Tamriel Troubles

[Maharg67]

EIGHT

 

The young Empress came in dull grey travelling robes and armour. In her hands she held a wooden quarterstaff that was reinforced with steel caps and bands but K'Martina sensed hidden tricks in this seemingly basic weapon. She was not typically beautiful but striking and she carried much charisma in her fairly short, fairly slim frame.

 

With her came Blades be they Guards, Knights, Battlemages or Healers along with a few others. This included large battledogs and smaller nimbler tracking and hunting dogs, pack-ponies and some pack-donkeys.

 

Then she was coming to a halt and was looking around in amazement at the fallen items from the army of the undead, the great collapsed Kurikanzi warrior and the great army of Ayleids, Dwemers and Aurorans plus the big magic-mechanical spiders.

 

But the oddest was the woman in tough travelling gear sitting cross legged, meditating calmly amongst it all.

 

Blade Commander Jeffries III stepped forward and indicated the lot with a sweep of the hand. "We should perhaps deal with them before they become active. These are not our friends."

 

The young Empress in exile shook her head. "No, they were fighting the undead and that makes them all to be potential allies against one of the major threats that face us. Also the one meditating is fully aware of us and is extremely dangerous."

 

K'Martina slipped calmly and smoothly to her feet. She bowed gracefully to the Empress and then walked to stand before her. She then spoke. "Your Majesty, you are wise. Even the Kurikanzi has been transformed by the light that came like a flashing blast to change everything. It destroyed the undead, releasing damned souls to the Cycle of Birth and Death-Rebirth. Did you do this?"

 

Empress Elenari Septim shook her head. "I wish I had such power so that I might use it against the TriEmpire, the Master Spell, the rising undead and the other threats. I suspect that is much that we have to discuss but first, what of these beings?"

 

The great Kurikanzi warrior sat up as an armoured hulk and groaned. Then it spoke out loud in Kurikonddica the ancient common language of all the Kuri peoples. "I am no longer Kurikanzi! At least no longer will I serve the Kurikanzi Overlord or the Way of the Zruidic Path that leads only to a kind of undeath and damnation." He stood slowly but somehow gracefully despite his bulk. "I will serve you K'Martina of the Kurikondi."

 

K'Martina nodded in quiet acceptance though this was a sudden and big change in Kuri History. She then turned back to face the Empress. "You understand Kurikonddica! I am impressed. That is supposed to be a secret language."

 

The Empress shrugged. "Kurikanzi infiltrators were captured back even before the TriEmpire came with its damned Master Spell. Before they died they told us much. No, we did not kill them. They died peacefully of old age in a hidden settlement. It was about twenty years before the invasion came and the then Emperor began the preparations against the invasion. Movements of armies, stockpiling of hidden vaults and depots and much else was done. The War of the Five was only partly real. It was mostly falsehood to disguise the truth. Kurikanzi infiltrators, shapeshifters like you, started the war but we took over."

 

The big hulking man laughed sourly. "No Kurikanzi is like her, is like K'Martina. I would have been proud to die by her hands and die is probably what I would have done if we had come to fight each other."

 

The Empress nodded. "The preparations were in three parts. The attempt to defend the empire openly quickly came to nothing. The Emperor died not at the hands of the enemy but at the blade of one of his oldest and most trusted bodyguards. The second part was on going resistance, a movement of raids and trouble making for the TriEmpire. It also has largely failed as we rebels do not have the support of the population of oppressed peoples for their very minds are oppressed. Then there is the third way, the movement deep underground to the Underlands of many thousands of people and down there the continuation of some kind of free Cyrodilin Empire. It thrives well enough despite various difficulties and some threats."

 

K'Martina smiled. "Very good. Why are you here?"

 

"A dream! A persistent nagging dream of the kind that I have that come true." She sighed. "I came with these brave Blades and other folk. Here, hopefully, will be formed a large but unlikely alliance against the TriEmpire and its Master Spell."

 

K'Martina shook her head this time. "No, it is the Master Spell and its TriEmpire. Despite appearances it is the Master Spell that is truly in charge. It always has been."

 

"Then the last Archmage of the Mages Guild was correct." The Cyrodilin leader responded. "The Secret University has taken the place of the Arcane University."

 

K'Martina bowed briefly again. "As Imperial Envoy of the Kurikonddic Empire I offer you a treaty, an alliance, to wage war against the Master Spell and the TriEmpire. But for now let us have a rest and wait for these others to wake so that we might communicate with them."

 

To be continued in NINE!

 

[dezdimona]

cool! :thanks:

[Maharg67]

NINE

 

While K'Martina dealt with the various forces down inside the fortress on the Western Cyrodilin Coast, Mhargrah assisted the Sisterhood Compassionate to bring people, equipment and other resources to the mansion that was in truth far more than a mansion and the Eternal Champion started learning the truth of the Aymer, the Waymer and the Oomir along with others.

 

The grey robed woman made her way carefully and warily along the old worn footpath in Harbourside outside the tall coastal walls of the city of Anvil. Rotting and collapsing jetties held abandoned sailing ships and galleys. Some few were converted into living places and were better cared for while some had already sunk into the now clear harbour waters. She kept her youthful attractive face well hooded.

 

It was a large harbour but now it was no longer used as one except by a small fleet of fishing boats that dared go out to sea and smaller ones that went only out into the actual harbour. The exception were ferry boats that went to and from small clusters of islands west of Anvil where communities dwelt away from any real influence of the TriEmpire or the Master Spell.

 

The Master Spell was actually weaker there, closer to the waters, and many fled there to live a life of poverty and fringe acitivity just to escape the oppressiveness of the great invading magic. They mingled with criminals, outcasts and goblins. Goblins hated the Master Spell and a fair sized community had grown up in and beneath the harbour in caves there. The goblins did not want trouble and were surprisingly the least to trouble others.

 

Mahargrassa, who was locally called Jarna, was antimagical, an antimage, being of those who had always existed weakly and unoted until the Master Spell had made them stronger, had brought out their true nature. She projected a shield around herself, both subtle and only lightly effective, that that weakened the Master Spell's ability to be aware of her with its broad reaching multiple facet alien intelligence.

 

She passed old stone warehouses that were now fairly bustling communities, crowded places of residence, barter, working and pleasure but also, too often, violence. The only law here were a few bands of vigilantes and one more respected self made Harbourside Sheriff and her two deputies plus eighteen constables.

 

A couple of older women, once fine ladies of wealthy Guild Families, wandered past in ragged once expensive clothes and muttered to each other as they clutched to themselves bags of fruit, bread and other stuff. The two would be far more insane on the other side of the city walls. With them went their loyal old bodyguard, a wiry muscular man in well used but cared for steel armour. He carried a fine quality steel longsword in a scabbard and a wooden club in his right hand.

 

He stopped and faced the young robed woman with a smile on his face and she also stopped to pull back her hood. Mahargrissa had good leather armour beneath her robe and a set of Akaviri blades of the little known Akaviri humans, the Hukaviri. "How long have you come in from Tempresta? Do you bring special goods with you?"

 

She smiled back. "Mostly good news of sorts. Akaviri military forces have occupied the last of the Temprestan Islands and have destroyed the last of the Pirate Lords. The Pre-Emptive Alliance still stands strong thanks to uniform fear of the Master Spell and the TriEmpire. The story of the horrors carried out on Lerimat have influenced all Nine Great Realms of Akaviri, even the Tsaesci, into joining forces. Those of Akavir fear that the TriEmpire and the Master Spell will go to their lands after they leave Tamriel in a state of devistation."

 

The two mad old ladies looked up at the young woman and suddenly they were looking at her from beneath their hoods with very sane, clear and sharp eyes. For they were far from being mad, being instead go-between agents between the Tamriellin rebels and the Akaviri based Pre-Emptive Alliance. They also served other purposes for the rebels and had done so for many decades.

 

The three had met the mysterious young woman Mahargrassa, or Jarna as they knew her, a fair few times but knew next to nothing about her. This was odd for the two ladies had many connections and ran a big network of active agents, semi-active observers and passive informers in and around Anvil.

 

Suddenly, high in the sky above, swept three big copper coloured dragon figures. But these were not at all dragons but were so called master-dragons, were mimickri entities projected from the Master Spell. Being copperish they were of the weakest but most common kind. Despite this they were physically and metaphysically powerful and threatening as they reeked of lizen-magic. They were looking towards Tempresta.

 

The dame called She'Ralla spoke then. "Normally we are not so direct, we twins, but we need to know this? Who are you? Who do you really serve?"

 

Magrargrassa spoke to these two sharp and brilliant minds. "I serve Mahargrah, Lord of Fates, Lord of Ordered Chaos, once the God of Ordered Chaos, who has returned to Tamriel and who is now is Martinpolis. I would have told you this today even if you had not asked. Look above you. There may be a TriImperial attack on the islands and the Alliance forces there have not truly had enough time to dig in yet. As you know, apart from Akaviri forces there are Cyrodilin Imperials who fled there in large numbers when the TriImperial invasion of Tamriel began and those which were already there."

 

She then went on. "I had to make sure you were not of the treacherous Master Order, those Tamriellins who were not controlled by the Master Spell but who serve the TriEmpire out of greed and desire for power, who foolishly see themselves become TriImperials one day though this is impossible."

 

This time Tre'Ralla, the other elegantly old identical twin of a Cyrodilin, spoke. "We have had excecuted over fifty of these Master Order, these lying, murderous fools of the TriEmpire. Yet we have also learned some interesting facts recently from one of them who realised, almost too late, what a fool he had been. He was due to go to the Imperial City to gain his reward of TriImperial Citizenship when sickness stopped him getting into a teleport-carriage with two other fools. Then he was told he had to wait another year to gain his reward. He attempted to contact the other two who had gone but with out any success. Then he travelled in secret, through semiwilderness, to Martinpolis. There he attempted to find out what had happened to the two who had gone away in the vanishing teleport-carriage. Their dead bodies were found by beachcombers living on the eastern shore of the Imperial Ring Channel. As often they are these days, the bodies were skeletal as if all of the blood and life-energies, along with most of the flesh, had been literally sucked out of them."

 

She smiled. "But the ones who murdered these two traitors made a mistake, or so it seems. They found a small curious book of metallic leather. In it was written in New Cyrodillic neatly written accounts of their arrival in the Imperial City, their theft of the book to write in, their strange slavery in a changed part of the great old city and the strange things they had done there. Both men were made to have sex with women who felt uncomfortably strange and looked disturbingly strange, who drained them of energies even as the copulation took place. They were made to over indulge on strange rich foods and drink plus lots of water. They slept in glassy capsule-beds and had endlessly depressing or ecstatically pleasurable dreams that threatened to send them mad. All this took place inside a vast dome of pale glowing crystal, a great but bizarre set of roofless chambers under the dome plus great green slimy gardens of marsh like nature. The dome seemed far too large to fit on Imperial Island let alone in the Imperial City."

 

"Not a dome but a bubble with the top half filled with atmosphere." Mahargrassa responded. "The TriEmpire is seminomadic. When and where it goes it takes the Globeuli with them for they are the real core of the TriEmpire. Each is great but still larger inside than outside. Each is invisible from the outside if cloaked by lizen-magic and all here on Tamriel are so cloaked except those hidden below ground or under water. The bodies should not be getting out of the Globeuli let alone the city or island. I suggest that somebody in the TriEmpire, somebody powerful, is trying to send a warning to normal Tamriellins of what is really happenings. This sort of thing has happened before. It happened when the TriEmpire dominated Leirmat. Such messages helped persuad many to rebel who previously assumed that they could quietly live and survive in the TriEmpire."

 

To be continued in another Post!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

NINE

(Continued)

 

The copperish master-dragons were suddenly joined by two more triples. The mimickri then slowly glided forward, graceful and deadly, spreading outwards as they did so. The nine of them began to hover there, wings very slowly and gracefully sweeping up and down. Dragons were magical, flew in truth by magic despite the need of the wings, and these false dragons flew because of lizen-magic.

 

Mahargrassa frowned. "How many people are sent to the Imperial City by the TriImperium for various official or unofficial reasons?"

 

The two ladies and their beloved bodyguard and lover, gave the young woman curious looks.

 

Lady Tre'Ralla spoke then. "TriImperium? The TriImperial Government!"

 

Mahargrassa frowned some more. "When you look at the TriEmpire what do you see? Do you see something like the Cyrodilin Empire or other empires that have existed on this world that is called sometimes Mundus, sometimes Nirn and sometimes even Tamriel as this continent is? Do you see the TriImperials as normal individuals when they appear in public as golden, silver or copper coloured metallic humans? Do you think that there is a hidden government with thousands of public servants at work just as there was in the Cyrodilin Empire? Do you imagine great and powerful military forces when you think of how first Shozkria, then Tuvovo, then Shenmardi, then Leirmat and finally Tamriel were conquered?"

 

Lady She'Ralla shook her head. "In truth we rebels are a pathetic joke of a network struggling even to survive in any but the most isolated areas and those areas where the Master Spell is weaker. We do not know what to think. We do know that we face contradictions and puzzles that all those mastered ones, those who are dominated by the Master Spell, can not see!"

 

Mahargrassa smiled sadly at the three. "I see in your minds that you consider yourself to be relatively lucky, that you consider yourself to be basically free thinking, to be free living. You spend your lives here where the Master Spell is weaker. Do you know that the whole of Anvil is an area where the Master Spell is still powerful but relatively weaker for the Master Spell is based in the Imperial City and gets weaker as it reaches outwards. Anvil is also in a pocket of weakness just as there are outer pockets of strength. Yet even here the Master Spell weaves its deadly influence."

 

She sighed. "Time to go indoors and to have something to drink before I show you the truth. Better to start simple, to start safer and in a space you are familiar and comfortable with."

 

Lady She'Ralla nodded. "Good idea but not yet. Firstly we must visit the..." She suddenly looked puzzled, even a little shocked. "the Harbourside Globeli where we will all three rest peacefully for an hour in blissful nudity in shifting fields of light along with many other Anvillins while..."

 

The other two were also looking shocked now as if they had come awake to something that was happening that they had not even been previously aware of.

 

Mahargrassa nodded. "I threw up an antimagical shield around the four of us. You were not even consciously aware that such places as the Globelies existed but visited there once a month to have your life energies sucked from you. But you are not ready to face this truth fully and I now gently suppress, for the moment, this relevation from your minds."

 

The three Cyrodilins suddenly lost their look of shock as they forgot about the Globeli, at least they became not so aware of it at a conscious level.

 

The bodyguard spoke briskly. "Ladies, we must be off soon for we have an important place to go to. Perhaps we could meet with Jarna, and I suggest we keep using that name, at her place later at about eleven tonight after we have rested."

 

Rested from having been vamped in the local Globeli but she was not about to say that aloud.

 

She bowed to them gracefully and then the three went off. In the distance, where all the locals could both see and not see it, was a big pale off-white softly glowing crystal dome. The building that had been smashed down so it could be put in place still lay partly in rubble around it but the big entrance way was clear. Into it flowed normally active people and out of it stumbled tired and sometimes exhausted folk. A few were helped out or even carried out. Now and then, though she noted none at that moment, a dead or dying body would be brought out on a litter.

 

Sisters Compassionate and Brothers Protective worked together, a dozen of them being six of each, and they knew what was going on. They helped those that came out, helped the sickened and deal with the dead and dying in a big old building next to the Globeli that dwarfed the human built structure though it was a whole three levels high. The sisterhood and brotherhood had a deal with the TriEmpire, were protected by the TriEmpress herself, as long as they kept the secret of what they knew to themselves.

 

As Mahargrassa watched the two fine old ladies and gentlemen walk off she felt sickened again, as too often she did, for they were in truth not so old after all. For they were just into their late thirties. Before the TriEmpire and Master Spell came to Tamriel at that age they would have still been at least quite youthful and brisk. But in the TriEmpire the Tamriellins grew older, sicker and died quicker than they used to do and they sickened and died more often than they used to.

 

The same had happened first to Shozkria, then Tuvovo, then Shenmardi, then Leirmat and finally Tamriel. And yet there had been differences in what had happened on each of these continents as other factors had also changed. What had not changed was that each continent had suffered terribly.

 

She turned and walked towards a wrecked looking sailing-ship that concealed inside itself a very special place. Mahargrah, her father, had awoken in Martinpolis along with beloved Mahargastle, her mother, and now she had greater support behind her. But still she had to be careful just as they did for they were going against very powerful enemies and the Master Spell and the TriEmpire were only two of them.

 

Continued in TEN!

 

Edited July 22, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

TEN

 

The Eternal Champion walked around the great dusty cobweb cornered chamber while the Oomir celebrated. That is not just the ones who had been in cages, they celebrated resting on their backs on filthy mats found somewhere in big old metal storage chests, but others who had come out of hiding now the undead were gone. They carried some magical items, some good metal weapons but mostly they had little more than simple wooden clubs.

 

What had happened in that place, what was the truth?

 

The Aymers had come there but had passed through quickly except for a dozen who staid behind to investigate the area and to welcome any more Aymer who might make it. The Waymers were long gone, were but vague memories and a few tablets to the Oomirs, but there were Oomirs there and they had gotten on well with the elfs.

 

But the Aymers were arrogant though not so much as the Ayleids they had been, and upon finding forbidden locked vaults they had insisted on opening them. The Oomirs had begged them not to do so for the Waymers had locked the vaults for excellent reason. Three of the Aymers, being less arrogant and more open minded than the others, changed their minds but they were outvoted by their comrades who were greedy for Waymer secrets and power.

 

From the very first opened vault had come undeath in the form of swirling grey dust driven by a dreadful necromancic force. Nine of the Aymers had at once fallen under the spell of undeath, had died almost instantly and had arisen as powerful lichs under the domination of a strange undeathly force. The nine Aymers were those who had been greedier and more arrogant.

 

The other three Aymers used powerful magic to hurl back the lichs and fell backwards. The Oomirs also fought but they were unable to give much assistance except for a handful of Oomir mages. But then an ancient trap-spell of the Waymers had been triggered, flamelight had exploded outwards and three of the lichs had perished while the other six had fled, weakened.

 

The Oomer Chiefton nodded gravely as he held a curving steel scimitar in one hand and a leather shield in the other. "We Oomir gathered all the smaller and still functioning artifacts, golden tablets and other useful Waymer items that we could find and gave them to the three Aymers. The Aymers worked hard and learned dreadful secrets from the foolishly opened vault that they again carefully locked up. They said that they knew now where the undead had actually first come from and it was not the realm of Oblivion as was widely assumed even by the daedra."

 

The undead had first appeared on the continent of Tamriel but only after the first Corprus Plague had caused wide spread havoc and death during the Mythic Age. The Aedra had dealt with the plague and had wiped away most of the undeath that had come after it.

 

But the undeath had then come again in the form of the lesser undeath.

 

The Chiefton went on speaking. "When the Corprus infected die and if their bodies are not burned or otherwise destroyed, under certain conditions they become the lesser undead of zombies, zombars or even skeletars."

 

The Eternal Champion nodded. "I spoke with Emperor Martin I about that back before he gave his mortal life to save Tamriel from Methrunes Dagon. Martin was a true sage though he had no documentation to say so. He had learned necromancer secrets as well as from the various daedric cults, along with more standard magic. He said that it was commonly suspected amongst necromancic sages that there was a very vital link between the Corprus disease and the undead. What was missing was the knowledge of the vital factor that caused dead Corprus victims to sometimes become the undead instead of dying naturally and rotting away as they often did."

 

The tall robe figure shrugged. "After the Oblivion Gates were closed I searched the libraries and archives of the Arcane University, of the Imperial Palace and even of the White Golden Tower. What I found was most disturbing. In those places where much aggressive arcane magic had been used, where there had been intense magical battles, those where the places where the Corprus dead turned into the undead."

 

He stretched and then sighed dramatically. "The use of arcane magic is linked with the rise of the undead. I tried to warn the Mages Guild of my findings but they ignored me as they had ignored so many others who had come to the same conclusions. I became so unpopular that I ceased to be Archmage and instead became Honourary Archmage, a title with out any authority, and was politely but firmly kicked out of the Arcane University. I sense now you want to say something else of importance."

 

The Oomir leader nodded. "One odd fragment of knowledge came from that vault before the three Aymer fled from it in fear, they sensing something ancient and evil inside it, and that was most strange. It said that the Corprus Plague itself had been created accidentally by something called the Master Spell when the Aedra had used the Master Spell to create arcane magic of the mortal existence."

 

The Eternal Champion nodded. "Now I truly do understand much more. Some vital piecs of a jigsaw fall into place at last. The Nine Divines, the other Gods, the Greater Daedra, all and too many others, have tried to hide the truth even from themselves. Mortal arcane magic, the undeath and the Master Spell are all tightly linked."

 

The Chiefton looked puzzled. "What is a jigsaw?"

 

The tall man took two ornate wooden boxes out from beneath his robes and gave them to the Chiefton who slipped his sword away so he could hold them. "Each of those is many small cleverly made wooden pieces of a picture that you put together to make up a whole picture but the pieces are cleverly designed to make it harder to do. Hence each is a jigsaw puzzle. The picture for each jigsaw puzzle is up on the inside of the lid. Have fun!"

 

Oomirs loved such things and the Chiefton beamed happily for a moment but then he lost his smile. "The three surviving Aymers created some amulets, potions and spells for us to use against the undead and prepared their own magic to do the same but something was wrong. When they had gone deep into the undeath vault to learn at least some of its secrets, they had been infected with a very powerful version of the Corprus disease. They started to become very sick. They did what they could for us Oomirs before they drank powerful pioson and died peacefully."

 

The Oomir looked up at the much taller Eternal Champion and shrugged. "We fought since then and killed all but one of the lichs. Then other lichs came from where, we do not know. They came as ex-Aymers and they came with zombies. We fought them all and killed all until there only survived five lichs and no lesser undead. We lost too many of our folk in those battles but at last we had the enemy trapped here. Now only two lichs, the two guarding the Oomirs who were in the box-cages, survive and our scouts are tracking them."

 

The Eternal Champion shook his head. "They are now destroyed. I am one aspect of the Eternal Champion and my name is Conanar the Paladin. Here now is Jasmine the Battlemage who is also of the Eternal Champion."

 

The beautiful, deadly Jasmine came pacing into the great chamber with her great metallic mage-staff. She was also robed and beneath the robes was white golden armour. She threw back her hood to reveal a white golden helmeted head and a red-brown face. She spoke then. "So it has come to pass as was predicted back before the birth of time. If we have arisen again then so Mahargrah and Mahargastle must be here also."

 

He nodded. "In Martinpolis, the new city outside of the Imperial City on the eastern side of the Imperial Ring Channel, they have appeared. I can sense them because they allow me to do so. You also awoke in the cathedral but in another room."

 

She nodded. "In the pantry of all places. Still it is better than waking up in a prison cell in time for a doomed Emperor and the Blades guarding him to show up and wonder just how I got there. It is good to see you, brother."

 

"And you, sister." He smiled. "Let us go and watch this fine Cheifton of the Oomir attempt to do his first jigsaw puzzle. That would be good fun and a fine way to relax for the moment. We have done all we can for the sick Oomir, the undead are no longer a threat here and we need to wait for reinforcements to arrive from the surface along with more supplies and equipment."

 

The Chiefton smiled very richly because his people loved puzzles.

 

To be continued in ELEVEN!

 

 

[dezdimona]

very good. I love a good story!

[Maharg67]

ELEVEN

 

Mahargrah strode across the big chamber that was about half filled with people. Then he carefully placed the large wooden barrel of sweet-water onto a table. Orphan children and teens were eating and drinking at the tables or were lining up to get more. That is except those doing chores or who were entering or leaving the room. There were a fair few adults and animals that had come with the new people now dwelling in the Community Wing of the Maharg Mansion, as both were now called.

 

The two black dogs followed him faithfully and he now scratched them on their heads as they stood either side of him. In her pouch at his front a female ever-baby faced frontward and contentedly devoured a slice of apple.

 

All these orphans were away from the influence of the Master Spell. At least half had been rejected by society because they had magical, antimagical or nullmagical properties and now, hopefully, they would join in the battle against the Master Spell and the TriEmpire.

 

Sisters, Iniates and teenagers, Novices Compassionate, could be seen along with newer Assistants Compassionate but they were outnumbered by children. Thankfully Orphanage workers were there also being a dozen women and five men. But only orphans and other Orphanage folk had been cominginto the safety of the mansion that was more than a mansion. People who had barely survived in the sewer network and other underground spaces beneath the city, who had escaped there from the Master Spell or the TriEmpire, or who were just misfits, were being accomodated in another set of chambers.

 

The merchants of Martinpolis were happy with him for though Marhargastle could and did generate many goods in various ways, he had ordered, prepaid for and had delivered a range of goods. Yet he had also had proven very hard and fast when it came to those who tried to cheat him as a grocer, a blacksmith and a gallery operator had soon found out.. He bought a steady stream of groceries, furniture, fittings, artworks, books, historical artifacts, unwanted animals, defunct magical items, scrolls, scrollbooks, tools, weapons and much else. He bought more of the more common goods and more carefully of the less common stuff for he did not wish to draw too much attention to himself or cause some sort of trouble in the local market. While he was fairly generous with his offers he did not go overboard as not to monopolise the buyer's market. Any very special items he needed, he gained through more secretive means, using his new array of contacts in the city including the Sisterhood Compassionate, the Brotherhood Protective, the Order of Truth and others. The Order of Truth were a secretive but loose group of scholars, a few sages, journalists, artists and others seeking to learn, record, catalog and report the truth. Many of them were now using their own group of rooms in the great structure.

 

The Sisterhood Compassionate, the Brotherhood Protective and others had brought not only people but as many resources as they could into the mansion and were bringing more. The number of orphans and others in need of sheltering had dropped from the original flood to a steady trickle. The TriEmpire, for all its dark side, did make sure most people got their basic needs met including a basic health care system of new style doctors, nurses and medics. But apart from the serums, that did not work for some, they could not protect people from the Master Spell itself and they could not even see that the Master Spell was a problem because they were puppets.

 

It was not obvious but both he and Mahargastle gained greatly from the influx of people, good and other things into the castle.

 

Mahargrah spoke quietly to the air in such a way that none could easily read his lips. "Mahargastle, you have done some more mapping of the city."

 

Mahargastle spoke quietly back and did not have to worry about anybody reading her lips. "Nine of those Globezi are in the city. Once a month any healthy adult over twenty will visit a Globezi once to have life energies drained from them. Exceptions are those who are considered less useful to society such as many elderly, people get older faster now, or the supposed medically incurable, of which there are more now, plus misfits, rebels and outlaws. These are locked into a big institution where they are kept under suprisingly reasonable conditions but each goes to a Globezi once a week until they perish. Dead bodies are always totally destroyed and all possessions are either claimed through inheritance or are donated to the official welfare shops or are recycled."

 

Mahargrah frowned. "This is a refinement of the network-system that drew life energies from people back in Leirmat. It is created, I suspect, by the TriEmpire not just to make sure there is a steady supply of life energies to feed the generation of lizen-magic, but is an attempt by the TriEmpire to better control the Master Spell and its horrific addiction. The special serums given to people for free, that slow down the harm done to the masses of the oppressed, are for the same reason. Yet there might be something emerging in the TriEmpire that goes against its major trends. That is there may be TriImperials who have come to oppose what the TriEmpire has become and to oppose the Master Spell with its bizarre addiction and sickness."

 

The TriEmpire had once been a mighty and good empire, though not perfect, that ruled most of the super continent of Shozkria. The Master Spell had somehow emerged in Shozkria, coming out of its sleeping place where it should have staid, but had come into mortal existence in a distorted fashion. Mahargrah had been in Shozkria, had been a genius fool who had welcomed the Master Spell as a way of generating fabulous new magical technologies. He and others had been manipulated by an unseen and amazingly cunning force into combining the TriEmpire's Magi-Core with the Master Spell. Too late had Mahargrah and other realised the horror they had released upon not just their own motherland but upon others to come. A terrible war was fought as millions of refugees fled in magical arks from the now terrible TriEmpire. Mahargrah died as he sacrifised himself to destroy a great arsenal of magical weapons, knowledge and other devices to stop the new TriEmpire from using them. This weakened the plans of the TriEmperor and TriEmpress and gave the chance for many other people to escape by going down into the Underlands beneath the continent where the Master Spell could not reach for some reason.

 

Mahargrah was reborn, much to his astonishment, as the Lord of Ordered Chaos. He gained Mahargastle as a companion who was actually linked with him in a special fashion. But it was centuries later and Shozkria was largely a great wasteland where twisted creatures roamed or grew plant like, where healthy air, water and food was hard to find and where softly glowing ruins of the old empire were found dotted across the landscape. There were also many undead and such as aggressive ghosts.

 

Life was hard down in the Underlands but much better than that above. They faced a corprus plague and an invasion of swarming Underworlders. Mahargrah assisted the peoples there in many ways and yet most saw him as a great villian of the past and never forgave him. He left the new TriRepublic as an official hero but because the new TriPresident demanded he go. Only a relatively few voices were raised to defend his right to stay though more demanded that he leave Mahargastle behind because everybody loved her. Yet many people also chose to leave with Mahargrah and inside Mahargastle who would end up inside the Sanctuary Zone.

 

As for the TriEmpire and the Master Spell, they were long gone to find their next victims.

 

He had never returned to his homeland or the world that it was on.

 

He spoke again. "There are still older network-systems in operation?"

 

She responded. "Yes but they have been altered to fit Tamriel. There are TriImperial Communications through Teleways. There are the raised Rail-Wheel lines, the sealed Highways and the special Teleport Network that is less often used. There are the Death Game Arenas but death games are held less often then they were back in Leirmat.."

 

She went on. "All those were on Leirmat but now there are TriImperial Defence Force Forts at every city, including here at Martinpolis where there is a big one. It seems that the TriEmpire has built up new military forces and is no longer depending fully on the Master Spell to generate mimickri creatures to do its battles for it."

 

Mahargrah snorted. "Perhaps it goes further than that. Perhaps the TriEmpire can no longer trust the Master Spell not to turn on it, not to attack it."

 

She spoke again. "Then there are those who are chosen to go to Imperial City for various reasons who never again return. Whether they go to be punished or rewarded or other reasons, whether they go openly or in secret, none return. It is a steady stream from all over Tamriel. This seems to be something new."

 

He nodded. "It is coming time for me to venture out of your confines, my sweet, though Mahargassa is now out there, is now active in Anvil."

 

The ever-baby stretched her arms out and looked up at Mahargrah's face with a hopeful cute look because she wanted some more apple. He kissed her and then gave her another slice before he gave some small chewy meaty snacks to the dogs.

 

To be continued in TWELVE!

Edited July 26, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

TWELVE

 

K'Martina listened to the Cyrodilin Empress negotiate with the representatives of the newly created Daedric Front that was the daedric effort to defend the realm of Oblivion.

 

Both K'Martina and the Empress had been surprised to learn that the Master Spell had launched raids of its mimickri monsters through reactivated Oblivion Gates to what had once been the Oblivion Territories of Methrunes Dagon. The raiders were often driven back or even destroyed but always left trails of death and destruction behind them. The Master Spell seemed to be seeking something. No TriImperials had been directly involved in these raids.

 

The daedra also faced a new threat that had first appeared when the TriEmpire and Master Spell had come to Tamriel and that was the Ardead, a great force of undeath, that was rising through out parts of Oblivion to attack the daedric realms. The daedra had feared the two enemies might be united or even be one but when mimickri raiders met ardead invaders they attacked each other brutally and with out mercy.

 

Traditional enemies were being forced to form alliances.

 

K'Martina sat on a dirty old once ornate wooden chair while the big old table, which was held up at one end by a big old crate, sat at the middle of a meeting chamber. Documents were heaped on the table as the Daedric Front Envoy sat contemplating yet another counter proposal. So far the negotiations had only been mildly frustrating because both sides badly needed the alliance and they knew it.

 

So far the Kurikondi and their alliance with Summerset Isle had only been lightly referred to. So far she had spoken only a couple of times and had managed to give the impression of defining her people well while in truth giving away very little about them.

 

That was when she felt the strange but not harmful or highly disturbing sensation go through her body.

 

And suddenly K'Martina was in two places at once. It was a trick that special Kuri could do but not so often the Kurikondi who focused on other strengths.

 

While K'Martina kept at the table, K'Mortina found herself once more in the now amazingly big Chamber of Glowing Statues where she was confronted by the Nine Divines of Tamriel and the Nine Holies of Leirmat. All of the statues were still glowing softly from within. The eighteen statues were looking inwards towards where she was standing and she doubted that this was a coincidence. Nor was the fact that none of the Cyrodilin Imperial or Daedric Front were there in that chamber, that she appeared to be alone except that she sensed that she was not.

 

Akatosh the Dragon God of Time spoke first, or at least his statue, his avatar did. "Rarely does a god speak to a mortal so directly as I do to you now but you are no mere mortal but a living goddess. You come here as the Chosen One of the Kurikondi to scout ahead of a possible invasion of Tamriel. Yet you know that such an invasion is bound to fail by itself for the Master Spell will launch all of its puppet people at your invading forces in waves of death. Swarms of mimickri will attack you."

 

K'Mortina frowned. "The Kurikondi are more waiting to try to defend Summerset Isle than we are preparing to invade the mainland of Tamriel. We wish only to infiltrate and learn more about what is going on. As for myself being a living goddess, how can that be when my mother and both my fathers were normal Kurikondi? Still, it is well noted that I have capacities beyond the normal for Kurikondi."

 

Akatosh-Avatar spoke again. "Your third father is Mahargrah, Lord of Ordered Chaos."

 

She nodded. "Very good then! He assisted the free forces of Leirmat in many ways to drive off both the TriEmpire and the Master Spell. I doubt that you influenced me to appear here in secondary form just to tell me this. What do you want of me?"

 

The powerful male voice spoke again. "Mahargrah is here now on Tamriel along with Mahargastle and others. Mahargrassa has emerged in Anvil. We would like to know what Mahargrah is doing here. We would like to know what Mahargrassa is doing here. Mahargrassa is your half-sister. The Eternal Champion has emerged once more in Tamriel as two avatars. The Eternal Champion has in the past been loyal to us but now has begun to question our ways, our teachings, our priestesses and priests. This does not please us. Serve us and you will be well rewarded."

 

But then Amazoniss, the Goddess of Protection of Nature and Life, spoke out through her avatar, through her statue. "Do you claim our followers, Akatosh? The Nine Holies of Leirmat would not have you do such. Long ago in the Mythic Age when the mortal plain was being created, mistakes were made. These mistakes were made by many gods, the Aedra, who make up in truth but one godhood. The Eight Divines were Thirteen Divines back then, a truth that has been concealed for far too long. There were Thirteen Holies. The mortal ways were not just created but were recreated for they had existed before in another form. The Master Spell was created to make the working of the mortal dimensions easier and quicker. Why? Because the Aedra were far from fully united on the merits of creating mortality and those who supported it wanted to make sure the mortal dimensions came into existence."

 

Akatosh-avatar spoke again. "Yes, I now admit that we rushed the making of the Master Spell with out fully understanding what we made or the ramifications of its long term existence. We assumed we could build it like any tool, use it and then put it safely away lest we need it again. But it was far more complicated and powerful than we imagined and it gained its own intelligence. It stopped being just a spell and became a magical entity in its own right. But we do not know what happened after that though we have strong theories on the matter."

 

Then Magikidus the God, the Holy of Magic from Leirmat, spoke. "More than any of the Nine Holies or the Nine Divines that survive, I delve into the inner most nature, laws and limitations of magic. For a very long time now I have suspected a dark truth but now for the first time I will voice it out to others. The Master Spell was interfered with during its creation and it was secretly taken over by a twisted deity, that is by one of the Aedra who had turned to darkness. That god or goddess may well still be in control of, may even be merged with, the Master Spell."

 

A profoundly troubled silence fell amongst the Nine Divines and the Nine Holies.

 

Ratty, all fast and powerful but sweet and adorable, came rushing across the big chamber and paused only briefly before he leaped into K'Mortina's arms. She grabbed him up, hugged himself to herself and then held him at her side as she might a child. He had paused only enough to realize that she, K'Mortina, was just as good as was K'Martina, was somehow the same entity.

 

Ratty looked eagerly around at the great big softly glowing stone statues and chittered with much excitement. "What big glowing statues for?"

 

K'Mortina smiled. "These represent the Nine Divines of Cyrodiil and the Nine Holies of Leirmat, especially Central Leirmat. These are avatars."

 

Ratty sighed. "Ratty only thought they might be good for lighting up good things like hunting mice or playing games or finding treasures. Ratty not smart enough to know about big things."

 

The eighteen deities all laughed softly and warmly, the sound drifting through the great chamber because Ratty, all of one metre tall not including the tail, had pointed out their apparent helplessness at the time. In truth their glowing statues seemed only good for a Ratty's use. Yet it was also a compliment, a praise of sorts that Ratty in all of his practicality had been served so usefully by eighteen great gods and goddesses.

 

With out being voiced an important decision had been made by these goddesses and gods. K'Mortina kissed Ratty on top of his head and wondered what the ramifications would be.

 

To be continued in THIRTEEN!

 

 

Edited August 4, 2009 by Maharg67

[dragonpen61]

A bit too wordy and complicated but otherwise a very good piece of writing.

 

I enjoyed reading it.

[Maharg67]

THIRTEEN

 

Mahargrassa made her way carefully through a big old abandoned basement chamber past heaps of slowly rusting iron, disturbing surprisingly little dust with her lightest of treads, and clutched her staff carefully. There was danger in that place that looked generally odd but harmless. There were heaped wooden boats of various kinds that had been brought down a stone ramp from the surface. Rows of big wooden oars stood upright in wooden racks. A big ship's wheel was propped against an area of wall that also had leaning against it a finely carved figure of a mermaid, bare breasted as was tradition. In a big book case were rows of leather bound ledgers, chronicles and other books of accounts. A big set of shark's teeth hung on one wall above a whole set of big stuffed fish. A set of shelves held valuable brass and glass compasses, ocean oriented crystal-balls and other navigational equipment. Another area of wall had a large wall tapestry of a map, not totally complete or accurate, of Tamriel with a focus on surrounding waters but it looked most impressive.

 

The antimagical ghostly force came hurling towards her, a translucent sailor man swinging a great big cutlass of a sword with savage certainty at her. But she flickered and the blade darted through empty air. She was suddenly crouching some five metres away. With amazing speed the antimagical weapon turned and shot at her again. This time the spirit tried to get her before she vanished but this time she struck it with the tip of her staff.

 

There was a flash of energy and the antimagical phantom vanished.

 

The gnarled old man cackled away and then wheeled his big old wooden and iron wheelchair out into the open. He was wrapped up so much and was peering through odd leather and glass goggles, that it was hard to tell what race he was. He was apparently human. The wheelchair was magical and moved all by itself, slowly with a soft humming noise.

 

He grinned at her. "Ugly I am and older than most might assume but I have the know how and skills to make this chamber immune from that damned Master Spell. No Mimickri have come here so far and no puppet humans either. That would greatly impress many folk but perhaps not you so much. Something tells me that you are not quite the mortal, not quite the same as myself."

 

She nodded. "I am Mahargrassa, daughter of Mahargrah, and I am the Lady of Ordered Chaos."

 

"A living goddess!" He cackled again. "No wonder you went through my antimagical guardian so easily. He will soon generate again but this time he won't attack you. What brought you here, my dear, and would you sit on the lap of a sweet, trustworthy old man and make him happy?"

 

She sighed. "I might but I can not see any sweet, trustworthy old man, you old codger. You have a wonderful collection of goods here."

 

At that he nodded. "Indeed but mostly gathered by others. I used to love sailing, especially in the big Imperial Sailships that are mostly in ruins now or cared for up in dry-dock. Except that is those who escaped to islands where the Master Spell and the TriEmpire have no power. I remember a whole fleet being built to increase the ocean going military and trading power of the old empire as well as to explore the world's oceans. None of those well planned exploration, diplomatic and trading expeditions ever got to set out across the seas. A great disappointment that but I doubt you came here to speak of such matters.

 

She slipped onto his lap and he cackled again. Then, facing him, she spoke again. "So who are you that you know that I am a living goddess, that you know my name though I have not been on Tamriel for a long time?"

 

At that the old guy dared to lay a hand on her leg and she did not protest. He grinned a crooked grin of pleasure. "A few centuries back I awoke one very early morning in the sewer tunnels below the Imperial Prison. Very old tunnels and slowly crumbling back then. My face seemed familiar to me but my memories were blurred, were broken, were often dark. I woke in a very fancy cloak and carried a fancy magical longsword. I was surrounded by dead Imperial Blades, bodyguards of the Emperor and the Empress that none spoke of openly."

 

He shrugged. "I was Emperor Uriel Septim VII and I should have been dead. Indeed I remembered being killed by Mythic Dawn Followers while the Eternal Champion fought to save me. At the moment of death a strange blue-white light of magical energy filled me up briefly and after falling down I had strange dreams, disturbing but also delightful. I looted the poor noble Blades of what useful items I could, put on some of their gear and left my robes behind. I could have openly declared myself to be the Emperor but something deep inside me told me that this would be far from wise. I had changed fundamentally and also time, history, destiny, fate had passed me by. It was up to others now to lead the Cyrodilin Empire."

 

He shrugged. "I did make contact with some old friends and they sensed also that I had changed, that my role was now to be something else. Now at last I could focus on finding my wife, the Empress, or at least the truth of what had happened to her. I was convinced that she was not the cheating thieving fool that many assumed she was. I made contact with the Blades and at first they assumed I was some kind of trick of Methrunes Dagon and they almost killed me. Martin, my dear son, saved my life as I wish that later I could have saved him from his fate. Later the Eternal Champion came to me and informed me that in trying so hard to save me she had accidentally transferred to me some of her vital essence as something called an Eternal. After Martin's death she stayed. She and a few Blades began to assist my search for my wife. She told me she is but one aspect of many individuals that make up the Eternal Champion. It is most strange."

 

"And he found her, the dirty old man!" A fairly youthful looking woman came into the chamber pushing a small handcart full of cleaning gear. She was cleanly but practically dressed in a knee length dress and behind her came some young men and women of various ages. "You can get off his lap now, my sweet. I was the Empress just as this old man was the Emperor. He has been napping for about a month now and has let the room get all dusty and grubby."

 

Mahargrassa slipped lightly and gracefully off the old looking man, kissed him quickly on the forehead and darted across the room to sit on a three legged wooden stool.

 

The former Empress sighed. "You move amazingly quick and you left only the slightest trace in the dust. I suspect you would have left none if you had been trying not to do so. How did you learn about us?"

 

"Two fine old ladies, overtly mad but covertly quite cunningly brilliant, and their lover bodyguard." Mahargrassa stretched and threw back her hood now to fully reveal her head. "I have asked them to leave the open living of the harbor and to come down here to live because they are too soon to die if they remain up there. They protested but not too strongly after they learned the truth of what was being done to them."

 

The old man in the wheelchair shuddered. "Globeli! Those life draining monstrosities. I wonder that we do not just destroy them and stop the TriEmpire and the Master Spell from feeding."

 

The former Empress gave orders to young men and women who shared in general both his and her husband's features. At once the five young men and four young women set out busily dusting and sorting things. Then she spoke again. "They are more than welcome to live down-ramp from here with me in a finer quality place. Hopefully being away from the draining of life energies and the stronger influence of the Master Spell will assist them to regain health and fitness."

 

Mahargrassa nodded. "To destroy the Globeli would be very difficult for they are constructed of amazingly strong materials and have many forms of protection. There are many Globeli. More importantly there is a chance that the TriEmpire put the Globeli into place in order to slow down the feeding of the Master Spell, that if they were gone the Master Spell might simply start killing people in the many thousands if not millions. The three could continue their rebel activities from down here but perhaps it is time for them to retire."

 

The former Emperor frowned. "How much of the truth did you show them?"

 

Mahargrassa sighed. "Not much! Just enough to get them to have all their wonderful belongings smuggled down here and to come and live down here with them. How much of the truth have you seen, Emperor Uriel Septim VII?"

 

All the young adults looked startled and stared at the old man in amazement.

 

Mahargrassa sighed again. "You did not tell them the truth. I am sorry that I blurted it out."

 

The old man grinned. "They know me as dad or granddad or great granddad, depending on who is knowing me, or just Old Uriel. Yes, boys and girls, I was once the Emperor of the Cyrodilin Empire but back to work with you. I will tell you some fine stories later." He turned back to the living goddess. "As for the truth that I have seen, have experienced, there is no real way to relate it but from what I see in your eyes you know much more of these matters than I do. I remember when the invasion began. For all of our secret preparations, our attempts to be ready for it, we were taken totally by surprise. The only good thing was that by then my wife was with me again, we had forgiven each other, and with some new adopted children we fled into the secret place down below Anvil."

 

Mahargrassa smiled. "This is actually a dimensional pocket realm like Mankar Cameron's Paradise, a magical and antimagical creation cleverly designed to hold back the Master Spell but also to be hidden from the Master Spell. You and others studied the works of that insane genius and then created this place but what is the anchor for this pocket dimension?"

 

Old Uriel sighed. "The wheelchair is the anchor and I am tied to the wheelchair. The Master Spell is seeking something. Its creatures, its mockeries of life that we call the Mimickri, are everywhere hunting for this thing. I am constantly needing to focus in order to keep Little Anvil secret. Why did you really come here?"

 

She smiled. "Little Anvil is even now being safely and securely drawn into the Sanctuary Zone and yet it will remain, in a sense, here below Anvil. Even now you will find the pressure easing off you and you will begin to become younger, healthier. Soon enough you will be able to leave your wheelchair. I did not come here for any particular purpose but I am on a journey of discovery. I am seeking answers and yet I have yet to find the proper questions to ask. Who bound you to the wheelchair and the spell? Was it the Eternal Champion?"

 

The former Emperor shook his head. "The Eternal Champion was rather angry with me when she found out what I had done. Jasmine the Battlemage was the aspect of the Eternal Champion who tried to save me from the Mythic Dawn and who accidentally caused my rebirth. No, it was..." He suddenly looked very surprised. "I can't remember who instigated the spell of this pocket realm and who said that it was linked somehow to..." He sighed heavily. "No, it all escapes me. Truly the need to keep Little Anvil secret has drained me." He slumped heavily in his chair.

 

Mahargrassa went to him quickly and taking a small metallic leather belt out she carefully wrapped it around his head, his forehead, and fastened it but not to tight. At once small yellow, green and white crystals in it began to glow softly. At once the figure in the wheelchair sighed heavily, relaxed and went to sleep. She made him more comfortable.

 

Then she turned and stared hard at the former Empress and all of the young adults who were now standing there and staring at her. "Why did you betray the Emperor and his two sons?"

 

The woman slipped off the dress and revealed a fancy robelet of black and blood red stripes. It was Mythic Dawn. She scowled. "The Emperor was supposedly wise but he was always a weakling at heart or so I thought at the time. Manker Cameron was a brilliant and powerful man who promised a wondrous new dawn and who promised me endless youth. Instead the Emperor spoke of the need to die, the need to come to an end."

 

But then she pulled off the Mythic Dawn robelet and threw it to the floor. She was now in a knee length under-dress. "Old fool was right and Manker Cameron was the real fool in the end. The old man told our boys and girls many stories and they pressured me to change my mind. I tricked Manker Cameron and instead of going to his Paradise as promised I went off with my husband into hiding."

 

"It was no Paradise!" Mahargrassa frowned. "Though it had the general appearance of one. Many of Manker's followers who ended up there ended up cursing him for it became their prison, a place of suffering for them."

 

The other woman smiled. "Thank you for telling me that. Now I can tell you that it was a man called Broothada who influenced Old Uriel to do what he did. Broothada who was powerful a mage but who also had antimagic. Broothada who shifted his appearance and who smelt vaguely of undeath and of dark places, who said he had visited the realm of Oblivion to speak with Methrunes Dagon himself. Broothada was not impressed with the Daedra Prince for he saw him as a powerful but narrow minded deity of shallow imagination. Cunning, yes, but not brilliant."

 

"Kurikanzi!" Mahargrassa frowned and then she spoke of the Kurikondi who came from a continent called Leirmat and the Kurikanzi who had broken away from them long ago to turn to evil and to serve the TriEmpire. She also informed this woman, and all the others listening, that the Kurikanzi and the TriEmpire had split largely due to the treachery of the Kurikanzi. But she did not know just what the Kurikanzi did that was so treacherous.

 

The other woman had put her normal dress back on. She now stood next to her husband. "Why do I get the feeling that there are things that you are not telling us?"

 

"Because there are things that I am not telling you." Mahargrassa responded. "Did this Broothada, hardly his real name, meet with Manker Cameron?"

 

The woman nodded. "Yes he did! At first Broothada was impressed with his genius but later he turned against Manker's growing insanity. Maker Cameron was unable to see the basic truth that Methrunes Dagon was out to turn Tamriel into a living hell ruled oppressively by himself. Methrunes Dagon would have probably crushed Maker Cameron as a possible threat once the Daedra Prince had conquered Tamriel. I always wondered why there are so many sea related items in this chamber when we are so deep underground and how they were brought down here."

 

Mahargrassa snorted. "The whole chamber and everything in it were closer to the surface but when your husband created Little Anvil it all was brought down here because he wanted it all down here. It always did comfort him to be reminded of the sea. Should you not know this?"

 

The other woman shook her head. "The children and I were in Anvil but were were hiding in another part of the harbour, over where they used to have the cattle yards which are now just a few rotting fences and lots of grass. I often find it surprisingly difficult to remember how much time hass passed since something happened or when something happened. Many people do."

 

"The Master Spell twists time and people's perception of time." Mahargrassa looked around. "Perhaps Old Uriel had more than comfort in mind when he brought this chamber downwards by using magic. Hidden here amongst all of the shelving and the historical artifacts are devices of power. I can sense them. You and these young people are prisoners down here. He has you trapped down here but why?"

 

Suddenly Mahargrassa laughed sourly. "Of course, you are Kurikanzi or hybrid-Kurikanzi. Old Uriel trusted you so far but not far enough to let you out of Little Anvil. When did he discover the truth about you?"

 

Former Empress Ujena Sareda Septim grimaced. "When we rescued him from a Kurikanzi killer team by shapeshifting and using other zruidic powers. You are wrong. Old Uriel trusts us but Broothada turned this place into a magical trap for us when he created Little Anvil. Broothada wanted us trapped down here because I figured out his true Kurikanzi identity. The truth was a deep shock for he is none other than K'Makra, the very first Kurikanzi who seduced us away from the Kurikondi path and into darkness. K'Makra is easily the most powerful Kurikanzi who has ever lived though there are other Kuri individuals far more powerful than he."

 

At that moment down the ramp slid a large wooden sled carefully piled with furniture, fittings, art-works, chests, sacks, lidboxes and much else. Clinging to the back of it were two elderly ladies and a man. As the sled slid across the floor and began to slow they all three looked relieved.

 

But then the aged bodyguard cried out. "Monsters are chasing us down the rampway."

 

To be continued in FOURTEEN

Edited August 7, 2009 by Maharg67