by Mark Albany
“You need to help her,” Norel said. “I’ll take the golem.”
“A better idea,” I said, stopping her. “Since the golem is busy doing something else,” it was digging for something in the middle of the room, “you head back to the city and make sure that everybody is removed from where they might be killed if things go poorly here.”
“The chances of things going poorly increase if I go,” Norel said with a warning tone in her voice. “Help Aliana. I’ll try to slow the golem down.”
I nodded. There wasn’t much chance of me stopping her from doing what she wanted, anyway. Besides, it wasn’t like she was wrong. I just felt bad about leaving that many people in the wake of the destruction that would happen if we failed.
Norel was already on the move, heading toward the corner of the room where the golem was as I moved over to where Aliana was attacking Cyron. She seemed to have the upper hand, though, and I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to be able to do to help. I had no stick, my powers were still as hard to use as they’d always been and honestly, Aliana seemed like she was handling herself quite admirably.
She moved smoothly, like I remembered from our long training sessions, with the grace and beauty of a dancer, her dagger flicking out and arcing through the air before crashing into Cyron’s sword. Sparks flew, and I could see the heat coming from the runes on the blade.
“It’s just like you fucking elves to ruin plans that I’d laid down for decades,” Cyron was saying. He was a formidable fighter himself, although his style represented a lot more brute strength than speed and dexterity. “Then again, all this is to get rid of you anyway, so it’s rather fitting that there’s someone of your pathetic race here to represent the rest.”
Aliana didn’t respond, showing no sign that the man’s words were affecting her at all. She ducked and leaned backward, avoiding a slash and thrust from the man’s blade in quick succession then stayed low as she pirouetted lightly, her dagger flicking out toward Cyron’s neck. He avoided the strike by leaning to the side, but I could see the gleam of blood rushing from his cheek from where her dagger had struck him.
“Fuck!” Cyron cursed, touching his cheek. He took a few steps away from Aliana, speaking a few words in a language I didn’t understand. The golem understood, though, as it looked away from the flashes of lightning coming from Norel’s hands and turned away, ignoring the damage she was doing to its back and charging toward Aliana.
“Oh, fuck me.” I had to do something.
Norel looked like she’d been injured in her fight, struggling to keep up with the monster as it picked up speed, and Aliana wouldn’t stand much of a chance against Cyron and the golem. I had to do something.
Like what, genius?
Something stupid. Something that would hopefully save all our lives, at the risk of mine. I was willing to take that chance.
Cyron was focused on Aliana as she picked up her pace, trying to finish him off before the golem got to her. I rushed forward, wondering why the ever-loving hell I was doing this. Cyron didn’t see me until I was already on top of him. He tried to raise a barrier to stop me, but too late. I crashed into his side, knocking him to the ground with a thud.
The sword in his hands came free, clattering to the ground.
“What the…?” Cyron said as I jumped away from him, avoiding the offensive spell he cast at me with a dodge and a roll as I picked up the sword.
A golem couldn’t be harder to take down than Aliana, right? True, I’d never managed that either, but there was a first time for everything, I mused. I gripped the longsword with both hands, watching the runes on the blade light up. The heat from them was scorching enough to warp the air around it. Enchanted blades were also banned by the Emperor’s decree. Were there any magical laws that Cyron hadn’t broken so far?
My eyes widened as I watched the golem’s massive, club-like arms swinging toward me. It was slow-moving, but terrifyingly large. I felt the ground shake when they crashed into the ground behind me, narrowly missing the opportunity to turn me into paste. I gripped the sword tighter, diving between the creature’s legs, following the moves Aliana had taught me during our time in the forest. It wasn’t perfectly executed, but I managed to come up to one knee behind the golem before it could turn around, the glowing blade slashing at its planted leg.
It had been twisting around, trying to track me down for another try at crushing me. Now minus a leg, the movement was cut short. The half leg swung around and caught me firmly in the chest, sending me flying a good ten feet across the room to land heavily on the ground. I managed to keep my grip on the sword the whole way, even as I struggled to breathe for a few moments.
I pushed myself up, watching the golem trying and failing to keep its balance. It fell over Cyron, who was still distracted by keeping Aliana at bay with quickly-cast combat spells now that his sword was gone. He turned just in time to scream as the fifteen-foot-tall monster of rock and clay crashed on top of him. From where I was it was difficult to see, but I thought there was a small pouch in the massive creature’s hand.
I groaned, clutching my side with one hand and gripping the sword with the other as I moved over to where Norel had dropped to her knees. She was trying to heal herself, but she was distracted by what was happening across the room.
“Get out of here,” I said. “You’re wounded. Aliana and I can handle it from here.”
“I need to know she’s all right,” Norel whispered, trying and failing to climb to her feet. I caught her just in time to keep her from sprawling onto her face.
“Go,” I said in a softer tone. “I’ll make sure she’s all right.”
Norel nodded, taking a deep breath as I let her go. A few seconds later, she disappeared into a portal. I turned my attention back to Aliana, the golem, and Cyron.
Aliana had moved over to where the golem had fallen, tugging the pouch from the thick clay fingers. I could see Cyron still trying to get himself out from under the weight of it. It was surprising the man had managed to survive, I mused, clutching my side as I ran over, realizing that the creature was starting to move again. Even without a leg, it was considerably more powerful than I had thought. I was starting to regret having sent Norel on her way.
“Watch out!” I called to Aliana, who looked up and jumped away just in time to avoid being crunched by the creature’s other hand. The golem started to push itself off the ground, freeing Cyron.
Aliana had put some space between her and the golem, and now closed her eyes. I could see runes rising from her arms and shoulders. Spell-casting was more powerful than combat magic, I remembered Vis telling me, but took more time to summon. I didn’t know what she was trying to do, but considering the amount of power that would be required to bring the massive thing down, I didn’t think she had enough time to do it.
I reached into myself, grasping at the slippery power source inside me and using the raw power from the sword in my hands. I wouldn’t be able to get between the golem and Aliana in time. I needed to do something.
I closed my eyes, feeling my consciousness slip out from inside my body. I reached out, using the movement of my body to imitate my power reaching out to grab the golem by the neck. I could feel some resistance to that, but as difficult as it was for me to grasp and use my power, it was much more difficult for anything else to touch it. The ‘fingers’ wrapped around the golem’s neck and as I gritted my teeth, trying to keep hold of it, I pulled.
The moment after I tugged, I lost my grasp on the power. It took the shuddering impact of the creature to the ground to tell me that, against all odds, what I’d tried to do had worked.
I wasn’t sure how but at this point, it would be like inspecting the teeth on a gift horse.
I opened my eyes again, seeing Cyron staring at me with a gaping mouth. I remembered the conversation Vis had with Pollock about my power, and in that moment, I realized that whatever Vis had done to my parents had been on Cyron’s orders. He knew about me and my power, and wa
s surprised to see me using it.
In the moment of distraction between Cyron and the golem, Aliana was able to complete her spell. She’d been speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. As I turned to her, I could see the runes on her skin glowing blue instead of red. Her eyes were a similar color. When she extended her hand, the room was filled with the thunderous sound of a stone being split in half. First it was just a crack, but it started to grow. A massive hole appeared in the middle of the room, spreading quickly toward where the golem was starting to regain its feet. It had no sense of self-preservation, I realized, still trying to stand up and reach Aliana as it started to drop into the gaping hole opening behind it.
The hole started spreading, like Aliana didn’t have much in the way of control over it. I started inching back, seeing it starting to head in my direction. I looked over at Cyron, whose legs were still broken from when the golem landed on him, desperately trying to heal himself while dragging himself away from the growing gap in the floor. He wasn’t going to make it, I realized, tucking his sword into my belt and rushing over to where the floor was starting to swallow him too.
Just as he was starting to drop into the chasm, I reached out, grabbing his hand by the wrist. I had no good intentions for the man, but I didn’t want him to die just yet.
He looked up at me as I helped him back to the edge, giving him just enough purchase to keep from dropping, but not enough to be able to pull himself up.
“What are you doing?” he screamed, looking down at the growing hole in terror.
“Tell me what happened to my parents!” I demanded, feeling the anger I’d had burning inside me ever since I learned that Vis had killed them rushing up to the surface.
“Please, you have to—” Cyron pleaded but I cut him off.
“I don’t have to do anything.” I gripped him by the wrist, reminding him that I could just as easily pull him up as push him down. “Tell me what happened to them, and I’ll consider saving your life.”
“We don’t have the time!” Cyron screamed, shaking his head. “Promise you won’t kill me and that you’ll let me go, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know!”
“You won’t go free, even if I save you,” I snarled. “You’ll be held to trial by the Emperor for your crimes. But you’ll be alive if you just fucking tell me!”
In my rage, I almost missed the man’s hand moving forward, arcing energy flowing through his fingers. I didn’t have time to react even then, just raise my right hand in an instinctive movement to stop him. He knew he was going to die, I realized from the crazed look on his face. He was just going to take me with him.
I watched the energy he’d gathered lash out at me, striking my outstretched hand first. I felt it burn, just as hot as when I’d touched the hound’s skin. To both our surprise, the power jumped back from it, hammering into Cyron’s chest.
For a moment, there was a look of shock on his face as he lost his grip on the edge of the hole and realized he was falling.
“No!” I screamed. He hadn’t told me. I needed to know, and maybe the only person left alive who could tell me was dropping into the darkness of what looked like a bottomless pit. I tried to reach inside myself looking for the power I was supposed to have, but it pulled away, slipping away from my grasp just like Cyron.
He disappeared into the blackness.
I pulled myself away from the edge of the hole using as much willpower as I could manage. For the craziest second, I had been tempted to dive in after him. Of all the idiotic decisions I’d made so far, that would have been my crowning achievement.
I looked down at my hand, surprised to see the runes that had been welted but partially healed were glowing again. Painfully so, but still glowing like the runes on Aliana’s arms, or Cyron’s for that matter. As I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t even know how they’d gotten those.
I covered my hand, wincing from the pain as Aliana moved over to me.
“Where’s Cyron?” she asked, looking around.
“I tried to save him.” I pushed myself to my feet. “Didn’t go as well as I hoped.”
Aliana looked down into the hole. She looked as disappointed as I was, but I doubted that any tears would be shed at the man’s passing.
“Come on,” she said, taking my hand. In an instant, we were tugged and twisted into one of her portals.
18
We arrived back at our cave, both of us stumbling forward a few steps before dropping to the ground next to each other. For the longest of moments, it was all we could do to just stare up at the roof of the cave. A moment was needed to process everything. As we lay there in silence, my mind went back to me holding Cyron’s life in the balance to get him to tell me what had happened to my parents. I had been angry, in that moment, and while I did feel that my actions had been at least somewhat justified, there was a nagging feeling telling me that I had taken it just a step too far.
“I tried to get Cyron to tell me what happened to my parents,” I said, finally breaking the silence between us. “I made sure he didn’t fall, but then kept from pulling him up until he told me what I wanted to know.”
“And you let him fall when he refused?” Aliana asked, turning over to look at me.
“The thought occurred to me,” I admitted. “But no. I told him that even if he lived, he wouldn’t see the outside of a cell for the rest of his days. He tried to attack me and… somehow, the spell rebounded on him and knocked him down.”
“Rebounded?” Aliana asked.
“You know. Bounced off, went back to him.”
“I know what rebounded means,” Aliana said, grinning. “But how?”
“I don’t know,” I said, showing her my hand, where the runes were still branded on. “But I think this might have something to do with it.”
Aliana leaned in closer, tilting her head. “I don’t know what those runes are, actually.”
“Anyways, they were glowing and burning afterward,” I explained. “So, I think they might have had something to do with it. I’m not sure how. I didn’t even intend to do anything. It just happened.”
“That’s how magic is supposed to be, sometimes,” Aliana said with a grin, propping herself up on her elbow and leaning closer to me. “You just need to follow your basest instincts.”
She leaned in and tenderly pressed her lips to mine. I reached over, threading my fingers through her silky-smooth hair and pulling her closer as her tongue slipped into my mouth, exploring and tasting me. She appeared to like what she was tasting since I felt as much as heard a long, low, delicious moan pass from her mouth to mine.
As she pulled away, my eyes stayed closed. I leaned in closer to her, wanting more. My eyes opened when she pressed a finger to my lips.
“We have one more jump to make,” Aliana explained with a smile. She gripped my hand, and suddenly we were twisting through the void once more. I hadn’t been expecting it so the twisting and pulling knocked the breath out of me, leaving me gasping and coughing as we came out the other end.
“I hate portals,” I snarled, shaking my head and pushing myself to my feet.
Aliana didn’t reply. She just shook her head and chucked.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.
“Welcome to my home,” I heard a voice say from behind us. I whipped around, reaching for the sword that was still hanging from my belt. I wasn’t sure why. We hadn’t known each other for very long, but I did recognize Norel’s voice.
“Your home?” I asked, looking around. “It looks surprisingly untouched by the destructive capabilities of an obsidian hellhound.”
Norel looked around, a smile on her lips. “Well, that was one of them, yes. You didn’t think I had just one, did you?”
“Well, forgive a man who has none for making wrong assumptions,” I replied with a grin.
“All right, all right,” Aliana said, stepping in.
“I assume the two of you are here because Cyron won’t be joining us?” N
orel asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Excellent,” she said, indicating for us to join her. “We can sit and you two can tell me about everything I missed over a meal. I think we all need it.”
On that we could agree, I realized, smiling as we moved into a room where a small feast had been prepared. There were a handful of servants waiting for us to take our seats before filling some goblets with what looked like mead. I had seen it being served, but never tasted the stuff myself.
Aliana and Norel talked, going over everything that had happened. I was probably not the best witness since I didn’t understand much about what was happening, so I focused my attention on tasting the roast pheasant and ham that had been served for us. It felt like years since I’d had a proper meal like this. Well, in all honesty, I’d never really had a meal quite like this. Never this good. The bread was still warm from the oven, and combined with the soft cheese and freshly-made butter, kept me busy for most of the conversation.
“I have to say, I wouldn’t have thought you had it in you, Grant,” I heard Norel say. I looked up from my plate, still chewing on a pheasant drumstick as I realized I’d lost track of the conversation.
“Sorry,” I mumbled through a half-full mouth. “Just hungry, is all.”
“Well, yes, there is that,” Norel said. “But what I meant is holding off on saving someone until he tells you what you want to know. Sure, Cyron is a stone-cold bastard, but even then, it takes a hefty pair to do something like that.”
“Pair of what?” I asked, managing to swallow the rest of my food.
“I’ll show you later,” Aliana leaned closer and whispered in my ear.
“Wait, hold up,” I said. “Cyron is a stone-cold bastard? Is? Not was?”
“Well, there is always the possibility he died,” Norel said, toying with her goblet between her fingers. “But I know the man doesn’t die easily. I’d say it would take more than a single fall to kill him.”
