by Aaron Oster
For just a moment, she debated simply allowing them to have her in hopes that they’d let the others go, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that they would leave witnesses.
Beatrice skidded to a halt, followed by Hilda, and they both yanked the heavy door open, moving inside. Katherine stood behind them, a dark blade clutched in her grip as she sent slashes of distortion at their enemies, keeping them back.
“There’s nowhere to run!” a gnome said, stepping forward, causing Katherine to immediately target her.
Several others moved in, extending hands glowing with vile green power — the power of Strangler.
Elyssa backpedaled quickly, throwing up several more walls as the horde continued to advance, but none of them lasted long. She and Katherine moved back to the entrance of the small cottage, still throwing attacks, but Elyssa knew that they would have to stop to close the door, and when they did, the others would rush in.
She only hoped that the others would be able to close and seal it fast enough. She backed up a bit more, her eyes flicking to the side to see both Hilda and Beatrice standing by the door. They gave her a single nod, and Elyssa jumped back.
The Cultists immediately rushed the entrance, hoping to flood the small cottage and prevent them from closing themselves off, but Hilda and Beatrice were too fast, slamming the heavy door in their faces and sealing it against the horde. Several heavy impacts followed, slamming into the walls with tremendous force.
The walls shook and dust fell from the ceiling, but otherwise, nothing else happened. The door held. They were safe for the time being, but as the four of them looked around, they all came to the same realization. They were trapped here with no backup and only had enough food to last maybe a couple of weeks.
The only one who’d managed to get away was Grace, and they had no way of knowing if she knew they were even alive. If she did, she could get help, but if she didn’t, she would see no point.
Before any of them could voice their opinions out loud, Elyssa collapsed to her knees. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain of her injuries assaulted her all at once. Her chest constricted and her vision began to grow dark. The last thought she had before blacking out was a hope that someone would come for them. Otherwise, the best hope for their kingdoms’ peace treaty would be gone, and Morgan’s sacrifice would have been for nothing.
***
Grace watched in fear as the small group rushed down the mountain, pursued by hundreds of fighters. She’d tried to urge Lumia to go down there and help, but the drake had outright refused, on the grounds that all that would happen would be that they’d be killed with the others.
Thankfully, they all managed to make it to the cottage, and after Grace watched them hurl some powerful attacks to no avail, she began to feel her fears begin to recede. The four of them were still trapped in there, but now she at least knew they were safe for the time being.
“That bunker won’t hold up forever,” Lumia said, her voice still full of grief.
“I know,” Grace replied. “They’re going to need our help, but first…” she trailed off, looking in the direction of where Morgan had gone down.
She didn’t want to go and see the massive crater where she already knew she’d find nothing. Still, until she saw it with her own eyes, she refused to believe that someone as powerful and resilient as Morgan could be dead.
They’d been through too much together for him to just be gone. He wouldn’t leave her, not like this. Not when he knew how much she needed him.
“We’re beginning to attract attention,” Lumia said.
A beast flying in the air wasn’t exactly an uncommon sight, but if she continued to linger, someone would attack. So, despite wanting to do nothing less – and at the same time, nothing more – Grace finally nodded.
As Lumia turned and began flapping toward the crater on the other side of the mountain, Grace couldn’t help but take one final look back at the small bunker where her friends were now trapped.
Just hold on for now, she thought, willing her thoughts to reach them. We’ll come back as soon as we can. Help is on the way.
12
A tear in space opened, and the four gods stumbled back into their hidden warehouse in the pocket dimension off Somerset. Both Gwendolyn and Sarah were supporting Morgan, who was bleeding heavily and gasping in pain. Blood still poured from the open wound in his chest, and his lips were flecked with blood. Katherine followed a moment later, clutching at her stomach and trying to stanch the bleeding.
The copy of Morgan was dead, of that they were certain, but the battle had cost them, and it might cost them more still.
“Set him down on that table,” Herald said when he saw the condition Morgan was in. “What the hell happened?”
“That bastard got me,” Morgan coughed, blood streaming from his open mouth.
“Stop talking. You’re only making it worse!” Sarah snapped.
“We had him,” Morgan growled as the two of them helped him onto the table. “He was a corpse. How the hell did he manage it?”
Morgan coughed again, feeling the pain of his wound wrack his entire frame. It was as though he were on fire from the inside, that damned spear’s magic still working to end his life. He could feel it, his own godly Essence leaking away as the wound refused to close.
“Can you explain?” Herald asked, moving to press both hands over the wound and pushing down hard.
“We had him dead to rights,” Sarah said as Gwendolyn moved to help Katherine sit down. “But we got careless. When we thought he was finished, he used his proximity to drive that damned spear through Morgan’s chest.”
“How long was it inside?” Herald asked, still keeping his hands pressed to the wound.
“A second, maybe two,” Sarah said.
Herald nodded, then pushed down harder, causing Morgan to cry out.
“I’m not going to lie. This is going to hurt. A lot.”
“Do what you have to,” Morgan said, gasping in pain as the pressure on his chest increased.
The pain was already immense, as though the spear was still inside of him. It wasn’t just a purely physical pain either, as the spiritual pain of having his very soul seared lanced through him. Then, Herald began to heal him. Golden power flooded into Morgan’s body, burning with the heat of a thousand suns.
“Hold him!” Herald yelled as Morgan’s body locked up, his own power lashing out to try and fight against Herald’s.
“What are you doing to him?!” Sarah exclaimed.
“Exactly what he did to me,” Gwendolyn said, remembering the experience well.
What Herald was doing wasn’t so much healing as it was burning the foreign power out of Morgan’s system. The spear wounds couldn’t normally be healed, but this workaround ensured that the wound wouldn’t be fatal, even if it did leave a permanent mark of its passing.
“How much longer are you gonna be?” Katherine called from where she sat. “I’m starting to feel lightheaded.”
“Just give me a minute,” Herald said, grinding his teeth together as he continued to flood Morgan with his power.
Although Katherine’s wounds seemed to be far less serious than Morgan’s, any wounds from that spear would eventually be fatal. Instead of just harming them physically, as with a normal weapon, the spear would attack their Essence, the very thing that made up their bodies and spirits.
Unlike mortals, their bodies weren’t ever in any danger. No matter how many times they were attacked, they could just heal themselves, but this spear worked differently. Its magic burned their godly Essence, both preventing them from closing wounds and destroying the very thing that gave them their immortality and immense power.
Even with the spear removed, it would still do damage, and the larger the wound, the faster it would work.
“Almost there!” Herald said, pouring even more power into Morgan’s body.
The man jerked several more times, then his body went limp. But when Herald remove
d his hands, the wound in his chest had closed, leaving an angry silver-colored scar in its place.
Gwendolyn reached down to her stomach where a similar scar stood as a reminder of the attack she’d taken from that same spear. Morgan’s chest rose and fell slowly, showing that he was still very much alive, although that fight had cost him dearly. It would be several weeks before he managed to regain his full strength, and in that time, he would be vulnerable to attacks.
“You’re lucky the spear didn’t stay inside for longer,” Herald said, moving over to help Katherine. “Had it been in there for even a second more, you would not have lived.”
“I guess I should count myself lucky then,” Morgan wheezed, trying to force himself up, only to have Sarah press a hand to his chest.
“You’re going to stay where you are and rest!”
“No,” Morgan said, pushing her hand away and forcing himself up. “We need to strike now, while the iron is hot. My clone is dead, and if the Queen of the Elves isn’t already dead as well, she will be soon. We need to inform the elves, dwarves, and beastmen that they’ve been betrayed, that the humans struck down the elven queen.
“We’ve already turned several of the spies they have left in the Five Kingdoms to our cause, so they’ll gladly corroborate our story, and soon, the war we’ve been working toward will finally begin.”
“Was it worth it, though?” Sarah asked, crossing her arms. “Was it worth all this effort and pain? Look at you. You’re half-dead, yet you still want to rush out. Well, I won’t have it!”
“He’s right,” Katherine said, her voice tight and brow covered in sweat. “No matter how badly we were hurt in the process, we’re so close to freedom. The only one who could hurt us is gone, so now is not the time to rest and recuperate. Now is the time to strike!”
Sarah glared at her as well, but when she turned to Gwendolyn, hoping for support, she got none.
All three of them had been hurt by that bastard, and now they all wanted to go out and risk getting hurt again.
“Fine!” she snapped, whirling in place and marching for the back door. “You three go do whatever you want, but I’m staying here with Loquin.”
That said, she nearly ripped the door off its hinges and slammed it shut behind her, causing them all to wince.
“I don’t blame her for the way she’d acting,” Herald said as he pressed his hand harder to Katherine’s stomach and flooded her with power.
Unlike Morgan, Katherine was able to keep herself still. Her wounds were far less severe, though the pain she now had to endure was no less unpleasant.
“Neither do any of us,” Morgan said, forcing himself into a sitting position and allowing his legs to dangle off the table. “But in order to win our freedom, we must endure. Yeah, I was careless, and it almost cost me, but even if I’d died, it would have been worth it.”
No one had a reply to that, as they all felt pretty much the same about it. They had no choice in what they were doing, and despite all their power, they were still slaves to a being who was far above them.
“What about your brother?” Herald asked, finally standing up and leaving Katherine to sag on the couch, letting out a relieved sigh.
“What about him?” Morgan asked.
“How would you feel about leaving him behind, and how do you think he would feel, were you to die?”
“He chose his side,” Morgan muttered, although it was clear from the way he spoke that he didn’t truly believe that.
“And now that your clone is gone, do you believe he will remain on the wrong side?”
Morgan was silent at that, contemplating what Herald said. With his clone out of the way. Gold would have no real allegiance to the other side. Truthfully, he was pretty sure Gold had only been loyal to his counterpart due to their resemblance. After meeting the man, he could see that they were nothing alike, so there couldn’t really be any other reason than that.
“That is, unless you believe he survived,” Herald said.
“No. There’s no way he’s still alive,” Morgan said, confident in his reply. “Even one of us would have been killed by a blast that powerful.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Herald said, seeming to be genuinely relieved. “Gold is stubborn, but he’ll come around eventually. Just you wait and see.”
“And what about the spear? Should we try and recover it?” Katherine asked, pushing herself upright.
“There’s no point,” Herald said. “No one will be able to touch it safely. Not us, and not any of the others we might send after it. The spear is loyal to only one person, and that person is now gone. It’s safer to just leave it where it is, buried along with its master.”
Morgan let out a grunt, then pushed himself to his feet. He staggered and caught himself on the edge of the table, but no one said anything about his slip-up. They were all very aware of what had just happened and that he’d very nearly been killed. The silver scar on both his chest and back was proof enough.
“How long before I can travel again?” Morgan asked, flexing his fingers.
“Give it a couple of hours,” Herald said, eyeing him evenly. “But I’d recommend taking it easy after you deliver your message. Recovering from something like this won’t be easy. It’s going to take some time.”
“So long as I can make the trip there and back, I’ll be fine,” he said, moving toward his room. “I’ll go lie down for a couple of hours. Then, we’ll head out. In the meantime, I’ll ask one of you to contact the gnomes and tell them that Morgan is now out of the way.
“We should be hearing from them soon about the queen’s demise. Then, our war is all but secured.”
Gwendolyn gave him a nod, while Katherine just leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. While she and Sarah had both avoided injury this time around, Sarah wasn’t going to help. So, it would be her job to speak with the gnomes, not that she minded.
She’d been dealing with those treacherous little rats since the beginning, so it was only fitting for her to be the one to deliver the good news.
13
“You’re lying!” Gilderon yelled, his fist pounding into the chair and shattering it to a thousand pieces. “You’ve always been a treacherous snake, but I never imagined you would go so far!”
“I understand that you’re grieving, so I’ll forgive the offense,” Shedra said, his voice smooth and sounding somewhat smug. “But I am only delivering the facts as I see them. The humans took your queen and mercilessly butchered her as an act of disrespect to all of Faeland.”
Gilderon roared in anger, but seeing as the two of them were separated by thousands of miles, he could do little more than that.
“Why should we believe such an outrageous claim?” Ragnar asked. “It’s no secret that you’re opposed to making peace. In fact, there’s even some proof that you tried to have Elyssa assassinated to further your own agenda.”
While Ragnar was offering a calm front, Shedra could tell he was on the verge of snapping. By now, he’d have received the news from reliable sources that what Shedra was saying was indeed true. Gilderon, the acting head of the elven nation, had received the same, so they would know it was true.
But while Gilderon was throwing a tantrum and trying to deny it, Ragnar was taking a more political approach, bringing his character and motivations into question – which was quite strange coming from the normally hotheaded dwarf.
Malachi, on the other hand, had been silent in their deliberations thus far, but that was only because he didn’t actually have any credible sources in the Five Kingdoms. All of his had been wiped out early before he could sway them to their cause. Still, despite that, and despite Ragnar’s posturing, Shedra was more than prepared to answer the accusations.
“Yes, I was opposed to trying to make peace with those barbarians, and after they butchered the young queen, I’m sure you can see why. As to an attempted assassination, I’m sure you must be mistaken. The Arcane Kingdom would never try and remove the righ
tful leader of a race, no matter how misguided or misinformed they may have been.”
“You take that back, you bastard!” Gilderon yelled. “Don’t you dare blame her for this!”
“I have thus far allowed your insults to pass out of respect for your loss, Chancellor. But if you insult me again, I will take it much more personally,” Shedra said, allowing an icy note to slip into his voice.
If he were being honest, Shedra didn’t care one way or the other. Soon, he would rule over all of Faeland, and Gilderon would join his bitch queen in death. Of course, from the previous reports, she was still alive, but no one needed to know that. As far as everyone was concerned – even the goddess who came for a visit – Elyssa was dead, and that was the end of it. In his mind, it was only a matter of time, and striking now was much better than waiting and allowing them time to think and cool down.
According to the goddess, the two leaders of their opposing factions had also received visits from others in her Pantheon, so they would not only have the word of their trusted subjects but that of a divine being as well. No matter how they wanted to refute it, there was no denying the truth.
“I think it would be best if we were to take a break and reconvene in an hour,” Ragnar said, folding both hands on his lap. “It will give us all time to process and cool down.”
Then, his image vanished from the meeting room without so much as another word or Shedra’s permission. The gnome had to actively suppress the rage that boiled up within him at the dwarf’s impudence, but when Malachi nodded his head and left as well, he had little choice but to agree for now.
“Very well, I will see you all back here in an hour,” he said, leaving before anyone else had the chance to do so, standing from his chair and leaving the room.
The other four Councilors followed out after him, leaving the poor suckers to stew in their misery. Shedra knew what the outcome of this meeting would be because anyone who was as irrationally angry as Gilderon would want revenge, and in the hour they had, he was sure the elf would be speaking with the dwarven king. Once he had their support, the beastmen would follow, and then, he’d have his war.
