Part 24 (1/2)

”Rozloom, try to understand this.” Teldin easily identified the mellifluous, overly patient tones of Vallus Leafbower. ”The woman you knew on the swan s.h.i.+p was not Raven Stormwalker. I don't know who she was, but Raven Stormwalker died many centuries ago.”

The aperusa responded with a disbelieving snort. ”Then vengeance is long overdue, is it not?”

he retorted.

Vallus sighed. ”What sort of vengeance did you have in mind?”

”Goblin blood.” There was a new note, a grim and dangerous one, in Rozloom's rumbling voice. ”I wish to take over where the green bug-creature left off. Give me a fast s.h.i.+p, a crew, and casters of magic, and I will return to Armistice. The Witchlight Marauder will lap goblin blood from the ice and the rocks.”

Vallus was silent, and the aperusa continued with a description of the ore settlement, the location of the primary marauder, and a cogent, well-conceived plan for killing the orc priests and witch doctors who controlled the monster. Teldin waited for Vallus's response, confident that the elf would refuse. ”I will see that you get all you need,” Vallus said in a strangled tone.

”Good. Is a deal,” the gypsy concluded.

Frantically Teldin struggled to speak against the plan. Try as he might, he could neither move nor talk. There were limits to his strength, and he already had far exceeded them. Darkness and silence surrounded him, drawing him back into a vast and troubled dreamscape.

The aperusa slogged through the deep snow to the base of the tusk-shaped mountain. He found the entrance that the elven search party had used, then he counted off paces to the second hidden tunnel he had discovered when standing guard. Rozloom squeezed his vast, fur-clad bulk into the opening and made his way silently down to a ledge overlooking the cavern.

In the center of the stone chamber slept a hideous creature. Larger than a swan s.h.i.+p, the unhealthy gray thing resembled an enormous slug. Its flesh rippled and undulated as if its slumber were a tenuous thing. Surrounding the monster was a ring of orc priests, chant-singing endlessly in a coa.r.s.e, guttural language.

Rozloom spread a collection of knives out before him. He waited until a second group of goblinkin, these hobgoblin witch doctors, entered the cavern to change s.h.i.+fts. To the aperusa's way of thinking, the more food the marauder had upon awakening, the longer he himself would have to make his escape back to the waiting s.h.i.+p. The moment had come.

With rare skill, the aperusa began to throw. One after another, the blades spun into the cavern and found homes in the hearts or spines of orc and hobgoblin priests. The chant faltered, and the marauder stirred. With barely a twitch, the creature sucked three of the fallen orcs into its cavernous central maw.

Rozloom noted this with dark glee as he continued to hurl his weapons. Soon all the goblins on this frozen h.e.l.l would meet the same fate. As the chant faded, the monster awoke and oozed forward, sucking in the goblin-creatures with frightening ease.

Rozloom backed out toward the tunnel, intending to make his escape. Then the monster belched, and foul gas roiled up toward Rozloom in a greenish cloud.

”Poison,” murmured the aperusa, who knew enough of that dark art to recognize it in the hands of a master. The green gas worked quickly, and the last knife fell from his paralyzed fingers. The aperusa knew he was dead, but suddenly that knowledge was not disturbing.

Rozloom had done what he'd come to do, and he was ready to die.*****

Teldin awoke two days later in a small tavern room somewhere on Radole. Vallus explained to him that he'd been unconscious for many days, gravely wounded in the crash and utterly drained, both by the use of magic and the marathon trip that had brought the swan s.h.i.+p to Radole.

The captain listened to the explanation with little interest.

”Is Rozloom back yet?” he asked bluntly.

Vallus's eyes widened. ”You heard our conversation?”

”Enough.”

The elf lowered his eyes as if he were ashamed. ”No. Rozloom has not returned.”

That was almost too much for Teldin to take in. The instinct for self-preservation ran so strong and deep in the aperusa that Teldin could not imagine it failing to govern Rozloom's actions. ”Was his mission successful?” he asked quietly.

”We do not yet know. It may well be that it was.”

A wave of nausea washed over Teldin. If the enormous land marauder had been set free, an entire planet would be laid waste before the creature and its hideous descendants turned on each other. The magnitude of the carnage sickened Teldin, and he looked at the elven wizard with horror in his eyes.

Vallus did not shrink from the man's unspoken accusation. ”I did what I felt I had to do, Teldin Moore. If you were in my position, you might have done the same thing.” He rose quietly and left Teldin alone.