The Scarab's Curse (The Savage and the Sorcerer, Book 1)

- Title Page

- CHAPTER 1

- CHAPTER 2

- CHAPTER 3

- CHAPTER 4

- CHAPTER 5

- CHAPTER 6

- CHAPTER 7

- CHAPTER 8

- CHAPTER 9

- CHAPTER 10

- CHAPTER 11

- CHAPTER 12

- CHAPTER 13

- CHAPTER 14

- CHAPTER 15

- CHAPTER 16

- CHAPTER 17

- CHAPTER 18

- CHAPTER 19

- CHAPTER 20

The Scarab’s Curse

The Savage and the Sorcerer, Book 1

By Craig Halloran

The Scarab’s Curse

The Savage & the Sorcerer, Book 1

By Craig Halloran

Copyright © 2017 by Craig Halloran

Smashwords Edition

TWO-TEN BOOK PRESS

P.O. Box 4215, Charleston, WV 25364

ISBN eBook: 978-1-946218-14-8

www.craighalloran.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recorded, photocopied, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Publisher's Note

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1

Tarley’s Tavern sat high on the hill, up and away from the small town of Marcen. The rickety building had stood, braced against the highland winds, for hundreds of years. Over the course of history, some of the realm’s greatest heroes had passed through Tarley’s. Some guzzled ale, many told tall tales, and others sat quietly, wanting nothing more than to be left alone. More recently, the life within the tavern was of a more common sort. Rough-skinned farmers, ornery tradesmen, merchants, and restless men and women went there seeking a little excitement to alleviate the quiet of the farm town.

The builders of the durable and weathered establishment were long gone, and new faces had taken their place over the years. Now, within the walls, the tavern’s current owner, Tuberlous, threw another log on the fire. The embers crackled, and a warm glow permeated the room. Nobody noticed. Instead, the dwellers drank, gambled, and cursed. The barmaids posed on the laps of lavishly clad merchants. Pipe smoke and the smell of cherry tobacco made for a dreamy atmosphere. Within the haze, the discreet sulked in the corners while others went on without an ounce of shame about their business. Every once in a while, joking, jesting, and wild, victorious cheers rang out.

In the rear of the tavern, a lone spiral staircase led up to a balcony that overlooked the tavern floor. Stiff winds made the wooden rafters in the vaulted ceiling groan. The iron candlelit chandeliers quavered time and again. On that balcony, a man sat behind a small desk, pouring wine out of a clay carafe. He wore garish robes, with a large collar, that were long overdue for cleaning. The unique garb was laced with intricate patterns and lavish colors. His head was bald, face slender, gray-black eyebrows peaked. Every move he made was purposeful and fluid. His name was Finster. Long ago, he had been a magus of the highest order. Now, he drank. He drank a lot.

A farmer entered the tavern with his cloth hat clutched in his hand. A cold breeze followed him, causing some unpleasant mutterings from the dwellers. With effort, he pushed the door shut, turned, and looked up. He caught Finster’s penetrating stare. Rolling his long fingers, Finster beckoned the man upward. Head down, the farmer shuffled through the crowd and slowly climbed up the stairs.

“Oh, hurry up, will you?” Finster said in the voice of an impatient schoolmaster. “I haven’t got all night, commoner.” He looked over the rail. “No, wait a moment.”

The farmer stopped.

“Tuberlous!” Finster shouted down at the barkeeper. “Are you blind? I have a customer!”

Tuberlous slid out from behind the bar with his belly bouncing underneath his greasy smock. He faced the farmer with his hand out. “That’ll be a copper, Varney.”

The farmer handed the barkeep the coin and headed upstairs.

“My rent is paid today!” Finster shouted to the barkeep. “Let that take the grief from your puffy lips.” The farmer walked along the balcony, glancing over the rail once before taking a seat on the wooden stool in front of Finster’s desk. Finster leaned forward. “Varney, is it?”

The man nodded. His eyes attached to the bookshelf filled with many leather tomes, potions, vials, and other trinkets. His grubby hands wiped the sweat on his lip. “Hello.”

“Aren’t you the chatty one? Hmmm, let me try to figure out what it is you need.” Closing his bright eyes, Finster touched the side of his oblong head. “Let’s see. You need a special seed for your crops—ah, no, that’s not it. Oh, wait, I see it now—you need a special seed for your wife.” He opened his eyes. “Yes, your wife’s crops need fertilization. You have no sons to help you with labor. Lucky for you, I have just the thing for that.” He reached for his shelf.

“No, that’s not it. I have sons. Many.” The farmer’s eyes slid to the people below them.

Finster slapped the table. “No one is listening to you! Out with it, then. What do you need? Your secrets are safe with me. What we speak of his fully anonymous.” He hiccupped. “Excuse me. I have a strange illness.” He took a swig of wine. “Ah, I’m cured. Now, where were we?”

“I need something to help me and, er, the wife, say, find the passion again?”

“So I was on course.” Finster leaned forward with his elbow on the table. “Tell me, Varney. About this wife of yours. Is she ample?” He winked at the farmer. “You know, bosomy?”

“I don’t see how that his helpful?”

“It makes all the difference, farmer. Don’t you come up here and insult me about how to go about my business. Is she ample or not? Come now. I need details.”

“She’s rather full chested.”

Leaning back in his chair and toying with the hairs on his chin, Finster said, “Interesting. Very interesting, Varney, seeing how I know that your wife is as flat chested as a twelve-year-old boy. So you desire to fool around, eh? Well, it’s not my business.”

“You said you’d be discreet.”

“And I will be. If anyone inquires, just say you wanted my advice about the harvest. That’s what everyone says.” He reached into his shelve and grabbed a glass vial. “Ground mandrake, but remember, ‘Lust is blind but not your neighbors.’”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He slid the small bottle over the table. “This is what you want. It’ll be three silvers.”

Varney’s dirty fingers picked at the inside of a small pouch. He slid over three coins.

With his finger, Finster touched two of the three coins. They rose from the table. He stacked one coin on top of the other. “See? A little trick, for free, in case you doubted my powers as a wizard.”

Varney tucked the vial in his sheepskin vest. “You’ll be discreet, right?”

“And dare draw the wrath of a farmer like you? Of course I will.”

Giving Finster a funny look, Varney got up and started to walk away.

“Do you see that strapping young fellow down there at the bar? Brawny, with sandy locks.”

“Yes, why?”

“That’s Plowboy Roy, just so you know. So don’t be ashamed about your secret nuptials.”

Varney shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“Young Roy has been plowing your wife’s fields for quite some time.”

“You lie!”

“No, she’s paid a visit to me as well. Perhaps it’s time that the two of you have a long, open, honest, and pathetic conversation.”

Clutching his cap and with anguish building in his voice, Varney said, “Why did you have to tell me that? I thought you were discreet.”

“Oh, yes. I forgot to mention—that costs extra.” He flicked a silver down toward the bar. It landed inside a glass with a clink. “Tuberlous! More wine! Lots of it.”

Without warning, the front door of the tavern burst open. Many soldiers, well armed and dressed head to toe in leather armor, filed through the startled crowd. The hard eyes of the men scoured the room. One of them pointed up at Finster. He was a tall man in a dark leather tunic who stood out among the rest. Something sinister lurked in his dark eyes. He called up to Finster in a gravelly, authoritative voice and said, “You, sir, are a wanted man.”

CHAPTER 2

Hands on the rail, serene in expression, Finster replied, “I beg your pardon, Commander, but I believe you are mistaken. I’m not guilty of any crime that I am aware of. I’m a lone sage, a mere novice of elixirs working toward the betterment of the community and myself. Eh, perhaps you are searching for those grave robbers that have been trolling about. We’ve seen strange folk heading west, two days gone by now.”

“Is that so?” The commander nodded to a pair of soldiers, who moved to the bottom of the spiral stairwell. He took off his chainmail gauntlets, dropped them on the table, and unrolled a scroll. He tilted his head, eyes squinting. “I have a drawing that fits your description. I’m certain it is you.”

“I have very keen eyes,” Finster said, craning his neck. “May I see it?” The commander showed the picture. Finster’s brow lifted. It was an exact image of himself, take away a decade or two. “I don’t see the resemblance in the slightest. You’ve mistaken my identity.”

“Is that so?” The commander showed the image to the barkeep. “What do you think, man?”

Tuberlous’s crinkled brow burst into beads of sweat. His eyes flitted to Finster for a moment then back at the picture. He swallowed. “I can’t say for certain.”

“See, you’ve mistaken—common soldier—eh, what do you call yourself?”

“Crawley. Commander Crawley of Mendes, the ruling kingdom. Pursuer of villains, liars, murderers, and the like.”

“It’s so hard to tell one from another these days. As a matter of fact, many I’ve come across have borne a remarkable resemblance to you. Scruffy, rough-handed men that tend to spit a little too much when they talk.” He rubbed his throat. “No offense. Tuberlous! I’m getting dry again. Tell you what, Crawley. Will you let me buy you a drink?”

Tuberlous poured a mug of ale from a keg tap. Crawley glared at him. The barkeep set the mug down, wiped his hands on the rag and said, “I think I smell something burning in the back.” He vanished through a small door behind the bar.

“See what you’ve done, Crawfish, you’ve frightened the only bartender for leagues.” Finster slammed his hands on the rails. “Outrageous. Don’t you know who hard it is to train a man to pull cork out of a bottle and not ruin the bouquet? But, I’ll forgive and believe me when I say, I am not who you think I am. You’ve mistaken.

“Lying is a crime,” Crawley said. “Resisting arrest is an offence. Bribery, well, that makes me really nasty.”

“A man of passion. Good for you. Crawfish, can you tell me the name of the man you are looking for? Perhaps I can offer some assistance.” He tapped his chest and belched. “Pardon me. I see many new faces. I’ve a bit of a reputation. The other day, for example—”

“Shut up, you old doddering crone!”

One of the tavern dwellers tried to slip out. A soldier stuffed him back in his seat. Crawley unrolled another scroll with his meaty fingers. “You want a name? How does this sound? The Whistling Cauldron, Pine Bender, Master of the Inanimate, the Silver Snake, Guardian of the Mystic Forge, Iron Keeper, the Secret Slayer, Rodent of Whispers…”

He lists many I’ve forgotten about. Those were the days. Young, powerful, deadly, and delightful. So amazing.

“… the Metal Scourge, and finally, Finster the Magus of the Ninth Order.” Crawley rolled up the scroll. “Do you still deny that is you?”

“Those are just legends. Old stories and tall tales that women tell their whiny children to get them to sleep after a meal.” He drummed his fingers on the railing. “Besides, I can’t imagine a man such as yourself trifling with the man whose legend you just described. It extends beyond the borders of reason.” Finster’s brows knitted ever so slightly. “That would be suicide.”

The soldiers eyed their commander. Sharp steel scraped out of sheaths. Men cranked the lines back on their light crossbows and took aim at Finster.

Without a blink, Crawley said, “Don’t underestimate a man you know little to nothing about, old magus. It could be fatal.”

Finster saw the iron resolve in the commander’s eyes. Crawley wasn’t a foolish youth but a veteran, with marks to show for it—a true fighter skilled at slaying, judging by the heavy steel on his hips and rank on his arms.

Toying with his lips, the magus said, “I haven’t been to Mendes in decades. Do you care to tell me what I’m allegedly charged with?”

“As of now, just treason.”

“Treason? I stand accused in the low kingdom. Seems really thin. Treason can be fatal.”

“There will be a trial.”

“I’m well aware of how those trials go. They are death sentences oft times. I don’t have any intention of turning myself in. I’d be better off committing suicide.”

“I don’t want you to do that. You’re wanted alive. Come on down, Finster. Make it easy. You never know what will happen. After all, you might be innocent, heh-heh.” Crawley stepped right beneath him. “I’ve been doing this a long time. Never failed to get the man, woman, or wizard I pursued. Don’t test me.”

Impudent, curly-headed brute! How dare he? I’m a master—well, former master—of the ninth order! Finster gave the men in the room further study. Greasy and durable, this entourage from Mendes, if that was where they were really from, wasn’t your ordinary ilk. They were hunters, true killers who struck in the dark of the night. Cutthroats. Oh, how I hate men that can only use brawn rather than brains to negotiate. Weak-minded fools. I’ll turn their brains into pig food. “Crawley, I’m sorry to say that you’ve given me no choice other than to defend myself and my place of business.”

“Look around, Finster. I’ve brought in my lot of wizards, lost some good men—well, some good, bad men—and trust me when I say I won’t have any problem with you. You’re washed up. Weak. Pathetic. Not even a reflection of the days of old. Don’t be a fool. Come to Mendes, and see what the judge has to say.”

He’s lying. Why would Mendes want me? Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at Crawley. “I can’t abandon my arcane abode. I like it here.”

“It was hard enough to find your little alchemy stand. I’m not going back empty-handed.” Without taking his eyes off of Finster, he backed into the bar. With a tap of his hand, the barkeeper poured him an ale. He drank it then said, “You’d better come down here before I finish this.”

“I suppose I can’t bring any belongings.”

“No, you’ll be shackled, and we aren’t carrying it.” Crawley drank half the mug. He sneered at the contents. “I won’t take any chances, but I’ll take you to Mendes fed and safe. That’s a generous offer.”

Crawley couldn’t have come at a better time. Finster was drunk. Not only that, but he was far from the top of his game. For years, he’d hidden from those who’d sought him out. He’d just wanted to fade away. Now, his past had caught up with him. His judgment day had come. “Crawley, there’s an old saying in Winkley. Perhaps you’ve heard it before.”

“I’ve heard a lot of things but nothing worth remembering from Winkley. Indulge me.”

Finster cleared his throat. “Never wake Finster from his slumber.”

CHAPTER 3

The crossbows took on a life of their own as, with a single thought, Finster reshaped the wood of the crossbow bolts. The tips pointed toward the gabled ceiling. The soldiers pulled the triggers, and the bolts shot out in loop de loops, sailed short of the mark, and clattered into the stairwell.

“Get up there!” Crawley ordered two soldiers who stood at the base of the spiral staircase. “His parlor tricks won’t last forever.”

The husky soldiers rushed up the steps with wary eyes.

Summoning more power from the mystic well the fed his blood, Finster focused on the stairwell. With his hand in an open grip, he twisted it in the air.

The stairwell groaned. The iron railing bent. The wooden steps cracked and popped. The heavy staircase livened like a snake. The metal coiled around the soldiers, constricted, and crushed. The soldiers screamed.

Looking up at Finster, Crawley started for his sword, but his hand pulled back.

Finster winked at him. “Having second thoughts, Commander Crawley?”

“No, just changing strategy.” He shouted out, “A dozen gold to the man who brings him down!”

The soldiers, just shy of a dozen, moved in an organized scramble. Oh, dear. There are so many of them. The Master of the Inanimate got to work. He reached deeper than he had in years. With a thrust of calculated thought, the chairs, stools, and tables on the floor took on a life of their own. The patrons, still in their chairs, screamed in horror as the wooden objects carried them and charged into the hard-eyed soldiers, bowling one of them over. Another soldier was knocked to the ground by a table. In a small world gone mad, a soldier with a large eye patch stabbed a patron through the chest.

“Easy on the people, Arly! It’s only sticks you’re fighting!” Crawley snatched up a walking stool and smashed it against the bar. “It’s just firewood!”

A large rectangular table blindsided two more soldiers. They went down howling and chopping with their blades. The table legs jabbed into the men’s bodies and limbs.

Seeing his ragtag army of furnishings getting chopped and smashed to bits, Finster executed another command. He caught Crawley looking away and made a twitch of his fingers. The floorboards beneath the commander curled back one by one and swallowed him whole. Dusting off his hands, Finster said, “Ah, that should buy me enough time.” He went to his bookshelf, gathered a few choice items, and tucked them into a rustic leather travel bag. He slid one bookshelf over, slipped through the crack, and snuck down into the kitchen. A backdoor awaited him, half open, with green fields beyond it as far as the eye could see.

Eyeing the pots bubbling on the flames, he considered burning the entire place down. It will be such a time-consuming pursuit if I don’t. Besides, it would be the soldiers’ fault, not mine. They started this. Then again, what about my supplies? Perhaps I can send for them. The clatter and angry hollering in the tavern grew louder. I hope I don’t regret this.

Without looking back, he walked right out the door. The fields of green were darkened on the left side and right with over fifty heavily armored soldiers. Finster froze. There was no way out of this. Even in his prime, he’d have had trouble with it. I hate soldiers. They don’t have enough brainpower, so they must rely on manpower. Every brute thinks he can fight. They breed like rabbits. Abominable!

He puffed, and his knees wobbled. He hadn’t exerted himself like that in years. He was drained.

Crawley appeared from around the corner of the building. He dusted the dirt off and walked up to Finster. Looking down at him, he said, “That was a nice trick, Finster. You dropped me right into the cellar.” He showed a bottle of wine held in his grip. “I found this down there. A good year.”

“Consider it a gift. I’ll put it on my tab.”

“Why, thank you.” Crawley swung the bottle into the side of Finster’s head. The magus dropped to the ground. “Huh, look at that. The bottle didn’t break. Seems it’s more sturdy than you.” With a scowl, he kicked Finster in the gut a few times. “How about a drink, Finster?”

Wheezing, he replied, “Sorry. I only drink with friends. You aren’t a friend, but you had your chance.”

“You should have come peacefully, Finster. I told you there was no way out.” Crawley uncorked the bottle and drank. “Not bad for this pig pit.” He tossed the bottle inside the kitchen door. “Sergeant. Make sure all of my men are out, kill anyone that’s not one of us if they haven’t had the sense to fall, then burn it to the ground. When the villagers wail, make sure they know that Finster did it. That’s the price you pay when you resist men of authority.”

Finster spat blood. “I knew you were bad. Anybody with a face like that has to be bad.”

Crawley let out an evil chuckle. He gave a nod to his men. They dragged Finster away. Crawley took Finster’s travel bag and threw it inside the door. Within a minute, the tavern caught fire. It burned like a huge pyre. Innocent men were put to the sword, including Tuberlous.

“There’s a price for slaughtering the innocent,” Finster managed to say.

“You should know,” Crawley replied. “Strip him down, Sergeant.” The sergeant was a greasy brute with more beard than face. His fingers were like sausages. “We need to make sure he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. Search him. Search him good. Everything from his ears to his, well, you know.”

After the search was over, the sergeant brought Finster to Crawley. The magus wore nothing but held his robes in his hands. “Well done, Sergeant. Now, time for step two.” Crawley held up a black pouch and emptied it into his hand. A jade, beetle-shaped object filled half of his big hand.

Finster recoiled. The blood in his face drained.

“You know what this is, don’t you, Silver Snake?”

Finster replied, “I swear, you’ll get no trouble from me. Not that scarab. Please, don’t put that thing on me!”

“I have orders. Besides, I’m curious to see what this little jewel does. I think you know. Perhaps you can tell me?”

“It will deprive me of my talent.”

“Really? So it will make your tongue shrivel. No more smart-alecky comments. I like it. Perhaps I should get one for my wife. Heh-heh-heh.” Crawley dangled the object in front of Finster’s eyes. Its small insect legs popped out. Barbed feet spread out and wriggled.

“You’re sweating again, Finster. And it hasn’t even pricked your skin yet.” He nodded at the sergeant. “Arly, spin him around.”

With strong hands, Sergeant Arly whipped Finster around.

“Crawley, please, don’t do this! I’m not worth it! That is a rare item. Not the scarab! Please, not that cursed scarab. Use it on one more worthy than me. I’m harmless.”

“No, I’ve got orders. I follow them.” Crawley slapped the hungry beetle between Finster’s scrawny shoulder blades. “It’s done.”

The claws of the scarab bored into his flesh. Finster let out a blood-curdling scream.

CHAPTER 4

Writhing on the ground with Crawley’s and Arly’s boots in his back, Finster shouted out every slur he knew. The jade beetle’s barbed feet pierced his skin. They bored into his muscles. Burning needles, like hellfire, spread through his back. Arly giggled. Finster’s eyes rolled up in his head. He arched, convulsed, and squirmed. His slender fingers clutched back and forth in knots. His blue veins, bursting under his skin, turned green.

“Let him be,” Crawley said, removing his foot. Sergeant Arly stomped on Finster again. “Boy, that looks painful, but he’s harmless now—trust me. Huh, this is like watching a worm caught between the cobblestones and sunrise. See, he shrivels up.”

Finster heard the sting in the words. Crawley’s condescending tone gave him a little fire. He stopped screaming even though the beetle’s legs were still boring into him. On his hands and knees, trembling, he let the jade beetle do its excruciating work. Things were growing inside him. Sharp worms squirmed inside. The blinding pain came to an end, but the nagging had just begun. He opened his eyes. His sweat dripped to the ground in steady drops. His lip ached. He’d bitten through it. He found Crawley’s face. “Now that you’ve ruined me, I don’t suppose I could have a drink. After all, there’s little else to live for.”

“Maybe later.”

With rope, Crawley’s men bound Finster by the wrists. They tethered him to Arly’s horse, and the long march to Mendes began. Finster only wore his sandals and robes. A few hours into the trek, his soft feet had blisters on them. The group camped that night, but he ate nothing and slept shivering in his robes. The wind biting his extremities was one thing, and the chronic nagging in his back was another. He ached. He survived, unwillingly.

“How about that drink?” he said to Crawley the next morning. Finster smacked his parched lips and rubbed his eyes. “Please.”

“Give him some of my share, Arly, but don’t overdo it. That booze is the only thing that will probably keep him going.”

Drinking from a wine flask, Finster said, “As unlikely as it seems, I appreciate the mercy.”

“If it were up to me, I’d just skin your hide and leave you in the cold.” Crawley mounted his horse. “Lucky for you, that’s not what I’m paid for… this time. But, my patience has limits.”

Finster focused on whatever he could learn. He counted soldiers and captured names. Any little bit of information could give him an avenue for escape. Parched, he lumbered along, tripping and stumbling in wagon ruts only to be dragged until Arly felt compelled to stop. Crawley was right: only those drinks throughout the day kept Finster going.

Three days into the journey, he and Crawley struck up another conversation along the muddy road.

“I have to say, I’m flattered that so many were sent on my account. Near three score soldiers coming after a washed-up magus. Why so many?”

High in the saddle, Crawley said, “Your reputation precedes you. I think you know that. When I was a buck, not even eighteen summers, I was at Caterwaul—what was that, thirty years ago? I saw what the likes of you did not to hundreds but to thousands.”

Finster shrank in his robes. “I was rather young myself.”

“Yes, but I was there. I saw you and many others gloating over the dead. Women and children. The wailing was indescribable. Did you know that nothing has thrived there ever since? They say the trees bleed red on wet days like this. The wind is filled with haunting moans and cries. The women can bear no children.”

“A pity. I was following orders.” Finster moved closer to the man riding in the saddle. “Many of my works, I must admit, were a travesty. But there are only two kinds of people in this world: conquerors and the conquered.”

“Yes, I learned my lesson that day. Almost everyone I knew was wiped out.” Crawley made his little laugh. “I was determined to fight for the winning side after that. Now, I command these men and many others.”

“Tragedy shapes us all for good and bad. You seem to fit in quite well with the bad. Your destiny suits you.” He cleared his throat. “Like a glove. There’s nothing worse than seeing a man trying to be something that he is not. How about another sip?”

Crawley tossed over the wine skin. “Finster, you’re almost likeable. Direct honesty gives a man a certain appeal. So many are scared to say the truth anymore. Even among my own men. I find your candor refreshing.”

“I wish I could say the same, but I’d be lying.” He sucked down the last gulp. “At least your men fear you enough not to share the truth. You’d probably kill them.”

“It’s happened.”

Scanning the horizon, eyes squinted in slits, Finster said, “I’ve done my fair share of traveling, and this isn’t the way to Mendes. We move east of it. So if we aren’t going there, then where are we going?”

“Can’t you tell? We’re almost there.”

With nothing but riders in front of him, Finster moved parallel to Arly, stretching out the rope as far as he could. The gentle plains made a straight line against the jagged hills. Tucked in between bumps in the rocky terrain was a huge fortress made from red stones. Black banners, the size of specks, waved on the top of the citadel. Finster’s heart sank. He knew the ominous facility. Carved from rocks and built up with the same stone, the castle city was the stronghold of a peculiar high-ranking official.

“You’re taking me to the home of the Magus Supremeus?” He gaped. “What on earth would he want with me?”

“I don’t ask questions. I just execute the orders. I’ll tell you this, Finster: you aren’t the first to make the visit.”

Finster wandered back in line. He tracked through his past. For over a decade, he’d lain low, moving from town to town, not drawing any attention to himself. He made plenty of enemies all over the world, but there was none worse than a rival wizard. He’d abandoned the order. He had that right, sort of. There was a price to pay for leaving, but never one so grievous as having a jade beetle stuck to his back. As for the Magus Supremeus, he didn’t even know for certain who it was, only who it used to be. He stared at Crawley. Chin up and eyes forward, the stone-faced man’s expression offered no answers.

Finster’s shoulders ached all the more. The worst has worsened.

CHAPTER 5

The Wizard Haven—also known as the Scarlet Citadel, home of the Magus Supremeus—was an imposing slab of stone squeezed in between nature. There were no windows, only parapets on the high walls of the tall, rectangular building. It was always stark, day or night. Commander Crawley led them inside the dark mouth of the mountain home. There wasn’t a courtyard or people within, only granite walls inside an unnaturally deep facility.

“I see they’re still using the same decorator,” Finster said to the sergeant. The water spilled over the inner walls in clear sheets, which made them shimmer, then emptied into a channel where huge goldfish swam. “Yes, nothing has changed in a thousand years, the way I understand it. Quite boorish for men and women renowned for their imaginations.”

Arly dismounted. The rest of the soldiers moved on, disappearing through archways into the strange facilities beyond. He handed Crawley the rope binding Finster. With a nod, Arly led his own horse and Crawley’s into the hallways beyond. The clomping of horse hooves echoed then faded the moment Arly disappeared behind the stone archway.

Looking around, Crawley said, “Is it good to be back, Finster? Home of the wizards. The training ground. It all seems so impersonal to me. Not a potted plant in the entire place.”

“We aren’t known for our gardening. We have common folk, like you, to do those menial chores for us.” He wiped his nose. “A splash of color wouldn’t hurt, I suppose.”

“It’s your homecoming. Let’s go. The Magus will be expecting you.” Crawley gave Finster a shove.

Shuffling along, Finster said, “I hardly think I’m presentable for the high magus. There is a matter of decorum in his forum.”

“No, the Magus was very specific. Besides, you aren’t the first. I’ve brought in many others in far worse shape. Some of them dead. Others just disabled.”

Finster didn’t hide his sneer from Crawley. If he could, he’d have turned the man’s skin inside out. He hated lugs like Crawley. His kind were entirely too cocky. Buffoon! Ten years ago, I’d have made you eat that sword of yours whole. He turned his attention ahead. His sandals flopped on the bottom of his heels, making an uncomfortable echo in the grand chamber.

Above him, the vaulted ceilings were crisscrossed with beautiful archways. Gaudy murals were painted between the bricks. The images were depressing scenes that seemed to move the longer he stared at them. A chill hung in the stuffy air. Right and left, between the support columns were statues carved from obsidian. Each was the image of a magus in his prime. Some carried staves and wands. Others wore strange hats and exquisite robes. The magi depicted were all dead, but each statue seemed alive in a special sort of way.

“I hear it’s the highest honor for a magus,” Crawley said. “I bet you hoped for that—an image of you for all eternity.”

“Nothing lasts forever. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter to me once.” He eyeballed the statue of a wizard with a horned toad on his shoulder. “That’s Ellister the Marvel. He had his choice of familiars, from great cats to lizards, but preferred that toad. We had to learn all about each and every one of them. We studied the spells they created. I always had trouble with Ellister’s intricacies. I just didn’t care for animals, insects—particularly beetles—or anything that lived with a wee little mind in general. Like you, Crawley.”

“You just can’t control your sharp tongue, can you?”

“It’s the only weapon I have left.”

Crawley gave him a hard slap on the shoulder. “At the moment.”

At the end of the corridor was a single door made from a solid slab of granite. Two stone cauldrons, with dragons carved into them, burned with a bright-orange fire on either side of the entrance. A stone staircase, wide as the hall, led up a full flight of stairs. Finster stood at the bottom. Another statue caught his eye. He gaped. “Magus Supremeus! Zuulan the Arcane! He was the last I knew. What treachery is this?” He looked at Crawley. “He cannot be dead. Stepped down, yes, but dead… no.”

“Like you said, nothing—or in this case, no one—lasts forever.” Crawley headed up the stairs, tugging Finster along by the rope.

The slab doorway had mystic images, ancient as the sea, carved all over the stone. There weren’t any handholds or handles. No tremendous men or beasts were present to lift the door by way of chains or pulleys.

Crinkling his nose, he said to Crawley, “Are you going to knock?”

“Don’t play games, Finster.”

Finster rolled his shoulders. He took another glance back at Zuulan the Arcane. He’d liked Zuulan. The man was an ass, but oh, so powerful. Armies could not defeat him. He turned the Genesis Magi Guild into bloody goop. He gave the door a long look. Whoever was on the other side was formidable, but Finster couldn’t imagine who that might be. Perhaps the Wizard’s Citadel had fallen to some otherworldly power. He scratched his eyebrow, gave Crawley a glance, and stepped forward.

“At least your knees aren’t quaking like the others’. I’m impressed. The statue of Zuulan seems to get to them.” Crawley looked up.

A ball of dark-blue light snaked through the channels of the massive door. Winding its way down, it came to a stop a few feet about their heads, looking like a round spot of light. It slid opened to show what looked like a great eye. The eyeball moved just like a real, flesh one. The creepy gaze made Finster’s skin crawl. The eye was a vile monster, a guardian of the Magus Supremeus. Its lone stare froze men and women like ice.

Finster glared at it. He hated the eye. The eye did more than watch the door. It wandered everywhere, prying into everyone’s business. “Oh, get on with it, you filthy little shade. I’m ready to meet my captor.”

The eye narrowed on Finster for a long moment then closed, and the ball of light vanished. Slowly, the door began to rise. The majestic throne room of the Magus Supremeus was revealed. The throne was made of pure silver and iron. The metal was studded with jewels. The arms were made of curled dragon horn. The crimson cushion was empty, but the seat was guarded by dozens of soldiers—the citadel guardians. Each was a stalwart man wearing a burnished mask of hammered steel with rectangular eyelets. Their robes were brown, their sinewy arms bare, and each wore a sword belt and scabbard at the waist and held a spear with an iron tip pointing upward, its butt end on the floor.

“Welcome, Finster,” a familiar voice said from the corner of the room.

He turned toward the source. It can’t be.

CHAPTER 6

“The Sly Swan returns,” Finster said under his breath. He felt Crawley’s eyes boring a hole in his back. Crawley didn’t faze him, but she did. He watched her glide from behind her soldiers, an amazing specimen of a woman with the dark robes of the high magus clinging to her modest curves. She was much younger then he, a platinum-haired lioness with ice-blue eyes. The loose sleeves of her robes draped over the arms of the chair when she sat. An easy smile formed on her lips. His knee began to bend toward the floor. What am I doing? He straightened. “Ingrid the Inverted. I thought you were gone… forever.”

“Is that any way to greet your former prodigy, Gray Cat?” Her icy stare danced with the flickering power of a coming storm. She rested her gentle hands on the arms of the throne. She wore eight rings, one on each finger, each made from a unique precious metal and stone. They all sparkled with secrets and power. “You seem so, very, very surprised. And you look like, well”—she crinkled her nose—“something that crawled out of a pig pit.”

“You can thank your errand boy for that. He was quite merciless in his acquisition of me. But also very unrevealing as to the true nature of my kidnapping. I tried to dislodge it from his simple brain, but stubborn nature failed to let me loose it from his crooked lips. Care to explain, Ingrid?” He pointed at his back. “Also, the jade beetle is quite… extreme.”

“A precaution, old mentor. Consider it mercy. You’ve fared much better than several other members of the order.”

“I’d be very interested to learn more about their demise and the purpose behind it. Perhaps we could talk over a drink.” He licked his lips. “Much like old times?”

“What makes you think I brought you here for conversation?”

“Please…” Finster gave the soldiers and Crawley the once-over. “The citadel is all but abandoned. You must be starved for real conversation. These men are capable of little more than fighting and farting. I’d hate to imagine an actual conversation. Unless you are keeping them to satisfy your neurotic passions.”

Ingrid waved a finger. “Be careful what you say to the Magus Supremeus, Finster. I’m not your protégé anymore, nor your friend.”

“No, of course not. Friends don’t treat friends like this—or threaten or kill them, for that matter.”

A female servant dressed in thin layers of silk appeared from behind the soldiers. She approached the throne with a tray loaded with a bottle of wine and a single goblet. Ingrid took the cup in hand. “I’ll be drinking alone today, as I often do.”

Eyeing the goblet, Finster licked his lips. Stifle your tongue, Finster. It’s the best way out of this. Seek her mercy. With a long shrug of his narrow shoulders, he said, “Please, Ingrid. Look at where you are. I played a part in this, didn’t I? Was I not good to you?”

Her eyes smoldered for just a moment. “You have become a sot, Finster. I’d heard such things, but I had trouble believing it. You, of all the magi, took the greatest care of yourself. You were impeccable. Now you are soft and scrawny, and the natural charm that danced the skirts off many ladies is gone.”

“Did I not tell you that magic takes a toll on you? Finally, I admit, it got the best of me.” He made a feeble and helpless smile. “I’m master of little more than the bottle now.”

“Is this true, Crawley?” She leaned back in her seat. “Was it a simple task to track down and capture this drunkard?”

“He posed as big a challenge as any. He made the tables, chairs, and stairwells dance,” Crawley said. “He’s got power—plenty of it.”

“Had power,” Finster corrected. “Ingrid, why this cursed scarab of all things? Why me? I’m not even part of the order now. I’m just one that wants to be left on his own.” He held out the grubby palms of his hands. “I’m harmless.”

“I know better, Finster. I’m certain that you remember telling me that a time comes in every wizard’s life when he must make the choice. You told me you’d answer the call to good if pressed. Despite your own misgivings, you are still sworn to defend the order.”

“What order? It appears you destroyed it. And those words? Why, those were that of a mentor trying to impress a pretty girl. I don’t even recall it. Besides, you weren’t so naïve. You knew what was going on. Every wizard in the citadel wanted you.”

Her eyes smiled. Her crossed leg kicked.

Finster went on. “Did I not save you—an innocent girl—from a life in the brothels? That’s why I took you from the place that you were born in. You had wisdom. A talent. I found it.”

“Yes, you, oh so noble, found me in a brothel.” She sipped her red wine. “It makes me angry.”

“You’ve always been angry. That was your weakness. I thought you might have cooled off by now. As for the brothel, that was a mere coincidence. I was weak and had needs. I think it was destiny.”

“Yet you sent me away.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The missions. Those boorish trips between where the sun rises and falls, to help, grow, and learn. All it did was incite me!”

He wagged his finger at her. “You and I parted ways long before that happened, Ingrid the Unpleasant. I, on the other hand, moved on to face my own failures. Don’t throw your problems on me. Look where you are now.” He gazed at the splendor of the throne room. “You are the Magus Supremeus, and you complain?”

Her eyes narrowed.

Finster’s finger popped out of joint. “Gah!” He dropped on his knees. Eyes watering, he said, “Why did you do that? Can’t you see I’m impaired enough? Spare me a finger, please!”

Ingrid stood. “Don’t talk to me like I’m your adept. I’m the Magus Supremeus.”

“No, you are Ingrid the Inept!” he said, huddled over his finger. “Tell me, how did you steal this throne?” He leered at her sensuous legs. “Though I’m pretty sure I could guess.”

In a gloating fashion, Ingrid held up her fingers. “These trinkets that you know so well, I earned in the battle of orders. In my fight to attain the tenth order, I bested many. The rings, among other things, are trophies. You’ve had your share. You boasted to me about that. I reached the level of the ninth order. My skills garnered the attention of Zuulan the Arcane. He was so fond of me that we married.”

Finster rolled his eyes. Zuulan, you fool. Why would you marry a fellow magus? And Ingrid of all people. She was too talented and dangerous. They had to send her away. She brought nothing but chaos to the order. Guilt stirred in his belly. Finster had been the one to discover Ingrid. He’d had high hopes, but she had a dark fire that couldn’t be quenched.

“You are partially right, Finster.” She crossed her legs. Running her fingers from her bare thighs to her knee, she said, “I used my ways on old Zuulan. As it turns out, the only thing he loved more than magic was flesh.”

I could have told you that. Oh, his birthday celebrations. They made brothels look like cathedrals.

She continued. “It was easy to pull the wool over Zuulan’s hungry eyes. I liked him and respected him. I kept him distracted with many things. At the same time, in the background, I began my own secret war on the members of the order. With the help of Crawley, I killed them all.” She toyed with the rings on her fingers. “One by one.” She touched one of the masked soldiers. The citadel guardian turned to water and spilled over the floor. She touched another man. The guardian’s skin shriveled up into a husk. He hit the floor and collapsed to dust.

Finster saw the whites of their eyes behind the masks. Many Adam’s apples rolled. Crawley’s own finger moved over the pommel of his sword.

Invisible spiders crawled up Finster’s spine. This is bad. Oh, so bad.

CHAPTER 7

“Impressive,” Finster said, wiping his sweating palms on his robes. He popped his finger back into joint with a grunt. He’d seen the power of the Magus Supremeus before, but this display was different. Ingrid took the lives of the guardians as nonchalantly as a child stomping a worm underfoot. The guardians of the citadel were devotees of the order, the high magus’s personal soldiers. They pledged their lives in the order’s defense, but they weren’t livestock. Warriors—so brainless in their bravery. Always trying to prove something. Glorified farmers. Eventually, they have it coming. “So I suppose you murdered Zuulan, then. I seem to recall rumors of Ingrid the Assassin.”

“No.” Ingrid drank from her goblet. She took a deep breath, expanding her enticing chest. Her eyes drifted for a moment. “I didn’t need to murder him. Instead, I challenged him before he discovered what I was doing. You should have seen the shock in his face. His jowls hung to the floor. The betrayal. Hah, it weakened him. I think he held back. Actually, I was counting on that. You see, I’d learned enough to advance to the tenth order. But I’d learned something else he didn’t know—how to use the power of all these rings as one. It gave me the edge I needed.”

Finster’s eyes watched the treasury on her fingers with hungry fascination.

“Yes, Finster, it is exhilarating. The amplification of power I hold in my hands, I must say, is intoxicating.”

“All power is, and only a few can handle it.”

She gently shook her head. “Poor Zuulan—he didn’t have the fight in him. Pitiful. Whimpering, his eyes sank back into his head right before his bones turned to water. He was nothing more than a sack of sand made from flesh. I cremated him, literally. No sense in having a coffin funeral for a bag of flesh.”

Finster held her eyes. “Now that you have the high seat, what do you intend to do with it?”

“The only thing that must be done: take over the kingdom. I grew so tired of all the folly I saw when I walked the world on the missions.” She fought off a sneer. “These kings and queens are fools. The people would be better off without them. I’d be better off without them. I’ll have vengeance on all of them.”

“What would life be without vengeance? Ah, yes—peaceful.” Sniffing, he rubbed his nose. “The order is about protecting the kingdoms, not running them. The magi are guides, the higher minds of reason. We offer advice and direction.”

Ingrid’s voice rose. “The magi have been pawns! They are the dirty fighters behind these endless wars and skirmishes. You know that as well as anyone, Secret Slayer.”

“You are mad, Ingrid. The people like their kings and queens. So be it! You might take Mendes, but you’ll never rule.”

“Oh, but I will. You see, the King of Mendes, Rolem the Grand, is due another suitable queen, as her ladyship recently died.”

“Let me guess—her heart gave out.”

“Exploded actually.”

“I see… and you’ve sunk your claws into him. Relationships between the order and the royal lines are forbidden.”

“King Rolem is an innovator. Open-minded. He believes in change.”

Oh, not this again. Change my arse! It’s just another word for control. “And pray tell, what is my role in all of this?”

“You don’t have a role, Finster.” She stepped away from the throne, came down the steps, and faced him. “I certainly have a fondness for the once-handsome magus that saved this young girl from living among the sordid people in the taverns, but I only need one thing from you.”

“Obviously, it’s not my advice.”

“No, something more useful.” Her lips brushed against his ear. “I want you to tell me the location of the stone.”

“What stone?”

“The stone. Don’t play games with me, Finster. I want it. I’ll have it.”

“Ingrid, the stone is a myth. At least I’m convinced of that. I merely told you about it to impress you.”

“I know better, Guardian of the Mystic Forge.”

“Are you daffy?” He started to tremble. “I’m a drunk. Always have been. I abandoned those dreams and delusions.” From his knees, he begged her. “Please, let me be your servant. A simple servant. I’ll do it for wine. I’ll sleep in the stables. Ingrid, please!”

Teeth clenched, she hauled back to smack him.

Finster flinched.

“All I have to do is touch you, Finster!” She stuck her fist in his face. “You would be at an end. It’s sickening what you’ve become. You were destined to be a tenth. A tenth! Maybe the high magus. But I promise you this: if you know the whereabouts of the stone, I will extract it from you. I know there is still a man in there. A man with secrets. I will have them!” She marched toward the throne. On her way, she touched another guardian. The man’s neck snapped. “Crawley, you know where to take him.”

“Please, Ingrid! Take this beetle from my back! Please!”

“Why, Finster, I thought you’d relish being attached to the mystic pet that you created. Aren’t you enjoying my precious gift? The jade beetle has been a very effective tool in my conquests.”

“Ingrid, please, I beg you. Let’s have a drink. The trip has been long. Perhaps some concoctions will revive my addled mind. I’ll tell you what I can remember.”

Crawley grabbed hold of him by the nape of the neck.

Finster clawed the air. He showed Ingrid a gaping smile. “I’ll be a wonderful servant! I learned to make excellent soups.”

She shooed them away.

Crawley popped him in the back of the head. Finster’s knees buckled. He climbed back to his feet with the help of Crawley, begging for mercy. Crawley shoved him out the door and down the steps. He led Finster on a long walk through the citadel’s catacomb-like halls. They took steps that wound down into the subterranean level. The stones were slimy under Finster’s feet. It stank and left a rancid taste in his mouth. A wet chill hung in the air. He buried his nose in his sleeve.

Two sentries opened the door to the main dungeon, a place Finster had been to several times before. The circumstances had been far more favorable then. They stopped in front of a cell.

Crawley shoved Finster’s face in between the metal bars of a cell. Inside, a brute of a man the likes of which Finster had never seen lay balled up and half naked. He didn’t stir. “A relative of yours, Crawley?”

“No… your cellmate.”

CHAPTER 8

“Is this really necessary?” Finster was inside the cell, sitting with his back against the wall. With help from the guards, Crawley shackled Finster’s ankle to the barbarian’s ankle with a fair length of chain. “I’m inside a cell. I’m not some pickpocket that can break out. Please, Crawley. I deserve better than this. You know I don’t get along with inbreeds, aside from yourself of course.”

Crawley squatted down—eye to eye with Finster. “Funny, but I know better. Never trust a wizard. Besides, maybe your cozy new relationship will jar your memory. He’s one of those northern barbarians. The hairless tribe. Odd for a northerner. Their skins are so thick that their bare feet don’t freeze in the snow. They call them the Blue Toes. Heh-heh. They like to snuggle with each other on cold, damp nights.” He tested the chain and stood up. “When he wakes up, there’s no telling what he might do with the likes of you. But if he kills you, oh well. Nothing lost, nothing gained.”

Finster eyeballed the brute form huddled on the floor like a passed-out drunkard. The savage knots of muscle in his back rippled with every breath. The barbarian was skinned up and scarred from head to toe. He looked like he’d run naked through a patch of heavy black thorns a dozen times. The only thing covering the bestial man up was a pair of goatskin trousers.

Crawley stepped outside of the cell and closed the door. “I wouldn’t resist if he wants to curl up with you. You might be a warm little pig to him. A pet.” He held his hands up. “But don’t agitate him. We came across him by accident. He took offense to us crossing a stream where he was fishing. He killed five of my best men before their steel could snake out of their skins. Huh.” He gave the barbarian a look of admiration. “Those barbarians are outstanding woodsmen. They just aren’t so wise in the ways of warcraft.”

“I’m surprised, Crawley. The barbarians are deft at evading capture. How ever did a man of your common education pull off such a feat?”

“Just so happened we had a really big net with us that day. And he’s a young one, alone. We cornered him and took him down like a wild gazelle. I’ve never missed a mark.”

“So why not kill him?”

Leaning his shoulder on the metal bars, Crawley said, “As it turns out, Ingrid took an interest. Given the marvelous constitution of these wild men, she thought we could breed a fantastic army of soldiers.” Crawley let out his wicked chuckle. “A silly idea. An army of civilized barbarians wouldn’t be very frightening, would it?”

“You’re asking me? You’re their descendant. That strong protruding jawline is a dead giveaway.”

“Whenever you’re ready to talk about that artifact, Finster, just give the guards a shout. In the meantime, enjoy your new tavern.” Crawley and the guards departed. Their footsteps faded deep in the halls.

Finster raised his arms over his head, stretching his burning back. For the most part, he’d led a charmed life of mystic gifts and intelligence. Other than facing the wizard’s trials, he never allowed himself to be in a situation that made him uncomfortable. He liked comfort. That had always been a benefit of the order. The intelligent were drawn to it. Now, for the first time, he was truly destitute.

He covered his nose and shuddered a sigh. The stink alone should kill me. His frail chest heaved in and out. His eyes drifted to the barbarian. Please don’t wake up. Ever. He pulled his knees to his chest. The length of chain scraped over the stone floor. The barbarian stirred. Easy, Finster. Easy.

With heavy eyelids, Finster gathered his thoughts. Ingrid is insane! Did my passions blind me so much I did not see it? He’d come across Ingrid more than two decades earlier in a small tavern in a city called Shangley. She was a fetching girl, serving tables, who’d caught on to his magic. He hoped to do some good with the promising adept. But her upbringing had been too marred and jaded. She’d seen too much bad in the world. She hated. Hatred fed a dark fire she held within. It fueled her ambition. Finster could not change that. He liked her drive. She consumed everything he taught her. Finally, seeing his pupil blossom into a flower filled with venom, he broke away. Just like the father and mother she’d never come to know, he had abandoned her. I can’t be the sole one to blame, can I? On the brighter side of things, I breathe. That’s more than most of my counterparts can say. Perhaps living a soldier’s life is more desirable than making these world-changing decisions.

Finster yawned. His lids closed. He tried to fight off the exhaustion overtaking his body but couldn’t. He leaned into the corner and slept.

He awoke. Something jerked at his foot. His head dragged down the wall and smacked into the floor. Wide-eyed and drooling, he heard a tremendous sound. The barbarian—whom he was still chained to—rammed the dungeon door with his shoulders. Built with the shoulders of a bull, the monster of a man hit the door like a wild animal, and the effect was jarring.

The sound of flesh colliding with metal pounded Finster’s ears. He covered them. “What are you doing?” Finster shouted. He’d never seen a man so big before. No one living had ever frightened him so. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Chest heaving, the barbarian seemed to fill the entire cell. He stood over seven feet in height. His wild eyes, burning with intensity, looked right through Finster. He lowered his shoulder once more and rammed the door. The hinges groaned but held fast. The barbarian moved to the back end of the cell, dragging Finster by the ankle like a babe, and took a run at the door. He hit it at full speed with a resounding wham!

“Will you stop it?” Finster said, gathering his leg, trying to keep it from being jerked out of its hip socket. “You oversized idiot! You can’t break down that door!”

The barbarian collided with the door at least twenty times. The man was as wild as a cornered animal. He pounded the door with ham-sized fists. He kicked the metal and bit the bars.

“Oh, please. I know stampeding cattle that are smarter than that!”

The barbarian head butted the metal. Blood trickled down over the bridge of his nose.

Finster rubbed his aching head. “You’re an embarrassment to your own kind! Stop it!”

Laboring for breath, the barbarian glowered down at Finster. The wild eyes turned sullen. He seemed to see Finster for the first time. Holding the chain, he lifted Finster off the ground by the ankle.

Hanging like a fish on the line, Finster said, “Oh dear.”

CHAPTER 9

The barbarian gave Finster a couple of fierce shakes before finally setting him back down. His heavy stare landed on the wizard’s face. The heavy brows of the semiprimordial man seemed to push Finster down at the shoulders. The barbarian was a creature from another time, long lost, before shimmering cities grew from straw-topped huts into spires that yearned to kiss the clouds.

Hands up, Finster said, “I’m not your enemy. Do you understand me?”

The barbarian’s chin dipped. His head tilted. The gray eyes probed Finster’s. There was a spark of reason lurking behind that dead stare. At the same time, there was also the hunger of a prowling tiger. There were savages in the world—men who slaughtered and devoured their enemies. They ate the raw flesh of animals. Barbarians were little different from savages, but they had their own kind of civilization. As far as Finster knew, they drew the line at eating people. They were capable of a few other things, such as working metal in a forge, trapping, and farming. Finster wasn’t certain whether there was a difference between this man and a savage.

Aside from the black brows knotted between his eyes, the barbarian didn’t have a shred of hair. His skin was ruddy and smooth. The rest of his body, except for blood smears, dirt, and scars from many wounds, was clean of paint and strange tattoos. Grabbing the leg chain, the barbarian tried to pull the links apart. The barbarian’s muscles bulged in his arms and neck. Sinew popped up along with blue veins that strained to burst from his skin. The metal groaned the slightest. After a long minute of struggle, the barbarian stopped. He dropped the chain and moved forward, staring through the cell’s bars.

Finster leaned forward. His fingers toyed with the length of chain. “My, that was impressive. I swear, for a moment I thought that link would snap. That would be quite a feat. This chain is tempered, but you were oh, so close. Interesting. Even wild bulls can’t snap it.”

If the barbarian heard him, he didn’t acknowledge it. The only reply was a loud groaning in his stomach.

Finster scooted back as far as the length of chain would allow. He sounds like he could eat a herd of cattle. He pushed up his sleeves. “I have little to offer in regards to nourishment. No, just skin and bones. Wizards, such as I, believe exercise profits very little. We focus on more divine things.” He scratched his head. I can’t believe I’m talking to this illiterate imbecile. How desperate I’ve become—and starved for conversation. With a barbarian, no less.

The barbarian’s eyes searched every crack and crevice of the dungeon. Finster didn’t bother looking. He’d noted every detail the moment he walked within. If he was going to get out, it would take cunning. And perhaps a dash of brute force.

Within the hour, the barbarian had slammed the cell door again. It happened all day long, on again and off again. It was like watching a ram butting a giant oak tree. Finster pleaded with the man. “Stop, you gigantic baboon! Save your energy!” He shouted himself hoarse. It went on for days, while Finster suffered painful withdrawal headaches and the scarab burning in his back.

The guards never came despite the annoying sounds, but late in the night, they brought scraps of food and placed them down at the edge of the cell along with a ladle in a bucket of water. As soon as they left, the barbarian’s fingers stretched for the food. He scarfed all of it down, every last morsel. He slopped the water into his mouth.

Finster didn’t care. He was accustomed to days without eating but was not used to going without wine or ale. As the long days went on, he started to shake and shiver. He began to scream and yell absurdities. “Guards! Morons! Wine! Chinless bastards! Wine now! I must have it! I’ll kill you all! ” His head ached. He broke out in cold sweats. The madness between him and the barbarian went on for what felt like weeks. Finally, the withdrawal, added suffering, and fever died. With clarity, he sought the wooden bucket. Hands shaking, he grabbed the ladle and drank. “Oh, that’s what water tastes like. I’d forgotten. Very bland.”

He nibbled a few leftover scraps of food on the tray. The barbarian woke from his slumber. The time came for the hairless brute to try to tear down the gate again.

Finster locked his arms in the bars. “Listen to me! Stop this madness. If you want out of this, work with me.”

The barbarian pried him away from the bars as easily as a monkey peeling a banana. The wild man charged the door again. When he stopped, Finster caught the man’s eye. “Listen to me! You must—” Stopping short of his complete thought, he turned toward the back of the cell. The guardian eye from the doors of the Magus’s throne room appeared on the dingy wall. “Please, Magus Supremeus, take me out of this cesspool. I’ll help you find the artifact. Together, we’ll seek out the stone.”

The eye hung on the wall, watery and unblinking.

The barbarian caught sight of the strange eyeball orb. He charged, dragging Finster behind him. He punched the wall with his fists, making loud smacking sounds. The orb drifted along the wall, unharmed, and disappeared. The barbarian ran his hands over the rock with the gentleness of a physician.

“It’s gone now, but it will be back, barbarian,” Finster said. “If I’m going to have to continue these one-sided conversations, at least give me a name to address you with. Make a sound or something.”

The barbarian scratched at the wall. A moth that would fit in the palm of Finster’s hand flew into the cell. The barbarian’s thick neck tilted. Without looking, he swiped the moth out of the air and ate it.

Finster made a sour face. “Ew. In all my travels, I’ve never seen moth fancied as a delicacy. Of course, I’ve never watched a man try to run through steel bars before either. Humph. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. A name.” He watched the barbarian swallow. “I think I’ll call you Moth. Any objections?” There was a short pause. “Good.”

With greater clarity than normal for a mind that had been dulled by years of endless drinking, Finster reflected. Ingrid wielded eight rings, each with its own power, and she—with the help of her own training—had mastered them. She’d cleverly picked apart anyone who could challenge her. At least anyone that Finster knew of. He didn’t doubt for a second that she could achieve what she’d set out to do. The effects would be catastrophic. The entire kingdom would be at war. Countless innocent people would die. He knew that because the same thing had happened in the histories he’d studied.

Long ago, the Magus Supremeus—called by a different name at the time—had tried to overtake the kingdoms. The devastating results could still be seen everywhere—mountains had been leveled and cities destroyed. In response, the Order of the Magus had been created to protect peace, at least enough that men would never fully destroy themselves. The new order swore never to interfere directly with the world of men again. They would be guides, sages, and seers. Peace was pursued but not at all costs. After all, the magi were flesh and blood, like other humans, even though they wielded a convincing power. To maintain order in the world, they had to keep order among themselves. And even the magi, from their lofty perch, had problems. That was one of the reasons Finster had walked away—he’d tired of the problems. The magi wrought much good, but evil was never undone. Still, deep inside, he’d realized he had to do something, or the world as he knew it would perish.

“Moth, it’s time to get out of here.”

CHAPTER 10

Finster removed his robes. The draft bit his shoulders. Goose bumps popped up all over his body. He reached his long arm behind his back and touched the jade beetle. The cursed thing’s tendrils clenched. He jerked his hand away. “Gah! I never would have thought I’d have created my own undoing!”

The jade beetle was a magical device of his own design used to thwart the powers of his opponents—other magic users in the world who didn’t agree with the high order. The jade beetles, very difficult and expensive to make, would crawl into homes unseen and attach themselves to the order’s unsuspecting adversaries. A beetle like the one on Finster’s back had brought Harlock the Reaper down. “I almost feel pity for that mystical marauder of innocent flesh.” Finster took a deep breath.

Removing an attached beetle that had burrowed into one’s skin was fatal. Once implanted, it could never be removed. It was terminal. At least, that was what Finster had led everyone to believe. Nothing done cannot be undone. He’d created the beetle and knew it could be removed, but the risk was great. The pain would be unbearable. The risk of paralysis, blindness, senselessness, and even death was high. Finster had figured if a beetle was ever used on him, he might as well be dead anyway. I can’t believe I’m going to do this. For the kingdom!

He reached up and snapped his fingers in the huge man’s face. “Moth, listen to me,” he said, turning and pointing to the beetle. “See this insect in between my shoulder blades? I need you to pull it out.” He gesticulated. “Pull it. No matter how loud I scream—and I’ll scream like a thousand wailing inbred infants—don’t stop! It has to come out.” He faced Moth. “If you do this, I think we can get this door open. I hope I can. But we must be quick. It is this or neither one of us will get out of here alive.”

Moth, neither handsome nor ugly but just naturally scary, stood like a statue, unblinking.

“Listen, barbarian, you have to do this! I know you understand. I see a flicker in those dim eyes. Now, pull this bug out of my back.” He turned and faced the cell door. He locked his fingers around the bars. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Go ahead, Moth. Do it!”

The dungeon fell quiet. The seconds were long.

This brainless barbarian is not going to do it!

Finster started to twist his neck over his shoulder. A rough hand touched his back. Fingers dug in around the beetle and pulled. “Yargh!” Finster screamed at the top of his lungs.

One-handed, Moth pulled at the beetle. Finster’s grip was ripped from the bars. He stumbled back into Moth’s chest. Bursting into a sweat, he said, “Mercy, that hurts!” He caught his breath. “Try it again!” Finster stuck his arms through the bars and hugged them tight. “Try again!”

Moth’s hand, filled with the raw strength of a grizzly bear, latched onto the beetle once more. He pulled.

Finster shrieked, “Eeeee-yargh!” His arms strained to hold onto the metal bars. “I can’t hold it!” His arms gave way. His fingers slipped. “It’s going to be impossible to get that thing out of me—urk!”

Moth stuck one large foot in Finster’s back and drove him into the door. He locked his free hand around the bar. With the other hand clutching the beetle, he renewed his efforts.

“Eeeeeeee-yaaaaaaah!” Finster screamed. Lightning flashed under his eyelids. His eyes pulled back into his head. Something was being ripped out of his body from the top of his fingers to the bottom of his toes. He continued to yell. “Aaaaaaaaaaaah! You’re killing me!”

A sickening sucking sound caught his ears. It felt like his entire back was being yanked out by a giant fishhook. Something unnatural stretched and squiggled. There was a high-pitched skreeeyal sound followed by a loud pop and snap.

Shaking, Finster slid down the sweat-slickened bars, drooling. He panted. He trembled. Somehow, he managed to turn his body toward Moth. The giant man held the beetle in his hand. Thin, long tendrils with tiny barbs dripped blood onto the floor. Slowly, the tendrils coiled back up into the beetle. Moth set the beetle down. He raised his heel over it.

“No,” Finster sputtered. He crawled over and grabbed the beetle. The object was cold in his hand. The damp air became icy. The chills were painful. He gathered his robes and stuck the beetle in his pocket. Then he huddled in the corner and shook uncontrollably for hours. His vision came and went. That unforgiving itch is gone, only to be replaced by an unbearable burning sensation.

Meanwhile, Moth started banging into the bars again. His strength and determination defied reason.

Finster rocked in the folds of his robes. He could feel the warm blood on his back. He swore a hunk of his flesh was gone. Somehow, he lived. Not that he thought it was impossible, but the pain alone was more than enough to make any person’s heart fail. He retched in the corner and wiped his mouth. “That’s better.”

With the jade beetle out of his back and his mind sober, Finster’s strength slowly began to return. He was inside the belly of the Wizard’s Citadel. The entire building was a conduit to the mystic realm, from which sorcerers drew their power. A little bit at a time, he drew more energy, gathering enough until he was able to stand. He was just about to make his way up to his feet when the mystic eye appeared again.

Sitting against the wall, Moth stirred.

Finster didn’t acknowledge the brute. He merely gazed back at the eye. “Please, Ingrid, let us speak and drink. I beg of you.”

Moth pounced at the wall. The move jerked Finster underneath him. Moth pounded at the eye, chasing the strange orb all over the cell, dragging Finster along with him.

“Will you stop this madness?” Finster demanded.

The eye vanished.

Moth scanned the walls with his inflamed eyes. He clawed at spots with his hands.

“It’s gone, Moth.”

The bald brute continued his search.

Finally, Finster said, “I’ve got enough strength, I think, to get us out of here.” Moth paid him no mind. Finster stepped into his path and pounded Moth’s rock-hard chest. He pointed at the door. “Out! Escape! Freedom! Think of all the sheep waiting to be molested out there.”

Foaming at the lips, Moth glowered down at him.

Hands up, Finster said, “The sheep part was only a jest. Please, pay attention.” Grimacing, he edged toward the dungeon door. He tapped the locking mechanism. “Everything has a weakness. With doors, it’s not the bars but the locks and the hinges. I can use my power to weaken them.” He pointed at the lock. “But you must push right here. Do you understand?”

Stone-faced, Moth said nothing. He turned, moved, and sat down against the wall.

CHAPTER 11

“Now you want to take a rest from your mindless battering?” Finster marched over to Moth and kicked him in the thigh. “Ouch!” With the chain rattling behind him, he dragged himself back over to the door. He placed his hand on the lock. “Listen to me again, Moth. We can break the mechanism. Together. I have just enough energy for it. We must try.”

Moth closed his eyes.

“Unbelievable!” Desperation began to set in. His stomach quavered. His limbs were weak. Even with the beetle out of him, the thing had taken a toll. He was fragile. Feverish. A raspy quality clung to his breath. “We aren’t going to get many more chances at this. Time is fleeting.”

Moth let out a sigh. It was the kind of sound an animal let out just before it died, when all of the vibrant strength in its limbs had failed. The taut muscles in the barbarian’s body eased.

Head sagging, Finster shook his chin. “I suppose I can try it without you.” His fingers dusted the metal on the locking mechanism. It was a stalwart lock made of heavy, unbreakable parts. The construction was of the finest craft. Everything in the Red Citadel was.

Finster closed his eyes. Summoning his sorcerous powers, he explored the inner workings on the other side of the metal plate. He tried to feel the tumbler within. He wanted to move it with his mind. The lock, however, had a special design. Unlike the common sort, it was designed to hold against wizards.

Perspiration built on his forehead. Gasping, he stepped away. “I… I can’t do it. Nothing more aggravating than locks that a wizard’s tools can’t penetrate.” He placed his hands on his knees. “Moth, you have to help. Even someone little smarter than cattle deserves to frolic among the manure again. If we can’t get past this door, I can’t get you out of this cursed citadel.”

The barbarian’s chin slipped to his chest.

Turning away, Finster took hold of the bars. They were solid steel, a full inch thick in diameter. It wasn’t so long ago I could bend this metal like a noodle. When I was at full strength, at least. He tugged on the metal. The bars were vertical and horizontal, making one solid piece, more like a gate than a door. He touched the inside of one of the bars’ angles. Am I not the Master of the Inanimate? I can do this by myself. He channeled his energy. He envisioned the metal coming to life, spreading apart. There was a discernable creak of metal. The bar in his grip bent the slightest bit.

Moth came alive. On his feet, the big barbarian stepped across the cell. He grabbed the bars with savage intensity. An animal-like hurk sound erupted from his lips.

Finster funneled more energy into the metal, spreading it out, attacking the angles. Veins popped up at his temples. His mind pulled at the bars.

The hardened metal began to bend. The barbarian’s great efforts doubled. He let out a guttural cry. Freedom lay just beyond the threshold. The bars peeled back. The metal ripped open like webbing. Moth’s arms and Finster’s mind spread the steel wide open.

“We did it!” Finster said with a gasp. He dashed the sweat from his brow. The gap in the cell door looked like a mouth of busted metal teeth. Before he could say another word, Moth squeezed through it. The sharp metal drew blood. Finster teetered through on wobbly knees. The jagged steel snagged and tore his robes. “Slow down. I need my breath, Moth. Most men don’t have the endurance of a spawning salmon.”

With the grace of a prowling cat, Moth slunk by the other cells toward the door that led outside the dungeon. It was thick, made of iron and wood. He gave the iron handle a fierce tug, and it came off.

Finster wedged himself between the door and the hairless man. “Listen to me. The guards will come. Then we strike.” He smacked his fist into his hand. “Wait for it, Moth.”

Moth pushed him aside.

A voice called out from one of the cells deeper within. “Is that you, Finster?” Moth turned along with Finster. “It is I, Gregory the Grand.” Jutting out of a distant cell, an arm—without a hand—waved.

Finster knew the voice. He angled for a better look and saw Gregory’s dopey face pressed to the bars. “Gregory, why wait to reveal yourself now? I can only assume you are a spy, Gregory the Guileful.”

“I saw no reason to strike up a conversation with the damned. Har! But you, Finster, have fooled death again.” He stuck the handless arm farther out. “She took my hands. I was loyal, and she took my hands and tossed me in this cell.”

“Yes, well, as I recall, you weren’t very good with your hands to begin with. Or anything else, for that matter. Perhaps it is a good thing.”

“Finster! I was a fine member of the order. Let me help. I know things.”

“I’m busy at the moment, Gregory. Please keep silent. I’m thinking. I don’t need your useless thoughts clouding my serenity.”

Moth swiveled toward the door. He bent at the knees. Footsteps and the jangle of metal could be heard on the other side of the entrance. The guards had come.

CHAPTER 12

Together, Moth and Finster stepped to the side of the hinges. The lock popped. The door swung open. Two soldiers, one carrying a tray of food and the other a spear, entered. They marched inside.

Moth pounced. The barbarian locked the men up in the crooks of his massive arms. He lifted them off the ground. The food tray clattered on the stone floor. Eyes bulging and legs kicking, their necks gave two notable cracks. Moth dropped the broken guards like two bundles of rotting fruit.

Finster quickly huddled over them. He grabbed a ring of keys and fished through them one at a time. “Leg iron? No! Leg iron? No! Leg iron? No! Every key but the leg irons. I hate that Crawley.”

Gregory’s hollow laugher echoed. “You wouldn’t have that problem if your feet were cut off like my hands.”

“I’m busy, Gregory. Go and imagine you’re a great wizard or some other absurd impossibility.”

“You always were more arrogant than most,” Gregory said.

“And that’s why I’m out here and you’re in there, idiot.” He handed Moth the spear. “We must go.”

Led by Moth, they hustled out of the door.

“No, barbarian, come with me! I know the way.”

Moth was unrelenting in his path. Finster had no choice but to keep up with him. Shuffling as fast as he could, he said, “Moth, will you listen? I know the way out. The way you’re going is certain doom.”

Moth slid into the next hallway. They ran smack-dab into an unsuspecting guard, dressed in chain mail and studded leather, who caught the dungeon-door handle in his face. He crumpled beneath the blow. One-handed, Moth jabbed the man repeatedly all over with the spear. The guard died from blunt-force trauma.

Finster looked at the mangled man then at Moth. The blunt end of the spear was bloody. “You’re supposed to use the pointed end of the spear, not the butt! Even I know that!” He pointed to the tip. “That end!”

The wizard citadel was a small city behind thick walls. Ancient in origin, it was a network of complicated alleys and halls, not to mention dimension doors that took a person from one place to the other. As a young man with a knack for exploration, Finster had sought out and found many of the citadel’s secrets. He had used that knowledge to leave when he wasn’t supposed to.

Scraping through the halls, half dragged by Moth, Finster dropped into a ball. “Listen to me, fool!”

Moth dragged him.

Finster did not give. He yanked back. “You are going the wrong way. Up there, the guardians of the citadel will carve you to pieces.”

Spear in hand, Moth stopped. He poked the spear tip in Finster’s face.

“We are so close, Moth. So close.” He pointed. “This way. I swear it. This way, and you’ll breathe the fresh air of freedom.”

Moth pulled the spear back.

Finster stood. “Good. You’re smarter than you smell. Come along, Moth, you curious man with the brain of a child.”

Ambling along at a ragged gait with a giant-barbarian shadow behind him, Finster traversed the mind-bending catacombs of the citadel. Typically, the students, soldiers, servants, and guardians roamed the main sanctum of the inner city above, leaving the stark hallways of the sublevels, damp in dew and moss, empty.

Finster slipped into a narrow pass Moth could barely squeeze his shoulder through. It emptied into a chamber, small and discreet. A damp woven carpet covered the floor. This was the study chamber named after Constance the Chameleon, a high-ranking teacher who had taken a shine to Finster.

Moth became uneasy. He paced back and forth in the cramped room.

“A moment.” Finster muttered a quiet incantation. The stones that made up the wall, stacked up like tiles, shuffled, moved, and spread apart. A dark tunnel waited. “This way.”

***

Finster appeared inside the mouth of a cave a few miles from the Red Citadel. Moth appeared uneasy. Finster wasn’t going to spend the time explaining to him that they’d just transported themselves through time and space. “Moth, we need to get these shackles off. What we should use for that is not far from here. We need to take advantage of our head start. No doubt, Crawley and his band of illiterate misfits will be coming. No offense.”

Down the hillside they went with the sun setting over the mountains. A small town at the base of the craggy hills greeted them warily. Doors and shutters were closed. Women and children scurried out of sight. Holding a length of chain in his hand, Finster walked into a barn where a strapping young man wearing a blacksmith’s apron was shoeing a horse. He fell off his stool when he saw Moth.

“Listen, boy, would you be so kind as to bust these shackles from our ankles? I have a special affair to attend to, but it’s exclusive. I need to rid myself of this hairless ape.”

Stammering, the young man said, “You look like criminals. Did you escape from the citadel? To help you would be my death.”

“Pfft! Escape from the citadel? Really, farm boy. Have you ever known anyone to escape from the citadel?”

“Well, no.”

“Good. Now, bust these irons off.”

The young farmer gave the shackles a glance. “That’s no ordinary steel. I can’t break that.”

“I bet you can. Imagine this steel alone is worth years of your labor. You might be able to purchase the finest cows to show the local maidens.”

“I-I can’t.”

Moth snatched the hammer from the farm boy. He dragged Finster over to an anvil and straddled the chain with it. He pounded the metal with the hammer in thunderous blows. Sparks flew.

The metal heated in a chain reaction. Finster could feel it in his ankle.

With awesome force, Moth beat the link in the chain until it heated up red. “That’s it, Moth. Keep hitting!”

“He’s not going to break that,” the young man said. “I’ve never seen links so thick.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The weld in the chain link gave in to the force of muscle and hammer. Moth broke the chain.

Finster poked the boy in the chest. “It’s a good thing you didn’t put a wager on that. Now, scrape me up something to eat. Quickly!”

The young farmer dashed away.

Finster studied the shackle on his leg. It was nagging, but he still had freedom. He locked eyes on the sullen-eyed barbarian. “Moth, go. Be free. Go and spawn with whatever two-legged heifer will have you. I’m sure the women will swoon at your return. Bring a new litter of savages into the realm. Just raise them far, far away. There won’t be much left of this part of the world if I don’t save it.”

The horse the young man was shoeing whinnied.

“Hmm. I believe I do have a faster means of transportation,” Finster said to himself. “Ah, the beast is saddled. Even better.” He mounted the horse. “Good-bye, Moth. May the light of day never knit our shadows together again.” He dug his sandals into the horse, rode out of the barn, and jumped a length of fence on the way out. “I may not be able to saddle them, but I can ride them.”

Finster took a glance back at the barn. Moth was gone. Founder’s Stone, I’m coming.

CHAPTER 13

Crawley entered the throne room. He took a knee at the bottom of the steps.

Sitting on the throne, Ingrid said, “Yes, Crawley.”

“I have unpleasant news. Finster and the barbarian escaped. A handful of guards are dead.”

“So soon,” she said with a playful look in her eyes. “Impressive.”

“You anticipated this?”

“It was a gamble, yes. But I felt Finster could pull off the feat. He’s much more formidable than you think. Don’t let his shabby appearance fool you. But I’m curious to know how he pulled it off.”

“Gregory reported that the barbarian ripped the scarab from his back. It restored his powers, or some of them.” He stood up. “It won’t take my riders long to catch them. Shall I bring them back?”

Ingrid rose from her seat. “No. We will follow them but not too closely.”

“We? You’re coming? I beg your pardon, but why?”

“Because he will lead me to the artifact. The Founder’s Stone. Not only do I want it—I need it.”

“I thought you weren’t certain that it existed?”

The servant girl draped a dark, fur-lined cloak over Ingrid’s shoulders. “We’ll know soon enough,” Ingrid said.

“And if it does exist? Won’t Finster use it?”

“If he could, I believe he would have. Either way, Finster dies.” Ingrid strolled out of the room with the citadel guardians behind her. “It will be a joy killing him. Then, with the Founder’s Stone, the kingdoms will be mine.”

CHAPTER 14

Coughing and hacking, with a steady rain chilling him to the bone, Finster ambled through a village. He’d just talked a man out of a shovel that he needed by giving him advice on how to increase his crops. He mounted his horse and rode hunched over at a trot a few more miserable leagues. He stopped at a rocky area where the sun sank between two high sets of hills. “One can only hope it is still here.”

He dismounted and, using the shovel for a cane, traversed the closest hill. Then he slipped, cracking his knee on stone. Dark spots blurred his vision. What would life be without pain? Yes, delightful. Nearing the top, he wandered around a bit. Several large stones were scattered over the soil. Tall grasses and daisies sprouted up between the rocks. The terrain was overgrown but natural. It’s hard to make it out with all of these plants.

He pushed foliage aside. Stepping from one rock to another, he spied a rose bush with small purple blossoms beginning to bud. Ah, the only plant I ever planted. There, among the small green leaves and thorns, was a triangular stone. He beat the rose bush back with the shovel. The thorns scratched his hands and made them bleed. He labored through it, sickly and panting.

Years before, Finster had abandoned the order to go on a personal quest. He’d sought the Founder’s Stone. He’d done an agonizing, harrowing search only to one day find the stone almost by accident. His venture had led him to a small keep where three streams met. The building was abandoned and overgrown. He crept into its walls, seeking shelter, and encountered a dangerous lich, which he battled to the point of death and won. The lich, a female, turned human and, in her last dying breath, thanked him. She pointed to a wall and said, “Fate.”

Finster searched the wall and found a concealed chamber behind the stone. A small treasure lay within—a golden ring, like a crown for a child, with a gemstone in it. Also, a stone lay hidden in a simple traveler’s pouch. It was smooth and opaque. It came to life with smoky energy the moment he touched it. He knew instantly what it was: the Founder’s Stone.

All of the power he’d ever wanted was in his hands. But there was a problem. Despite Finster’s efforts, he hadn’t been able to tap into the stone’s mystic forces. A lesson learned long ago from his teacher, Constance the Chameleon, had haunted his mind: It takes power to control power.

Finster wedged the shovel underneath the triangular rock, and with a grunt, he tried to pry it up. It didn’t budge. Wheezing, he dug around the edges. I’ve got a hole in my back and soon will have calluses on my fingers. Disgraceful. Before long, I’ll probably start eating my nails. He dug one small shovelful at a time, making little progress. He slung the shovel to the ground and sat. So close. Now I’m too weak to move a bloody stone. I can’t let her win with me like this. Perhaps I should let this be buried and run as long and far as I can. Let someone else stop her. Maybe I’ll die of old age before she finds me.

Shivering, he cradled his shoulders. The winds picked up. The rain stung his face. He needed time and shelter. There was neither to be found. Ingrid and Crawley would be coming right after him. By his assessment, he had maybe half a day on them at most. They’d come. They’d bring many. He’d need the stone in order to make one last stand. The scary thought was that he didn’t have the power to control it, but Ingrid, now a tenth of the order and wielder of many rings of power, certainly would.

I can’t let her have it. With my dying breath, I won’t let her have it! The stone is mine! I’ll have it!

Without looking, Finster reached for the shovel and found a huge bare foot. He lurched back. “Gaaaah!”

Moth stood like a statue. His heavy gaze searched Finster’s face.

“What are you doing here?” Finster said, summoning his strength to stand. “Lords of Creeping! Did you run all this way? I don’t see a horse.”

Moth lifted his chin, eyes spying the landscape Finster had left behind. A trail of ant-like figures wended their way over top of the distant ridges.

“They are close but taking their time.” He grabbed the shovel and began digging again. “I’m not sure why you are here, but if you aren’t going to help, then get out of the way.”

Moth nudged Finster aside. He bent over, grabbed the rock, and ripped it out of the ground then sent the stone bouncing down the hill.

“I’m not paying you for that.” Finster pulled a worm from the damp soil. “Well, you’re welcome to this.” He shoveled down another foot, slinging the soft dirt aside, and dug a silk pouch out of the grime. Then he slapped the grit from the sack. He could feel the stone inside. Finster opened the neck of the pouch. The stone fell out. It was a dull pearl in the fading light. “It doesn’t look like much, but it is everything… I swear it.”

Moth moved down the hillside. The spade he held looked like a child’s toy. His eyes were fixed on the coming army. Over fifty riders were on their way.

With the stone locked in his palm, Finster’s body began to warm. His vitality returned. The magic in the stone flowed into him but only a trickle of its omnipotent power. He squeezed it in his hand and tried to gather more power. I suppose I should be thankful for what I have.

He made his way alongside Moth. “Do you plan to fight them? Is there a grudge of some sort? You’re going to need a bigger shovel, one that looks more like a sword.”

With the ease of a great cat, Moth headed down the hill and stood by Finster’s horse. The mount looked too small for him.

Finster climbed into the saddle. Without taking the reins, Moth led the horse away from the hill, toward the forest flush with thickets and briars. Finster had no idea why he let the barbarian lead, but he was fairly certain self-preservation had something to do with it. In the meantime, he cupped the stone in his hands and concentrated. Aside from the additional warmth and vitality, there was nothing. He spoke in every ancient language he’d learned, using commonly understood salutations. Nothing. Gah! He hauled back to throw the stone. In these thickets, that would be stupid.

Moth pointed at an overhang among the thickets. He gestured with his chin toward the opening.

“You want me to go in there? For what purpose?”

Moth slapped the horse on the flank. The beast reared up and tore through the thickets.

“Why did you do that?” Shovel in hand, Moth vanished into the forest, leaving Finster all to himself. “Never trust a barbarian.”

CHAPTER 15

Crawley lined up his soldiers at the rim of the forest Finster and Moth had entered. “Get those torches lit,” he said, leaning over the saddle horn. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to fish him out of there, but be wary. If you see him, give a signal. He’s a magus. Dangerous.”

Finster’s horse burst out of the thickets, startling the other horses. Crawley’s horse remained still. One of his men led Finster’s horse back to their group by the reins. The beast had briar gashes all over its body.

“Get the axes out, Arly. Go on foot. It’s too dark and nasty in there for the beasts. Cut us a path wide enough to run a wagon through if need be.” He pulled his leather gloves over his fingers. “Send our scouts in first. I don’t see any reason why we can’t sneak up on the old man.”

A dozen soldiers silently slid into the forest. Another dozen began hacking through the brush.

Crawley looked behind him. Nestled with their backs to the hills a hundred yards away, Ingrid waited with the citadel guardians. If she wants Finster so bad, she should send her own men in there.

Under torchlight, the soldiers began chopping through the woodland thickets. Saplings went down by the dozens. The laboring men were an hour into it when the torchlight vanished among leaves. Silence fell over the forest. A large object smashed through the branches. It landed with a thud at Crawley’s feet.

He leaned over his saddle and peered down. It was Arly. His face looked like it had been bashed in with a shovel. The neck was cut in a crude fashion. Another head crashed through the branches, followed by yet another. Crawley’s men’s eyes became bigger than saucers. Another head landed at their jumpy feet. It was mounted on the torch stick.

“Ryant!” Crawley called out. A burly man with wild hair and a beard, wearing a shirt of chain, stepped out of the ranks. “You’ve been promoted. Take a dozen men, stay close together, and get in there. If anything moves that’s not one of us, swing.”

***

Hunkered in the bush, Moth waited. A soldier crept among the trees. The man’s eyes zeroed in on Moth’s position. Sword in hand, the soldier hustled right toward him. Moth popped up. He jabbed the top of the shovel into the man’s throat. The man dropped like a blood-slick stone. A quick second stroke severed the head. He carried the dripping head along with the shovel slung over his shoulder. His keen eyes picked up every unnatural sound.

The soldiers’ breathing was loud. Their sweat gave them away. The soft scuffle of metal didn’t help their mission. They weren’t one with the land. They smelled of the vile city. Moth perched among the boulders, eyeballing a knot of men coming right at him as one. He greeted the first one by hurling the skull into the man’s face.

In the darkness, the fighters didn’t stand a chance against the savage giant. Moth smashed a scout in the head so hard the neck of the shovel snapped. His fist shattered a man’s jaw. His foot crushed one man’s chest. He snatched up one man and tossed him on top of two others. They chased, screamed, and stabbed. He filled his hands with their steel and killed, killed, and killed again. They fled with blood covering their frightened faces.

***

“It’s a demon.” Ryant carried a limping man with him. Only three of the twelve that had gone in came out again. The chopping of wood and brush had also fallen silent. “I swear it, Crawley! It strikes with the silence of a snake.”

Crawley unsheathed his sword. It was a well-crafted and heavy thing. The edge appeared sharp enough to split a hair. “It’s not a demon, Ryant. Those wounds come from mortal metal. Do you hear? Now, get over here!”

Ryant approached with his chin sunk into his chest.

Crawley split his skull. “The only thing in that forest is a man or two,” he said to the rest of the soldiers. “You can face them, or you can face me!”

“Is there a problem, Commander Crawley?” Ingrid stood on the other side of where he was talking. Her icy stare was fixed on the dark entrance to the forest. She was flanked by two of her guards.

“No, the men are just spooked is all. I believe that savage is in there. It’s not a problem, I assure you.”

“That doesn’t sound very reassuring.” She stood in the wind and rain with the expression of an irritated goddess. She rolled her fingers. “He’s in there. I can sense it. Not alone, either.”

“It must be the barbarian, then. A strange alliance. We caught him once. We will catch or kill him again even if I have to do it myself.”

“Make it quick, Crawley. I’d hate to get my hands dirty over a simple matter like this.”

“Certainly. Save your energy. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m waiting,” she said with a puckered brow.

Crawley dismounted. It was either go into the forest or piss off a woman who could turn him into dust. He grabbed a torch from a soldier. “Get those axes, and follow me.” He led another large group of men down the path they’d cut out already. At the end, five men lay dead in their own blood and guts. “You two, get to work. I’ll keep an eye on things.” He peered into the blackness. There was little he could do with all of the chopping and the torches ruining his night vision. He waited for the barbarian to strike.

A large stone flew out of nowhere and crushed a man’s skull. A second man was yanked back by a vine. His desperate gurgles ended in the blackness.

“Stand your ground!” Crawley ordered. “Keep chopping!” He ducked. A stone whistled over his head and clacked into a tree. “Aw, the hell with this.” He made a sharp whistle and hollered back down the path. “Turn loose the wolves! Let them dine on barbarians tonight.”

Huge, slavering dogs, five in all, came flying down the channel. They were Crawley’s special breed, part wolf and part bloodhound. The last thing he wanted to do was put them in harm’s way, but in the end, that was what they were bred for. The wolfhounds flew right by him, barking and howling. They vanished into the forest. “Follow those dogs!”

CHAPTER 16

Finster sat up. The occasional rustle had caught his ear, but now he heard dogs. He rubbed the Founder’s Stone between his thumb and finger. “I don’t know what it takes to ignite you, but if you indeed have a purpose, now would be the time to reveal it.”

Something frigid hung in the air. Ingrid was close. Her power alone disturbed the natural order. A magus could sense such things. It’s only a matter of time now. The end of my journey. He considered burying the stone and lying about it, but by that point, she surely would have come across the area he’d retrieved it from. She knows. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t. I suspect she wanted to me to escape all along. The clever witch bested me. Curse my lusty eyes.

In the darkness, he searched for answers to how to use the stone. He’d spent years trying to master it with no luck. He was only given a taste of what the stone offered. It was Constance who’d mentioned the stone to him, and her mentor to her, and so on. Once, she’d said, “Extraordinary things work in unconventional ways. Even the cursed can aid you.”

“I suppose I could swallow it. Perhaps it would eat me from the inside out. I’d hate to give Ingrid the satisfaction of getting it.”

The barking grew louder.

Finster scooted farther into his nook. Something rubbed against his thigh. He reached into his robes and retrieved the jade scarab. Why not? He spewed out a fierce incantation. The beetle’s wings unfolded, revealing a dark-green crystal within that was the power source of his insidious creation. He replaced the crystal with the Founder’s Stone. The wings closed tight. The beetle pulsed in his hand. For the kingdom, I suppose. He attached the beetle to his back. Its claws dug in. Finster’s back arched. His forehead creased. Unbridled pain coursed through him. He bit his tongue instead of screaming.

***

Moth brained the first two wolfhounds with a woodsman’s axe. He drew a yelp from the third when he gave it a swift kick in the ribs. The other two ravenous dogs latched onto his forearms. The one he’d kicked jumped on his chest and bit his neck. Moth bear-hugged it. He bit the beast back. At the same time, he crushed the crying dog. Its neck snapped. Wild-eyed, he fought to shake the dogs off of his arms. Their slavering jaws were locked. Moth butted skulls with the one on his axe arm until it fell away.

Crawley and his men emerged from the grim forest. Brow furrowed, Crawley said, “You killed my dogs! You animal! I’ll make you pay!”

Moth managed to cock the hatchet back and release a clumsy swing.

Crawley’s sharp steel sliced Moth’s hand off at the middle of the forearm. Blood spewed from the sharp bone and meaty stump. “I ought to carve you to pieces myself! I’ll let the dogs have their revenge first! They’ll devour you bit by bit!”

The dogs forced Moth back into a tree.

Crawley inched forward. “I’m going to enjoy watching you bleed to death. You live like a savage, and you’ll die like one too.” He spit on Moth.

In a wink, Moth struck Crawley in the neck with the sharp bone protruding from his stump. The man’s eyes popped. His mouth gurgled. Moth jabbed Crawley again and again. He gouged holes in the stunned man’s neck and eyes. The commander hit his knees. Blood oozed down his face and neck. He teetered and died, pumping the last of his life’s blood onto the forest floor.

Moth bashed the dog that was still on his arm into a tree until its skull cracked. He slung it off, grabbed the other wolf by the nape, and eyed it. The dog whimpered. It slunk off the moment he dropped it. He picked up the torch and stuck his stump in the flame. His jaws clenched. Flesh burned. The stump cauterized, and the blood flow stopped. Bathed in sweat, Moth swayed. He set his broad back against the tree. His bloody chest was heaving.

The soldiers who’d fled returned minutes later. They snaked through the brush. This time, they came with spears. Moth leaned down and scooped up Crawley’s sword. Ten soldiers had him surrounded.

Then something clanked through the forest that caught everyone’s attention. A manlike form waded into the ring of warriors. The figure had spears for legs and a spine. The head was a pair of axes. The arms were swords. It moved with unnatural bends but with a determined purpose. The animated warrior made from wood and steel attacked.

The soldiers, jabbing spears, hit the mark in glancing blows. The magic automaton mowed them down with devastating sword strokes. The blades pierced chests and gouged throats with uncanny precision. The axe-blade head of the metal stickman split a skull with a head butt. The blades twirled. Bowels were spilled. Limbs were lost. Necks were detached from shoulders. Droplets of blood kissed the leaves like rain. After minutes of battling side by side with Moth, every soldier who’d entered the willowwacks lay dead.

Finster strolled through the brush. The whites of his eyes had the glow of the moon. He eyed the handiwork of his creation. He said to Moth, “There is a reason they call me Master of the Inanimate.” With a wave of his hand, the steel soldier collapsed.

Finster’s eyes found Crawley. “Ah, a pity. I was so hoping to kill him myself. Well done, Moth. For a barbarian, that is.” With a twist of his fingers, the shackles fell away from his and Moth’s ankles.

Moth picked up his hand and walked away.

In a mystically enhanced voice, Finster said, “Ingrid, I’m coming for you.” The birds scattered from the trees. He followed Moth. With every step he took, his toes barely touched the ground.

CHAPTER 17

Outside of the forest, many horses remained. What was left of Crawley’s men had joined forces with the citadel guardians. Finster’s eyes narrowed. Ingrid and her troops galloped away. “What a pity. I thought Ingrid would remain to offer me some congratulations.” His eyes slid over to Moth. The barbarian was gashed up and bloody. The charred stump of an arm was ghastly. Finster’s stomach churned a little. “You really must have a larger grudge against her than I do.”

Moth stuck his hand in a saddlebag and his foot into the stirrup of a dapple-gray horse. One armed, he swung himself up into the saddle. The huge man was oversized for the beast.

“What? No more running today?” Finster mounted a horse. He sat tall in the saddle, shoulders back, like a proud general prepared to lead his troops into battle. He had control of the Founder’s Stone. Its boundless energy surged through him. Every arcane practice he’d ever mastered was enhanced. This must be how Ingrid feels. Invincible. I delight in it.

He pondered his future. He had mastered the stone. That had been his dream. But even with the artifact in his possession, Ingrid still had power that rivaled his. The eight rings combined to make a powerful artifact. Even though Finster had the stone, she was certainly a match for him—perhaps more so. He didn’t know. Perhaps I should warn the King of Mendes of her treachery. Most likely, the buffoon will take her word over mine. Men are so easily seduced by the ladies. I have the power. Hmmmm. Perhaps I should stay out of this altogether and just enjoy my abilities for now. For the sake of the order, I must finish this. I hate my conscience.

Moth urged his horse forward. Hooves splashed in the mud.

“Why don’t you take these horses and return to your lands?” Finster asked. “For the life of me, I don’t see what your stake in this is.”

The barbarian rode on, silent, his broad shoulders slightly sagging forward. He looked like he’d been regurgitated from the jaws of a devourer. The bite marks alone were more than enough to kill a man. He bled, but slowly. The fire in his eyes seemed to keep him going.

The horses moved through the night at a steady walk. There was no need to chase after Ingrid. She wasn’t going anywhere. She’d be waiting. Finster and Moth didn’t stop until later the next day. The Red Citadel loomed in the distance. Plumes of smoke snaked out of the granite building’s smokestacks. The smell of burning flesh hung in the air.

Finster’s fingertips tingled.

“I don’t know if you’ll be open to it, but I plan to enter the same as the way I left. I just don’t find it very likely that she’ll let us through the front door. What do you say, half-dead? Oh, never mind. You’ll probably have more to say in the grave. Looking forward to it.”

They returned to the cave they’d departed from before. Moth lumbered into the portal with a face devoid of expression. It led them right back to the study room of Constance the Chameleon. From there, they slunk into the empty hallways of the underground level and headed up the stairs. They made it into the great hallway that led to the throne room. The citadel guardians, spears in hand, waited. A score of them shielded the door. The metal masked men gave cold, unresponsive looks.

Finster stepped out into the middle of the hallway. He approached a few dozen yards from the stairs that led up to the throne-room door. “Citadel guardians, move aside. I would have words with Ingrid.”

The warriors lowered their spears.

Finster’s chin dipped. Power flickered in his eyes. “Peril comes to those that don’t heed nature’s warning.”

The guardians advanced down the steps.

Suddenly, the spears writhed in the guardians’ hands. The wooden shafts coiled up, and the spearheads bent back like snakes. The animated weapons struck out at the guardians, piercing flesh to the bone.

Moth crossed the distance between him and the guardians in gigantic strides. He met them on the steps. A full head taller and far thicker in sinew, he cut into the ranks. The first blow of his steel cut a man from the clavicle to the belly. The second strike sheared a masked head from its shoulders. The snake spears struck out at the men who held them. Chests were punctured.

Moth painted the stairs with guardian blood. The wild-eyed butcher split a metal mask right between the eyes. The heavy steel blade cut to the chin. He yanked it free and attacked again.

The guardians abandoned their spears. They whisked their swords out of their scabbards and circled Moth. In unison, they jabbed and cut at any piece of the wild-eyed barbarian they could find. Steel bit into the meat of Moth’s thigh. Moth gored the guardian’s chest.

Finster added another tactic. Fingers spread wide, he made a squeezing motion. The metal masks began crushing the skulls they protected. Finster’s clawed fingers clenched harder. The citadel guardians dropped their swords. Steel clattered on stone. Hands tore at masks. The guardians screamed.

Like a butcher in a meat shop, Moth executed them one after the other. Within seconds, all of the citizen guardians were dead. Sticky blood oozed down the steps leading up to the door.

Finster pulled his tattered robes up above his ankles. He tiptoed up the stairs. His feet slipped on the blood. “I’m going to need some new sandals after this. These are ruined.” He stood directly in front of the door. The glowing eye waited at the top of the doors. He called up to it. “Did you see that, Ingrid? That was just a sample of my power. Child’s play. I suggest you surrender.” He tried the words that had once opened the doors. Nothing happened. “I see you changed the password. I probably would have done the same thing.”

The eye lowered. The pupil moved back and forth between Finster and Moth. It rose up to the top of the door and vanished. There was a long, awkward moment. The sound of dripping accompanied it.

“Humph. I don’t think she is going to let us in.” Finster rapped on the door. It made a hollow sound. “Ingrid, there is only one way in and one way out. How do you suppose you’ll marry Rolem the Grand if you’re hiding in there? Come out, or let me come in. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement.”

He looked at Moth. The man stared at the door, chin out, bleeding badly from many places. Puss festered from a bite mark on his shoulder.

“Those wounds don’t look so good. You might want to have that looked at once this is over. I used to make a wonderful concoction for it called—”

The sealed seam in the massive doors split. Silent as shadows, the doors swung inward.

Finster smiled. “How about that drink?”

CHAPTER 18

Ingrid the Insidious sat on her throne. She was alone, splendid as ever. “I see you brought a friend.” Her eyes glanced over Moth. “He suits you.”

“I honestly don’t know why he’s here, but clearly, he doesn’t like you. Ingrid, let’s be civilized about this. Plenty have died today. Look at the blood. You can’t get those stains out of marble. Think of your guests. Be wise. Surrender.”

With her elbows resting on the arms of the throne and ringed fingers locked together, she said, “Finster, stone or no stone, I don’t fear you. I, unlike many others, never did. You can’t kill me. You won’t kill me. There is too much compassion in your heart. Mine is absent of that.”

“Yes, you have a heart of coal that beats. What a shame.” He arched his brow. “Besides, I never said I’d kill you. Perhaps I’ll do the same to you that you did to me—probably worse. All I can say is that if you surrender, I’m willing to be merciful.”

With Crawley’s sword dripping in his hand, Moth started forward.

Ingrid’s hand drew back. “Call your dog off before I send his bowels to the floor.”

“I don’t have any more control over him than you do,” Finster replied. “Believe it or not, unlike your citadel guardians—who are all dead—he has a mind of his own. A small one, but still his.” His heightened intuition stretched out. There was another presence in the room. He couldn’t see it. To his surprise, Moth stayed his advance, nostrils flaring. “This isn’t going to end well for one of us, Ingrid. But it is going to end… unless you surrender.”

“Do you remember what you told me once, Finster? You said that artifacts of magic take a great deal of time to master. You’ve barely had the Founder’s Stone for a day.” She showed him her hands. Every ring twinkled with life. “I’ve been acquainted with these rings for quite some time. I like my chances against a washed-out wizard who was never able to control the power that he had to begin with.”

Finster knitted his brow. His chin dipped. “I promise that I’ll hold your youth and inexperience against you. One last chance, Ingrid. Hand over the rings. Surrender.”

She laughed. “And give them to you? Finster the Rodent of Whispers. You would end up doing things worse than even I’ve imagined. In the order, you were known as the master of disorder. There were reasons they forced you out.

“I wasn’t forced. It was mutual, very mutual.”

“No, no, it wasn’t. I came to know more of you later. Your experiments were quite abominable as I recall. The people of Reenik—remember them? Reenik is now the Sleepless City because of your atrocities.”

“That’s a misunderstanding, and it happened a very long time ago.”

“Not so long ago. You’ve only been banished for the last ten years. The guilt shows on your face. That fragile frame of yours bears the burden.” Her index finger toyed with the armrest. “You were so handsome and dominating back then. You could have had me. After all, I wanted you. Now look at you. A shadow of yourself. Your sagging jaw complements your potbelly.”

“Really? I’m feeling quite spry at the moment. I think I’ll exercise my regained vitality once I’m finished with you.” He placed his hands together as if praying. “Time to get on with this. Good-bye, Ingrid. You had your chance.”

The throne came to life. The arms of the chair seized Ingrid’s wrists. As she struggled against the bonds, her chest heaved. She gripped the chair’s arms. The grand chair—ancient and priceless—turned to ash. “Pathetic attempt, Finster!”

The Founder’s Stone sent a warning pulse through his back. A blur, coming right at him, blocked his view of Ingrid. He took a quick step back, hands up, fingers firing radiant power. His heel caught in his robes. He stumbled. Power erupted from his fingers, striking the ceiling. A blur pounced right at him.

Sharp metal sliced through the air.

Moth sank his sword into something invisible but tangible. Cartilage and skin ripped. An invisible citadel guardian appeared, gasping his last breath.

Unseen forces came at them in a rush of soft footfalls. Steel cut into flesh. Moth counterattacked with the striking speed of a cobra. The heavy blade driven by his powerful arm found its mark time and again. Blood sprayed. Bodies fell.

Out of nowhere, a small ball of green fire blasted Finster from his feet. The only thing keeping his ribs in place and his skin from catching fire was the protection of the Founder’s Stone. “Admirable try, Ingrid, but I’m not all about animation.” His hand filled with a glaring red fire. A stream of flames shot from his hand, arching over the floor and toward her.

The fires danced and sizzled off an icy orb that shielded her body. The flames were extinguished in a hissing cloud of steam. Ingrid’s platinum hair clung to her face, damp and wet. “It’s good to see that you can still dance, Finster, but for how long?”

Finster flicked his fingers out. The marble tiles in the floor rippled in waves. Ingrid stumbled. The tiles piled up on her by the hundreds. She was covered in ten feet of rubble. “How long doesn’t matter, so long as I can dance better than you can.”

Nearby, Moth struck out and hacked into another invisible body that had appeared the moment Ingrid was buried. Two more citadel guardians became visible. He charged them. A hand’s breadth from the tip of their swinging swords, he leaped high and came down hard, driving a big-boned man to the ground. He smashed the metal face of the guardian into the floor several times.

Finster turned the last guardian’s sword against him, bending it around the man’s neck and choking him to death. Gazing at the pile of tiles that covered Ingrid, he said, “That should do it for the witch. Now, where’s that servant girl? I could use some wine.”

Behind him, a sweet voice said, “Here I am.”

He turned. Ingrid punched him square in the chest with all eight of her shimmering fingers.

CHAPTER 19

Finster sailed through time and space. He could see Ingrid and Moth. His eternal soul had separated from his body. He hit the wall on the other side of the room hard. His essence hovered over his crumpled form. He was dead, yet he wasn’t. He was cold like the bottom of the layer of ice between the water and the frozen lake.

Ingrid turned her attention to Moth. The barbarian was lifted off his feet by the unseen strings of a master puppeteer. The sorcerous eyes of the woman were stars of radiant purple. Moth slung the sword at her. The blade stopped inches from her face. She shook her head. The blade turned handle over end and shot across the room like an arrow. It impaled Moth’s chest. He hung in the air, chin on his chest, bleeding.

Ingrid cracked her neck from side to side and moved toward Finster. He looked between her and his motionless body sprawled out cold on the floor. Ingrid lorded over him. She was speaking, gloating maybe, but he couldn’t hear a word she said. He couldn’t hear anything at all. One more chance. I just need one more chance. I won’t go like this.

She pulled down his robes, revealing the beetle lodged in his back. She touched it and let out a scream, clutching her burning hand. Without warning, Finster’s essence jumped back into his body. A wave of sound hit him first. It was Ingrid cursing. Fighting the numbing pain that coursed through his body, he swept his leg underneath hers, making her fall. He pounced on top of her. Filled with the breath of life that he’d never take for granted again, he said, “I will end you!”

“You live!” she yelled in his face. “You die!”

Hands locked together, he and Ingrid wrestled over the floor in a tangle of limbs. The rings on her fingers sent deadly energy coursing through his hand, and his skin sizzled and smoked. Minds entwined with the artifacts, locking them together. Ancient, fathomless powers reared their ugly heads. The will of one magus was pitted against the other. Their bodies lifted from the floor. They soared back and forth, smacking into the walls.

Finster fought back with a surge of his own energy. Tapping the stone’s awesome power, he shoved back against the rings and Ingrid’s will. Their arms changed from fire to ice to stone. They locked eyes while spinning through the air.

“I hate you, Finster!” she said with breath as hot as coals.

“You shouldn’t hate me, Ingrid.” He pushed back against her limitless strength. His mind was burning. “I’m more than just your mentor. I’m your father.”

Her raging eyes softened. “What?”

One with the Founder’s Stone, he turned loose everything he had from his core. The might of him and the stone blasted her wrecked body away from the rings she’d been wearing. She hit the wall and fell to the ground. Her robes were smoldering. Yellow vapors rose.

Finster sailed across the room. His body, ravaged by magic powers, began to cool. He landed in front of her, holding the rings of power. “Surprise, Ingrid. I’m not your father. But I am an old fox.” He took a breath. His knees quaked. His limbs ached. He wheezed again. The powers within him drained.

Her face showed it all. Failure grew with the creases in her face. Up on her knees, she swayed. “I should have known,” she said, shivering. “If anyone could stop me, you could. Perhaps I wanted that. There is an old saying in Shangley.”

“Oh, really?” Finster said, panting. Hands on his knees, he glanced away, looking for Moth. Then he looked back at Ingrid. “And what might that be?”

A dagger appeared in her hand. She stabbed him in the gut. The rings fell from his fingers. “Always hide your dagger inside your enemy’s belly.” She scooped up the rings, closed her fist, and slugged Finster in the jaw. He skidded over the blood-smeared floor.

Ingrid rose. The hot-eyed woman’s battered, nubile figure radiated with power. She glared at Finster, marched right to him, and said, “Good-bye, Finster.”

A massive man rose up from behind the broken tiles.

“Good-bye yourself,” Finster replied.

A spear tip burst from her chest. The purple gleam in her eyes turned cold. The rings slipped from her scorched fingertips. They tinkled on the tiles. Her body flopped sideways on the ground. Moth stood with Crawley’s sword still protruding from his body then sank down to his knees.

Clutching his belly and spitting blood, Finster laughed. “You know what, Moth? You make a fine barbarian, if there ever were such a thing.” Life turned cold. His vision blurred and blackened. “Too bad you’re not half the barbarian that I am a sorcerer. I just wish we had the time to share a drink. Cheers, Moth. Cheers.”

CHAPTER 20

Eyes fixed on the rings, clutching his bleeding gut, Finster scooted. Somehow, the Founder’s Stone was keeping him together. His body was a wreck. Every breath was painful. Moments before, he’d felt his life slipping away toward the cold land of death. He hung on, striving for a few more moments.

Almost there.

Moth hadn’t moved. Eyes closed, his head was bent down. Blood seeped around the sword in his chest. His only set of fingers rested on the ground, twitching.

Stretching out his fingers, Finster leaned over. His fragile limbs gave way, and he fell on his side. Lances of pain streaked through his eyes. His fingers still strained for the rings. Any one of them might aid his cause. Inches from one lone ring made of black iron and decorated with rubies, he scratched at it.

Oh, let me live. A little closer. Let me live.

The Founder’s Stone magnified his powers. It protected him as well, but it wasn’t an object that could heal. Matched with his own stubborn will, it gave him enough strength to press on.

I won’t die like this.

His fingertip touched the ring. He made a toothy smile. “Heh-heh-heh-heh,” he muttered in a deranged manner. Trembling, he clutched the ring in his hands. There was warmth. A vibrant energy.

Lucky day.

A hand the size of two of his seized his wrist. Moth plucked the ring from his grasp. He eyed it, popped it in his mouth, and swallowed it.

“You gigantic eejit! Why would you do something as insane as that?” Finster’s belly wound no longer burned. The gem-studded iron ring had closed his wound. He felt like his old self again. His eyes went to the other rings. He lunged.

Moth scooped all seven rings up with one hand and swallowed them whole.

Holding his face, Finster screamed, “Noooo!”

Moth pulled the sword free of his chest. Blood pumped out a little then stopped. The gaping wound closed. The gigantic man, smeared in blood and with new scars aplenty, appeared refreshed. Sword in hand, he stood, nodded at Finster, and exited the room.

“Come back here, Moth! You can’t just leave.” Finster summoned a charge of power. “Don’t make me rip your stomach out of your back!”

Moth trod down the blood-damp stairs.

Finster levitated a foot above the floor. He drifted after the barbarian and down over the steps of carnage. Oh, sometimes I long for the days when I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you—or anyone, for that matter.

Moth made his way through the citadel and down the stairs with Finster close behind him. He squeezed into the alcove of Constance the Chameleon. Finster gave a quick nod to an image of the former magus made out of shards of broken glass. Finster had made it for her. I think she might be proud of me, wherever she may be.

The black portal in a nook in the room led the two men to the cave far outside of the Red Citadel. The horses were still there. Moth climbed up on his dapple-gray steed.

Finster mounted his horse. “You aren’t going anywhere without me. Not with those rings in your gut. They’ll come out eventually. Sadly, I’ll be there, but I’ve done worse.” He gave the citadel one last look. “I should stay, but the hell with the order. Let them figure it out for themselves.”

Moth sheathed his sword in a scabbard that hung on the horse. He opened a saddlebag and fished out his severed hand. Its vibrant brown skin had grayed. The cut was clean, though. He matched it up with his stump.

“You can’t possibly think that will happen,” Finster said.

The barbarian butted the hand against the stub a few times. Then he held it firmly against the stump for a long minute.

“Feed the birds with it, I say, Moth. Don’t waste your time.”

But thin tendrils of sinew grew out of Moth’s stump like worms. They fastened to the hand. The hand grafted to the stump with the sickening sound of muscle, bone, and skin coming together.

“The one thing I hate about magic is it’s so unpredictable.” Finster shook his head. He had all the power he ever wanted, but with the rings so close, he felt incomplete.

Moth urged his horse onward. Down into the plains he went.

Finster dug his heels into his horse. The beast lurched forward. “I don’t know where you are going, Moth, but until I get those rings, I will be your constant companion. Your shadow. Only death will take me away.” Your death, that is.

FROM THE AUTHOR

Readers, friends, countrymen, I hope that you enjoyed this short story. In regard to my tales, at least short ones, I tend to think of a clever or catchy title and try to build a story around it. That’s how those ideas come to me. In the case of Moth and Finster, I really liked these guys when I thought them up, and I needed to get them on the page, so I squeezed them in between my bigger books. I’ve got too many stories now, so I had to make this a one-shot project. I can’t promise any more Moth and Finster adventures. The purpose of this book, aside from some delightful entertainment, was to join an unlikely pair and try to make them work together. Mages and barbarians don’t mix. I knew I could have fun with that. Being a Robert E. Howard fan, I hoped to bring to life a barbarian and sorcerer in the truest sense of those classifications. I think I did pretty well, but it’s your opinion that truly matters. Also, I wrote this story in eight days, which included a break on Christmas Eve and Christmas. But now I can celebrate the new year with a toast to Moth and Finster! Oh, and download, Book #2, The Scarab’s Power, Now! See image below.

Please, share your thoughts with me at craig@thedarkslayer.com. More importantly, Please leave a review here(link)!! I need them. Also, if you are new to my work, I have plenty of stories that you need to try out. Just take a look at the long list below. I’d love for you to try them out.

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OTHER BOOKS AND AUTHOR INFO

Craig Halloran resides with his family outside his hometown of Charleston, West Virginia. When he isn’t entertaining mankind, he is seeking adventure, working out, or watching sports. To learn more about him, go to: www.thedarkslayer.com.

Check out all of my great stories …

CLASH OF HEROES: Nath Dragon Meets The Darkslayer

Squawk – Beginnings

Squawk – Odyssey

Squawk – Revelations

The Chronicles of Dragon Series

The Hero, the Sword and the Dragons (Book 1)

Dragon Bones and Tombstones (Book 2)

Terror at the Temple (Book 3)

Clutch of the Cleric (Book 4)

Hunt for the Hero (Book 5)

Siege at the Settlements (Book 6)

Strife in the Sky (Book 7)

Fight and the Fury (Book 8)

War in the Winds (Book 9)

Finale (Book 10)

The Chronicles of Dragon: Series 2, Tail of the Dragon

Tail of the Dragon

Claws of the Dragon

Eye of the Dragon

Scales of the Dragon

Trial of the Dragon

Teeth of the Dragon

The Darkslayer Series 1

Wrath of the Royals (Book 1)

Blades in the Night (Book 2)

Underling Revenge (Book 3)

Danger and the Druid (Book 4)

Outrage in the Outlands (Book 5)

Chaos at the Castle (Book 6)

The Darkslayer: Bish and Bone, Series 2

Bish and Bone (Book 1)

Black Blood (Book 2)

Red Death (Book 3)

Lethal Liaisons (Book 4)

Torment and Terror (Book 5)

The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files

Smoke Rising (2015)

I Smell Smoke (2015)

Where There’s Smoke (2015)

Smoke on the Water (2015)

Smoke and Mirrors (2015)

Up in Smoke

Smoke ’Em

Holy Smoke

Smoke Out

Zombie Impact Series

Zombie Day Care: Book 1

Zombie Rehab: Book 2

Zombie Warfare: Book 3

You can learn more about the Darkslayer and my other books, deals, and specials at:

Facebook – The Darkslayer Report by Craig

Twitter – Craig Halloran

www.craighalloran.com