Chapter 9

 

“You see, the Emperor and Albiroth thought Guillermo was completely destroyed,” Leonidas explained. “They will not be expecting him. But they know I still live. In the early days they scoured the city for me, but I managed to stay hidden, protected within the scry-proof Magick of this lab. I have always been good at staying out of the way. Eventually they stopped looking and turned their minds to other evil projects. I’ve kept quiet all this time, and they’ve been lulled into a false sense of security. They don’t think I’m a threat to them anymore. But they still want me dead and they follow up every rumour about my existence.”

“Meanwhile I’ve been spending years – centuries honing my powers,” Guillermo continued. He touched the glowing thing in his chest. “This is a manastone forged from a priceless diamond – one of the most powerful Magick storage units in existence. With it I could unleash a fireball as hot as the sun and a mile across if I want to. It would vaporise the entire castle and everything in it, even the artefacts.”

Blake swore. Blagan whistled and eyed it off, wondering what kind of a knife he would need to prise it out of that weird mechanical lich’s chest.

“But I can’t walk into the castle on tribute day on my own,” Guillermo continued. “I’ll be stopped at the gate, recognised and attacked. I need to accompany a group. Robed, tucked in the middle of you, I will be overlooked.”

“And if you’re not?” asked Sue, even now the GM.

Guillermo lifted his mechanical hand to the back of his head and cracked his neck. “Then I guess the fight will start a little earlier. But it will happen. I have waited long enough.”

“You always were a little too impatient, Guillermo,” Leonidas reproved.

“We’ve been skulking down here since 1519!” shouted Guillermo. “I haven’t been outside since!”

“So what’s a few more years?” Leonidas asked mildly.

“And you always were a procrastinator! These people are perfect!” Suddenly Guillermo turned on them, regarding them through his red gemstone eyes. They shrank back from the intensity of his stare. “And they have knowledge of the Science Earth – far more than that one wandering artificer you encountered back in 1476!”

Sue opened her mouth to ask a question about that, but then Leonidas continued; “I guess you’re right, Guillermo. This really should be done now. We can’t let this opportunity pass. But it must be done properly.” He folded his hands and approached the group. “I have a proposition for you that you’re probably not going to like.”

“There’s a catch! I knew there’d be a catch!” crowed Sue as others around her groaned.

“There’s always a catch,” declared Blake.

“You want our souls after all?” asked Blagan.

“Why would we want those? It’s knowledge we’re after, not spirits,” retorted Leonidas. “We just want to know about the Science Earth. Who of you is most knowledgeable?”

“But telling you all about our world would take forever!” Sue protested.

“I have a machine called the Alternative Actuality Engine,” answered Guillermo. “It will absorb all your memories in a matter of hours.”

“Ewww!” cried Kiara.

“No way!” shouted Sue.

“Get lost!” Blake backed off.

But then Damon stepped forward. “I’ll do it!” he proclaimed.

“What? No!” Sue tried to grab his arm but he shook it free. “They’ll drain you stupid!”

“No, it will be painless and leave his mental faculties intact,” insisted Guillermo.

Damon turned on Sue. “Apart from a few fighting skills I’ve learned the least on this trip! I’ve tried to learn thief stuff, but I don’t think I’ll ever be any good at it. I just don’t have the confidence. This is my chance to be useful!”

“Damon – that’s not true!” Sue protested. “Don’t do this!”

“This is my choice. And besides, I don’t think they’re going to harm us.”

“But they’re mad scientists!”

“We’re not mad!” protested Leonidas. “But right now I might be a little angry.”

“Aye, these insults are certainly not warranted!” snapped Guillermo. “After all we are going to give you ten thousand truesilver guineas to get in to see the Emperor! That’s more money than any of you will ever see in a lifetime!”

Sue opened her mouth to retort and closed it. What right did she have to argue? If Damon wanted to let the liches rummage around inside his head that was his business. “Very well – it’s your brain.” She stepped back. She didn’t think the undead mages would hurt him anyway.

Guillermo took Damon’s arm in his cold metallic hand. “Come with me. We might as well get started now.”

Damon gulped, but let himself by led off by the weird mechanical artificer. Guillermo took him from the big alcove to a smaller room off to one side. In the middle sat a large black chair made from wood and metal, with a surprisingly comfortable-looking padded seat and arms. Elaborate scrollwork, probably Magick runes of some sort, had been carved into the wooden parts. A large metal helmet hung above the back on an articulated arm. Thick cables trailed from the device to more of those weird old-fashioned computers. Hanging against the wall in front the chair was a large cloth screen.

A tall, white-robed figure who had been working at an old type-writer keyboard in front of the computer turned as Guillermo appeared with Damon.

Damon faltered, his jaw dropping in amazement at the sight.

Previously in Sudaris, they had only seen one from a distance. Now, close up, the Sun Elf’s aura was even more powerful. The staunchly heterosexual Damon wanted to fall to his knees in front of this breathtakingly gorgeous creature and worship him.

“Er, Delsaron – this is our next subject – Damon. He’s just a human boy. You’d better turn that down,” Guillermo advised.

“I’m so sorry, Master Artificer. It hasn’t affected anyone down here for so long I’ve completely forgotten about it!”

Suddenly, the tall, auburn-haired elf looked just like any other elf. Still regal and beautiful with delicate seashell ears and a flawless complexion, but certainly not gorgeous enough to turn Damon’s head. He had a strange tattoo on his forehead. The young man heaved a sigh of relief. That could have been embarrassing.

“Hop up into the chair and make yourself comfortable.” Guillermo gestured towards the device.

With some trepidation, Damon obeyed. But the chair really was soft and warm. While Delsaron adjusted the helmet on his head, Guillermo started punching keys on the old type-writer. A soft hum started. Damon noticed a glow appear on the screen opposite.

“So what’s a Sun Elf doing down here in a lich’s laboratory?” Damon asked.

“I was exiled from my own kind about a hundred and fifty years ago,” Delsaron was only too happy to explain. “Apparently I killed my father. I don’t remember doing it, though. I think someone cast a spell of Forgetfulness over me so I couldn’t defend myself. The Empire of the Undead was the only place I could go where I wouldn’t attract undue attention. It … it takes a bit of effort to tone down my glamour.”

“I saw a Sun Elf down in Sudaris a few months back.”

“Really? How unusual! Sun Elves never travel down into the Underground! We prefer our massive sky cities up north. I wonder if he was looking for me? After all this time could I have been pardoned?” Delsaron mused as he slid a pair of goggles with various lens attachments over Damon’s eyes. The young man could no longer see. “I don’t want to risk returning in case not!”

“Is he ready?” called Guillermo. “The computator is powered up and ready to start absorbing the surface layer of his mind.”

“Yes Master Artificer. Just relax, Damon – this won’t hurt a bit.”

“Do I have to do anything? Like think about Science Earth stuff?”

“No, Guillermo has set the computator system parameters to search for and absorb all information pertaining to the Science Earth, even that which lies deep in your subconscious. You just lie back and rest. This won’t hurt and you might even fall asleep.”

“Sounds good to me!”

There was a clunk as someone pulled a lever. Damon tensed, waiting for something, anything. But the machine continued to hum softly. The young man calmed down, and as predicted, he soon fell asleep, still worn out from the previous day’s sewer excursion. On the big screen in front of him images appeared and started flickering at incredible speed. Images of Science Earth buildings, machines, technology, culture. Guillermo turned to watch in fascination. He couldn’t wait to start going through all this wonderful data. He knew some technomancy, but this would make him a master.

 

“Like I said before, he’ll be there for a while. I can wait here without any problems, but would you like to adjourn to somewhere more comfortable?” Leonidas asked the remaining party members.

They all exchanged glances. “Yes,” Sue answered.

“I don’t suppose you have any food down here?” asked Blagan. “I don’t think I had any dinner last night.”

“All we had all day was breakfast – and a handful of those nasty trail rations!” Sue declared.

“Of course we have food. We have living beings working here, and they still need to eat and perform their various ablutions. Please follow me.” Leonidas turned in a swirl of his long red robes and strode off out of the alcove. The others hurried after him.

Leonidas led them around the outside of the lab to another sectioned off area, a kitchen and dining room. A hallway ran off it, presumably leading to the living quarters Leonidas had described. He gestured towards a large wooden cabinet with several runes carved on the door. “That is a Magick cold box, containing all sorts of nourishment. You should be able to find something you can eat inside.” He gestured to another similar cabinet beside it, also inscribed with runes. “That one is an oven, where you can heat your meals up.”

Blagan reached the cold box first and yanked open the door, revealing an impressive selection of left-overs; plates of cold chicken, pies, stews and other filling, wholesome food. “Even the lich has a better larder than Michael McBride!” He started pulling plates out.

“Leave us some you greedy little hairball!” growled Blake, pushing his way in to grab something before it was all gone.

For a few minutes the hungry adventurers concentrated on filling their bellies. A couple asked to use the bathroom, and the lich pointed down the hallway.

The undead creature waited off to one side for the group to finish their feast. He had lived so long as a lich that he could no longer remember food. He could smell it, but the wonderful aromas no longer meant any more to him than various chemical compounds.

Sue burned with the most questions of all, and she brought her half-empty plate over to the Artificer. But before she could open her mouth, he asked:

“Miss … Sue, is it?”

“Er, yes.”

“Could you tell me exactly why you want to break into the Emperor’s castle? Are you simply after the legendary treasure-hoards within?”

“Oh no Leonidas – nothing like that. We just want to get back to our Earth, and for that we need the Mirror of Albiroth. It’s … it’s how we crossed over here in the first place. The Mirror of Albiroth has an identical copy on our world, and I just happened to acquire it from a local antique shop.”

Leonidas stared at her in surprise for a few seconds, but then he nodded. “That would make sense. The Eidolon Effect means that every mirror has a counterpart on the other world, and an artefact as powerful as the Mirror of Albiroth would certainly have one just as strong on the other side. Very interesting. But how did you manage to use it? Because Albiroth created it only he actually knows how to operate it. He uses it to leave the Empire on regular basis and travel around without anyone knowing.”

“I cast a portal spell in front of it and it activated,” Sue explained. “I touched it first and became stuck, and then it started pulling me in.”

“It is an evil artefact. If it senses resistance it will hold you fast and then pull you in.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“We have spies all over the city, even in the castle. They report back all the time. We have learnt a great deal about that artefact, and in the old days we coveted it greatly as a way of escaping our own prison. But it has always been beyond our reach.”

Sue pushed her empty plate away. “Thank you for the food, Leonidas – it was very good. Can I now ask you a question?”

“You can. You know I am only too happy to talk.”

“You mentioned something interesting before, about meeting another artificer from our world back in 1476. How did that happen? How did he cross over?”

Leonidas cackled. “That is a very interesting tale! I haven’t told it anyone in years!”

By now other travellers had finished their meals as well, and were starting to gather around Leonidas.

“It is also interesting that I’m about to tell it to you – all of whom have your other world counterparts with you.”

“You know about them?”

“Aye. I learned about counterparts back in 1476. You see, the artificer who managed to cross over was my own counterpart. Only his name wasn’t Leonidas. It was Leonardo. Leonardo Da Vinci.”

 

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