Erroll plodded through the dark catacombs of the castle, hoping his torch would remain lit for the entirety of his task. He had instantly run off when he was given his order, foolishly forgetting to check the status of his torch. It took more than three hours to reach the final chamber under the castle and he did not like the idea of completing the last leg of the journey in darkness.
As the hallway leveled off from a slant to even ground Erroll knew he was coming close. Sighing with relief, he figured he wouldn’t have much of a problem making it back to the populated sections of the massive building in time. He almost began to let his mind wander when he thought he saw something in the distance… some light… in the final chamber. A flash of panic and hope flew through his mind gave brief consideration to the though of intruders, but he instantly dismissed that. There was no one who could get within the castle without the Lady and Master knowing about it– let alone the guards and general populace. It had to be someone from the castle… and that made Erroll’s complexion pale ever so slightly. He crept to the open doorway of the chamber just as someone was coming out of it. He could see, at least, that it wasn’t the Master, but rather the Masters aide, Klial. And Klial was holding the Tome of Chaias.
Erroll licked his lips and bowed his head slightly. “Lali,” Klial followed suit and the two stared at one another for long moments. “Klial, The Lady wanted to,” began Erroll,
“I- I’m sorry. The Master ordered me to bring the Tome directly to him. Erroll, I have to. Her Highness will have to wait. I, I’m sorry… you know…” Klial trailed off. Erroll took a moment and looked to Klial with compassion. One might expect them to be constantly feuding, just as their masters did, but there was mutual understanding between them. Often, the two helped one another with orders and commands which was why both had been aides for the Master and the Lady longer than any before them. However, Erroll had been sent to retrieve the Tome by his Lady, and he would follow that order.
Erroll took his heavy axe from its place on his belt. “I’m very sorry as well.”
xxxxxx
While Erroll stood quietly at her side, attempting to cover his grief for his actions that evening, Lady Rubicant pawed through the Tome of Chaias with a wicked smikr.
“You know, Erroll, it never ceases to amaze me just how much knowledge Chaias was able to pack in here. Every read is like a new discovery! Ah, here it is… translations of ancient Dwarven Runes. Perfect.” Her cool ashen-coloured fingers traced over the pages and her red eyes scanned the page. “Oh my, you should see what sort of nasty things I could do to you by merely tracing a design onto your forehead with blood! So very interesting! Of course, I could kill you with a thought, but this look’s like it would be more fun. Oh! Boils!” She continued to read and ramble as Erroll closed his eyes. It was awful to be forced to do as the Lady and the Master instructed, even if every fiber of his being told him just to let them kill him.
It hadn’t always been that way. Indeed, once life had been as boisterous and joyful as the rest of the Dwarven cities were. They had not been under King Giott’s rule, but the cavernous town of Peat traded and cooperated with that land quite amicably. To think it was only seven magma tides ago that the Lady and the Master had arrived… No one knew where they had come from. Some figured they from the Land of Summoned Monsters, or another place like it. Or maybe they came from the people of the upper realm. Still more felt they were demons, true demons, from dark places no living thing had ever visited. What they were hardly mattered. As soon as they arrived with that cursed Tome they took over the city and the bodies of the Dwarves who lived there. Everyone in the town could still think on their own, but if they were ordered to do something by the Lady or the Master, they were forced to obey no matter what. It was hard to tell whether it was worse that they had to endure such a curse, or that they were fully aware the attempts by the Lady and the Master to likewise enthrall the rest of the Dwarven cities as such. So far, for some reason, they had not been able to do so.
Erroll’s thoughts ended quickly as a blast echoed through the chamber and the large iron door crumpled away from its hinges and fell to the floor. A tall dark figure stood in the now open passage, bristling with power, and Erroll recognized it at once as Master Rubicant. Lady Rubicant looked up almost lazily as the Master extended his hand towards Erroll, who promptly fell into a coma.
“Oh come now,” the Lady said, “don’t you think you’re being a bit rash?”
Master Rubicant glared at the Lady with spite. “Rash? You should consider yourself lucky I didn’t do the same to you! That whelp murdered Klial on your orders!” His voice boomed through the room and would have been near deafening for a normal mortal. The Lady, however, casually closed the Tome of Chaias and rose to the Master. She was nearly as tall as he, but more slender. Her curved horns grew further out of her scalp than his, and she was every bit as imposing in her own way.
“You only wish you could do the same to me, dear husband, but you know it’s not quite that simple. I’m growing tired of such idle threats, so please do stop making them.” She stepped closer to her mate. “Your fool of a servant probably tried to kill mine too, or at least he was thinking about it. It’s not my fault we both asked to look at the book at the same time.”
Master Rubicant looked to a sapphire seeing orb on a pedestal on the opposite side of the room. "Oh yes, I’m sure it was a complete coincidence, my dear. Now that we have this straightened out, I would like to have the Tome now.” He took several steps forward towards the table but the Lady stayed in his way.
“I don’t think so. I’m actually quite busy with it, finding out some wonderful things about Dwarven runes. Here, let me draw something on your forehead with-”
“I have no patience for this.” He simply said.
“Fine. You’re not getting the Tome until you tell me why you wanted to see it again, though. We’ve both gone through it enough to know it doesn’t tell us why our powers won’t work on the other Dwarven cities. So why?” The Lady crossed her arms defiantly and her crimson whisked over the stone floor like liquid. The Master remained silent, though he seemed to consider. “Be reasonable,” she continued, “neither of us could have escaped from the spirit realm without one another, and I for one would like to stay here in the mortal realm instead of tormenting lost souls for the rest of eternity. Our powers are only going to continue to weaken over time if we don’t absorb the will of more people. I know you’re up to something. Let me know so I can help.”
“My Lady, I would have told you if I found something anyway. We both have a distaste for one another it is true, but we both know we need one another. If you insist, I’ll tell you now, but your insolent behavior continues to irritate me.” Lady Rubicant slid into her chair and looked up at the Master expectantly. “If you must,” he said as he moved to a char across from her.
“As you well know, we are unable to work our magic’s over the other Dwarven cities in this world. We had previously wondered if the Crystals had something to do with that, but discarded the idea, as most of the Dwarven communities are in places where there are no Crystals. I think, however, we should have examined our hypothesis more closely.
“It seems almost foolish that neither of us noticed it before, but this pathetic city we’ve invaded is so far from the other cities, and also quite far from any of the holding places of the Crystals. I have a theory that the Crystals’ powers extend far beyond the rooms they are stored in, and could have a nullifying effect over quite a vast area. An area that falls short of our fair city here but still encompasses the other ones.”
Leaning forward and grasping the Tome, the Lady smiled. “So I suppose you wanted to look in here to see if there was anything else about the Crystals we had missed, or that it simply hadn’t shown us yet?”
“Precisely.”
She shrugged and passed the ancient text over to her mate. “Sounds like you could have something there. I certainly hope you do. Nothing would bring me greater pleasure than to drink up the lives of all those here in the underworld.” Master Rubicant collected the Tome in his cloak and rose to leave. He turned –
- and both he and the Lady were quite shocked to see a very large and very dark man in armor standing before them. They felt an electric power emanating from him, thought it didn’t cause them fear. Instead, they were both strangely drawn to it.
He spoke, “Master and Lady Rubicant, I am Golbez. I have something of great importance to offer you.”