Secret Scorpio

Free Secret Scorpio by Alan Burt Akers

Book: Secret Scorpio by Alan Burt Akers Read Free Book Online
Authors: Alan Burt Akers
Tags: Fiction, Science-Fiction, Fantasy
remaining.
    I bellowed.
    “Save some! Do not slay them all!”
    Then ensued a riotous chasing rout as the fluttering birds sought to escape from the palace, and my people, whooping as though on a rampage, chased them through the corridors and up and down the stairs, seeking to cast nets and sacks and whatever came to hand over them. In the end we caught three of them, penned in sacks, and the stout material bulged and strained. Turko hit a bulge with the parrying-stick and the bird in the sack quieted down.
    Once again what had begun as a drama, as tragedy, ended in farce.
    “Khe-Hi!” I said, and at my tone he stiffened up, looking woebegone in his ruined finery, but nonetheless still retaining his dignity as a Wizard of Loh.
“Well?”
    We went back to the laboratory and Khe-Hi pointed out what was left of the idol.
    Bits and pieces of black stone were scattered about the chamber. The windows were blown out. The tables were overturned. The place was a shambles.
    “Khe-Hi!” squeaked San Evold. “You’ve ruined my chamber!”
    “Not me, old man. Rather this Makfaril of whom the prince speaks.”
    “I’ll do more than speak about him,” I said, very nastily. “You said you had spelled them.”
    “So I did, my Prince.” Here Khe-Hi pulled himself together and became again a famous Wizard of Loh. “Had I not done so we would have been beset by full-size chyyans.”
    Turko whistled. Jiktar Larghos Glendile nicked his tail-hand about.
    I said, “So you did well, wizard. Did you seek to open the idol before I arrived?”
    “No. No, my Prince! The eyes lit up again as you described when my preparations were almost complete. I understand what happened. A wizard was controlling the idol and saw what I intended. He released the hidden sealing spells and there was a sound as of thunder and a blue-green light as of leprous lightning.”
    That was as good a way as any to describe an explosion to those who did not know of gunpowder.
    The spell I had set reduced whatever was in the idol in stature and power. So the eggs—”
    “Eggs?”
    “The idol was packed with chyyan eggs that would hatch into full-sized chyyans instantly, bypassing normal growth. It is a trick some wizards employ. My counter-art reduced the size of the chyyans.”
    “Lucky for us,” said Glendile. He had four weapons to clean, and was hard at work even as we stood talking.
    “And the light was blue-green?”
    “Yes.”
    That did not square with a gunpowder explosion.
    “Damned sorcery,” I said. “I don’t hold with it. Another wizard?”
    “A most potent practitioner of the arts.”
    I looked at Khe-Hi-Bjanching. We all knew of whom we thought.
    It was left to Delia to say, in a calm, even voice, “Do you think, San, it was this infamous Phu-si-Yantong?”
    Khe-Hi scowled. “I do not know. By Hlo-Hli, my Princess, I do not know!”
    This was a poser. I was prepared to credit Yantong with any evil you care to imagine. Once a fellow has run into evil of that nature he tends to see his opponent as more black than a night of Notor Zan, until, with wisdom, comes the understanding that character shades into gray and purple and bilious green. All the same, Phu-si-Yantong!
    “I have told you of the Wizard of Loh, Que-si-Rening, kept by the Empress Thyllis in Hamal. Do you think it could have been him? After all,” I added, trying to appear casual and making a dismal mess of it, “after all, everything about the Chyyanists points to another ploy from Hamal.”
    “I swear by the Seven Arcades, my Prince! I cannot tell. The sorcery was sealed by great power. It is possible among high adepts to conceal ego-traces, to hide the personality patterns. I can do this to an extent. There are few wizards, I venture to think, who would discover what I did if I did not wish them to, but of course there could be a few who would have the power.”
    This was mighty humble pie for Khe-Hi, I saw.
    I nodded, not satisfied, but unable to do anything about that

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