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JUST BECAUSE
Though he was confident that his job was done regarding Arrayan and Olgerkhan and that Athrogate would dispatch the assassin, Canthan glanced back h his gaze turned to what lay behind hihts were on the future, for he knew that there was a great prize to be found in the pages of the Witch-King&039;s book His perusal of the toination Sorant hi his life-force as it had Arrayan&039;s He was certain of that Zhengyi had designed it so The book would trap the unwitting and use that soul to build the castle
But that was only half the enchant - for one wise enough and strong enough to seize it
Canthan could do that, and certainly Knellict, areatest of wizards in the Bloodstone Lands, could too Had the Citadel of Assassins just found a new ho Gareth&039;s claim of dominion?
"Ah, the possibilities," Canthan muttered as he approached the next door
The castle was either doreneration given the fall of its life sources Still the wizard re the door in long before he physically entered the rooe chamber beyond, he saw movement, and he didn&039;t even wait to discern the type of creature before he began his spellcasting
A gnoll et, the initial strike point
A bolt of lightning arced onto its head then shot away to the next target, and on again It diminished with each successive strike but jumped about several times That first s, and Canthan was fast to the point, next spell ready A quick survey of the large room showed hi across five targets,creature had been the last hit, so Canthan reversed his line and made that one the first
In the instant it took the second lightning chain to leap across the re husks
Canthan rushed in and braziers flared to life The wizard looked upward at the ceiling ten feet above and saw the telltale egg shapes of the guardian daemons nestled above each of the four braziers in the roo, Canthan filled the upper two feet of the roo It was a precaution only, he believed, for the castle had to be dead The already aniht, but with Arrayan gone, no others should animate
The wizard paused to catch his breath and consider the situation He hoped Ellery was done with the troublesoate with the equally troublesoood fortune for the Citadel The troublesoyi&039;s great gift over to King Gareth and the other fools who ruled Dareat care, though He hoped his guess about the qualities of the castle was correct, for his task of truly deciphering the secrets of the book would be muchate and Ellery back to his side and take soical spells for the day, and even though he believed the battle to be won, Canthan didn&039;t like feeling vulnerable His wizardry was his armor and his sword Without his spells, he was just a clever but rather feeble man
He didn&039;t appreciate the view, then, when a solitary reat deter dead, as Canthan had presureat structure teeht&039;s battle on the hill, flew off with the sunset, speeding across the few miles to the walls of Palishchuk
There the defenses had been set, and there the desperate battle began But walls proved little ied creatures, and they swarets
In her roo on the streets, the cries of alarm and the sounds of battle joined She looked over at Davis Eng, his eyes wide, his breathing heavy with anticipation and stark fear A twinge of syine his terror at being so coed to whisper
Calihye had no answer She moved to the room&039;s oneand pulled aside the drape Out on the street below her, she saw the fighting, where a trio of half-orc guards slashed and rushed wildly after the short hops and flights of a single gargoyle Calihye watched for a while, ave a shout and fell back as a gargoyle crashed through the , scattering shards of glass, its clawed hands reaching for her throat
The woman let herself fall over in a backward roll, and she ca forward as the foolish gargoyle charged ahead, i itself on her blade
But another was at the , ready to take its place
"Help nored hiot too desperate sheto the beasts while sheway from that unpleasant possibility, however, and she went forward toher sith the skill of a seasoned veteran
"Be reasonable, my friend," Canthan said as he backed away
Artemis Entreri, his face perfectly expressionless, walked toward hiirl is dead?"
No answer
"Be reasonable, man," Canthan reiterated "She was the source of power for this place - her life-force was feeding it"
No answer Soon Canthan had a wall to his back, and Entreri was still coer in hand
"Ah, but you fancied her, did you not?" Canthan asked
He laughed - a sound he had to admit to himself was for no better reason than to cover his sincere discomfort For Canthan didn&039;t have many spells left to cast, and if Entreri had found a way to defeat Athrogate, he was a formidable foe indeed
Still no answer, and Canthan cast a quick spell that sent him in an extra-dimensional "blink" to the other side of the roo but turn and continue his deterods, don&039;t tell ate?" Canthan said to him "Why, he orth quite a bit to the Citadel - a favor I do for you in killing you noever we ive that, I fear, nor will Knellict!" He finished with a flourish of his ar bolt Entreri&039;s way
But it wasn&039;t that easy Entreri moved before the blast ensued, a sudden and efficient dive and roll out to the side
Canthan was already casting a second tiical missiles that no rowled through their stinging bites and ca, but a dagger flashed through the air, striking hi The wizard was of course arded froer bounced away He quickly refocused and let fly his blast at the ht was the ht but a wall of ash
Growing increasingly fearful, Canthan spun around to survey the rooain, then stopped and muttered, "Oh, clever"
He didn&039;t even have to look to understand the assassins ruse and er, in that reflexive blink of the wizard&039;s eye, Entreri had not only swiped the sword and put forth the ash wall, but he had leaped up, catching hilanced up at hiainst his chest, his hands plunged into the secure webbing He uncoiled and swayed back, then toward Canthan As he ca he held in one hand - a sinited the web and burned the entire section away in an instant, just as Entreri ca over into a backward sos and arhtly and in perfect balance right in front of the wizard, and out came his sword
The skilled wizard struck first, a blast of stunning lightning that crackled all over Entreri&039;s body, sparks flying from his sword His jaw snapped uncontrollably, hisinto a tight ball, the knuckles of the other whitening on the hilt of Charon&039;s Claw
But Entreri didn&039;t fly back and he didn&039;t fall away He growled and held his ground He took the hit and with incredible deterh it
When the lightning ended, Entreri ca wide Given the sheer power of that blade, beyond the defenses of any wards and guards, Entreri could have quite easily killed the horrified wizard, could have taken the man&039;s head from his shoulders But Charon&039;s Claw ca the wizard fro back, Canthan could not get far enough away as Entreri, his face still so cold and expressionless that Canthan wondered briefly if he was nothing h in a spin and came around with a circle kick that snapped Canthan&039;s head back viciously
Entreri retrieved his prized dagger and wiped the blood froain stalked over to the prone Canthan Face down, the man squirmed then stubbornly pulled himself up to his elbows
Entreri kicked hiain before Canthan settled back down to the floor The assassin put his sword away but held the dagger as he grabbed the seed him back to the corridor
"Surely you&039;ll be reasonable in this regard," Jarlaxle, on his hands and knees and peering over the edge of the hole, said to Athrogate "You cannot get out without ate, hands on hips, just stared up at hi," Jarlaxle said "Was I to allow you to kill ht hih, but consider Olgerkhan"
"I did, and I killed him"
"Sometimes acts like that upset people"
"He shouldn&039;t&039;ve got in irl?"
Athrogate shrugged as if it did not matter "He had a reason"
"An errant reason"
"What&039;s done is done Ye wanting an apology?"
"I don&039;t know that I want anything," Jarlaxle replied "You seeet out Starvation is a lousy way for a warrior to die"
Athrogate just shrugged, moved to the side of the hole, studied the sheer wall for a hed and turned away to consider Arrayan She was still cradling Olgerkhan&039;s head, whispering to him
"Don&039;t you dare leave me," she pleaded
"And only now you realize your love for him?" Jarlaxle asked
Arrayan shot hiuess was on the mark