The Twice-Enchanted Blade: Part 10

The demon’s parting words were no doubt referencing the thick smoke that was starting to pour from below. I rushed upstairs. Reaching the room we had tea in, I spotted the familiar which had served us lying on the floor, slowly fading from existence.

In addition to the dining room, there were several guest bedrooms. Upon opening them, I found out that, after a decade of not using them, Maximillian decided to overcompensate and packed the entirety of our group in three small bedrooms like sardines, having them bound and gagged. Quickly, I started releasing them.

“Boy, am I glad to see you”, exclaimed Annabel upon being freed, “How on Earth did you deal with that demon? I fear he might pop out from behind you at any moment”.

“Both the demon and the wizard are dealt with”, I assured her, “It’s a long story. I’ll gladly tell you in detail, but the library happens to be on fire and, while I doubt it’ll spread this far, the smoke will become an issue soon, and I would like to get out of here before that”.

Everyone being bound proved to be helpful, as it provided us with a rope we could use to descend from the window, which had previously been the site of my defenestration. It was a slow process, and by the time it was my turn to leave, I had to breathe through a cloth.

Astaroth turned out to have told the truth about the lesser demons summoned by Maximillian, and they all disappeared after the wizard who summoned them had been taken from this world. The battle had taken a toll on the former slaves during the time I spent dealing with the librarian. Their casualties amounted to more than half of their total number, but thankfully, few were fatally injured, one of the mercenaries under our employ being among the unlucky. The demons had, after all, been trying to keep as much of their workforce intact as possible.

As soon as he found an opportunity to do so, Fang took Nixon aside and handed him a pouch of coins.

“This is a larger part of the sum you paid us”, he said, “I already lost three men to this expedition, and I am not waiting for another magical mishap to take more of them. We will wait here for the wounded to recover and head back to Al-Teina. But you can have your money back – that way we will lose less reputation upon our return”.

“I am willing to raise your pay if you stay”, Spiridon responded, “Or you could at least leave one man with us. We may be able to survive without bodyguards, but we need your expertise to survive the desert”.

“I must refuse. The men are on the verge of revolt, and will probably try to kill you all if you force them to continue. We are used to dealing with bandits and beasts, but not witchcraft”.

After this, Nixon agreed to leave the mercenaries behind, but the question came up about whether to continue our journey. And if we were to return, it was doubtful we could find another band of sellswords willing to follow us if the Horned Vipers began spreading tales of our misadventures. Since Civet claimed to have picked up some of the water-gathering techniques by observing and talking to the mercenaries, we reluctantly decided to continue our journey.

We stayed near the tower for another day, replenishing our supplies, and then continued through the sand desert. It was more inhospitable than the rocky terrain, and finding spots where we could wait out the hottest parts of the day was difficult. Annabel took to summoning occasional bird familiars, sending them out to look for oases, which were few and far between. Iocasta managed to keep us on a general west-southwest course, adjusting our direction depending on information our winged scout managed to gather. Near some of the scarce water sources, we found wild date trees, which we used to increase our food reserves. Wild animals were rare, and those large enough to be hunted for meat were even rarer. Iocasta shot two particularly big desert lizards during this section of the journey.

The sand desert was bad enough, but the glass desert was even worse. I had no idea how that dreadful terrain came to be, and if I had to assume it was likely created by some supremely powerful weapon of ages past, which heated up the sand to the point of melting. This quartz surface was whitish, reflecting light in a manner that could blind careless travelers. Heat and lack of shelter became an even bigger trouble. Nothing lived in this forsaken wasteland, and during this part of the journey, we found but one source of water, which reeked of sulphur and tasted horribly, yet we drank greedily nonetheless. Our supplies were running low, and we had to butcher one of our elephant birds for food. Just before our hope of ever leaving this hellscape, the terrain became rocky again, and we were moving uphill. Soon enough, our haggard group, parched, exhausted, nearly blind, each of us weighing noticeably less than when we started our journey, reached the famed plateau, and our goal was almost in sight.

The land here was mostly grassland, with shrubbery and groves of tropical trees here and there. Animal life was plentiful. Large flowers were blooming, pollinated by even larger insects. We were in the land of the living again, where we could sustain ourselves indefinitely. Our spirits were instantly lifted. None of us minded aimlessly wandering in search of the tomb, as the longer we took to find it, the longer we delayed a dreadful return journey.

During the second day at the plateau, we spotted some humans in the distance, but they quickly left, likely to report our appearance to the rest of their people. This could lead to trouble, but if humans were living here, coming into contact with them was a matter of time.

Next evening, while we were sitting around a fire, spit-roasting a protoceratops Iocasta had shot, we were approached by a group of ebony-skinned warriors riding upon a species of smallish four-horned rhinoceros. They were extremely tall, wore armor not dissimilar to my own but richly decorated with silver, and were armed chiefly with spears and crossbows. Their leader addressed us, speaking in a form of archaic Manean:

“Greetings, travellers. We bid you welcome to the land of the Bele Wode. Do you perchance come seeking the tomb of Orion?”