Red Magic - Jean Rabe [136]
The druid scowled and began to pace nervously. "Has Maligor been here long?"
The slave scratched his head. "A few days," he said after a pause. "Two, three days. Maybe four, but not more than that."
"Where is he?" Galvin demanded, his voice rising.
The slaves backed against the wall.
"Where?" he persisted.
"We-we shouldn't tell you," one answered. "The master would be angry."
"I'm angry. And I'm here," the druid snapped. "Where's the Red Wizard?"
"Deep in the mines," came a slave's monotone reply.
The druid scrutinized the miners. The slaves appeared tired, and they were thin from lack of food. He realized telling them to leave the mines would be pointless. Maligor's servants wouldn't leave, unless, perhaps, Maligor was dead, the druid thought.
The slaves continued to stare at the Harpers and Brenna, then after several minutes, they resumed loading ore into the barrels.
"Damn!" the centaur cursed. "They're not like real people. They've no free will. We've got to get them out of here, Galvin."
The druid looked up into his friend's pained face. "After we deal with Maligor," he said simply, then turned to a slave. "We need to find our way back to the main shaft. Tell us how."
The slave gestured back the way they had come.
"Not that way. Is there another tunnel that links up?"
The slaves looked at each other and shrugged. "Hundreds of tunnels," one croaked. "The widest ones lead to chambers below. Others lead to the main shaft."
Galvin whirled and trotted back down the tunnel. Brenna stayed even with him, but the centaur was having an increasingly difficult time maneuvering in the sloping shafts. The next two crosscuts led to dead ends and more slave miners, who also seemed to lack any will of their own. But the third tunnel twisted down into the depths of the mountain and angled back toward the main shaft. The tunnel ceiling was lower here, forcing the centaur to stoop.
Ahead and off to the right, they heard a series of clinking and thudding sounds, mixed with the cries of the darkenbeasts. The druid began to run through the shaft, intent on discovering the nature of the confrontation ahead.
He rounded a sharp corner and gasped as he spotted a wispy cloud bearing down on him. The cloud hovered, its tendrils becoming arms and legs, and a mass of white forming a fleshy face with a wild tangle of black hair. Maligor willed himself to solidify into his human form as the druid stood, unmoving. The wizard's red robes looked like dying embers in the light of a distant torch.
The Red Wizard's dark eyes held the druid, and with a gesture, Maligor drew the air away from Galvin's face, leaving the druid breathless.
"You'll die, meddlesome Harper!" Maligor spat, weaving his hand in the air, then pointing his fingers at the druid's chest. Red shards of energy shot from the wizard's hand and sunk themselves in Galvin's abdomen.
The druid doubled over in shock, just as Brenna reached his side. She stood transfixed, staring at the symbol of Myrkul on the wizard's forehead and realizing it was Maligor they faced. As the wizard glanced past the druid, straight at her, she quickly composed herself and began a spell.
"You!" Maligor roared, remembering the face of the woman in the clearing, the woman who had killed his darkenbeast many days ago with a bolt of lightning. Furious, the Red Wizard directed his next spell at Brenna, hurtling her small frame backward against the tunnel wall with an unseen force that left her crumpled like a rag doll.
Galvin struggled to his feet and drew his sword, slashing at the wizard just as Wynter came upon the scene. But the wizard was too fast. With a quick gesture, his fleshly form became intangible, ghostlike, and the blade passed harmlessly through him. Maligor lolled his head back and laughed, a deep, throaty laugh that sent chills racing down the druid's spine.
The centaur charged forward, cleaving his pick through the wizard's intangible chest.
"Harper fools!" Maligor bellowed, becoming solid again