Daktari awoke after about four hours’ sleep. Even underground he had an excellent sense of time. He rolled out of bed and took a deep breath. The sweet scent of night drifted down to him. He could feel darkness spreading across the land. With the sun set, his powers had reached their apex.
Tonight, his work began in earnest.
Master?
His familiar’s thoughts appeared in Daktari’s mind. Due to their telepathic link, Bane knew he’d awakened.
Yes?
Poison’s ready.
Excellent, Bane, I’ll join you in a moment.
Daktari left his bedchamber and walked down the short tunnel that connected it to the lab. The distillation had finished sooner than he expected. Bane had taken the beakers off the heating stones and set them aside. With a thought Daktari disconnected the ether from the heating stones. The vial holding the poison rested on a small iron tripod. A wisp of steam rose from it.
“I got the last drop just before you woke up,” Bane said in answer to his unspoken question. “What now?”
He blew out a sigh. Daktari had hoped it wouldn’t come to plan B. “Now we sow the seeds of civil war. Come.”
Bane flitted over and landed on Daktari’s shoulder. The sorcerer walked to the center of the cavern where he’d carved a large pentagram in the stone floor. They stepped into the center of the symbol and Daktari spoke a word of power that activated the enchantment woven into the pentagram. The symbol blazed with crimson light. The glow from the protective spell made the cavern appear drenched in blood.
Satisfied with his protective spell Daktari began to chant the words of summoning. The ether swirled at his command and twenty feet away a small circle of darkness appeared in midair. As the strength of his spell grew, so did the size of the circle. When the spell ended the circle was big enough for an elephant to pass through with a foot to spare on each side.
Pleased, Daktari called, “Ulibo, come forth.”
From beyond the dark circle a shifting form approached. The shadow demon oozed through the portal. When the last of it had entered the lab Daktari snapped his fingers and the portal shut.
Ulibo roared in anger at being trapped.
It flew toward the sorcerer slamming into the protective field that surrounded him.
Black claws ripped at the magic shield, sending crimson sparks flying.
Daktari waited, unperturbed, with his arms crossed. Bane huddled behind his master’s head, appearing none too certain of the shield’s power.
When its initial anger had played out Ulibo shifted its form into a vaguely humanoid shape. The demon looked closer at the human it couldn’t reach. After a moment’s study it fell to the ground on its knees.
“Forgive me, Master,” Ulibo said. “I didn’t know you at first.”
Daktari smiled. Now that the shadow demon knew with whom it dealt, he could lower the shield without fear. The summoning spell, while causing the demon no actual pain, did leave it disoriented for a time. An angry and disoriented demon of Ulibo’s power wasn’t something Daktari took lightly.
The first time he’d summoned the demon over a century ago, he’d faced it without the benefit of the warding circle. He’d been eager to test the limits of his shadow magic. The battle had been ferocious, but Daktari succeeded in cowing the demon.
Now Ulibo recognized him as the superior force and obeyed without a fuss. He’d learned something else over the years of dealing with Ulibo and its lesser brethren: demons actually appreciated respect and a kind word from their masters.
Daktari stepped out of the pentagram and laid a hand on the shoulder of his most powerful servant. “No harm done. I know the summoning is unpleasant.”
“Thank you, Master.” The demon rose and glided along behind Daktari toward the table where the vial of poison waited.
“You recognize this?” Daktari asked, indicating the vial of poison.
Ulibo sniffed it and said, “Poison. You wish me to poison someone?” The demon sounded eager, like a child about to receive a favorite treat.
“Not someone,” Daktari said. He could feel a wave of disappointment wash over him. “I want you to poison all the oases not protected by a village. Three drops of that poison will leave the water undrinkable for six months.”
“What if the nomads try and stop me?” Ulibo had served him in the High Kingdom before and was familiar with the tribes that wandered the desert.
“What do you think?” He felt a ripple of pleasure from the demon. “In fact, if you kill a few that might work out even better. Can you make it look like soldiers with swords killed them instead of your usual talons?”
The demon held up its left arm and transformed it into the curved scimitar favored by the sultan’s soldiers.
“Excellent,” Daktari said. “You should also leave some camel tracks between several of the oases and the nearest village.”
No fool, the demon said, “You mean to start a war between the nomads and the city dwellers.”
Daktari smiled and handed the demon the vial. An even stronger ripple of pleasure washed over him as the demon accepted the poison.
Ulibo stepped into the nearest shadow and vanished. The shadow demon walked to the nearest oasis and dripped three drops of poison into the water. They vanished without a trace. Invisible and odorless, nobody would notice the sorcerer’s poison until someone dropped dead. Ulibo wholeheartedly approved of its master’s plan. It stepped into another shadow and emerged beside a fresh pool of water.
Of course, Ulibo approved of anything that fomented chaos and destruction. It poisoned the water and moved on to the next oasis. Over the millennia, Ulibo had served several masters. Few could control a demon of its power. When the sorcerer had first called it from Astaroth’s Hell, a long time, even as demons reckoned it, had passed since the last wizard had tried to command it.
Ulibo had emerged from the portal eager to rend the flesh of a presumptuous wizard. Instead of some weak fool playing at magic, the demon had found a purple-robed sorcerer that threw off waves of power unlike anything it had felt in two millennia.
Ulibo had once been tricked by a wizard that could project an aura of great power but had little to back it up. Not one to fall for the same trick twice, Ulibo had surged forward to attack. The blast of energy that had struck the demon shook it to the very core of its essence. That one attack told Ulibo all it needed to know about the sorcerer. He wasn’t playing at magic. This human was one of the three most powerful sorcerers Ulibo had felt in its eternal existence.
Still, the demon had attacked again, more to get a feel for the sorcerer’s power than because it thought it had a chance of winning. Three times the demon had swooped in and three times the sorcerer had turned it aside. Satisfied that the sorcerer had true power, Ulibo had fallen to its knees and begun its fawning servant routine.
Most of Ulibo’s past masters had liked a greater demon telling them how powerful they were.
This one didn’t.
He’d flung Ulibo aside with a blast of magic to tell him so. Then he’d spoken the words that had filled Ulibo with joy.
“If I’d wanted a fawning slave I’d have summoned an imp not a greater demon. Now get up, we have work to do.”
How those words had thrilled Ulibo. At last he’d found a master that didn’t need constant praise and self-gratification. A master so confident in his power he didn’t need to be told how strong he was. Perhaps he’d found his true master at last.
After that night the sorcerer had summoned Ulibo a dozen times more. Each time it had felt great pleasure at finding the purple-robed sorcerer waiting on the far side of the portal. The demon knew it would have real work to do. An assassination, sowing chaos among the sorcerer’s enemies, something it could really sink its fangs into.
Now Ulibo was a part of the sorcerer’s most ambitious plan yet, starting a war that would kill thousands. The demon was almost too happy for words.
It emerged without a sound at the twelfth oasis. The demon heard laughter and saw leaping flames. Oozing closer it found a small group of about thirty nomads. Filled with glee at the prospect of killing, the demon scratched the air, carving a small pocket dimension about a foot square. Ulibo set the poison inside then sealed the opening.
The demon formed six arms ending in curved scimitar blades. It circled the camp, blending seamlessly with the darkness. It found the first sentry facing north, away from the oasis. It crept up behind the man and stood looking down at him, delighted with his ignorance.
The guard must have sensed something because he turned just as Ulibo struck with a double slash. The guard fell in three pieces without a sound.
Barely able to suppress a giggle of delight the demon flowed on toward the next sentry. That man died as quick as the first. It had now made a complete circle around the camp. No guards remained to sound the alarm.
Unable to stand it the demon did giggle; a low, insane sound that carried on the wind toward the nomad’s camp. A child cried in instinctive fear. Her mother tried to quiet her.
Don’t worry, I’ll quiet her soon enough.
The demon shifted into one of its more horrific forms, that of a giant warrior in jagged armor. It stepped into the firelight and before anyone could scream or draw a weapon it killed the two nearest men.
Chaos fell.
Men roared and charged with steel in hand.
The women and children ducked into a pair of tents to get out of the way.
Ulibo let the men get in two solid blows only to see their weapons pass through its body like smoke. It reveled in their fear as they realized how helpless they were.
Then it struck back, becoming a whirlwind of blades.
The battle, if you could call it that, ended in moments. The blood-soaked sand was covered with hacked corpses that used to be men.
The demon turned its attention to the tents.
It dragged the women and children out one at a time and ran them through. Soon the entire group lay dead.
Ulibo would have liked to take a little more time and enjoy the killing but if it wanted to complete its task before morning, then it couldn’t waste time.
Remembering its master’s order the demon scared off the camels then left a false trail leading to the nearest town. That done, the demon retrieved the poison and poured out three drops in the water.
Ulibo took one last look at its handiwork before shadow walking to the next oasis. It hoped there’d be more nomads waiting.