He grabbed the bars again and shook them but they would not give. One of the guards said, “That won’t do you much good. Man can’t bend iron that thick. Believe me.”
It was Marcus, the guard who had been there when Tarsus first treated him. There were three other men sitting at the table, playing cards.
“Your master is going to unleash a demon,” Kormak said.
“He told me you were suffering from delusions,” said the guard, “and needed to be restrained for your own good till you got better. I can see he wasn’t wrong.”
Kormak studied the man. He had keys on his belt. If he could lure him close enough he might be able to knock the man out and get the keys and free himself. And then he would only need to overcome three armed men, he thought sourly. After that he would find Lord Tomas and then what, he asked himself? The ritual would be guarded. Lord Tomas had clearly thought things out. Still, he would worry about that after he was free. He considered faking illness but he doubted that would put the jailor within reach.
These were cautious men and strong. He was not going to be able to fight his way out of here.
There was a sound of knocking from the door at the head of the stairs leading down into the cells. The jailor walked over and looked out through a slot. He said something and nodded and opened the door. Kormak looked up and saw the wizard Tarsus. The old man limped down the stairs, walked over to the table where the guards sat and helped himself to some of their wine. None of them objected. He seemed to have some trouble fumbling the stopper back on the jug. It took him some time to get in place then he came over to the cell door and looked at Kormak.
“You could have handled this better,” said Tarsus. His tones were very low.
“Have you come to gloat?” Kormak asked.
“No,” he said.
“Shouldn’t you be helping Lord Tomas free the Ghul?”
“I should be but I am not. I told him I was too sick.”
“Why did you come here?” Kormak asked.
“I came to help you,” Tarsus said. “It was one thing to talk about unleashing the Ghul when it was just a theoretical possibility. It is a different thing entirely since I have held the amphora in my hands. I can feel the evil in the thing. I want no part in setting it free.”
“Not even if it can help you stave off death?” Kormak asked.
“I doubt it can do that now. There is not enough time left for me to learn its secrets and even if there was, I am not sure I would seek immortality at such cost.”
“But you thought differently once.”
“Like I said, contemplating a thing in theory is different from putting it into practise. And I am old and tired and I will rest in my grave.” He coughed again and more blood came up. “I have not found life so much to my taste that I look forward to prolonging it.”
“How can you help me?” Kormak asked.
Tarsus glanced over at the jailors. They lay slumped over the table, heads down, exceedingly drowsy. Tarsus walked over to the head jailor and took the keys.
“Why are you doing this?” Kormak asked.
“I am a man no worse and no better than yourself, Sir Kormak. I do not want to see that demon unleashed and I believe that between us, we might stop that from happening.”
“I am still not entirely sure I can trust you.”
The wizard unlocked the cell. “Well, when you make up your mind, perhaps you will follow me to Lord Tomas’s vault. I suspect I will prove slightly less impressive with a blade than you but I’ll do what I can.”
Kormak pushed the door of the cell. It swung open. He stepped through warily. Tarsus had already turned his back and was limping over to the stairs. He did not seem to care that Kormak was in a position to bludgeon him down. Kormak walked over to the jailors. They were still breathing. He helped himself to one of their blades and their heavy leather jerkins. It would do no harm to have a disguise as they moved through the manor house.
“They are not dead,” said Tarsus. “It was just a sleeping powder added to their wine. I used to play chess with Marcus. I rather like him.”
“Any treachery, wizard, and I’ll cut you down.”
“Then how will you find your way to the Sanctum? Ask the guards?”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“I find one of the few good things about old age is that it’s given me enough experience to cover most situations.”
“There’s no need to sound so smug about it.”
“I take my pleasures where I can find them.”
“Is that another piece of wisdom that occurred to you in your decrepitude?”
“You’ll be old too one day, Guardian, if you are lucky. I hope you encounter another soul as miserable as yourself then.”
“Well, you’ve given me some answers for them, haven’t you?”
“Glad to be of service.”
Tarsus hobbled up the stairs; Kormak followed him out into the huge ancient manor. It was dark and cold and the wind howled.
They moved across the courtyard and for the first time Kormak got a really good look at the outside of the manor. It was massive, an ancient palace that sprawled across the hilltop. Most of it had a half-ruined look to it, was covered in winter ivy and other creepers. There was a fountain in the courtyard with no water in it. The central statue was of a mermaid with dragon-spines running down her back. It was an odd thing to see so far from the sea.
“They are in the crypts below the mansion,” Tarsus said. “Lord Tomas is going to perform the ritual.”
“Why are you not there? Won’t they suspect something?”
“I told them I was too ill to take part. It was not hard to make them believe that.”
Suspicion stabbed at Kormak again. He wondered whether he was being led into some sort of complex trap. He could not see how it would work when it would have been easy enough for Lord Tomas to have him trussed up and brought to the catacombs. That did not mean it was not possible though. He had known of Old Ones who liked to play strange games with the minds of their victims. Perhaps these men were like that.
Tarsus picked an archway in the side of one tumbled down building. There were strange signs carved into the stonework of the lintel. They resembled no Elder Sign that Kormak knew of.
The old man paused for a moment. He was shivering. “At least we are out of the wind,” he said. “It chills me right to the bone these days.”
“That may be the least of your worries soon,” Kormak said. Tarsus nodded and fumbled in an alcove in a wall. He produced a torch which he smeared with some sort of sulphur paste. With a word of power, he lit it. An infernal stench filled the air.
“You can still work sorcery, I see,” Kormak said.
“A mixture of sorcery and alchemy. A trick really. All the high powerful spells are beyond my strength now, otherwise I would not need your help.”
Tarsus held up a hand and cocked his head to one side, listening. Kormak could not hear anything and he would have been willing to bet a gold solar to a copper farthing that his hearing was better than the wizards.
“They have begun,” Tarsus said.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“There are other senses than the five most men rely on. I can sense the flows of power in this place. Someone is working a ritual.”
“Why tonight?” Kormak asked.
Tarsus shrugged. “The moon is near full. The Lady’s gaze always looks favourable on the working of magic. It is a propitious time for rituals. And now they have your blade with which to compel the demon.”
“There’s another reason, isn’t there?”
“I think Lord Tomas was nervous for all his talk. He needed your blade for reassurance and he needed a host for the Ghul. Events tonight conspired to force him into a decision.”
“A host?”
“It’s not easy to communicate with the bodiless. Better to have it embedded in a mortal form. Easier to slay it with your blade if things go badly. They did not want to use you because they are afraid of your order and because you might be able to resist the possession.”