The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (70 page)

The six monstrosities move toward the circle
of six surrounding the red glowing object. Each takes its place
within one of the patterns surrounded by symbols. Once they are in
place they come to a stop, turn to face the glowing object in the
center, then become motionless.

At that point, the cowled figures suddenly
start to move. Tinok watches as they turn and begin to cross the
cavern toward the cell wherein he’s held. Realizing they mean to
come for them, he’s at last able to let go the bars and moves to
the very rear of the cell. All the prisoners who are still
conscious do the same.

The cell door swings open even before the
first cowled figure reaches it. When they enter, each one takes
hold of a prisoner. Starting with the unconscious ones at first,
they begin removing men from the cell. When Tinok sees Esix being
taken by one, he is unable to do anything other than watch.

Having taken all the unconscious men lying
on the floor, the remaining four cowled figures move on the men
cringing at the rear of the cell. Pandemonium erupts as each man
tries not to be the one taken. One man is shoved toward the
approaching cowled figures by another. When one of the cowled
figures reaches out and touches him, the man goes limp. Picking him
up, the cowled figure carries him from the cell.

Fists fly as the others try to move someone
else in position to be taken by the approaching figures. Tinok, to
his shame, is no better. Using the skill honed in the Pits, he
works to get others to go instead of him.

When the last cowled figure leaves with a
man, Tinok remains within the cell along with three other men. The
cell door shuts and the cowled figures carry the men toward the
circle of six, places two on the ground before each of the
monstrosities. Tinok moves again to the bars of the cell and looks
out. He sees Esix where he lies at the feet of one of the
monstrosities. A single tear rolls down his cheek.

Then pairs of the cowled figures move to
stand behind the monstrosities. Once the last cowled figure is in
place and has grown still, the dark one raises his arms and the
glowing object seems to pulse twice. Words, painful, fearful words,
begin to issue forth from the dark one. Then, Tinok looks on in
horror as the monstrosities once more begin to move.

“Are we here?” asks Jiron.

No sooner had James completely stepped upon
the dais then they were suddenly elsewhere. The light from the orb
in his hand dispels the darkness of the room they suddenly find
themselves in. The room itself is rather small, barely two feet
wider than the dais. The only exit from the room is a single
corridor that extends into darkness past where the light from the
orb ends.

“Yes, we are,” replies Brother Willim.
“There’s a feeling of wrongness here the likes of which I have
never before felt.”

The prickling associated with the working of
magic is very strong upon James’ skin. “They’re doing the rite here
too,” he says in a hushed voice. Stepping down from the dais he
moves to the mouth of the corridor.

“We’ve been here before,” Jiron says to
him.

“I know,” replies James. They both look
around for those little creatures that proved such a nuisance the
last time they were here. Both are relieved that they are
absent.

“See if you can locate Tinok,” urges Jiron.
When he sees him hesitate he says, “They’ll know we’re here soon
enough.”

“Right,” nods James. Pulling forth the
cloth, he casts his spell and they are elated to see it begin to
move and then point to someplace below them and to the right.

“Yes!” exclaims Jiron.

“Can you see if he’s still alive?” he
asks.

Putting the cloth back in his pouch, he
removes his mirror. Concentrating on Tinok, he tries to bring him
into focus. They all gather around and watch the surface of the
mirror as it begins to shift. Then it clarifies and Tinok’s image
appears. He’s gripping what looks like iron bars as he stares out
at something beyond the image in the mirror. His face is bathed in
a red glow.

“Try to see what he’s looking at,” Brother
Willim tells him.

He works to move the image away from the
bars and just when something begins to appear, the mirror shatters
in his hand. A drop of blood wells from his thumb where one of the
glass shards impaled it.

“What happened?” asks Miko.

Eeeeeek!

They turn to see one of the little creatures
James and Jiron had met before hovering not more than two feet
away. Its shriek sends a chill down James’ spine. Jiron pulls his
knives as Brother Willim exclaims, “A Hikuli!”

“You know these things?” Jiron asks him.

“Oh yes,” he replies. “We’ve known about
them for some time, only we didn’t know where they were.”

Eeeeeek!

Screaming again, the creature
disappears.

“Come on,” James urges the others. “We
haven’t much time.” The prickling sensation suddenly intensifies,
whether due to the creature that just vanished or for some other
reason, he can’t tell. He sends forth the magic and creates a
translucent floating sphere. He’s used similar ones before when
trying to locate someone. As it moves down the hallway, he says,
“Let’s go.”

Jiron takes the lead with James right
behind. Miko and Brother Willim follow closely.

“Do you feel it?” Brother Willim asks
Miko.

“I feel something,” he replies. “Never felt
it before.”

“This temple resonates with evil,” he
explains. “What you feel is the signature of evil. Remember
it.”

Miko glances to him and says, “I doubt if
I’ll ever be able to forget it.”

Following the sphere, they hurry down the
corridor. The coldness of where they are increases the further they
go until their breath begins misting in the orb’s light. And still
the temperature drops. As they approach the end of the corridor,
they see it open up onto a very large room. Jiron pauses a moment
before entering.

“Why did you stop?” James asks as he comes
to stand besides him. Then he looks to where Jiron is pointing.

Across the room from where they stand, lies
a seat made entirely out of bones, some human, others not. On
either side of the dark throne are two braziers burning with a
purplish glow which seems to suck the warmth from them even from
halfway across the room.

“It’s the seat of Ozgirath,” Brother Willim
states, “the High Priest of Dmon-Li. We are in the Hall of
Despair.”

“Where is he?” Jiron asks.

“I would think he would be wherever Tinok
is,” he replies.

Eeeeeek!

All of a sudden the air is filled with
Hikuli. They screech as they swoop down and begin raking them with
their razor sharp claws. Each strike brings pain like acid.

Miko draws his sword and begins attempting
to strike them out of the air, but they move so fast, that even
with his speed he misses as often as not.

“The Star!” yells James as he pulls forth
his medallion. “Use the Star!”

As Miko pulls forth the Star, its light
shines brilliantly. For the first time in time unknown, light
dispels the dark in the Hall of Despair.

The creatures pull back some distance and
hover. Chittering among themselves, they shriek and hiss at the
companions they are no longer able to come near.

James sees Brother Willim kneeling on the
floor and is arranging a circle of leaves. “What are you doing?” he
asks.

“Making a
Vyrilyzk,”
he replies. Once
the leaves are in their proper position, he begins talking softly
and quietly.

“What’s he doing?” asks Jiron. “We have to
get to Tinok.”

James turns back to Brother Willim to tell
him that they have to move on when he sees a small creature that
looks remarkably like a garden gnome standing within the
Vyrilyzk
. “An earth spirit?” he asks in surprise. Brother
Willim ignores the question. Instead he keeps his attention focused
on the earth spirit and points to the Hikuli hovering in the
air.

The earth spirit looks up and sees them
there. The expression on the earth spirit’s face changes to what
can only be called hate. Disappearing for only a second, it
reappears a moment later. Launching itself upward, it grabs hold of
a Hikuli and the two creatures start clawing each other as the
earth spirit drags the Hikuli to the ground. Then from out of the
Vyrilyzk
more earth spirits begin boiling into the room,
each one launching itself at a Hikuli. The Hikuli in turn screech
as they attack the earth spirits.

Brother Willim stands up and turns to the
others. “Their enmity for the Hikuli is older than time,” he
explains. Soon the air is empty of Hikuli as scores of
battle-locked creatures writhe upon the floor. Still more of the
earth spirits boil forth from the
Vyrilyzk
to join the
fray.

“Let’s go,” he says to James and Jiron.
“They’ll take care of them for us.”

Jiron gives him a grin and a nod. Then turns
to follow James’ sphere where it is again moving across the Hall of
Despair toward the opening of another corridor.

Ozgirath stands before the crystal that’s
aglow with power being channeled to it from temples both within the
Empire and without. Every temple is sacrificing slaves and sending
the power here to Ith-Zirul, for what he’s about to do requires an
incredible amount of magic.

The time for his lord to come has arrived.
Ages have been spent in preparation of this moment. Plans that
began centuries past have at last come to fruition. All is in
ready. The six Gygnai from the home plane of Dmon-Li stand within
the circles of power, two slaves who will give their lives to
complete the ritual lie before each of them.

As he summons the enormous reservoir of
power within himself, Ozgirath sends it forth. One by one he
envelopes the Gygnai with the power and activates the magical
symbols engraved in the floor about them. The symbols flare with a
dark radiance as they begin absorbing power contained within the
glowing crystal. When all six of Gygnai are fully intertwined in
his magic, they bend down and grab the men lying before them, one
in each hand. Then, they come erect again and await his
command.

In the back of his mind he senses the
presence of an age old enemy, but so engrossed in the ritual is he
that it is soon pushed to the back of his mind and is lost. Once
more bending the power to his will, he signals the Gygnai that it
is time.

As the Gygnai begin absorbing the life of
the slaves each holds, the symbols surrounding them begin to
writhe. Then the symbols flare with a purplish radiance and the
bodies of the Gygnai start to shift and waver as they in turn are
absorbed by the symbols surrounding them.

The union of the life forces from this world
and that of the plane which Dmon-Li calls home will now enable
Ozgirath to create a gateway that will allow his lord to cross over
and claim this world for his own. Enormous power is being sent to
the crystal, which in turn is taken by Ozgirath. Bending the magic
to his will, the High Lord of Dmon-Li invokes the final spell to
create the gate.

Where the six Gygnai had stood are now six
areas of shifting and pulsating darkness. With the power coming
from the crystal, Ozgirath causes the areas of darkness to move
toward the crystal. One by one, the darkness envelopes the crystal
until it can no longer be seen. Then, the crystal ceases to be as
the darkness completely consumes it.

At the point when the crystal ceases to be,
the darkness latches onto the tendrils of power being sent from the
temples and begins absorbing the magic directly. Coalescing into a
large sphere, it slowly grows under the guidance of Ozgirath until
it swells to fill the entire area within the circle of six where
the Gygnai had stood in a domelike formation.

A dark redness appears deep within the
blackness. As the dome absorbs the magic coming from the temples,
the redness grows. Rapture fills Ozgirath as the way for his lord
begins to come into being. His yellow eyes watch the redness as it
consumes the blackness as more and more of it makes way for the
gate.

When the redness has all but replaced the
blackness, Ozgirath moves to stand before the gate. From the other
side, he can feel the presence of his lord. Now, to stabilize the
gate and make it permanent so his lord may cross over.

Bring them now.

At his command, four of the warrior priests
who have been standing behind him motionless, turn as one and move
toward the cell holding Tinok and the other three prisoners.

After leaving the Hall of Despair and the
battling creatures, they follow the floating sphere along dark
corridors. Several of the ‘Little Brothers’ accompany them. James
takes note of their presence and asks, “I thought they were
shy?”

“Little Brothers are normally very shy,”
replies Brother Willim. “But I am here and they are hoping I will
lead them to more Hikuli.”

James keeps glancing to them and their
number constantly seems to change. First there were four, then
seven, then two, and so forth. The most he saw at any one time was
fourteen.

They steadily work their way deeper into the
depths of the temple, all the while continuing to keep the sphere
in sight ahead of them. Aside from the Hikuli they initially
encountered, the corridors have been empty. James concludes that
those who call this place home must be below where the magic is
originating from. He maintains his orb in his hand to give them
some light with which to see. Miko had replaced the Star back in
his pouch once the threat of the Hikuli was past. The brilliant
light the Star gave out here in Ith-Zirul was far too conspicuous
and might have given them away.

Having just come down their third flight of
stairs, they come across several cells that had at one time held
people. “Someone was here not too long ago?” announces Jiron after
he makes a quick inspection of one. “Less than a day.”