CHAPTER 23 – THE PRIZE
A bald-headed man in a long black robe entered the room without announcement, his eyes quickly gave a dark glance across at the seated guests, his black hood pulled back allowing his face to betray the contempt burning deep within him. An armed stranger, obviously a Su-Katii was an unusual sight in his Lord’s Halls where it was rare to see any visitors at all. Why did they need to bring them here? He disliked anything out of the usual, but remembered his place and he swiftly bowed before Saznack.
‘My Lord, the Moomran crystal is prepared and ready for transport.’
Saznack sighed. ‘Must you disturb us, tell me when it’s here you oaf, not when it’s coming, can’t you see we have company? Now get out of my sight and let me know when we have it.’ The man hid his years of frustration as well as he could, the end rewards would eventually be worth it. To be taught the ways of extreme power was not an easy path, his masters treated everyone in their household with disrespect because it was simple, they were all powerful and he was no more than a clump of shite on their shoes, trying to learn the path to such power. Many others like him had been scraped off over the years. One day master Bellack had summed up the acolytes’ position to him clearly, ‘Kerric, you should all have the sense to know that you are nothing more than just plain scum, should you eventually grow in power – you will just be a larger pile of shite. The difference that power gives you is that you can then make them pay for their words in return. Until that day hold your tongue and do as I say.’ He had to endure much and his unquestioning service was the first step on a greater road. He simply nodded and left the room.
Titus noticed the slight fidgeting of Bellack’s fingers, betraying his excitement at the bald man’s news. Not wishing to outstay his welcome he quickly drained the last of his fine vintage wine and licked his lips.
‘Delicious, that wine certainly helps to thaw you out. Well gentlemen, now that our business is concluded I’ll be on my way.’ With that Titus rose out of his deep seat, picked up his belongings and turned to leave. Saznack noticed the handle of the sabre protruding from the cloth wrappings that hung low on Titus’s back for the first time. It caught his eye, but then nothing magical escaped him.
‘Hang on a moment Titus before you leave. That sword that you carry wrapped up on your back, would you mind if I take a closer look at it?’
‘Of course not.’
Titus obliged, unwrapping the rags from the sabre and presenting the magician with the sabre’s handle. Saznack accepted the blade and held it closer to a crystal that was illuminating light into the room, he intensely studying the blade in silence for several minutes.
‘You see, right here are the words,’ he pointed excitedly at a small inscription on the sabre. ‘Thulnir, Taric, Sum,’ Saznack read out the magic inscription that only a magician could translate correctly and the blade of the sabre flared up with a bright magical glow making Athene jump in her seat. Titus’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected magical reaction to the words on the sabre.
‘Do you know what you have here Titus?’ Saznack asked.
Titus managed a shrug of his shoulders to match his puzzled expression.
‘A sword,’ he replied sarcastically to the magician.
Ignoring the sarcasm in his comment, Saznack continued in a new excited tone.
‘It’s not just a sword, it is Sum, one of the three lost swords of the Gods. The father of our Gods created three blades, one for each of his two sons and one for his daughter. The legends tell that the metal from which they were forged came with their forefathers, from another world. Sum was the sword forged for the daughter, our Queen and it is a relic that would be priceless to us. We were led to believe that all three of the blades were lost to mankind forever after the disaster that befell the Gods. Where did you find it Titus?’
‘The thief, Tyranny that you originally sent me to dispose of had it. Although she escaped me in Croweheim I managed to retain her sabre, I thought it might be of some value so, I brought it along with me.’
‘By the Gods,’ snarled Saznack.
‘I would be interested to find out where that vermin stole it from? That thieving rat has a lot to answer for. I guess the pleasure of her death will just have to wait for now.’
Marcus started to rock on the balls of his feet as he stood behind the seats bored and waiting to be dismissed. He had no interest in this conversation and still had several slaves strung up in his room that he was eager to get back to, but he knew from Saznack’s tone that now his master was excited about something he could be waiting here for hours to be dismissed. What further irritated Marcus was that Bellack dismissed the slaves in the room the moment that Saznack grew excited about the sword.
Titus cleared his throat. ‘Call me a dumb old warrior, but if Athene is what you say and she does have this immunity to all forms of magic, or that she is surrounded by this anti-magic aura, then how can it be that the sword glows with that bright magical power in her presence? I can tell you this is not the first time that I have witnessed its power active in her presence; so please humour my ignorance and explain to me how this can be?
Athene continued to look down at the floor disheartened during the entire conversation, still mulling over the grim possibilities of her new existence as a magician’s guinea pig. She was not offered any wine and was starting to understand the feeling of being an object rather than a person. She just withdrew herself deeper into a safer place within her mind and was now paying little heed to the men’s conversation. She was already starting to become accustomed to people talking about her as if she was not present.
Bellack began to reply to Titus’s question but Saznack abruptly interrupted, enjoying the attention.
‘Please allow me to explain, Master Bellack has a habit of overcomplicating matters to the simple-minded, erm …by that I mean those unskilled in the arts of magic. You see the powers at work here are dependent on the source of the magic. This seemingly insignificant girl – Athene, she was conceived in a temple constructed by the magic of this world. She has somehow developed an unnatural immunity to the powers of our world, but this sword and the two others that exist; they come from a totally different universe and play by different rules.
‘No wonder you needed me to do your dirty work if it only took one quick rut in the temple to bring about the demise of your magic,’ joked Titus, instantly wishing that he had kept his mouth shut for once.
Saznack began to laugh loudly and deliberately, but anyone could see that the comment had riled him. In the environment that the magicians had created for themselves they were not accustomed to hearing anything other than the words they desired, he was just not used to someone below his station making such comments. Saznack realised it was not the warriors fault that he was an uneducated cretin, he would educated him.
‘It is not just the power of the temple that is in play here, mortal. The magic of this land is intertwined with the elements around you. It comes from the earth, the stone, the crystals, even from the very air you suck into your puny lungs. If you could comprehend the scale of the power that we command and can bend to our will you would drop to your knees and beg forgiveness for your blasphemy. We intend to use the crystal to intensify and control that which is already there. The girl is a freak, her existence should not be possible, but sometimes it takes an abomination to sort out a situation that was previously unsolvable. If a normal man was just to glimpse the true powers that we command for just a second, it would consume you and burn your soul to ash.’ As Saznack spoke he had wandered about the room viewing his reflection in the polished surface of the blade and he liked what he saw there.
‘Impressive,’ Titus remarked – his tone flat and clearly unimpressed, then added,
‘But he does go on a bit, doesn’t he?’
Saznack turned to face Bellack, his face appealing for backup and hoping to seek a compliment for his boastful speech.
‘What?’ Saznack gawped. He raised his hands into the air in protest, ‘I was just relaying the reality of the situation to the weaker-minded amongst us.’
Bellack shook his head. ‘I’m going to have to agree with our Su-Katii friend here. You do rant on a bit too much sometimes.’
With a snort he reluctantly passed the sabre back to Titus.
Bellack shuffled in his chair. ‘As I said before we are both reasonable and powerful men. I think we will need to negotiate a new deal for the sabre Titus.’
‘Sure – not a problem,’ Titus nodded.
‘To be honest I will be glad to get rid of it. It’s not been of much use to me and has only brought me bad luck so far. He patted Athene on the head and she looked up at him for the first time since entering the room. The fire once again sparkled fiercely in her eyes.
‘What would you consider a fair price?’ asked Saznack.
Titus ran his fingers through his hair returning his hand to rest on his chin in thought.
‘No gentlemen, it is of no use to me - here please take the sword.’ Titus offered the sabre handle first, to the lurking Marcus who accepted the magnificent weapon with alacrity. I have just one simple request in return, it is nothing of consequence.’
‘You have only to name your price Titus and it shall be paid to you,’ replied Saznack a victorious smile on his face, elated at the thought of possessing Queen Soredamor’s old blade and becoming her favourite.
‘Name your request Titus.’ The warrior’s lips curled into a smile as he locked eyes with the magician,
‘Good. The price is …Your life.’
As the last word emerged from Titus’s mouth, his silver blade lanced out with blistering speed, in a blink of an eye it was pushed through Saznack’s stomach with a force that surprised everyone in the room. An expression of shock was frozen on the dying magician’s face as he dropped to his knees; his bloody entrails were spilled to the floor as the sword was ripped free. The Su-Katii turned on Bellack, like a butcher selecting a lamb for slaughter, drawing his second blade as he advanced. The magician’s broken dreams flickered in front of his eyes as he struggled to get out of his deep seat, he attempted a quick spell of distraction to buy him vital time to escape, but nothing happened in the presence of Athene. Immediately the sabre in Marcus’s hand extended to protect his master from the strike. The parry stopped the blow that would have easily split the magician’s head in two. Titus jumped backwards avoiding the dark swordsman’s follow-up strike. Confused by the sudden commotion Athene was slow to realise what was going on around her in the room and remained seated.
‘Get behind me Athene, quickly.’ shouted Titus, she failed to move.
‘Don’t you realise? I’m with you woman.’ She began to move as his words sunk in and Titus moved forward to intercept a blow that Marcus maliciously aimed at her. Making the most of the moment Bellack rolled out of his chair and fumbled about within his robes as he rose.
‘You treacherous dog, I’m going to eat your heart,’ shouted Marcus as he began his assault. Titus felt the dark warrior’s rage fill his mind as his cruelty enveloped him. As he had guessed these were all emotions that he could use to his advantage, there was never any fear behind those dark set eyes. He felt the need to inflict pain on this pathetic fool that stood before him, before he killed him. He had known that by handing Marcus the sabre, he would distract the man and gain a measure of advantage from the man’s inability to harness the sword’s magic. The sabre had almost certainly been lost for centuries so it was unlikely that his opponent would know how to make use of its powers. Although he would not need its magic to defeat this man, he had felt the power of the sword before and knew its effects. He did not try to fight the wave of hatred and cruelty that now filled him and was reflected by the wielder of the blade.
Titus deflected Marcus’s thrust, skewering his foot to the wooden floor with his off-hand Sword Breaker. Titus could feel his pain, but it was nothing to him, he had died a thousand times before in the Su-Katii Temple. He followed the move with a heavy shoulder barge that knocked Marcus from his feet, ripping his foot open further. He fell with a scream of agony. A glass vial smashed on the ground behind the fight and dark smoke billowed about at the back of the room in the area where Bellack had recovered himself to. The unbreakable sabre of Sum swept out from the sprawled Marcus shattering the Sword Breaker that pinned him to the floor. With a sneer of pain upon his face Marcus swept out again at Titus’s feet, hoping to return the favour, the Su-Katii leapt past the strike stabbing down through Marcus’s sword arm. Growling in anger and with his arm now useless, the sabre fell from Marcus’s hand, in desperation he spat at the Su-Katii just before the sword-pommel and fist smashed his teeth from his open mouth. Titus sword sank into the sprawled man’s leg and began to slowly slice its way along his thigh towards Marcus’s groin, his foot pinned the disarmed man to the ground for his final punishment. The malice began to fade from Titus’s mind, with his senses restored, he soon realised that a greater threat still existed. He finished off the slumped man quickly, cutting his throat without further thought, then jumped into the dark smoke swinging wildly in all directions, but to his disappointment the expected and familiar jarring of contact did not come. His sweeping movement helped to clear away the dark swirls of smoke revealing that the magician had somehow vanished. He returned to check on Athene.
‘Damned magic, I never did like the stuff,’ he said casually to Athene as if nothing had changed between them.
Her firm paddle like slap with her bound hands surprised him. ‘Hey, did you not hear me; I said I was on your side… I always was – I just couldn’t show it.’ He caught her second slap, drawing her in tight to him extracting a kiss from her unwilling lips.
‘Well, I was yours from the moment I picked you up at the shrine, once in your presence, I think that you awoke something in my soul and my path was then set, but you see, I had to play out my role here like an actor. Had I not been so convincing, they would have sensed my deception and we would both be finished. All I can say my love, is that I am sorry for the deception, but it was necessary to neutralize the threat to you. These magicians are not the type to just leave you alone, they would leave no stone unturned to find you and would just keep on coming.’
Athene paused for a second then her expression changed and grabbing his breastplate by the neck hole she pulled him back to her. This time her lips were electric in her embrace and he could feel his heartbeat racing against his armour as he separated himself from her.
‘We are far from out of the woods yet, but if we get out of this ok, I may allow you to continue with this …if you are lucky,’ he winked.
Bellack ran down the corridor from the secret passageway, the Wyvern’s Nest had been purpose built and constructed to his exact specifications, with many hidden surprises. Panting with the unusual exertion he stopped momentarily, sucking in great breaths of air and fighting the nausea that had suddenly come over him, he was not used to running. How could his plans have gone so badly wrong? How had they been so foolish as to trust this man, desperation perhaps? The Su-Katii were supposed to be under their control, what had gone wrong? He had let a tiger into his home and now he craved revenge against this warrior.
‘Damn Saznack and his recommendations, he had been lucky to meet with Titus’s blade compared to how he would have punished his lack of insight.’ Above all else he seethed from the affront he had caused his pride and after bursting into the nearby summoning chamber; he knew he would have revenge. The bald-headed acolyte who had entered the room early stood chanting the final words with several others of his brethren.
‘My Lord, the crystal comes now.’
‘Excellent Kerric, I must have it, I will continue the spell myself, I need you to go immediately and raise the guard and kill the Su-Katii, but be careful - command them not to harm the girl. Now go quickly.’ Kerric knew better than to linger but was surprised that his master had at last remembered his name and shot off down the long corridor towards the garrison. Bellack knew it was unlikely that his men could defeat such an ancient Su-Katii, but he only needed them to delay and distract him long enough until the crystal arrived. Then there would be no limits to his power. The room shook with the electric storm that enveloped it as the acolytes chanting filled the chamber.
‘Yes, yes.’ shouted Bellack. ‘The crystal is at last mine.’
The blinding light of the Vortex filled the room and Bellack’s insane laughter echoed into the night.