A trio of black pyramids thrust out of the sands directly ahead of Eddred and his team. Ten days of walking through ghoul-infested desert had brought them here. Not that he’d ever doubted Lord Valtan, not really, but trusting someone and seeing the ultimate goal directly ahead of you were two very different things. Between the three pyramids, jutting even higher into the sky, was the city’s portal.
The bright midafternoon sun shone off the mithril, making a stark contrast to the black stone and endless sand. They couldn’t see the bulk of the city yet, but in another hour or two the homes and business of the ordinary people should be visible. The city would be a ghost town now, like Lordes. He shuddered to think of the empty streets and dark buildings awaiting them. Even though they’d been gone for centuries, it was still a sad thing. Or maybe he was projecting his feelings for his lost home onto this place.
“Looks like our honor guard has decided to leave us,” Uther said.
Eddred dragged his gaze away from the distant city. “What?”
Uther pointed at the rapidly vanishing ghouls. Twenty of the ugly things had been following them since the beach. “Guess they’re sick of following us.”
Eddred hoped that was why the undead had fled. With their luck, there was probably something nearby, big and nasty, that ate ghouls for dinner and would love to add some living flesh to its diet. “We’d best leave the lanterns burning all the same.”
They set out again. Eddred’s stride felt as light as it had since they left home. They were almost at the end now. They’d claim the Scroll and return with it to Lord Valtan. Otto Shenk would be thwarted in his goal of becoming an Arcane Lord and the world would be safe.
His smile was bitter. No way would it be that simple.
Distances in the desert were deceptive and it took another three hours of walking to reach the outskirts of the city. No wall protected it from the dangers of the desert. Small stone houses just seemed to pop up out of the sand. They didn’t pause to look inside, but judging from the size, there couldn’t have been more than two rooms in each.
Roads made of flat, gray stones ran between the buildings and led deeper into the city.
“Do you sense anything?” Eddred asked.
Adam shook his head. “Nothing specific, but there’s so much corruption running through the ether I can’t tell anything for sure.”
“Whatever Amet Sur unleashed here may taint the ether forever,” Lilly added. “Did Lord Valtan indicate which pyramid holds the Scroll?”
“The biggest one, naturally,” Eddred said.
“I’ve never seen a city without a wall.” Uther looked around as if expecting a wall to appear out of nowhere.
The mercenaries just looked relieved not to see any ghouls. Eddred wished he shared their relief. The ghouls, at least, were a known danger. One they were confident the lanterns could defeat. Whatever danger waited in the pyramid remained a complete mystery.
They hiked through the silent, empty streets. The strangest thing was the lack of smells. Most cities were an endless collection of odors, some good, many foul. But here the dry air held little beyond a hint of decay.
Eddred remained tense, expecting something awful to happen at any moment. All around them, the buildings grew larger and more elaborate as they approached the city center. The air held an oppressive gloom. The few words spoken between the mercenaries were whispers. That seemed appropriate given the city was basically a massive graveyard.
When they reached the plaza surrounding the portal Eddred straightened and drew a deep breath. The air felt lighter here. In his limited vision even the ether looked pure.
“Adam?”
“It’s the mithril, Majesty,” Adam said. “So much of it in one place purifies the corruption. I suggest we make camp beside the portal and begin exploring at first light.”
“Agreed. Let’s have that fire we’ve been avoiding and a hot meal.”
Eddred looked up at the black pyramids and shivered. No way did he want to get stuck in one of them after dark.
Lady White didn’t know how long she lay unconscious on the cold cavern floor. She was simply pleased to wake up and not find something gnawing on her arm. She sat up, delighted once more that her undead body was immune to mortal aches and pains. A few stretches combined with a brief touch of corruption confirmed that she was fully functional. When she reached out to her warbeast, she found it waiting the same place as last time. The beast wouldn’t flee as long as she existed, but with demons it was best to take nothing for granted.
Satisfied that she was ready to resume her journey, she set out down another narrow tunnel. She could not wait to leave these passages. Even undead liked seeing the sky and feeling the wind. At least she did.
Oh well.
Happily, after only an hour or two of trudging, the tunnel began to slope upwards. Her pace picked up at the prospect of reaching the surface.
Fifteen minutes later she climbed a set of crumbling stairs and emerged into the nighttime desert. A cool breeze washed over her. Though hardly a hedonist, that might be the sweetest feeling she’d enjoyed in decades.
Her warbeast trotted over and butted her thigh with its head. She stroked it absently as she looked over the now much closer city. There were three black pyramids surrounding the city’s portal in the center. The ordinary buildings didn’t interest her, but the orange glow from a fire surrounded by the greenish glow of some sort of necromantic flames did. It seemed she wasn’t the first to arrive.
Otto wasn’t likely to be pleased when she informed him. Not that she had any obligation to please the mortal wizard, but angry allies tended to act rashly. Though he didn’t strike her as the rash type and none of this was her fault.
Maybe she should take a look first and find out what she was dealing with. More information was definitely better than less.
Lady White set out for the city. No ghoul, guardian, or demon rose to block her way. In fact, as she passed the first building, all she sensed was the ambient corruption. If the city had guardians, they were well hidden. Those were the worst sort of guardians.
She made it through the city to the edge of the central plaza. As best she could tell, everyone camped out around the portal, save one on watch, was fast asleep. Her skin already itched from being close to so much mithril.
There seemed to be little danger in contacting her partner. Once he arrived, she’d let Otto decide what he wanted to do with the early arrivals.
She reached for the message device in her pocket then froze. On the far side of the city, she sensed something. No, someone. A fellow servant of Astaroth. A member of the cult here meant bad things for her.
Best find a defensible position quickly. Lady White was a powerful magic user, but far from the strongest in the group. Lord of the Dead wouldn’t send any weaklings to hunt her down. Whoever had shown up would be a threat. If she underestimated the danger, her long existence would come to an end.
And she couldn’t count on Astaroth’s help either. In a battle between his followers, the demon lord would grant them their usual powers, but nothing extra.
Basically, she was on her own.
Lady White glanced down at her warbeast. Well, not entirely on her own.
The two of them hurried away from the central plaza. All of the nearby buildings were sturdy. It wasn’t like she could hide from someone capable of sensing her presence. She just needed somewhere that would stop whoever it was from sneaking up on her. Her first strike would have to do the job. If it didn’t, she couldn’t predict how a drawn-out fight might go.
Gareth and his companions stood on a sand dune overlooking the city. It didn’t have a wall, allowing them a full view of the entire place. A small fire near the portal looked like a firefly in the distance. That had to be the group they’d been tracking. Neither Jackal nor Ginevera said anything. That was an irritating habit of the pair. Gareth had never considered himself overly chatty, but compared to these two, he was practically a socialite.
At least they kept the ghouls away. The few that had dared approach the group were quickly sent fleeing. Gareth didn’t even see any magic, but whatever Jackal did, those creatures didn’t like it. Even Ginevera had looked on with an appreciative smile. Impressing her told Gareth more about Jackal’s abilities than anything he’d actually done.
“So do we go in and capture them while they’re sleeping, or what?” Gareth asked.
“Of course not,” Ginevera said. “We let them find the treasure then we kill them and take it for ourselves.”
A perfectly practical response, exactly what he expected her to say.
Jackal had turned and was staring at another area of the city. “She’s here.”
“Say what?” Gareth asked.
“My prey. I can sense her in the city. Our ways part here.”
Without another word he ran off at a dead sprint toward the city.
Gareth turned to Ginevera. “Unless I’m mistaken, this wasn’t the deal. Isn’t he supposed to help us claim the treasure before he runs off to hunt down whoever got on his master’s bad side?”
She shrugged. “Try to stop him if you like.”
Yeah, right. Getting killed by someone that was supposed to be on his side didn’t overly appeal to him. “Maybe he’ll handle this unlucky woman and rejoin us.”
“More likely their battle will alert Eddred and his party, making our ambush that much more difficult.” She stalked off toward the city.
Having no desire to deal with any ghouls that might show up by himself, Gareth hurried to join her. “Where are we going?”
“Jackal may have ruined our plans. I want to be close enough to act should it be necessary.”
Gareth asked no more questions. Whatever was going to happen, he’d do his best to help her. Not because he wanted to, but because she was the only one on the whole miserable continent that he believed might help him get home.
Of course, he wasn’t totally confident of that either.
They slunk along through the silent city. A chill ran through Gareth, so he drew his dagger. The twelve-inch blade would be of little use against some of the monsters he’d seen, but he felt better with it in hand.
He flicked a glance at Ginevera. She made hardly a sound which surprised him. Being sneaky required certain skills and he’d doubted she had them. Maybe some kind of magic muffled her movements. Gareth wanted to ask her, just to break the unnerving silence, but knew better than to draw attention when on a job.
Finally, they stopped just outside the central plaza. Nothing had changed. The fire still burned, though where they found wood out here, he had no idea. That strange green glow still tinted everything.
“I think we’re good,” he whispered.
He’d barely gotten the words out when an explosion rocked the city. Everyone by the fire leapt to their feet shouting.
Someone pointed toward the largest pyramid and the group fled towards it, taking their weird green lights with them.
“You had to say it, didn’t you?” Ginevera said.
She glared at him like it was his fault Jackal ran off to start a small war.