Jean Rabe - Red Magic

"Maybe I actually will have to select a Red Wizard somewhere to attack, or perhaps some stuffy baron who offended me years ago. After all, I shouldn't waste my gnolls' training. Nor should I disappoint the Red Wizards who will be looking for me to do something. Do you have any suggestions? Anyone in Thay you particularly dislike?"

"You-you wretched, evil dog!" Willeth was trying to goad Maligor. The tharchion, who was in agony, considered himself a dead man now, and he hoped the wizard would get angry enough to kill him before gaining any information about the mines. "You are… not fit to… walk on Thayvian soil! You are-"

"Tsk, tsk, Willeth," Maligor said. His tone was condescending, like a teacher lecturing a misbehaving child. "I'm no more evil than the rest of the wizards… just a little smarter, perhaps. And insulting me won't help your condition."

Willeth's chest heaved. It was getting difficult for the tharchion to breathe. He wondered if his shattered ribs were poking into his insides. He decided to get the wizard to keep talking, hoping he would be dead by the time Maligor finished his crazed discourse. "If you… take your gnolls… to attack someone else… how will you… get the mines?"

"I have power and forces you could only dream of," the Red Wizard said evenly. "My gnolls are numerous, one of the grandest armies in Thay. It is probably only because of their great numbers that Szass Tam or another Red Wizard hasn't already attacked me. But my gnolls are nothing. My true army is much stronger, and it is that army that will seize the mines for me."

"And if you… do take the mines?" Willeth posed, his breathing becoming shallower still.

" When I take them," Maligor corrected.

"When you… take the mines… the other Red Wizards will band together…and seize them back from you. No one Red Wizard… has the power to hold the mines."

"Willeth, you do count me for a fool. My plan is so intricate and sublime that no one will even know I control the mines." Maligor looked at the puzzled expression on the tharchion's face. "The precious flow of gold to the country won't stop, at least not for a few years. You still don't understand, do you? And I can see that I don't have the time to explain it to you. My gnolls struck you too severely. I fear you haven't long to live."

The Red Wizard stopped his pacing and moved closer to his captive, just far enough away so the man's chained arms couldn't reach him. "So you'll have to talk now-quickly. Tell me about the mine's defenses."

"Go to… the underworld!" Willeth spat.

The gnolls moved to strike the tharchion, but Maligor held them back with a glance. The Red Wizard mumbled something Willeth could not understand. It was magic, the tharchion knew, as Maligor's hands began to glow, radiating a soft, pink haze that stretched in rays from his fingers to Willeth's eyes.

"You will beat me to the underworld, tharchion," Maligor said, his voice a singsong chant that mesmerized Willeth. "But before you go, you will be my friend. My closest, dearest friend. Friends share secrets, Willeth. I am your very best friend, and you will share all of your secrets with me. Tell me about the mine, friend Willeth. I want to visit the mine. And since I'm your friend, you wouldn't want me to get hurt there, would you? Tell me about the defenses-where the magical traps and spells are placed. I mustn't get hurt, friend Willeth."

The tharchion's eyes glazed over, and the pupils became small and fixed. "My friend," he croaked. "Can't let… my friend be hurt… when he comes to visit me in the mines. Be careful, friend, the mines… are very dangerous if you do not know where to walk."

Then the words began to pour from Willeth's bleeding lips, detailed summaries of the spells and creatures that protected the mine, facts about the number of guards and their weapons, and descriptions of the foremen who directed the slaves and other workers. Deep in his mind the tharchion screamed, rebelling against what he was helpless to stop. But still the words continued to pour forth, and part of Willeth was happy. It was such a good thing to help a dear comrade.

"I need to know more, friend," Maligor purred. "You know so much about the mines, and I'm so very proud of you for that. No one knows more about the mines than you do. Tell me how much gold is mined each day. Where are the strongest veins? Only you can tell me these things, my friend. Only you know so much."

Willeth babbled on, reciting production figures, quality of the veins, the expected life of various tunnels, and the names of the foremen who shared some of that information. Maligor memorized everything the tharchion said, filing the statistics away for later use.

Then Willeth divulged something unexpected. The tharchion wanted to please his friend, and he hoped this tidbit would make Maligor particularly happy.

"Today," Willeth began, his voice showing as much enthusiasm as his dying body would permit, "a foreman took a slave force… to the deepest part of a tunnel that we thought was mined out. The force… was to close the tunnel, but then the strangest… and most wonderful thing happened. A portion of the mines collapsed. A dozen slaves were… killed in the process, but we had used… the most expendable slaves for the task. And when the dust cleared… a cavern was revealed. It was an underground cave, and the walls glistened. See the gold powder on my clothes? It came from there. We found a new vein… bigger than any previously discovered. I was saving the information, friend. I was… going to tell the council about it when I returned from Tantras… with a request to buy equipment. I thought… the wizards… would let me buy new mining equipment then."

Willeth sobbed and more blood rushed from his mouth before he continued. "I'm not… going to be able to tell them now, I know I'm dying. Could you… tell them, friend?"

"Of course," Maligor lied. "Friends always help each other. But I have one other thing to ask you, my very best friend." He motioned for the gnolls to unchain Willeth and ease him to the floor. Maligor reached into a deep pocket of his robe and drew out a rolled-up piece of beige parchment and a hunk of charcoal.

"Please, friend, draw a map of your mine. Only you could draw such a thing. Don't forget to include that new cave. And please hurry."

Willeth fell to the task. The Red Wizard moved the lantern closer to provide better light. The map was crude, as the tharchion's hand shook terribly, and the parchment became spotted with blood. It took Willeth several minutes to complete the rough drawing. Then, before Maligor could take it away from him, Willeth added X's to indicate traps and magical defenses.

"You've done very well, my friend," Maligor said in soothing tones that relaxed Willeth. "This is a fine map. It will help me to find my way about in your wonderful mines."

Willeth coughed, and Maligor noted a flowering splotch of blood on the tharchion's chest. The man looked up at the wizard with a pained expression on his face.

"The pain… Help me… please."

"Of course, friend," Maligor said. He reached down and grabbed the map and the lantern, then stepped to the doorway. He turned to address the two gnolls.

"Are you hungry? Eat him."

Moments later, Maligor paced in the hallway, waiting for his gnolls to finish. The Red Wizard was satisfied. If other zulkirs tried to contact Willeth while he was supposedly in Tantras or became suspicious of the Willeth Lionson who would address the council in two weeks, nothing would be learned. It was possible to contact the dead or locate bodies through special enchantments. Szass Tam knew such spells and likely would try to employ them if the new Willeth Lionson did not meet with his acceptance and the lich guessed the true Willeth was dead.