some of them powerful clerics, enacted spells of healing, though the Deneirians did not dare evoke the powers of their god in this man's name.
None of it seemed to work.
Dean Thobicus and Bron Turman arrived together at the door, pushing through the growing crowd of onlookers. The withered dean's eyes widened considerably when he saw that it was Rufo lying outside.
"We must bring him into the warmth!" one of the attending priests shouted to the dean.
"He cannot enter the library," Bron Turman insisted, "not with such a brand. By his own actions was Kierkan kufo banished, and the banishment holds!"
''Bring him in," Dean Thobicus said unexpectedly, and Turman nearly fell over as he registered the words. He didn't openly protest, though, Rufo was of Thobicus's order, not his own, and Thobicus. as dean, was well within his powers in allowing the man entry.
A few moments later, after Rufo was ushered through the crowd and Thobicus had gone off with the attending priests, Bron Turman came to a disturbing conclusion, an explanation of the dean's words that did not sit well with the Oghman. Kierkan Rufo was no friend of Cad-derly's; in fact, Cadderly had been the one to brand the man. Had that precipitated the dean's decision to let Rufo in?
Bron Turman hoped that was not the case.
In a side room, an empty chamber normally reserved for private prayers, the priests pulled in a bench to use as a cot and continued their heroic efforts to comfort Rufo. Nothing they did seemed to help; even Thobicus tried to summon his greatest healing powers, chanting over Rufo while the others held him steady. But, whether the spell had not been granted or Rufo's ailment had simply rejected it, the dean's words fell empty.
Blood and bile poured freely from Rufo's mouth and nose, and his chest heaved desperately, trying to pull in air through the obstruction in his throat. One strong Oghman priest grabbed Rufo and yanked him over onto his belly, pounding at his back to force everything out.
Suddenly, without warning, Rufo jerked and turned so violently that the Oghman priest went flying across the room. Then Rufo settled on the bench and calmed strangely, staring up unblinkingly at Dean Thobicus. With a weak hand, he motioned for the dean to come closer, and Thobicus, after looking around nervously, bent low, putting his ear near the man's mouth.
"You . . . you invi. . . vited me," Rufo stammered, blood and bile accompanying every word.
Thobicus stood up straight, staring at the man, not understanding.
"You invited me in," Rufo said clearly with his last bit of strength. He began to laugh then, weirdly, out of control, and the laughter became a great convulsion, and then a final scream.
None in attendance remembered ever seeing a man die more horribly.
The Ultimate Perversion
There ain't no durned cave!" Ivan roared, and a rumble from above, from the unsteady, piled snow, reminded the dwarf that a bit more care might be prudent. If Ivan didn't get the point then, he got it a second later, when frantic Pikel ran up and slapped him on the back of the head, knocking his helm down over his eyes. The yellow-bearded dwarf grabbed a deer antler and adjusted the thing, then turned a scowl on his brother, but Pikel didn't relent, just stood there waggling a finger in Ivan's face.
"Quiet down, both of you!" Cadderly scolded. "Oo," replied Pikel, and he seemed honestly wounded. Cadderly, thoroughly flustered, didn't notice the look. He continued his scan of the ruined mountain, amazed that the opening - an opening large enough to admit a dragon with its wings spread wide - was no more.
"You are sure that it is not just snow?" Cadderly asked, to which Ivan stamped his boot, dislodging a chunk of snow from above that fell over him and Pikel.
Pikel popped up first, snow sliding off the edges of the flopping, wide-brimmed hat he had borrowed from Cadderly, and was ready with another slap when Ivan reappeared.
"If ye don't believe me, go in there yerselfT Ivan bellowed, pointing to the snow mass. "There's stone in there. Solid stone, I tell ye! That wizard sealed it good with his storm."
Cadderly put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. He recalled the storm Aballister had sent to Nightglow, the wizard thinking that Cadderly and his friends were still there. Aballister had no way of knowing that Cadderly had enlisted the aid of a hostile dragon and was many miles