At the Gates of Darkness Part 14

'Could it be?'

'If you were miles to the south, looking northward...' said Laromendis.

'From the battlements of Can-ducar!'

'The twins would be on the right and the Fire Queen on the left!'

'How did we not know about this ancient fortress?' asked Gulamendis.

'We never got this far,' answered the Conjurer. 'Can-ducar was the northernmost fortification on Telesan when the demons appeared.' He said, 'We never occupied much of the world because of this foul smoke and ash. The only reason we sent anyone here was to mine metals.'

'Do you think that's why the demons have dwarven prisoners?'

'Possibly,' said Laromendis.

'Well,' said his brother. 'We have some idea where they came from, at least.'

'Do we?'

Feeling defeat, the Demon Master said, 'No. I mean, we know that portal in the wall by the gate leads to the world where we saw the demon battle, and we know they didn't come from this place originally.'

Laromendis sat down in the gloom of the fading afternoon light. 'We dare not light anything, even if we could find tinder and flint, in case it is seen, so we must wait until tomorrow to find out if anything here is of use.'

Gulamendis stood. 'Help me get the door back on its hinges, just in case this is the one day they decide to investigate the top of the tower. Then one of us should go back to the storage shed and fill a sack with food.'

'I'll go,' said Laromendis. 'You were always the better scholar. See what you can make of this with what little light is left.'

Laromendis left, closing the door behind him; Gulamendis latched it shut. He looked at the many volumes on the shelves, wondering where to start, then found his gaze pulled to a large leather-bound book. He reached up and when his fingertips touched it, he jerked his hand back. 'Demon,' he whispered. 'Could this be?' He pulled the book down and opened it. At once his vision swam and he recognized the writing as the arcane runic symbols of demon control. 'Oh, my,' he whispered as he sat down and began to read.

A short time later his brother returned with a sack full of food and said, 'It's a good thing we vacated that shed. When I got there some dwarves were leaving with food for the prisoners.'

'Why didn't they find us last night?'

Laromendis shrugged and tossed an apple to his brother. 'Perhaps they don't feed their prisoners every day.' He started eating an apple and after a juicy bite, asked, 'Find anything?'

'Yes,' said his brother. 'I think I may have found several important things.'

'Such as?'

'Where the Demon gate is that lets them into this realm.'

'Really?' he seemed impressed. 'What else?'

'Who or what may be at the heart of this madness.'

Laromendis let out a slow sigh. 'It's almost too dark to read. Finish that tomorrow.' Elves were capable of seeing in the darkest of nights, when only starlight was the source, but without any kind of light, reading ancient ink on parchment was beyond even their gifts.

'One other thing,' said Gulamendis.

'What?'

With a broad smile he said, 'I think I have found a way for us to get to Home.'

Night dragged on and Laromendis repeated what he had just been told to be sure he understood it. 'So, this lair was the study of a human magician, by the name of Makras-'

'Macros.'

'Macros; and he was an advisor to the local ruler.'

'The King of Des.'

'The King of Des. And Macros discovered a portal, built by some unknown people in ages past.'

'Yes.'

Laromendis said, 'So while experimenting with this device, he opened it.'

'Yes, to the world...Well, I will have to reread that part when the light returns.'

Laromendis sat silently in the darkness, then he said, 'I'll skip over the other parts. This portal is not the one we came through to get here?'

'No, for he described its location as a nearby vale; if we a.s.sume he meant near where he was writing, and that he was writing in this room.'

'Well, let us say we can find this portal. How are we to operate it?'

'That is why I said "I think" I have found a way home, instead of "I know". If we can control it, I suggest we make for Home-.' Laromendis was about to object, but Gulamendis cut him off. '-Not for E'bar, but for Sorcerer's Island.'

'How?'

'I spent enough time near the portal on the island to...Well,I think I can contrive to get us there.' I can contrive to get us there.'

Laromendis was determined not to let his brother's hopes rise too fast. 'And what do we use to power it?'

Gulamendis held up a small bag and even though his brother could barely see him in the gloom, he sensed his smile. 'I took these from the dead galasmancer.'

'Crystals?'

'Crystals.'

Laromendis said, 'As I don't have a better idea, can I suggest we leave now, taking the volume with us, and read it somewhere far from here at first light?'

Gulamendis was loath to leave behind such a treasure-trove of ancient human magic, but saw the wisdom in getting out of this place when activity was at its lowest point. He lifted the volume, nodded once and opened the door.

Moving slowly, but purposefully down the circular stairs of the tower, they reached its base and looked down the long hallway that would eventually lead them to the stairs back down to the dungeon, and then up to the yard. They made their way past silent doors and empty rooms, and when they were once again in the dungeon, Gulamendis risked a hurried peek through the door to the cells. The prisoners were all asleep, huddled together for warmth. There were no guards.

They moved on as silently as possible to the low door that opened onto the courtyard, Laromendis opened it a crack and peeked through. The three steps to the surface were clear and no one else was in sight.

They crept along the wall, staying against it as much as possible, despite the extra cover of darkness; loath to take even the slightest risk with the slim chance at freedom before them.

A quick stop in the storage shed had them loaded with provisions. They were only stymied for a short while when they reached the gate and found it bolted. Remembering that they had come in through the portal straight into the marshalling yard, they realized that they hadn't thought of how to get through the gate. Logic dictated there was more than one way out, and a hurried examination of the wall led them to a postern gate behind the keep. It was unguarded, so they opened it and went outside.

'We need to start going south,' said Gulamendis.

'Towards the volcanoes and the battlefield?' asked his brother.

'Yes,' said Gulamendis.

With a slight nod of his head to indicate acceptance, the Conjurer indicated that his brother should lead the way. The two elves ventured into a very dark night, neither of them certain of where they where headed, but both aware they left nothing good behind them.

Dawn found Gulamendis and Laromendis sitting under the shelter of an overhang, their eyes smarting from the acidic smoke which hung on the hillside like a cloud of suffering. The three volcanoes were belching smoke and ash into the sky on a regular basis. As Laromendis had wryly observed, it would be just their luck to reach their destination as one of the three erupted and destroyed the portal. He was sure that fate's cruel irony would have them burned alive within the portal, or have them watch as their last hope of escape went up in flames. He was inclined to think the second a more painful outcome.

His brother had merely given him a withering look and said nothing. As soon as he could, Gulamendis began reading the volume he had purloined from the ancient keep. Finally he said, 'As I understand it, these people, called the Edhara, were just beginning to experiment with portals. They had created the one we are seeking in a cave-that I hope is not too far from here-and had already discovered a few relatively benign worlds. Then the demons found them.'

'Found them?'

'Remember what Pug said about the nature of rifts?'

'Not really,' said his brother. 'I think that was a conversation you had while I was talking to that odd creature from that world whose name I can't p.r.o.nounce; the fellow with the blue skin and those things coming out of his neck; he could make the most stunning illusions...'

'From you, my not-so-modest brother, that is high praise,' said Gulamendis.

'I'll grant him his due; he was very good.'

'Pug told me rifts have a loadstone quality: as loadstones draw iron to them, rifts tend to draw other rifts. So if you have an established portal from one world to the next, there's a better than average chance that anyone casting about for a random destination will connect to a world that already has a portal on it.'

'I wonder if that's why the galasmancer created Hub?'

His brother shrugged. 'As the Regent's Meet didn't see fit to consult with me on the matter, I can only speculate.' His finger stabbed a page. 'It's written more hastily from here to the end, and reads much like the reports we received when our people first encountered the demons: ma.s.sive chaotic a.s.saults, no quarter asked or given, wave after wave of demon of every stripe.'

'Obviously something is different,' said Laromendis. 'Those demons we saw being slaughtered, and those in the keep to the north are not like any we've seen before.'

'This is where this gets interesting,' said Gulamendis. 'Let me read, "And then to our lord Hijilia came a herald of the demon kind, under a banner of truce, offering terms".'

'A truce?' Thinking of the dozens of worlds overrun by the Demon Legion and the millions of taredhel left dead on those worlds, he muttered, 'We never had such an offer.'

'The Edhara didn't accept their terms, vowing to fight to the end. The author of this chronicle wrote this as if it was his last testament, and jammed in every detail he thought was important.

'The reason I think we might contrive to use the portal in the cave to get away is because that was what the rulers of the Edhara were planning to do. It's not clear if they managed to get away in time, or if they even reached the portal.

'The point is, if we manage to get out of here, and if we can reach Sorcerer's Island, and then E'bar, we will have something of vital importance to tell the Regent's Meet.'

Laromendis was silent for a moment, then said, 'You mean we need to tell Tandarae?'

Gulamendis was silent and then said, 'It always comes back to that, doesn't it?'

'The Meeting can not continue on the course it has been on for the last three hundred years, brother. The Circle of Light must be reformed, and all offices regarding magic need to be restored to it. Spending just a few months with those humans on Sorcerer's Island tells me that this is true; if you spoke to Magnus or Pug about their own history and learned of Pug's first attempt, the Academy at Stardock...' He took a breath. 'Very well, let's get back first.'

Gulamendis said, 'I think we can be there today if we leave now.'

'In daylight?'

'Do you see anyone else around here?'

'No, but a few months ago a really ma.s.sive battle took place only a few miles south of here,' reminded the Conjurer.

'I doubt it's still in progress,' said the Demon Master. 'Which would explain why there's only a small garrison left in that huge fortress, and why we were able to come and go as we pleased. They've gone somewhere else.'

Laromendis stood up. 'The thing that's annoying me most,' he said, 'is that there are still too many mysteries. I'm a simple elf at heart; I make things appear out of thin air, and people give me things: food, gold, their daughter's virtue, a nice robe...'

'You have always thought like a brigand, and you are a brigand at heart.' He smiled. 'Still, you're my brother and my brigand, and I shall always stand with you.'

For the first time in days Laromendis felt like returning his brother's smile. He clapped him on the shoulder and said, 'As it should be. You may choose to consort with the foulest of beings, but I shall be at your side to the end.'

'Let us go.'

As they walked to the south, Laromendis said, 'There's a question I've been meaning to ask you for some time now.'

'Yes?'

'Remember when that human girl, Sandreena said all those things about Amirantha?'

Gulamendis laughed. 'How could I forget?'

'Do you remember the part about a creature he summoned, named Dalthea? She appeared as a female of extraordinary beauty as I recall.'

'A demon who looked like a beautiful human woman; Yes, I remember. He conjured a succubus and modified her to look beyond compare.'

'Imagine conjuring a totally obedient beautiful female elf? Do you know that trick?'

For the first time in almost a century, Gulamendis, hit his brother on the arm.

It was midday and the two brothers were closer to the volcanoes. The air was heavy with the stench of burning ash and their eyes stung even more from the low hanging smoke: there was almost no wind. It masked them from casual observation, but also made their lungs and eyes hurt.

The landscape was now a rugged sea of basalt rock, large sheets of light grey and black shadow were interrupted by jagged outcrop-pings of up-thrust stone. At times their weight would crack the rock below as they stepped on the relatively thin skin of a lava bubble, which released a cloud of noxious, sulphurous gas. Gulamendis even dropped part way into one gas dome and his brother had to help free him. The edges of the rock were sharp and they had to move slowly to avoid injury at almost every step.

'Who would want to conquer this miserable place?' asked the Demon Master.

'We did, for a while,' said Laromendis. 'We needed the crystals that come out of these volcanoes; there are also huge deposits of metals on this world.' He glanced around, as if gaining his bearings. 'I spent a little time here when I was exploring for the Regent's Meet, and the mines to the south, on the other side of the abandoned fortress...Well, I can only say they were impressive; we found copper, silver, iron, gold...' He took a deep breath, then coughed. 'How much further?'

Gulamendis paused to read out of the journal to ensure he was not making any mistakes. 'If I understand this correctly, we must climb that ridge over there,' he pointed to the south, and Laromendis could see it about a mile away, and the long flow of basalt that had created a relatively smooth ramp leading up to it. 'The cave is somewhere on the other side.'

They moved slowly and an hour later made it to the top of the ridge. As they surveyed the landscape, Laromendis said, 'G.o.ds and fathers!'

Before them spread mile after mile of more twisted and broken rock. In the distance they could see gas plumes and steam vents, and they knew they were seeing the outer boundary of volcanic activity. Since coming to this world, the taredhel had witnessed two eruptions, neither of which had been violent enough to threaten the fortification in the south, but large enough to deter exploration in this region. The brothers speculated that the taredhel explorers would have found the human fortress to the north, had the volcanoes not stirred. Of course once the demons had reached this world, it lay behind their lines.

'Where now?' asked Laromendis.

'Somewhere out there?' said Gulamendis.