Rick Cook - The Wizardry Quested

It was getting colder. Except for occasional spots like the hot springs or the lava tunnels, the caves had never been really warm but now they were getting more and more frigid. Wiz could see his breath in puffs before his face and he hugged his cloak tighter about him to try to keep out the frigid chill. He tried not to think how hungry he was. Since their discovery that they were cut off, the group had been on "halt rations" that had grown steadily skimpier. Glandurg was not eating at all and Wiz suspected that half of Danny’s ration was going to June.

They were even short on monsters. It had been nearly two days since the last attack. Wiz wondered if that meant they were headed in the wrong direction, but the new Moira seeker was pointing resolutely the same way.

Wiz went around the corner and came face to face with a cloaked, hooded figure. He drew back and Malkin’s rapier sprang free before they realized they were seeing a reflection. Motioning Malkin to stay on guard, Wiz advanced, staff ready, toward the mirror. As he drew closer he saw it was no mirror. Instead there was a rough reflective coating on the rocky wall of the tunnel. Wiz touched the glistening surface. "Ice," he called back to the others. "Ice under a volcano."

"Perhaps our enemy likes it cold," Danny suggested as the group came close. Malkin arched an eyebrow. "Makes it easier to keep the zombies fresh, no doubt." Wiz drew his hand under his cloak to warm it. "Or maybe it just makes things more uncomfortable for us." He looked around "Well, let’s get going. They say exercise helps keep you warm."

There was more ice as they went along. Here it glistened as a thin film on the rocky walls, there it made a treacherous coating over the floor of the tunnel. Occasionally there would be a solid vein of ice, filling a crack in the stone like some strange glistening mineral. Now the air was so cold the adventurers could see their breath before them.

Glandurg seemed unfazed, but the others kept then-cloaks wrapped tight around them. Still the cold seemed to steal through to sap their very strength and leave them weak and shivering.

Nor did the tunnel cooperate. It seemed as though every few steps they had to crawl over a pile of frozen debris or climb a slope so steep they must go on all fours or squeeze between unrelenting walls of rock. Places with level footing were few and far between. Even without the ice and cold it would have been difficult. With them it was exhausting. They saw and heard nothing for the rest of the day, save the occasional drip, drip, drip of not-quite-frozen water. Still, their senses were alert and straining and that added to their fatigue. Malkin was on watch, staring out into the dark, thiefs senses alert. She neither turned nor moved as Danny came up behind her, but he knew she sensed he was there.

"Anything?"

She didn’t turn, only shook her head slightly.

With a slight scrape he slid in beside her.

"How do you stay warm like that?"

Malkin flicked a bit of a smile. "I don’t."

"I can’t sleep," Danny said softly.

Malkin nodded, but said nothing.

"Malkin," he said at last, "do you think we’re going to be able .to rescue Moira?"

"That’s what we’re here for. That and to settle some scores with this thing." Danny gathered his courage. "Yeah, but do you think we’re going to be able to do it?"

"Are you so sure she wants to be rescued?" Malkin asked slowly.

"Of course Moira wants to be rescued."

"Moira herself might, but this thing has only Moira’s body. The will is the Enemy’s. I am not sure it will turn her loose that easily. The Enemy went through a great deal of trouble to get her. He obviously had some purpose."

"Yeah. Bait."

Malkin nodded, eyes never leaving the corridor. "Perhaps that too. But I think Moira, or Moira’s body, plays a greater role in the Enemy’s plans than mere bait."

"What are you getting at?"

"That we may not be able to rescue her. But I do not think we can afford to leave her here."

"Jesus," Danny breathed. "That’s awful! Have you talked to Wiz about this?"

"He has problems enough and this is one he isn’t going to think clearly upon." She turned to face him. "But we must think upon it, and decide what we’re to do, should it come to that."

She turned her head to face down the dark passage and neither said anything for several minutes.

"That’s a hell of a choice," Danny said at last.

"Hard choices must still be made."

"And you think we:"

"I doubt Wiz will be ready to make such a decision when we find her. Do not try to decide now. But think about it. And think about how to do what we must do if it comes to that"

"It wont come to that," the young programmer said firmly. "Wiz will find another way, or I will, or someone."

Malkin’s expression did not change. "I hope you are right."

It could not be said to be anyplace, really, for it had no sense of self as we know it. There was a nexus, but its senses were spread over more than a continent. There was no feeling for where it left off and others began, because in a very real sense there was no "other" -there was only that which had not yet been absorbed and turned to its purposes.

It had discovered the strategy long ago, in the brutal battles that had led to its supremacy. Better to absorb and adapt than to destroy, to incorporate and use rather than smash. It was a superior strategy and even if it had the gift of introspection it would not have troubled about the consequences. This frozen corpse contained magical knowledge it could incorporate. With that came a burning hatred seared soul-deep, a hatred that set it on its present course, but that was of no moment. Later the gleanings of a soulless husk far away reinforced that animosity as well as adding knowledge. That too was of no moment. They were simply things to be absorbed and put to use. That was enough. Wiz awoke still groggy, with an ache in his head and someone’s foot in his face. From the way the rest of the pile shifted and grumbled he got the feeling they weren’t in any better shape.

"Hmf," Danny grumped as he disentangled himself from the pile. "Another day, another monster."

"Not many of those," Malkin said.

Danny quirked a smile. "Hell, I even miss the lobster."

"I’m not so sure I’d go that far," Wiz said.

"I would," Malkin put in. "We could eat for a week off that bug."

Wiz really wasn’t quite ready to go that far, but he could understand the sentiment.

Carefully he measured the grain and a little of the vegetables into the cooking pot and added ice. Then he gestured and a flame sprang up among the rocks. He set the pot with the ice on it to melt. He crouched over it, hands extended to soak up the warmth.

"That will tell the Enemy where we are," Malkin said, eyeing the magic flame and not quite protesting.

The Enemy probably knows where we are already, " Wiz growled " We’ll be in a lot better shape to face him if we’re warm, rested and fed"

After breakfast the group continued on. Wiz was right. If conditions were no better this day, at least they felt better for the hot meal.

Wiz had Danny take the lead with Glandurg behind him. Actually that meant Danny and June were in the lead and Glandurg following them. Malkin brought up the rear and Wiz stayed in the center of the formation for a change.

Just before the break for the noon meal Wiz pulled Malkin aside. "I want to talk to you."