Allan Cole: Wolves of the Gods

Near the end, during a moment of great despair, he had written:

Wherein my heart abides

This dark-horsed destiny I ride?

Hooves of steel, breath of fire-

Soul's revenge, or heart's desire?

Not first for the first time, Safar wondered what particular incident had caused Asper to write such a thing. After long study it was plain that Asper faced much opposition at the end of his life. He was speaking heresy after all. Uncaring gods asleep in their heavenly bower. A world doomed. And the greatest heresy of all-that humans and demons were not so different. He even speculated that the two species, who were historic enemies, were originally twins-the opposite sides of a single connubial coin.

Safar was both a wizard and a potter. The wizardly side of him tended to question everything. The potter's side demanded practical proof as well. He still had many questions about Asper's theories. But as far as practical proof went, he only had to look at Palimak, a child of the two species. What greater proof could one need to show that demons and humans had once supped the milk of a common mother?

Like Safar, Lord Asper had been forced to flee his enemies. Unlike Safar he had no home to return to and had wandered the world for nearly twenty years. Before he died-Safar guessed he lived nearly three hundred years, ancient even for a demon-Asper had visited all four continents and had made notes and drawings of his experiences and conclusions. In Aroborus, for instance, he spoke of trees that ate meat and could uproot themselves to chase down and trap their prey. On Raptor, Asper said, there was a strange birdlike creature that was nearly twelve feet high. It couldn't fly and hunted in packs, cornering its victims to hammer them down with huge, ax-shaped beaks. On Hadin Asper told of a once great civilization containing both humans and demons that had destroyed itself in a religious war so fierce only barbarians remained among the ruins.

It was at this point that the riddle of Asper truly began. The old wizard had suddenly, and without explanation, left Hadin. There was a great gap in months, possibly even in years, between the time of his flight-Safar guessed he was escaping something-and his arrival at a small island in the Caspan Sea about two hundred miles off the coast of Esmir. The island, Safar learned from his research, was the mythical birthplace of Alisarrian The Conqueror, who had welded demons and humans together under one rule many centuries before.

Safar eyed the brandy jug, sighed, then turned back to the book. Once again he looked at the small map of the world. And once again he traced the lines showing Asper's travels. His flight from Esmir to Hadin and back. Beneath the map was a tiny sketch of the island where Asper ended his days.

The island's name, scrawled in red ink, was Syrapis.

Musing, Safar said the name aloud-"Syrapis." Then, "I wonder what Asper sought there?"

Suddenly his fingers itched with a powerful desire to touch the drawing of the island-a need as strong as a thirsty man's obsession for water. His fingertips touched the paper and a surge of energy flowed up his arm.

There was a boom! of distant thunder and a sharp crack! of lightning quite near.

Suddenly all was blackness and his hair rose up on prickling roots.

Safar felt a great force seize him, lift him up, then hurl him away.

He flew through darkness-so far he lost all sense of motion and direction. Then he was falling, plunging, an eerie voice whispering in his ear, "Down and down and down. Down, and down and down…"

And then he just … stopped!

There was nothing between the two feelings of falling and stopping. One moment his insides were rising up and the next moment he felt hard ground under his feet and the comforting sensation of weight. Still, all remained blackness and he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that it was someplace hot and dank. Perspiration flooded from his pores, soaking his clothes. Under his feet, still shod in slippers, he could feel heat rising from the rocky floor. And then far off he thought he heard the sound of dripping water and he wondered if he might be underground.

He stayed quite still, trying to get his bearings. As he was about to probe the darkness with his wizard's senses he suddenly heard rustling all around him-like dry insect wings. He also heard whispering, or at least what he thought was whispering-he couldn't make out the words.

Then he heard, quite clearly: "Sisters! Sisters!"

The voice was like sand polishing glass. Keeping his head motionless, Safar forced his eyes toward the source of the sound. He saw two large red holes burning through the darkness-floating a good ten feet above the ground.

It spoke again-"Sisters! Awake, sisters!"

The voice came from just below the red holes. Safar's heart quickened as he realized they were huge eyes and the voice was likely coming from an equally enormous mouth.

Then someone, or something , answered, "I hear, sister!"

The words had the same sand against glass sound to them. But harsher. And he realized the voice was coming from directly above him! It was all Safar could do not to look up.

Others answered: "I hear! I hear! I hear!"

The voices came from every direction and the darkness bloomed with a ghastly garden of many glowing red eyes.

Then the first voice said, "I smell a human!"

A harsh chorus answered, "Where? Where, sister, where?"

"Here with us!" was the reply.

Horrid shrieks filled the air: "Kill him, kill the human, kill him!"

Talons and scaly bodies scraped against stone, heavy wings flapped from above and there was a great gnashing of teeth. Burning eyes rushed about like huge fireflies fleeing an oncoming storm. Safar needed no magical help to keep absolutely still in that chaos of hatred. His blood turned to ice, his heart to stone and his breath fled from him like an escaping ghost.

Then he realized they couldn't see him. The realization was small comfort, especially when next he heard a shout:

"Silence, sisters!"

It was the first voice, the commanding voice. And it got the silence it demanded.

A pause, then, "Where are you human? Show yourself!"

Safar had the sudden hysterical desire to laugh. It hit him so quickly it was all he could do to bite it off.

Show himself? Did she think he was insane?

She also must have thought he was deaf as well, because she said, "You have nothing to fear from us, human! We like humans, don't we sisters?"

"Yes, yes, yes," came the chorused reply. "We like humans. We like them all!"

"We would never hurt a human, would we sisters?"

"Never hurt, never, never!"

Silenced followed, as if the creatures were waiting for Safar's answer.

When it didn't come, the commanding voice said, "You are insulting us, human! You should speak and show us your trust. Speak now, or we will forget our love of all things human. You will suffer greatly for angering us."

Another long pause, then Safar heard: "Sisters! I think I smell him over here!"

The voice came from quite near. Safar heard heavy talons rattle on stone and a snuffling sound, like a large beast following a strong scent. He knew he had to do something quickly before he was found.

The idea jumped up at him and he knew he couldn't wait and think it through, because with thought would come fear and fear's hesitation would be the end of him. He made a spell and clapped his hands together and roared:

"Light!"

And light blasted in from all sides, nearly knocking him over with the sudden shock of it. He had been blinded by darkness before, now he was blinded by its white-hot opposite. There were awful screams of pain all around and then his vision cleared and the first thing he saw ripped his breath from his body.