Finally the shaking stopped and the three couples withdrew from kissing and turned to blink at one anther in amazement. Alain put words to it. “We are alive,” he said in tones of wonder.
“And not much the worse for wear,” Quicksilver agreed.
“Cold Iron seems to weaken these creatures as badly as it did their witch-moss doubles,” Gregory concluded.
“It must indeed,” Cordelia said, “for how else could six quite human people prevail against such ferocious monsters?”
“There is, then, some reason to feel we may match wits with their master.” Alain turned somberly to the cavemouth. “Let us see what lies within.”
“Aye, let us,” Cordelia agreed.
Hands linked and gaining strength from one another, they detoured carefully around the Boneless, still intent on its hideous meal, and stepped into the gloom of the rocky portal. The others followed with similar caution.
The rocky walls narrowed as they went farther in until they found themselves in a twisting downward passage. The first twist cut off the light.
“Hold, I pray you.” Cordelia pulled Alain to a stop, held her palm out flat, and thought hard of racing molecules. A dot glowed to life above her palm, glowed and grew till it was a large rotating globe, casting light all about them.
Alain sucked in his breath. “Lady, you shall never cease to amaze me!”
“I hope that shall prove true, sir,” she said with a heavy-lidded smile, then turned to start walking downward again. “Let us see what lies below.”
Step by step they traced the downward spiral, wary of booby traps and enemies, but nothing stayed them. Tension mounted as they crept farther and farther below, tighter and tighter until Allouette thought she would scream.
Suddenly, though, the tunnel opened out into a cavern, pillared with stalagmites and stalactites joined, lit by lamps hammered into the walls—jets, rather, tapping into fissures of natural gas. They gave a yellow glow to the huge chamber, focusing on the center—a dais holding a giant chair, almost a throne. Within it sat a tall, skinny, horse-faced man clad in blood-red robes with a high pointed hat, bright vindictive eyes under lowering brows, an aquiline nose, and a smile of smug satisfaction.
“Welcome to my parlor,” the sorcerer purred. “Call me Zonploka.”
CHAPTER 16
“You would have us call you Zonploka?” Cordelia asked. “Then it is not your real name. Are you afraid we will use it to work magic against you?”
Zonploka only answered, “Be sure you shall not leave this cave alive.”
“I am not sure of it at all.” Geoffrey fondled the hilt of his sword. “Your creatures seem to be quite as allergic to Cold Iron as the spirits of our world. Wherefore, though, have you sent them among us?”
“Why, to weaken you for the assault of my armies,” Zonploka answered, still grinning. “These you have met are only a few of my host. There are hundreds of monsters, and after them shall come thousands of soldiers, each eager for loot, for the joys of conquest, and for land that he may rule to his own liking—which, I assure you, shall not be yours.”
“They shall not come,” Alain said, frowning, “for there was more to the assault of your vanguard than terrorizing the people, was there not? You may not enter unless we invite you.”
“True,” said Zonploka, “but some fool of a peasant is bound to finish the Taghairm as the dreams I’ve sent have shown him—and he will do that soon, for you few who have realized my stratagem have come here into my stronghold and shall not go out again!” He threw back his head and laughed.
The companions exchanged a glance, saw the anger and grim resolution in one another’s eyes, and knew that the sorcerer was wrong—that they would go back into their own world no matter how many men and monsters Zonploka sent to stop them. Still, it was folly to let an enemy know their strength, so Alain turned back to the sorcerer and asked, “What will you do once the portal is open to you?”
“Why, send my vanguard of monsters and my army of cavalry and footmen, of course,” Zonploka said, grinning. “They shall despoil the land even as you have said—and rule it all according to my dictates. I shall be king of your land even as I am king of my own!”
“King of stony desert and waterless wasteland,” Geoffrey said, flint-faced, “king of a land with no life. How came your domain to be so sterile, sorcerer?”
Zonploka only grinned the wider, toying with his wand. “It is mute testimony to my power, foolish child.”
“Mute indeed.” Allouette’s voice shook with anger. “No wonder you want our world, for you have blasted your own! What sustains this army of which you speak? What do they eat and drink?”
“The last of the cattle who used to live here, of course.” Zonploka’s grin turned feral. “Flesh for food and blood for drink—but they are few who are left, and growing fewer.”
“When you say ‘cattle,’ do you speak of cows or of people?” Cordelia demanded, trying to throttle her rage.
“Yes,” Zonploka answered her, “for once they are conquered, there is no difference. All are our beasts of burden and our meat.”
“And thus shall Gramarye be within months of their coming,” Gregory said grimly.
“Why?” Alain demanded. “Why would you wreak such devastation, allowing your monsters to come out into Gramarye and destroy everything they find? By what right would you slay a whole land?”
“Why, by the right of might,” Zonploka answered impatiently. “Is not that obvious, youngling? If I can seize the land and slaughter the people, surely it is right for me to do so!”
“It is anything but right,” Alain contradicted. “The king is there to protect the people, not despoil them.”
“Foolish innocent!” Zonploka sneered. “The king makes the nobles yield him men and money, and they in their turn exploit the people, forcing them to labor for their lord’s gain!”
“There are some such,” Alain admitted, “but they are base and vile creatures who ignore the obligations of nobility.”
“They respect the rule of nature!” Zonploka spat. “This is the natural order of things, that the strong should prey upon the weak! You must conquer all you can to prevent a rival from rising—stamp him out before he can gain enough strength to conquer you!”
“So when you learned of this portal to our world, you saw at once that you must conquer us before we conquered you,” Alain concluded.
“Conquer me! Fools!” said Zonploka with a mocking laugh. “Do you truly think you can stand against my monsters? Against my human armies? Be mindful that horrible though they are, they obey me only because I am more horrible still!”
“You have seen very little of our world,” Gregory demurred.
“What I have seen is most amusing in its weakness. Do you know how I learned of you? By a rock! A rock a plowman discovered in a meadow, one that gave out a strange sort of thumping with a thrumming that your kind, I suppose, call music! He brought it to me, hoping to curry favor, and I knew it was nothing that had ever been in this land, nor was likely to be.”
“Too pleasant,” Allouette inferred. “Too soft.”
“Soft indeed, and I never before had seen a stone that yielded to the touch! I knew that whatever land had given it birth must be a soft land indeed, and one ripe for the plucking! I made the peasant lead me to the spot where he had found it. From there I cast about with my magic until I found the gateway to your realm, small and inconspicuous though it was, and only visible when the mist rose from the river and gathered about it in a knot.”