LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

would have succeeded too, if you hadn't been here and been so quick thinking as to put out those fires. But see ... this one here was probably the weakest of them and the other two killed him, so that he wouldn't be mindsearched. There's no honor among necromancers." He pulled something away from the burned corpse's finger. "Ah, Yes, this is good. A signet ring. We may well find that this is the Lord of the manor. Anyway, to continue, the other young man stayed behind to destroy the manor letting his master get away. It was probably always intended that he give up his life. Even among necromancers there are those who have the knack of inspiring such slavish devotion. And misusing it. I almost feel sorry that this poor young fellow died for nothing."

      He smiled up at me. "However now we shall find out the secret they were hiding. Some new necromantic technique I hope. Necromancers are endlessly inventive."

      He came over, took my hand and bowed over it. Since it was covered in ash and dirt I was relieved he did not kiss it.

      "I cannot thank you enough for coming with us," he said. "Things could have gone very badly for us without you. I think it was the two of us who scared the strongest one away."

      "It was my duty to come and help you. Nothing else," I said.

      His dark eyes twinkled at me.

      "If all mages did their duty, there would be no need for Demon Hunters. By the way, I must complement you on your sense for magic. You are very sharp. It was a pleasure working with you."

      I tried not to blush at his appreciation. We were professionals here.

      "Now, let us get the boys, and see what it was these fellows where hiding," he said.

      A short time later I cast the Bowl of Seeing in the water-barrel in the back stable yard. Using the Bowl together with the pack of foretelling cards, which all mages carry, lets you see quite precisely what type of magic is being used in what location. And even when the magic is no longer being used you can usually see some traces of where it has been for a few hours afterwards.

      "Look," said Count Alexi. "This place here glows with necromancy. He looked at the foretelling cards. "Here to the right of the house. It must be some kind of secret cellar. There's something in one of the attic rooms too. Can anyone see anything else?"

      "There's something in that lower room," said the chubby young man who was standing beside me holding my stack of cards.

      "Very good, Sergi," said Prince Nikoli. "Now you lads can do the house and Lady Dion and Alexi and Sergi and I will do the cellar."

      There was a disappointed groan from the others which the Prince received with a good natured twinkle.

      "I assure you there will be plenty for you to observe," he said. "And I shall give you all the opportunity to impress me with your careful reports later."

      Once again this serious attack on necromancy had turned into a school excursion. Personally my first urge was to send these boys as far away from the manor house as possible, till it was safe for them to come back, but perhaps the Prince was right. Student mages needed to gain experience somehow. We had seen the dire results of inexperience on the Peninsula. There, very few people ever came into contact with necromancy and they had trouble recognizing it when they did.

      The Prince was still very cautious. While the boys swarmed over the manor house, he carefully followed them throughout the rooms keeping an eye on them.

      As well as the large number of graves in the back garden and the stinking place in the stable were the blood beasts had been kenneled, there was a golem - clay man covered in runic symbols - slouched in the kitchen. It was inert now, for its master was either dead or very far away. No doubt the necromancers used it as a kind of servant for there were no human servants anywhere in the house.

      In the attic rooms, however, we found two young women in peasant dress lying on their backs on two narrow little beds. They did not react when we entered and at first I thought they must be dead. But their open eyes moved and blinked.

      "They have been fed on by demons," said one of the boys. I nodded. It seemed the logical conclusion and yet something about the girls puzzled me. For a start they were uninjured. Demons feed on the life force of living beings and those forces are enhanced, made more delectable to them, by strong emotions. Though the emotion can be pleasure, necromancers usually use pain in order to extract the most nourishment from their victims. After all, pain is much easier to cause.

      If the victims of demon feeding recover from the torture they are still diminished. They usually sleep the sleep of deep exhaustion waking only for a couple of hours a day to struggle from their beds to see to bodily functions. These girls were neither injured nor exhausted. They reminded me of nothing so much as the golem that lay downstairs - it was as if they lay there because some essential animating element was simply missing.

      "I think I will have my healer look at these two," said Prince Terzu and I saw that he too was puzzled by the girls.

      This painstaking search irritated me even though I knew that it was important to make sure the house was safe. I was edgy and keen to get into the secret cellar where the real necromantic business would have taken place. What if people were imprisoned there or lying wounded?

      Finally we found ourselves in the basement of the house. Although we knew there was a secret cellar somewhere nearby, Sergi and Alexi had had no luck finding its entrance and even with all fifteen of us looking we could find nothing. Prince Nikoli suggested that we break through the wall and a couple of the boys used magic to pull several bricks out of it. We discovered a large dark space behind one of the walls. A foul stench of sulfur and carrion came from the space. With Prince Nikoli's help, Count Alexi changed himself into a snake and slithered through the small hole in the wall. Shortly afterwards magelight shone out of the hole. We could hear the Count making gagging noises and then with a grinding grating noise a portion of the wall directly behind us slid open. As the terrible smell flooded into the room, the young men drew back without having to be told.

      The Prince calmly took a little pot of ointment from his pouch, rubbed a small amount under his nose and passed it around. It was some kind of strong sharp-smelling unguent and when I rubbed it under my nose I could smell nothing else.

      With magic at the ready and sleeves held before our noses, Prince Nikoli, Sergi and I stepped through the door. Beyond a green-faced Count Alexi waited, a mage light burning white in his hand.

      Prince Nikoli grinned at him wryly and offered him his pot of ointment.

      "Enjoying yourself, dear boy?"

      "Uncle dear, how could I not enjoy your company and in such appropriate surroundings too?"

      The Prince bowed ironically as if acknowledging a complement.

      "Please feel free to lead on at your leisure, dear boy."

      The Count bowed mockingly in return and led the way down a long corridor to where a large cellar opened up. The source of the stench was easy to see. Several bodies lay huddled in a corner of the room and on a large stone table in the middle lay the body of a young woman. The whole of her middle was shattered as if it had burst. Small pieces of entrail, flesh and bone were spattered all over the walls behind. The sight set me gagging. Sergi leaned in a corner and vomited.

      The Prince was made of sterner stuff however. With only the faintest hesitation, he moved forward and began to examine the body.

      "Been here most of the night I would say from the dryness of the blood and other things," he said calmly. He turned away from the table and examined the other bodies.

      "This is what happened to the servants then," he sighed. Poor souls. Used as fodder," He reached up and pulled at a piece of the wall, which I now saw was a large black curtain. Behind it was a huge mirror. Runes were painted on it in blood.

      "Lady Dion, perhaps you could give me your opinion of this."

      I read the runes to myself but not aloud. Runes are a language all their own, a language linked with magic. They made out a summoning spell.

      "Look there is the gateway rune," I said. "They were constructing

Скачать книгу