Damon caught Ayisa’s reaction, or to be specific, her lack of one. She blinked and nodded slowly, only raising her eyebrows to feign surprise after a few telling seconds.
“Please, go on,” said Ayisa. “I would hear of this rumor, especially if it concerned you to the point of bringing it to me directly.”
Ria looked toward Damon, and he sensed that it was his turn to roll their leverage forward.
“The two of you are lovers,” he said bluntly. “I both saw and heard what you were doing in the Athlatak’s room. On his own bed, no less.”
She could still deny it. They didn’t have hard proof, and it was entirely possible that the infatuation was one sided. Unlikely, but possible. Damon watched Ayisa take a shaky breath and turn away from them, and he knew in that instant that their gambit was going to pay off.
“You would be wise to speak less freely,” said Ayisa. “What is it you want from me? Tribute? A favor? Just to shame my son and me, as so many puritans would do in your place?”
“That’s not why we’re here,” said Ria quickly. “We only want to help. To do that, for you and for us, we need an honest answer to a simple question. Tell us the truth, honored mother. How did your son rise in power and renown?”
Ayisa let out a tired, defeated sigh, and began to speak quickly in Konokai. Damon was, understandably, a little annoyed to be cut out of the conversation by her choice i language, but Ria translated small details in hushed whispers whenever Ayisa came to a pause.
“Her honored husband was Gorston, leader of Clan Ironblood, and a member of the Quorum of Clans,” she whispered. “There was… a duel between him and Mixa-Moxa. Gorston won but died two days later. Gorston still earned the mythosai, stated purpose, along with the title of Athlatak for his line?”
She spoke the last statement as a question and quickly asked for more details from Ayisa, who provided them without ever drawing her gaze up from the floor. Ria frowned, and she didn’t translate this time. Damon didn’t feel as though he needed to hear any more to know what his question should be.
“Ayisa,” he said, once she’d finished speaking. “Your son is more than just the Athlatak. Isn’t he?”
“We already spoke of my sins!” Ayisa snapped. “I will not stand here and be shamed by you.”
“That is not what he means,” said Ria. “Please, honored mother. You know Lassus better than all. Tell us the truth of his—"
A tremor ran through the Water Palace, shaking the floor underneath them. Damon looked from Ria to Ayisa, judging from the expressions on their faces that earthquakes weren’t common enough within the city to explain away the disturbance.
They hurried through the palace together, discussion set aside in favor of discovery. Ayisa drew back as they approached the Athlatak’s audience chamber, noting two corpses in place of the guards outside of it.
“Lassus!” she hissed.
Damon helped her with the door, but there was nothing he could offer for what awaited her on the other side of it. Wrath stood in front of the Athlatak’s raised perch, holding the teenage leader of the Remenai clans by the throat.
“He is just a boy.” Wrath opened her fingers, letting the Athlatak fall gasping to the ground. “Not one of my brethren. He is nothing. Useless to me.”
“I thought the plan was for us to handle this!” shouted Damon. “You could have done it this way from the start!”
“We’re no longer at the start,” said Wrath. “We’re at the end. Look out the window.”
Damon turned, and saw the fires burning along Yvvestrosai’s edge. The Water Palace was high enough up the slope that he could get glimpses of their apparent enemies in the glow of the flames. He stared, seeing spiders the size of men, but it didn’t make sense.
“What in the world?” muttered Ria.
“Avarice,” said Wrath. “One of his new creations. Trust me, they’re not fun to engage up close.”
Ayisa had been edging around the side of the room, and she took the opportunity to rush forward and pull her son to safety. Wrath barely even noticed that either of them were in the room, unconcerned entirely with the people who had previously been within the lens of her obsession.
“He must be here for the same reason we are,” said Damon.
“Oh?” Wrath gave him a questioning stare. “What makes you say that?”
“His crest sorcerer was here, in the city,” admitted Damon.
“And you didn’t tell me?” said Wrath through gritted teeth.
“No. I didn’t tell you.”
He wasn’t going to grovel or bend to Wrath’s intimidation. He wasn’t her servant, and he wanted to remind her of that and emphasize that she shouldn’t take his cooperation for granted. There were limits to how far Damon was willing to prod one of the Forsaken, however.
“Well, you reap what you sow,” Wrath said coldly. “This isn’t a fight I have any wish in taking. You’re welcome to join me in my retreat, and the aid I promised to your comatose sister will still be forthcoming.”
“Retreat?” said Ria. “You cannot possibly leave this city and these people at Avarice’s mercy?”
“I can’t, can I?” Wrath let out a snort. “You expect me to take a fight against Avarice, Avarice’s crest sorcerer, possibly Conceit, and an army of those damned copper spiders of his? How would you expect that to proceed, exactly? Do you foresee fewer people dying if I involve myself and my power for pointless reasons?”
“He is burning down this city!” shouted Ria.
“I noticed, and now I’m leaving,” said Wrath. “Damon? Last chance.”
He didn’t even look at her. There was a pulse of azure power as she used her speed to depart in a blur of light. He wasn’t proud of the fact that he wondered if they’d made the right choice, or of his inability to think of a way to do much more now than retreat through different means.
“Ria…” he said, already feeling defeated.
“No!” she snapped. “I am not leaving. Damon… husband. You must understand that these people… this place… it is not my home. I know nothing of Yvvestrosai, or my heritage. If I walk away and let this place and these people burn and die, I will never know. I must do this.”
He nodded slowly and took her hand. “We’ll both do it, Ria. Together. I’m with you.”
CHAPTER 33
A flurry of discussion took place between Ria, Ayisa, the Athlatak, and one of the remaining palace guards of rank. All of it was in Konokai, and Damon felt annoyed at his lack of knowledge of the language for the hundredth time over the past few weeks.
Whatever plan they were concocting was put on hold as a tremendous crash came from one of the windows of the audience chamber. Damon got the first up-close look at one Avarice’s copper spiders.
Eight copper legs protruded from a thick, pyramid-shaped carapace, along with half a dozen exhaust spouts burping out steam in regular intervals. The spider tapped from side to side, seeming to sense Damon through a hidden means, as he saw nothing resembling eyes anywhere on its body.
It skittered forward, each leg contributing to a clamor of metal against the stones of the floor. Damon drew his myrblade and attacked on reflex, wincing at the tremendous vibration the blow sent through his palm and wrist as it connected. His sword left a small dent and otherwise had no effect.
The spider lashed out with a coordinated spin attack, drawing up on its back legs while turning and slashing with its front ones. Damon didn’t bother trying to block, instead dodging backward. His attention was torn between his current fight with the mechanical monster and what was happening outside, the potential for more to swoop in through the windows.
Ria let out a roar and sent her throwing dagger hurtling toward the spider’s carapace. It sank half an inch into the softer metal but did little more than provide a temporary distraction. The spider was already moving toward a new target, Ayisa and the Athlatak, held within the bulwark of her loving arms.
The Remenai palace guard flung himself in the
way, slamming his wooden spear down with punishing force. It knocked the copper spider flat for an instant, but the monster recovered and leapt forward. It struck the man full in the chest, toppling him to the ground under its immense weight. There was a scream as the razor legs tore into him, followed by a torrent of blood and shattered bone.
Damon stabbed his myrblade at it, focusing his aim rather than his force. He slid the sword into one of the steam spouts on its back, muscling the weapon’s point into the slightly smaller opening. From there, he let out a breath of cold condensation and manifested his myrblade’s enchantment.
Ice filled the copper spider’s mostly hollow interior, forcing its way out the other steam spouts and bulging against its copper body from within like the bloating of a week-old corpse. It fell sideways with a clatter, unable to continue whatever process had animated its form to begin with.
Ayisa ran toward the unfortunate guard who’d been on the receiving end of the spider’s legs, but a single look was enough to have her shaking her head and backing way. Damon’s attention was on the broken window. Another spider was already climbing the palace’s wall, metal legs biting into the stone exterior like copper climbing spikes.
Damon swatted his myrblade down at it when it came within striking range and was pleasantly surprised by how easily it came loose. It fell to the grass below, but immediately rose back to its feet.
“This doesn’t look good,” he muttered to Ria. “If you have any ideas, I’m open to them.”
“We need to help who we can,” she said, with determination in her voice. “The young, the sick, the wounded. They have no hope of fleeing or defending themselves.”
“Find who you can and bring them back here,” he said. He set his myrblade against the edge of the open window and froze a thin barrier to seal it shut. There were other windows, however, too many throughout the palace for him to have any hope of securing. “Barricade this chamber once you’ve got them all inside.”
“You speak as though you will be elsewhere?” she asked.
“I’m the distraction.”
He took a step toward the audience chamber’s door. Ria grabbed his arm, squeezing tightly enough with her fingers to scrape the skin through Damon’s shirt.
“No!” she snapped. “Enough stupidity. I should be by your side.”
“Not here,” he said. “Not this time. Ria… You have to trust me.”
“Damon,” she said. “Husband!”
He pulled her toward him, caressing her face, staring into her eyes, firm, but gentle. Gentle, but resolved.
“I love you,” he said. “You have to do this. As my lover… as my family… and as my wife. Stay back. Save as many people as you can. Keep them safe and keep yourself safe, no matter what.”
“If you die, Damon…” She shook her head and blinked a bit too quickly. “I will never forgive you.”
“I won’t die,” he said. “Promise.”
He kissed her, but too much was happening, and it wasn’t the dramatic meeting of lips it should have been. It was a hasty, almost clumsy goodbye, and he redoubled his commitment to that promise. He’d survive, if only to do that kiss over again.
Outside the palace, Yvvestrosai was descending into chaos. Numerous fires surged within the city now, despite the fact that snow still fell in a slow deluge of cold, white flakes.
“The ice elementals are the only thing that might give us a chance, Myr,” he whispered. “Can you summon them again?”
“I have the essence to, if that’s what you’re asking,” replied Myr’s whisper. “You’re the one who will need to do the actual work.”
He nodded slowly, though he wasn’t entirely certain he knew just what to do. A rustle through the snow alerted him to another copper spider, and he ducked on reflex, dodging the mechanical monster’s lunge by the length of a hair.
The spider landed on its feet, shifting direction and momentum faster than any flesh and blood opponent could have. Damon attempted to do as he had with the previous one inside the palace but getting the angle necessary to stab into its spouts proved difficult.
“Freeze it!” hissed Myr.
“I’m trying to!” he shouted.”
“No, I mean freeze it in place!”
He had no idea what she was stalking about until he looked down and noticed how thickly coated the grass was with snow. The copper spider began shuffling forward. Damon stabbed the tip of his myrblade into the ground and channeled the enchantment.
Each of the spider’s eight copper feet were instantly enveloped in creeping ice. While it may have been able to find purchase to pull one foot free, with all of them confined, it was rendered immobile.
Damon hurried around and quickly dispatched it with ice from the inside. It was a small victory, almost insulting in the face of the chaos that still roiled through the rest of Yvvestrosai. He gripped his sword and hurried into the fray, hoping he could do enough.
CHAPTER 34
Dealing with the fires was Damon’s first priority, though he had no idea as to the extent with which his myrblade could help. As soon as he was sure he was clear of the copper spiders, he focused his attention on his original idea – summoning the ice elementals for support.
He took a breath, dipped the tip of his sword into the snow, and focused. Snowflakes still actively fell down upon him, entangling themselves in his hair, melting atop his hands and the side of his neck. He focused on that sense of cold, the synergy it created with Myr and her enchantment, and visualized what he wanted.
The first ice elemental emerged from the snow in a fashion reminiscent of a child bursting from hiding amidst a pile of fall leaves. It flailed its arms, rising from the snow with bits of white still stuck to its otherwise crystalline, pale blue body. It was beautiful, dangerous, and seductive, and it brought Damon no small amount of comfort to know that it was on his side.
He summoned two more after that, and then five more, only stopping when Myr let out a small, wavering gasp after the eighth.
“I… I think that’s my limit,” she whispered.
“You did good,” he said. “I can make do with these. Ice elementals… follow me.”
He got the distinct sense that he didn’t actually need to vocalize his commands for them to obey him as they formed into a clump behind him. They were an impressive sight, each one slightly taller than he was, hauntingly beautiful with their naked female forms.
He came upon the first area of fighting and saw that Avarice’s attack wasn’t only composed of copper spiders. Soldiers and mercenaries were interspersed with the metal monsters, though fewer in number.
A trio of Remenai warriors fought for their lives against twice as many Merinian knights. The Rem kept trying to flee, but they were cut off at each attempt. Damon sent two of his ice elementals forward to help, and help they did.
The ice elemental in the lead struck out with a punch that left tendrils of frost creeping across the body of the knight on the receiving end. Two of the others attempted to slash at the ice elemental, but it dodged with inhuman grace and countered in a blur of movement.
Damon moved to attack from the side, hesitating as he glimpsed a figure rushing through the snow from the palace. He saw Ria out of the corner of his eye, but she was true to her word, stooping to help the retreating Remenai up and directing them toward safety rather than fighting directly by his side.
He sent a silent command to the other ice elementals to start putting out fires in the nearby buildings. The immensity of the task made him feel impotent, even with his newly summoned allies. He could see more people running in the chaos ahead, fleeing men and spiders and flames, some carrying small children, others clutching cherished possessions.
One of the Merinian mercenaries tried to make a run toward safer pastures. Damon ran him through the back with his sword, too furious to care whether it made for a fair engagement. He brought his ice elementals forward with him as they hurried into what had once been a square filled with flowers and berr
y bushes.
Blood stained the snow, and the building to Damon’s right was already collapsing from the damage caused by the fires. He saw a spider skittering out of the smoldering wreckage and received a clue to how the inferno had begun. This copper spider had a small mouth on the front of its carapace, and a tiny flame danced within it like an evil tongue.
Damon threw himself sideways just as the fire spider released a tremendous breath of flames, extending at least a dozen feet forward and as wide as a gout of smoke from a chimney. He felt a bit foolish as he rose to his feet, only then recovering his senses to remember that he was technically immune to most fire.
He set two ice elementals on the fire spider and watched with grim satisfaction as they drove their hands into the various openings they could find on its body and froze it from the inside out. Damon was just about ready to move on when a choked cry came from within the building.
He moved quickly, but he was already too late. He had the ice elementals freeze the fire in his way and pulled a person… a body… free from where it had been shielding itself from the fire underneath a piece of charred furniture. It was a young woman, mostly unburned, but past the point of breathing. Poisoned by the smoke, most likely.
Damon tried to contain his useless anger as he set her down on the snow and continued deeper into the dying city. Any hope he might have harbored from the outset, when he’d been looking out the palace window and seeing the destruction at arms’ length, had evaporated.
The most he could do now was staunch the bleeding. He stopped looking at each building and listening for the cries of those in need. Instead, he searched for Avarice, hunting the Forsaken with a single-minded anger he’d almost managed to forget over the past weeks and months.
Two Merinian soldiers moved to block his way as he headed toward what had once been a lively, flower-filled market square with a watering pond in the center. They seemed more confused by him than wary, and Damon cut them both to get them out of his way and make his intentions clear. Regardless of who they were, what was in their hearts, now… they were just invaders.
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