help the spell.”

  With a sigh, Senta set the baby on the floor by her feet. Then she placed her hands on the table beside those of the apprentice wizard’s. Amadea put her hands on the other side.

  “If you are indeed the offspring of Wizard Bassington, we will see an indication in a moment,” she said. “Uuthanum eetarri,”

  Both Peter’s and Senta’s hands began to glow a faint blue.

  “There you have it,” said Amadea. “The glow tells us that you are indeed the offspring of the late great Wizard Bassington.”

  “You too?” said Peter, gazing at Senta in wonder. “Then, you’re my sister?”

  “Half-sister,” said Senta.

  “You weren’t going to tell me, were you?”

  “I was. When the time was right. I dropped enough hints for a bright boy to have figured it out. But I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, knowing Zurfina as I do.”

  “Why didn’t you cast the spell yourself?” asked Amadea. “You could have cast that spell without a thought. You can cast it better than I can. In fact, you should. It’s good for the skin, you know.”

  Senta pursed her lips. “I wasn’t ready. Can we leave it at that?” She looked at Peter. “Now that you know for sure, you can use his name, you know. Peter Bassington.”

  “That wouldn’t be proper, would it? After all, I am a bastard.”

  Senta scooped up her daughter, who was only just starting to crawl away.

  “Well, welcome to the club,” she said.

  “How long are you going to be in the city?” asked Amadea. “I rather hoped that we would be able to see the opera together.”

  “I’ve just come from Bangdorf, so I’m all operaed out. In fact, I’m heading home just as soon as we can book passage.”

  “That’s too bad,” said Amadea, sadly.

  “Why don’t you come to Birmisia?” asked Senta, looking sidelong at Peter. “It seems I’ll be running a halfway house for disenfranchised magic-users.”

  “I’m afraid not,” said Amadea, her eyes glazing over. “I’ll not leave Brechalon again. My future is already written.”

  “Clarkson House,” Senta told the driver, when she and Peter had returned to the cab.

  It was a little more than an hour drive before they reached the front of the prestigious hotel. Senta paid the cabbie and gave him a large tip. They had climbed only half of the six broad steps to the door, which the doorman had already opened in anticipation, when the baby let out a bloodcurdling wail.

  “Good Kafira,” said Senta, stopping to look at the child.

  Suddenly she was knocked to the ground by a body thrown upon her. Little Senta rolled from her hands and down the steps. Senta found herself on her back, staring up into the wild eyes of a woman of about fifty. She was dressed in simple clothes and she reeked of urine and alcohol. Her grimy, claw-like hands sought out the sorceress’s throat.

  “Uuthanum,” growled Senta, and the woman flew up ten feet in the air, landing on her back two steps up.

  Climbing to her feet, Senta found the still crying baby in Peter’s protective arms. She looked up to the woman, who was now struggling in the hands of the doorman and another man in the livery of the hotel.

  “She will have you!” hissed the dirty woman, her eyes devoid of sanity. “She will have you! She will have you!”

  “Piss off,” spat Senta. “And she can piss off with you!”

  Chapter Six: The Creature Beneath the Fortress

  Hsrandtuss opened his eyes and stretched. He had to push both Ssu and Tokkenoht off of him before he could roll off his sleeping mat. Only the latter female woke up. He stretched again. He felt better than he had in months, better than he had in years. A lot of it had to do with the fact that he was sleeping much better. He didn’t know if it was the proximity of the young god or the fact that for a change, things seemed to be going his way.

  The other chiefs had all gone home. The last to leave had been Tistakha. Before Tistakha had left for Tuustutu, Hsrandtuss had managed a brief meeting. To say they had formed an alliance would have been too much, but they did seem to have an understanding. The two would work together to see that their trade with the soft-skins increased and that the plans of the God of the Sky were not disrupted by the likes of Szisz and his band of broken yokes in Suusiss.

  “Your morning meal, Great King,” said Sszaxxanna, handing him a pomegranate.

  “I don’t want another fruit,” said Hsrandtuss. “Where is my meat?”

  “Your bowels, Great King.”

  “Never mind my bowels. Find me a bird, or at the very least a nice fish.”

  “The fish are not very plentiful here in the mountains, Great King,” said Sszaxxanna, with entirely too much sass.

  He glared at her.

  “I will try to find you a fish,” she said, scurrying off.

  “See that you do. And send Sirris in here!” he called after her.

  Sirris hurried into the room.

  “Paint me,” Hsrandtuss ordered.

  “If you wish, Great King, but the God of the Sky is gone.”

  “Gone? What do you mean gone?”

  “He flew north. Kendra says he has gone to visit the soft-skins in their city.”

  “Yes, I see. That is good. What else does Kendra say? What about Szisz? Is he being watched?”

  “Shouldn’t you wait and ask Sszaxxanna?” she asked quietly.

  “You will never be first wife with an attitude like that,” he said.

  “Kendra has trackers following him and his people. They are halfway back to Suusiss. She also says that there is a way for you to rise high in the esteem of the young god. She says you should do it, but Sszaxxanna won’t…”

  Suddenly Sszaxxanna was there, striking Sirris repeatedly with her clawed hands, driving her from the room. Tokkenoht jumped up and hurried after her. Ssu continued to snooze on the sleeping mat.

  “I have a bird for you, Great King,” said wife number one, thrusting the charred carcass of a bambiraptor toward him.

  “It’s cooked?”

  “It will be easier on your stomach.”

  “What was it that Kendra suggested?” he asked, taking the bird and biting off the top half.

  “It is nothing. It is ill conceived.”

  “Would I not be a better judge of that than you?”

  “Of course, Great King. But the god already favors you. You don’t need to risk yourself unnecessarily.”

  “Bring her in here. I want to hear it.”

  “But Great King…”

  “Now.”

  “As you wish,” said Sszaxxanna, stomping sulkily through the doorway. Hsrandtuss had no doubt that both Kendra and Sirris would be on the receiving end of Sszaxxanna’s claws later, but what was it to him how the females settled their differences?

  Kendra entered and stepped very close to him. She placed one hand, palm outward, on her dewlap in a sign of respect and reached out familiarly to touch him on the shoulder with the other. She and Ssu were the youngest of his wives, and Kendra was very tiny, barely reaching up to Hsrandtuss’s shoulder.

  “All right, what is this about improving my esteem?”

  “There is a creature living beneath this fortress—a horrible creature.”

 
“Like the dead monster we saw when we arrived?”

  “Much smaller than that one, but much more horrible. It lives in a place the young god cannot reach. One must pass through a narrow hallway and down a long flight of stairs. The red-caped one has sent five groups of warriors to kill it and they have all been unsuccessful. Most of them died.”

  “So I am supposed to go down there and get myself killed too? Is that what you want?”

  “No, no, my husband. You know that is not what I want. You must know how proud I am to be your wife.” She pressed her chin against his chest. “You are a great warrior and Tokkenoht and I will go with you, in addition to your warriors.”

  “I am supposed to take two females into battle?”

  “I have been on many hunts, and Tokkenoht has great magic. We can both aid you.”

  Realizing that he still had half a bambiraptor in his hand, Hsrandtuss tossed it in his mouth and chewed. He did want to show Yessonar his worth, and Kendra was right that this might do so. And he was feeling better since he had been here. Maybe this was just what he needed to get back to his old self—a good battle. Yes, he decided. He would do it.

  The entire fortress was a whirlwind of activity. The wall that had been completely disassembled when the group from Hiissiera had arrived was now almost completely rebuilt. Now a pair of high towers was being constructed just inside the walls. Wooden ladders and braces acted as an exoskeleton for the stone spires that when completed would house spiral staircases. Hsrandtuss found the god’s red-caped envoy easily enough. He had learned the important lizzie went by the name of Khastla.

  “I hear that you have a problem beast.”

  Khastla hissed slowly and eyed the king. “You speak of the vile creature below ground.”

  “What can you tell me about it?”

  “Not very much. Down a long staircase is a room filled with water. I, quite frankly, cannot determine the room’s original purpose. The creature apparently lives beneath the water’s surface. We lost several people before we realized the danger. I sent two warriors to check it out. They didn’t come back. Then I sent five warriors down. None of them came back either. Then next time, I sent ten warriors. The time after that, twelve. None returned. Two days before your arrival, I sent twenty warriors to eliminate the threat once and for all. Four of them made it back to the surface. One died shortly thereafter. The others had seen something that made them lose their minds. They did nothing but curl up like an egg, whimper, and babble.”

  “That sounds like a story you would tell to the recently tamed while lying around the fire at night,” said Hsrandtuss. “I am sure they would find it very scary.”

  “It is the truth,” said Khastla. “You saw the other monster—the one Great Yessonar killed. I don’t know what remains down there, but it is dangerous.”

  “I will kill it for you,” said Hsrandtuss, flushing his dewlap red.

  “That will not be necessary. I have decided to wall off the passage to that part of the underground. As I said, I do not know what that room was designed for and I don’t know how we could use it.”

  “Not acceptable,” said Hsrandtuss, bobbing his head. “Yessonar cannot have a part of his great fortress defiled by such a beast. I will kill it.”

  “How many males do you need?” asked Khastla. “I can have fifty for you in an hour.”

  “I will take six of my own warriors,” answered Hsrandtuss proudly, and then under his breath, “and two females.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I am sure. We will have a warrior’s feast tonight, and then we will go hunting for your monster.”

  “At night?”

  “You did say it was underground, didn’t you?” asked Hsrandtuss. “It will be dark day or night.”

  “It’s just the idea,” said Khastla.

  Hsrandtuss and his males spent most of the day preparing their weapons. The lizzie swords were wooden bats, encrusted around the edges with razor thin pieces of flint or obsidian. They were extremely sharp but were easily nicked or broken. They also carried small spears, tipped with sharp spearheads. These were thrown with an atlatl. Finally, each warrior carried a flint knife, though in any combat close enough to use it, his claws or teeth would have been just as effective.

  As the sun set, they enjoyed a feast. It was a feast too. The god’s envoy sent great a great mass of food to their quarters, including several baskets of pomegranates, dates, and aubergines, as well as an entire dressed achillobator. Sszaxxanna didn’t say a word when her husband took a great piece of the leg and ate it raw. Hsrandtuss thought that perhaps she expected it to be his last meal and so was allowing him to enjoy himself. Afterwards Ssu painted him while Szakhandu and Sirris painted the warriors. Tokkenoht danced around them all, shaking her dried lizard and casting protective magic.

  At last they were ready and marched out of the house and into the fortress courtyard. Khastla led them to a doorway and handed Hsrandtuss a map carefully drawn on a mammal skin. He handed it to Kendra and dismissed the envoy with a nod. The king addressed his six warriors.

  “I will lead, with this female by my side.” He pointed his thumb at Kendra. “Szizstorik and Khattukhus will come next, then Attarhakhic and Tissiantuss. This female will follow them.” He nodded at Tokkenoht. “Chutturonoth and Slechtiss will guard our rear. Am I clear?”

  The warriors and the females all nodded.

  “Good. Now we go to kill a monster.”

  They marched into the corridor that led down into the darkness. Torches in sconces on the walls illuminated the first fifty feet, but then stopped. Hsrandtuss took the last two and gave them to Szizstorik and Khattukhus. Lizardmen could see in near darkness, but not complete darkness.

  They reached a T junction and Kendra pointed to the left. Continuing in that direction about 300 feet, the corridor turned into a stairway leading downward. The steps were both deeper and steeper than those used by the soft-skins. These had been carved out of the bedrock by lizardmen. At the bottom of the steps, the hallway continued its course for another fifty feet and then ended at another open doorway. Beyond was a 50 by 50 foot room. It was filled with water from wall to wall. It was impossible to tell how deep it was. It was as still and black as the pools of tar that bubbled up from the ground near Hiissierra. There was another doorway on the other side.

  “Do we continue?” asked the king.

  “No. This is the place,” said Kendra.

  “Here?” He pointed at the water.

  She hissed an affirmation.

  “All right. You move to the back. Watch behind us. Warriors, prepare your spears.”

  Taking his own spear, Hsrandtuss used it to slap the surface of the water. He didn’t know what kind of creature he was dealing with, but he had used this method to lure crocodiles and giant salamanders to the surface of rivers and ponds many times. It usually took no more than a few minutes. After twenty minutes of smacking the spear on the water’s surface, he began to get bored and his arm was tiring.

  “Khattukhus, trade places with me.”

  “Yes, great king.”

  Hsrandtuss had just taken a spot a few feet from the water’s edge and Khattukhus had slapped his spear on the water once, when suddenly the inky surface exploded as dozens of gigantic tentacles burst forth and filled the room. They whipped and flew, blindly feeling everything within reach. One of them wrapped itself around Khattukhus and pulled him down into the water. Three spears flew from the atlatls of the warriors but none of them found a mark.

  “Swords!” growled Hsrandtuss. “Save the spears for when we see its body!”

  Stepping to the edge of the now churning water, the king swung his obsidian-tipped weapon at the closest tentacle, clipping it off. Hsrandtuss had been to the seashore and had seen and even eaten octopus. He had an idea now of what he was facing, though either this monster had many more legs than the little creatures on the coast or there was more than one of them.

  Szizstorik took his place next
to the king, chopping with his own sword. It was only a moment though before one of the rubbery appendages grabbed him and threw him across the room. He hit the far wall and splashed into the water. Managing to swim to the other doorway, Szizstorik was just climbing out when another tentacle wrapped around his tail and pulled him under. Tissiantuss took his place next to Hsrandtuss. Several small magical missiles shot between their heads, courtesy of Tokkenoht, each hitting one of the flailing arms. Hsrandtuss pulled a spear from over his shoulder and turned around.

  “I need magic on this weapon,” he told the female witch doctor.

  Tokkenoht chanted “uutanuhn, uutanuhn,” tapping the end of the spear with her lizard talisman. She had just finished when the king was hit from behind and knocked down. The tentacle that had struck him wrapped itself around the female and lifted her up. Still on his knees, Hsrandtuss drove the spear upward, through the rubbery flesh and into the stone ceiling of the passageway, the magically enhanced spear pinning the arm there. The appendage uncurled and dropped Tokkenoht to the floor. Jumping to his feet and turning around, Hsrandtuss waited. He knew that trapping its arm would draw the beast up out of the water, and he was right.

  Shooting from the surface was the most grotesque thing that any of them had ever seen. Hsrandtuss had expected a giant octopus or something similar, but with the exception of the suckered tentacles, this had nothing in common with that animal. The bloated white body had twenty or more tentacles still feeling blindly around the room, and indeed it seemed to have no eyes. Eight spider-like legs, all near the front of the creature, pulled it from the water to the edge of the passage where the lizardmen fought. Hsrandtuss swung his sword at the white, segmented leg as he watched for an opening to attack the body. He expected a beaked mouth, but it didn’t have one. Neither did it have insect-like mouthparts. Rather it had a long feeding tube, as though it drank nectar from gigantic flowers.

  Hsrandtuss chopped one tentacle even as another one grasped him around the waist and tossed him high into the air. He flew end over end and suddenly, as if everything was happening in slow motion, he had a view of the battle below. From here, he could see what the monster was. With the exception of the tentacles, it resembled the mites that sometimes infested sleeping mats. Those mites were so tiny they were almost microscopic, but this thing was as large as a full-grown triceratops. Then he was falling, landing with a splat on the creatures back. The whole surface was covered with a thick viscous layer that held him like tar.