Fire Angels

Chapter 25 Part 3 Dally Returns

I closed my eyes. The terrible images of last hour were screaming in my head. The dancers, the little boy, the blood. How I wished I was still the forgetful being I had been a few minutes ago. I could not control my breathing. It came out in sobs and I could not seem to stop shivering. Oh God, Oh God. I must try and see past these terrible sights to find a way of escape. But past these events was only the tapping. A desolate sense of my own helplessness fell on me like a stone.

A faint screams were coming from the other dais. Where they killing the dancers?

"Once again I find you in despair, little mage," whispered a voice at my side.

I could never have imagined in a million years that my heart would ever jerk alight at the sound of that endearment.

I opened my eyes and saw a faint red flickering in the stone toads eyes.

"Bedazzer?"

"Careful," hissed the statue. The guard before me turned briefly to look at me, but his real attention was taken up by what was happening beyond the pillars and after a moment he turned back to watch.

"Why this useless despair, little mage," said Bedazzer. "You can save everyone if you remember. Remember what I told you. Remember Dally. You know Smazor's name. Use..."

Suddenly there was a screech from deep within the statue and the red light went out. I was alone.

But Bedazzer's words cut through the dark cloud of anguish. I remembered Dally. Where was she now? I remembered Karac chained to that altar. Oh God! I had done nothing

No. Must think. Think about Dally. What had she said to me? Darmen Stalker does not ...

Did Darmen Stalker really not know the names of his own demons? The whole thing was too strange and convoluted to be believed and yet... How very cunning if it was true. Demons did not like being slaves, but they were ever hungry for life force. They might well be willing to give of their power in return for being fed like this. Darmen Stalker's five demons had done very well from their counterfeit of slavery

How insidious. How clever. How demon like. I wondered briefly how often they had pulled this trick on necromancers and demonmasters. They had fooled Darmen Stalker. He believed himself so in control he did not question their inconsistencies. He believed himself one of their number.

I had been completely at the mercy of those demons these last few days. Any one of them could have sucked me dry at any moment in an orgy of feeding. Fear crept icily over my skin just thinking of it.

But they rarely cooperated. They would not have been able to tolerate seeing another demon have me. The politics of demons had probably kept me alive. And now the politics of demons was going to free me.

Smazor's true name. The word that was going to free me. Oh God I couldn't remember it. No. Calm. Calm. My mind was long trained in remembering words and spells. What was it? Remember back now. When did you last see Bedazzer? On the beach of bones. All of a sudden I remembered everything, the beach, Bedazzer and that strange formless word he had whispered in my ear. I ran over its prickly alien syllables in my mind. I hoped this was not some convoluted plot of Bedazzer's. He was helping me because he was jealous of the others, not because he was trustworthy. I remembered how he had manipulated me into killing Norval.

I gripped on to my calm tightly. I was going to summon a demon and bind him to me. If I had felt unclean before...

With an eye on the back of the guard, I began to mutter the summoning ritual under my breath till I came to the words, "I summon you."

Then I spoke the name.

For a moment nothing happened. Had I spoken too softly? Then, the statue beside me let out a hiss.