The Heir of Milar - by L.G.A. McIntyre

The Heir of Milar - Part 3 - by L.G.A. McIntyre

                                                                           Part 3

   Ironfist stared blurrily at the great Lizard that rose high out of the water, its gills quivering in the odd vibration that was compelling him to remain passive. Sleep... Sleep...

   A small part of his mind screamed at him to move, to flee! But the torpor that gripped him was too strong to deny. This was it. The End. His brothers had warned him that it would be inglorious. He only wished that they were still here to see it, to see themselves proved right.

   As the lizard readied itself to strike, blue flames erupted from the water in a towering column between it and Ironfist. The animal squealed and disappeared into the water. The wake caused by its flight washed over Sinjin in a muddied wave, making him sputter and cough, and releasing him from the creature’s thrall.

   He leapt to his feet in fright, stumbling as his senses returned in a rush. He had come so close to death! He spun about to see what had startled the beast, and gasped in greater fear, his knees weakening to the point that he almost fell. Before him stood the wizard, Kac!

   Ironfist cringed, struggling to keep himself from sinking to his knees as he had been taught to do upon the approach of the wizard. He forced his spine straight, reminding himself that he was not in the dungeon anymore! 

   Ironfist’s worst nightmare had just come true! Kac had found him! His escape had failed!  Panicked, he just barely kept himself from fleeing. Kac would only catch him again anyway. Ironfist fought to keep the bitter gall of his failure from becoming roars of anguish. If nothing else, he wouldn’t give Kac the satisfaction!

   Kac had been charged with Ironfist’s torture. The delicate conditioning that Zagoda had wanted of him could only be accomplished by the light touch of the wizard; compliant, broken, devoted to the woman who had murdered every member of his family, and willing to plant his babe in her belly to cement her claim to the throne. 

   In all the months of imprisonment, Kac had never managed to break him. The Wizard had taken all from him, except for one thing. Defiance was all that Sinjin still had to call his own.

   “There you are, Sinjin. The dogs will soon be here. Escape is impossible. You are throwing away your life,” Kac stated with grand concern, wagging his finger chidingly. “And for what?” he asked. “Because of a small disagreement in politics with my mistress.” he answered his own question. From far away came the yapping bay of the dogs, as Kac summoned them.

   Overcome with rage, Ironfist grabbed the only weapon he could lay hands on - a handful of the stinking muck - and heaved it at the wizard with an inarticulate yell. It passed harmlessly through the apparition.

   “Now, now, Sinjin,” chided Kac. “Is that any way to treat your master?” he began to laugh, a chilling sound that stated louder than words that he had won.

   “I won’t let you take me back! I’ll die first!” Ironfist vowed hoarsely, fear making his exhausted body shudder and shake.

   “How convenient!” Kac almost clapped his hands in glee. “For I have no intention of taking you back to Zagoda! You see? We both get what we want!”

   “You would dare go against her?” Sinjin gasped in confusion. All his experiences in the dungeons had taught him that Zagoda was the power, yet here was her wizard, brazenly about to commit treason. Kac meant to see him dead!

   “Zagoda is nothing. I control her every move!” Kac boasted. “When you are gone, she will no longer have a distraction to keep her from my work!” 

   Sinjin glared at Kac through the matted, dripping tangle of his hair. Though he would rather die then return to the dungeons or become Zagoda’s lap dog, he would not see Kac’s ambitions aided. He would do whatever it took to thwart his most hated enemy. That meant staying alive!

   Sinjin staggered away from the aproaching bays, but Kac paced him easily, floating cleanly above the mire, laughing at Sinjin’s efforts to escape the approaching death at the teeth and claws of the dogs. “There is no escape! Where do you think you are going?” Kac chortled.

   Despair almost claimed Ironfist for its victim then, before rage and hatred burned the cowardice from his body, forcing his mind to turn over with possibilities of escape. He scowled at the wizard’s ephemeral form that soared so cleanly above the mud. Kac would not have called the dogs, if he could have killed Sinjin himself!

   “On second thought, keep fleeing! My dogs do enjoy a good chase!”

   Sinjin ignored Kac’s taunt, intently following the trace of an idea. If Kac could not kill him, then he was not really here; he was nothing more than a wraith. Sinjin had heard once that the only way to be rid of such apparitions was to pass cold steel through their ghostly bodies. Sinjin stumbled over a root and fell to one knee in the muck. He paused for a moment, panting, fighting for any strength that his body still had left to give him.

   Kac laughed, the dogs howled.

   As he pushed himself back to his feet, Sinjin regarded the iron manacles that clung to his wrists. Would they work? Did he have the courage to strike at the man he most feared? The howling dogs were getting nearer! He was running out of time! Did he have a choice?

   Before he had second thoughts about the foolhardiness of the act, Ironfist thrust his hands into the sorcerer’s ghostly body, up to the elbows, ensuring the cold iron shackles were fully engulfed by the Wizard's nimbus.

   Kac’s laughter stopped abruptly. “No!” He screamed in anger and pain as the iron manacles passed through him. With a ripping sound the Wizard vanished.

   Sinjin recoiled in horror and fled from the spot in terror. The unholy feeling of his hands passing through the Wizard lingered, chilling his flesh and making the muscles of his hands and arms spasm and cramp. He would never do such a thing again! Even if it meant saving his life!

   Within minutes the sound of pursuit died away. Without the Kac to lead them, the dogs were unable to track Ironfist across the watery fen. Sinjin realized that he was sobbing, and drew himself up to gain control. His legs wobbled and burned from his run. He was lucky to have not fallen into a deeper pool and drowned.

   Ahead of him, silhouetted in the dying light he spotted a small hillock with a single weeping willow tree upon it. The thought of getting free of the muck shot a surge of adrenalin through his weary body and he forced his exhausted legs to make a final effort. With a sob, he stumbled up onto the solid ground and grabbed the tree trunk as though it were a lifeline.

   His shaking, fear-clenched body caused the tendrils of the willow to shudder along with him as he broke down. "I am safe. I am safe. I am safe," he cried to himself. Overcome by his encounter with Kac, Ironfist’s eyes closed in exhaustion and he fainted away.

   Moments later, the hillock began to move through the water by itself. Silently, it shifted its way through misty channels, drifting towards the heart of the Swamp of Lost Souls as though poled by a magical hand.

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