Page 14 (1/2)

Burkus House, an Upstairs Hall

Hours after his inexplicably ill-mannered master had ridden away to the palace, Debreban was still unsettled by the encounter His eveningdisturbed by all that he&039;d seen and heard that day How a si Captain Shankey around had turned into a ic and grouchy wizards requiredover

Debreban would have liked to talk it out with soone to bed at this hour Besides, he&039;d have had to provide an enorround explanation to his audience, which never worked too well in his experience Better to speak with a person who had been there That would be Shankey, of course, but he was at Dar tales fro fellow he&039;d introduced as being a real wizard He&039;d not looked too terribly wizardlike, but it takes all sorts to make a world

So Debreban tried to quell his restlessness with a bout of walking, hoping it would tire hirounds until the hout the house Fortunately it was a big square structure with an enclosed courtyard, enabling hi to pay mind to his path He kept to the upper floor, so the tra staff Only Lord Cadht Debreban could stalk the hallways to his heart&039;s content, and did so for quite some time

It didn&039;t help as much as he&039;d hoped

He partially convinced hi encounter with Lord Cadmus had been a misapprehension of so news, causing him to be in a tremendous hurry to be elsewhere That would explain his short temper This did seem confirmed when one of the staff mentioned his lordship was off to dine at the palace It did not explain the peculiar behavior of the horse Though a fine-looking war charger, the animal had ever been as well-mannered as its master Had he not known better, Debreban would have sworn a changeling dee how he kept trying to throw his rider Lord Cadmus had barely been able to keep his seat, and he was the best horseman in the province

Could he have been drunk? Not likely Except at parties, his lordship was usually sparing in his consuem or to do with the sodden demise of several dipsomaniac relatives was debatable Either way, his lordship never drank while riding

Yes, so was up Probably to do with that Hell-river the Talents were in such a twist over Debreban had never seen the phenoic was like air; you couldn&039;t see the stuff, but it was very useful to have around, and when a stors had been in that awful tunnel He hated closed-in dark places to begin with, and coood thing that Myhr had been there to vanquish the bad stuff Odd mancreaturewhatever, but friendly Why was it that Shankey had first thought hi a catless than an invasion of privacy He&039;d been quite scandalized when he first learned of such devices He are that Lord Cadmus had one in his Black Room, and made a point to avoid the spot

Debreban happened to be walking past the door to that very cha, and with so to take hold of his spine His personal remedy for that was to ers There, he felt better now already As usual, nothing leaped roaring fro ever would

His confidence faded as he approached his master&039;s private suite The door was shut, as were all the others on this floor, but a strange wavery light now leaked froo when he&039;d last passed this way

Debreban ran down a logical list of whatthe otten candle or lamp, or so he was falow

The gooseflesh returned, rather forcefully

Oh, damn

He wished himself elsewhere, but it didn&039;t work Like it or not he was the captain of the guards for Burkus House, and it was his job to protect the place Defending against ical threats was not specifically h Lord Cadmus should really deal with this If only he was here

Oh, da quite hilariously boring, Debreban drew his sword and cautiously opened the door No reaction ca him with crimson color He pushed the door ith the tip of his sword and waited All re froht and , he stepped in, looking around very quickly, wanting a few hundred candles to light the way and a host of Talents to back him up

So far as he could tell by the lurid radiance, his ood order A few clothes were strewn about the dressing area, but that was nor to his lordship&039;s long-suffering valet Only the glow and the hu were out of place Debreban eased forward to their source which turned out to be a huge dressing old-leafed fralanced seemed to be on fire Its surface roiled with blood colored clouds, yet they re some other place than the di to harrew louder Was it on-breath sound in the Dar an object made of cold iron into the works would stop it His oouldn&039;t do, oulda fire poker perhaps?

His gaze fell upon a long shape left casually propped against a chair: a sword and scabbard of antique style that he thought he recognized Yes, it was one of the oddities of the Burkus House armory collection, supposedly a wizard-slayer because of the composition of its metal Why was it off its stand and up here? His lordship must have had soift of fate and grabbed it up

Weighty thing, but nicely balanced, with a slightly curving black blade that still held a killing edge The po in his hand as he rounded on the ht-after adversary

Of course it was all very well to strike a pose even if no one was around to appreciate it, but nothing happened The clouds continued to churn, the hum steadied out After some minutes of this they ceased to intimidate hiht have cast some kind of spell to create this effect and would be annoyed to have it disrupted

But Debreban&039;s instinct went against that conclusion No, there was so into

He extended his ar the surface of the mirror with the tip of the black sword

Oh,struck with salt The huh shriek and cut off into sudden silence

I broke it!

Debreban fell back a step, holding the blade in a guard position, ready for whatever ht rush forth The clouds slowly recovered, only now there seehly oval shape in their midst Eventually hewas like for the Talents?

The face - three tih possessed of a red cast, its features seemed familiar He couldn&039;t quite placeyes, of course, it was Lord Botello Darain A lot

Daraze sharp as a spike as it fell upon Debreban

"Hallo there," he said politely "To whoh spit in his mouth to reply

"Come now, man, answer It&039;s a simple question Are those Burkus House colors?"

Debrebanin red clouds, curled its lip "Bloody hell" Dar and turned away to reply "Sorry, just slipped out I&039; with the Otherside I think I&039;ve got hold of the wrong place" He flinched, as though in pain, then looked back to Debreban "Is this Burkus House? Answer me!" Desperation crept into his voice

"Yes, sir," Debreban whispered

"Speak up!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Bloody - oh, never uards" Re a cautionary tale with a particularly bad end featuring icalwith his name

"Where is Cadmus Burkus?"

"A-at the overduke&039;s palace for dinner Staying the night"

"No doubt Is this the scrying mirror in his Black Roo rooet through Do you knoho I a "You look like the late Lord Botello Darmo, sir"

" &039;Look like&039; Wise reply Oh, do buck yourself up, fellow, you&039;re in no danger Not yet, anyway That&039;s better Right, noant you to listen carefully, I can only say this once" His voice faded as clouds blew over his face

"What?"

The face twisted with frustration "Oh, bloody, bloody hell!"

So the red clouds pale green for ain a heavy storawds&039; sake, help me!" he cried

In the Streets Not Far From the Palace

"That was very well, done, dear lady," said Cadates to make speech safe

"Thank you, but keep your voice down There&039;s Talents on watch and we don&039;t want the tone

He obligingly matched it "Where did you learn such acrobatics?" Their recent flight frohosts to reach a side door, a hair-raising tree cliet over a wall, and finally a jolting drop into darkness It took Cadmus back to his school days and those occasions when he and the other boys found it expedient to break away from the restrictions of academics for a bit of illicit fun and frolic

"The circus, where else? I didn&039;t spend allthe oochie-coochie I had a crush on a trapeze artist, then there was the tuht herself "Neverlooks so different in the dark"

Re that she was a relative newcomer to town, Cadmus pointed down a twisty, turny street "This one It&039;s a bit of a walk, though"

"Then let&039;s get going Any sign of the black fog for you?"

Cadht It looked and felt perfectly nor "Not a wisp, and I should see it Botello did an excellent job rey; I&039;ve no sense for the stuff now What a bother I shall have words with hi words"

As it was very dark, she held onto his arm That felt nice Pity she wasn&039;t Filiht, so he wouldn&039;t be collapsed at her feet, a brave, injured warrior in need of tender succor, but bursting in on her with a spine-tingling tale of possession, unjust arrest, and narrow escapes froood He was certain Velma would put in a word or two on his behalf She didn&039;t out and out agree with him that his idea of a seance was utterly brilliant, but obviously thought it iot hieon and the two of the Pity he had to leave his horse behind He would have looked soVelma in his protective arms

Not that she&039;d have cooperated, but a heroic scene all the sa," she hissed

He&039;d not been paying ed hi his breath, he just barely made out the sound of soainst hi absolutely still

The stranger wore boots, made no effort to be quiet, and seemed to be in a furious hurry Cadnized

He stepped into his path "Captain Debreban? What are you doing out?"

Debreban reacted as though he&039;d been hit with a hot lance in a tender spot He jumped a full yard to the side, had his sword ready in hand, and gasped out a cry of shock all in one go Agile fellow

"L-lord Cadency? Why are you here?"

"Can&039;t tell you, my lord, important errand, can&039;t delay, have to - "

"Errand? For who with that sword?" Cadmus suddenly noticed it was the black-bladed wizard-killer he&039;d left propped by a chair in his rooed froain, just not as far "Who is this uards, Debreban Actually, I want to have a ith you" Cad What a strange look on his face, alh he&039;d seen a - "I say, Captain, has so happened?"

"Ah, no, &039;s happened or you&039;d not be out past the curfew Is there a probleive "

"Not until you explain yourself," said Cadmus

Debreban peered hard at him "And if I don&039;t, e from a heretofore unshakably loyal man took Cadmus aback "Well, I shall be very displeased with you, Captain Very displeased Now put your sword away and behave like a proper gentle sorinned

"Just &039;Velma,&039; Cadmus, you know I&039;m not - "

"Velma?" said Debreban "The overduke&039;s uh - that is - "

"Girlfriend," said Velma patiently "Is there a problem?"

"No! I&039;ve been sent to find you, to deliver a e fromersomeone" He finished up rather lamely

"Who?"

"I can&039;t say I was told to speak to you and you alone" He stole a wall-eyed glance at Cad the hint "I&039;ll stand over here and not listen, will that suit?"

"Yes, , Cadmus stepped off a pace or two, put his hands over his ears, and huravating situation Shut out by his own guard captain It sue or worse Orwhat if Debreban had a uard captain today, hadto that tavern keeper What if she found out? Learned about his scrying? If it involved Cadle word How bloody frustrating Still, he was a gentleman, and ladies were entitled to their secrets Besides, he could always catch up on things using his ain Not likely after tonight Hell,her flowers like a normal suitor and damn the expense

Velma tapped his arm to indicate the conference was over He let his hands drop and tried not to look too curious

"You&039;ll never guess," she said "He had a ht, I never would have guessed that How?"

Debreban again displayed reluctance "Lady"

"It&039;s all right, Captain," she assured hier possessed by Botello Dar now Anton doesn&039;t know that Cad a low opinion of the"Very well"

Debreban launched into a lightning-quick report of the recent goings on in Cads they already knew: that Botello had traded places with Anton and was up to no good Cadmus&039;s questions bunched up so fast behind his teeth that he had trouble speaking in a coherent ed to blurt

"Of course not," said Velma "He&039;s in Hell, trapped in Botello&039;s astral body That&039;s very not all right"

"I "

"He didn&039;t specificallyclosely watched bysoreat hurry to leave"

"No doubt If it was truly Lord Anton and not some Otherside deception Are you certain?"

Debreban had to ade of certainty about many recent events

"I&039;m positive it was Anton," said Velave thisabout that"

"Backrub?"

"Yes I happen to be very good at the to your place"

"Not Darmo House?"

"Yours So we can talk to Anton in yourive up his quest to see her

"And a wizard," added Debreban

That was unexpected "A wizard?"

"Ah, yes,that - ah - errand you puta bit, but I was told he&039;s quite clever"

"Wizard?" Cad to remember the specifics of the day&039;s errandsDebreban was supposed to follow the Dar for wizards Wizard One with a cat&039;s face on So he&039;d taken shelter with Filima Botello would be furious, but sod him

"Yes, my lord The wizard&039;s friend is a friend of Captain Shankey of Dar hiiven to understand he needed to be in a protected area as hisdrained off"

By Botello who&039;d wanted to finish dining off the wizard Greedy bugger "Oh - ah - interesting Then we should go meet the fellow and see if he can lend us a hand with thisor on watch," said Velma

"He&039;s newly come to Rumpock, lady," Debreban explained "Looked a bit washed out, though"

"But Filiy left for us, I&039;ed "And a mirror It&039;ll be safer, too Once Botello notices we&039;re gone Burkus House will be the first place he looks"

"And Darmo House the second," Velet !" a woman cried fro to sleep, y&039;know!"

A chorus of annoyed agree the street

"Move along, ye bloody toffs!"

"So!"

"Have so yer flippin&039; pie hole!"

"You plug yers!"

Sing eentleman never makes a nuisance of himself, especially in public, Cadmus seized both Velma and Debreban by their areon

Captain Rockbush had a singularly unpleasant awakening Not only did he have the ony in his crotch and head, but the overduke hi at him for some reason He had served in the palace man and boy for thirty years, and never in that time had the overduke raised his voice to anyone,His lordship was positively screeching

What happened, you dolt? Who helped hiet away? Did he bribe you? Was that it? Where is he, you witless, brainless bastard! Where IS he?

One question after another ham than the last Rockbush would have atte with nasty physical distractions What had happened? The last thing clear in hishi and stopped things Feet her to coroaned

How had he ended down on the floor like this and in this condition? Obviously the overduke had no clue to offer, not with the fit he was throwing

Eventually he finished screa profanity and went away

Rockbush remained very still and hoped his pain would likewise depart

Darift for depression When he was in thedespair and lee; it was one of his great pleasures in life He could bring down helium and not break a sweat

"So," I said, "essentially the outcome is we die, you die, everybody dies? Consuy, terror, and destruction on aa strayinto space, exuding contentment

This bummer news, I hardly need mention, totally eclipsed the historic and delicious debut of Pizza a la Myhr in Rumpock Filima and Shankey ate a little, made some half-hearted yummy noises to be polite, and mostly stared in horror at Terrin, who scarfed nearly half the pie down as he talked of planetwide annihilation at the hands - or rather teeth - of starving hordes of deh onto this plane at any moment I wanted to think he colored his narrative that dark on purpose just to have ainst it

"Botello can do that?" I had a hard tiuy could wipe out a world that hadn&039;t yet developed atoht astral door so the Hell-plane guys - de"

"Why would they want to?"

"Just because"

"But why?"

"It&039;s what they do If they were nice they wouldn&039;t be in Hell!"