They had not been in place for very long, when noises from another hallway indicated that the guards were bringing in prisoners of some kind. Alaire thought he was prepared for almost anything, but his heart stopped when he realized the three battered individuals being hauled before Carlotta were Nai- tachal, Lyam and the King.
That was too much for Kai; he gasped, and started to squirm out. Alaire had to grab him and haul him back, covering his mouth with one hand, and whispering urgently that all Kai could do at the moment would be to get himself killed. Finally Kai stopped struggling, and nodded, and Alaire took his hand away. Fortunately, the noise the prisoners and their guards had made more than covered the noises Kai had produced. By the time the two of them had settled once again, the prisoners were all arranged before the obscene bulk of the former half-fairy.
"Well, your Majesty," Carlotta said, her relatively pleasant voice something of a shock, coming out of her hideous body. "How kind of you to finally pay me a visit! I have been looking forward to this for some time.
Tell me, how did you enjoy my little gifts to you?
The King shook his head, puzzled. "G-gifts?" he fal- tered. "Who are you? What gifts?"
Carlotta's slit of a mouth stretched in what must have been a smile. "Why, my little cordial," she replied pleasantly. "And my little tonic. You remember. The cordial you shared every night with Sir Jehan, and the tonic you drank every morning on the advice of Soren. They were both so beneficial to you." She attempted to cock her head to one side, a grotesque reflection of a flirtatious movement she must have used decades ago. "Of course, your son didn't find the results so pleasant, but you became so much more malleable to Jehan and Soren's suggestions. After a while, you wouldn't even listen to anyone else! I found that so useful, especially after trying to deal with that tiresome father of yours. He wouldn't accept anything of mine."
She pouted; another expression that must have looked very pretty on the Carlotta of aforetime, and looked so horrible on this monster that Alaire shud- dered. The King was turning purple with suppressed anger, and Kai had gone quite white. Lyam only looked resigned, as if he had expected something of the sort. There was no visible effect of this revelation on Naitachal, but then, the Dark Elf had always been difficult to Naitachal had been bound tightly, and gagged; Car- lotta was taking no chances on his even humming anything, Alaire suspected.
"And Naitachal!" the creature said in a parody of sweetness. "How very pleasant to see you here! I confess, this was a benefit I had not even thought of, much less hoped for! I thought that I would have to seek you and Tich'ki out all by myself -- once my conquest of Suinomen and Althea was complete, of course. It is a pity that you two are the last of my enemies still alive -- although I suppose I can take a kind of belated revenge on my brother Amber by destroying his descendants. That dratted Kevin died childless, more's the pity. Although, in a way, you are both his child and the child of his Master." She regarded him thoughtfully. "So you became a Bard and renounced your former magics. The more fool you, Naitachal. You should know that the Powers will always overcome the Light. To give up the greater power for the sake of the lesser is the act of an idiot -- " She laughed. "And now I have stopped your lips, and removed your puny Bardic power from you. You are helpless, Naitachal. Think on that for a moment!"
But Naitachal didn't give anything up, Alaire thought, puzzled. He must have told me a hundred times that you can't "give up" Necromancy, you can only stop practicing it. The knowledge and the power stay with you, whether you like it or no But Carlotta had turned her attention to Lyam, ignoring Naitachal for the moment "And Lyam, good, honest Lyam. You thought your spies were good ones.
Did the King know you still kept your network of informers after he made Jehan his Spymaster? No?
Why how remiss of you not to tell him!" She laughed.
"But your spies never told you about me, did they? So perhaps -- "
Alaire never had a chance to find out what "perhaps" was all about -- for at that mo Naitachal called upon the powers he had not used in a hundred years -- powers that did not require the use of voice or hands.
The guard holding him gasped once.
In a single instant of time, the man's hair faded from black to white, his skin wrinkled and sagged, and he collapsed, falling, even as Alaire watched in numb horror, into ancient dust.
And Naitachal's eldritch eyes blazed, not blue, bu The bonds holding him parted with a crack; he pulled the gag from his mouth with one hand, and ges- tured with the other -- and a sword suddenly appeared in it. A sword as black as night, that swal- lowed up all the light -- and which, as Naitachal sliced into the torso of the guard behind him, laughed softly when it touched the man's flesh.
Naitachal did not deliver more than a scratch -- and yet the guard collapsed in the boneless way of a man struck dead on the spot.
Gods. A Death Sword! Alaire had only that single moment of realization -- because all seven hells were breaking loose at once.
Carlotta shrieked, and raised her stubby arms. The rest of the guards recognized the sorcerous origin -- and power! -- of Naitachal's weapon, and backed away frantically. Lyam and the King took advantage of their fear and confusion; Lyam bent over and butted the nearest of his captors in the stomach with his head, and the King slammed his considerable weight down on his jailer's foot, then cracked him in the jaw with a quickly raised knee when he bent over. In moments, they were free and armed, and squaring off against opponents.
Carlotta began lashing the crowd impartially with bolts of power, until Naitachal banished his Sword and stepped between her and her intended victims, his own hands upraised, and black energy pouring from them and forming a shield between Car- lotta and the rest of her lair.
He's using his Necromantic powers to save us al Powers Alaire knew Naitachal had hoped never to use again.
Powers that could claim him for their own, and this time, with no turning back. The Powers of Darkness were jealous masters, and both Naitachal and his bardling knew how narrow his escape from them had been. Invoking them now could mean an end to his cherished life as a Bard.
But there was no time to think about that. Kai was already halfway out of their hiding place, trying to get to his father's side to aid him, and Alaire could do nothing else but follow.
With Naitachal involved in holding off Carlotta, and thus effectively out of the fight, the guards had regained their courage and were trying to retake their prisoners. Alaire and Kai arrived none too soon.
King and Lyam fought back-to-back, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Jehan had singled out Lyam for his own target, and was proving to be no mean adver- sary. Kai fought to get to his father, with a single-minded ferocity that frightened Alaire, and a blood-thirstiness that astounded him.
All Alaire could think to do was to protect Nai- tachal's back from any of the guards who might think to come at him while his attention was on Carlotta. So he cut his way across the room, and stood defending his Master, doing his best to ignore the flying bolts of power, the dark smokes, and the licking flames of the magic raging between them.
Then, just as he fended off yet another atta Carlotta sent a lance of power, not at Naitachal -- but at Archenomen.