Chapter 2
(go back)Stepping smartly through the gap, Jal bows extravagantly. "The castle... is ours!" he announces.
"And for my next trick...."
"What? Nobody else at all?", replies the youthful Ryzar. "Did you fight them all?".
Duplar takes this claim with a very large pinch of salt. He decides to probe Jal's mind looking for a controlling influence or even a substitution! He succeeds in getting into Jal's mind, but Jal is quite away that his mind is being read. As far as Duplar can tell, Jal is who he claims to be. There's no evidence of any alien presence in his mind.
Reylorna sighs in relief. "It is good to hear that it is all clear. But how can that be? Only one person? The creature's mind that I felt was so strong, I thought for sure it was near by. We should look around."
"Um, not quite. There was one. Not a very lively one, either. But I nobbled him all by myself". Suddenly, Jaldaric comes up short. He glares at Duplar, his good humour dropping away like a cloak.
"I was content to let you look in my mind before," he growls, his Voice quite terrifying, "but that was with my consent. I did NOT give you leave to rummage around in there whenever you didn't quite hear what I said. Keep your Kandar mind-ripping to yourself. Get OUT of my HEAD!!"
Both mentally and verbally, his approach and reaction leave no doubts; this is the real troubadour all right!
"I meant no disrespect, friend Jaldaric, but we know our enemy is capable of dominating minds", Duplar replies diffidently, "You demonstrated your own strength of will not that long ago when you resisted the compulsion to attack another member of our party, and I was impressed by that. Yet our enemy is an unknown quantity and may be more potent at short range or even at touch" "Another point is that we know they are capable of creating duplicates of people. I suspect they have not had enough time to prepare a duplicate of any one of us, but this is not certain. "There is a way you can assure me of your identity with out my entering your mind. If you have some talisman you normally have on your person; items of jewellery work very well - then pass it too me. I can read it and will be able to tell if it if some ill has befallen you recently. I will then give it back so you can pass it me again next time. "In fact it may be useful if everyone in the party nominates some object for me to know them by."
Reylorna suddenly looks concerned. Up to this point she was perfectly willing to take everyone at face value, but Duplar's words are clearly worrisome.
"My concern Duplar is that even you could have been controlled as well. How can we be sure of any of us? I mean no disrespect, but all of us are suspect given the creature's powers. Even myself. What do we do now? We can't let it divide us. We can't let it win that easily, but yet... we must figure out some way that we can trust each other."
Her face shows the worry she feels.
Jaldaric looks, truth be told, a bit sheepish at this point. He obviously regrets his outburst, for he tips Duplar a brief bow and grins at Reylorna.
"Well, he's obviously the real Duplar. No doppleganger could sound that pompous and be convincing," he continues, tipping the wizard a wink.
"Good point Reylorna, except that you and I can verify each other. Duplar then lays the ring Jal gave him on his palm, and concentrates on it.
Kylar hands a Duplar a small knife, the sort one might use to get stones out of zarandar's hooves rather than one used in combat. "This knife was issued when I first joined the legion, so it should be associated with me by now".
Ryzar considers for a moment, and hands Duplar a small object about the size of Duplar's thumb. "It's one of my fire-darts", he says, "I might need it back when I'm down to my last one".
"Well, we've got our way into the place", says Kylar, slipping easily into 'military officer' mode. "I can't believe it was guarded by just two people. Our mission is to find out what happened here. We must proceed with extreme caution until we have combed as much of the place as we can".
"Jaldaric, you say you overcame the defender above us. Does he still live? And if so, what measures have you taken to secure him. If he's alive, we must question him before we proceed".
Reylorna grins sheepishly. "Duplar I don't have much to offer other than my apprentice's robe. And frankly I need clothes. So I guess you will just have to verify my mind by exploring. I can do the same for you, as you suggested. Unless of course the monster takes over both of us. Then there would be no verification. Oh well, we can burn that bridge if we come to it." She turns ready to meet Jal's prisoner if that is what he turns out to be as opposed to a battle field loss.
Jaldaric's cocky air sags a bit at the word "secure".
"Uh, I clobbered him pretty hard," he replies a bit lamely. "He should still be up there; can't see him wandering of just yet."
"We'd better see if he's in any state to answer our questions", the soldier replies, "How do we get up there?"
"Stairs over there. The 'cullis windlass is up there as well."
Partially in an attempt to redeem himself, Jal scans the inner gates of the castle, to see if there are any signs of them being watched. But there is no sign of movement either outside, or within the castle.
"Right", replies Kylar, "You and the two mind-reamers head up there, Ryzar and I will keep watch.
Jal nods to Duplar and Reylorna and leads them up the stairs to where his erstwhile dancing partner is still slumbering.
-o0o- Jal, Duplar and Reylorna climb the stone steps leading to the battlements, and pass through a wooden door into the upper floor of the gate tower.
Just behind the massive winch for the portcullis lies the man on the floor, exactly where Jal had left him. He lets out a low moan.
"He is waking up." Reylorna sounded almost happy. She was reluctant to use her powers on him due to what had happened last time. She waited maybe a physical interrogation would tell them more, or possibly Duplar would want to delve deeper.
"Hmm, so it would seem", comments Duplar, "This may or may not be a good thing. When we have the leisure, Reylorna, I will show you the differences between the waking and sleeping mind. The sleeping mind is less organised - making it more difficult to understand, but far more pliable once you have understood it".
The man stirs again, and both Reylorna and Duplar recognise him. A mid-ranking wizard, originally from the north, by the name of Zurnethal d'n Arusyn. He was a close friend of Reylorna's nemesis, Tanala, until they had a 'disagreement' a few months back.
"You know much more than I dear Duplar, so I bow to your wisdom", says Reylorna, "For now I do agree, let us protect ourselves. I recognise him. Do you think Tanala's hand is in this?" Her face shows her genuine concern.
"You're telling me! You mean you know this person?" replies Jaldaric in some surprise.
"Yes, he is a wizard of the Academy of the Mind.", she replies.
"Tanala? Highly unlikely!", retorts Duplar, "Besides, these two broke up and he went off in a huff. I never did understand why. Then again, I'm not about the academy enough to hear all the gossip. Jal keep me covered, this situation is not at all clear!"
"I hadn't seen any sign of weapons when I trussed him," puts in Jal, checking again just to be sure.
-o0o- "Reylorna, I'm relying on you to back me up here if anything goes wrong, Duplar announces. With those words he takes a deep breath and concentrates. She agrees without really knowing what she can do.
The prisoner lets out a moan, and tenses up, as if he's putting up a mental fight of some kind.
"No!", he says! "Can't..... won't....". Flecks of blood appear on his lips where his has bitten his tongue. Then his head lolls over to one side.
Duplar staggers back in shock, and collapses against the wall. Jaldaric moves to support him and manages to stop him hitting his head.
"Wubble wubble wubble...." moans the prisoner. The Jal's eyes, he certainly doesn't look likely to break his bonds and run away just yet!
Reylorna begins to worry. Seeing Duplar stumble back, she places her hand on him, and asks "are you OK?"
She wants to delve into his mind and help, but he might fight her in self defence. The prisoner doesn't look much better, possibly even dead. She concentrates and tries to enter Duplar's mind. She isn't sure what she can do, but she wishes to try and help.
Duplar is still conscious, but obviously stunned. "Something in there", he says, "It was controlling him. Forced me out. Whatever it is, we have to find and destroy it, before it destroys us!".
Reylorna can't help but give him a small smile. "I know I met the thing when I entered his mind before, and when I was trying to help Jal. I feel that it should be some where near, but I don't know where."
"It looks - to my untrained eye at least - as if he's been nobbled by the same thing that attacked me," Jaldaric offers, "though it's your field not mine."
He thinks a moment. "It looks like he's trying to fight it, though. Is there anything of the original left in there you can try and help throw off the possession?"
"Think it tried to destroy the man's mind", Duplar says in a still weak voice. "Still don't know what it is, but.. but.. everything that's happened, the deaths, that madman outside, the vordral, all it's doing. Same alien feeling. We have to stop it!".
-o0o- Reylorna gives Duplar a small smile "I know. I met the thing when I entered the man's mind, and when I tried to help Jal. It was too powerful for me, I couldn't even defend myself very well from it. I feel like it is nearby some place, but I am not sure where."
"How close? Any idea where?", asks Duplar, "Maybe we find it's physical body and kill it. Or we link minds to defeat it; it's too strong for one of us alone".
He hesitates for a moment.
"I need rest first.... It... took all my strength".
"I don't know how close, I just felt it stronger here", replies Reylorna, "I am not even sure it is in the castle, but I think it is. Can you rest and walk at the same time, or do you need sleep?" Her voice gives away her concern.
"The more rest, the better", he replies, "How secure is this guard tower we're in? What do Kylar and Ryzar think?".
She takes a moment to look around out of the arrow slits and decides, "we should check out the other floors and make sure it is clear. We can probably bar the door downstairs and that will give us some protection. But as long as the creature possess our prisoner's mind, we are vulnerable to any more of its associates. It will know we are here."
Jal wasn't asked, but he puts in his dur-glerin anyway.
"We won't get far carrying him," he suggests, pointing to the supine prisoner. "Better off in here, we can at least see what's going on. Besides, he may not be the be-all and end-all of the evil - and we owe it to the free humans to root it out if we can."
There is a ladder leading up to the flat roof of the tower, which gives a good viewpoint of the land to the front and sides of the castle. The tower stands some way outside the main walls of the castle, linked by ramp flanked by stone walls of similar height to the walls of the castle proper.
At the rear of the tower, two doors, one of them open, give access to the battlements on the top of those walls.
There is no sign of life in any direction. Things are quiet. Ominously quiet.
"Well at least we should look around for a moment. Duplar you rest.", says Reylorna as she walks over to open the other door and see where it led.
Duplar is not feeling like clambering about the castle right now.
"That's a good point Reylorna, but if we are slightly more precise things might not be quite as bad as they seem. We must assume that our enemy knows anything our involuntary guest here knows. Which includes much about who we are and what we can do. However, the source of new information has just dried up. All it takes is one of our number to keep him comfortable yet ignorant of what the rest are doing and the rest of our party can move about the castle.
"The snag is, who watches the watcher? Should two stay here?
"I'd be quite happy to stay put here till I get my breath back, but can the rest of you trust me to stay safe here alone?"
What if we bind, gag and blindfold the prisoner", Reylorna suggests, "He can't possibly do anything then, can he?" Her question sound genuine as if she doesn't really know the answer".
"I wouldn't be sure of that - after all, he clobbered me between the synapses and he couldn't see me then," points out Jal. "How about Ryzar stays with you - to guard the gate as well, with that gun-thing of his - and the rest of us go check the place out."
-o0o- Jal descends the steps to fetch Ryzar and Kylar, to find to his horror that neither of them are anywhere to be seen. There is no evidence of any fight, but had there been a struggle it would surely have been heard by those above. Everything is still worryingly silent.
Jaldaric is perfectly justified in having a very bad feeling about this. Horror-struck, the bard searches around in increasing panic. Now, just when things are sticky, to lose their strong right arms!
He goes as far as to look out through the gate in case they've been hypnotised into wandering off, then returns to break the bad news to Reylorna and Duplar. Not least that there're hostiles still active in the castle, capable of dominating minds as strong as Kylar and Ryzar's!
But there is no sign of either of them outside, unless they've got well beyond the castle into the surrounding woodland. Of course, there are only two ways they could have gone; away from the castle, or deeper into it.
He tells the two upstairs the dire news.
"Oh no!", says Duplar, "I thought Jathren had issued Kylar with one of our mind shields. If he was wearing it at the time and was still dominated, then both the guild and the academy are out classed in a big way."
"Would you not have detected it if they had?" Jaldaric asks Duplar.
Duplar pauses.
"Good question. If the assailant was using direct line of sight to concentrate, then the odds would be against my noticing. If the assailant was using some form of area effect technique, then perhaps I might. Of course we have no evidence that mental power was used at all - a mundane trick can be just as effective."
"When our new prisoner attacked us, he was using line of sight, that was how I spotted him. So maybe there is more than one agent around." Reylorna offers not to helpfully.
"Well, If they're in trouble deeper in the castle, we'd better go and rescue them!" Jaldaric declares, leaping to his feet.
It is quite clear that if no-one restrains him, he's likely to dash off and start looking immediately!
"We should look for them, but we shouldn't split up. Right now we are all at risk. Let's just take this one step at a time. Let's go off and look while Duplar rests and watches our friend. OK?"
"Right!" replies Jal, who sees no immediate problem with this.
-o0o- Jaldaric marches up the ramp, followed by Reylorna and Duplar, who's got enough strength to walk, provided he's not caught up in a big mental battle. The gates at the top of the ramp stand ajar, and Jal passes through the gateway.
He now stands in a courtyard, facing the stone wall of the keep itself. To his right stands a tower, positioned to defend the ramp. A path leads between the keep and the tower, towards a larger courtyard. To his left stands a forebuilding with a door that in all probability leads into the keep itself. An archway between this forebuilding and the outer wall leads to another courtyard.
Jal suddenly feels very exposed here. If there are any snipers hiding in the towers, he's an easy target. As if to remind him of the fact, beyond the tower to his right he sees a body lying on the ground.
Still there is no sound, except for bird-song carrying across from the nearby woods.
He surveys the scene with a worried expression. "We're sitting ducks here," he opines, "Kylar would have our ears for sticking our heads up like this."
Reylorna stays undercover and keeps her eyes open, hoping to spot any trouble prior to it happening.
Duplar looks out at the body. "We did leave a body out there. I wanted to search it, but the sniper fire from the castle made it too dangerous. Hang on! that's one body too many! Does anyone recognise it?"
"I don't," Reylorna answers him with a shake of her head. "Nope, nor me," puts in Jaldaric.
Duplar sends a tendril of thought towards the prone figure, but it fails to connect. He's unable to detect any surface thoughts, probably because there aren't any.
"Well folk, if there ever was a mind in that body there isn't now!"
Duplar hears what sound like Ryzar's and Kylar's voice just around the corner!
Reylorna, the eternal optimist says "wonderful it sounds like they are near and OK.". She starts walking in the direction she heard their voices.
She turns the corner, and to her horror she sees the pair of them squaring out as if to fight!
As she watches in horror, Kylar lunges at the young borderer, who only narrowly manages to dodge the blow from Kylar's vyrn blade.
Reylorna feels a thought in her mind '...possessed by the Kolder...'
-o0o- While guarding the entrance down below, Kylar had muttered something Ryzar didn't quite catch, then marched into the castle. Ryzar, puzzled but unconcerned, considered for a moment calling out to the others, but then, choose to follow Kylar.
'After all,' Ryzar thought to himself, 'Kylar is a veteran Legionnaire! I'm sure he must simply be going to check something he's just noticed.'
And so, Ryzar quietly followed Kylar. However, once a corner is turned, and Ryzar could no longer see the gate, behind himself, he began to worry. Quickening his pack, Ryzar reached out to touch Kylar's arm; in an effort to gain his attention.
"Kylar, where do we go?" Ryzar asks, grabbing hold, lightly, of Kylar's arm, "Is it wise to go so far from where our companions think us to be?"
"Look, I know what I'm doing!", the legionnaire replies angrily. Ryzar notices something strange about his manner. Although Ryzar has little experience in dealing with the kandar race, there's a change in Kylar that he doesn't like, and a strange blank look in his eyes.
"I doubt not that you know what you're doing, friend Kylar." Ryzar says, carefully, "I just ask that you share that knowledge with me. I do not know what we're doing. And I am concerned that we leave our posting, without telling the others where we go."
Still walking just a step behind the legionnaire, Ryzar observes his companion carefully.
Kylar makes no reply. Grim faced, he draws his sword, and turns to face the young borderer.
"Calmly, friend Kylar, calmly, now." Ryzar says, taking a step back from the glassy-eyed Kylar, and drawing his own, heavy, shortsword for defence, "You are under the influence of the Kolder! Fight it, my friend. I do not wish to fight with you...."
Kylar lunges at the young borderer, who only narrowly manages to dodge the blow from Kylar's vyrn blade.
Ryzar continues to defend himself from his Kolder-possessed companion, Kylar. He does his best to parry the strikes made by Kylar, but, Ryzar suspects the professional Legionnaire to be a better swordsman than he.
'Should have spent more time practising', Ryzar thinks to himself, dodging another of Kylar's blows, 'Than I did wandering the foothills of Lormt...'
Ryzar takes a defensive stance; all the while hoping for his other companions to come, and waits for Kylar to make the next move.
The companions arrive just in time. Reylorna begins concentrating in an attempt to put Kylar to sleep, it seems the only reasonable thing. She assumes that Ryzar has to be the one referring to the Kolder...
"Try it Reylorna! I don't have many shots in my wand and its a long way back for a new one!", shouts Duplar, as he draws his lightning wand anyway and ensure it is set to "Stun". He really doesn't want any accidents this time.
-o0o- Kylar raises his blade to strike the young borderer again, and hesitates, almost frozen in mid action, giving Ryzar time to back away.
Reylorna immediately detects the presence of that powerful alien entity in Kylar's mind. Before she can put him to sleep, the entity recognises her and attacks. She barely keeps conscious in the ferocious mental blast directed at her. She shrieks mentally as she desperately tries to protect herself.
Duplar sees an opportunity and fires. A blue bolt strikes Kylar in the chest, he drops the blade and staggers backwards.
Taking advantage of this, Ryzar drops his own blade, then lunges towards the stunned Kylar, in an attempt to tackle him to the ground.
Jal has now managed to get around behind his erstwhile friend, but Kylar collapses at Jal's feet. Under the circumstances an additional bonk on the head may be overkill. There are much greater dangers to face.
Dropping to his knees, beside the fallen Legionnaire, Ryzar gives a quick look up, at Jaldaric.
"I shall attend to Kylar, Jaldaric, my friend." Ryzar points, with his chin, towards the distressed Reylorna, "See what you can do to help the Witch. Don't worry, I'll bind Kylar's hand, until we know that he is no longer under the influence of the Kolder."
Ryzar quickly checks Kylar for wounds or bruises, hoping that Kylar still lives; it is not unknown for the Kolder mind-control to leave a man's mind destroyed, once the grip is broken.
Once Kylar has been tended, Ryzar takes a bit of bandage linen from his pack, and binds Kylar's hands behind his back, and then removes any weapons from Kylar's belt, that might come within reach.
-o0o- Meanwhile the tremendous mental force that lashes against Reylorna's mental shield. It holds.. Just. Reylorna gets the impression she's up against a being of great power, but little skill of subtlety. Reylorna continues to defend herself, not knowing what else to do.
Unaware of Reylorna's continued battle, Jal takes her elbow and speaks soothingly to her.
"It's all right, Reylorna. We have him under control and Duplar will soon find out what's happened to him. You can relax now."
Her eyes showed the strain, the perspiration seeping from her brow. She struggled to ask for help. "Duplar, Ryzar join me. Together we can fight it." She hoped it came out intelligible.
"Then we must try, Apprentice", says Duplar, "Excuse my touch, but my powers really do work better with physical contact." He lays his good hand on Reylorna's shoulder and, bracing his mind for combat, offers her a mental link.
Ryzar hears the strangled cry of the witch Reylorna and looks up from where he has just finished binding the unconscious Kylar. After seeing the strain on her face, Ryzar rushes over her.
"What can I do to help, my Lady?" Ryzar asks, holding out his hands in a pleading manner, "I see no enemy to fight?". Unsure of what is needed, he takes Reylorna's hand.
Jaldaric has seen this sort of thing before. In point of fact, he doesn't like it very much, it's Kandar mind violation in its' classic form.
Discomfited, he moves slightly away from his comrades, leaving them to fight whatever internal battles need to be won - though he gives them a reassuring grin as he does so. While he can't help with this, he reasons, he can be better occupied keeping an eye out for the physical. Sword in hand, he sweeps his gaze around the area, looking out for signs of danger or threat.
Something he can relate to better than this mind-ripping.
He immediately notices the body lying on the ground that had earlier been overlooked in the rush to separate Kylar and Ryzar. He carefully approaches the face-down corpse, and gingerly turns it over. It's a middle- aged kandar, plainly dressed. He estimates that he's been dead for at least two days, possibly more, but there's no signs of any physical injury.
Jaldaric can't really tell how he died. He does find that body is completely unarmed. Keeping very alert, although perhaps the fact that the body hasn't been tidied away is a good sign, Jaldaric rifles the kandar's corpse for identification or other clues about him. Still blissfully unaware of the terrifying conflict going on in the ether, his search turns up little; a few coins, a ring, a grubby handkerchief, and a clear crystal of some kind.
He straightens from the body, shaking his head with some sympathy; "I hope we don't join you, cully," he murmurs. Then he returns to his watch-keeping, scanning the area in case of any threat. After a moment or two, curiosity gets the better of him, though, and he starts to examine the clear crystal, the only item he has kept, a little more closely.
-o0o- Reylorna, Duplar and Ryzar link minds. Reylorna feels her power boosted by that of the two others. She's practised this before, training back in Calbeyn, but this is the first time she's tried to do this for real.
The thing is aware of her still, but now she can reach out with her mind, boosted by that of her two fellows.
What follows is an invisible battle of tremendous force. All are aware of the conflict, although only Reylorna herself can focus the power. The monster's mental force comes rushing up like a wave breaking against a cliff, but Reylorna's strengthened mind shield holds firm. Her counterattack is clumsy, though, and has no effect.
Reylorna aims mental blows at the creature's mental shield, trying to chip away at the defences in order to get at it's mind. The creature reacts with fury, attacking Reylorna desperately, trying to overwhelm her mental shield with sheer force.
But again her mental defences hold, while she can feel the creature's mental walls collapsing, until she's able to send a mental probe beyond it's crumbling defences. She breaks though at last.
She feels fear in the alien mind. But by now the battle has fatigued her greatly; she has very little strength left.
From the feedback Ryzar can feel, this is no Kolder. It's something far more alien.
"I can't do much more, but I am willing to try", she offers in mental contact. She is willing to give everything she has to defeat the creature if they both agree to continue to try. She would hate to give up this close to victory, but she doesn't see very much of another choice.
I will do as you command, Witch Reylorna the young borderer sends.
"You have done well enough to get a probe in", comes Duplar's mental reply, "Can you not feel that fear? You are in, we are already most of the way to victory. I know how to buttress your mind and we have power, if unskilled in our techniques, to draw from Ryzar. You can relax your own contribution to the defence if you are tiring, but the link is yours, don't drop it. Remember you don't want to be in contact if it should die, so killing it this way might be a very bad idea. Look about in there; we need knowledge more than its immediate death. Where is its body? What does it want - other than to kill us?"
It recognises a presence in it's mind, and bends all it's will to try and force the unwelcome triple presence out. It does not succeed.
Reylorna's not in deep enough to detect anything other than surface thoughts, which are difficult to read because of the very alien-ness of the thing. It doesn't seem to be very intelligent, despite it's great power. The thoughts are a swirling mass of confusion, expressed in pictures rather than words.
The thing does indeed have a physical body, although the image Reylorna feels is very fuzzy. It's not humanoid, more like some four-legged beast, covered in fur.
She thinks it's outside the castle too, there are distorted pictures of the castle, in monochrome vision, with the castle dim, but with humanoid figures glowing brightly.
There is also another fleeting image, of a strange faraway world with a different sun, and unrecognisable plants and trees.
Now she's inside of the creature's defences, she attempt to use her powers to put it to sleep. Maybe then they can find its body and kill it. She makes sure that she thinks about the images from the creature's mind and the angles of the castle. Hopefully it will be enough information.
The images from it's alien eyes are distorted and disorientated, and Reylorna senses that she's seeing memories and associations rather than what the creature can currently see. The view keeps switching to different points, some inside, some outside the castle.
Reylorna looses contact as soon as she tries to put it to sleep. Whether it's losing consciousness broke the link, or whether it forced her our of it's mind isn't entirely clear.
She staggers a bit and offers "well I think we did it. Now we need to find it. I just don't know where it is. I think the visions we were looking at might have been memories. I really can't be sure. " Leaning on Duplar and Ryzar she shows her fatigue.
Ryzar offers his support, to the fatigued Reylorna. "If the Kolder-spawned beast is, for now, defeated," Ryzar says, "Then, perhaps, it's hold upon friend Kylar is loosed. Are you strong enough, Witch, that I might go and check on Kylar?" Ryzar grimaces, a smile with no humour, "If he's well, I am sure that he will not appreciate the bonds that I have tied about him..."
"I could try, but I think I am too fatigued. Maybe Duplar would check him out." She offers the exhaustion showing in her frame".
Duplar, too, has used just about all his reserves of strength in the previous mental battle.
- o0o - Continue to the next exciting episode