The Wizardwar - Elaine Cunningham [40]
Kiva just shook her head, as if she were too stunned to speak. "Stolen," she marveled at last "It must have been stolen."
"What wizard could get near this place?"
She suppressed a sneer. Of course Akhlaur would assume that only a Halruaan wizard would be capable of such a feat! "None, my lord," she said hastily. "I heard rumors, though…"
"Speak!"
"There were tales of an army of magic-dead fighters. Jordaini, mostly."
An expression of extreme distaste twisted the wizard's face. "Again, these jerdayeen," he scoffed, using the old Netheril word for court fool. "Not one of my more successful experiments."
"Yet these fools have become highly regarded counselors in Halruaa."
Akhlaur chuckled at her words, and Kiva added, "Even the king employs them."
Her tone was innocent enough, but her words had the desired effect.
Speculation crossed Akhlaur's face, quickly chased by wrath.
"Zalathorm," he muttered. "He sent the jordaini in. He has the globe!"
Kiva nodded slowly. "It is possible. Who else could have known so much about your magic and about these elves?"
Who else indeed? she thought. For a moment, Kiva relived the flash of joy-an emotion she had thought banished from her heart forever-that she had known when Akhlaur's green crystal shattered and the trapped spirits within took flight.
Akhlaur turned and stalked back through the skeletal arch, muttering as he went. "Two globes missing, and with them all the magic they held! Thousands of spells, hundreds of life-forces-all that, stolen. By curse and current, Zalathorm will pay!"
A sly, satisfied smile crossed the elf woman's face. She quickly banished it. "You were so close, Lord Akhlaur. Had Zalathorm not interfered, you would have gathered the lion's share of Halruaa's magic into your hands. As you will yet do," she added hastily when the necromancer shot a glare over his shoulder.
"On that you may depend," Akhlaur grumbled. "I have other bases, other sites of power. They will be more than enough."
When they emerged into the ruined courtyard, he swept both arms wide. A shimmering oval appeared. Akhlaur stepped throughAnd sank like a stone into miry water.
Kiva emerged from the magic gate behind him, walking lightly on the swamp water. She, unlike Akhlaur, had been expecting this wet reception.
The wizard shot out of the water and settled down beside Kiva, looking none the worse for his dunking. He looked about him in consternation. "What is this place?"
"You knew it as the Swamp of Ghalagar, my lord. Now it bears your name."
He nodded, remembering. "My tower stood here before Zalathorm and his wretched band of charlatans moved it. Where is the rest of the estate?"
"The prisons were there," Kiva said, pointing to a dense growth of flowering vine. "Where we stand, the gardens once grew. There was a leak, you see, from the Plane of Water. A small trickle of liquid magic kept the laraken fed and kept the wizards out."
Akhlaur's pale green face brightened. "So my tower is undisturbed?"
"But for the gem I used to free you, yes." She paused for effect, then added, "I used an undine to retrieve it for me."
The necromancer's eyes narrowed. "Pray do not tell me my tower is under water!"
She shrugged apologetically. "Zalathorm dropped it into a deep rift. I am one of only three living souls who knows where the tower lies." Her words held a subtle barb, reminding the necromancer that two of his foes still lived.
Akhlaur scowled and looked around at the swamp. "Amazing, what the passing of years can bring."
"That is the fate of long-lived people, my lord. We bear witness to many things and endure great changes."
Akhlaur nodded, not understanding the parallel Kiva intended. She was still young, as an elf's life was reckoned, but during her lifetime one of the most terrible chapters of her people's history had been written. The wizards and loremasters did not acknowledge these grim truths, and the people of Halruaa neither knew nor cared.
Well, they would soon know.
They stood together for a moment, gripped in private and very different