Clash of Catalysts Read online

  Orrick was briefly amused at the ridiculous fight. But then the walls and ceiling of the hall began to shake. Once again he felt the floor shudder beneath his boots. That was when he realized the dwarf he had come so far to find was in serious trouble. Gnomes had few skills, other than a knack for collecting treasure. They tended to move into abandoned places, where they hoarded stolen valuables and avoided strangers and daylight. But the bad-tempered creatures had a power over rock, their one form of magic and one of the few effective weapons their size allowed them.

  As Orrick watched, great chunks of rock became dislodged from the ceiling and, propelled by unseen power, were flung across the room.

  The dwarf smashed his axe into a flying rock that narrowly missed striking him. The stone shattered beneath his blow. The female vampire shot another rocky missile with a beam of light from the end of her staff. The light instantly dissolved the stone into dust. Other rocks fell short of their marks and smashed onto the floor, creating the crashing noise Orrick had heard earlier.

  The whole room was quaking now, the ceiling threatening to collapse on dwarf, vampire, and gnomes alike. Orrick had no intention of fleeing for his life and leaving behind the one he had come so far to find

  He plunged into the room, dodging the falling debris, and shouting Arik’s name.

  Somehow the dwarf must have heard him over the commotion, because he looked across the room, surprise spreading over his features.

  A wooden chair, hurled by a gnome, sailed through the air and nearly struck Arik’s head, but the dwarf knocked it away, almost without looking at it. His attention was all for Orrick.

  Maybe that was why his female companion had to grab him by the arm and drag him out of the way seconds before a piece of falling ceiling dropped to the floor and shattered where they had been standing.

  The dwarf seemingly overcame his distraction long enough to look around and realize the situation was beyond salvaging. He and his companion couldn’t fight their way out of this one.

  “Come on,” Orrick yelled, waving to them.

  The pair broke into a run, angry gnomes close on their heels, and made for the corridor. Orrick cleared the way for them, brandishing his sword to drive back the nearest gnomes. The little creatures didn’t continue the fight. As if sensing increased danger, they began fleeing the room, disappearing through holes in the walls.

  When Arik and the woman reached Orrick, the three of them dove into the corridor, leaving behind the scene of chaos.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The group could hear the heavy rumble of the chamber behind them caving in, but they didn’t slow to look back.

  “A strange time you picked to show up, Kroadian,” Arik shouted to Orrick as they ran down the passage.

  “Not as strange as whatever it was I walked in on back there,” Orrick shouted back.

  The vampire female was in front, leading them out the main corridor and down a series of offshooting hallways Orrick hadn’t seen before.

  “Does she actually know where she’s going?” he asked as they plunged down the dark passages. They rushed so quickly he barely had time to see anything but the blur of the floor, illuminated by his glow stone.

  Arik didn’t answer, probably because the short-legged man’s breath was already coming in ragged gasps.

  The noise from the collapsing portion of the cave was growing more distant as they put it behind them. But the passage still trembled, as if it too was less than stable. Orrick suspected they had a limited amount of time to get out.

  Luckily, Arik’s vampire friend never hesitated, dashing around corners as if she had an exact destination in mind. They ran through a wide doorway and into what seemed to be a dead end. They were in a small room with walls lined by shelves that held row upon row of dusty old books. There was an empty fireplace with chairs drawn around and low tables holding stacks of more books.

  Just as Orrick was thinking they had made a wrong turn, the vampire woman crossed the room to draw aside a long wall tapestry. Behind it was a half-decayed wooden door. Orrick could only guess how their guide had known it was hidden there.

  She dragged the rickety door open, revealing a row of steep narrow steps that twisted upward into darkness. The ceiling of the secret stairway was low, better suited to Arik’s height than that of the others. But this was no time to be particular. The vampire and the dwarf hurried through the door and up the stairs, and Orrick followed close behind them, stooping to fit into the passage.

  The air was close inside the confined space, and the walls were so tight Orrick’s broad shoulders brushed them on either side. They climbed the rough-hewn steps up and up until it began to feel like they would never get to the top. Orrick wondered what would happen if they did reach the end, only to discover a solid wall barring their way. But before he had time to worry further, his companions in front stopped abruptly.

  There was another door ahead, this one made of stone. Faint cracks of light showed around its ill-fitting frame, lifting Orrick’s hopes. Could it be they had made their way to the surface?

  The dwarf put his shoulder to the heavy door and, with a grunt of effort, shoved it open. Immediately they were met with the gray light of evening flooding down into the stairwell. As they stepped out into the open air, Orrick couldn’t believe how little time had passed since last he had been above ground. It felt like he had been stumbling around in those dark passages for hours. But here was the outdoors, still offering the last lingering light of day.

  They stood on a low cliff overlooking the same rocky valley where Orrick had been earlier. Below, he could see the cave where he had discovered the abandoned campsite.

  “How did you know we would come out here?” he asked the vampire woman.

  She leaned against the door and pushed it closed behind them. “This is the way we got in,” she said.

  “It’s the entrance marked on the treasure map,” Arik added, adjusting the patch that covered his missing eye.

  “Don’t speak of that rotten map ever again,” the woman commanded, combing a hand through her wild, dark tresses. “You said it would be easy. That the gold would be sitting there, waiting for us.”

  “How was I to know cave robbers had beaten us to it?” the dwarf grumbled. “Or that pesky cave gnomes had taken over the old hall? Even if the original scavengers left a coin or two behind, those thieving little gnomes will have gotten their greedy paws on it by now and stowed it away someplace it’ll never be found.”

  The vampire narrowed her eyes. They glowed eerily in the failing light. “It’s my own fault for listening to your fairytales of abandoned treasure hoards waiting to be claimed. This is the last time I treasure hunt with you, dwarf.”

  Orrick decided it was time to interrupt the quarrel and remind them he was here.

  “Since when do vampires and dwarves join forces anyway?” he asked.

  Although he had sheathed his sword, he kept a hand close to it. Arik seemed comfortable with this woman, but past experience told Orrick vampires could be an untrustworthy lot. He wasn’t about to turn his back on this one even if she had just saved his life.

  Arik must have noticed his caution. “You can rest your blade, Orrick,” he assured. “Kalina has the temper and tongue of a viper, but she and I go way back and she’s never once tried to drink my blood.”

  “No one’s that thirsty,” the woman muttered.

  “I hadn’t seen Kalina in years, but we got reacquainted after Endguard,” Arik continued. “I told her about the map that had fallen into my hands.”

  “The map you cheated someone out of,” the woman called Kalina interrupted.

  Arik ignored that. “We agreed then and there to team up and split the gold.”

  “The gold that doesn’t exist,” she commented.

  “Are you telling this story or am I?” the dwarf growled, glaring with his one good eye.

  Orrick wasn’t ready to lay aside his suspicion yet. “Unusual for a vampire queen to leave her c
lan in search of gold,” he observed.

  At her startled look, he nodded toward the staff she held in her hand. “A rod of light can only belong to a queen. Or someone who has slain a queen.”

  “Or an exiled queen driven from her clan,” she said defensively. “And why should my business be yours?” She turned to Arik. “I don’t like this prying barbarian of yours. What’s he doing here? Kroadians have no place in the Lostlands.”

  Arik scratched his bearded chin as if it were the first time the question had occurred to him. “She has a point, Orrick. What are you doing in these parts? You didn’t come all this way to rescue your old comrade-in-arms from pesky little cave gnomes.”

  Orrick looked around at the gathering gloom. “Before we speak further, we should find shelter for the night. There’s no telling what sort of foul creatures we might encounter lingering in the open.”

  Arik’s ugly face split into a grin. “Are you afeared the little gnomes will come after us again?”

  “Aviads are more likely,” Orrick answered. “Anyplace within sight of the volcanoes is their territory.”

  Arik sobered. No one in his right mind would want to meet a flock of aviads, outnumbered and on the birdmen’s home ground.

  The vampire woman, Kalina, suggested they make for the foot of the rocky hills and camp on the flats below. It meant a treacherous climb through darkness, but it would put them within sight of the jungle’s edge. There, if they attracted the notice of any aviads and fell under attack, they would stand a good chance of reaching the cover of the thick trees, where their winged enemies would have less advantage.

  It was a good plan and Orrick agreed to it.

  Reluctantly he slipped his glow stone back into his traveling pack. It would have been useful on the downward climb, but the unnatural light would have acted as a beacon, betraying their presence to birdmen, minohides, and any other creatures that might roam this forsaken place.

  Briefly Orrick searched for Ilarion while his companions waited. But the ghost horse was nowhere to be found. The animal had wandered off, perhaps feeling its mission over. It was an annoyance to lose the beast, but it would have been little help at this point anyway. Riding was out of the question on these dark and rocky slopes.

  Absolute night had fallen by the time the three began their downward descent. The thick haze in the air obscured the glow of moon or stars so that the party had little light to guide their path. They picked their way with care.

  * * *

  It was some hours later that the exhausted group finally reached the rocky flats at the foot of the hills. The looming jungle’s edge was just a dark smudge in the distance but near enough to promise protection if needed. Even if it hadn’t been so, the party was too weary to go on.

  They camped beneath the shadow of a large overhanging rock. No fire was made. Invisibility was more important tonight than warmth or a hot meal. Arik and Kalina were well provisioned, and there was plenty of food to go around. But conversation was as low as the energy of the travelers. Arik offered to keep first watch while the others slept.

  As Orrick rolled himself up in his cloak and prepared for sleep, he made sure his sword was close at hand. He couldn’t afford to forget they were in the dangerous Lostlands now. Nor would he forget there was a vampire sleeping across from him.

  Despite all the concerns that might have filled his mind as he drifted off to sleep, he was surprised to find the one troubling him most was the memory of a certain stubborn, flame-haired young woman he had left back in Lythnia. He grimaced into the darkness. One way or another, Eydis was determined to make him a hero. And fate, it seemed, was determined to pull him back to Endguard.

  * * *

  The following morning, Orrick explained over breakfast why he had come so far to find Arik. How he had been falsely accused of betraying the border fortress to enemies and how, with Arik having already taken off, there had been no one around to contradict the popular version of events.

  Although Arik expressed surprise at the charges against Orrick and commiserated over his misfortune, he didn’t sound enthusiastic about helping.

  “And you need to drag me, your proof, from one end of Lythnia to the other, swearing your innocence all the way?” the dwarf asked incredulously over a mouthful of oatcakes.

  “Not just across Lythnia,” Orrick said. “There are tribal leaders in Kroad who need to hear the truth too. Until they do, it’s not safe for me to return to my own country.”

  Arik tilted his head to one side, as if weighing the idea. “You ask a lot. Leaving the Lostlands now means giving up the treasure me and Kalina are so close to finding.”

  Kalina snorted as she rolled the leftover scraps from her meal into a cloth and stowed them in her traveling pack. “What treasure?” She scoffed. “The cave robbers and gnomes have scattered it far and wide. We’ll never pick up the trail again.”

  Arik dusted oats from his beard. “All the same, what if I don’t want to go?” he asked easily. “What if I say no?”

  Orrick wasn’t fooled by his companion’s casual tone. He suspected the dwarf was testing his resolve.

  “Then you and I will have a problem,” he told Arik. “Because I’m not leaving these fire-blasted lands without you. Not if I have to disarm you, stuff you into my traveling pack, and carry you across the border.”

  Arik burst out laughing. “You disarm me, Kroadian?” He whooped. “Don’t let your long legs go to your head.”

  But the tension had passed, and Orrick could see he was going to get his way.

  Arik confirmed it. “What do you say, Kalina?” he asked, turning to the vampire woman. “Should we humor this arrogant barbarian or teach him a lesson? I could take his head for my wall, and you could have his blood for a pudding.”

  Kalina shook her head, humorlessly. “It is a long trek through the jungle to reach the Lythnian border,” she said. “If we are beginning the journey today, we should start soon.”

  Orrick was a little surprised to hear the gray-skinned female would be accompanying them all the way, but Arik seemed to take it as a matter of course.

  “That blood-sucking woman thinks she knows my mind better than I do,” he confided to Orrick. “But she’s usually right. Cutting our way through the jungle’s not going to get any easier the hotter the day grows.”

  Orrick should have let the conversation end there. After all, he was getting what he wanted. But he couldn’t banish from his mind the idea he had been struggling with during the night.

  “There’s just one other thing,” he found himself saying. “When we reach the border, there’s a stop I need to make.”

  “Stop?” asked Arik. “There’s no place fit for stopping between here and the Lythnian kingdom but…”

  The dwarf let his words trail off and raised bushy eyebrows. “You aren’t thinking what I think you are, Orrick?” he asked.

  “I mean to visit Endguard,” Orrick admitted.

  “Then you’re out of your wits,” his friend declared, shaking his head. “Any score we left unsettled with those Lostland monsters in the fortress can stay unsettled, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Don’t worry,” Orrick reassured him. “I have no intention of getting within clashing distance of the birdmen and minohides. At least not while there’s only three of us against their thousands. But there’s a friend I must meet, and something tells me the border fortress is where she will ultimately be drawn.”

  Neither the dwarf nor the vampire liked it. Orrick could see they didn’t. But by the time they broke camp and set out for the distant line of the jungle, Orrick had won his argument. They were bound for Endguard.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Eydis

  Eydis woke to find herself curled up in a dark corner of an unfamiliar chamber. It took her a moment to remember where she was. The ceiling far overhead was made of the same smooth stone as the walls that rose above her. They were endless walls, curving faintly inward to form an unbroken circle. A circle t
hat trapped and held her as securely as a wild beast caught in a snare. Memory returned as she crawled upright. Her eyes moved of their own accord away from the walls and toward the bulky figure lying a few yards away.

  At first she had simply left the wizard where he had fallen, sprawled in the middle of the floor, his open eyes gazing sightlessly up at the ceiling. But as the hours went by, it had grown disturbing, being trapped in this isolated spot with the lifeless corpse. Turning her back to him hadn’t been enough. She had finally taken up a section of rug from the floor and draped it over the lifeless body. Concealing the nearness of death from her eyes couldn’t hide it from her mind. But it had helped a little.

  After that, she began to lose track of how long she had been in the wizard’s tower. Immediately after defeating her enemy, she had looked for a way out of her predicament. She searched every inch of the walls, hoping to find a weak spot in the magic that wove them together. She would have settled for a hidden passage into another room. Anything that could get her out. Even when she had finally given up her efforts to find a hidden window or alternative escape route, the seriousness of her situation hadn’t fully sunk in yet. The wizard had used magic to merge the walls and remove all possible exits. Therefore, there was every chance that after he had been dead long enough, the magic would dissolve, deprived of its source.

  And so she had waited. She found a tall hourglass on a table and turned it over, watching the sand trickle through the glass and counting how long it took for the spell to fade away. Only it hadn’t faded. Over and over again she turned that glass over, as each hour passed. And over and over again, she had checked the walls. There was no weakening of the spell. Whatever magic the wizard had used to ensnare her, it was strong and long-lived. Finally she had given up and lay down in the floor, overcome with exhaustion from her long trek through the mountains to get here.