Azure bonds - Kate Novak [176]
Alias took a deep breath as she reached for the door. She wanted to be prepared to slam it shut in an instant or dodge aside if some horrible beast came lunging out.
The door pushed open at a touch, revealing a large, open courtyard. To the right and left, passages wove farther into the mazework of the tower. Directly across from them, a balcony opened onto the splendor of the shimmering Plane of Life. In the center of the court was a large pool filled with swirling patterns of silver and red, like the portal on the Hill of Fangs. This pool was set into the floor, though, and ringed with bluish stones.
A small form, dressed in shades of red and brown was seated on the stones. He smiled a smile wider than any human or halfling could manage, and his blue-on-blue-on-blue eyes glinted wickedly. In his hands he passed back and forth Cassana's slender, blue wand.
"Welcome home, One," Phalse said. "I take it you have met Two through Thirteen."
31
Phalse
Alias strode into the court, casting a glance to the right, to the left, overhead. No assassins were hidden behind the crystal doors, no cage hung suspended above. Olive moved to the right, Dragonbait to the left. Akabar held back, slightly behind Alias, ready to cast in a moment.
Phalse remained seated on the portal stones, swinging his short legs back and forth, playing with the wand like a child with a stick.
"Where is your master?" Alias demanded.
"Where is yours?" Phaise asked with a giggle.
From the rear, Akabar began to cast a spell.
Phalse pointed a finger at one of the blue stones near the pool. The stone rose, hovered for a moment, then flew, as if propelled by an invisible sling, across the room. Alias ducked instinctively and raised Dragonbait's sword to deflect the stone, but she was not its target. It circled around the saurial's blade and streaked past the swords-woman. Alias heard the brutal impact of stone cracking bone. She half-turned. Akabar was kneeling on the floor, clutching his forehead. Blood oozed between his fingers.
'None of that, now." Phalse waggled a finger at the mage reproachfully. "Not fair at all to attack a poor, defenseless halfling."
"Zero for three," Olive said. "You're none of those things."
"Something wrong, One?" Phalse addressed Alias, ignoring Olive completely. "I thought you didn't like others doing your talking for you."
"My name is Alias," the woman warrior retorted, striding toward the little creature.
"You are One," Phalse said. "Two, Three, and Four are behind the door. As well as Five through Thirteen. While I worked with the other members of the now-defunct alliance, I was very careful to always refer to you as the One, instead of just One. I couldn't let them suspect that I only thought of you as the beginning of something far grander. Why make just one weapon when you can make several? Especially if you have as many enemies as I have."
Alias took a step forward, and Phalse waved Cassana's wand.
Alias stopped in mid-stride, as though she had walked into an invisible spider web. Unlike Cassana's taut bonds, these were gummy. Phalse could wield the wand differently than the witch had.
"Problems, One?" Phalse mocked her. "Cassana's toy still has effects you haven't learned yet. She built for variability, you know. When you were within her area of command, the wand made you her puppet, much like that poor, undead fool, Prakis."
Olive and Dragonbait began to close on the small form, but Alias growled at them through clenched teeth, "Back away. He's mine!"
Phalse laughed. "No, One, you have that backward. You are mine. If I want you, that is. I think I prefer Two. She'll be much more tractable."
The shorter strands of Alias's hair were rising like serpents as she fought the controlling force of the wand. Dragonbait remained in position, respecting Alias's desire to resist the wand without help.
Olive was not so amenable