Free Return of the Sorceress by Tim Waggoner Page B

Asvoria was in control, but she didn’t care. “In the chamber with the paintings, I had a vision of my family being attacked by a blue dragon. Was it true? Did that really happen? Are they …” She couldn’t bring herself to say
dead.
    “Perhaps what you experienced was a vision of the past, or maybe a vision of a future that might come to pass—
if
you don’t cooperate with me.”
    She should’ve known better than to ask: Maddoc lied as easily and naturally as he breathed.
    “Why did you choose me? Why not use one of your goblin servants … or Oddvar, for that matter?”
    The Theiwar looked suddenly startled, as if it had never occurred to him that he could possibly be the subject of one of his master’s magical experiments.
    “There were a number of reasons,” Maddoc said. “Most of them having to do with magical factors too esoteric to concern you. But I suppose the main reason was simply that you were close at hand. A keep of this size doesn’t run itself, you know. I maintain a staff of servants, drawn from the peasantry that live in the surrounding area. Few of them wish to work for me voluntarily,so I’m forced to use various methods of persuasion. Sometimes all it takes is money. Other times my agents in the field, such as Oddvar here, must resort to more physical means. In your case, money was sufficient.”
    “My case?”
    “You worked as a servant for me, Nearra. Your family was so poor that when Oddvar came to your cottage one day and offered you a bag full of steel coins in exchange for ten years’ service, you jumped at the chance.”
    Oddvar grinned. “Your parents were against your coming here, even through your father sold us firewood. But you said something to them … let me think … ah, yes! You said, ‘Maddoc’s money will spend just as good as anyone else’s,’ and you let them keep the steel and accompanied me back to the keep.”
    Nearra was stunned. “That means I used to live and work here, that I knew you and Oddvar and … Davyn.”
    “I wouldn’t say you
knew
us,” Maddoc said. “You were a servant, after all.”
    “Why didn’t Davyn ever tell me?”
    “Because he’s a liar. Don’t you see that, girl? He’s been working for me all along. Whose idea was it to come here, eh? Who brought you to Ravenscar?”
    Nearra knew that Maddoc was just trying to break down her defenses and destroy whatever hope she had left. Davyn had long ago admitted helping Maddoc and he’d repented his actions. In the year since she’d come to know and care for Davyn, he’d made up for whatever transgressions he’d committed against her a dozen times over.
    “It’s most ironic, isn’t it?” Maddoc said. “You first came to Cairngorn Keep only because you wished to help your family. A noble, one might say heroic motive. And now your body is host to one of the wickedest beings ever to plague Solamnia. What’sthe old cliche? No good deed goes unpunished? In your case, I’d say the sentiment fits, wouldn’t you?”
    Oddvar chuckled with dark mirth.
    Nearra felt a surge of anger. If she could access Asvoria’s magic, she’d blast both of them to cinders on the spot! But she forced herself to remain calm—or at least as calm as she could, given the circumstances.
    Maddoc continued. “While I would of course prefer to gain total control of the sorceress, after a year of trying to force the Emergence, I am willing to accept a lesser prize.”
    Nearra felt a stirring deep inside her mind and she knew that Maddoc had peaked Asvoria’s interest.
    “Go on,” she said.
    The wizard pointed to the tapestry. “See the amulet around her neck and the silver sword that lies at her feet? From my research, I’ve learned that the amulet is called the Daystar and the sword is called the Aegis. Both are objects of incredible mystic power. Asvoria will help me obtain them, and once both objects are in my possession, then I shall release her.”
    Nearra could sense that Asvoria was intrigued,