Searing light tore through the grey void, and the pressure eased as another will joined the battle. Fight Moira! Don’t surrender! It was the voice of her oldest spell-twin, the one who had been advising and assisting her since the beginning.
Inside, Moira felt hope spring anew, and she grasped at the light, pulling it inward and wrapping it around herself, transforming it into a kind of armor, something hard and sharp. She rose from the ashes of her near death and dragged her attacker down. In her mind’s eye she saw a vision of her invader, whose face mirrored her own, and whose fear she knew all too well, as she throttled the life from her.
The other four had been watching silently, but now they joined in, fighting not just Moira, or her loyal assistant, but each other as well. The six of them scraped and scrambled, brawling within her for dominance.
Gerold and Chad moved as they heard her cry out and begin to topple forward, but they stopped in mid-move as ghostly flames erupted around Moira’s body. Cassandra felt the conflict through her bond, and she tilted her head skyward, roaring in pain.
They gathered around her, watching helplessly. “What’s happening to her?” Alyssa asked the dragon.
“She’s in pain. Something is happening inside her—I don’t understand,” answered the dragon in a deep rumbling moan. “It hurts, like a whirlwind of razors in my head. She’s dying.” Cassandra shook her massive head, as though she might shake away the uncomfortable sensations. “No, something died, a part of her—ooh, there’s another!” The dragon raised her head and roared at the sky once more.
In the desolate darkness Moira had caught another of her twins, the weakest, and she ripped her alter-ego to shreds, devouring the pieces, consuming everything she could contain. She no longer knew herself, whether she was the original or one of those who had decided to fight for survival. As she fed on the remains of those she subjugated, their memories merged with her own, and she became less certain of her own identity.
There was no room for mercy as she murdered her other selves, in her mind’s eye she grew scales and claws as her strength solidified. The last one surrendered, cowering within that emptiness—but there was no place to hide.
Moira leapt on the last, voracious and wild, ripping her apart like a beast before swallowing the remains in giant greedy globs. Silence reigned, but she was not yet alone in the stillness of her mind. Another presence remained, watching her.
She turned to face her first spell-twin, the advisor who had been with her since the day of her first mistake, when she had fractured her own mind, breaking every rule her mother had warned her of. As she did she became aware of her own rapacious appearance, for she wore her violence around herself like a bloody halo.
I’m a monster.
You did what was necessary to survive, replied her alter-ego, looking upon her with something like pity.
I’m not sure I survived. I’m not entirely certain which one I am. Did I destroy her, or did she devour me? I remember both sides of the struggle. I am both victor and victim. As she spoke she noted her twin’s appearance. She looked like Moira’s old self, the gentle girl who had come to Dunbar intending only to save her father. Why am I so ugly, and why are you still beautiful?
I only helped you win. I did not partake of your gory feast, replied the girl without any hint of rancor; again there was only a sense of compassion and pity. My memories are only my own, those from my birth and the days since.
Moira watched her with jealous envy, suspicious and angry all at once. Will you fight me?
No, said her assistant sadly. If you wish, I will go quietly.
Moira hated her then, seeing in her companion everything that she had once been. Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her hands around her twin’s throat—and saw once more how hideous she had become. Her hands were scaly horrors, armored and sharp with long claws. The sight shocked something in her, and she forced herself to withdraw. Feeling shameful, she spoke again, I should not exist. Put me away and take my place. You are who I was meant to be.
No, I will not, said her alter-ego. We still have to save our father, and you are better suited to it than I am.
Hearing her twin refer to him as ‘our father’ was unexpected, but she realized that it should not have been. And what will he think when he sees what his daughter has become?
With a shock she felt her companion embrace her, wrapping warm arms around her hardened shoulders, He will love you, no matter what. After a pause she added, and so will I—sister.
Moira opened her eyes and stared at the great dome of grey clouds that swept by above her. She sat up and felt Gram reach out toward her. Flinching she pulled away from his hand, “Don’t touch me.” I’m tainted. She didn’t want the darkness in her soul to contaminate anyone else.
Gram looked at her, worry and confusion in his face, “Are you alright?”
She refused to meet his gaze as she stood, “I’m alive, and I can still do what needs to be done.”
Chapter 23
Moira headed for Cassandra, I need you to fly me somewhere.
The dragon was still recovering from the feedback she had received while Moira had been fighting for control of her mind, but she answered immediately, Wherever you wish. Are you well?
“As well as can be expected,” said Moira curtly. “I have more business to attend to.” She prepared to climb the dragon’s bent knee so she could mount.
“Wait, I’m coming with you,” insisted Gram.
“Me too,” said Alyssa, and the others promptly chimed in as well.
“I will be gone for a while,” said Moira. “These people will need watching, lest wolves or other predators decide to make a meal of them before they awaken.”
Chad scratched at the heavy stubble on his cheeks, “That’s a fair point.”
Gram nodded and turned to the others, “Fine, the rest of you will stay here and watch over them. I will guard her.”
“Gram…,” began Alyssa, but he held up his hand to forestall her.
“Trust me, love. I will return,” he told her softly.
Moira sat tall upon Cassandra’s back, but she heard every word clearly. They seemed to burn within her. Not for me, she told herself, never for me—not anymore.
Gram climbed up behind her, but she had built a small shield around herself, which he discovered when he automatically tried to put his arms around her waist.
“Not to worry,” she said before he could ask, “I’ll anchor you firmly. You won’t fall.”
He pursed his lips but said nothing.
“I really think I ought to come with you,” suggested Gerold.
“Your people will want to thank you when they awaken,” said Moira. “They will need your guidance.”
Chad clapped the nobleman on the shoulder, “If they find something they can’t handle, it’s doubtful you or I would be of any use. Don’t look so down. We can make a nice stew while we wait.”
“Here!?” exclaimed the baron with distaste. “Who could eat here, surrounded by the dead and the nearly dead?”
The ranger looked thoughtful as he replied, “Me; most soldiers, once they’re hungry enough, mind you; vultures; and, oh I don’t know, probably any number of other men and beasts. My head’s not working too well. I’m tired and in need of a drink.”
Cassandra’s wings created a windstorm that drowned out the rest of their conversation as Moira and Gram flew toward the city. They soared upward and then the great dragon’s flight leveled out.
Gram shouted to make himself heard over the rushing wind, “Are you going to tell me where we are headed?”
He was still clad in his enchanted armor, so Moira was forced to shout in return since her thoughts couldn’t reach his directly, “Some of the people we fought today were servants of the Earl Berlagen. You were right to look there first; they were keeping him in a dungeon beneath the Earl’s city house.”
“How did you learn that?”
The answer to that was ugly and likely in
comprehensible to him. Her minions had searched the minds of every person they freed for memories that might be relevant. Not only that, but the ones who had been most directly violated, when some of her twins had attached themselves to their aythar sources, those had had the entirety of their minds exposed. Moira had been flooded with their knowledge and memories when she had reabsorbed her spell-twins. “I gleaned it from their thoughts,” she replied simply.
“Will there be any guards?”
“Probably not any human ones,” she told him. “I think all of them came after us, but there may be more things like the one you fought.”
He grimaced, “I was afraid you’d say that.”
“It will be easier this time.”
Cassandra was descending but as they drew nearer he could see that she was planning to land near the palace, not the Earl’s house. “It will be a long walk from here,” observed Gram.
“There’s something here I need to collect before we go there,” said Moira as she slid down the dragon’s shoulder. She was striding forward as soon as her feet touched the ground, confidence in her steps. She knew where she was headed.
Gram caught up quickly, to walk beside her. He didn’t like the thought of her getting too far ahead. From what he had seen as well as what Matthew had told him, her shield wouldn’t be as effective as his armor. If anyone were to be attacked, he was determined it would be him who took the brunt of it. He would have walked ahead of her if he could have, but he didn’t know where she was going, and she seemed disinclined to discuss it.
The main door to the palace was open, but some of the ones within were locked. Moira never slowed, any obstacle with the temerity to get in her way didn’t remain an obstacle for long. The fifth and final door to be flung from its hinges turned out to be the entrance to a storeroom. She walked over to one particular crate and opened it. Within it were two braided metal ropes, each roughly three feet in length and possessing strangely wrought handles.
He didn’t recognize them at first, but when Moira touched them, they straightened, becoming sword-like weapons in her hands. After a moment, she said a word and they relaxed again before twining together to become the beautiful belt that she had worn when they first arrived at the city.
Moira’s hands circled her waist as she returned it to its customary place. “That’s better,” she said with a faint smile.
The smile made Gram feel better. Hoping that her good humor had returned, he started to put a hand on her shoulder, but it was stopped several inches away by an invisible shield.
“Don’t touch me,” Moira’s voice grated out. “Don’t ever touch me.”
His face showed the hurt through the transparent metal of his helm, “What’s happened to you, Moira?”
None of your concern, she thought angrily. The sight of his wounded expression made her want to lash out at him. He only thought that remark had hurt him. For a second she wanted to teach him true pain. Looking down, she stared at her own hand and in her mind’s eye she saw it as it had been on the battle-plane within her heart, scaled and hard, with long razor sharp talons.
The vision made her clench her teeth, and she took a deep breath to regain her composure. She didn’t want to hurt him, not truly. I want him, all of him, she thought, facing her true desire, but it wasn’t the sweet yearning of an innocent heart. I could remake him as my own.
She looked into his eyes, and he saw a flickering fear in them, but it was quickly replaced by something harder, something alien. “I am not the woman you knew,” she warned.
Confused he asked, “Then who are you?”
“I don’t know anymore,” she answered, “but you would be wise to keep your distance.”
“Or what?” he asked softly, unable to believe she might be threatening him.
Or I’ll replace you with someone who knows when to shut up, she thought, but she didn’t say that. Instead she motioned with one hand and used her aythar to push him smoothly out of her path as she exited the storeroom. “Follow,” she ordered.
He stared after her for a moment, shocked at her brusque indifference. The girl he had grown up with had a sunny disposition and a playful way about her. He had seen her angry before, mostly when she was fighting with her brother, but the coldness she showed now was something new.
They had both been through trying experiences over the past couple of weeks, and he didn’t expect that to leave her unmarked, but this… He shook his head and hurried to catch up to her.
She led him back to Cassandra, and a minute later they were flying again, this time heading directly toward the location of the Earl’s city home. Seen from the air, it didn’t fail to impress, although it was obviously much smaller than the palace, it was nevertheless a large building. Constructed against one of the city walls it was an imposing structure, a small fortress in its own right. They landed a full city block away.
“We’ll walk from here,” stated Moira for his benefit. She had already relayed her instructions to Cassandra silently.
“You don’t think we’ll need the dragon?” put in Gram.
Moira shrugged, “If there are more of those weapons, it would put her at risk. She makes a big target. I can draw on her strength from this distance.”
Gram was irritated by her diffident mannerisms. Despite the calm rationale behind her decision he felt argumentative, “It’s ok to risk ourselves, but not the dragon. I understand.”
Moira started walking again, without looking back she replied, “If you’re afraid, you can wait with Cassandra.”
He overtook her and led the way, cursing silently, Bitch.
The street gate leading into the Earl’s city house was closed, but that wasn’t much of a barrier for them. Moira lifted the inner bar with a gesture and forced the gate to open with a small effort of will, and they strode in. There was no sign of any human occupants, to either her eyes or her magesight.
Gram had changed Thorn’s form once more, opting for a shield and one handed longsword. If they were to be attacked, he had decided it would be better to be prepared to take a hit, at least until they knew what they were dealing with. He stepped forward into the gate, but nothing happened.
Moira stayed right behind him, “Wait. Let me search the area before we go farther.”
If someone else had said those words, it might not have seemed contradictory, since she stood very still and closed her eyes afterward, but Gram was long familiar with wizards and their ways. He knew she was examining the area carefully with her magesight.
Moira frowned as she tried to understand what she found. Several minutes passed before she spoke again, “There are no people within, but there are a lot of other strange things. The above ground portion of the building seems fairly ordinary, but there are several lower levels, and there’s a lot of metal in them, strange devices and other things I don’t recognize. The entrance to the first lower level is guarded by another of those metal creatures, and there are three more farther down. They aren’t moving, but that doesn’t mean much.”
“How do you want to proceed?” he asked.
“Go straight in, take the second corridor on the right. We’ll follow it to the end. The stairs are there. The first one is at the bottom, waiting behind a door. I’ll stay right behind you.”
He started moving, but he wasn’t out of questions, “You just want me to open that door when we get to it? I won’t be able to move or dodge if you are behind me.”
“Just keep your shield up, I’ll disable it,” she said.
“How? I don’t think you can call a thunderstorm down here.”
“At this distance I don’t need one, plus I have my weapons now.”
Gram nodded, advancing farther and turning as he reached the second corridor. The walls were stone with heavy timbers bracing them. Numerous tapestries decorated the walls, but they seemed excessively dusty, as though no one had cared for them in some time. If the people here were some of the first taken, they might have stopped worrying about little thi
ngs like cleaning, he theorized.
An open doorway loomed before him, showing stairs that descended into darkness. If it weren’t for his dragon-bond, he would have found it hard to see. “It’s at the bottom?” he asked, just to be certain.
“Yes, but there’s a door. I don’t think it will attack until you open it,” she reaffirmed.
“Let’s hope,” said Gram. “Those weapons of theirs could probably cut through the door without much trouble.” He put his foot on the first step and began making his way down. As he moved into the darkness the colors in his vision faded out, replaced by sharp greys and blacks as his eyesight adjusted. The door at the bottom was a simple one, it had no bar on this side, just a plain latch. He hunched lower, trying to get as much of himself behind his shield as possible before reaching out.
“It’s moving,” whispered Moira. “Lining up to fire at the door. There’s no time, break it!”
He was wound up tightly already. At her warning he took a hard step forward and slammed his shield into the door. It was well made, and the wood held, but the hinges ripped free from their mounts, and it fell inward as the world exploded with light and noise.
Fire was flashing from the end of the creature’s spinning weapon, and it felt as though a hundred blacksmiths were pounding upon his shield with everything they had. The roaring noise of the assault was bad, but it wasn’t the only thing filling the corridor with sound. Lightning was flashing around him to envelop the creature, blinding his dark-adjusted eyes with its blue-white brilliance.
Gram was rendered deaf and blind by the searing chaos of sound and light, but he held his position under the driving hammer blows against his shield, gritting his teeth in sheer stubbornness.
Something exploded then, and an irresistible wave of pressure lifted Gram and threw him into Moira. She felt like a brick wall when he struck her, and he rebounded to land on the floor. Silence reigned except for a strange humming sound that seemed to envelop the world.
Disoriented, Gram nonetheless leapt back up, returning his shield to the guard position and hoping he would recover enough to discover his enemy’s location before it attacked again. Seconds rolled by, and nothing happened. Glancing back, he could see Moira’s mouth moving; she sounded muffled, but she didn’t look concerned. Looking over his shield, he saw the burning bulk of the monster that now looked to be permanently out of action.
Centyr Dominance Page 23
