The Cleric Quintet: The Chaos Curse

 

Cadderly didn't understand, and wasn't sure he wanted to understand. The Bouldershoulder brothers seemed secure in their secret plans, so the young priest let it go at that. He led them along the corridors of the second floor, the library quiet and brooding about them. They tore the covers from every window they crossed, but even with that, the squat stone structure was a gloomy place.

Cadderly took out his wand once more. Every time he noticed a particularly gloomy area, he pointed the wand at it and uttered the command "Domin illu" and, with a flash, the area became as bright as an open field under a midday sun.

"If we cannot find Rufo this day," the young priest explained, "let him come out to find his darkness stolen!"

Ivan and Pikel exchanged knowing looks. Rufo could likely counter the young priest's spells of light - Rufo had been a cleric, after all, and clerics understood such magic. Cadderly wasn't brightening the library for any practical reasons, then, but merely to challenge the vampire. The young priest was throwing down a gauntlet, doing everything he could to slap Rufo across the face. Neither Ivan nor Pikel was thrilled at facing the powerful vampire again, but as they followed their companion through the library, his anger unrelenting, the image of beaten Baccio still clear in their thoughts, they came to the conclusion that they would rather have Rufo as an enemy than Cadderly.

The three came down to the first floor, having met no resistance. Not a single zombie, vampire, or any other monster, undead or otherwise, had risen against them. Not a single answer had been offered to Cadderly's open challenge. If he had stopped to think about it, Cadderly would have realized that was a good thing, a sign that perhaps Rufo was not yet aware that they had come into his domain. But the young man was consumed with thoughts of Danica, his lost love, and he wanted something, some ally of Rufo's, or especially Rufo himself, to block his path. He wanted to strike with all his might against the darkness that had taken his love.

They came into the hallway that led to the foyer. Cad-derly promptly started that way, for the main doors and the southern wing beyond them, where the fire had been. There lay the Edificant Library's main chapel, the place Rufo would have to work the hardest to desecrate. Perhaps the young priest might find sanctuary there, a base from which he and the dwarves could strike in different directions. Perhaps in that area Cadderly would find clues that would lead him to the one who had taken Danica from him.

His steps were bold and swift, but Ivan and Pikel caught him by the arms, and no amount of determination would have propelled the young priest against that strong hold.

"We got to go to the kitchen," Ivan explained.

"You have no time for silver-edging your axe," Cadderly replied sharply.

"Forget me axe," Ivan agreed. "Me and me brother still got to go to the kitchen."

Cadderly winced, not thrilled with anything that would slow the hunt. He knew he would not change Ivan's mind, though, so he nodded. "Be quick," he said to them. "I will meet you in the foyer, or in the faurned-out chapel near it."

Ivan and Pikel leaned to the side to exchange concerned looks behind Cadderiy's back. Neither were excited about the prospect of splitting the already small group, but Ivan was determined to go to his forge, and he knew that Cadderly would not be held back.

"Just the foyer," the dwarf said sternly. "Ye go sticking yer nose about, and ye're likely to put it somewhere it shouldn't be!"

Cadderly nodded and pulled free of the dwarves, immediately resuming his swift pace.

"Just the foyer!" Ivan shouted after him, and Cadderly didn't respond.

"Let's be quick," Ivan said to his brother as they both looked at the young priest's back. "He won't be stopping in the foyer."

"Uh-huh," Pikel agreed, and the two skittered off for the kitchen and the forge.

Cadderly was not afraid in the least. Anger consumed him, and the only other emotion nipping at its edges, fraying the wall of outrage, was grief. He cared not that Ivan and Pikel were separated from him, that he was alone. He hoped Kierkan Rufo and all his dark minions would rise to stand before him, that he might deal with them once and for all, that he might damn their undead corpses to dust, to blow on the wind.

He got to the foyer without incident and didn't even think of pausing there to wait for his companions. On he pressed, to the burned-out chapel, the room where the fire had apparently started, to search for clues. He tore down the tapestry blocking the way and kicked the charred door open.

The smoke hung heavy in the place, as did the stench of burned flesh, with nowhere to go in the library's stagnant, dead air. Cadderly knew immediately, just from that smell, that at least one person had perished here. Horribly. Thick soot lined the walls, part of the ceiling had collapsed, and only one of the many beautiful tapestries remained even partially intact on the wall, though it was so blackened as to be unidentifiable. Cadderly stared at the black cloth long and hard, trying to remember the image that had once been there, trying to remember the library when it had basked in the light of Deneir.

So deep was he in concentration that he did not see the charred corpse rise behind him and steadily approach.

He heard a crackle of dried skin, felt a touch on his shoulder, and leaped into the air, spinning so forcefully that he overbalanced and nearly fell to the floor. His eyes were wide, anger stolen by horror as he looked at the shrunken, blackened remains of a human being, a small figure of cracked skin, charred bone, and white teeth -  those teeth were the worst of the terrible image!

Cadderly fumbled his walking stick and wand, finally presenting the wand before him. This creature was not a vampire, he realized, probably not nearly as strong as a vampire. He remembered his ring, its enchantment expired, and understood that the same could happen with the wand. Suddenly Cadderly felt foolish for his tirade in the upper level, for his waste of the wand's energy in stealing shadows. He tucked the wand under his arm and grabbed his hat instead. His free hand reached alternately for his walking stick and his spindle-disks, not sure of which would be the most effective, not sure if only enchanted weapons would bite into the flesh of this animated monster, whatever it might be.

Finally, Cadderly calmed and presented his hat, and his holy symbol, more forcefully. "I am the agent of Deneir!" he said loudly, with full conviction. "Come to purge the home of my god. You have no place here!"

The blackened thing continued its approach, reaching for Cadderly.

"Be gone!" Cadderly commanded.

The monster didn't hesitate, didn't slow in the least. Cadderly lifted his walking stick to strike, and reached back with his other hand, dropping the hat, to grab the wand. He growled at his failure to turn the thing away, wondering if the library was too far from Deneir now for him to invoke the god's name.

The answer was something altogether different, something Cadderly could not anticipate.

"Cadderly," the blackened corpse rasped, and though the voice was barely audible, the movement of air a strained thing from lungs that would not draw breath, Cadderly recognized the way his name had been spoken.

Dorigen!

"Cadderly," the dead wizard said again, and the young priest, too stunned, did not resist as she moved closer and brought her charred hand up to stroke his face.

The stench nearly overwhelmed him, but he stubbornly held his ground. His instincts told him to lash out with the walking stick, but he held firm his resolve, kept his nerve, and lowered the weapon to his side. If Dorigen was still a thinking creature, and apparently she was, then she must not have given in to Rufo, must not have gone over to the other side against Cadderly.

"I knew you would come," dead Dorigen said. "Now you must battle Kierkan Rufo and destroy him. I fought him here,"

"You destroyed yourself with a fireball," Cadderly reasoned.

"It was the only way I could allow Danica to escape," Dorigen replied, and Cadderly did not doubt the claim.

The look that came over the young priest's face at the mention of Danica told Dorigen much.

"Danica did not escape," she whispered.

"Lie down, Dorigen," the young priest replied softly, as tenderly as he could. "You are dead. You have earned your rest."

The corpse's face crackled as Dorigen bent her tortured features into a grotesque smile. "Rufo would not permit me such rest," she explained. "He has held me here, as a present to you, no doubt."

"Do you know where he is?"

Dorigen shrugged, the movement causing flecks of skin to fall from her withered shoulders.

Cadderly stared long and hard at the gruesome thing Dorigen had become. And yet, despite her appearance, she was not gruesome, he realized, not in her heart. Dorigen had made her choices, and, to Cadderly's thinking, she had redeemed herself. He could have held her there, questioned her intensely about Kierkan Rufo and perhaps even garnered some valuable information. But that would not have been fair, he realized, not to Dorigen, who had earned her rest.

The young priest bent and retrieved his hat, then lifted his holy symbol and placed it atop the corpse's forehead. Dorigen neither retreated from it, nor was pained by it. It seemed to Cadderly as if the lighted emblem brought her peace and that, too, confirmed his hopes that she had found salvation. Cadderly lifted his voice in prayer. Dorigen relaxed; she would have closed her eyes, but she had no eyelids. She stared at the young priest, at the man who had shown her mercy, had given her a chance to redeem herself. She stared at the man who would free her from the torments of Kierkan Rufo.

"I love you," Dorigen said quietly, so as not to interrupt the prayer. "1 had hoped to participate in the wedding, your wedding with Danica, as it should have been."

Cadderly choked up, but forced himself to finish. The light seemed to spread out from his holy symbol limning the corpse, pulling at Dorigen's spirit.

As it should have been! Cadderly could not help but think. And Dorigen would indeed have been at the wedding, probably standing with Shayleigh behind Danica, while Ivan and Pikel, and King Elbereth of Shilmista stood behind Cadderly.

As it should have been! And Avery Schell and Perte-lope should not be dead, should be there with Cadderly to witness his joining.

Cadderly kept his rage sublimated. He did not want that to be the last image poor Dorigen saw of him. "Farewell," he said softly to the corpse. "Go to your deserved rest."

Dorigen nodded, ever so slightly, and the blackened form crumpled at Cadderly's feet.

Cadderly considered it for a moment, was glad that Dorigen was free of Rufo. A moment later, he screamed, as loudly as he had ever screamed, the primal roar torn from his heart by the agony of the realization. "As it should have been!" he yelled. "Damn you, Kierkan Rufo! Damn you, Druzil, and your chaos curse!"

The young priest started for the chapel exit, nearly fell over in his haste. "And damn you, Aballister," he whispered, cursing his own father, the man who had abandoned him, and who had betrayed everything that was good in life, everything that gave life joy and meaning.

Ivan and Pikel thundered into the chapel, weapons held high. They skidded to a bumbling stop, falling over each other, when they saw that Cadderly was not in danger.

"What in the Nine Hells are ye yelling about?" Ivan demanded.

"Dorigen," Cadderly explained, looking to the charred corpse.

"Oo," Pikel moaned.

Cadderly continued to push for the exit, but then he noticed the large, boxlike item strapped to Ivan's back and paused, his face screwed up with curiosity.

Ivan noticed the look and beamed happily. "Don't ye worry!" the dwarf assured Cadderly. "We'll get him this time!"

Despite all the pain, all the despair, the memories of Danica, and the thoughts of what should have been, Cadderly could not prevent a small, incredulous chuckle from escaping his tips.

Pikel hopped over and put his arm across his brother's shoulders, and together they nodded confidently.

It was impossible, Cadderly realized, but these were the Bouldershoulders, after all. Impossible, but Cadderly could not deny that it just might work.

"Me brother and me been thinking," Ivan began. "Them vampires don't much like the sunlight, and there's places here that never get any, windows or no windows."

Cadderly followed the reasoning perfectly - it scared him a little to think he could follow Ivan and Pikel's logic so easily! - and the notion led him to exactly the same conclusion as the dwarves had already reached.

The wine cellar," Cadderly and Ivan said together.

"Hee hee hee," added a hopeful Pikel.

Cadderly led the charge through the kitchen and to the wooden door. It was closed and locked, barred from the inside, and that confirmed the companions' suspicions.

Ivan started to lift his heavy axe, but Cadderly beat him to it, bringing up his spindle-disks in a short, tight spin, then heaving them with all his strength at t^e barrier. The solid adamantite smashed through the door's wood and slammed the metal bar on the other side so forcefully that it bent and dislodged.

The door creaked open, showing the dark descent.

Cadderly did not hesitate. "I am coming for you, Rufo!" he cried, taking his first step down.

"Why don't ye just warn him!" Ivan grumbled, but Cadderly did not care.

"It does not matter," he said, and down he went.

Bagged

The three had barely stepped off the rickety stairs when Rufo's zombies closed in on them. Dozens of dead priests - men who had held to their faith, Cadderly knew, and had not given in to Rufo's tempting calling - filtered around the wine racks, bothered not at all by the light shining from the young priest's wide-brimmed hat.

"Where we going?" Ivan asked, hopping out in front of the others, obviously intent on leading. A zombie reached for him, and his great axe promptly removed the thing's arm from its torso. That hardly stopped the mindless zombie, but Ivan's next chop, a downward strike on the collar bone, angled to go across the monster's chest, surely did.

Pikel immediately dropped his club to the floor and began that curious dance again.

"Where we going?" Ivan asked again, more urgently, the battle rage welling inside him.

Cadderly continued to ponder the question. Where indeed? The wine cellar was large, filled with dozens of tall racks and numerous nooks. Great shadows splayed across the floor, angled away from Cadderly and the lone source of light, making the room even more mysterious and foreboding.

Both Ivan and Pikel were into it by then, hacking and banging, Ivan ducking his head to thrash his antlers into one zombie's midsection, Pikel occasionally giving a squirt of his waterskin to keep the monstrous horde at bay.

"Close your eyes!" Cadderly cried, and the dwarves did not have to ask why. A moment later, a spark shower cut through the zombie ranks, dropping several of the monsters in their tracks. Cadderly could have wiped them all out, but he realized the dwarves were in control here and that he should use the valuable wand with restraint.

The dwarves could cut through the throng, but where should they go? Cadderly considered the cellar's layout. Using one of the lesser functions of the wand, he put a minor globe of light between the racks to his right, for he knew that at the end of those racks loomed a deep alcove. The light illuminated the cubby fully, and it was empty.

"To the back!" Cadderly called to his companions. "Straight across the cellar to the back wall." It was only a guess, for though Cadderly was confident that Rufo would have sought the underground chambers (and the appearance of so many zombies added credence to this), where exactly he might find the vampire in this odd-shaped and uneven chamber was beyond him. He took up the rear as the dwarves plowed through the throng, cutting a wake so that Cadderly wasn't too engaged in fending off the zombies. The young priest's eyes darted back and forth, looking side to side as they crossed the racks, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rufo. Cadderly scolded himself for not keeping his light tube intact then, for the light on his hat was dispersed and could not seek the deepest crannies.

He pulled down both the lighted disk and the holy symbol, that he might better direct the illumination. Something fluttered across the shadows at the other end of the long racks, moving too quickly to be a zombie. His attention fixed on that spot, the young priest didn't notice the monster reaching for his back.

The blow nearly knocked Cadderly from his feet. He stumbled forward several steps and swung about, sensing the pursuit, his walking stick flailing across. It came up short of the mark, though, and the zombie waded in behind. Purely on instinct, Cadderly thrust out his holy symbol and cursed the thing.

The zombie stopped, held fast by the priest's magical strength. Yellow light limned its form, began to consume the edges of the zombie's material being.

Cadderly felt a wave of satisfaction in the knowledge that Deneir was with him. He pressed his attack, clenching his hand tight about the emblem of his station. The eye-above-candle flared to greater intensity; the glowing flames licking the zombie leaped and danced.

But the zombie remained, tapping the dark power of its master - its nearby master, Cadderly realized - for battle. Dark lines creased the fiery glow, breaking it apart.

Cadderly growled and stepped closer, invoking the name of Deneir, singing the melodies of the god's song. Finally, his holy symbol made contact with the zombie, and the thing burst apart, falling into a mess of macabre chunks and puffing dust.

Cadderly fell back, drained. How powerful had Rufo become that the vampire's lesser minions could resist his holy powers so strenuously? And how far had the library gone from Deneir when Cadderly's call to the god could barely destroy such a minor creature?

"Get the durned thing off! Get the durned thing off!" Ivan yelled, drawing Cadderly's attention. The dwarf's goring horns had done their work too well, it seemed, for Ivan had a zombie stuck atop his head. It lay flat out and flailing away with its arms and legs. Pikel hopped frantically beside his brother, trying to line up a hit that would dislodge the zombie without taking Ivan's head off.

Ivan chopped the legs from another zombie that waded too near, then took a hit in the face from the one above. The dwarf tried a halfhearted swing high with his axe, but the striking angle was wrong. He went into a spin instead, the momentum forcing the zombie flat out.

Pikel braced himself and took up his heavy club. Around came the zombie's head, whipping past. Pikel was ready the next time, and he timed his strike perfectly.

The zombie was still impaled - Ivan had to carry it around for a while - but it was no longer fighting.

'Took ye long enough," was all the thanks Ivan offered his brother. A short burst launched them side by side into the next rank of zombies, which broke apart into bits in the face of dwarven fury.

Cadderly rushed to keep pace. A zombie intercepted, and it pained the young priest greatly to view his newest foe, for the dead young man had, in Me, been a friend. A clubbing arm came across, and Cadderly parried. He dodged a second strike, fighting defensively, then consciously reminded himself that this was not his friend, that this animation was merely an unthinking toy of Kierkan Rufo. Still, it was not easy for Cadderly to strike out, and he winced as his walking stick obliterated his former friend's face.

The young priest pressed on to catch the dwarves. He recalled that he had seen something, something dark and quick, in the shadows.

Out it came from the side, from the wine racks. Pikel squealed and turned to meet the charge, but got bowled over and tumbled away with the monster. They rolled past Ivan, who was quick enough to chop the newest adversary's leg.

When the axe didn't bite in, both Ivan and Cadderly knew the nature of this foe.