Easy Betrayals by Richard Baker Read Free Book Online Page A

their shoulders to the stone. It teetered for a moment on the topmost step and then tipped over, rolling down the stairs with an ear-shattering clatter. The skeletal warriors moved slowly to avoid the block, but there was no room to dodge. In a roar of dust and stone they were swept away down the stairs. “What was that?” Belgin panted as the resounding echoes died away.
    “You don’t want to know,” Miltiades answered. He straightened, setting a hand to his back with a wince. “I’m getting too old for this. Come on. Eidola’s somewhere in that direction.”
    Staggering against the storm’s rage, they blundered out into the ancient streets.
    Jacob slashed his way clear of the dessicated mummies with a burst of superhuman speed and strength, leaving a dozen or more of the ancient warriors dismembered in the sand-swept street. For the moment, no enemies stalked him. Shielding his frail human eyes with an upraised arm, he trudged back into the wind, seeking the colonnaded palace. Rings he dismissed as dead; if the creatures that had attacked them didn’t get the dwarf, something else surely would. Jacob could sense the malignant sentience behind the sandstorm and the walking dead, and it seemed likely it would try to isolate and destroy them. “Well, feel free to try,” he snorted into the storm. I’ve a surprise or two for you, whatever you are.”
    The storm didn’t bother to reply. Jacob shrugged and continued, feeling his way across the open square. A dark shape loomed up out of the gloom, with another behind it, and a third dimly visible behind that—a row of columns, standing on a stone porch. “I’ll be damned,”
    Jacob muttered. Now, which way? He’d been wrong before and gone too far to the right, which meant that he needed to follow the portico to the left to find the doorway inside… or so he thought. He decided to turn left and slogged on through the drifting sand, keeping the columns in sight.
    A prickling in the back of his neck warned him of danger. Whirling, he lashed out with his sword, just in time to meet the attack of a tall, powerful mummy with eyes of green flame. The undead thing hissed in frustration as white steel met the fall of its black scythe and pressed closer, drawing back for another strike. Jacob scrambled back for space to fight, slipped on the stone steps, and fell back into the sand. Dazed, he shook his head to clear his vision.
    The ancient warrior towered over him, scythe poised for the kill. “I don’t think so,” Jacob said. With boneless ease he shifted his form, instantly transforming his left arm into a steel spear and punching it through the mummy’s empty skull. The withered torso collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Jacob quickly resumed his original form and stood, looking around for the next attack.
    “Very good,” said a voice behind him, cutting through the wind like a blade of cold steel. Jacob turned slowly, a feral grin on his features. Watching from the shadows of the colonnade stood an athletic human woman in black leather, a strand of hemp hiding at her collar. “I didn’t expect that.”
    I’ve been looking for you,” Jacob said.
    Interlude
    … Of Monsters and Men Portals, portals everywhere. Which one do I seek?
    Eidola won’t do for this. She’s strong, swift, and beautiful, but she doesn’t know a thing about the works of ancient Netheril or the crafting of spells. The minotaur and the mastiff are useless now, the cuttlefish demon too. The great fiend? No, it was merely a shell. If I’d really conquered a balor, I’d have no need of a wizard’s magic—I could walk the planes by wishing it so. It was good enough to get me past the fiends that swarmed through Aetheric’s dungeons, but I’m not a balor. Not even close.
    But Jarin, on the other hand… Jarin has served me well on many occasions. His knowledge of sorcery is impressive for one so young. Hell have the knowledge I seek.
    Before I crafted Eidola, Jarin was a persona