The Sorcerer's Abyss (The Sorcerer's Path) (6 page)

"Magus Allister, I am Robert Harvey, and this is Oliver Parkes and Janice Lewis of The Academy," Magus Harvey said before Simon could make any introductions.

Allister leaned down and whispered something in Simon's ear and the little man darted upstairs. He then gave each of the Academy Wizards a nod. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Magus Harvey smiled, aware the old archmage knew exactly why he was here. "We are investigating an attack within the city by a young girl by the name of Ellyssa Jensen."

"It was hardly an attack. A man accosted her and she panicked in defense of herself."

"Ah, so you are aware of what happened. Good, I was concerned this
school
and its students were completely without oversight. So do you simply choose to ignore the criminal behavior of all your students, or just this one?"

Allister was taken aback by the man's unexpected hostility. "Criminal behavior? What are you going on about? This incident has been investigated and all damage recompensed."

"By whom, the Duchess and your cadre? Hardly an objective body to conduct a proper investigation. It is why such matters fall fully under the jurisprudence of The Academy. We shall decide guilt and punishment. Where is the girl?"

"She is not here. I imagine she is off studying somewhere," Allister answered tersely. “If that is all, I bid you good day.”

Magus Harvey knew the old archmage was giving him the brush-off. "Please send someone to fetch her. We will be taking her back to The Academy for questioning."

"Like hell you will," Allister bristled. "I assume you have a writ of apprehension?"

The magus tried to push his bluff. "I can get one if you insist upon being uncooperative."

"I doubt that. If the council felt it necessary for you to arrest the child, they would have sent one with you. Now what is it you are really doing here, Harvey?"

“I, along with many at The Academy, see your
school
as a threat. You not only operate outside the purview of The Academy, you teach magic to commoners. We have no idea what your agenda is or what it is you are teaching this riffraff!”

“Simon,” Allister called upstairs.

Simon appeared instantly, descended the stairs, and handed the Academy wizard a book.

“You will find our training curriculum in there, and you will see the tenets nearly mirror those of The Academy. As to whom we are teaching, there has never been a mandate restricting Academy attendance. The current state of elitism is an artificial construct created by pretentious snobs like you. Now, if there is nothing else, you may show yourselves out."

Magus Harvey sneered at the book in his hand. “It really does not matter what is in this book. The fact remains this school is no more legitimate than the Black Tower, and I will see it shut down. Continue to train and harbor criminals like the girl, and we shall shut you down, by force if necessary.”

Magus Allister’s face clouded in fury. “This school hosts two of the most premier archmages in the kingdom, five full wizards, and nearly five hundred journeymen and apprentice level mages. Threaten this school and you will find your threat very difficult to carry out!”

“Put away your bluster, Allister. We both know your bluff for what it is. The former master of this school may have been willing to throw away his and the lives of these children, but not you.”

“Get out of my school! It is no longer a request,” Allister snarled through clamped teeth.

Magus Harvey sneered contemptuously before he and his two companions departed the tower. Allister tried to calm his nerves by taking several deep breaths. Magus Harvey had been right. Azerick would not hesitate to fight The Academy if they threatened him. Had he been here, Azerick would likely already be halfway to Southport to challenge the entire council. But he would not. He would not jeopardize the lives of the people at the school in open conflict with The Academy. Allister was certain given the King and Duchess Melina’s backing, The Academy would not press too hard unless something catastrophic occurred.

Ellyssa listened to the terse conversation from the safety of the laboratory stairwell. Her stomach churned as The Academy mage threatened to take her in and close down the school. She hastened back down the stairs the moment the other wizards left and paced about the laboratory.

“If Azerick were here, they would not dare make such threats! But he’s not here. Because of me. Because of Captain Jake. I swear I will kill Captain Jake and every slaver in the city. They took me, they took Azerick, and they need to die. I need to be stronger though. I can’t let them or The Academy take me.” Ellyssa spun around. “Who’s there?”

She looked around the room, but it was barren except for her and the big tome resting upon its podium. Ellyssa studied the book more closely. Was it glowing, or was it just a trick of the light? She stepped toward the book Azerick had liberated from the psyling city and fought a dragon to reclaim.

“Is it you? How is this possible? You can help me? How?” Ellyssa took a deep breath. “Show me.”

The book practically jumped on the podium as its cover flipped open and the pages fluttered as it fanned open. Line after line of text swam about on the pages as if alive and rearranged themselves to give her what she needed. Ellyssa looked down upon the spells laid out for her to see, the light of the glowing text illuminating her face, and she smiled.

CHAPTER 2

Azerick was engrossed in yet another obscure tome, plucked from the black stone shelves of what passed for a library within the shadowy, foreboding halls of Klaraxis’ massive citadel. It was impossible to tell how long he had dwelled within the onyx halls. Only the number of books he poured over in his quest to discover a way out of this abyssal prison gave him any indication of the passage of time.

Azerick soon discovered he no longer needed sleep or food—at least not in the way a human viewed such things. Demons fed on the energy contained within a shade, which was essentially the soul of the damned. Not all shades were damned, however. Lesser shades were little more than a shadow of the soul belonging to anyone who died. Those souls who were not damned to the abyss went to the kingdom of the god who chose them, but a portion, a shadow copy of the soul, went to the abyss as food for the demons who dwelled there. Sharrellan was the goddess of death, and death always got her due. It was only the truly wicked people whose true souls went to the abyss to writhe in torment until the demons devoured them. Such an end to misery could take centuries.

I do not understand why you continue to toil away down here
, Klaraxis complained. This same argument invaded Azerick’s mind for probably the hundredth time.

“Because I refuse to accept there is no way out.” Azerick responded as he always did, when he bothered to reply to the largely rhetorical statement at all.

I have been the master of this dismal realm for almost two thousand years. If there were a way out, I would have found it long ago.

“The wizard, Shakrill, she brought you out of the abyss, so there must be a way.”

Shakrill transferred the bulk of my soul into a human vessel. I was little more than the shades you see here, only I had the strength to possess another. That was the plan anyway. Besides, I truly doubt anyone you know would be willing to make the blood sacrifices required simply to contact you much less attempt to transfer your essence into another body.

“Regardless, I have never given up on anything before, and I am not about to start now. It is not as though I have anything better to do with my time.”

On the contrary, you have very pressing matters to which you must attend. You have an entire realm requiring your guidance and judgment. The denizens of this place require constant attention to keep them from battling one another. You are the balance upon which the scales rest. Ruling this place requires a swift, iron fist to crush any concerted uprising.

“I prefer to rule by detached ambivalence. Let these disgusting creatures destroy one another. What is it to me if they kill each other?”

Fool, your lack of interest is perceived as a lack of ability to rule. Anything appearing as weakness is a call to replace you by anyone capable of doing so. Even now, we could easily crush any of these lesser creatures, but there are other lords in the other circles who ache to claim my position nearest the dark goddess’ side.

“Again, why should I care? I want nothing to do with Sharrellan, this place, or the foul creatures within it. Let them and everything around them rot.”

For a creature who has shown such remarkable cleverness, you are amazingly stupid and shortsighted at times. You think you and your humanity are so much better than we are, but who are the real monsters? Who is truly depraved? Yes, any demon worthy of being called such will lie and tear you apart the instant it becomes beneficial to do so. But anyone who is not a fool knows that when they make any pact with our ilk. It is you humans who are true creatures of chaos. You smile to each other’s faces and destroy everything around you, sometimes simply on a whim. You can never be certain whom your friends and allies are or who will plunge a dagger into your heart. We demons are vile, cruel, and malicious, but it is humans who are truly disgusting.

The little demog, Skulk, fluttered into the chamber, noisily flapping his under-sized wings. “Supreme Master, several unworthy succubi and balrogs request your attention. I told them you were busy, but they were insistent and threatened to tear off Skulk’s wings.”

Azerick sighed heavily. It was obvious neither Klaraxis nor the demons were going to let him get any peace until he made some kind of showing. He stood and followed Skulk down the black, depressing passageways that seemed to twist and turn randomly with no order or thought to their layout.

Azerick eventually stepped into the cavernous throne room belonging to Klaraxis. He seated himself upon the spacious, granite and skull throne set atop a large dais of similar construction and looked down upon the demons waiting restlessly below. The obviously opposing factions divided the room into two sides. On his left were nearly a dozen succubi, each glaring their hatred toward the toad-like balrogs to his right. Azerick was familiar with the succubi. He fought some of them when he first came to this place and they were commonly seen flying about the skies.

The balrogs tended to keep largely to themselves, living in colonies near the fringes of the realm. They looked like a cross between a toad and a gorilla. The creatures were covered in a pebbly hide the color of the dusky red landscape. Unlike toads, their front arms were a near match for their powerful hind legs in both size and strength. Their enormous mouth, which comprised a large portion of their entire head, opened to reveal rows upon rows of dagger-like teeth.