Rick Cook - The Wizardry Quested

"I do not think there is any place in the World where these things could not find her," Bal Simba told him.

"Okay, then. There’s only one thing to do."

Wizard and dragon looked at the programmer expectantly.

"We," said Jerry, "are going to Comdex."

For a minute no one said anything. For a long minute.

"That does not seem terribly practical," Bal-Simba said at last. "A dragon cannot survive where there is no magic."

"Normally no, but I think I have an answer to that. You know how our method of getting into the other world’s telephone system works."

Bal Simba looked at him. "No."

"Basically we use magical energy to influence semiconductors on an atomic level-well, really it’s subatomic because what we’re doing is analogous to actualizing virtual particles out of the quantum froth. You see:"

Moira cleared her throat significantly. It was especially impressive coming from a dragon.

Jerry took the hint "Ah, right Anyway, we have found we can leak a little magic across if the conditions are right That’s how we signal back to this World for a Great Summoning to bring someone through from our world. We can apply the same principle to draw magical energy from this World to support the dragon’s metabolism."

Bal-Simba only nodded. "I will take your word for it. But tell me, are there any other difficulties?"

"Well, one. The magic flow messes up the signaling scheme for a Grand Summoning. There are only a few points on our world where we will be able to signal you that we’re ready to return. Vortex points, they’re called. There’s a big one out in the desert about a hundred and fifty miles north of Las Vegas. That area’s practically uninhabited so we won’t have any trouble getting back through it" He stopped. "There was another one a few hundred miles away in Sedona, Arizona, but they built a McDonald’s on top of it."

Bal-Simba rubbed his chin. "This spell of yours does not sound stable."

"It will hold for a few days. Once we get on the ground that should be all we need to find Taj. Meanwhile it will take the pressure off the Wizards’ Keep." Bal-Simba turned to the dragon. "My Lady, how do you feel about this?"

"I am not sure," Moira said. "This is the first I have heard of such a thing. It seems:" She fell silent for a minute and then the dragon’s head came erect, chin out in a gesture that was achingly Moira. "It seems to me this is our best chance, is it not?" Jerry and Bal-Simba nodded. Then this is what we should do. " Jerry felt a sudden pang of conscience. " Uh, I ought to point out this is still experimental. Things could go wrong."

The dragon snorted. "My Lord," Moira’s voice said bitterly, "they could not go any more wrong than they have already."

Another day, another maze, Wiz thought, looking around. In the tight of the magic globe he could see no less than six different tunnels leading off from the one they were in, including one in the roof. The whole area was like that, twisty, turning, branching and rebranching. He had been in the lead with the magic Moira locator for most of the morning as the group picked their way along, stopping every few feet while he consulted the device to see which way to go. It seemed as if they had barely made a quarter of a mile the whole day and Wiz was fuming with impatience.

"I mislike this place," Malkin said quietly over Wiz’s shoulder. She had taken the number-two position to let Wiz guide the party.

"Not my favorite piece of geography either, but what’s your point?" The tall thief looked past him, eyes never still as they talked. "There are far too many openings here. Ideal for an ambush."

Wiz hadn’t thought of that. "Danny hasn’t seen anything on the magic detector." Malkin looked at him as if he was stupid. "Okay, pass the word to close up, and no straggling."

There was a sound behind them, a scuffle and then Danny yelled. They both whirled to see June locked in a deadly embrace with a tall figure in rags. Her knife was flashing as she struck home again and again but the thing kept its grip on her.

There was another sound and Wiz and Malkin whirled again to face a new danger from the front. A figure in black armor was closing, almost on top of them, sword raised.

Like a striking snake Malkin’s rapier darted over Wiz’s shoulder and thrust into the attackers face. The armored figure never flinched and brought his own sword down in a vicious overhead blow aimed at Wiz’s skull.

The cut was clumsily made and poorly aimed. The sword slid along Malkin’s rapier and off past her side. Before the attacker could recover Wiz hit it square on with a lightning bolt and it burst into flames.

Even that didn’t stop it. Slowly, deliberately, it brought its sword back and above its fiery body to strike again. Then it tottered and fell backwards as fire reduced its substance to ashes.

Beyond it there were other figures in the corridor. Wiz didn’t hesitate. He sent bolt after bolt of lightning flashing down the tunnel to consume the others even as they shuffled forward.

And then it was quiet again. There was no sound but the labored breathing of the adventurers and June’s knife, striking again and again into the dismembered body of her foe. Danny went to his wife’s side and gentry pulled her off the still quivering body.

"It’s all right," he said, "it’s dead."

"A long time dead," Malkin amended, studying the body. ’This was not a living man. It’s an animated corpse."

"Zombie?"

"Why not?" Wiz said grimly. The Enemy probably had a lot of corpses to work with here."

"I would suggest," Malkin said with equal grimness, "that we get out of this place as quickly as we can. We do not want to be set upon from all sides at once by things like this."

Night had fallen over the Wizards’ Keep, though its inhabitants needed magic or a sand glass to tell them that. Outside, the unremitting gray fog beat against the castle, pushing, squeezing, trying to insinuate its tentacles into the structure.

The great hall was lit by magical glow lamps. At each of the eight cardinal points stood one of the Mighty, staff in hand. Within the inscribed circle stood two men, a woman and a dragon.

"May Fortuna aid you all," Arianne said to Bal-Simba, Jerry and Moira as she finished giving them final instructions.

"We’ll be all right," Jerry said. "I just hope you can do something on this end while we’re gone."

"The other wizards say that given time they will be able to control this thing, at least here."

Silence fell over the group. Unconsciously they turned to watch the sand trickle out of the glass.

"There is still time, My Lady," Bal-Simba said quietly. Moira shook her head. The big wizard breathed a gusty sigh. "Well, then. I believe we are ready."

"Merry part," Arianne said to them.

"Merry meet again, Lady," Bal-Simba replied.

Arianne stepped out of the circle, being careful not to scuff it. As the sand ran from the glass the wizards threw back their robes to expose their arms and raised their staffs. As the final grains fell to the bottom they began to chant. The world wavered, dissolved and suddenly they were in a narrow alley between blind wooden walls. It took a moment for Jerry to realize the walls were really shipping containers stacked six high.

Jerry and Bal-Simba were dizzy and a little disoriented. Moira seemed to be worse affected. The dragon leaned drunkenly against the crates, making little pawing motions with his front claws.