Free Fate's Hand by Christopher Lynn Page B

shattering the ice that had formed there. He invoked a ball of electricity to swarm around the haft of the weapon and his forearm as he started toward the wizard and demon. Temo eyed the devil that stood impassively, over to the side. Drask smiled, then waved a hand on for him to continue.
    Yusar struggled to free something from of his robe with his working hand when Temo came to stand over him. Temo kicked Yusar's elbow to remove his hand from the robe and stepped on it to pin him down.
    “Did you kill my uncle?” Temo asked, staring down at the wizard.
    Yusar looked to Drask with pleading eyes for a moment but, seeing no compassion, he turned back to Temo.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Temo said with a voice as cold as the axe he hefted.
    “ You should know,” the devil called out, “I need a human to serve as my general. If Yusar dies, you will either fill his role, or you, too, will die today. The choice is yours.”
    The air was silent except the crackling electricity around Temo’s weapon.
    “The tower. It is supposed to be mine.” He glanced over to the demon, keeping the axe in the air.
    “ The tower is mine now,” Drask replied with a smile.
    Temo looked past Drask to the naga and a host of armed demons standing beside the tower, then looked back to the wizard with a face grim and defiant. The wizard, thinking he had won the moment, smiled up at Temo. The battle mage stood breathing heavy, weapon overhead.
    “Fine,” Temo said and quickly brought the axe down with all his strength into the wizard's chest with a resounding thud. He immediately released the axe and spun toward Drask and released the built up electricity in his arms. The moment the bolts hit the smiling demon, Temo blinked. He sucked in a deep breath, surprised to find himself looking down at his own hand grasping a handle.
    He was sitting in a comfortable chair in a dim room. Temo quickly realized he was back in the banquet hall of the devil. Drask sat patiently at the end of the table. Temo looked down at the handle. The silk covering it rolled away to reveal a tarnished mace with several emeralds lain in the head, with etched runes surrounding them.
    “What is this?” Temo quietly demanded.
    “ A test, that’s all,” came the voice from the other side of the room. Temo looked across the table and squinted his eyes to see the devil, but could not focus on him.
    “ A test?” Temo echoed. A sharp loud whisper in his ear clarified: “You failed.” Before Temo could react, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. His body went numb and everything went black.

    Yusar watched as the mercenary was dragged away from the room by Drask's demons. Yusar felt concerned over how many demons were showing up each day, his tower quickly becoming his own personal hell. He thought of the two small imps that carried away the wicked mace Temo held only moments ago —a magical weapon Yusar knew all to well. He had found it many years before in an abandoned elven city. At that time, the red wizard was under the employ of a small dark-skinned dwarf who plundered graves and castles alike in the search for magical riches. The moment the dwarf pulled the mace from the rubble, Yusar saw the change in his eyes. In mere moments, the short and powerful dwarf went into a rage and smashed in the head of his best friend and business partner. Yusar thought it was part of a double cross, but when the dwarf began yelling about scorpions attacking and told his friend to get behind him, he knew the man had gone crazy. After a few members in the party tried to stop his rampage, it was clear they would have to kill him.
    The remaining group of plunderers collected all their findings. Yusar took great care to wrap the mace in cloth before removing it from the dead dwarf's hands and packing it away. It wasn’t until later, with the help of a fellow mage, that Yusar discovered one of the emeralds on the handle could be removed. The person holding that emerald could play out a