Hugh Cook - The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster

Then Guest Gulkan stalked into the Hall of Time, expecting to find it a place of dust and cobwebs. It was and it wasn't. True, there were cobwebs in plenty sprawled across the time prison pods.

But there was precious little dust, for the open slit windows of the Hall of Time ventilated the place as a draughty cave is ventilated. Guest Gulkan came to a halt in front of the jade-green monolith known to him as Icaria Scaria Iva-Italis, demon of Safrak and Guardian Prime. At first, the demon did not consent to acknowledge his presence. But at last it spoke.

"Greetings," said the demon.

"And to you, greetings," said Guest.

"You have come by a mazadath," said the demon. "Where did you win such a prize?"

"A mazadath?" said Guest. "What's that?"

"The thing which you have about your neck," said the demon.

"This?" said Guest, lifting his heavyweight amulet from its concealment.

"That," confirmed Italis. "Where did you get it?"

"It was a present," said Guest. "A present from my wife."

"So," said Iva-Italis. "So you are married. Have you children?"

"Not yet," said Guest.

"Your brother Morsh has children," said Iva-Italis.

"Has he?" said Guest, most surprised at this intelligence; for nobody had even suggested to him that his brother Morsh had so much as a woman, far less a child.

"He has," said Iva-Italis. "He has two sons, Yurt and Iragana."

"So you say," said Guest. "But you have been locked in here for years, far beyond any breath of rumor. So how could you rightly claim to know such a thing?"

"I am in communication with demons elsewhere," said Iva-Italis. "Have you not been told of this? I communicated, to name but one, with Koblathakatoria, he who is commonly known as Ko. You know him? Koblathakatoria is the demon of Chi'ash-lan. There is no scrap of gossip about Safrak which does not reach Chi'ash-lan, and usually sooner rather than later."

"So," said Guest. "They spy on us."

"The mere collection of gossip is scarcely a matter of espionage," said Iva-Italis. "Are your matings and breedings a matter of state secrecy? If they are, then all I can say is that you do not act in accordance with any such doctrine. It is a matter of public record that your brother Morsh Bataar maintains a wife on the island of Ema-Urk, and that she has given him two sons. Yurt is aged two, and Iragana is but one year of age."

"This is news to me!" said Guest.

"So," said Iva-Italis. "But I doubt that you have any news for me."

"You didn't know about the – the maza," said Guest.

"The mazadath," said Iva-Italis. "Maz-a-dath. No, I didn't know about that. But I take it to be a recent acquisition. The rest of your past I know. I have followed the saga of your recovery in the city of Dalar ken Halvar. I know, too, that you are now determined to venture to Obooloo."

"They speak of this in Chi'ash-lan?" said Guest.

"Of course they do," said Iva-Italis. "For Sod is held hostage in this very mainrock in which we now stand. Sod's brother rules in Chi'ash-lan, and fears that Sod will be murdered when your father's minions hear of your father's death."

"My father is not dead!" said Guest. "He's got a cold, that's all!"

"Yes," said Iva-Italis, "but soon you and your father will both be venturing to Obooloo. In Chi'ash-lan, they think both Witchlord and Weaponmaster will die in that venture, and that Sod will be murdered once the pair of you are dead."

"And will we die?" said Guest.

"That is for you to say, not me," said Iva-Italis. "Tell me how you are going to rescue the Great God Jocasta, and I will tell you whether you are likely to live."

Then Guest told the demon of the plan which he had hatched with Sken-Pitilkin, drawing on Sken-Pitilkin's by-now-detailed knowledge of the various Doors of the Partnership Banks.

The questing heroes would venture through the Circle of the Partnership Banks to the city of Obooloo. The Door in that city was housed in the Sanctuary of the Bondsman's Guild, a structure which stood atop a tall triangular rock known locally as Achaptipop, from which it was possible to overlook the Temple of Blood.

By studious reconnaissance, Sken-Pitilkin had already determined the layout of the Temple of Blood. It was built around a central courtyard in which stood a Burning Pit into which human sacrifices were periodically cast.

"From the Sanctuary of the Bondsman's Guild," said Guest, "we will overlook that Burning Pit. Sken-Pitilkin plans to improvise a flying ship. He will not build a full-scale stickbird. Rather, he will make a small device good enough for the descent from Achaptipop to the Burning Pit."

"So," said Iva-Italis, "you will float downwards through the air, landing by the Burning Pit."

"Precisely," said Guest. "But we're not sure how to find the Great God Jocasta."

"That's easy," said Iva-Italis. "The great rock Achaptipop stands directly to the north of the Temple of Blood. The central courtyard in which you find the Burning Pit has four sides."

"Most courtyards do," said Guest.

"The sides are orientated to the north, south, east and west," said Iva-Italis, ignoring Guest entirely. "It is easy to orientate yourself. Once you land in the central courtyard, look for the great rock Achaptipop. It lies to your north."

"And?" said Guest.

"Where does Achaptipop lie?" said Iva-Italis.

"To the north!" said Guest impatiently. "As I face that rock, the east will be to my right, and – "

"Go east," said Iva-Italis.

"East?" said Guest.

"Yes," said Iva-Italis. "A single archway is set in the eastern side of the central chamber of the Temple of Blood. Go through that archway and you will find the Great God Jocasta."

"What does the Great God look like?" said Guest.

"The Great God," said Iva-Italis, "looks like a doughnut."

"A doughnut?" said Guest, baffled by this description.

"Take a single link from a chain," said Iva-Italis. "Beat that link into a circle, and there you have your doughnut. The wizard Pelagius Zozimus commonly bakes a kind of sweetened bread in just such a shape. Have you never eaten such?"

"Ah!" said Guest, "now I understand!"

"So," said Iva-Italis. "The Great God Jocasta is a doughnut, a doughnut about the size of your head. The Great God is trapped in a force field. Do you know what a force field is?"

"Tell me," said Guest.

"A force field," said Iva-Italis, "is a wall of light which is hard to penetrate."

"Then how is Guest to penetrate this particular wall of light?" said Sken-Pitilkin.

At which Guest almost jumped out of his skin, for the Weaponmaster had been so engrossed in his dialog with the demon that he had not heard the wizard of Skatzabratzumon enter the Hall of Time.

"The Weaponmaster Guest can cleave through this particular wall of light by the mere application of his sword," said Iva-Italis.

"Really?" said Sken-Pitilkin, sounding somewhat sceptical.

"Yes," said Iva-Italis, "for these force fields are but poor and trivial devices. Once Guest has hacked the force field apart with his sword, the Great God Jocasta will be free. The Great God will then confer upon Guest the powers of a wizard, and will secure your exit from the Temple of Blood."

"So you say," said Sken-Pitilkin, who still had reservations about this venture.

"Rest assured," said Iva-Italis. "It is as I say. Besides, you will have a demon to help you."

"You're coming with us?" said Sken-Pitilkin.

"No!" said Iva-Italis. "For I am scarcely portable! But a demon stands in the Temple of Blood already. The demon stands beside the imprisoned Great God."

"There's a demon which guards the Door of the Bondsmans Guild," said Sken-Pitilkin.

"The demon Lob, yes," said Iva-Italis. "But that's not the demon of whom I'm speaking. There are two of my siblings in Obooloo. One is Lob, of whom you have spoken. The other is Ungular Scarth, who stands beside the Great God Jocasta."