94: ASSUMED LOYALTIES

(Kihrin’s story)

The wizard held a slender wand in his hand. My first thought was that it looked a lot like the Scepter of Quur, and then I remember Grizzst was supposed to be the man who’d created the Crown and Scepter of Quur.

What were the odds he hadn’t made himself a spare set? And Tyentso had been able to do all sorts of things with hers. Magical barriers were just part of it. Its other powers were far more deadly.

I looked down at the sword in my hand and sighed. That was going to do me a whole lot of good. I might as well have been armed with a kitten.

“Why?” Thurvishar sounded appropriately horrified. “By the Veils, Gahan. Why?”

Grizzst ignored him and stared at me. “You were really going to just … smash it? Seriously? Your brother told me you were stupid, but I didn’t actually believe him. I always thought that was just sour grapes. Yet here you are.”

I sheathed my sword and leaned against the throne. “The crystal wasn’t powered,” I reminded him. “The worst it could do is fire off whatever booby trap Senera put inside, because if triggering the glyph was enough to do anything on a Vol Karoth scale of effectiveness, Relos Var and Senera would have done it themselves and not waited for me.”

Grizzst narrowed his eyes at me.

“Oh right. Turns out I actually did put some thought into it.” I smiled. “You didn’t believe my brother at all? Whatever gave you the idea his word might not be trustworthy?”

I’m honestly not sure why I wasn’t angrier. I definitely had been earlier. I’d lost my temper many a time in similar situations. I think I was just … done. Done with all of it. Done with the betrayals and the lies and the many, many traps.

So sure, Grizzst had turned out to be working with Relos Var. Why not?

I didn’t know what we were going to do about it, but I was reasonably sure that losing my temper at him wouldn’t buy me into any game worth playing.

“How could you believe that helping Relos Var is the right thing to do?” Thurvishar was still shaking with anger and indignation. “How could you possibly be that stupid?”

This was a hell of a lot more personal for him than it was for me. I’d never known this jerk as anything more than a legend, but Thurvishar had history here. Or I guess Simillion did, but it was a bit like my relationship with Relos Var. The past lives were bleeding over.

“It’s a long story, kid,” Grizzst told Thurvishar. “The two of us had a deal. I’m honoring my side of it.”

“What’s it going to do?” I asked. “When they cast the Ritual of Night and charge up the crystal, what’s going to happen?”

Grizzst cast a spell that pushed aside the muck and dirt of centuries and sat down on the pedestal of a gold horse. “Fuck,” he said. “Isn’t this just a fantastic clusterfuck of fun?”

“Nice to know we agree on some things, anyway.”

“Gahan!” Thurvishar screamed. “What. The. Fuck?”

Grizzst looked over at Thurvishar and sighed. “You know how long I’ve been trying to deal with Vol Karoth. You know how long it took me to bring back the Eight.”

“Then why are you working with the man who’s trying to undo it all?” Thurvishar said. His expression was equal parts anguished and furious.

“What’s it going to do?” I asked one more time.

“Well, I tell you what it’s not going to do—it’s not going to strip the immortality from the vané, that’s what.”

“Gahan!”

Grizzst sighed. “I swapped out the ritual a few centuries back. Instead of affecting the vané, this version taps each of the Eight—except for Vol Karoth, of course—a second time, weakens them a little, and sends that energy channeled through this one crystal back to the other seven. Except it’ll be more tenyé than those wards were ever designed to handle, so it’ll shatter each of them, all at once.”

“That will free Vol Karoth,” Thurvishar said. “Free him completely.”

Grizzst pressed his lips together and nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

Thurvishar stared at him. “Why? Damn it, Gahan, I always knew you were self-destructive, but when did you decide to take the whole world with you?”

At that, Grizzst shook his head. “Oh, just the opposite, kid. You can’t destroy Vol Karoth while he’s imprisoned. We’re safe from him, but he’s also perfectly safe from us. Which is a problem, because we need Vol Karoth.”

I tilted my head. “Need him? Vol Karoth’s a mistake.”

“Naw. He’s exactly what Relos Var meant to make.”

Thurvishar and I shared a glance. That perfectly mirrored my own theory about the ritual that had created Vol Karoth, but it was interesting to hear it coming from the mouth of the so-called greatest wizard in the world.

I chewed on my lip as if thinking something over. “So what’s Vol Karoth supposed to do?” I asked Grizzst. “What was he made for?”

Grizzst looked annoyed. He made a face as he reached some sort of decision and stood. “I can’t just kill you two.”

“We’re so relieved,” Thurvishar said bitterly.

“Afraid we’ll tell Thaena?” Even as I said the words, I was concentrating on the intaglio ring. It was possible that Grizzst had some sort of master control, in which case as soon as I used the ring, I’d give myself away, but I didn’t think that was so. Sandus had made the rings and had given Grizzst one for the same reason he’d given Doc one: so they could keep in touch if needed. No one was wearing Sandus’s ring—which meant no one could stop me from bouncing my message off it back to Doc.

You need to stop them from performing the Ritual of Night. Do whatever it takes.

Kihrin, are you all right? What’s going on?

It’s a trap. The ritual’s trapped. It’s going to free Vol Karoth, not seal him away. Do not, under any circumstances, let them power the crystal.

A moment of hesitation. I’ll do what I can.

Grizzst chuckled and pointed a finger at me, like he was giving a point to a student in class. “Can’t let you go back and warn your friends before they’ve completed their work either. So I might as well show you why I decided helping Relos Var was the lesser evil.”

The wizard opened a gate into void.