Richard Knaak - The Citadel

Valkyn’s countenance momentarily darkened. “I’ve no interest in such pleasures, General. My work is my life now.”

“But still-”

“I chose you, Cadrio, because you once served another general, however briefly. Do you know the name Culthairai?”

Culthairai. It rang a distant bell. A region as obscure as Atriun, overrun early in the war. He had served under a general born in Culthairai … a General Krynos, a giant of a man at about seven feet. Ambitious, once thought to be the next Dragon Highlord, Krynos and nearly all his command had been wiped out by a singularly effective plague rumored to have been spread by a dying Solamnic knight. “You speak of Krynos?”

“You survived. He did not.”

Cadrio remembered his good fortune. “Ariakas needed to fill a position left by the death of another general. Krynos had recommended me before. I left with three men. The next I heard, he and most of his force had fallen.”

“ My brother , had he lived, would have been my choice, General Cadrio. I’ve decided that you, who knew his ways, will do.”

Krynos’s brother … Cadrio could see some of the dead general’s manner in the wizard. What sort of land had Culthairai been that it would groom for the world such a pair?

Valkyn clasped his gloved hands together, his tone once more exuberant. He seemed to switch emotions readily, either a sign of madness-in the soldier’s opinion, common among wizards-or a hint that the faces he wore were all masks. “And here comes Lemual! We can begin!”

The pig-faced cleric ran toward them. One of the gargoyles perched nearby took a swipe at him as he passed, and although the creature clearly could not reach him, Lemual ducked in terror.

“Come, come, Lemual! Try to put on a brave face in front of General Cadrio!”

“What, by the emperor, is wrong with him? I’ve never known a cleric to cringe so! What’s happened to his backbone?”

“Lemual suffered an accident of faith, or perhaps the lack of it. Happened during one of my earlier experiments. He proves useful, especially now that the grand experiment is at hand.”

“Useful … as a cleric?”

Instead of answering him, Valkyn turned to the oncoming figure. “Well, Lemual, shall we begin?”

“Yes … I suppose so.”

Narrow blue eyes shrank to slits. “Are you absolutely certain? Everything must be in place.”

Lemual swallowed. “Yes … yes, I’m certain, Valkyn!”

“Excellent!” The wizard looked toward the castle, then clapped his hands twice. “Go!”

The gargoyles abandoned Atriun en masse. Cadrio doubled his estimate of the number of gargoyles at Valkyn’s beck and call. Two hundred or more.

When the last had flown clear, Valkyn looked up at the central tower. Cadrio expected to see nothing up there save perhaps a lingering gargoyle or two, but instead he noticed a cowled figure, nearly a shadow, gazing down at the party.

The wizard pointed the wand at the murky form. Cadrio blinked as the mysterious figure drifted back out of sight.

“Who was that? Who else is here, Valkyn?”

“No one of concern, my general. Now, come! Let us get our mounts!”

“But where are the other mages and clerics? Shouldn’t they be with us, to chant the proper spells together?”

“I don’t require such things.”

“But Lord Ariakas’s design-”

Valkyn waved off the late emperor’s work. “Crude, time-consuming, and inefficient. My design eliminates much of the potential for costly mistakes, my general. Lemual and I will be sufficient for the task. Now, we really must be going!”

Two of Cadrio’s men brought forth the soldiers’ steeds. Lemual retrieved a pair of mounts for Valkyn and himself. The cleric’s horse looked as nondescript as its rider, but the spellcaster’s animal proved to be a furious white devil that stood at least a hand taller than even the general’s massive stallion. The other horses shied away from the beast, who snorted when anyone other than his master or Lemual drew near.

With Valkyn leading, the band departed for a hilly field to the south. It stood atop a ridge that gave them an excellent view of the entire domain.

Stone and Crag awaited them there. Valkyn dismounted and quickly inspected the tripod. “All is in place. Good.”

The wizard pulled his hood up, then brought forth the wand. He looked at General Cadrio and the rest, who remained near their horses. “Come, come, General! Surely you will want to see this!”

“Damon, watch the horses. The rest of you, come with me.” The wary commander led his guards to where Valkyn stood.

The cheerful wizard pointed at Atriun. “Watch, my general! Watch as I give you your victory!”

He took the wand and touched the sphere at the end to the ones on the tripod. Beside him, Lemual flinched, almost as if he expected the crystals to explode. Instead, both the one on the wand and those on the tripod began to sparkle with magical energy, growing more golden. Even when Valkyn pulled the wand back, the glow about the spheres increased until it became almost blinding.

Cadrio felt the hairs on his neck rise. His entire body seemed charged. He glanced at his men, saw that they, too, experienced the unsettling sensation.

“Lemual! Do your part!”

“Valkyn! Reconsider what you have in mind.”

The dark mage thrust the wand toward the cleric. “Do it!”

To Cadrio’s shock, the trembling cleric placed a hand on each of the crackling globes. Lemual screamed, but a single look from the wizard kept him from removing his hands. The general sniffed, noting the all too familiar smell of burning flesh.

“Now, Lemual!”

“She has abandoned me, I tell you!”

“Your faith abandoned her! She’ll give you what you want in this case, if only you believe!”

Whether the suffering cleric had truly regained his belief in Takhisis or simply feared Valkyn more, somehow Lemual summoned power. Cadrio saw his lips move, perhaps an incantation or prayer. Pain clearly wracked the man, but he did not stop.

Valkyn began to mutter, his eyes now fixed upon the wand’s crystalline sphere. The mage’s complexion had grown parchment white, but unlike Lemual, Valkyn’s expression was filled with anticipation, not dread.

The general stepped beside the spellcaster, his gaze on the immense castle. From up here, Cadrio could admire its size better, a fortress that spanned the length of several dragons. How massive an army Cadrio could station within the walls, how many months of supplies could he store in its depths …

The earth beneath his feet started to tremble.

The horses, all save Valkyn’s monstrous beast, struggled against their reins. The two gargoyles took to the air, hovering a few feet above the ground. Even the lanky general had to struggle to keep his footing as the tremor grew stronger. Only Valkyn and Lemual seemed immune, but the latter lived a terror of his own, his hands black from the heat. Now the cleric looked as if he wanted to remove them from the spheres but could not.

A sound like rolling thunder came from the direction of Atriun.

Valkyn and the cleric continued to mutter. The mage looked more undead than human, his flesh colorless, streaks of gray spreading through his hair. General Cadrio had never personally witnessed so harsh a spell.

The rumble grew to a roar, and cracks began to materialize in the landscape surrounding the castle. The tremor wreaked havoc on the rest of the countryside as trees collapsed and hillsides broke in half. Birds shrieked, and although the day had only been slightly overcast before, a dark, threatening cloud cover now formed above the building. Thunder from those clouds vied with the terrifying roar from the earth below.

“Do it!” the general muttered. “Do it!”