Red Magic - Jean Rabe [103]
The darkenbeasts felt the wizard's excitement and began to soar about their subterranean chamber, faster and faster, on their leathery wings. Maligor's mind reached out, contacting one, then another, then a dozen, then still more until his thoughts were intertwined with all of his macabre creatures.
The darkenbeasts' cries spiraled upward from the chamber, unnerving everyone in the Red Wizard's tower. Louder and louder the noise grew, until Maligor masked the cacophony with an enchantment of silence.
Then he rushed up the steps, the darkenbeasts first following, then overtaking him. Higher and higher the hellish creatures flew, until they reached the ground floor.
"Throw open the doors!" Maligor commanded as he reached the entry hall. But the guards couldn't hear him because of the forced silence. The wizard waved his arms to indicate what he wanted.
The guards, quaking in terror, fumbled with the latches in their attempt to comply. Maligor ran ahead of his cloud of hovering darkenbeasts to wrench the doors open himself. So elated was the Red Wizard that he neglected to punish the fearful guards.
While the wizards and the city of Amruthar watched the gnoll soldiers, the darkenbeasts flew unnoticed. No one heard or saw them, and Maligor's spirits soared on their wings.
Asp, growing accustomed to her new form, waddled to Maligor's side and gazed up into his face.
The Red Wizard grasped her pudgy hand and muttered a few words. Then the pair vanished in a wisp of smoke.
Twelve
The sun was setting on Thay in front of the heroes and their undead charges. Wynter glanced over his shoulder so he could watch the skeletons and zombies.
"Why are they here?" the centaur asked Brenna. "They're dead, aren't they?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later," she sighed. "I only wish you could remember." Brenna stared at the undead army. They were frightening and macabre, shuffling stiffly, some hunched over. She wondered if there was any spark of life within them. Did they realize what they were doing and whom they served? Did they know they were being denied a true death because of sorcery? It was just another form of slavery. She had thought about that a great deal during the past few hours, just as she had been thinking about a lot of other things since leaving Szass Tam's fortress.
This was wrong, she knew, Wynter's condition and this entire procession against the Red Wizard Maligor. Choosing the lesser of two evils was still an evil. And any evil in Thay was an abomination as far as the enchantress was concerned.
"They smell funny," Wynter complained, interrupting her thoughts. "They look bad, too."
"I know," she said softly, smiling at the simpleminded centaur. "Try not to think about it. Look at the sunset. Isn't it beautiful?" The orange rays spread out over the groves of trees to their right and left and the verdant plain before them. The breeze that blew over the grass teased their faces.
"Pretty," the centaur agreed. "Your name is Brenna, right?"
The enchantress nodded sadly and tilted her head so she could see Galvin. The druid was several yards behind them and was apparently studying the centaur.
"Where are we going?" the centaur persisted.
"A city called Amruthar," Brenna replied.
"Tell me when we get there. I'm going to look at the dead men," Wynter decided, falling back to march between the first two rows of the undead. Balancing his enchanted bardiche under one arm, the centaur waved happily at Galvin.
Feeling morose about his witless friend, the druid didn't acknowledge the gesture. Galvin was angry at himself for not being with Wynter when the plant trapped him. Strangely, he was even angrier that the plant hadn't killed his friend. The druid knew that, in the wilderness, only the strong survived, and Wynter could no longer survive on his own. He hated seeing his friend this way-an adult with a child's mind.
The druid scowled, frustrated and disappointed that he should wish