Legacy of Blood d-1 Read online

  Legacy of Blood

  ( Diablo - 1 )

  Richard A. Knaak

  An orginal tale of swords, sorcery, and timeless struggle based on the bestselling, award-winning electronic game form Blizzard Entertainment. Since the beginning of time, the angelic hosts of the High Heavens and the demonic hordes of the Burning Hells have been locked in a struggle for the fate of all Creation. That struggle has now come to the mortal realm…and neither Man nor Demon nor Angel will be left unscathed… Norrec Vizharan has become a living nightmare. While on a quest to find magical treasure, the soldier of fortune discovers an artefact beyond his wildest dreams: the ancient armour of Bartuc, the legendary Warlord of Blood. But the mysterious armour has a soul. Now, pursued by demons who covet the dark armour for their own devices, Norrec must overcome a bloodlust he can scarcely control and learn the truth about his terrifying curse before he is lost to darkness forever…

  Richard A. Knaak

  Legacy of Blood

  To my brother, Win-fellow creative spirit

  One

  The skull gave them a lopsided grin, as if cheerfully inviting the trio to join it for all eternity.

  "Looks like we're not the first," Sadun Tryst murmured. The scarred, sinewy fighter tapped the skull with one edge of his knife, causing the fleshless watcher to wobble. Behind the macabre sight, they could just make out the spike that had pierced their predecessor's head, leaving him dangling until time had let all but the skull drop to the floor in a confused heap.

  "Did you think we would be?" whispered the tall, cowled figure. If Sadun had a lean, almost acrobatic look to his build, Fauztin seemed nearly cadaverous. The Vizjerei sorcerer moved almost like a phantom as he, too, touched the skull, this time with one gloved finger. "No sorcery here, though. Only crude but sufficient mechanics. Nothing to fear."

  "Unless it's your head on the next pole."

  The Vizjerei tugged at his thin, gray goatee. His slightly slanted eyes closed once as if in acknowledgment to his partner's last statement. Whereas Sadun had a countenance more akin to an untrustworthy weasel-and sometimes the personality to match-Fauztin reminded some of a withered cat. His nub of a nose, constantly twitching, and the whiskers hanging underneath that nose only added to the illusion.

  Neither had ever had a reputation for purity, but Norrec Vizharan would have trusted either with his

  life-and had several times over. As he joined them, the veteran warrior peered ahead, to where a vast darkness hinted of some major chamber. Thus far, they had explored seven different levels in all and found them curiously devoid of all but the most primitive traps.

  They had also found them devoid of any treasure whatsoever, a tremendous disappointment to the tiny party.

  "Are you sure there's no sorcery about here, Fauztin? None at all?"

  The feline features half-hidden by the cowl wrinkled further in mild offense. The wide shoulders of his voluminous cloak gave Fauztin a foreboding, almost supernatural appearance, especially since he towered over the brawnier Norrec, no small man himself. "You have to ask that, my friend?"

  "It's just that it makes no sense! Other than a few minor and pretty pathetic traps, we've encountered nothing to prevent us from reaching the main chamber! Why go through all the trouble of digging this out, then leave it so sparsely defended!"

  "I don't call a spider as big as my head nothing," Sadun interjected sourly, absently scratching his lengthy but thinning black hair. "Especially as it was on my head at the time…"

  Norrec ignored him. "Is it what I think? Are we too late? Is this Tristram all over again?"

  Once before, between serving causes as mercenaries, they had hunted for treasure in a small, troubled village called Tristram. Legend had had it that, in a lair guarded by fiends, there could be found a treasure so very extraordinary in value, it would make kings of those fortunate enough to live to find it. Norrec and his friends had journeyed there, entering the labyrinth in the dead of night without the knowledge of the local populace…

  And after all their efforts, after battling strange beastsand narrowly avoiding deadly traps… they had found that someone else had stripped the underground maze of nearly anything of value. Only upon returning to the village had they learned the sorry truth, that a great champion had descended into the labyrinth but a few weeks before and supposedly slain the terrible demon, Diablo. He had taken no gold or jewels, but other adventurers who had arrived shortly thereafter had made good use of his handiwork, dealing with the lesser dangers and carrying off all they could find. But a few days' difference had left the trio with nothing to show for their efforts…

  Norrec himself had also taken no consolation in the words of one villager of dubious sanity who had, as they had prepared to depart, warned that the champion, socalled the Wanderer, had not defeated Diablo but, rather, had accidently freed the foul evil. A questioning glance by Norrec toward Fauztin had been answered at first with an indifferent shrug by the Vizjerei sorcerer.

  "There are always stories of escaping demons and terrible curses," Fauztin had added at the time, complete dismissal of the wild warning in his tone. "Diablo is generally in most of the favorites whispered among common folk."

  "You don't think there's anything to it?" As a child, Norrec had grown up being scared by his elders with tales of Diablo, Baal, and other monsters of the night, all stories designed to make him be good.

  Sadun Tryst had snorted. "You ever seen a demon yourself? Know anyone that had?"

  Norrec had not. "Have you, Fauztin? They say Vizjerei can summon demons to do their bidding."

  "If I could do that, do you think I would be scrounging in empty labyrinths and tombs?"

  And that comment, more than anything else, had convinced Norrec then to chalk the villager's words down as yet another tall tale. In truth, it had not been hard to do.

  After all, the only thing that had mattered then to the three had been what mattered now-wealth.

  Unfortunately, it seemed more and more likely that once again those riches had eluded them.

  As he peered down the passage, Fauztin's other gloved hand tightened around the spell staff he wielded. The jeweled top-the source of their light-flared briefly. "I had hoped I was wrong, but now I fear it is so. We are far from the first to delve this deep into this place."

  The slightly graying fighter swore under his breath. He had served under many a commander in his life, most of them during the crusades from Westmarch, and from surviving those various campaigns-often by the skin of his teeth-he had come to one conclusion. No one could hope to rise in the world without money. He had made it as far as captain, been broken in rank thrice, then finally retired in disgust after the last debacle.

  War had been Norrec's life since he had been old enough to raise a sword. Once, he had also had something of a family, but they were now as dead as his ideals. He still considered himself a decent man, but decency did not fill one's stomach. There had to be another way, Norrec had decided…

  And so, with his two comrades, he had gone in search of treasure.

  Like Sadun, he had his share of scars, but Norrec's visage otherwise resembled more that of a simple farmer. Wide brown eyes, with a broad, open face and a strong jaw, he would have looked at home behind a hoe. Yet, while that vision occasionally appealed to the sturdy veteran, he knew that he needed the gold to pay for that land. This quest should have led them to riches far beyond his needs, far beyond his dreams…

  Now, it seemed as if it had all been a waste of time and effort… again.

  Beside him, Sadun Tryst tossed his knife into the air,then expertly caught it at the hilt as it fell. He did this twice more, clearly thinking. Norrec could just imagine what he thought about. They had spent mont
hs on this particular quest, journeying across the sea to northern Kehjistan, sleeping in the cold and rain, following false trails and empty caves, eating whatever vermin they could find when other hunting proved scarce-and all because of Norrec, the one who had instigated this entire fiasco.

  Worse, this quest had actually come about because of a dream, a dream concerning a wicked mountain peak bearing some crude resemblance to a dragon's head. Had he dreamt of it only once, perhaps twice, Norrec might have forgotten the image, but over the years, it had repeated itself far too many times. Wherever he had fought, Norrec had watched for the peak, but to no avail. Then, a comrade-later dead-from these chill northern lands had made mention of such a place in passing. Ghosts were said to haunt it and men who traveled near the mountain often disappeared or were discovered years later, all flesh stripped from the shattered bones…

  There and then, Norrec Vizharan had been certain that destiny had tried to call him here.

  But if so-why to a tomb already vandalized?

  The entrance had been well hidden in the rock face, but definitely open to the outside. That should have been his first clue to the truth, yet Norrec had refused to even see the discrepancy. All his hopes, all his promises to his companions…

  "Damn!" He kicked at the nearest wall, only his sturdy boot saving him from a few broken toes. Norrec threw his sword to the ground, continuing to curse his naФvetИ.

  "There's some new general from Westmarch hiring on mercenaries," Sadun helpfully suggested. "They say he's got big ambitions…"

  "No more war," muttered Norrec, trying not to showthe pain coursing through his foot. "No more trying to die for other people's glory."

  "I just thought—"

  The lanky sorcerer tapped the ground once with his staff, seeking the attention of both his earthier partners. "At this point, it would be foolish not to go on to the central chamber. Perhaps those who were here before us left a few baubles or coins. We did find a few gold coins in Tristram. Certainly it would not hurt to search a little longer, would it, Norrec?"

  He knew that the Vizjerei only sought to assuage his friend's bitter emotions, but still the idea managed to take root in the veteran's mind. All he needed were a few gold coins! He was still young enough to take a bride, begin a new life, maybe even raise a family…

  Norrec picked up his sword, hefting the weapon that had served him so well over the years. He had kept it cleaned and honed, taking pride in one of the few items truly his own. A look of determination spread across his visage. "Let's go."

  "You've a way with words for one using so few," Sadun jested to the sorcerer as they started off.

  "And you use so many words for one with so few things worth saying."

  The friendly argument between his companions helped settle Norrec's troubled mind. It reminded him of other times, when, between the three of them, they had persevered through worse difficulties.

  Yet, the talk died as they approached what surely had to be the last and most significant chamber. Fauztin called a halt, staring briefly at the jewel atop the staff.

  "Before we proceed inside, the two of you had better light torches."

  They had saved the torches for emergencies, the sorcerer's staff serving well until now. Fauztin said no more, but as Norrec used tinder to light his, he wondered if the

  Vizjerei had finally noted sorcery of some significance. If so, then perhaps there still remained some sort of treasure…

  With his own torch lit, Norrec used it to set Sadun's ablaze. Now surrounded with more secure illumination, the trio set off again.

  "I swear," grumbled the wiry Sadun, a few moments later. "I swear that the hair on the back of my head's standing on end!"

  Norrec felt the same. Neither fighter argued when the Vizjerei took the lead. The clans of the Far East had long studied the magical arts and Fauztin's people had studied them longer than most. If a situation arose where sorcery had to take a hand, certainly it made sense to leave it to the thin spellcaster. Norrec and Sadun would be there to guard him from other assaults.

  The arrangement had worked so far.

  Unlike the heavy boots of the warriors, the sandaled feet of Fauztin made no sound as he walked. The mage stretched forth his staff and Norrec noticed that, despite its power, the jewel failed to illuminate much. Only the torches seemed to act as they should.

  "This is old and powerful. Our predecessors may not have been so fortunate as we first believed. We may find some treasure yet."

  And possibly more. Norrec's grip on the sword tightened to the point that his knuckles whitened. He wanted gold, but he also wanted to live to spend it.

  With the staff proving unreliable, the two fighters took to the front. That did not mean that Fauztin would no longer be of any aid to the band. Even now, the veteran knew, his magical companion thought out the quickest, surest spells for whatever they might encounter.

  "It looks as dark as the grave in there," Sadun mumbled.

  Norrec said nothing. Now a few steps ahead of both his comrades, he became the first to actually reach thechamber itself. Despite the dangers that might lurk within, he almost felt drawn to it, as if something inside called to him…

  A blinding brilliance overwhelmed the trio.

  "Gods!" snapped Sadun. "I can't see!"

  "Give it a moment," cautioned the sorcerer. "It will pass."

  And so it did, but as his eyes adjusted, Norrec Vizharan at last beheld a sight so remarkable that he had to blink twice to make certain it was not a figment of his desires.

  The walls were covered in intricate, jeweled patterns in which even he could sense the magic. Precious stones of every type and hue abounded in each pattern, blanketing the chamber in an astonishing display of refracted and reflected colors. In addition, below those magical symbols and no less eye-catching were the very treasures for which the trio had come. Mounds of gold, mounds of silver, mounds of jewels. They added to the overall glitter, making the chamber brighter than day. Each time either fighter shifted his torch, the lighting further altered the appearance of the room, adding new dimensions equally as startling as the last.

  Yet, as breathtaking as all this looked, one shocking sight dampened Norrec's enthusiasm greatly.

  Strewn across the floor as far as he could see were the many mangled and decaying forms of those who had preceded him and his friends to this foreboding place.

  Sadun held his torch toward the nearest one, an almost fleshless corpse still clad in rotting leather armor. "Must've been some battle here."

  "These men did not all die at the same time."

  Norrec and the smaller soldier looked to Fauztin, who had a troubled expression on his generally emotionless countenance.

  "What's that you mean?"

  "I mean, Sadun, that some of them have clearly beendead for far longer, even centuries. This one near your feet is one of the newest. Some of those over there are but bones."

  The slight warrior shrugged. "Either way, from the looks of it, they all died pretty nasty."

  "There is that."

  "So… what killed them?"

  Here Norrec answered. "Look there. I think they slew each other."

  The two corpses he pointed at each had blades thrust into one another's midsections. One, with his mouth still open in what seemed a last, horrified cry, wore garments akin to the other mummified body by Sadun's feet. The other wore only scraps of clothing and only a few strands of hair covered an otherwise clean skeleton.

  "You must be mistaken," the Vizjerei replied with a slight shake of his head. "The one warrior is clearly much older than the other."

  So Norrec would have supposed if not for the blade thrust into the other corpse's torso. Still, the deaths of two men long, long ago had little bearing on present circumstances. "Fauztin, do you sense anything? Is there some sort of trap here?"

  The gaunt figure held his staff before the chamber for a moment, then lowered it again, his disgust quite evident. "There are too many conflicting f
orces in here, Norrec. I can get no accurate sense of what to seek. I sense nothing directly dangerous-yet."

  To the side, Sadun fairly hopped about in impatience. "So do we leave all of this, leave all our dreams, or do we take a little risk and gather ourselves a few empires' worth of coin?"

  Norrec and the sorcerer exchanged glances. Neither could see any reason not to continue, especially with so many enticements before them. The veteran warrior finally settled the matter by taking a few steps furtherinto the master chamber. When no great bolt of lightning nor demonic creature struck him down, Sadun and the Vizjerei quickly followed suit.

  "There must be a couple dozen at least." Sadun leapt over two skeletal corpses still trapped in struggle. "And that's not counting the ones in little pieces…"

  "Sadun, shut your mouth or I'll do it for you…" Now that he actually walked among them, Norrec wanted no more discussion concerning the dead treasure hunters. It still bothered him that so many had clearly died violently. Surely someone had survived. But, if so, why did the coins and other treasure look virtually untouched?

  And then something else tore his thoughts from those questions, the sudden realization that beyond the treasure, at the very far end of the chamber, a dais stood atop a naturally formed set of steps. More important, atop that dais lay mortal remains still clad in armor.

  "Fauztin…" Once the mage had come to his side, Norrec pointed to the dais and muttered, "What do you make of that?"

  Fauztin's only reply was to purse his thin lips and carefully make his way toward the platform. Norrec followed close behind.

  "It would explain so much…" he heard the Vizjerei whisper. "It would explain so many conflicting magical signatures and so many signs of power…"

  "What're you talking about?"

  The sorcerer finally looked back at him. "Come closer and see for yourself."

  Norrec did just that. The sense of unease that had earlier filled him now amplified as the veteran peered at the macabre display atop the platform.