T Lain - City of Fire

“She follows my trail. In the desert, the gnolls struck first, but the black knight came after. Her hounds follow our scent and she comes behind.”

“Maybe she got left behind, in the caves?” Alhandra offered.

The half-orc remained firm. “The gnoll with two weapons was the pack leader. He would not let another lead his pack without a terrible reason. Someone he fears commanded him to stay behind. She comes with him now.”

“Why would she want him to—” Regdar argued, but Alhandra interrupted.

“Regdar, if Krusk’s right, we don’t have any time to waste. Even if he isn’t, we have little to lose by being thorough.”

The fighter thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “All right, so what do we do?”

Regdar looked over at Naull, but the wizard turned toward Krusk and Gurn.

“It’s their show, I guess,” she said, jerking her thumb toward the half-orc and the azer.

The azer agreed. “Come here,” he gestured toward Krusk.

All the companions moved toward the Opal Throne. With a mild shock, Naull saw that it wasn’t completely white after all. Along the back and sides were small, inscribed or enchanted circles of nearly translucent flame. Outside the city’s protective aura, she suspected, those flames would burn without touching.

Each sigil appeared slightly different from every other, but they all looked at least a little like the key Krusk bore. When the half-orc drew it out the talisman blazed to life again, hovering slightly above his palm.

“Each of these circles once belonged to a lord of the Material Plane, or of Fire,” the azer explained. “A lord could sit on the Opal Throne and open the conduits between the two planes, summoning forth spirits or beings of either, compelling them to serve by the same ancient compact that allowed us to build the city.

“The last lord of Secrustia Nar, corrupted by the perversions of the efreet, tried to command evil spirits of fire to invade the Material Plane, but we stopped him,” the warden said, suddenly looking very old. He shook off the memory quickly, however, and continued, “We trapped his spirit in the Negative Energy Plane and he cannot be released while the city stands. All the lords surrendered their keys, except one.” The azer pointed to the flame flickering in Krusk’s meaty palm. “One was kept hidden, in case of disaster, in case we needed to open the gates again.”

“Um…” Naull broke in when the azer paused. “I hate to interrupt, but why would you need to open them again? I mean, if no one was going to live here, then—”

“Some of the last lord’s followers escaped,” Gurn interrupted. The flames in his eyes were dark, like smoldering charcoal, and they matched the anger in his voice. “They followed dark gods and made evil bargains, and never gave up searching for a way to bring fire to the lands beyond the Elemental Planes. They sought ways to rescue the last lord of the city, too, but while the key remained hidden, that road remained barred.”

“The blackguard…” Alhandra said, her voice full of dread.

The azer nodded in agreement and said, “Hextor, God of Tyranny, Champion of Evil, Herald of Hell, and Scourge of Battle—he granted boons to those of the last lord’s followers who worshiped him. They pledged themselves to the service of chaos in return for escaping our justice. Hextor always delights in cheating his brother of justice.”

The fiery dwarf chuckled grimly and Naull looked from Gurn to Alhandra in alarm. The woman’s white face was pale but she nodded once, sharply.

“Heironeous,” she said.

The wizard saw the paladin’s hand go to the emblem on her breastplate, the bolt of lightning in the grip of a strong fist.

“Heironeous,” Gurn agreed, then he turned back to the throne, touching sigils quickly. “The war between gods spills onto mortals yet again. When you told me a blackguard was responsible for the burning of Kalpesh, the slaughter of the last Protector, and the pursuit of the key, I knew it would come to this.”

“Do you know—” Regdar paused briefly—“her?”

The azer chuckled even as he worked. “No, no. At least, I hope not! No,” he concluded at last, “but I know of her and her type. Blackguards rose in the city even as the last lord took power, and the worshipers of Hextor were chief among them. I am certain she is of the order of those who served the last lord and she has somehow gained knowledge of the key, and of the Opal Throne’s power.”

He turned his back on the heroes then, making a few more passes across the Opal Throne. Whatever ritual he performed was complicated, but Gurn continued talking.

“So now the key and the throne threaten our very existence. An evil creature who controlled the Opal Throne could command the forces of Fire, or release the dark one from his bonds.”

Gurn finished and looked back at the companions somberly.

“It is time to return the key to the throne and shut the gate to the City of Fire forever.”

He held out one brass-colored hand. Krusk slowly offered the glowing, hovering ball of fire to the azer.

But even as Krusk did so, Gurn started in surprise. Looking down, he saw an arrow protruding from his chest. Gazing up at the flickering walls of the tower, he pointed over the half-orc’s shoulder.

Blasting through the flame came the black knight and two gnolls mounted on a flying carpet. The old gnoll had its bow in its hand and was already nocking another arrow. The younger gnoll leaped down off the carpet as soon as it passed through the flames, its axe in one hand and the vicious, hooked scimitar bare in the other. The gnoll leader howled its anger and hate as it charged.

“Look out!” Regdar shouted uselessly, pulling his sword from its sheath and trying to roll away from the swooping carpet, but he stumbled in his heavy armor and had to catch himself to keep from falling.

The old gnoll fired its second arrow at the azer, but Gurn dived behind the throne and the shaft broke against the wall. Krusk hesitated for a moment, then forced himself to toss the key under the throne. Sweeping out his axe, he returned the gnoll’s war cry with a bellow of his own and sprang into battle.

Naull cursed as she fumbled with her new wand. Krusk was almost on top of the blackguard by the time she could aim and the explosion could crisp the half-orc along with the invaders if she spoke the command word. With her free hand she tried to find something in her component pouches that might prove useful, but she’d cast most of her best spells down in the cavern. The rest of her arsenal wouldn’t prove more than a moment’s annoyance to the blackguard.

Meanwhile, Regdar finished righting himself and Alhandra recovered from her surprise. The two followed Krusk into the fray. The older gnoll dropped its bow and leaped from the carpet just as Alhandra stabbed up at it with her sword. The blade tore the edge of the carpet but missed the gnoll. The humanoid drew its axe and circled around, trying to put the paladin between itself and its leader.

Regdar and the leader squared off near the white wall at the center of the room. The gnoll leader snarled and Regdar nearly growled himself. So intent was the fighter on the gnoll’s two weapons that he failed to notice the black knight. After the older gnoll had jumped, she twisted the carpet around and leaped down lightly—amazingly lightly, considering her armor—behind the fighter. As the uncontrolled carpet fluttered down between the knight and Krusk, she moved to strike Regdar in the back.

Krusk bellowed, slashing with his greataxe around the fabric. He missed, but his shout of anger alerted Regdar and the fighter spun just in time to parry with his new sword. The two weapons rang and dark light from the blackguard’s blade contrasted with the flaming walls. The black knight moved in to bind, and when the blades locked at the hilt, she pushed Regdar back toward the gnoll leader, laughing as she did so.