So many dead. So many misguided fools.
It angered the king all the more. He was being forced to kill his kin because they had fallen under the spell of Vighon Draqaro. Even Inara and his parents had a hand in this. Alijah promised himself that these deaths would be placed on their shoulders when it came time to punish them.
The king welcomed the snowfall, sweating as he was. He decided that it must have been hours since he entered the battle. He blamed the chaos of it all for losing his sense of direction. Multiple times, he tried to use his bond with the Reavers to discern the right path to the doorway, but every attempt left him vulnerable to attack.
Malliath had tried to help him, guiding him from the sky, but Athis and Ilargo hounded him in and out of the clouds. In the briefest of reprieves, Alijah would look up and see the dragons exchanging blows and illuminating the clouds with their fiery breath. He reached out to get a sense of his companion’s injuries and found them similar to his own, though his had been inflicted by a group of dwarves who had managed to push through his defence of Reavers.
Keep going, my friend, he urged.
Destroy the tree! Malliath fired back.
Alijah could feel him fighting through the pain, just as he was on the ground. It will be done! he promised.
I am flying over it now! Malliath growled, before Athis collided into his side and Ilargo snapped at his front leg.
Alijah dropped his scimitar as he too was wounded across his left arm. The king turned to see a dwarf raising his axe in the air, ready to bury it in the Reaver under his boot. Alijah quickly retrieved his Vi’tari blade and rammed it up into the dwarf’s ribcage, slipping the steel between his armour just as the dwarf had sliced him between his dragon scales. He cursed the clumsy dwarf and shoved him from the end of the scimitar.
Ignoring the pain in his ribs, likely caused from overextending his previous injuries, Alijah felt for that pull in his mind and followed it to Malliath’s location in the sky. The dig site was to his right. Then, using the most basic form of his bond to the Reavers, he commanded all those around him to close in on his position.
“Advance!” he bellowed, having them fight their way towards the pit.
After several minutes of pushing through the melee, a wild Centaur used its superior height to gain an advantage. Alijah glimpsed the incoming attack only a second before the spear was launched at him, skimming the tops of the Reavers. Evasion was out of the question with so many knights surrounding him. It was with instinct that the king turned to magic to save himself. The shield flared as the spear struck true, angled perfectly to have plunged through his head, before it snapped in half and careered away.
The knights of Erador closest to him broke away from their master and swarmed the Centaur. All the while, Alijah became aware of new wounds he couldn’t explain. He didn’t recall being hit by any of those he had faced since entering the fray, but such was the turmoil of battle. His previous injuries had slowed him down and likely given his enemies more than one opportunity to land a blow that couldn’t quite pierce his armour.
A shockwave of magic rippled through the battlefield, turning Alijah away from his wounds. He watched half a dozen knights fly skywards in a flash of blue light. Focusing on the source of the magic, the king tried to see between his protective circle. It could have been any of the elves, but they all appeared too exhausted to have used such a powerful spell. That left Inara and Gideon, though Alijah couldn’t imagine the old master using what magic he still possessed.
Inara then.
As the knights guarded him against incoming attacks, he finally glimpsed his sister amongst the chaos. Her red cloak flowing around her, Inara was a maelstrom of devastating power and fury. Her Vi’tari scimitar, Firefly, was in constant motion, twisting and turning in her grip to deflect and attack almost simultaneously. When she wasn’t using a double-handed attack, her free hand was expelling destructive magic.
Behind her, The Rebellion rallied. Alijah could see them all, an alliance of species, sweeping up behind her. She was the tip of the spear leading them all to the dig site.
Focus! Malliath chastised.
The king looked up to see his companion weaving between Athis and Ilargo’s attacks, forcing them to change their flight path at awkward angles and chase him up into the clouds. Malliath was right. They were so close now. Falling back on his lessons, he heard The Crow’s words in his head.
“Fear is not real, it is simply a product of the mind. Danger is real.”
He had nothing to fear from his sister. He could overpower her, injured or not. But she posed a real danger to his work in the pit. Taking the lead in front of his knights, Alijah put his sword to use again and forged a path to the dig site. He had to get there first and see his task completed.
* * *
Inara saw him, fleeing like a coward. She had been directed to him, guided by his use of magic. And now, surrounded by his undead fiends, the would-be king of the world turned from her rather than face the consequences. It turned her blood to fire.
“I have him!” she called, drawing Galanör’s attention.
“Where?” the ranger demanded, swiping Stormweaver across a Reaver’s torso.
“He must be making for the site!” she reasoned, throwing her hand out to engulf a group of Reavers in flames.
“We have to stop him!” Galanör urged.
Inara set her sights on the path she intended to take. “We will,” she said determinedly to herself. “On me!” she cried, rallying those behind her.
Elf, dwarf, and Centaur heard the Guardian and none hesitated to follow in her wake. She had more energy than all of them and her command of both magic and sword was vastly superior. Relying on the strength of her elven half, Inara flipped in the air and landed in the midst of the Reavers. Swifter than they could respond, she ducked down and swept her blade round in an arc, taking out their legs. On the ground, they were prey to the rushing dwarves of Dhenaheim as hammer, axe, and spear came down on them with a vengeance.
Before they were crushed into the dirt, Inara was already moving, gaining ground on her brother. Flashes of his jade scimitar pushed her on until she was stepping over the corpse of a Reaver and entering the campsite where the dwarves had been imprisoned.
A pair of Centaurs galloped in behind her, clearing one of the tents in a single leap. Against Inara’s warning, they rushed the group of Reavers covering Alijah’s back. One of them succeeded in cutting down a pair of the fiends, but the other received a sword to the chest, thrown by one of the Reavers. It was Alijah himself who turned and killed the surviving Centaur with a clean swipe of his Vi’tari blade.
He found Inara across the campsite and their eyes locked.
They each held a promise in their gaze. Alijah warned his sister that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her should she interfere. Inara assured her brother that there was nothing he could throw at her that would prevent her wrath from coming down on him. One of them was going to die today.
The Reavers closed ranks again and Alijah disappeared behind a wall of black knights. From her vantage, Inara could see that they were now on the lip of the dig site, meaning her brother was likely on his way down already.
They were out of time. “Are you with me?” she asked, glancing at Galanör.
The elven ranger assessed the Reavers blocking their way. “We can take them,” he declared, turning to Aenwyn beside him. She flicked up her scimitar and nodded once with conviction.
Inara tried again to reach out to Gideon through their dragons’ bond, but Athis and Ilargo were too occupied to bridge a connection between the four of them. She knew her old master was out there somewhere after having been separated by hours of battle. But she couldn’t wait for him now. If Alijah had, indeed, found a way to open a doorway down there, he was, perhaps, only minutes away from destroying the source of magic.
Leading the way, Inara charged across the dwarven camp with Galanör and Aenwyn. Behind them, those of The Rebellion who
had fought through to the heart of the battle spread out to join the chaos once more. Most of them had no real idea what was at the bottom of the dig site, believing that they were fighting simply to defeat their enemy. Only the few knew of the importance and only the few could do anything about it.
Faster than the weary elves, Inara collided with the Reavers first. Firefly blocked and batted away one sword after another before lashing out on the offensive. Her steel cut through limbs, necks, and heads until her path was clear. Those that survived her onslaught were faced with Galanör and Aenwyn who, between them, made short work of Alijah’s protectors.
Stepping onto the wooden boards, Inara looked out on the largest excavation she had ever seen. With extraordinary tenacity and unparalleled skill, the dwarves had dug down, forging an abyss in The Moonlit Plains. The interior of the shaft was a mass of walkways, bridges, and pulley systems. The design was dizzying to Inara’s eyes, but the dwarves weren’t new to the art of digging large holes in the ground. She could see how, if one knew the structure, the miners could get to anywhere inside the shaft, but she was looking for the quickest way to the bottom.
Alijah crossed her vision, on the other side of the shaft. He was hurrying down the sloping walkway that lined the interior wall.
“Come on,” she bade.
The trio dashed to the left and began their descent around the curve of the shaft.
“What are these?” Aenwyn questioned, referring to one of the stone tablets they passed every twenty feet.
Inara glanced at one as she ran past, having noted them pressed into the muddy walls. She instantly recognised the ancient glyphs carved across their surface. “They’re warding stones!” she called back. “They were used on The Lifeless Isles to prevent the use of portals!”
“Good!” Galanör grunted. “Then he only has one way out of here.”
Inara laid eyes on her brother across the way. “He won’t be leaving here!” she proclaimed, in a bid to free herself of the emotions that tied her to Alijah. Then, without warning her companions, Inara jumped, kicked off the interior wall, and leapt into the shaft.
“Inara!” Galanör’s voice disappeared above her.
As planned, Inara reached out and caught the rope of a pulley system. She slid down thirty feet until a bridge intersected the shaft and allowed her to spring the gap. Sprinting along the bridge, Inara made for the centre before hopping over the side and falling again. This time, she landed on the flat surface of a lift designed to haul tools up and down. The whole thing buckled under her weight and she heard chains rattling far above. Of course, she had never intended to be on it for more than a second. Springing away, before it fell into shadow, the half-elf gripped a stray rope hanging from another pulley and swung to the other side of the shaft.
Timed perfectly, Inara crashed through the railing and into Alijah. The siblings bounced off the wall together and tumbled down the walkway in a collision of limbs and stray punches. Falling over the edge of the boards was inevitable. They plummeted ten feet before careering off a lift platform and landing on the next walkway below.
Inara added her groan to Alijah’s as she tried to get up, but his dragon armour had protected him better than any of her leathers. Rising first, he lashed out with a firm kick. Inara caught his foot an inch from her ribs and twisted, bringing him down on top of her. They grappled across the narrow walkway before, again, falling over the side.
By chance, they fell towards an intersecting bridge. Alijah hit the main bridge, landing flat on the boards, while Inara looked as if she would miss it. At the last second, utilising her elven heritage, she twisted and managed to grab hold of the railing, slamming her body into the side of the bridge. Every muscle cried out with new injuries, as well as a couple of ribs, but she refused to let go of the railing.
Again, Alijah was the first to recover. He crawled over to his sister, her fate in his hands. Or so he believed. As he hammered a fist down on her fingers, Inara let go with that same hand and reached up to snatch at his hair. One strong tug pulled his face down onto the railing, knocking him back in pain. Using the time she had, Inara swung her legs up and climbed onto the bridge.
Alijah was only a few steps away now, tending to his sore nose. Inara took the moment to look up and check on Galanör and Aenwyn. Both were still navigating the sloping walkway, too tired from battle to follow her dangerous route down.
“That hurt,” Alijah commented casually, wiping blood from the fresh cut across his nose.
“You don’t know pain yet,” Inara retorted, her words as barbed as her tone.
“You can’t stop this, Inara. It’s already been seen and written in blood for thousands of years.”
Inara looked at the man she knew to be her brother and numbed herself to the emotions that took note of his voice. He was just her enemy, another threat to the realm that needed dealing with.
“There are no words that will stop me from killing you,” she stated flatly.
Alijah looked to be considering that. “How about these words?” He turned his palms down to the bridge and barked a spell of destruction that tore through the wooden boards.
Inara was accustomed to falling, an exercise she had practised many times with Athis, and instinctively jumped to the side as the bridge shattered into pieces under her feet. As the debris fell into the depths, she cleared the bridge altogether and grasped the edge of a lift platform. Alijah had made no such attempt to prevent his fall. He simply allowed himself to plummet and snatch at a loose rope. Determined not to let him get any closer to the bottom, Inara swung her legs and let go, her forward momentum bringing the Guardian in line with Alijah’s rope.
“Inara!” Galanör and Aenwyn called from above.
Alijah began swinging his legs towards the lowest bridge in the shaft. A few seconds of back and forth and he was flying through the air, crossing the gap to the bridge. Inara ignored the calls of her companions and swung her own legs. From a greater height, she dropped down onto the bridge, testing the dwarven ingenuity. The boards, however, were saved from most of her impact by Alijah, who most definitely felt his sister’s arrival.
They both rose back to their feet in an exchange of fists, elbows, and swift kicks. Inara relied on her knowledge of the Mag’dereth to inform her movements and fighting style. Alijah displayed a combination of martial arts that should have contradicted each other, yet he made his every blow move seamlessly from one to the next. His more barbaric inclinations surprised Inara and she received a painful headbutt for the misinterpretation.
The Guardian of the Realm shook off the biting pain and came back at her brother with precise and calculated attacks. She had to be careful not to strike at his torso and cut her knuckles against the dragon scales. Alijah, on the other hand, had no such concerns and planted a strong uppercut into her solar plexus, folding her over. He tried to follow up with a knee to her chest but Inara blocked it twice before whipping her head up and catching him across the nose again.
Inara then extended her body into the fifth form of the Mag’dereth and flipped backwards. One foot after the other slammed into Alijah’s chin and launched him off his feet. As he landed back on the bridge, Inara completed her flip and assumed her full height, her red cloak falling back into place behind her.
Alijah sat up and used the railing to stand again. A quick observation told Inara that her brother was favouring his right leg. She had also noticed a flicker of pain across his face whenever he used his arms to block her attacks.
“You haven’t got it in you to kill me,” he panted. “Your only hope is that Galanör reaches us before I enter the doorway.”
Inara opened her mouth to deliver a sharp retort when she noticed something on Alijah’s neck. Her head tilted to better observe the phenomenon. As she watched, small cuts were appearing along the side of his neck, forming a familiar pattern. Reaching out to Athis, Inara instantly became aware of their aerial battle and knew that Ilargo was currently entwined with Malliath, his jaws
clamped across the black dragon’s throat.
Her confusion slowed her down and Alijah took advantage. He jumped forwards and landed a heavy side kick into Inara’s midriff. She crumpled in the middle and flew backwards, along the bridge. After hitting her head, she skidded a few feet and lost a few seconds of consciousness. After that, rising back to her feet was a struggle and she depended on the railing to steady herself. After blinking her vision into alignment again, she set her gaze on an empty bridge.
Alijah was gone.
Bracing against the rail, Inara looked over the edge and found him on the walkway again. He paused and looked back at her. There was no arrogance or superiority in his expression, just resolution. Taking four more steps, Alijah disappeared entirely, as if he had never been standing there at all. Inara blinked, wondering if her head injury was more significant than she thought.
“Where is he?” Galanör questioned, his chest heaving beneath his armour, as he came up on her side.
Inara didn’t know how to explain it. Instead of detailing the event to Galanör and Aenwyn, she made for the end of the bridge and began to make her way down in Alijah’s footsteps.
“Inara, what is it?” Galanör asked. “Where did he go?”
“It’s different down there,” Aenwyn observed, looking over the edge. “The dwarves have lined the walls with stone.”
Inara drew Firefly and took her first step off the wooden walkway and onto the stone steps. “He went down here.”
With their own scimitars already in hand, Galanör and Aenwyn followed Inara down into the lowest depths of the dig site. Torches had been fastened to the walls, their flames showing the way. Inara removed one from its fixing and held it out in front to better see the steps. That wasn’t all she discovered in the dark. They soon came across a pungent odour, followed by whispers in the shadows.
Aenwyn tried to pierce the gloom. “What is that?”
A Clash of Fates: The Echoes Saga: Book Nine Page 26
