GENWiki

by Plastique

Cothar rode slowly through the forest, ducking occasionally to avoid low branches across the trail. Looking down he noticed that he had somehow opened the wound on his left arm again. Cursing under his breath he stopped his horse long enough to tighten the bandage. He couldn't afford to stop and give it the attention it deserved. Only a couple hours behind him were the advance scouts of Krast's horde.

If he was lucky the scouts wouldn't stumble across this overgrown and sorry excuse of a trail, but he couldn't count on luck. Thinking of luck triggered his memory as to just how 'lucky' he'd been. His entire life had been one long string of bad luck. He'd been forced to kill the king's younger son in a duel honor to save his life. He was sentenced to death, but that had been commuted when they'd found out that Krast was planning an invasion. Even though many thought the worst of him, all realized that he was one of the best strategists in the kingdom.

From that point things went downhill. No matter what happened with the invasion, after it was over, he would be stripped of his title. Krast's horde was larger than was belived possible. He must have pulled every available man of fighting age together for this force. That, however, was all that was known about his force. The scouts that were sent out either didn't come back or were unable to report any useful information. Cothar decided to risk himself on a spying mission. He was unable to do anything else without accurate information. He had barely gotten enough information to justify the risk of the trip when he stumbled across one of Krast's scouting parties. He managed to defeat two of them, but the third escaped to give the alarm.

He'd been running ever since. It was pure chance that he discovered this overgrown trail in this dense forest. It allowed him to rest his horse while his pursuit exausted their horses trying to fight through the undergrowth. He had maybe another hour before they reached the spot where he stumbled across the track.

Cothar's attention snapped back to the trail when a branch he hadn't noticed slapped his face. Looking ahead Cothar saw the trail ended in what looked like a cliff face, overgrown with vegetation. Closer inspection proved it to be an edifice carved out of the cliff. It looked like this would be his best and only chance of surviving his pursuers.

Approaching the structure, it seemed that there was only one entrance. There were windows that were nothing but gaping holes, fortunately all well out of the reach of the ground. The doors, made of solid stone and wide enough to admit men on horseback five abreast, were slightly ajar. Cothar dismounted to get a close look at them. The vines covered the doors, but the vegetation was not thick enough to obscure the inscribed symbols. Moving some vines to see if he would decipher the old script, his eyes locked onto a symbol he recognized. He im- mediately turned and spat on the ground. Turning his back on the structure he now realized was a temple, he returned to his horse and tried to sort out his thoughts enough so he could make an intelligent decision.

For close to one thousand years not one person in the world worshipped the old Gods. A millenium ago when the worship of Gods was common, two of them got into a dispute. Each claimed that the other was evil. Their priesthoods managed to get several countries each to support their cause. The resulting war nearly wiped out the human race. The armies were so equally matched that instead of one or the other securing victory, all they did was wipe each other out.

From that time forward it was decided that anybody worshipping the old Gods would be drawn and quartered. If anybody found that Cothar had taken shelter in a temple after he got back, his enemies would have all the excuse they needed to have him executed immediately. It didn't appear that he had much choice, however. Those tracking him would find him eventually, and probably in a much less defensible place.

Taking a deep breath, Cothar decided to make the best of a bad situation. Going back to the doors, he peered though the crack but was unable to see anything. Bracing himself, he threw his weight against the door.

The door, perfectly balanced on its hinge, opened easily at Cothar's overeager attack. He fell flat on his face, having the misfortune to land on his already injured left arm. Rolling quickly to get his weight off it, he placed it perfectly in the path of the rebounding door. After several moments the pain subsided enough for him to gasp air in ragged breaths.

Laying there on the floor Cothar decided to take in as much of the place as he could before he was ready to stand. The temple was very decrepit. Stones from the ceiling littered the entrance hallway. On the floor next to him several stones blocked the other door from opening. They reached nearly to what was left of the ceiling. Focusing his examination on the inside of the door, he saw that it was capable of being barred shut, but that there was nothing in sight that would serve as a bar. Glancing back up at the ceiling somthing registered that hadn't before. A block directly above him that looked like it was ready to fall on him at any moment! This gave Cothar the impetus to move out from under it. Once he was outside, he went back to his horse and tried to decide what to do. There didn't seem to be any way to defend the entrance from the scouts that were after him. There seemed to be three of them, he wasn't sure of course, but it felt right when he thought about it. He couldn't handle three, two maybe, but not three, especially not with his arm in the condition it was. Just when he was about to give up and try to find a way around the cliff and back home, his eyes fell across the rope hooked to his saddle.

"It just might work," he mumbled under his breath. Galvanized into action, he grabbed the rope from the saddle and led his horse into the temple.

* * * * *

From the vantage point his window proffered, Cothar was able to spot his pursuit about a mile from the temple. He hoped his plan worked, otherwise he had just set himself up in a deathtrap. During his grace period while his pursuiers were catching up, he managed to explore the temple fairly well. The main hall was pretty much the only place where the deterioration was very evi- dent. That and the hall immediately above it.

The rest of the temple was mostly small rooms and meandering hallways. He hadn't explored much into the far back of the temple, but he had a fairly good idea of how the front of it was set up. There were only a few good places to fight if his idea didn't work out. Quickly he moved to a point in the temple where he was both able to observe the approach of the scouts and see the entrance though the holes in the ceiling of the main hall. It didn't take long for the scouts to approach the temple. They spent only a little time discussing before they started towards the entrance. Cothar was gratified to learn that there were indeed only three scouts in the search party. When they passed out of view from the window he shifted position slightly to get a better view of the entrance. As he did so, he realized that he was sweating profusely. This would never do, he needed to be calm incase his trap didn't work.

Suddenly the hall filled with a booming sound as the door slammed against the wall. Cothar had a quick impression of two men, one on the floor and the other about ten feet behind, before the block that he boobytrapped crushed the man on the floor. The trap had worked perfectly! Unfortunately only one of them had been killed in the trap. He had tied his rope around the bar brace on the openable door. The brace on the blocked door served as a pulley to pull the stone from the ceiling. It had taken him twenty minutes to set it up with his injured arm, and several close calls. Once he even thought he was going to be crushed as the block shifted.

Before the two remaining scouts had a chance to recover, Cothar quickly and a quietly as he could, ran out of the hall through two rooms and down a stairway to reach his hiding place. He would have prefered to be in this spot when the door opened, but the statue he was hiding behind blocked his view of the entrance. He needed to know how many had been killed by the block. 'Well,' he thought, 'at least the odd are now only two to one.

Soon Cothar was able to see the two survivors slowly walking through the main hall. They were being extremely cautious in their actions, probably quite a bit more cautious than they were before they opened the door. Within a minute at the pace they were going, they would pass the statue that hid him. Hopefully he would be able to take one of them out and get away before the other could react. Across from his statue was a hole into another room. He set it up to seal itself with rubble right after he pulled himself through.

Cothar shook his head as he realized he wasn't paying attention to his enemies. They were nearly even with his position. When they were two steps past the statue, he sliped out from behind it and raised his seven inch stilleto to stab the hindmost scout. But once more his bad luck struck again, he kicked a small rock with his foot.

The first man turned around in a flash causing the second to look over his shoulder. Cursing under his breath, Cothar shifted his aim and managed to plant the stilleto into the rear scout's left eye. He fell with a scream as his companion launched himself at Cothar. As his opponent covered the distance between them, Cothar quickly realized that he wouldn't have the slightest chance of ducking out though the hole. Deciding on his course of action, Cothar raised the rapier he'd been holding in his right hand and engaged the scout.

Cothar finally had a chance to get at good look at the scouts as he parried several blows. They both wore tight mesh chainmail surcoats and helms. This was academic in the case of the scout with the new eye ornament. With this information under his belt, Cothar changed his pattern from generalized defense to a devious setup for a counterattack. Since he could only attack the face or the legs successfully, he launched an attack for the legs. None of the thurst would have connected if the scout failed to parry, but they were agressive enough he couldn't afford to test them.

In keeping with his intent to distract, Cothar made just enough feints to the head for good fighting style. The scout was too good for Cothar to feel comfortable about this fight, but nonetheless, he was confident he would win. The scout fell for the trap laid in Cothar's offense, increasingly leaving his head open for attack. At the right moment, Cothar lunged at his foe's neck, nearly decapitating the poor fool. Before Cothar could feel the rush of adrenalin that accompined victory, he glanced down to realize that the scout's sword had pierced his chest just below his heart. He had managed to dispatch the scout but had not been able to avoid taking a lung shot himself. Cursing with pain, Cothar quickly grabbed the sword in his chest before the collapse of the scout could slice the sword tip up through his chest to his heart. He succeeded, but not without a great deal of pain. Carefully he pulled the sword out. It had not gone all the way though, but his lung was already filling up with blood.

'Great,' he thought disgustedly, 'my luck strikes again. I managed to defeat Krast's scouts, only to die from my own wound a short time later.'

Coughing into his fist, Cothar retreated deeper into the temple towards where he had left his horse. He noted absently the blood that stained his glove. He knew that he was dead. That he should just find a comfortable place to formalize the occasion. He knew, however, he just wouldn't accept that as the answer to his problem. Grimly smiling to himself, he thought of how he would probably try to dig his way out of a caved-in mine. The room his horse was in was about as far back in the temple as he'd dared explore in the time he'd given himself. The room was rather small to leave a horse in, but there were no visible signs of decay. Though the door was was melenium old wood, it was still as solid as any other oak door of recent construction. The room itself was about twenty by twenty feet across with a ten foot high ceiling. Along the far wall was what Cothar dimly recognized as a four foot high stone altar. Unlike other rooms he'd run across in the temple, this one had no furni- ture or ornaments in it.

Closing the door behind him, Cothar went to his horse and grabbed the medical kit from the saddle. He set it down on the block and began the torturous process of removing his jacket and tunic. He almost blacked out, but he managed to remain concious knowing that he might not wake up if he did. With that done, he pulled a linen bandage out and began the slow process of tending to himself.

Glancing up at the horse, Cothar was pleased to note that the gelding was still calm. He was quite sure the smell of his blood would have upset most other equines. There was enough of it on his clothes that a swamp rat with its nose removed could still find him. This particular horse, however, had gone through scout training, a process that produced some of the best horses in the known world. Though battle trained, they were also trained to be totally silent unless otherwise commanded. They also responded to any given command instantly, even if it appeared to lead to pain or death. Cothar himself had seen a scout trained horse commanded to attack a mountain cat, and do it! There probably would be more of these horses if it weren't for the fact that only a third of the horses entered in to training came out alive.

That dismal thought brought Cothar out of his reverie. He quickly finished tending himself and put away his medical supplies. He picked the kit up and was stepping back to the horse when his feet got tangled up and he tripped. The pain was excruciating, but he managed to stand back up.

"AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!" he screamed despite the pain in his lungs. "If any of you blasted Gods still exist, I'll serve you if only I can bring about the distruction of Krast's horde!" The echo was still dying as Cothar realized what he had just said. The cold feeling in his gut was just having a chance to settle in when it struck him that HE had been the one who had said it. Both those cold feelings were eclipsed when room began to get brighter.

Cothar turned around and saw that the wall behind the altar was glowing. While Cothar watched, the wall continued to grow in brightness until it was blinding white. Somehow Cothar could look at it without hurting his eyes. Just when he thought it couldn't get any brighter, the light faded. As a matter of fact, not only did the light fade, so did the wall! Cothar was left in a room with a floor, ceiling, and three walls. Where the fourth wall had been was now a door into a golden yellow sky filled with fluffy, pale blue clouds.

Despite the shocking difference from the norm, Cothar didn't pay much attention to the skyscape. In front of him, even though he cold see no ground, stood an extremely handsome young man. Cothar noticed that the youth had curly blond hair, pale white skin, deep blue eyes, and a sardonic expression. He wore a sleeveless white tunic that extended to his knees and was secured at the waist with a belt of gold. Cothar was still trying to assimilate all this when the young man spoke.

"Well, well, well," the youth spoke, "I see we have another stupid idi…, I mean faithful servant." The voice was pleasant to hear, even though the tone was much deeper than expected for a youth. What he had said, however, chilled Cothar to the bone. The youth appeared to be of normal height, but certain things led Cothar to believe otherwise. One was that he also appeared to be at a fair distance from Cothar, which would have made him appear to be smaller. Another was that the motion of the clouds was such that there appeared to be a brisk wind out there, but the youth's tunic barely rustled.

"I am Zerth," the youth spoke again. "I am one of the 'blasted Gods' you promised yourself to. By the way, you do realize just how stupid that promise was, don't you?" All Cothar could do was to dumbly nod his head. Before he could gather his wits, he started coughing again. When he managed to stop a couple of minutes later, he was so light headed he could barely stand. He could tell that he had only a few minutes left before he would pass out and die.

"Tsk, tsk," Zerth clucked, "How can you expect to serve me like that? You're barely even alive. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to fix that," he finished, negligently flicking his hand toward Cothar. From that flick sprung forth a bolt of gold light that sped toward Cothar, striking him full on.

For a few moments Cothar was surrounded by the light before it faded. When it was gone he realized that he was no longer dizzy. In fact, he was more alert than he'd felt in a long time. It was a couple of seconds before he noticed that he didn't hurt anymore. His chest felt normal, and looking at his arm he saw that the gash he had received was no longer there. Shocked, Cothar ripped the hastily made bandage from his arm to find that there wasn't even a scar. Shifting his examination, Cothar peeked under his chest bandage and found that the only blood on him was a small patch that had soaked back from the linen. Cothar turned to face Zerth and realized the God had been patiently watching his astonished examination.

"W-W-What? How? Why?" Cothar managed to spit out.

"Well, let's answer your questions in order," Zerth said, tiling His head and resting it on His right palm. The elbow of the right arm in turn was supported by the left palm. Somehow the gesture seemed effeminate to Cothar.

"The answer to what, is I healed you of all your wounds. Even the scar on your left palm you got in childhood is gone." Zerth waited for Cothar to confirm the statement by examination then continued.

"The answer to how, is because I willed it."

"The answer to why is a bit more complex. It deals with that very stupid promise you made a couple of minutes ago. You see, I'm not like most of the other Gods around, a fact you will realize shortly and be very grateful for. It allowed Me to transport you to My `waiting room'. Put basicly, which it's al- ready to late to do, I wanted another agent and you let Me pick you."

"As to why I picked you personally, it's because you probably have the most open mind on your little mudball of a world. You also are an excellent fighter and a quick thinker. You don't just charge into a situation when you believe that it can be solved without violence. I need that quality in my agents." Cothar used the time Zerth was explaining to pull his wits together a bit. When Zerth mentioned agents for the second time Cothar interjected, "Why do you need `agents'? Don't Gods just gather worshippers, or some such thing?"

"Most do," Zerth replied, "I happen to be one that doesn't. You see, most Gods gain power through their worshippers, I don't. That's one reason you were very lucky in having Me show up. If another God would have answered you, He would have demanded that you start up His religion on your world. Me, all I'm going to do is have you serve me personally in return for saving your kingdom."

"But why do you need agents?" Cothar reiterated, "Why don't you just do what you need by yourself?"

"Well…" Zerth hesitated, then appeared to make a decision, "I suppose I can tell you. It deals with what Gods actually are. I'm sure that you wouldn't be able to understand the technical details, several Gods don't Themselves, so I'll try an analogy that will be easier to understand."

"The best way to think of Gods is as fifty foot tall giants. We all live in a castle that is large enough to house us. But this castle isn't built to our specifications. There are several halls that allow us to move about freely, but there are large portions of the castle that are build to normal sized humans. There are even whole areas of the castle that only humans can get to. The Gods are more than capable of breaking down some walls to get to where they want. They can even do so without getting hurt, but They may bring the entire castle down on Their heads. This may not kill Them, but it will certainly kill large numbers of humans."

"This is where the agents come in. They can go where the Gods can't. Most of Us use religious servants for agents, but I don't have religious followers. I only have my agents. I have a lot more of them than other Gods do, and I have a reputation among my peers of getting things DONE."

"Now," Zerth said rubbing his hands together gleefully, "let's go over the terms of your servitude. I believe you stated that you would serve a 'blasted God' if you could bring about the distruction of the barbarian Krast and his army?" It was more a statement than a question.

"You mean I'm bound by that stupid promise?" Cothar asked in disbelief. "I wouldn't have said it if I'd known that anybody would listen. I mean I only said it because I was in pain! I-I- I can't break the agreement…, if there is one?" Cothar asked, confused, trying to find any way out of this terrible situation.

"You are most certainly bound by it!" Zerth exclaimed, apparently disgusted with Cothar. "You were bound by it the moment I healed you! If you really want to, I can break our agreement, but I don't think you will like the result," Zerth ended in a lighter tone with what could best be called sadistic grin.

"What do you mean?" Cothar asked, his hackles rising at Zerth's sudden change in tone.

"Welll. . .," Zerth drawled, "if I broke our agreement, I would have to leave you in the exact same condition I found you in. That would mean that you would still have that hole in your lung, and that you would be dead within the hour. Your kingdom will be overrun by an opposing army headed by a petty little man named Krast."

At this explanation, Cothar's shoulders drooped in defeat. "It looks like I'm going to be serving You then," he said. "How are You going to help me defeat Krast's horde? What are You going to do, wave Your hand and have them all disappear?"

"Not exactly," Zerth grinned, "another God owes Me a favor. He's got an army of religious zealots. Great fighers, and the fact that they have six arms does help them when they go up against bipeds."

"I believe that your Krast has about fifty thousand warriors?" Zerth asked, savoring the shocked expression that wouldn't stay off Cothar's face. Cothar nodded and Zerth continued, "I believe that two hundred thousand warriors would take care of them quite easily."

"I thank you!" Cothar exclaimed, still stunned but grateful.

"When will you be able bring them here?"

"It wouldn't do any good to bring them here," Zerth said calmly, with his ever present relaxation. "Why don't you open the door behind you?"

Off balance, but resigned to compliance, Cothar followed Zerth's instruction and received yet another blow to his mental stability. When the door was open, all Cothar could see was more of the same skyscape that was visible from the vanished wall. 'At least,' he thought, 'I seem to be getting used to these shocks.'

"As to when I will summon them to your world," Zerth interjected into Cothar's silence, "which I believe was what you were trying to ask, it depends on you."

"What are You talking about?" Cothar asked. "I though You said I had to serve You in return for Your help in destroying Krast."

"I have to get some confirmation that you will be capable of serving me." Zerth replied in a hurt tone. "You can't expect Me to do all that work without knowing whether or not you will even live through your first assignment. For all I know you are incapable of handling the tasks I have for you. When you have completed your first job I will take care of Krast," Zerth said with finality.

"Now," Zerth said after a minute, His smile back, "on to the conditions under which you will work. Also, you will have several benefits. First off, I have a partner for you. He isn't quite what you would consider a normal human, but I'll get into that later. His name is Quer-Ling, and he is one of the more powerful mages around. He is another of My agents and will help you through your ordeals."

"Second, I have a weapon for you. I really shouldn't do this, but I've always had a soft spot for beginners. Your weapon is a sword, somewhat similar to a rapier. It's something I whipped up myself. The blade of it is so sharp it will cut through about anything. And if that weren't enough, it is also capable of absorbing a few direct attacks by another God. Only about three or four at a time, but more than that, and I would have had to make it alive–and I don't think you're ready for that."

"Third and last, you are under My protection. On your world, I will arrange it so that no one will try to kill you for serving a God. I am well aware of the opinion your world has of Gods. Oh, point of interest, you may not realize it, but the general attitude of your world towards Gods in general was enough to keep any of Them from entering it without a direct request. It's one of those limitations I mention to you in the castle analogy. However, you were kind enough to provide Me with an engraved invitation."

Zerth finished his monologue and then snapped his fingers. An item appeared on either side of him. On Zerth's right was what looked like a dagger. On His left was an obsidian statue a little less than half of Zerth's height, wearing black chainmail. Before Cothar had a chance to ask about them, they moved towards him and entered the room.

Cothar realized just how big Zerth was. The obsidian statue was actually about nine feet tall, and the `dagger' was actually a thirty inch rapier! The sword had a normal hilt, but the blade consisted of a metal dowel a quarter inch in diamater and a transparent metal arc. The ghostly metal curve was attached to the rod at the hilt, but other than that, they didn't appear to touch. Examining it closer, Cothar saw that while it WAS a rapier, it resembled a single edged cutlass.

Cothar turned from the floating sword to look at the statue. It was a work of art, clothed in black chainmail with all the little items that would normally be left out of a sculpture. The strangest thing about it was the eyes, they were a faintly glowing red. Cothar moved toward it to take a better look when the eyes slowly blinked.

Focusing his attention on the face of the statue Cothar realized his mistake. It wasn't a statue; it was a living being which turned to Cothar and extended its hand. Cothar took it and the being said, "I'm Quer-Ling. I guess you and I are partners. Zerth said your name is Cothar. Glad to meet you."

"Ahem," Zerth cleared his throat, causing Cothar and Quer- Ling to turn back to him. "Cothar, you will be getting your as- signments though Quer-Ling. He will help you along on your tasks, but you will be the one in charge of the team. I know it seems that your team is mismatched, but Quer-Ling is a terrible strategist, that's why I teamed him up with you. I must be leav- ing now, but have fun, kiddies. Tootles," Zerth grinned while the wall reformed between them.

"Well," Quer-Ling broke the silence, "I guess we'd better be getting on our way. Why don't you grab your sword and I'll get the sheath for it. After all, you just can't stick that in an ordinary scabbard, it'll cut right though."

Cothar turned back to what was now his sword. It was still floating in the air where it had come to rest. Hesitantly, Cothar reached out and took hold of the hilt. When he had a good grip, the sword lost its weightlessness and settled into his hand comfortably. Cothar turned back to Quer-Ling to find that the black giant had a scabbard in his hands. It didn't look like the sword would fit into it, though, it was shaped more for something like an fencing epee.

Quer-Ling tossed the sheath to him and Cothar caught it with his free hand. Taking a closer look, Cothar saw that for most of its length, it was only wide enough to hold the rod. The last inch an a half before the opening, however, widened out enough to admit the arc of ghostly metal. "It won't fit in," Cothar com- plained to Quer-Ling. "It narrows down so the blade can't go in more than an inch."

"Just try it," Quer-Ling responded to Cothar's exasperation. Cothar attempted to comply, just to prove Quer-Ling wrong and gasped when it fit perfectly.

"How does it do that?" Cothar asked.

"It's a little difficult to explain," Quer-Ling said, rub- bing his chin. "What the sheath does is seperate the sword into two different dimensions. One is ours, that's the one that holds the non-cutting part of the sword. The other holds the edge of the sword so it can't cut anything while sheathed. Enough about the scabbard though, we need to be getting on our way." Though eager to get underway, Quer-Ling waited for Cothar to attach the scabbard to his belt and stow what gear was left out from the medical kit.

Opening the door showed only the parts of the temple that were there prior to Cothar's divine interview. When they reached the entrance, however, Cothar discovered that his trap had blocked off the entrance. It was removed quickly by Quer-Ling rolling the block out of the doorway. Cothar managed to recover his rope before the block was moved, after all, `one never knows when one might need a length rope'.

Outside Cothar realized that he still didn't know where they were going or what they had to do. Quer-Ling replied, "We're supposed to get a jewel from the crown of some king. He rules the kingdom of Rastan or somthing like that. The jewel is the activator for a magic sword that is needed to gather together an army for some God Zerth owes a favor to. Something to do with this prophesy that has to be fulfilled before they will form an army. Whatever the reason, we need to get the gem. Nobody who knows what it is has been able to get at it since your world sealed itself off."

"At least Rastan is on the opposite side of my kingdom from Krast," Cothar said relieved. "We still have to ride through my kingdom to get to Rastan. I need to keep from being seen by anybody who knows me, they'll think I'm deserting. I don't need that added to my already bad reputation."

"I may be able to help you there," Quer-Ling said, "do you have a map that shows both where we are and where Rastan is?" Cothar did, "It shows most of my kingdom and a lot of the surrounding kingdoms. I was using it to mark the positions of Krast's force, but it should be good enough for whatever you need it for."

"Yup," Quer-Ling said, and waved his hand over the parch- ment. The map glowed blue except for several red dots on it. "Which dot is closest to the King of Rastan's castle?" Cothar pointed at on that was about twenty miles from the castle. "Good," Quer-Ling replied cheerfully, "I can teleport us there and we can be at the castle in less than a day."

Cothar rolled up the map and put it back into it's pocket in the saddlebag. He turned around and saw Quer-Ling get on a horse that hadn't been there five minutes earlier. It resembled one of the large northern draft horses. Its eyes were like Quer-Ling's, only they glowed so redly they appeared to be flaming coals. "Where in all Halls of Rothgar did that thing come from?" Cothar asked.

"It's my horse" Quer-Ling replied camly, "You couldn't ex- pect me to ride any of your ponies. They wouldn't be able to take the strain of supporting me. You ready to go now?" Cothar nodded and Quer-Ling rode his horse forward. They walked forward for about a hundred feet when suddenly before them opened up a circle of red light. Quer-Ling rode camly foward into it. Cothar realized that this was their transportation to Rastan and spurred his horse foward into it. There was a momen- tary feeling of disorentation which quickly passed. Cothar found himself and Quer-Ling in a forest which was different from the one he left.

The rest of the day, what was left of it, was spent travell- ing through the woods. They camped near the edge of the forest, taking care to conceal their presence from the locals. Quer-Ling asked Cothar, "Could you sketch out the floor plan of the castle for me? I might be able to help you work out a plan. I have a few powers that might make the job a lot easier."

"Well," Cothar paused, "I really don't know much about the floor plan of the castle. I've only been there twice, and then only on occasions of state. I do know that the crown jewels are kept in the northern tower under a constant guard. The tower is mostly a giant staircase. The room at the top has no windows and only one door. There are two guards at the top and ten at the bottom. I think there are more that are kept on the stair it- self, but I'm not sure of that either. The rest of the castle I only have the roughest of ideas. What were you thinking of that might help?"

"I have a lot of magic at my disposal in this world," Quer- Ling replied, "especially since not much energy has been used for close to a millenia. None of what I know will teleport us into a barred room with no windows. I can put several guards to sleep, but my limit is about twenty. We're sure to run into more than enough to put me over my limit before we reach the top of the stair. In addition to that, it's only a normal sleep. If anybody yells, those asleep will wake up. Can we get to the out- side of the tower from the outside of the castle walls?" "Yes," Cothar answered, depressed, "but it won't do you any good. Even though the tower is part of the north wall, the bot- tom half has been polished as smooth as ice. The top of the tower was built so that no climbing hook could find purchase. Even if we could I don't see how we could break our way though a foot of solid stone."

"But we can," Quer-Ling grinned, "with your sword, that is. Remeber what Zerth said about it?"

"Yes, but no sword can cut though solid stone!" Cothar ex- claimed. "I could see maybe chipping at it, but that would ruin the sword."

"Your sword can," Quer-Ling said slyly. "Why don't you go over to that boulder and try to slice it in half. Go on," he urged.

Cothar got up and went over to the big rock. It was about four feet in diameter and roughly spherical. He gathered himself to damage his strange looking sword. He looked back at Quer-Ling who was still grinning at him. Inhaling shaply Cothar drew his sword and struck his hardest blow at the defenseless rock. The sword passed though the boulder unimpeded. It continued on into the ground until the hilt stopped it from further progress downward. The boulder split into two roughly equal halves. Where the sword hadn't touched, the split looked like normal stone, but where the blade had sliced was mirror smooth. Cothar turned to stare at Quer-Ling, who merely smiled even wider and said, "Put your sword away and see if my plan should work." "Ok, what's this master plan of yours?" Cothar asked. "I need a good laugh," he said, sheathing his sword.

* * * * *

Three hours before dawn Cothar and Quer-Ling broke camp. Having camped only five miles from the castle, they reached it with over two hours left until daylight. The tower was an impos- ing structure, but the duo gave it only a cursory inspection. "Let me see that map again," Quer-Ling asked. Cothar handed it over and Quer-Ling examined it, making red dots glow on it again. Quer-Ling touched one, and it popped off of the map floating in front of him. "Are the stables fairly isolated at your keep?" he asked Cothar.

"Yes," Cothar responded. "Why do you want to know? My keep is on the far side of Dracu, my kingdom's capital. Wouldn't it be easier to just ride there when we're though here?"

"Yes, except for one reason," Quer-Ling answered. "Your en- tire keep is in an area I can teleport to. We can go there after we're through here. It will save quite a bit of time. Hold on a second while I find an empty stall or two for our horses." Quer- Ling continued to look in the red sphere for another minute, then snapped his fingers and the sphere disappeared.

Quer-Ling turned back to Cothar and said, "I think we should teleport the horses to your keep now, before we break into the tower. That way, if something happens, our horses will be at your place and we can always join them."

"Fine with me," Cothar replied, and quickly removed every- thing he though he might need from his horse. He got in position at the base of the tower and turned back in time to catch Quer- Ling doing his trick. A glowing red disk appeared in the air above both horses and lowered itself onto them. The horses dis- appeared inch by inch as disk dropped to the ground. When the disk touched soil, it vanished and Quer-Ling walked over to Cothar.

Cothar prepared the base of the tower for their ascent by cutting notches in the stone two feet apart, forming the start of a ladder. When he could reach no higher, he climbed on Quer- Ling's shoulders and they started up the wall. It took surprisingly little time to work their way up to the top of the tower. Cothar would cut a notch into the wall about six inches deep and Quer-Ling would slip the chunk of stone out and fling it into the field below. When they reached the proper height, Cothar cut a three inch wide slit all the way though the wall.

Looking into it, Cothar said, "I can't see anybody in there, but I don't know for sure. If there IS anybody there, he is sit- ting around in the dark. I can see some of the tables the stuff is on, and none of them are close enough to matter." "Good," Quer-Ling said, "let's get on with it then. You aren't the lightest of burdens you know."

Cothar proceeded to cut a four foot wide square out of the tower wall. He angled the cuts outward from center of the square, so the block could fall into the tower from its own weight. Within seconds it was done, and Cothar sheathed his sword.

Cothar looked down at Quer-Ling and received a nod of con- firmation. Cothar gathered his breath and hit the block as hard as he could with the pommel of his dagger. The giant chunk of stone slid smoothly inward and hit the floor with a resounding boom. Cothar jumped into the room, turning to help Quer-Ling in. Both in, Quer-Ling waved his hands and all of the torches in the room lit themselves. Before they had a chance to do anything else, the door to the room burst open and two guards rushed in. Quer-Ling swung his pack at the one rushing toward him, disarming the unfortunate guard.

Cothar managed to dispatch his opponent quickly. The guard was not used to having his sword fall into several pieces when he used it. Cothar glanced over at Quer-Ling just in time to see the guard opposing him fall with a broken neck. "Get that shield up fast," Cothar ordered. "I can hear the next guard on the steps." Quer-Ling rushed to comply, and they were both rewarded with the sight of a guard slamming headlong into a transparent blue wall. "Now, which one of these gems is the one we need?" Cothar asked, facing piles of treasure heaped on tables and pouring out of overstuffed chests. Quer-Ling glanced up and waved his hand at the treasure. "The large ruby that's glowing purple now." Cothar went through the treasure, of which several gems and pieces of treasure glowed in different shades of the rainbow. Cothar found it in the Rastan crown of state. It was the foremost gem, around which the crown was built. Cothar cursed his luck again. If it was ever found out who had taken it, he would have one more enemy. He glanced at Quer-Ling and saw sweat on his obsidian brow, and the shield was wavering. Cothar quickly ripped the gem from its foundation and yelled to Quer-Ling that he was ready. Quer-Ling waved toward the hole in the wall and a red disk appeared on the other side of it. The instant it stabilized, both of them ran to it and jumped though the hole, passing from sight into the disk.

Cothar rolled on ground covered with straw and slammed into a wooden post. Quer-Ling was more fortunate and merely rolled into a small haysack. Before he stood up, Quer-Ling waved at the disk they traveled through, causing it to fade from existance. Cothar stood up and looked around, trying to place where they had landed. Within seconds, he had indentified it as his own stables. He was aided by the fact that the two stalls next to him contained his and Quer-Ling's horses.

"Well, we got it," Cothar said, holding up the gem. "Where do we go from here?

Quer-Ling opened up the stalls and led their horses out. He turned to Cothar, saying, "We still have enough time to get to Dracu before dawn. It would probably look good if you returned the gem to Zerth at dawn. Beyond that is anybody's guess. Sound good to you?"

"I guess so," Cothar replied as he took his horse from Quer- Ling. "You realize the reception of Zerth isn't going to be all that great."

* * * * *

Ten minutes before dawn found Cothar and Quer-Ling at the gates of Dracu. "Let me in!" Cothar yelled at the gatekeeper. "It's Earl Cothar of Nucree! I have to see the king as soon as possible!"

"Keep yer pants on!" came the reply. "I'm goin ta open the gates now." True to his word, after a few moments the gates swung wide. The moment they were wide enough they slipped into the city of Dracu and headed for the castle at the top of the hill.

Unlike most cities and castles in his world, Dracu had a wall that surrounded the entire city as well as an interior wall to protect the castle. It made for greater efficiency in defend- ing the place, but getting to the castle took longer. Cothar and Quer-Ling managed to cover the distance in three minutes, five minutes less than it normally took.

There was no problem with the gatekeeper at the castle. Cothar was quite well known; however if Quer-Ling hadn't been wearing a hooded cloak, they wouldn't have gotten in. A mes- senger was sent to notify King Michael that Cothar and a friend waited in the courtyard.

After they dismounted, Cothar asked Quer-Ling, "How do you know that the king will come to us before sunrise?" "The same way I know that Zerth will show up at the crack of dawn," Quer-Ling answered, showing Cothar a glowing yellow sphere. In the sphere Cothar could dimly see Zerth grinning maliciously and waving at him.

A minute before dawn King Michael came storming into the courtyard. He was little over forty, but grey had yet to encroach into his ebony mane. He was a large man, but very wiry due to his constant attention to his fighting. His voice also evidenced his wellbeing when he shouted, "What's going on here! Cothar, you aren't supposed to be back for another week or so! Who's this hulking giant with you?"

Quer-Ling removed his cloak and peered down at the king and said, "I am Quer-Ling. I am not from your world. We are here to complete a transaction. If you look up, you will see it take place."

The king looked up just it time to see the first rays of the sun strike the top of the castle. The glow of dawn spread down like a living thing. Within seconds everything but Cothar and Quer-Ling were covered in the glow. Above everybody in the courtyard a deep blue counterglow formed. Zerth stepped out of the sphere of blue light, which faded out behind him. "I am Zerth," He said, His voice rebounding in the court- yard. "Cothar, do you have My property?"

Cothar nodded and held out the gem which Zerth caused to fly up and land in His hand. He concentrated on it for a second, they it vanished from sight. He turned back to Cothar and said, "You have fulfilled your end of the agreement. I will now ful- fill my end." With this pronouncement a creature appeared in front of Cothar.

The creature resembled a giant spider, slightly taller than a normal man. It had two legs and six arms, which were all folded in front of it's bulbous body. There were several weapons strapped about it's body, which was covered in a fine fur, and what appeared to be symbols of rank. It bowed to Cothar and said in a raspy voice, "If you show me where to place my troops, I will get around to defeating your enemies."

Cothar turned to get his map from his saddlebag, but float- ing between him and his horse was a giant map. It was faintly transparent, but it accurately displayed all of Krast's forces. Cothar turned back to the creature and said, "There they are, place your troops where you would. You know them better than I do. Use your best judgement." The creature nodded, then it and the map faded from view.

"Cothar, nobody but you and Quer-Ling will hear or remember this part of the conversation." Zerth said, His sardonic grin once more on His face. "The forces I brought here will take care of Krast in about two days time. You will probably be getting word of their defeat in about a week. To keep you from being killed in your sleep I am going to set it up where you will be invulnerable for two weeks. I won't be able to do this again. Until it's over, though, anybody who tries to kill you will die by the method they wanted to use on you. When I need you again, I'll get ahold of you two through Quer-Ling. Oh well, back to talking to the others now," Zerth ended, losing his smile again. "Now hear this," Zerth yelled, His voice loud enough to be heard across the town, "Cothar and Quer-Ling are my agents! Anybody who tries to hurt them will die by their own hand! I will not try to start a religion here! Anybody who tries to start up one under me will have no athuority! Cothar is not guilty of the crime he is charged with! I will not allow him to be punished for what he was forced to do to save his life! That is ALL!" with this pronouncemet, Zerth began to glow as bright as the sun. Everyone but Cothar and Quer-Ling had to look away. When the glow faded, Zerth had vanished, along with the glow that had covered everthing.

Cothar turned to Quer-Ling and said, "Zerth sure fills his end of a deal. I could use more friends like him." Cothar then led Quer-Ling to the quarters that were reserved for him in the castle. They had to navigate around several stunned people to get there.

* * * * *

"Hey, Cothar!" Quer-Ling yelled to rouse the slumbering Earl. When a mumble came from under the pile of blankets Quer-Ling decided Cothar was conscious enough to continue. "Good news, reports have come in from the front. It appears that most of the Horde has been wiped out. What's left isn't worth mentioning. Our troops sort of faded out of sight when the fighting was over though."

Several seconds passed and Quer-Ling though he might have to start over again when the blankets exploded off the bed. Cothar sat up with an expression on his face best described as `bright eyed and bushy tailed'. "That's great new!" he exclaimed hoping off the bed, "We've won!"

Walking over to a chest next to the bed, Cothar opened it and pulled out his clothes. Enjoying the morning sun, Cothar slipped a velvet tunic on and proceded to get dressed for the morning. "Have you heard anything else of interest?" he asked. Despite his unususal appearance, Quer-Ling has slipped into the life of the castle, and as a result was able to pick up a lot of information.

"Well, it appears that they've finally gone to poisioning," Quer-Ling commented amused. "I don't see many more methods they can try. Every method they've tried so far has resulted in the death of the assassin. Last night after dinner, some cook wound up dead with no marks on his body. Word is he was known to be always in debt due to gambling. I think in another couple of days we won't have to worry about this anymore."

"That's good," Cothar sighed, "I'm getting sick of people behind me stab themselves in the back. Oh, heard anything from Zerth yet?"

"Yes, It seems that the gem we took was only half of a larger gem that was needed. We've got to go back and get the other half."

Quer-Ling looked at Cothar's stunned and depressed expression and relented. "Just kidding, we should have a month or two before our next assignment." Quer-Ling barely dodged the flung pillow.

THE END