Hugh Cook - The wizards and the warriors

He was just thinking this when the ambush was sprung.

Miphon woke. He heard footsteps. But that was ridiculous. He was in the green bottle, wasn't he? He glanced at the green glowing walls. Yes, he was definitely in the green bottle. In the confusion of the ambush, finding no magic of his would work, Miphon had turned the ring on his finger to take him into the green bottle. Nobody could have followed him.

Yet he was certain he had heard footsteps.

What could it be then?

Darkly, Miphon imagined hideous evil slouching out from the murky depths of the bottle which he had never dared explore. He clawed for a sword. Hast was that blade. Miphon had snatched the sword Hast even as Hearst, clubbed from behind, had fallen toward the ground.

Again,' footsteps.

And voices, yes: a mutter, a curse, a short laugh, a hissed order silencing someone. Intruders were coming down the stairs. This was no menace from the depths of the bottle: this was invaders from without. Miphon gripped the sword tighter.

His enemies came in sight: grinning soldiers dressed and armed like men of the Secular Arm of Veda. But that was impossible! Miphon had scanned the minds of the headman of the Secular Arm, the Grand Master, and even the messenger boy. Everything had been in order.

'Ho, Mister Wizard,' cried one of the men. 'What's with the sword? Curing pox the sharp way, are we?'

'Keep back!' said Miphon, menacing him. Then: 'How did you get in here?'

'The same way you get up your own bum,' said the man. 'By magic, hey. Now throw down your blade, pox doctor, before your arse has an accident.'

There were five of them. Strong, bold and aggressive. Hearst's sword was clumsy in Miphon's hand. Before they could close with him, he tucked the sword under his arm – and turned the ring on his finger.

A moment of darkness as Miphon was swept out of the green bottle. A moment of disorientation as he arrived without. Then he took stock of his surround- ings: a large egg-shaped chamber with luminous white walls. In it stood a dozen members of the Secular Arm.

'Good morning, Mister Wizard,' said a man, in Estral. Then, switching from Estar's language to the Galish Trading Tongue: 'Bare blades are bad manners. Didn't you know?'

The stranger had thin lips, set in a line of self-satisfaction. Sharp, hard little eyes. A narrow nose. A narrow face, hard bones showing through the skin.

'Don't you recognise me? I'm Durnwold's brother.'

'Valarkin!' said Miphon.

Given the chance, Miphon would have destroyed him without hesitation. But, as when he had confronted Heenmor's snake in Stronghold Handfast, he found none of his magic worked.

'You shouldn't have found me so hard to remember,' chided Valarkin. it's scarcely a year since we parted at the Araconch Waters. Still, your gift compensates for your manners.'

'Gift?' said Miphon, blankly.

'This!' said Valarkin.

He unravelled a length of cloth. Something fell to the floor. The death-stone! Miphon charged forward, roaring. A fighting man lept forward to intercept him. Another thrust a spear-butt between Miphon's ankles. Miphon tripped and went down. His sword was kicked away, and he was seized in a hammerlock.

Valarkin smiled, wrapped up the death-stone, tucked it away carefully, picked up the green bottle, then relieved Miphon of a ring. Valarkin now had both of the rings which commanded the green bottle. He backed out of the egg-shaped chamber. On a signal, Miphon was released; Valarkin's men exited the chamber. Valarkin remained at the entrance, smiling.

'You'll be smiling out of your arse soon,' said Miphon savagely. 'The Grand Master will kill you for this.'

'He'll never hear of it. My organisation's entirely 456 watertight. I've found some good people in the short time I've been here. We had all kinds of plans – we were going to take over all of Veda in a few years. But now you've happened along, we've decided to take over the world instead.' 'You're mad,' said Miphon.

'But very efficient,' said Valarkin, grinning, i've got the death-stone, and I've taken Hearst and Blackwood prisoner. One of you must know the spell for working the death-stone.'

Miphon remembered struggling with Ebonair, the wizard of Ebber, at Selzirk. He recalled the injunction which had thwarted the power of the sleeping secrets: Segenarith. What would happen if Valarkin held the death-stone and proclaimed that injunction? Perhaps nothing – or perhaps the experiment would kill him.

'I'll tell you how to command the death-stone,' said Miphon. The Word is Segenarith.' is it?' said Valarkin.

'On my honour.'

'On a pox doctor's honour, hey? Well, I'll check. I'll ask Hearst for the right word.' 'And if he won't tell you?'

'I'll persuade him. I've got plenty of time. After all, nobody's going to come looking for you. Nobody even suspects the existence of my organisation.'

'We were supposed to join the convoy. The headman of the Secular Arm was waiting for us.'

'Ah yes, so he was. And now you've failed to turn up. So what's happened? Maybe you've grown wings and flown away through the air. Or become invisible and walked off down the Salt Road. Or found one of the old chasm gates the legends speak of. Who knows? All we know is that our guests have power enough to defeat wizards, warriors, armies, dragons, wilderness. So why fear for your safety? The very idea would be ridiculous. Nobody's going to search for you, least of all in here.' i can command minds at a distance,' said Miphon.

'Can you?' said Valarkin. 'Not from here you can't.'

Miphon snatched up the sword Hast and attacked Valarkin, aiming to hack off his head.

But at the mouth of the egg-shaped chamber, Miphon was halted abruptly by what felt like a huge spider-web. It was flexible but as strong as steel. He slashed at the invisible barrier with the sword – encountering no resistance. The invisible net did not restrain steel, but Miphon himself could not pass through.

'Interesting, isn't it?' said Valarkin. 'Back in the days of the Long War, sages came to distrust wizards. Places such as this were built in Veda, refuges proof against magic. No magic works here. Furthermore, no wizard can enter this place.'

'I'm here!'

'You were carried here while you were in the green bottle, thinking yourself safe.' So he was trapped.

Was there any point in throwing the sword Hast at Valarkin? He might miss. Besides, even if he killed Valarkin, Valarkin's followers would retrieve all the artefacts of power from the corpse, and Miphon would still be trapped. Only suicide could protect the secret of commanding the death-stone.

'I'm going to see if Hearst confirms your version of how to command the death-stone,' said Valarkin. T will be back. You can be sure of that. Meanwhile, I guarantee you won't be disturbed. This place lies far underground, far from Veda's life and work.'

Valarkin bowed, mocking his prisoner with an excess of courtesy, and left with his men. They were soon out of sight, lost to view round the curve of the luminous white tunnel which was the only way to and from the egg-shaped chamber where Miphon was imprisoned.

Miphon hefted Hast in his hand. He tested the sharpness of the blade. It could be done quickly – but it would hurt. Oh yes, it would hurt. He remembered the pain when the wizard Ebonair had ripped his flesh open in the struggle at Selzirk. It is hard enough to take a wound in the heat of battle, when the blood seethes with adrenalin, but harder still to administer a mortal wound in the tranquility of solitude. Yet Hearst would have done it.

Not for the first time, Miphon remembered how he had stumbled and bungled in the green bottle after Comedo had trapped him behind the portcullis. It had taken him days to escape, even when he had the means of escape in his hands. Now, if he killed himself, he might be overlooking some obvious way of escape that a common-sense man like Hearst would have seen immediately.