Upland Outlaws Read Online Free PDF Page A

“No more wardens, no more warlocks, no more witches. Why in the name of Evil didn’t you get out of town while you had the chance?” Raspnex stalked forward to the center of the room, dominating it completely, although everyone else was much taller. “Flee, I told you! But oh, no! You had to come into this warren, on the one night in centuries when you would leave a trail through Hub that a blind toad could follow! Idiot! “
    The imperor flushed darkly in the flickering candlelight. The second dwarf followed the warlock in, slamming the door. There was a shimmer of sorcery on him, probably a loyalty spell. He was very young, with a hint of down like gray moss on his sandstone cheeks. His hair dangled in elaborate curls like iron turnings. Typical dwarf, though-his pants and boots had been patched repeatedly.
    “Tell us why you came, Sorcerer,” Shandie said coolly. “I’ll be buried if I know!” Raspnex pointed at Rap. “Well, I suppose I came to appeal to him, but I see now that I wasted my time. I’d hoped he could help, but he can’t. “
    “Who’s your companion?” Rap asked.
    “Grimrix. He’s a votary. Don’t laugh at his hairstyle or he may turn you into a woolly caterpillar. “
    The youngster scowled; blue fire flickered ominously in the ambience.
    “Steady!” the older dwarf snapped. “Well, imp,” he said aloud. “So you didn’t listen to me! Who outside this room knows where you are?”
    “No one,” the imperor said, “except Legate Ugoatho.”
    “Who’s he?”
    “Head of the Praetorian Guard.”
    Raspnex snorted. “They’ll have gotten him already, then. One of the first they’d go for. In fact, it’s amazing they’re not here yet.”
    “The legate is utterly loyal!” Shandie protested. The warlock showed his big teeth. “Not anymore.”
    “Tell them the problem,” Rap said sadly.
    “You tell them. I already tried, and seems they don’t heed me.”
    “I’ll have to be quick, though.” Time was precious, Rap realized. Whether or not Zinixo had brought in his main occult strength yet, if he had perverted the head of the Praetorian Guard, then a thousand men might be on their way already. Four carriages stood outside in the snow, there were tracks. “The problem is Zinixo. I’m sure you remember him. “
    “Former warlock of the west. “
    “Right. He tried to destroy me, and I won …” Then Rap recalled something else, and looked to Raspnex. “A year ago a God told me that this mess was all my fault. That must be because I didn’t kill Zinixo when I had the chance, and the excuse.”
    “You did worse than that,” Raspnex said grimly. “Much worse. But carry on. Can you explain to these mundanes what you did to my nephew?”
    As he described how he had rendered the sorcerer impotent by enveloping him in a magic-proof shielding, Rap wondered what error could possibly have been worse than sparing Zinixo, that vindictive, lecherous, sadistic …
    “So what happened?” the imperor demanded.
    Raspnex shrugged his bull shoulders. “Oh, he went totally insane. He’d always been unstable, even as a kid. He’d always been suspicious and timid, and the greater his power grew, the more timorous he became. You believe that, imp?”
    “I’ve met people like that,” Shandie said. “They think the world is out to get them. “
    A lot of dwarves thought that way-both Raspnex and Grimrix were notably jumpy now-but Zinixo had carried distrust to the point of obsession.
    “So he can’t use his magic,” the imperor said, frowning. “Why is he dangerous?”
    “Because of Bright Water,” Rap said. “She couldn’t break my spell, either, but she must have taken pity on him. She gave him a sorcerer.”
    “Gave him?”
    Raspnex snorted and snapped his fingers. Young Grimrix stepped forward obediently at the summons, but occult fire flickered faintly again. “Sir?”
    “Tell them how you feel about me, sonny.”
    The boy blushed and looked down at his boots. “I