Lyndon Hardy - Riddle of the Seven Realms

With each passing moment, his agitation had grown, but he did not know what to do about it. Hours must have passed since the prince lapsed into silence, and even though Astron had said that the flow of time was not quite the same between different realms, surely he would have appeared by now. He glanced again at Elezar's crumpled form. Even if wounded, he thought, could a prince be persuaded to carry a single man to the lair of-

"Gaspar, Gaspar, the prince of lightning djinns has observed my passage!" A sudden shriek cut into Kestrel's thoughts. He looked up to see the devil that had transported Phoebe and Nimbia twitching with spasms on the landing just outside the entrance to the lair.

"Grab control of your stembrain, or I will do it for you." Elezar suddenly sprang to life. "Speak with coherence. I, your prince, demand it."

"He observed my passage to Palodad's lair, and upon my return, forced upon me where you were. I, I am-"

"Silence," Elezar thundered. "The risk was worth taking. If you have failed, there is no point now in lamenting what might have been. Into the sky with you, assemble all that remain from their hiding places, and draw them here." The prince looked about Astron's artifacts and smiled. "Yes, here at the den of a mere cataloguer. For a final battle it is most fitting."

"If Gaspar has defeated you before, what hope do you have now?" Kestrel sprang to his feet. He felt his apprehension tighten like an alchemist's vice. Everything was crashing down, just as Astron had feared from the first. Even Elezar seemed resigned to his fate, and Kestrel and his friends were in the middle of it, with little hope of escape.

"Do not give up," Kestrel said. "Get help from the other princes."

"More than half have thrown their lot in with Gaspar," Elezar said. "The rest cautiously await the outcome before they declare. No, none in the realm of daemon dare light their domains to aid the one who is golden."

Elezar stopped speaking and, for a long moment, seemed to look past Kestrel into the stone wall behind. "At least it will not be surrender to the great monotony. The few weavings of energy I have saved for the last will give Gaspar as much pain as he plans to inflict upon me."

"If not your own kind, then from the other realms," Kestrel said quickly. His thoughts spun. He would have to come up with a plan as he had never before. "From the archimage, the fey, the skyskur, and the reticulates as well."

Elezar's eyes narrowed. He eyed Kestrel specula-lively. "The denizens of other realms regard my kind either with fear or loathing. What would make them want to enter into a struggle not their own?"

"Let me handle that," Kestrel said. "First the archimage, and then we can appeal to the others. Contact any wizard in the realm of men and state that you have news of the woodcutter and female wizard. I heard Alodar ask to be informed, just as we vanished into the universe of the fey."

Elezar was silent for a moment. "Your words disturb my stembrain," he said. "I was prepared to meet Gaspar even on his own terms if there proved to be insufficient time to unravel the riddle. Now you give me one more tendril of matter to grasp. Even for a prince, there comes a moment when he must finally put aside the last of foolish hopes."

Kestrel waited without daring to speak again. Heart beats of time throbbed away. But finally a cloud seemed to lift from Elezar's face. The fading spark in his eyes glowed with a new life and he nodded.

"Tell each that you contact that they must first attempt to bridge through the flame," the prince commanded the devil just as he was about to leave. "Get the message of the woodcutter to the archimage so that he in turn will try to contact me here."

The devil shuddered a final time. Then with a trembling beat of his wings, he fluttered away. Kestrel saw pinpoints of light in the distance behind him assembling into a precise row and Elezar followed his gaze.

"Each one is a lightning djinn," the prince said. "They are forming a barrier between me and Palodad's lair. Soon they will move forward to attack us here. Your tongue must not only be glib but quick as well."

"The risk is a great one." Kestrel heard Alodar's words come from Elezar's lips. The contact had been established far quicker than he had hoped, but, as he glanced out the entrance of the lair, he wondered if even what he proposed would make any great difference. The pinpoints of light had intensified to eye-stabbing glows. Their number had increased until it looked as if a continuous arc streaked across the black sky. With each passing moment, it grew thicker and longer, arcing outward to surround Astron's lair so that there would be no escape.

"But if it is not taken," Kestrel shot back, "then the loss is certain." Somehow the archimage was able to hear because of his contact with Elezar's mind. It was as if the two were together in the confines of the hollow stone, rather than an indescribable distance apart.

"When you agreed to help send Phoebe and me through the flames before," Kestrel continued, "it was because of what would happen to the realm of men if Elezar should fall. Nothing has changed to alter the validity of your decision."

"I still am not totally sure of the truth of your words," Alodar said. "And if I and the wizards of other realms come forward and fail, there will be no defenses left to be sure."

"Would you rather wait and take on Gaspar's might one by one?" Kestrel said. "Which strategy offers you the better chance to turn aside the threat?"

For a moment, there was silence. Elezar sat on the cushion, unblinking, with his hands folded into the lap of his tattered robe. "Your arguments are most persuasive," the demon mouthed Alodar's words at last. "They ring true despite whatever other doubts I might have."

Kestrel felt a slight prickle of amazement mingle with the urgency that bubbled within him. He was using no deception at all. He did not have sufficient composure to think through all the twists and turns that would be necessary for one such as the archimage. And yet it was working. He was speaking the truth and Alodar was taking him at his word.

"But perhaps most telling is the fact that you are there," Alodar said. "There and willing to take the risks along with the rest. It is the mark of a hero, rather than one looking out only for himself."

Kestrel's thoughts jerked to the side. "No, not a hero," he said. "Not me. I am not concerned about helping to save the baseness of other men. It is only for myself, only for-"

Kestrel stopped and slammed shut his mouth. Only for Phoebe, he thought-and for the reticulate warriors, for Nimbia's underbill, and even for any of the unlucky aleators who still survived-any who had to endure the tortures of their fellows who did not care.

The injustices that had befallen him were not unique; they extended through seven realms as well. And they would continue to do so until someone came forward and took the cause of many as his own, until someone like the archimage felt the duty to look beyond himself and to strive against the Prydwins, Jelilacs, and Gaspars to save the worthy and unworthy alike.

The feeling of amazement grew. Was what he had been striving for on this quest really anything less? He could not turn aside now, regardless of what escape he suddenly was offered. If that was what constituted being a hero, then perhaps it was not such a foolish role after all.

"Yes, I think that we will need someone to coordinate all of the contingents," Kestrel heard himself say. "Someone with experience in all the realms on which we will call for aid. I am ready to serve. Even though it might be hopeless, I will carry out what clearly is my duty and that of no one else."

"Then it is decided," Alodar said. "Send what demons through the flame that you can, Elezar. I will have the wizards ready to be ferried back for your aid."