Red Magic - Jean Rabe [42]
"Maybe I actually will have to select a Red Wizard somewhere to attack, or perhaps some stuffy baron who offended me years ago. After all, I shouldn't waste my gnolls' training. Nor should I disappoint the Red Wizards who will be looking for me to do something. Do you have any suggestions? Anyone in Thay you particularly dislike?"
"You-you wretched, evil dog!" Willeth was trying to goad Maligor. The tharchion, who was in agony, considered himself a dead man now, and he hoped the wizard would get angry enough to kill him before gaining any information about the mines. "You are… not fit to… walk on Thayvian soil! You are-"
"Tsk, tsk, Willeth," Maligor said. His tone was condescending, like a teacher lecturing a misbehaving child. "I'm no more evil than the rest of the wizards… just a little smarter, perhaps. And insulting me won't help your condition."
Willeth's chest heaved. It was getting difficult for the tharchion to breathe. He wondered if his shattered ribs were poking into his insides. He decided to get the wizard to keep talking, hoping he would be dead by the time Maligor finished his crazed discourse. "If you… take your gnolls… to attack someone else… how will you… get the mines?"
"I have power and forces you could only dream of," the Red Wizard said evenly. "My gnolls are numerous, one of the grandest armies in Thay. It is probably only because of their great numbers that Szass Tam or another Red Wizard hasn't already attacked me. But my gnolls are nothing. My true army is much stronger, and it is that army that will seize the mines for me."
"And if you… do take the mines?" Willeth posed, his breathing becoming shallower still.
"When I take them," Maligor corrected.
"When you… take the mines… the other Red Wizards will band together…and seize them back from you. No one Red Wizard… has the power to hold the mines."
"Willeth, you do count me for a fool. My plan is so intricate and sublime that no one will even know I control the mines." Maligor looked at the puzzled expression on the tharchion's face. "The precious flow of gold to the country won't stop, at least not for a few years. You still don't understand, do you? And I can see that I don't have the time to explain it to you. My gnolls struck you too severely. I fear you haven't long to live."
The Red Wizard stopped his pacing and moved closer to his captive, just far enough away so the man's chained arms couldn't reach him. "So you'll have to talk now-quickly. Tell me about the mine's defenses."
"Go to… the underworld!" Willeth spat.
The gnolls moved to strike the tharchion, but Maligor held them back with a glance. The Red Wizard mumbled something Willeth could not understand. It was magic, the tharchion knew, as Maligor's hands began to glow, radiating a soft, pink haze that stretched in rays from his fingers to Willeth's eyes.
"You will beat me to the underworld, tharchion," Maligor said, his voice a singsong chant that mesmerized Willeth. "But before you go, you will be my friend. My closest, dearest friend. Friends share secrets, Willeth. I am your very best friend, and you will share all of your secrets with me. Tell me about the mine, friend Willeth. I want to visit the mine. And since I'm your friend, you wouldn't want me to get hurt there, would you? Tell me about the defenses-where the magical traps and spells are placed. I mustn't get hurt, friend Willeth."
The tharchion's eyes glazed over, and the pupils became small and fixed. "My friend," he croaked. "Can't let… my friend be hurt… when he comes to visit me in the mines. Be careful, friend, the mines… are very dangerous if you do not know where to walk."
Then the words began to pour from Willeth's bleeding lips, detailed summaries of the spells and creatures that protected the mine, facts about the number of guards and their weapons, and descriptions of the foremen who directed the slaves and other workers. Deep in his mind the tharchion screamed, rebelling against what he was helpless