Chapter 19 (Original edit)

CHAPTER XIX

The space under Dead Key seemed enormous. Strangely, for it almost certainly was below the level of the surrounding sea, there was no immediate sign of water. Instead, as the quartet wound down the gently curving stair, the air around them seemed to warm and become dryer as if someone or something was baking the moisture out of the dank tropical air. When they reached the floor to which the stairway led, the adventurers found themselves in no delved chamber, but rather a rough, dark cavern of unworked igneous rock. Neun Ja conjured another ball of witch light and Ordolf funneled more energy into his mage light so that it flared, revealing a system of tunnels and caverns leading of in all directions of the compass, but which all also tended in another direction as well: down.

Wisps of smoke wended their way about the large grotto in which the heroes found themselves giving it a murky character. The question that the quartet now faced was which way should they head through the murk. There were at least a half dozen possibilities. Fortunately, one of the quartet's members was the foremost human tracker in all of Seremoreh. Wolf peered about for signs which might suggest a path that he and his companions should take.

The woodsman found what he was looking for in the dust which covered the rock of the cavern floor. There were signs of ancient footprints and even more strangely, signs of cloven hooves like those of a deer or a bull. Both led toward one of the larger apertures in the cavern wall and Wolf signalled his comrades to follow as he began to stalk whatever had left the trail that he had observed.

The path which they followed sloped gently downward through innumerable twists and turns. Stalagmites and stalactites lined their path like silent guardians waiting for danger to come. There were dozens of branchings of the tunnel along the path, but Wolf steadily chose the one along which the footprints had gone. Sometimes detecting the spoor left by their unknown predecessor or predecessors became difficult as the dust thinned and bare rock became the medium over which they passed. At other times sudden torrents of steam or smoke billowed from a side corridor making it all but impossible to see let alone track, but inevitably the nonpareil woodsman was able to detect some sign which directed them along the correct route. Time and again when the trail seemed all but lost, Wolf would find some indicator that only he could see and the company would forge onward.

"The question," Enki thought to herself as Wolf rediscovered the seemingly lost route yet another time, "is not so much the fact that we don't know where we are going. No, far more important, I think, than where we are going is what we find when we get there. What is far more likely to kill us than where if I am any judge of the risks the I take....and the gods know that I usually am."

After a time, the quartet came to another immense open grotto like that which they had found when then entered the strange world under Dead Key. This one, like the first showed signs of having been worked by some unknown stonemason. Where the first cavern had its winding staircase, this one had a stone bridge which spanned an enormous, glowing rift of over fifty in width that ran from wall to wall in its center. It was there that the heroes from Seremoreh encountered their first signs since the doorway itself of another presence in the caverns. Standing opposite them on the other side of the bridge was a strange pair of beings, the like of which none of them had ever seen before. Both were black. Not just any black either, not inky black, not even pitch black, but a black so bottomless, so utter that it absorbed the comparatively puny light which the two mages' spells cast and the dim glow which emanated from the fissure so fully that the only hint that betrayed the presence of those who bore it was the way it seemed to suck in whatever life or energy was near it.

The figures were tiny. One appeared to be an almost featureless man no bigger than a toddler. No evidence of eyes, of ears, of a nose, or even a mouth could be gleaned by looking upon the ebon skull of the figure. There was no sign of clothes or even gender anywhere about the individual upon whom they gazed. There were only two signs that it was more than a beast. The first was what it held gripped in its hand. The second was the other being on its side of the cavern. The former was a mace. The latter was a fantastic beast about the size of a dog which was both winged and hoofed, feathered and furred. It was a beast which had the body shape of a deer, yet which was blessed with great feathered wings whose pinions were as far apart as those of a giant eagle. The head, though, the head was the truly strange part of the beast.

The beast's hart-like body ended in a long, gracefully curving neck. Its lines were beautiful, its form nearly perfect. What lay at the end thought was anything but. At least not for a deer, even a winged one. There, perched atop that graceful neck, was nothing. Absolutely nothing, no head, no skull, no antlers, nothing. It was as if someone or something had purposely removed the beast's head and then sealed the schism before the beast could die. But that could not be true, for nothing so complex could live without a brain of some sort, its mind had to be located elsewhere.

Or did it? The weapon which the humanoid figure perched atop the strange roe held was far more disturbing than the headless beast. It was a mace, a mace shaped like a skull, a warped, twisted parody of a deer's skull. Sharp spikes rose from the top of the mace and swirled about its zenith in a macabre parody of a crown. The snout was tusked, as no deer has ever been. The eye sockets were filled not with eyes, but with more razor-sharp, horn-like protrusions intended to rend the foe. Yet, it did not appear the grotesque product of some feverish armorers warped imagination. The weapon actually seemed as if it was the head of a living breathing creature. The ears on the grotesque mace twitched. Its mouth opened and closed over and over, revealing long, needle-like teeth that seemed to beg for flesh to rend.

"You shall not pass. None shall take my charge," squeaked a tinny voice which seemed to issue from the strange duo. The man-like shape pointed toward a small credenza far to one side which had remained unnoticed in the darkness ere the creature had drawn the quartet's attention to it. Something was on it, but in the dim murk it was impossible to discern from the distance at which the three adventurers stood exactly what it was. The mannikin continued in its strange little voice, "Any who steps forth on the bridge shall die!"

The bizarre duo trotted the foot of the bridge preparing to meet the challenge of any who failed to heed its warning.

"This may be what that for which we came," said Enki. "Does anyone know what it is we face over here? It looks feeble enough, but looks can be deceiving. The gods know that if this is the `the Child of Night,' it has developed a fearsome enough reputation. Perhaps we would do best to test its capabilities ere we step on to the span which crosses the rift and meet its challenge. I will try my bow. If that should fail to slay the creature, then perhaps you, Ordolf, or you Neun Ja, can cast a spell which will slay it."

The warrior maid unslung her bow and restrung it quickly. Drawing one of the clothyard shafts from her quiver, she nocked it and slowly pulled it back to her ear as she sucked in her breath. Letting out half a breath, she released the arrow. It sped straight and true toward the little ebony manlet. When it reached him it, pierced his skin and slid into his flesh as easily as if it were no more solid than smoke. Oddly, it didn't come out the other side. Nor did it remain visible from the front. It was almost as if it the shaft had simply disappeared.

Enki nocked a second arrow. Taking careful aim, this time upon the thing's head, she released the arrow. Once again, it sped true. The shaft penetrated the `face' of the creature as easily as its brother had entered the body of the creature and with no greater effect. The bizarre pair stepped forward onto the bridge and brandished the mace in response.

"It seems immune to my efforts with the bow," sighed Enki. "Perhaps magic will be more effective. Do either of you wish to test it?"

Nodding, Neun ja stepped forward. With a wave her left hand and a stab of her right toward the beast she flung a bolt of black at the ebon pair. It sped toward the two and struck the mannikin with a brilliant flash of light. When the dazzle from the explosion had cleared from the eyes of the quartet, they looked once more at their tiny foe.

Not so tiny anymore, it had taken another step forward onto the bridge. Not only had Neun Ja's magical missile failed to harm the creature, it seemed somehow larger and more menacing than it had previously. Still, it waited silently for a challenger.

It didn't take long before it got one. "Perhaps there is more to this diminutive opponent than there would seem to be," Wolf growled. "It seems to have a taste for magic and arrows. Let us see how well it can `digest' my war hammer!"

The ranger strode forth onto the bridge. Waving its macabre mace, the tiny ebon figure spurred its steed forward. First at a trot, then a canter, the tiny mannikin and its mount charged toward the sturdy woodsman. As the ebon duo neared the ranger, Wolf's hammer blurred toward the oncoming foe. The black sprite flicked its mace nonchalantly to block the massive maul. The miniature mace looked like a toothpick in comparison to the massive sledge in the path of which it had been placed. Yet somehow it blocked the tremendous blow which Wolf's massive shoulders had unleashed. Even more stunningly it did not merely deflect that colossal strike, a circumstance which one could perhaps envisage, it stopped it cold. A quick flash of fear fled across the ranger's features.

Having parried its opponent's assault, the mannikin almost negligently flicked the wrist in which it grasped its baton and flung the ranger flying backwards to crash back on the other side of the bridge. The woodsman lay crumpled in a heap. Only his feeble groans signalled that Wolf yet lived. Having dispatched the ranger, the mannikin, now noticeably larger, turned its mount and trotted back to its post on the other side of the link between the two sides of the cavern.

Summoning up her now shaken courage, Enki drew her sword. Turning to Neun Ja, the warrior growled perhaps where one failed with strength, two can succeed with speed. Come with me and let us test the mettle of this foul denizen of these infernal caverns. Ordolf, perhaps it would be well if you see to Wolf."

Striding forward the two women flanked each other as they approached the stone span, Enki to the right and Neun Ja to the left. With one last look to one another the two women stepped forward. The creature opposite them spurred its mount forward once more. More formidable than before, now the creature and its mount were the size of a dwarf and a pony respectively. The clatter of the steed's hooves now made a formidable din as it rushed across the vault which spanned the tremendous fissure. As the hurtling figure approached the two warriors, the mannikin leaned across its steed and swung its mace at Enki. She ducked and countered with a slash of her sword, then leapt away. Neun Ja, too, took advantage of the creature's imbalance and thrust one of her long knives home as it passed.

Thinking that they might well have done the creature serious harm in this first pass, the two women drew back their weapons once more to ready them for another assault on their foe. Both noticed at once that their weapons were curiously lighter. Looking simultaneously at their blades, neither noticed anything amiss, but when they looked back at their opponent, they could see that, not only was it unhurt, it had grown once more.

Wheeling its steed, their now man-sized enemy came at the two battle maids once more. Striking at Neun Ja this time, its attack was frustrated once again by a clever dodge from its target. The two women struck their foe twice more with vicious blows. Other than another spurt of growth the dark wraith still seemed otherwise unaffected. The same could not be said of the weapons with which it had been struck. Neun Ja's long knife had lost the top six inches of its blade. Enki's falchion had fared little better and its tip had somehow thinned to near transparency.

Looking askance first at their blades and then at one another, the two hitherto unconquered warriors both knew fear. Now was not the time for hesitation though and their momentary dismay cost them dearly. The Child of Night, for that was what this must be, had wheeled its mount yet again and charged the shocked pair with which it struggled. Swinging its mace first at Enki and then at Neun Ja, it whelmed them both ere they had a chance to react. Both crumpled to the ground like marionettes whose strings had been cut.

In the meantime, while the two women were vying with the Child of Night, Ordolf had been checking on Wolf. As far as the archmage could tell his bucolic companion was relatively unharmed. Though Wolf was only semi-conscious from a blow to his head to which an enormous lump could attest, there appeared to be no other injuries of any note. Oh, there were scrapes and contusions, there would even be quite a collection of bruises, but as far as Ordolf could tell there were no broken bones, nor were there any gashes which could possibly threaten the woodsrunner's life.

Having completed his examination of his bearded friend, the archmage looked back at the battle which was taking place upon the bridge just in time to see his other two colleagues fall and the foul fiend dismount. Calling upon a spell of death which he had hung when he entered the cavern, Ordolf flung his magic at the Child of Night. It struck with a palpable crash. Light flared once more as it had when Neun Ja's magical bolt had struck the mannikin earlier and another explosion ensued. The black man emerged unscathed once more. This time it had grown to the size of a troll.

Gathering the mana to him once more Ordolf began to stalk forward casting spell after spell with waves of his hands, sweeps of his arms, and arcane motions with his fingers. The Child of Night became the focus of an incredible show of lights, which would have put the fabled displays of the polar regions to shame in comparison. Despite the awesome magnitude of the mana which Ordolf was channeling it seemed to do little harm to the Child. It seemed to continue to absorb the spells and grow. Soon, it was fifteen feet tall and proportionately wide. Eighteen feet, then twenty. The guardian of the bridge had grown to the size of a giant. It seemed as if it would go on forever.

Slowly, despite the explosions which were detonating all around it, the Child of Night began to turn toward its two fallen victims. Raising its now huge morning star, the Child towered over Enki as it prepared to deliver her to the land of the dead. Ordolf called on all his reserves as he funneled yet another tremendous spell toward the creature which was about slay his friend as continued to march forward. This time, the spell seemed to stagger the Child of Night and it swayed back, aborting for the moment its assault on the comatose warrior. Even more importantly, it grew no taller. Instead, it began to change in hue. No longer the soulless black that it had been in its first form, the once-black man began to lighten until it was almost charcoal in color.

At the same time Neun Ja began to regain her senses, and seeing the huge figure which towered over herself and her comrade, she summoned the shadows and cloaked herself in their dark protection as she attempted to crawl away. Unfortunately, her movement or her magic attracted the Child of Night. Apparently immune to the illusion which Neun Ja had tried to create with her shadows, the cavern's guardian reached down with its left hand and seized her by the leg. Its touch was like fire. The sorceress could feel here life slipping away through the strange connection which she now had with the monstrous Child.

Ordolf had closed to within a few strides of the antagonists. Now he was on the bridge. The archmage struck once more with another of the potent spells which he had harnessed for this battle. It whelmed the dark giant another powerful blow. The foul creature turned grey, then white, then it began to glow brilliantly as it reeled from the enormous detonation which occurred when Ordolf's tremendous spell had struck it. Now, however, the Child had the necromancer within its reach. Dropping Neun Ja, it grabbed for the necromancer who now threatened it. The archmage continued to cast spell after spell at his monstrous foe, but it grasped him by his robes anyway.

The archmage's spells were not without effect. Like the last two incantation which he uttered these, too, seemed to stagger the dark guardian. Explosion after explosion struck the now brilliant figure of the giant guardian sending it lurching backwards. Tripping over Enki's inert body, it fell plunging over the edge of the span which it had struggled so hard to defend. With it went the archmage, still casting spell after spell at his enormous foe. Neun Ja, who lay discarded near the brink of the chasm, watched with horror as the two figures plummeted faster and faster toward the river of firerock which lay hundreds, no, thousands of strides below.

The Child of Night, no longer deserving of the name, grew more and more brilliant till finally it was too bright to look at and Neun Ja turned her head away from the awful tableau. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion. The rock span upon which Neun Ja lay gave a tremendous heave and she nearly joined Ordolf and his foe at the bottom of the pit. Desperately she scrabbled back toward the center of the bridge as the entire island seemed to shudder.

As suddenly as it had begun, the disturbance which wracked the world under Dead Key subsided. It did not disappear completely, however. A strange groaning seemed to issue from deep within the pit of fiery dragon rock above which Enki and Neun Ja lay. There was a strange bubbling and hissing and fire that seemed to bode ill began to spurt from the lava below.

Neun Ja sat up and looked her remaining colleagues. Wolf was beginning to stir and feeble moans were issuing from Enki. Of the Child of Night and his mount there were no signs. The fell steed had remained frozen throughout the remainder of the battle after the Child had dismounted and now it disappeared with a pop when its master and his mace had disappeared.

Unfortunately, not only enemies had disappeared, there were also now no more than memories left of Ordolf. The archmage had given his life to save Neun Ja and Enki, and while their lives were safe, the mission which had brought them all here was in great peril, crippled if not destroyed.

Neun Ja crawled over to Enki to see if there was anything which she could do for her comrade and to check how serious the blow which had felled the warrior had been. It had been a savage blow that had landed but glancingly. Enki had attempted to parry but her sword, weakened by its contact with the Child of Night, had shattered when it clashed with the Child's strange mace. The mace had been slowed and deflected but it still struck the warrior maid's temple. She had gone down as if poleaxed.

Enki still lived, however, her muted groans attested to that. Wolf, too, was regaining his faculties. The ranger sat up and exclaimed, "Gods that little thing was strong! I have never been treated so in my entire life and I have fought trolls, mules, why I even fought a rogue Stone Lord once! I have never encountered anything half so strong as that dark Child! What happened? Where is the Child?

The ranger's questions began to grow more pointed as he began to recover his senses more completely and began to fully comprehend the gravity of what had occurred. "Where is Ordolf?! Blood and blisters, is he dead?!! He can't be dead! Without him we are undone!"

Neun Ja called back as she checked Enki for signs of returning well-being, "Alas, honorable colleague, you have seen through to the heart of our situation. Yes, the archmage has fallen. He gave his life to slay the dread guardian of this place and to save our comrade, Enki, and my most unworthy self. He drove the creature over the edge of this span with his powerful magic. Sadly, the creature was able to seize Ordolf before he had accomplished his purpose and they fell together toward the stream of firerock below. The two struggled all the way down and both finally perished in a great flash just as they seemed to reach the stream of molten stone. You awakened soon thereafter. And as you can see, Enki recovers as well."

To punctuate the words of the sorceress, the warrior maid sat up and groaned feebly as she began to reiterate many of the questions which Wolf had just had answered. Since you, as the reader, have no need to go through that again, we will pass it over. Sometimes it gets just too tedious to reiterate every little detail in these stories. Especially the boring ones. I never understand why some talespinners feel the need to prattle on and on about every little thing. But that is neither here nor there. You will undoubtedly wish to find out what happened. So forgive this old man and let him continue.

The remaining trio that had come seeking the Sword of Might gathered their wits and their belongings about them. Striding shakily toward the credenza which the Child of Night had so graciously called their attention to, the triumvirate beheld that for which they had fought so hard and sacrificed so much. Their jaws dropped in horror. It was not the Sword of Might. It was not even a sword at all. It was a whip. An elaborate whip, a whip that was dark with mystic runes, a whip which split into two metal-studded strands at the end of its coil, but a whip nonetheless. Ordolf had given his life, they nearly all had, and they had not even found the Sword.

Enki voiced the dismay which had stricken all of them, "All that for nothing! Nothing! Well, perhaps not nothing, that is a fine whip, but next to nothing. Our quest has failed. Iskandar can not be fully bound again. Gods and devils! What are we to do now?!!"

"Well lass, there is naught we can do about the past," Wolf murmured. "True, Ordolf's demise is a great blow and our quest is crippled. But we did what we did for good reason. The decisions that we made were the best that we could make with what we knew. Granted, if we had known that this was a false trail we would never have followed it. But we did not know! We had to follow this scent to its source. Had we not, and we continued such sloppy tracking we would never have found all of the artifacts we seek. No, lass. We did what we could and what we must and now we must continue on. Ordolf would tell you no differently were he here with us now. It is hard, but the living must carry on."

"To do that, we have to act as if nothing has changed. We need to try to do what we can to stave off the bane which Iskandar represents. Perhaps we can not fully rebind the evil lich, but we can certainly still tighten up his fetters a bit."

"Neun Ja, lass, can you check the whip for spells and traps please? We might as well take it, for it must be potent indeed to have such a powerful warder as the Child of Night, and I have a feeling it might be of use some day. Mayhap even now, for it appears as if Enki has lost her main weapon and could use a replacement. From the story she told me about herself in Pond Eddy, I'll wager she can use a whip just about as well as she could use that sword."

Neun Ja quickly checked the whip, the credenza, and everything in between and discovered that the Child of Night was its only ward. Though she could not decipher the runes which covered it, for they were in an ancient tongue which she had never before seen, she felt confident enough in the information her own spells had provided that they were not a danger to its wielder, but rather provided the lash with mystical powers that went far beyond the ordinary.

Having finished her examination of the Child's charge, the shadow mage turned to Enki and said, "I believe the whip to be safe to handle, esteemed comrade. You may take it if you wish."

Enki collected the whip and, fully armed once more, she turned to her bedraggled comrades and said, "Wolf had the right of it, I think. We must continue on as if nothing had happened though we have lost a boon companion and an important member of our expedition. Perhaps the others had more success at the Isle of Mists. Let us return to the surface and seek them out once more so we can see if that is so. There is nothing more that we can do here except mourn."

The trio was a sad-looking, little group as it wended its way back through the dark, murky caverns toward the surface. When the three adventurers finally poked their heads once more into the sunlight, it was clear that they had been through an ordeal. Battered and bruised, both Neun Ja and Wolf limped noticeably. And both were better off than Enki who had complained of nausea and dizziness the entire way back from the cavern of their ordeal.

The sun had risen high and slid back down toward the horizon while the heroes had tarried underground and the evening approached when they once more emerged from the now-rumbling fiery depths beneath Dead Key. The ship in which Matthias brother had brought them to the island waited silently in the lagoon where they had left it. Curiously, the trio of survivors could detect no sign of life aboard the vessel. That was strange, for even if it were a time when the crew was being served a meal there should at least have been some sort of watch visible on deck.

"I like this not," muttered Enki. "Something is amiss, although how anything untoward could have occurred all the way out here, I can not fathom. Let us take for whatever it was that slew all of these ships and their crews may be at work here. Neun Ja, I deem that we should have some sort of hidden trump which we can play at need. If you are well enough, I think it would be wise if you slipped into shadow so that prying eyes, if they haven't seen you already, know not that you are still with us."

Their wariness awakened, the trio entered their skiff and began to row back toward the awaiting boat. To all appearances though, the small boat had only two passengers -- Enki and Wolf. The duo rowed their skiff up to the vessel which awaited them. There was still no sign of life. Pulling alongside, the pair of battered adventurers climbed the cargo net which was draped over the side. There was still no trace of Matthias or the vessel's crew.

Wolf unslung his hammer. Enki uncoiled her newly acquired rune-encrusted lash. They cautiously approached the hatch which led below decks. It was closed, another untoward sign. Matthias' brother and his small crew usually left the hatch open to facilitate their movement from the deck to the holds. Slowly, Enki used her free hand to swing the hatch open. Wolf waited with hammer poised in case a foe should have an ambuscade planned.

None such occurred. There was still no trace of life. Their consternation growing, Enki and Wolf descended, looking feverishly about for signs of the boat's captain and crew. Arriving at the bottom of the companionway, the pair saw that the hatches below decks were closed as well. Stepping cautiously toward the door which opened into the captain's cabin, Enki turned its handle as quietly and slowly as she possibly could.

As soon as the latch was disengaged she violently jerked the hatch open to reveal two of their missing retainers. Matthias and his brother were both bound and gagged in the chairs which decorated the cabin. They were not alone. There was a diminutive blonde woman with her back to the doorway. She turned toward the pair from Seremoreh with a smile.

It was Miranda, the dark necromancer from Barabel! She smiled coldly at them and said, "Greetings, I am glad to see that you have returned. Was your mission successful? I, for one, certainly hope so. I have much that is dependent on your acquisition of the Sword. Don't look so shocked. Yes, I know about the Sword and, indeed, about all of the other artifacts of power needed to rebind or free Iskandar. I think that I might be able to put them to a little better use than your and your companions."

"Now, where is Ordolf? I had so looked forward to seeing him again. And didn't you have another missing companion? A pretty young thing all dressed in black? No fashion sense, wore loose fitting clothing that hid her lovely body? Don't tell me that they are dead? I would be terribly distraught at such news. I had such plans for them. Particularly Ordolf, but the pretty girl from Hanpon would also have provided many hours of amusement. Come in, come in, my friends are getting impatient."

Miranda wasn't the only unwelcome visitor on board the ship. During her welcome, two cutthroats stepped forward from the corners of the cabin and placed blades at throat of Matthias and his sibling. The hatch to the crews' quarters also gently slid open and reveled another half dozen or so armed pirates who, with swords drawn stepped behind the warrior maid and the ranger.

Wolf snarled with rage and stepped quickly forward.

Before he could do more, Miranda's voice penetrated his haze of fury and cautioned, "Ah, ah, ah. My friends don't like such sudden movements," she said indicating her two henchmen whose cutlasses now pressed more firmly into the throats of Matthias and his brother, Marcus. "And while you may not care all that much about their happiness, be warned they will kill your two buffoons before you can move another inch. And should they do that, well, let's just say that I will use the fleeing animas of your men well."

Wolf stopped abruptly.

"Now if the two of you would kindly drop your weapons and answer my questions, I think we will all be a little happier than we are now," Miranda said with a smirk. "And isn't it a wonderful thing to make the world a little happier place in which to live?"

Wolf began to slowly lower his hammer. Enki did the same with her whip, carefully bending over with her whip in her right hand, her arm fully extended. As he leaned forward to lay his weapon on the floor, the woodsman felt a faint breeze rustle his hair. A smile crept over his features and he looked over at Enki and winked surreptitiously. The two heroes slowed their movements even more drastically than they already had.

There was a strange gurgling sound from Miranda that was cut off almost as sharply as it had begun. A voice issued from the air behind her, "Perhaps you would be more comfortable if you and your men released your weapons, most unwelcome necromancer. You are not welcome here and the timing of your visit is most unpropitious. Please suggest to your men that it would be in all of your best interests if they disarmed themselves and lined up facing the wall with their hands behind their backs."

Neun Ja had made her presence felt at last. The Seremorans were safe, at least for the moment. The sorceress faded into to view, one armed levering Miranda's behind her back, the other holding one of the many daggers which Neun Ja secreted about her person to the blond pirate lord's neck.

"You there," the shadow mage called to one of the pirates. "Tie up your colleagues. Start with Miranda make sure that none can escape and none can speak." After a nod from his mistress, the indicated buccaneer did as he was bid. Soon, all of other the corsairs were bound and gagged. When the pirate had completed his chore, Enki stepped over and bound him as he had bound his fellow marauders.

Enki sighed. "We should, no doubt, kill you as you were obviously ready to do to us. We aren't barbarians, however, and I have seen more than enough death for the time being. So as far as I am concerned, we will do no more than cast you ashore here on Dead Key and let you rot. No doubt you have a ship waiting somewhere over the horizon, else you would not have been here with such alacrity when we sought the secret of the Child of Night. So you will be rescued in scant hours. But as far as I am concerned, that is unimportant. I am feeling magnanimous as I have seen enough death today and we shall have a head start. Give me your word on your powers that Matthias and his kin will come to no harm from you either now or in the future, and I will let you live."

Miranda glared daggers at her captor, but nodded. The necromancer's dark look was eloquent, acknowledging both her defeat and the benevolence inherent in Enki's act, while at the same time promising a reckoning that was still to come.

"I said I will let you live," Enki continued as the deep rumbling from beneath the surface of the isle that had begun when Ordolf and the child had vanished grew in volume. "And that is likely a mistake. I did not say that I will make it easy for you, however. The noises that this foul isle emits do not bode other than ill to my ear and I will wager that those who tarry in the vicinity of Dead Key for over long shall perish. I propose that we leave you bound on the beach of this very lagoon and leave your fate in the hands of destiny. Should your minions arrive in time to rescue you, you shall live, should they come too late or revert to their true natures and flee, you will perish. It will be in the hands of the wyrds and in your own ability to inspire obedience as to whether you survive."

"Matthias! Release the rest of the crew and set these scoundrels ashore as I have described. The return here quickly so we may flee. I fear that every moment counts for Dead Key is soon to disappear. Hurry, man!"

Matthias did as he was ordered. Quickly, he released his brother and the rest of the crew and had a party row the captives to the shore. Soon, all was in readiness. And none too soon. Dead Key was now producing a constant deep rumbling sound that grew louder as each moment passed. Enki knew that the dragonfire that the had seen in the chasm underneath the isle was about to erupt. She didn't know how she knew that to be true, but know it she did. Frantic in her knowledge, Enki raged at Matthias and Marcus, demanding that they get the vessel as far away as they could as quickly as possible.

The two rogues glanced at each other diffidently, but realizing it was probably more dangerous to argue than obey, they got the ship quickly underway. It wasn't until they were well away from the isle, long after sunset, that Enki let them relax and it was almost at that very same moment that a bright red glow lit the sky in the direction from which they had come. Seconds later the sloop which carried them was rocked by an enormous blow that shook the ship as if it had been struck by a giant fist.