Tak

The Master of Castle Nagra - Part 5

     Neither the cook nor the caretaker was willing to help with the care of Molos Gomm. They were far too scared of him, even in his present condition, so it was left to Tak to look after him in his remaining months.

     The young wizard was left exhausted for day after day as his former master ranted and raved day and night, threatening to injure himself or damage valuable equipment, but on those occasions when Molos Gomm confused Tak with his own master the younger man was able to gain valuable information from him. Things he had no doubt the old man would never have told him had he been in his right mind because of the power the knowledge granted. Words of command to open magically locked doors and activate powerful artefacts. The keywords to unlock encrypted spellbooks containing formulae and enchantments that were still years beyond him. The secrets of distant places and ancient times gathered over a lifetime of research and study.

     As the weeks went by, Tak found he could trigger the delusion by using certain words and phrases at the right time, words Molos Gomm's own master must have used. As a result his education progressed at a frantic pace, so that when the end finally came he was astonished to find that he was actually grief stricken. Not for the old man himself, whom he could never stop hating, but for the knowledge he was taking to the grave with him. One day, though, five months after Jack Nowl's visit to the castle, he was woken in the early morning by Trobo who told him that his former master had passed away in the night.

     "I expect Khalkedon will want to be informed," the houseman suggested when the body had been interred in the castle crypt, in the catacombs beneath the south tower, where Tak was astonished to find the crumbling remains of several other wizards. Molos Gomm's predecessors, including the man he'd frequently mistaken Tak for.

     The young wizard nodded. Yes, the rak King would certainly want to know that he had one less thrall, but after his last use of the crystal ball to look at the palace and the punishment the rak had visited upon him, he was very fearful of communicating with him again.

     It would only get worse the longer he put it off, though, so he made his way to the Divinatory, trembling every step of the way, and paused fearfully in front of the crystal ball. Molos Gomm had told him how to use it to communicate with people far away, but he'd never actually dared to try it. He was terrified of doing something to arouse Khalkedon's displeasure again, but in this case the rak was much more likely to be displeased if he didn't act. Laying his hands on the orb, therefore, he spoke the formula to activate it, summoned the spirit of the crystal and spoke the words that commanded it to act as a messenger, ending with the name of the person he wanted to speak to. Khalkedon.

     At first the crystal was filled with a bright light that obscured his vision, but then it cleared and there was the face of the rak King, the burning points of light that served it as eyes flaring with anger. "You dare disturb me in the middle of my experiments?" it roared.

     Tak shrank back from the crystal in terror, wanting to run from the room but holding himself in place with an effort of willpower.

     "Well?" demanded the rak. "What do you want?"

     "M-Molos Gomm is dead," stammered Tak, creeping back to the crystal again. "He p-passed away in his sleep last night. I thought you'd want to know."

     "In future, pass such minor items of news to my apprentice," Khalkedon commanded. "If you interrupt my experiments again with such a triviality you yourself will be participating in them. I trust I make myself clear?"

     "P-perfectly, Master," replied Tak. "Please forgive me. I had no idea what the procedure was in a situation like this."

     "Now you do!" snapped the rak, and the connection was broken.