Chapter Nineteen

“So exactly where are we going?” Mercury asked while they were walking through the street.

“There’s a tower in the middle of the City. It’s called the Necromancer’s Spire. No one really knows what happened to the buy that lived there, but he disappeared ten years ago. I’ve been there once before, while I was trying to escape from a City Watch trap. It seemed like there were only a couple of windows as entrances. And, on the top floor, I found the weirdest book… Oh well, never mind that, I’ll tell you when we get there. Unfortunately, it’s near the middle of the City, so the surrounding buildings will still have people. But that shouldn’t be too much trouble for us,” he finished with a grin.

“And how, exactly, do we know which one of the towers is the Necromancer’s Spire?”

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s the only one without a door.” They continued through the streets, not bothering to hide in the shadows until they reached the populated area of the City. As they sneaked through the City’s streets, Garrett thought over the night’s events. The second loss of Viktoria had hit him hard, and he had leaped at the opportunity of getting her back. But eventually, his decency had won him over. When had his decency come to present a problem? he asked himself. It was one of those strange things unbefitting of a thief he’d picked from Mercury. He shook his head. As usual, he’d met a new person and the City was being destroyed only a few days later. At least this time it wasn’t a Keeper.

“I’m guessing this is it?” Mercury said as he came to a stop in front of a tower, breaking Garrett’s train of thought.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, this is it all right.” He pulled out his bow. “Fortunately, the Necromancer was kind enough to build a wooden roof to his spire. So,” he notched a rope arrow, “we’re going to be taking the quick way up. But watch out. Make sure no one sees you.”

“Can’t we just turn off the lights?”

“Nah. Too much bother. You go first.” Mercury chuckled and began to climb.

“The rope is strong enough to hold both of us,” Mercury said. “Come on up!” Garrett began to follow Mercury up the long rope. Soon, they were at the first window. Mercury dropped in, followed closely by Garrett, who pulled the rope and caught the falling rope arrow. While he was wrapping the rope around it, Mercury looked around him. The walls were mostly covered with libraries full of books with cryptic titles like AQUM APARUM and HUMANUM MORTIS… There was a group of three books, however, with no title. Mercury opened one up

“As the Mages have sent me here, I have a duty to… ‘enlighten’ the Keepers of the Balance Between Hammerites and Pagans. I refuse, however. What better place to delve into the dark and earthen arts than on top of the fabled City of Karath-Din? Soon, I will be capable of wielding the so-called Dark Powers. Then, it will be time to force the original city, Kunath-Din*, to submit to my power!”

Mercury pulled out the last book and turned it to the last written page:

“The Mages of Darkness have sent another mage! I must flee quickly. The Trickster is loose, and I have turned into a sufficiently powerful Dark Mage that he can find me. I must leave immediately, and pray to the Mage Tower that neither of them finds me. My spells upstairs and downstairs are safe, and I believe I am strong enough to subdue the people of Kunath-Din to my powers. I should be able to take them…

Magatarl”

“Hey, Garrett,” Mercury said. “Have a glance at this…” Garrett walked over and read the passage.

“Well, well… this is interesting… But we have something else to do, remember?”

“Right. You get the stuff, I’ll go upstairs using that elevator in the middle of the room, all right?”

“Ok. But whatever you do, don’t open the book up there,” he called out. Mercury didn’t hear him, however. He was already upstairs. Looking around, he saw a book set on a small altar. Walking over to the altar, he opened the book and glanced inside. There was a drawing resembling DaVinci’s depiction of the human range of body movement and a few words that made no sense to Mercury. He shut the book, disappointed, and turned to go downstairs…

… And saw two zombies standing right in front of him

“Ummm… Garrett!” he called out. Right at that moment, a cry of victory came from below. Garrett had found the supplies. “Garrett!” Mercury cried out again, this time letting a small amount of panic show. Then, he grasped his feelings and his panic and harnessed them. The glint of panic disappeared from his eyes as they grew cold once again. His hand came out of his cloak slowly, holding a flash bomb. Before the zombies could see what he was doing, he hit the button on the flash bomb, threw it to the ground, and covered his face with his cloak, all in one fluid motion. A large explosion and the collision of zombie body parts with his body told him the flash bomb had been successful.

He dashed to the elevator and went to the lower level. There, he saw the room had basically been turned upside down by Garrett in his search for the materials. Mercury looked around for a few seconds.

“Got a bit overexcited, I daresay?” he commented. Garrett chuckled and showed Mercury the three items: a sheet of special paper, supposedly magical, a rod of bronze metal coated with a thin layer of zinc and another thin layer of iron, and, finally, a glass replica of the Eye of the Trickster.

“The Hammerites had a stone replica, but I used that one to destroy… or, banish, the Trickster the first time. Plus, for some reason this particular spell calls for a glass replica…” Garrett frowned. Then, he shrugged. “Anyway,” he said, “we’d better get going if we plan on doing this before dawn.” Indeed, as Mercury climbed out of the window, he noticed that, on the horizon, the black of night was beginning to turn a dark, dark blue.

“Great,” he muttered under his breath. Then, to Garrett, he announced, “Garrett, we have about three hours left before the sun actually rises into the visible sky.” Garrett nodded.

“We’ll go to the Mages of Shadow and ask them to help us. But don’t tell the Keepers. I’m sure they have more like Mordak in their ranks. As soon as the Trickster is gone they will know.”

*- This is not a misspelling. The original city from whence the two cities of Kunath-Loch and Karath-Din came was named Kunath-Din.