The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [79]
"The wizards are lycanthropes?"
"No." Allis kept her gaze directed over Borran Kiosk's shoulder, as if she were staring through him. "They all practice necromancy."
Borran Kiosk laughed, and the harsh, bitter sound echoed in the room.
He asked, "A league of undead wizards?"
"They aren't undead," Allis said. "At least, not the wizards I've seen, but they are all evil. The Beastlord offers them power, just as Malar offered you power all those years ago."
"The power didn't come soon enough," Borran Kiosk said. "I was unable to assemble the jewel in time to use it against the druids of the Emerald Enclave."
"Your task remains to assemble the jewel," Allis said, and the sparkle in her eyes told Borran Kiosk that she delighted in telling him that. Attempting it would surely draw the wrath of the Emerald Enclave down on him, though the fear never quite left her.
"You are to call down the destruction," Allis said, "that Taraketh's Hive will open for you. Once you have done that, the druids will be driven from Turmish-perhaps even farther beyond before they are able to gain mastery over the jewel's power."
Anger twisted inside Borran Kiosk. He spat out the thick purple tongue, tired of tasting the bile that seemed to hang in the air. T do not do their bidding."
Allis lifted her chin and rebellion fired anew in her eyes. "You will."
Unleashing his tongue, Borran Kiosk splintered the wall to the side of her head.
She flinched, but only little, and swallowed hard again. Her gaze met his boldly for a moment before sliding away.
"The people who control you have no control over me," Borran Kiosk announced.
"They control whomever they wish," she told him. "You wanted Taraketh's Hive, didn't you?"
Borran Kiosk glared at her.
"They can take that from you," Allis said softly. "They raised the dead that you buried so long ago. They can just as easily return those cadaverous minions back into the ground somewhere short of Alaghфn, only this time the wizards will stop your minions in places that you won't know of."
"Don't threaten me, woman," Borran Kiosk warned.
"I'm not," Allis said. "I'm just stating a fact. Perhaps they'll even see to it that the priests of Eldath lock you away once again."
"They want something from me," Borran Kiosk said, and he found himself needing to hear that statement as much as he needed to tell the woman. "They won't let me fall so easily."
"If you prove difficult," Allis said, "they will."
Borran Kiosk turned from the woman, not wanting to believe her, but he did believe her. She was too calm, too complacent in her words, and she took a certain measured delight in passing them on.
"If your damned wizards come for me," he said, "they'll do so at the peril of their own lives."
"They won't come for you," Allis told him. "They won't have to. You'll be hunted all over Alaghфn after last night, and though it might take them time to bring you down, they will. They will withhold the gifts they offer you today, and they'll keep Taraketh's Hive from you."
"Gifts?" Interested, Borran Kiosk looked at the basket the werespider had placed on the slanted table.
Allis picked up her dress, which had been ripped considerably as she'd changed forms. Still, she pulled herself into it as best as she could. Her eyes never met his while she dressed.
Crossing to the table, Allis lifted the cloth from the basket and revealed the items inside. She took a small oval mirror from inside a black wooden chest that was filled with padding to protect the mirror. She waved a hand over the mirror, spoke words that Borran Kiosk almost recognized, and placed the looking glass on the tabletop.
"First," she said, "I bring you proof that the five you buried with the pieces of Taraketh's Hive have risen."
Borran Kiosk didn't need her mystic bauble to tell him that, but he remained silent. Even now he could feel them