“And the fact that you won’t have time to make it before we have to leave—which will have to be in very few hours, to be honest—and that y’all need it for your people?”
“If you can be of assistance at all, Clinton Slade, it will be because one of your people, wielding H’kuraden and striking from invisibility, will be worth many of my warriors combined. But the true drawback is this: I have but two elixirs at this time, for as you have so correctly noted we shall need far more time to finish making any from your own H’adamant. So only two of you may go, and no more.”
“That’s gonna be me and Jodi, then,” I said, before she could say anything.
She looked surprised. Pleased, but surprised. “Hey, look,” I continued, shrugging, “I’ve given up trying to keep you out of it, Jodi. And to be honest, you’re probably better at the caving end of things than anyone else here. Ours is a pretty specialized knowledge of how to rob Nomes, not explore caves. That was Winston’s gig, more or less, and he’s been dead quite a stretch.”
“Well, what do you know. Maybe you can be domesticated after all,” Jodi said smugly.
Ignoring the gibe, I turned back to Rokhaset. “Okay, let’s say we get there. Where, exactly, do we go in this area they obviously control, and what’ll we be fighting? How many, what’s their weaknesses, that kind of thing. Jodi’s done some fencing, as one of your warriors found out, and I’m not too bad in a scrap, but we still probably ain’t going to be taking on a whole army at once.”
“In the main, their troops will be very much like our own in appearance, but more willing to inflict injury. Still, they have avoided your people over the years, while we have grown used to you. They will be very disoriented by the fact that you cannot be sensed easily, if at all, with H’kuraden, and you have advantages of reach and height which, in the caverns they favor, you will be able to exploit.”
He fingered the Egyptian beardlike tube on his chin. “Your goal, as I mentioned earlier, is to disrupt their ritual. You must work your way inward along this path from Nowëmosdet; in one way this route works in our favor, as the center of their mystic workings is located considerably closer to this branch of Nowëmosdet. Once there, you must shatter all crystalline items you see with your iron. This will completely negate the ritual and their power will be broken for many years to come, in which period perhaps we shall, together, find some means of returning sanity to Nowë ‘s realm. It is of course possible that they can overwhelm you if you are slow or unfortunate, but I think you have an excellent chance. The only thing that might stop you . . .” He trailed off, evidently having thought of something quite unpleasant.
“Go on, might as well know the worst.”
“The Lisharithada, Jodi Goldman, like ourselves, are capable of wëseraka—life-shaping, causing the life of the Earth to take the form which best suits our purposes. Alas, in this as in all other things they have turned their power to destruction. They have developed the seradatho into efficient creatures of war. Most of these will still pose little greater threat to you than their masters; many of their offensive abilities are designed to deal with our people, not yours. However, if by bad fortune you encounter a Magon . . .”
“If we do, how will we know?”
Rokhaset gave one of his eerie laughs. “I assure you, Clinton Slade, you will know. A seradatho H’a magon is more than twice the size of the greatest of the seradatho you saw rebuilding the road, and is a being bred purely for destruction. It can strike us matturan at its approach, leaving us helpless before it. Even if its powers cannot directly affect you, it is huge, armored, equipped to tear and break and dissolve. Flee if one approaches.”
That was a nasty image. “And why shouldn’t we expect one?”
“Because they are extremely difficult to breed, and even more difficult to control, given their temperament and peculiar abilities. I do not believe they have more than one or two Magon, and they will almost certainly concentrate these major weapons at the area they expect us to attack, not the opposite direction. With any luck whatsoever, you should reach the ritual center and destroy it before they could even decide to redeploy the Magon, let alone have it reach you.”