Black wizards - Douglas Niles [17]
But that peace was ending.
"Seeriax, punjyss withsath – nere!" Cyndre whispered the words to his first spell, holding his fingers before him. A soft hissing surrounded him, and a long tendril of yellow gas flowed from each of his fingertips. The gas expanded into a huge yellow mass of air, sinking from the promontory toward the bustling village below.
The gas seeped through the doors and windows, slinking around the deep gnomes as they sat, or slept, or worked. And where it struck, it killed.
A hundred gnomefolk were startled by the yellow, silent death, and died before they could cry a warning. The gas flowed onward, seeping through the streets, flowing from the dead to the living. One old gnome, tottering up the street, his gray beard reaching nearly to the ground, saw the horror and cried a single word: "Flee!" Then the gas crept around him, and he died upon the tiny street.
With the alarm, gnomes poured from the buildings that had yet to be struck by the killing cloud. Hundreds of the creatures fled to the fields, through the vast fungus plants, to the bridges over the placid stream. And as they crossed the bridges, males, females, and young, they were met by the poised weapons of Dai-Dak's duergar.
Cyndre saw a group of gnomes – perhaps a hundred – break away from the rest, and flee toward a narrow cavern beyond the fungi. The sorcerer whispered a word and immediately disappeared from the promontory. In the same instant, he arrived at the mouth of the cavern – certain to be a secret escape route. He cast another spell some distance into the cavern and watched as the gnomes raced into the passage. Suddenly, they stopped, their escape blocked by a solid wall of iron that extended from the top to the bottom of the secret tunnel, and from wall to wall.
The turned as a mass to race for the entrance again, but the black wizard now stood there, waiting implacably for the gnomes' moments of maximum terror.
"Blitzyth, Dorax zooth!"
Cyndre's next spell sent crackling bolts of lightning sizzling into the walls and ceiling of the narrow cave. Great chunks of rock broke free, crushing the trapped gnomes.
More and more stone fell, in a thunderous cloud of dust and debris, sending a cloud of dust drifting into the vast caverns where the massacre was now complete.
Cyndre smiled slightly, satisfied that his task was done. The dark dwarves had gained their food and water sources and their mining tunnels. Their senseless bloodlust had been satisfied. Indeed, the dark dwarves had gained all that they currently desired.
And the black wizard had gained the duergar themselves.
* * * * *
The feasting had ended and the lords had gone, except for Fergus and Pontswain. Tristan met with them, along with Daryth and Randolph, after the council. Fires burned low in the hearths, and a chorus of snores arose from various corners of the hall.
They had finalized the details of their journey – Daryth would accompany the prince and Lord Pontswain to Caer Callidyrr. There, they would each meet with the High King and plead their case for the kingship of Corwell. They agreed to abide by the king's decision.
"Very well," said Ponstwain. "How do we get there?"
"I was hoping to accompany Lord Fergus to Kingsbay, riding the length of Corwell Road." Tristan looked at the other lord, who watched the discussion impassively. "Can you furnish us with a boat to carry us across the Strait of Alaron?"
Fergus nodded, his handlebar mustache bouncing. "It shall be my pleasure."
"Very well." Tristan stood, followed by the others. "We shall leave for Kingsbay at first light."
Daryth and Tristan went to their quarters and gathered their belongings for the journey. Daryth carried his scimitar at