Wizardwars
by
Heather Wielding
Copyright 2011 Heather Wielding
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Book One
Chapter One
The road was steep, slippery and deceitful. Erika tripped, hesitated, and continued on. She had nowhere else to run. The castle upon Wizard's Peak was the only safe place she could think of. In a way, it was calling for her.
In a time before the child was born, had the Eldest painted a vision. Erika knew it well. She had carried it with her all her life. She was the Chosen One. So had the Eldest told her, and she had believed. She was the Chosen One, and her destiny waited for her upon Wizard's Peak.
The first trap was easy. Poisoned darts flew through the misty night. Erika knew to expect them. The darts hit stone behind her and fell dead to the ground.
The second trap was more difficult. The earth opened before her, and she had to struggle to keep her balance. One mislaid step would take her into the deep wound of the mountain. She kept her balance, and climbed over the rocks that surrounded the steep road to avoid the gash.
Magic protected her. So had the Eldest said, and Erika believed them.
The third trap bowed to her, allowing her to pass. Erika thanked it, and continued on.
The road was long and rocky. The Eldest had advised her, given instructions to the maid to follow.
”Leave your mount on the meadows. Set it free, and climb the mountain alone.”
Erika had done so. The pony who had carried her to Wizard's Peak, was her dearest friend, and with a heavy heart she had taken off it's saddle.
”You know the way home”, she had whispered, and the pony had whinnied in return. Wolves howled as Erika turned her back on it.
”Forget your possessions”, the Eldest had advised, and Erika had done so. She had taken only food, and a wolf-skin coat to protect her from the cold winds.
”Leave your child behind”, had the Eldest said, ”for she will bring you to your death.”
This advice Erika found hard to follow: the child was all she had. Yet she had abandoned her, and begun the journey to Wizard's Peak.
She didn't know why she had left, nor what waited for her, but she made the journey never looking back. Remorse was for the weak, and Erika was no weakling.
”Pretending is weakness”, Erika chanted, stumbling over the boulders. ”Weakness is pride.”
Erika had never felt either. She was her father's youngest child, a fallen angel, who had birthed an abomination, an ever-lasting curse on her village. She couldn't afford pride nor pretence. She could only be herself, the one who had doomed her kin. The One, who was Chosen.
The castle upon Wizard's Peak awaited her behind the fourth trap. To pass it, Erika had to solve a riddle. It was easy, for the Eldest had told her the answer.
”Re'na”, Erika spoke, and the castle revealed itself.
High twin-doors opened after her second knock. A stiff butler directed her to wait by a high, stony fire place. Erika waited. She had waited all her life. A few more moments would make no harm.
While she waited, she examined the great hall from her soft seat, and liked what she saw. The castle seemed warm, and welcoming, as safe as she had expected, if not more. She hoped she would be allowed to stay.
After all, she had nowhere else to go.
”Be welcome”, an ancient voice spoke, startling her from her thoughts. Erika turned, and saw him, whom she had been told to expect; a wizard, who, throughout the Universe, was known as Ingold the Great.
The wizard smiled, and Erika bowed him. The Eldest had foretold that her home would be in Ingold's castle, and Erika had believed. Ingold would be her destiny.
Chapter Two
Kaim raised an iron axe, looked at it for a moment, and laid it back on the empty bed. It looked lonely lying there on the bed where Kaim had slept each night of his life thus far, but he could not take it with him. It was time to go, and the axe was too heavy for him to carry.
Kaim swung the backpack on his back, glanced around him, and turned to leave. He walked slowly, limping, and no one looked upon him. No hand rose to wave, no voice rose to wish him well. No one cared.
Kaim was dead to his tribe.
Woolly ponies grazed on the field. One of them raised his head as Kaim came closer, shook it's mane and whinnied. It had been Kaim's friend for many years, and seemed to sense his moods. Now Kaim was sad, and the pony knew it. He would leave alone, and the pony would stay with his herd.
”I have to go”, he told the pony, ”and you can't come with.”
The dwarf village rested in the shadow of a mountain. It had rested there for many generations, and the mountain had gone through a drastic change as a result. The dwarves had dug deep in search of precious metals, forging great halls and long passageways into the mountain. Only few eyes had seen their work, but still they lived to shape the earth. Without stone there would be no dwarves.
Kaim didn't care for stone. He wanted more.
The dwarves lived a simple life: they dug, ate and slept, farmed their land, traded with elves and groomed their woolly ponies. They went to war, were wounded and died trusting their warlike gods would care for them in the afterlife. They gave part of their harvest as offerings to other, less warlike gods trusting them to protect them in this life. They lived happily, without longing for more than they already had.
Kaim wasn't content in the simple life. He wanted to see all of the Universe, experience a great adventure called life, and therefore his tribe wished him gone. In a way, Kaim was happy: on his own he might never have gathered enough courage to leave the village. Being driven off he had to leave, and sad as leaving was, Kaim figured he might benefit from it.
***
Living alone had taught Kaim well. The forest knew no mercy, it slayed all who didn't beware. Kaim was no predator; he was small and defenceless, and his only chance of survival was to learn to hear every movement, every creak, every sound. The enemy was most dangerous when one did not know of it.
Kaim saw the grey-clad stranger from his high place in the tree. He hadn't seen anyone who walked on two legs since he left the dwarf village. It was a strange sight, stranger still for the grey-clad someone was tall and slim.
Kaim resisted the will to speak. He did not know the approaching someone, couldn't tell whether he was friend of faux. The forest slayed all who didn't beware, so Kaim waited patiently, quietly, high in the tree.
The man knelt to pick a plant. He examined it, nodded, and hid it in a fold in his robe. But instead of moving on, he looked up, straight into the eyes of a hiding dwarf.
Kaim tried to be very, very small, and convinced himself that the stranger had not seen him. An enemy was a threat only when it attacked. So had the forest taught him.
The man didn't attack. He pushed his grey hood down, and spoke.
”Come down, little one. Share a meal with me”, he said, and his voice was pleasant to Kaim's ears.
When an enemy approached, one needed to make haste. So had the forest taught, but Kaim hesitated, scratching the back of his ear. He hadn't heard anyone speak in a long while, and the stranger seemed quite interesting.
The man smiled, and Kaim made a decision.
”I'm not little”, the dwarf said.
”There are many kinds of creatures in the Universe”, the stranger said. ”Some are big, some smaller. Come down. I have honeyed cakes.”
Kaim thought of his words, decided he was right and started to climb down. It took a while, for Kaim was quite clumsy and the tree was quite tall. By the time he got down, the stranger had found a comfortable place to sit in, and lit his tall pipe. Smoke-rings floated around him, and so did the scent of magic. Kaim hadn't smelled it up in the tree but now it was all too clear.
”A wizard”, he said. Every instinct, everything he had learned in his village, told him to run, to flee, to hide in the undergrowth, to do all he could to escape the stranger and his magic. Still, Kaim didn't move. He had left in search of adventure, and now an adventure sat in front of him smoking a tall pipe.
”I am Ingold Suérem Notoren, from the family line of Achdanta, born to Iris, protected by magic, blessed with might.” He fell silent, as if considering what he had said, and then clarified. ”A wizard.”
Kaim nodded. The man was exactly like dwarvish tales had promised. He was tall, he had a hooded robe and a staff, his face was half hidden behind a white beard, his eyes were black and warm like embers hiding a flame. Kaim should have been afraid, he should have cursed the stranger and struck him on the head with anything regarded as a weapon, he should have run from him, or curl up to wait for death. Instead he climbed to sit next to the stranger glancing towards the scent of fried chicken and honeyed cakes.
”Kaim”, he said shortly. ”Geralcha's family”, he then added, feeling the need for a thorough introduction. ”Made me leave”, he continued, thinking the stranger might be interested in the story of his life.
The wizard asked no questions. It was like he saw the rest of his story written in his mind, clear and continuous like life itself.
The basket opened without a hand touching it, and the scent of food made Kaim's mouth water. The forest took care of it's own, but it's presents were thin and hidden. Kaim had lived on leaves and berries for many months, and missed fresh bread. The dwarves enjoyed of plentiful food and fine ale, but none of them knew where nature hid it's bounty. They grew their own food, declaring independence. They didn't walk the forests gathering fruit and mushrooms, didn't sit by a river waiting for a fish to catch bait, didn't sneak in the shadows waiting for a deer to stumble within reach of their arrows. Those, who ate what the forest offered, were regarded as weak.
Kaim knew better. He had eaten what the forest offered. He knew the forest took care of those strong enough to chase down their dinners.
”Eat”, Ingold urged, and smoke-rings danced around him. The dwarf reached for a chicken leg, hesitated, and pulled his hand back.
”A wizard”, Kaim thought. ”A strange wizard in the middle of the forest. Who says his food isn't poisoned? It could turn me into a toad.”
The scent of fried chicken tickled Kaim's nose.
”If I don't eat”, he thought, ”I will starve.”
Kaim felt himself growing weak. He had lost weight since he left his village, and knew the forest would not care for him for long. Only the strong survived, and Kaim had never been strong. He was but a dwarf, small and helpless in the merciless embrace of the forest.
Kaim shrugged, and took the chicken leg. ”If I die of poisoned food, I shall die with a full stomach”, he thought without noticing the sparkle of a smile about the wizard's eyes.
***
”Won't you come with me, little one?” the stranger asked. Kaim stepped back, drawing on the soft ground with the toe of his boot. He had worn them since he left his village, and they were getting shabby. In windy weathers his toes got cold, and when it rained, his feet were wet. He missed the protection of walls and roofs, missed the sound of fire, missed sheets and plates, towels and windows.
But Kaim didn't know the wizard. All he knew was his name.
“Staying”, Kaim blurted, and forced bitter tears to stay hidden. He'd have plenty of time to cry once the wizard was gone. All the time of his life, which wouldn't necessarily be that long.
The stranger didn't give up, though Kaim expected him to. He moved his hand, drawing a soft arch in the air, and spoke a word Kaim didn't recognize. A picture formed in the arch his hand had made, a picture of a stone castle which stood on a tall mountain. The picture changed, revealing endless rooms of stone. Again the picture changed, and this time Kaim saw a bed covered in wolf skins.
“I need someone to help me”, Ingold said, and the dwarf knew he was needed. A dwarf was an irreplaceable aid for a wizard; a dwarf saw all and heard all, but no-one saw him.
“I need someone to listen to the secrets of my household, someone to walk in the shadows for me.” The wizard's voice was soft, inviting, and Kaim found it very difficult to refuse his offer. But each dwarf was suspicious by nature. Kaim had left to seek out an adventure, but even the realisation of all his dreams couldn't make him jump head first into the unknown.
Ingold saw the dwarf hesitate, understood the course of his thoughts, and gave him room to consider, time to make up his mind.
“Won't you stay in my castle, as my guest, until your decision is made?”
Now it was almost too easy for Kaim to nod sharply. He was sick of eating muddy roots, sick of sleeping on wet earth, sick of scrambling through the dark forest in search of safety. The wizard may be a stranger, but his eyes were kind, and his voice soothing. It may be he would use him to test new spells. It may be he would turn him into a toad soon after he would cross the threshold of his castle. It may be the only thing awaiting him was death.
If so, he would die in a warm place with a full belly.
“Only to gather back my strength”, Kaim promised.
Following the wizard through the deep forest that had been his home for many miserable months, Kaim knew he would not return. Adventure had found him, and this one would be much nicer than the ones he'd had in the arms of the forest.
***
The castle was enormous. Stony rooms followed one another, stony corridors seemed never-ending. On his first day Kaim had managed to lose his way seven times and had finally escaped into his own chamber swearing he would leave the very next day.
In the morning he had found his way to the kitchen. That made him postpone his departure.
The kitchen was a warm, busy place. The cook had piercing eyes that seemed to follow the dwarf no matter how well he hid himself, but the maids found him a welcome change in their daily routines. They smuggled delicious bits of food past the cook for Kaim, tugged at his beard and asked him to tell stories of his kin. Kaim felt welcome, despite the cook. Food and warmth lifted his spirits, and he told the maids all they wished to know of the dwarfish way of life, speaking in two days more than he had in his entire life.
In time Ingold called for him. Kaim limped into the great hall where Ingold liked to have his afternoon tea, and climbed into a soft armchair by the fire.
Kaim wouldn't have wanted to meet the wizard yet. His visit was almost over. Soon he would have to leave, to return to the merciless embrace of the forest. The near future frightened him, but a dwarf never admitted his fear.
“Have you enjoyed your stay?” Ingold asked, surrounded by smoke-rings that never seemed to fade away like smoke usually did. The scent of tobacco and dried herbs tickled Kaim's nose, reminding him of home. Before the elderly dwarves got up and walked into the mountains to die, they would sit in front of their homes smoking their pipes. They would tell anyone even slightly interested what they thought was wrong with the Universe. Dwarfish mothers regarded them as perfect baby-sitters, and trustingly left their young to listen to the endless stories. Kaim had listened to the old ones as well, and smoke reminded him of the sunny days of his childhood.
Kaim nodded. He had enjoyed his stay, despite the fact he had gotten lost more often than he cared to admit. Ingold's castle was dry and warm, the food was simple but plentiful, and Kaim had not yet grown tired of peeking into stony rooms that no-one had dusted for a decade.
Ingold frowned at the fire, and it decided to burn a little brighter.
Kaim would have liked to hold his feet out to the fire, but the presence of the wizard made him feel very small and very insignificant.
“My maids like you”, Ingold said, and a smile touched his eyes, turning cold onyx into warm embers. “They call you master dwarf.”
Kaim squirmed in embarrassment. His stories had kept the maids entertained for three days, and he was beginning to think he distracted them from their work.
“They share their innocent secrets with you”, Ingold said. “They trust you, for you are like them: abandoned, homeless, lost.”
Ingold's white hand moved in the air, and Kaim saw glimpses of their lives. He saw Erika run to Ingold being chased by a creature far older than time itself, saw Kristana's beautiful face scarred by burning iron, saw Jillana crawl to the castle, crippled by a basilisk. He saw a maiden after another knock on the high twin doors, find shelter in the warm kitchen and learn to live again.
“They are like me”, Kaim whispered, and saw himself leaving his village again, saw himself looking for food under the stones of the uncaring forest, saw himself following Ingold thinking he had found himself a prison.
Ingold had saved them all; the maids, the grooms, the sharp-eyed cook and the stiff butler. He had even saved a small, grey dwarf.
“I belong here”, Kaim said, and a wash of relief poured over him.
He hadn't found a prison. He'd found a home.
Ingold the Great nodded in his cloud of smoke rings, and warm embers sparkled in his eyes.
Kaim held his feet out to the fire and sniffed the herb-scented air.
Chapter Three
Erika closed the windows, and let darkness swallow the small chamber she had been given. The day's work was done. It was time to rest, but Erika's mind would not give in to sleep.
She folded her clothes on a wooden chair and laid herself onto her narrow bed. Dreams did not bless her, yet Erika hadn't expected them to. The child had taken rest from her.
The beast had come, hiding behind a beautiful face, soon after her fifteenth birthday, robbing her of her innocence and leaving a child in return. Because of the child Erika was forced to leave behind all she knew and loved.
Beautiful words, empty promises. Erika had believed it all, and no-one could blame her.
No-one save herself.
The village knew the beast. It's face was different each time, but it's ways never changed.
Ten children had been born in as many generations and the Eldest had slain them all. None begotten by the beast would live.
Countless men had died in battle, but still the beast lived, louring trusting maidens to it's den.
Erika lay alone in darkness, and listened to the call that had once enticed her.
The child was not dead. Erika knew it. The beast had told her.
The connection was not severed. He, who hid behind beautiful faces, would forever own her soul.
Erika lay alone in darkness, and listened to the call that still enticed her.
***
Ingold lit a lone candle and stared into it's flame. He sensed a presence, sensed the sound of a soul older than all of Universe.
Someone had come to the castle upon Wizard's Peak alongside the new maid. Someone Ingold knew well having never seen his face.
”Light and darkness”, Ingold spoke, ”and in the heart, a new life.”
The flame flickered as if to die, and then burned brighter.
A vision trembled in the heart of the flame.
A child, new-born, reached out in the arms of an old woman, grabbed a dark robe, and laughed.
”Darkness breeds a new life”, Ingold spoke, and his voice was sad.
”But the light is darker than the night.”
The flame died, taking the vision with it.
Ingold the Great sat alone in darkness and the presence of the uninvited tickled his mind.
***
”Come here, child”, Ingold invited, beckoning toward a soft armchair by the high fireplace. Erika hesitated, as the wizard has expected, but came to him, and took the tea cup he offered.
The precence was strong: someone was watching him through Erika's eyes. Ingold had no fear. He knew his opponent. The only thing he did not know, was where to find the one who hid behind Erika's eyes.
This Erika would tell him.
Once the tea drew the truth from her.
Ingold knew how magic affected those who did not know it's ways. He didn't wish to waste time reassuring a fearful maid, didn't want to see Erika resist. This was why the mushrooms were hidden in plain tea.
The mushrooms would not harm her, and neither would Ingold's spell.
The wizard needed answers. Erika might have given them to him of her own free will, but Ingold sensed they were running out of time. The precence of the uninvited grew stronger by the minute. Ingold knew that soon it's physical form would knock on the high twin-doors and worm it's way into the hearts and beds of his maids. Ingold didn't want to see that day come. This was why he had offered Erika tea laced with the mushrooms of the soul.
”Drink”, Ingold said, and blew'out a smoke-ring. His own tea was cooling on a small table by his chair.
Erika took a sip, a very polite, passionless sip like a well brought-up noblewoman. Ingold hid his smile. He knew where Erika was from. Her kin were poor, her village humble. She didn't have a drop of royal blood in her, though she liked to think she might.
Smoke surrounded them as Erika sipped her tea. She didn't bother to reach for the freshly baked biscotti more than Ingold bothered to speak. Time for words would come later, once the mushrooms took effect.
In time the tea cup fell loose from Erika's grip, found the floor and shattered. Erika's head nodded, sleep fumbled for a firmer hold.
Ingold spoke a word, and the fire burned brighter. The flames danced higher, searching for freedom as his words made the enchantment stronger.
”Show me your memories”, Ingold commanded. ”Show me where the enticer sleeps.”
A vision swayed in the flames. Ingold saw Erika's village, saw a path leading to the caverns dug by rains, saw the halls in which the being who wore the faces of strangers had lived. But the beast was gone. The halls were empty.
The predator followed it's victim.
Erika knew not where he who wore other's faces walked. Only the beast itself knew.
Ingold sighed. ”So sure of his own might”, he thought, ”but false pride will become his downfall.”
”Reveal yourself, bearer of many faces.”
Ingold fell silent for a moment, as if considering, and when he spoke again, his voice was like a thundering force.
”NaezGo'rath.”
The flames rose high, then died. Quiet crept into the wide hall.
”Ingold the Great”, Erika said, but the words were not her own. The incubus spoke through her. ”The girl is mine, old one. Your crippled hands will never touch her sweet skin.”
”I care not for the girl”, Ingold replied and blew an unhurried smoke-ring. ”It is you I'm after.”
The enemy, the one who hid behind strange faces, laughed through a servant-girl.
”Do you think a man of your age could interest me? How could you give me what I want? How could you, old one, give me pleasure? What have you to offer me, save your wrinkled mouth?”
Ingold breathed out smoke. The pipe was going out, but the sweet smoke still tasted of dried herbs and tobacco grown by dwarves.
”Power”, the wizard replied, unmoved by insults.
NaezGo'rath tilted the servant-girls head and let a question shine through her eyes. Her body was familiar to him, and so were her thoughts. NaezGo'rath examined them, worked his way through everything the girl's simple mind had ever come to ponder, and saw no sign of deception.
”You? Offering me power?”
NaezGo'rath crept forward, reaching desperately to what he thought the wizard was offering, and found himself trapped. He turned to flee, tried to leave the servant-girls body, but the spell was too strong.
A mighty incubus, trapped by it's greed.
”Let me go”, NaezGo'rath commanded. It writhed in Ingold's grip, tried to escape, and could only spew more insults.
”Curse you, wizard!” it cried, but Ingold had bound himself in protective spells far more powerful than the petty threats of the incubus.
”Let me go”, it now pleaded and vision after vision danced in the embers. The mushrooms of the soul had reached it, and their magic worked for the wizard.
Ingold spoke a word, and NaezGo'rath fled. The wizard had seen enough. He now knew how to find the uninvited.
***
Startled, Erika opened her eyes.
The hall was empty. The fire had burned to embers. The sun was setting, and the walls of the great hall were painted with it's red light.
The wizard was gone.
”I must have dozed off”, Erika said to herself, and knew something was wrong with the words.
She never slept.
The cold hands of fear tightened around her heart.
”I was tired, so I dozed off.”
The tea cup had fallen. The violent love of the stone-floor had shattered it.
Erika knelt to gather the splinters.
Among the shards and tea leaves she saw something grey, something slimy and shiny. Erika pulled her hand away.
Something that looked very much like a snail.
Erika looked closer, poked the slimy something with a piece of a broken tea cup.
It didn't move.
Slowly she let her fingers creep closer, carefully she picked up the piece on which the slimy something rested.
Doubtful, she raised the piece closer. Disgust twisted her face as she examined the slimy something.
It was a not a snail.
”Mushroom”, Erika uttered, and repulse turned her pretty face into an ugly mask.
”The blasted wizard drugged me.”
The shards of the tea cup shattered even smaller encountered with Erika's wrath. The walls painted red by the setting sun echoed with Erika's footsteps as she set out to encounter the deceitful wizard.
***
No-one asked where Ingold was going. No-one asked who he was going to meet. No-one stopped him, no-one questioned him. So it had always been, and Ingold feared it would always be so.
The wizard had lived alone too long. He didn't remember what it was like to look into the eyes of someone who knew what he was thinking of. Sometimes, many decades ago, he had missed it, but a long, lonely life had chased the longing away. The wizard had accepted his part. He knew he was to die alone, forgotten, and be consumed by rats.
”We all must die”, he reminded himself, crouching over his book of spells. ”The only thing that matters, is how one lives his life.”
Ingold knew every spell in the book by heart. He had drawn them all. Still he found himself eyeing the book more often than before. His memory no longer was what it used to be.
”Old age”, Ingold muttered and reached for blue lightnings striking inside a crystal ball, ”is a desolate time.”
A word spoken in the ancient tongue of s'man-tek fell from his lips, heavy, commanding, and a Portal opened in the dusty chamber.
Ingold gripped his ancient staff a little tighter and stepped into the unknown.
***
NaezGo'rath was closer than Ingold had expected. The landscape that opened behind the Portal was familiar to him. His castle was only a few days' journey away.
”I have come to take back what is mine”, Ingold the Great said. NaezGo'rath crept close. He could smell it, could smell the track it had left in magic.
”Erika, the child you seduced, is mine now.”
Someone laughed, laughed a wicked laughter that dried up manhood, a sordid laugh that grasped the seed of madness hidden in everyone's mind, a laughter that tempted and seduced, invited into an everlasting darkness of insanity.
”What would you do with her, old man? Your time has passed.”
Hatred awoke deep within Ingold's soul. He was old, and he knew it. Time had caught up with him, and he could no longer escape it. Time had dried up his body, eaten at his mind, taken away the beauty of his face. Time had broken him.
But it had not yet taken his might.
”Step forth, thief”, Ingold the Great commanded, his voice tightened with fury.
NaezGo'rath stepped out, giving away it's hideout behind the boulders. It wore a young man's fair face, as if to mock the aged wizard.
Still NaezGo'rath feared not. Beautiful and slender it stood before Ingold, Youthful and strong it stepped closer, eyes filled with jealousy and greed.
Ingold may be old, but weak he was not.
”What do you want, old man?” NaezGo'rath asked. ”Tell me, and I shall make it come true.”
A final attempt, a lingering hope.
”What is mine”, Ingold said, and a bright lightning struck the incubus.
Fear wrenched the fair face, pain crumbled the mask he had worn.
Lightnings rained from the heavens at Ingold's will. They tore at black wings, mauled the smooth skin, destroyed the beauty so many maidens had loved.
Before his death NaezGo'rath spoke.
”You may destroy my flesh, but you can never destroy my soul.
”What is mine, will never be yours.”
Life fled the broken body, but the precence didn't fade.
Ingold the Great let out a sigh. NaezGo'rath was right.
The demon would never die, even though the body it lived in, perished. Erika was not free, not now, not ever.
Not as long the demon lived.
Wizard's staff stomped the ground, once, twice, and the soft dirt rose to cover the demon's body.
NaezGo'rath would return. Born a new it would be stronger still.
”I am too old”, Ingold thought. ”I need someone to stand by my side.”
***
The wizard's chamber was hidden in the strands of magic. Four words spoken in the correct order brought out a key approved by magic itself. Erika knew the words, knew where the key was hidden. NaezGo'rath had found the information in the wizard's mind, and given it to Erika.
She reached out her hand, spoke the words, and her hand disappeared into a fold in magic. When she pulled it free, a silvery key glistened in fragile fingers.
”Too easy”, she thought, not knowing the thought was not her own. NaezGo'rath guided her, controlled her every move. She was no longer herself, yet she didn't know it.
Four words by the eastern window and a Portal slid out, a shining silvery lake in nothingness. Erika stepped through it, walked a few steppes in a silvery sea crossing time and space, and stepped out to a corridor carved into stone.
A door waited for her, heavy wood bound in iron. A silvery key fit a silvery lock, and the door opened silently, obediently.
Darkness flowed into the corridor lit by torches, and the scent of death grew stronger.
”Someone died here”, Erika thought, and this thought was her own. It broke free from the demon's power, and with it came terror.
”Someone died here, and was buried under the floor.”
For a brief moment panic fumbled for her. In her minds eye she saw a bony hand reach up from the floor's dirt, saw it grabbing her ankle, saw it dragging her into the ground, to her death. Fear closed her throat, horror faded the outlines of the corridor.
She wanted to run, wanted to flee, but the demon held her still. The demon fought her fear, and won, regaining it's hold over her mind and flesh.
She pushed open the iron-bound door, and the bright light of the corridor softened the darkness.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Soon she could make out a table, bookcases by the walls, markings on the floor. She hesitated, unwilling to step in, but the demon made her cross the threshold.
Firestone hit iron, struck a spark and a flame caught the heart of a tall candle. In the found light Erika looked around. She had expected long tables covered in spell-scrolls, cages that withheld lesser demons, a forever burning fire that imprisoned a secret-whispering siren, smoky potions, mystical doors into other dimensions.
She saw a tidy chamber. Lightnings played inside a crystal orb which waited sunken into a pedestal. An ancient spell book was left open on it's stand, empty scrolls lay on the table. The markings on the floor, so mystical in darkness, turned out a map of stars. There was a smell of magic in the air, but Erika saw nothing that would prove this a wizard's chamber. The spell book alone told a tale of might.
Erika stepped closer to the book. The demon inside wanted to see the spells, to suck in some of the wizard's might. It forced her under it's will, told her to read his spells, made her defy the curse of magic.
She reached for the fragile pages with a triumphant glee in her eyes, when a Portal opened in the chamber. Fear grabbed her with it's clammy claws, but the demon didn't let her flee. It took over her will, suffocated her soul with his, rose like a tide to hide her essence. Erika was no more, and in her place stood NaezGo'rath.
***
Magic concentrated around Erika, a dark, destructive might that burned like fire, scalded like boiling water. Ingold sensed it long before he stepped out of the Portal.
”NaezGo'rath”, he spoke. He didn't need time, didn't feel the urge to distract the demon with meaningless words. He uttered it's name from force of habit.
”Speak the name of thine enemy”, had someone once said, when Ingold had been young, ”and he will become less.” Ingold had taken the advice, and found it to be untrue. Still he honoured the advice, though it made no effect to the enemy's might.
Yet sometimes it was a slight distraction. Sometimes it gave a moment of time.
And sometimes great things happened in one moment.
”Weary wizard”, the demon mocked, twisting Erika's face into a hateful grin.
”Your time has passed. The age of the demon has begun.”
NaezGo'rath gathered the strength of his might, spun all his magic into a dark orb.
”Prepare for death”, it said, and the orb flew through the chamber.
Ingold hissed a word, and a magical shield rose to his defence. The orb melted, faded away like a nightmare in the morning light.
Another word, and the stony floor gripped the girl's legs. Bound to it's place, the demon was less of a threat.
”Age of the demon”, Ingold snorted. He felt old and worn, but magic had not yet left him. One demon could not challenge him.
”Leave the girl”, Ingold commanded. She was an outsider. She was to walk out on her own two feet, remembering nothing of what now passed.
The demon used Erika's mouth to laugh.
”The girl is mine”, it said. ”She lives or dies with me, despite your will, old man.”
”Wrong”, Ingold said.
The spells were clear in his mind. He had written them by hand on the pages of the great book, had read them again and again over countless years. They were drawn to his mind deeper than his mother's face. They were his life, the secret of his might.
Words spoken in ancient s'man-tek filled the chamber and the demon found it's grip slipping. The girl slid away slowly, surely. He tried to fight, tried to regain control, but all the magic he could master had been wastefully spun into the dark missile it had used in one desperate attempt to destroy the wizard. It's only spell had failed and left him defenceless.
The stone let go. Erika fell to the floor with a soft thud. She was free, but so was the demon.
An invisible being floated in the chamber. Ingold could sense it's precence, though he could not point it out.
NaezGo'rath still trusted it's own strength. Magic had betrayed it, and still it imagined to defeat the most powerful wizard in the Universe.
”An old man”, the demon laughed. ”Helpless, defeated!”
A spell slit the air like a whip, and once more magic betrayed the demon.
The unseen turned visible. The demon floated in the chamber, groping the air, trying to hide inside it.
”Traitor!” it cried. ”You promised me power!”
”I betrayed you”, Ingold said, ”for it is my duty to protect the Web of the Universe from the likes of you.”
Ingold tapped the stony floor with the foot of his staff. A light begun to shine in dead wood, and with it came a sound, an angelic choir, the voice of magic itself.
Ingold sighed. His work was heavier each passing day. Suddenly he felt very old.
The staff had been with him for as long as he could remember, but still it kept secrets from him. It surprised him yet again, giving him a small miracle after another.
The light shone brighter, and the angelic choir turned into valkyries shrieking. Ingold closed his eyes as the bright light filled the chamber, but nothing could keep the demon's cries out of his ears.
NaezGo'rath died as he had lived; mostly unnoticed.
The light died, echoes faded.
Ingold opened his eyes. The staff was again just a piece of dead wood. The demon was gone.
Erika lay motionless on the stone floor. She lived, would live for many years to come.
Ingold spoke a word, and the heavy, iron-bound door swung loudly shut. A silvery key turned in a silvery lock and was swallowed by magic.
Another word, and a Portal opened. Air lifted Erika into it's arms and carried her through the Portal. She would awake in a soft armchair by the fireplace. Magic erased the memory of the demon from her mind, healed her heart, purified her soul. She was one of the innocent, one of those magic would always protect.
Everything would return to normal.
Ingold sighed.
”I need someone to stand by my side.”
For countless years he had lived alone in the drafty castle, accompanied only by his servants. For countless years he had battled to keep the Balance in the fragile Web of the Universe. For countless years he had walked alone.
Now it was time to rely on others.
Ingold moved across the chamber and sat in the chair he liked the most. He combed his long, white beard with his fingers, and worry drew out the lines in his face. He had lived a long time, and though old age weighed on him, death was not yet waiting behind him. Magic would keep him alive for many lifetimes, if he so wished. One of the nicest perks of being a wizard, had Ingold noticed many a year ago, was that a wizard would decide the moment of his death.
Ingold was not afraid of death. He was afraid of his loneliness.
”J'dra”, Ingold said suddenly, and a smile chased hard lines away.
”I shall summon J'dra as my apprentice, teach her all I know, and once I walk in the World of the Dead, she will take my place.”
Ingold smiled, and leaned back in his comfortable chair. Sleep loured him, and he gave into it. Worries had subsided, but only for a while.
Loneliness hung over him like a dark shadow, but he knew it would soon pass.
***
Sleep let go slowly, fled irresistibly though Erika did her best to curl up in it's soft lap. It ran off, slipped away, and Erika was forced to open her eyes.
The tea cup had fallen, broken to pieces in contact with the stone-floor. Ingold was gone, the fire had burned to embers.
Somewhere close by the dwarf muttered to himself.
Erika jumped up, looking for a broom. It hid from her, and the pieces of the tea cup laughed at her from the floor.
Erika knelt on the floor and begun to pick up the pieces. Her hands shook, breath caught in her throat. When Ingold was gone, the dwarf was the master, and the masters footsteps echoed closer by the passing second.
A sharp edge slit her finger. A drop of blood crept out, hesitated a fleeing heartbeat, and fell on the floor.
Fear and hurry fled. A quiet submission took their place. Soon the dwarf would pass the corner, see the mess Erika had made and preach for a long time. Afterwards Erika would pack her belongings and leave the castle upon Wizard's Peak.
A lone tear fell on a soft cheek. A drop of blood stained a servant-girl's dress.
The dwarf's footsteps echoed closer every passing moment.
Erika let out a trembling sigh, thought fearfully of her life to come, glanced upon the past, and the tea cup lost all meaning.
Something was missing.
”Why did I leave?” Erika asked herself, not remembering that the dwarf was near.
”Why did I leave my home?”
The time before she came to the castle on Wizard's Peak was gone, though she knew she had remembered it all just the night before. The past was missing, though she knew she had reflected upon it but a few moments ago.
”What's happened to me?”
A strong hand fell on her shoulder. Erika jumped, but had no fear. The dwarf was a strict master, but a good friend.
”This is a wizard's castle”, Kaim said. His hand was warm, and Erika took hold of it. She pressed her cheek on it, and missed the warmth in the dwarf's eyes.
”Strange things happen when you think all is well.”
Erika turned her teary eyes on the dwarf.
”What has happened to me?”
Kaim pondered a moment, and decided it was better if Erika knew. Truth had never killed anyone, but not knowing had torn many a soul to shreds.
Kaim climbed into a soft armchair cursing Ingold's feeble mind on the way. The wizard had promised Kaim a chair of his own many days ago.
”Why did I leave my home? What possessed me to come here?”
Kaim looked upon the girl and sighed. His tongue was stiff, his mind slow. The girl turned to him for comfort, longing gentle words, and all he could give her was the warmth of his clumsy hand.
”What do you remember?” Kaim asked, hoping the girl would stumble upon the truth she needed to hear. But the frail hope was still-born. Erika would not help the word-fumbling dwarf.
”I remember”, Erika begun hesitantly, as if the sound of her own voice frightened her.
”I remember my childhood. I remember the face of my mother, and the sound of my father's voice, but not why I left my family's home.
”I remember the village I lived in, the Eldest and the workers, but not why I left.
”I remember the journey I made, but not why I started on the road that led me to the castle upon Wizard's Peak.
”I don't know why I'm here.”
Erika's eyes were wide and pleading, the eyes of a child who has lost her way. Kaim would have liked nothing better than to save her, but what was hidden from Erika, was hidden from him.
”Wizards”, Kaim said, and cleared his throat. He knew only one wizard, and hoped deeply that he did not portray all of his profession.
”... are difficult to understand.”
Kaim nodded his head indicating he had told all he had to offer but Erika seemed to wait for more. The girl wanted far more than Kaim could offer.
Bravely the dwarf continued.
”Ingold has taken your memory.”
Any dwarf would have nodded, frowned, and accepted the explanation, but Erika, a human child, wanted more.
”Why?” she asked, eyes full of question. ”Why would he do so?”
Erika's inability to understand a simple thing started to bug the dwarf.
”Didn't want you to”, he said, ”to remember.”
”But why? What does he not want me remembering?”
Dwarves didn't ask ”why”. They accepted, adjusted, and continued living. They didn't see the point of pondering over things they did not comprehend. Their lives were earth-bound, simple and uncomplicated. They were born, lived without questioning the meaning of their lives, and died content. They didn't know the word ”why” and none of them knew how to answer the questions hidden in that small word. Kaim had left his home and kin in search of an adventure, but he could not abandon the ways of his kind. They were deeply rooted in his heart.
Kaim frowned. In his mind he had already given a complete answer. Erika could not remember, for Ingold didn't want her to. It was explanation enough, but the girl wanted more. For the first time in his life Kaim was forced to ask himself the question he so tried now to answer.
”Why?”
Why was it so important for humankind to understand? Why did they feel the need to tear every little thing to pieces and then examine the pieces repeating the question ”why? why? why?” like they were mindless parrots? The dwarf could not tell, and resorted to the only answer he could think of.
”Don't know”, he said. ”Didn't tell.”
The day was almost over. Work waited, but the girl didn't seem to care. She looked upon the dwarf with huge, scared eyes dropping red stains onto the floor to accompany a broken tea cup without even trying to gather up the pieces before someone else cut himself like she had.
Kaim shook his head in dismay and started to climb down from the chair. It was a task that made the dwarf feel himself quite ridiculous. The chair was high and Kaim was small, and no one had thought to bring a ladder to aid him. Sometimes the dwarf felt that big people thought only of themselves.
Erika's mouth tightened, a decisive flame flickered in her eyes.
”I shall ask him.”
She gathered her dress, rose to her feet, and ran off before Kaim could get one foot on the floor.
The dwarf stood alone in the hall amongst big armchairs and slowly shook his head. The ways of the humankind were incomprehensible to him, their constant curiosity unnerving. Kaim was used to hiding himself behind a wall of common courtesy, but humans revealed their weaknesses to anyone they passed. They hung their emotions on shameless display without realizing just how ridiculous that made them seem. They acted mindlessly like children, stumbled through their lives like drunkards.
Kaim shook his head and snuffled. Suddenly he longed for the company of his own kind.
***
Stone-carved corridors seemed endless. Along their sides chambers awaited a curious passer-by, but Erika had no time for them. She hurried past enticing chambers without noticing half-open doors, without seeing secrets that so longed to end up in her hands.
The wizard was not in the great hall, not in the kitchen, not in the highest tower contemplating the mysteries of the Universe. He had vanished just as Erika needed him.
”Ingold!” Erika yelled, quickly losing her patience. The wizard avoided her, shied away from her questions, fled from the responsibility Erika wished to burden him with.
”Ingold is busy”, a small voice spoke.
”He has no time for nosy women-folk.”
”Who spoke?” Erika asked. Hurry had fled her mind. She stood in the empty hallway alone, forgotten. The corridor was empty. It was like she was the only living soul in the castle. She saw no-one who could have spoken.
Yet someone had.
”Who said that?”
The little voice laughed, giggled like a misbehaved child. Still Erika saw no-one.
The laughter followed her, clung to her like a burr in the autumn. It haunted her, toyed with her, forced her to seek shelter in the great hall.
But the voice did not stay in it's place. It followed her, ran with her like a relentless shadow, invisible to her eyes.
Panic started to set in. It reached it's cold hands into her mind, making her believe the little voice was sent to drive her into insanity, to rob her of her mind's clarity.
”No!” Erika cried, and the hallway fell silent.
The corridor was once again empty, quiet, abandoned. She was alone.
”What magic is this?” she asked, and the owner of the little voice saw it fit to wear a visible form.
A being unlike all Erika had seen, stepped out of thin air in front of her. It's ancient face, lined with time and old age, wrinkled of malevolent joy as Erika stumbled away, it's bright, mischievous eyes shone as Erika tripped on her petticoats and fell.
”Ingold has no need for nosy women-folk”, the being told, and straightened itself to gain it's full length of almost two feet.
”He has enough to do as it is.”
It smiled, and the smile made her tremble with fear. The thing was hardly bigger than a dog, but the might that surrounded him was even more frightful than the might of Ingold himself.
”I can entertain you until Ingold finds time for you, nosy girl.”
It snuck closer, reached it wrinkled hand to touch her, it snuck closer to find it's way under her colourful skirts. A stony wall stood in her way, but still Erika tried desperately to get away. The stone was cold and cruel, but it's undeniable existence made Erika calm down. At least enough to find a useful bit of information in her stressed mind.
When a servant-girl entered the service of Ingold, he taught her a simple spell. A protective spell to utter when evil lurked about.
Evil was most definitely lurking about, and Erika spoke the words in almost forgotten s'man-tek.
She expected a white light to surround her, a white shield of magic to come to her defence.
Nothing happened. The thing that had stepped out of thin air and now tried to crawl into her skirts despite her kicks and screams still approached, the hallway was still empty, she was still alone.
Abandoned.
Erika screamed in desperation, held tightly by an unseen force much like a spider web.
”My spell”, said the thing, ”will forever bind you to me.
”You will stay forever... as my pleasure.”
Erika tried to kick, tried to scream, tried to get up and run, but the web held her tight, tightening as she struggled. Breath was drawn from her, her voice was shrill and weak. She tried to struggle, and finally a white light blazed in the hallway.
The voice of Ingold the Great cut the light, like a thunder after a lightning strike.
”Enough!”
The light faded, Erika could again see.
The hallway was empty save herself and Ingold. The wrinkled being was gone and a white-clad wizard looked upon her with wary eyes.
”Your curiosity”, he said, offering her his hand, ”will become your downfall.”
***
”My spell... why didn't it work?”
Erika followed Ingold toward the great hall. Thousands of questions circled her mind colliding with each other, forming a web impossible to solve. She wanted to know so much, yet Ingold was always too busy for questions. Her curiosity was never-ending, and somehow she knew Ingold could never answer all her questions. She had to pick out those most important.
”You have no magic”, Ingold said.
”You taught me the spell in vain?” Erika said in disbelief. Surely a wizard was expected to teach his servants a spell that actually worked.
The wizard glanced at her grimly, but a smile danced about his face.
”Each of you cries my name a dozen times a day”, he explained. ”I hear all of you. If I ran to your aid each time you call out my name, I'd have time to for nothing else. That is why I taught you the spell. It won't protect you, but I shall hear the words, and come to your rescue.”
Ingold smirked, and continued on. His staff hit the stone-floor in the rhythm of his footsteps.
”The spell is more powerful than a protective spell uttered by a Chosen one. After all, it does bring the most feared wizard to your aid.”
A warmth blossomed in Erika's heart, and a smile found her lips as well. In the castle upon Wizard's Peak she would be safe. As long as Ingold roamed the hallways and corridors of the castle they would all be safe.
”Who...”, she began, considered her words, and started over. ”What was it?”
Ingold nodded as if he had been expecting the question, hoping for it to reveal itself.
”The castle is old. Many bad things have happened inside these walls.”
Ingold touched a stone-wall, and for a brief moment Erika could hear the wailing of those being tortured, could hear the cries of women and children in great pain. For a brief moment she could feel the fear of those about to die, the pain of those abandoned, the endless agony of those starving. She stirred. Her own pain now seemed like a grain of sand in an endless desert.
”Sometimes grief is too great.
”Sometimes it can't bear itself.
”The grief on Wizard's Peak took advantage of my magic. It forced magic to give it a face and a voice, a body and a soul. The creature born now lives in this castle. It drinks every tear shed on this mountain, feeds on each sorrow born on this mountain. It is the keeper of the castle, the spirit of Wizard's Peak.
”You are marked by sorrow. That is why it liked you so.”
Erika paced quietly by the wizard's side. The ancient creature was no longer frightening. Compassion awoke in her gentle soul.
”What is it's name?”
Erika couldn't see the wizard smile. His white beard hid emotions well.
”It has no name. It has not burdened itself with one.”
It was late when they reached the great hall. The day was nearly done.
”Kaim must miss you”, Ingold remarked. There was no blame in his voice, no accusation. Still Erika had to make herself stay. The dwarf could do without her. He had a whole army of servant-girls. The war against disorder didn't miss one pair of hands.
”Kaim can make do without me for one night”, Erika claimed. Her questions waited to be spoken, the answers gleamed just a little bit too far.
”I need to know.”
The wizard paused. The moist air clued a strand of white hair to his forehead, the cold breeze made him shiver. For a moment Erika thought she might build a fire to warm him, but the questions were too urgent to be held still any longer.
”You cast a spell on me”, she said, and accusation embroidered a sharp tone to her voice. ”Why? What did you not want me remembering?”
Ingold sighed, and for a moment Erika saw him as an old man, not a wizard, and compassion touched her kind heart once more. Yet the questions needed to be answered. Compassion would not stand in their way.
”Memories would break you, crush your spirit. A memory of evil is best forgotten.”
Ingold considered for a moment, pondering how mush she should know.
”Evil draws to evil. I do not want the wicked side of the might to touch you again.”
He turned to leave, words of the spell on his lips, but Erika grabbed his white robe.
”Are my memories not my own? Don't I have the power to decide for myself?”
Ingold's eyes were cold and sharp, and their harshness made Erika let go.
”All, that lives under my roof, belongs to me.”
The first word of the spell fell onto the stone-floor and Erika stepped back. Memories avoided her, but she was not foolish enough to stand in Ingold's way. She was curious, not stupid. She knew when to give up.
The second word of the spell floated in the air, light as a summer's cloud. Air stirred around Ingold, stones trembled under his feet. Erika watched, speechless, as magic worked it's way.
The third word of the spell caught fire, bound three words into one, and magic whisked Ingold away.
Erika stood alone in the great hall. She was lonely, struck down, desolate. Her questions remained unanswered, and now she knew the wizard would never share the truth with her. Erika was doomed to look upon an incomplete past, a past that to her seemed like a cheese a mouse had nibbled on.
”How can I now tell, who I am?” she asked herself, but this time the answer was all too easy to find. She knew who she was. She had lived with herself for nineteen years, given birth to a child and given it away. She did know herself.
All she missed was a bit of her past.
Erika sighed and started toward the warm, noisy kitchen. Surely the dwarf still had something left for her to do.
***
The wizard walked slowly through his castle. A cold breeze tickled his ankles, moist draft glued hair to his head.
Ingold frowned. In time, the castle had been a warm, inviting home. Now spiders spun their webs in darks corners, rats lived happily in the lower floors, and cold air snuck in through broken windows.
Warmth was gone. The castle was slowly crumbling, lacking proper taking care of.