Solon hesitated, then shouted, “Where?”
Jazhara looked wildly around the room. “It could be anywhere. It could be in another room or even . . . the pearl!”
Solon moved with purpose toward the pearl on the altar.
“No!” shouted the liche.
Solon raised his hammer and struck down, landing a powerful blow on the pearl. The black surface swam with angry energies, tiny lines of hot white fire spreading out in a latticework pattern across its skin. He struck again, and the pearl emitted a dark fog. A third blow shattered the pearl, and it exploded with enough force to throw the monk of Ishap back across the room.
The liche looked upon the scene with wide-eyed horror. “What have you done?” it asked softly.
Kendaric felt the grip on his arm release, and the liche turned and said, “You still have not succeeded, guildsman.”
The second skeleton-warrior began to tremble and his attack slowed. James staggered backward, barely able to lift his arms, and Jazhara offered him a supporting hand. The creature took two drunken steps, then went crashing to the stones.
The liche groped toward Kendaric. “I am not done with you, my friend.”
Kendaric’s hand reached out and he grabbed the hilt of his sword, which was still protruding from the liche’s stomach. He gave the blade a twist and the liche contorted in pain.
“But I am done with you!” Kendaric declared. “Now, it’s time for you to die.” He yanked the blade free and the undead magician shuddered in pain and fell to his knees. Kendaric turned with unhesitating precision and cut through the dead man’s neck. The skin parted like dry paper and the bones snapped like brittle wood. The liche’s head rolled free and bounced across the floor.
James stood with his arm draped across Jazhara’s shoulder and said, “Well, that was interesting.”
Solon pulled himself to his feet, his face covered in tiny cuts from the shattering pearl. “That’s not the word I’d choose, laddie, but your point is taken.”
“What now?” asked Kendaric.
“We need to look around,” said James. “There may be others down here who will cause us trouble.”
Jazhara said, “I think as we go, we should scourge this place with fire.”
“Yes,” said Solon. “Evil is so entrenched here that this place must be purified. And if we wait for my temple to send others to purge it, much of the evil here may flee to another location.”
They went to where the liche’s body lay. Behind the alcove where he had appeared stood a door. Passing through it, they came into a large room, obviously the liche’s private quarters. Large and small jars were amassed on tables, and in the far corner a cage had been fastened to the stone walls.
Inside the cage a creature rested, somewhat resembling the thing they had encountered in the sewers of Krondor. It looked at them with pain-filled eyes and beckoned with a clawed hand. They approached slowly and when they were close, the creature’s mouth opened. A child’s voice said, “Please . . .”
Jazhara’s eyes grew bright with tears and she whispered, “Is there no end to this evil?”
“Apparently not,” said Solon.
James moved behind the creature as it spoke. “Pain . . . please.”
With a quick thrust of his sword, James cut the back of the child-turned-monster’s neck and it slumped to the floor without a sound. His face was set in a mask of fury.
Jazhara looked at James and said nothing.
Finally, Solon said, “It was a mercy.”
“What now?” asked Kendaric.
Softly, James said, “Burn it. Burn everything.” He hurried to a wall where tomes and scrolls were arrayed. He grabbed the shelf and toppled it. A small brazier rested on the worktable nearest the shelf and he grabbed it. Hurling it, he sent flames and coals into the paper on the floor and the fire spread rapidly.
“Look over here!” Kendaric said.
They turned and saw that the wrecker had found another pearl. Unlike the other orb, this one appeared to be translucent, and within it they could see an image of Haldon Head.
Jazhara said, “This is a powerful scrying device.”
The image shifted and they could see Widow’s Point and the hut of the old woman, Hilda.
“Could this have been what was countering my spell?” asked Kendaric.
“Yes, I think so,” said Jazhara. “This creates a wide field of magic in the area under observation. Not all magic is blunted, but this could have been used specifically to prevent your spell from working until they had you in their control.”
The flames behind them were spreading. James asked, ‘What do we do with it?”
Jazhara picked up the large pearl and threw it into the fire. “That should take care of it.”
“Good,” said James. “We should leave now. Get torches and set fire to anything that burns as we leave.”
“What if the goblins object?” asked Kendaric.