by Jason Kenyon
‘Very well,’ Archimegadon said. ‘We will go to Arranoth after Lord Bartell and stop him.’
‘That’s the spirit!’ Obdo cheered. ‘What about you, Sir Shiny? Planning to stick around with the other pallies?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Neurion replied. ‘I don’t like how he’s taken the throne.’
Archimegadon shivered, and glanced at Grand, who did indeed look very pleased with himself slouched across Bartell’s former seat. There was something very important about the fact that Neurion would say such a statement about the paladins he loved. ‘But Neurion, they saved the city.’
Neurion nodded slowly. ‘Maybe. But for who?’
‘Always have to be difficult,’ Obdo said. ‘Wanna get going?’
‘Probably for the best,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘I suddenly don’t feel terribly safe being here.’ He watched Grand sitting high on the throne, and wondered if it was just a silly feeling. Perhaps. But it wouldn’t hurt to get moving. ‘Let’s go, gentlemen.’
*
Valia stumbled through the trees and, once she reached a clearing far enough from the city bounds, hurled her glaive Uldraxios through the air back into the trees with a yell of anger and frustration. She couldn’t see where it landed, but she had no plans to go after it anyway.
Unbelievable! For once she made a selfish choice and tried to help some real heroes save the kingdom, and instead got the ultimate slap in the face. That horrible, vacuous, selfish pig mage managed to pull off some sort of victory over Sen Delarian and looked to be a hero of the realm. She’d been in the crowd when Grand had given the speech, watched crowds of people cheer on the world’s biggest charlatan, and something had broken in her.
She was plain, not hugely pretty or even ugly. Nobody really noticed her for anything (though on the rare occasions she actually smiled, she shone, but nobody had told her). And when it came to actions, she was just a nameless knight in an era that had known peace. A pointless guard in a backwater village. Given the opportunity to do something real, she’d repeatedly failed to achieve anything of note. Even helping free Gale from Belias had provided her little pleasure, seeing how Archimegadon swanned around taking all the credit.
She knew she was jealous but at the same time she felt justified. What did Archimegadon deserve all this for? A horrible person, she couldn’t reconcile it at all. Was the world really so damn stupid that it would hail such a character as a hero? And why had fate handed him the victory just as she changed groups?
And it drove her even more mad that there was nothing she could do to remedy it. She couldn’t change history, couldn’t change the world, could never do anything.
‘Damn it,’ she said. ‘Damn them all.’
‘Something the matter?’ asked a smooth voice.
Valia turned with surprise to see a man nearby, dressed entirely in regal silks, and leaning nonchalantly against a tree. She’d only seen the man on a couple of occasions, but she recognised who it was the moment she saw him.
‘Lord Bartell,’ she whispered.
Bartell smiled. ‘Ah, you recognise me. Excellent. That saves me introducing myself.’ He pushed himself upright from the tree. ‘You look angry about something, Valia Relassis.’
‘You know me?’ Valia asked. This was all she needed to end a bad day, running straight into the hands of the kingdom’s enemy.
‘Not personally,’ Bartell replied. ‘For a time, the Light spoke to me, though, and I heard a handful of things that interested me. You travelled with a man who named himself Archimegadon, did you not?’
‘I did, yes,’ Valia replied. Despite her fear of impending death, a flash of anger ran through her, and her eyes narrowed involuntarily.
‘I suppose that would make you an enemy of mine?’ Bartell asked.
‘I suppose so,’ Valia replied, sighing.
‘So why is it that you are here, throwing your polearm into the forest?’
Valia felt her heart steady itself, and her fear seemed to drain a little. Something about Bartell’s manner did not seem to indicate he was about to kill her, or at least not just yet. ‘I… I was angry,’ she muttered, sounding petty even to herself.
‘About what?’ Bartell asked.
‘That man!’ Valia replied, and she could feel her cheeks go crimson in that frustrating way as she got too angry. ‘The world! Oooh! I hate it all!’
‘You’re not quite making sense to me,’ Bartell said.
‘Archimegadon beat your mage,’ Valia said. ‘Sen Delarian. And now they all think of him as a hero! A hero! Doesn’t that make you sick?’
‘I don’t really care so terribly much about the man,’ Bartell replied, shrugging.
‘But why should he be seen as a hero?’ Valia asked. ‘He’s done nothing! I went all the way to Verrinion Cathedral to warn Grand, I tried to help Mortimyr and his hero friends, and the person who gets the glory is that man!’
‘Sounds like you’ve been rather busy trying to stop me,’ Bartell said with a smile.
‘Well, I suppose so,’ Valia said in a defeated tone. ‘Do what you will, it doesn’t really matter now. It was my one chance for some glory in my life, and I lost it, again.’
‘And yet Aldrack has fallen,’ Bartell said. ‘The paladins reached it in time and defeated my soldiers. In rescuing Archimegadon, you brought him to the city in time to defeat Sen Delarian and thus leave my men leaderless in their last battle. Don’t you feel you’ve done plenty?’
‘I… I suppose,’ Valia replied. ‘Why are you talking to me, Bartell? You’re just going to kill me. What am I to you but another pointless enemy foot soldier? I bet you killed plenty of those back in the day.’
Bartell smiled at her. ‘You are too concerned with what you are seen to be, Valia. As am I. But we will still win the day, if we just remain sure of who and what we are.’
Valia glared at him. ‘Please don’t toy with me. Just kill me and be done with it. You ruined my order on top of everything else – who’s going to trust a knight of the Order of Endless Skies now?’
‘Your order has always followed the higher purpose of infinite possibilities, Valia,’ Bartell replied. He drew a small black dagger from his belt. ‘That is the symbolism of its name, is it not? In the city, they are celebrating my defeat. Archimegadon is revered as a hero. Grand, no doubt, plans to rule Aldrack from my seat of power.’
‘So I suppose we both lost,’ Valia said, wanting at least to hurt Bartell’s pride before he killed her.
‘I wonder, perhaps destiny played some part in bringing you here, at this place, and this time,’ Bartell said. ‘Is it not a magnificent view of my city?’
Valia looked across the clearing to where Bartell’s eyes were directed, beyond and above the mass of trees, at the rising walls and towers of Aldrack. It was pretty, in its own way, if marred by the glow of the dome, and the energy beam that stabbed to the heavens above Castle Aldrack’s highest point. ‘I guess so.’
‘Enjoy the sight,’ Bartell said. ‘I will build a kingdom without boundaries, and with no need for barriers. To mark this point, let us see an end to the dome. One of Vortagenses’s last safeguards when he founded Valanthas, and one he never used. Farewell, Aldrack.’
Valia felt a rush of fear surge through her again, and started to step towards Bartell as his eyes glinted with cruel gloating. And yet she wanted to see this, had to see this. A sudden surge of spite ran through her, remembering the crowds cheering Archimegadon instead of her, and she stayed her hand, listening as Bartell uttered a series of strange words she did not recognise. Bartell held the dagger aloft, while it glowed with some dark sorcery.
The air shook with a soundless impact. And then the red skies shimmered and surged towards that central point above Castle Aldrack with a terrible hum that made Valia’s vision blur. For one instant, as the skies returned to their glorious blue, she saw the energies gather like some cloud of bloody mist over the city, and then a beam of energy slammed down from it, and the mist was suc
ked into it in the span of a blink. All the magical energy of the beam detonated in Castle Aldrack, blowing the entire city flat in less time than it had taken Valia to throw away her family weapon.
Debris flew through the air but it seemed to miss Valia and Bartell, landing close by and leaving great holes where it landed. Valia felt all existence grind to a halt, the scene suspended in her vision as though it would be stuck this way for an eternity, this one dread moment. And then the air rushed past her, and all was still.
Aldrack had been destroyed. Seeing Bartell about to cast the spell, knowing full well that the Lord Protector was about to unleash something devastating, Valia had chosen simply to watch him do it. Everyone there could only be dead… and all of those lives had been hers to save.
‘It is over,’ Bartell said, shaking her from her thoughts.
‘What have you done?’ Valia asked, her voice weak. ‘Think of all the people there…’
‘Thus shall it be from now,’ Bartell said. ‘The filth shall be cleansed from this land. Aldrack is only the start of it. And consider this, Valia: Grand and his paladins are dead, Forseld is gone, and all who saw him as a hero have been erased. Who now is the winner of today’s festivities? Certainly not Grand or Archimegadon!’
‘Your friend, Sen, he was there,’ Valia said.
‘He was no friend, not in the end,’ Bartell said. ‘He served his own purposes.’
Valia nodded slowly. ‘Now you’ve shown me this, please kill me and finish it.’
‘Kill you?’ Bartell asked. ‘You’re worth more than that, Valia. Come with me, and help me unlock the secrets of Vortagenses. I’ve proven them all wrong about me… now let’s finish that off instead. We have great work to perform.’
‘I… I’ll do it,’ Valia said.
It didn’t occur to Valia in that moment that she could still strike down Bartell, and rid herself of some of her agony for staying her hand in the crucial moment, perhaps even save the day. She’d lost something in that moment, and clinging to Bartell’s cause right now was the only thing she could do to keep herself sane. Who else was going to look at her with anything other than disgust now that she’d done this? Surrounded by her self-loathing, it didn’t occur to her that nobody would know it but her and Bartell. Very little of reason was going on right now in Valia’s confused head. All she knew was that following Bartell out of the little glade was the only thing worth doing with herself, and she devoted herself to that small task, while the ruins of Aldrack smouldered behind her.
*
Not long before Valia’s meeting with the Lord Protector, Grand was sitting on the throne of Aldrack looking incredibly bored. The excitement of the battle, and the following victory, had now passed into the tedium of administration, and he was not best pleased. Once he’d properly established himself here, he’d have underlings to do that all for him. In the meantime, though, everyone was looking to him to be the benevolent new lord of Aldrack, which meant overseeing all the stuff he didn’t care for.
Which was why the revival of Sen Delarian was such a pleasure.
‘Well, Sen, welcome back to the land of the living,’ Grand said, taking pleasure in this moment far too much, but deciding to enjoy it for all it was worth.
‘Grand,’ Sen said. His eyes took in the scene around him, and for a flickering instant fear crossed them, swiftly hidden. ‘You didn’t really…’
‘We won, yes,’ Grand replied. ‘Now then, conqueror of demons, famed opponent of Tel Ariel, how are you feeling after losing to Archimegadon, Mage for Hire?’
‘Oh, shut up,’ Sen replied.
‘Really, it’s quite embarrassing,’ Grand said. ‘How many spells does the man know?’
‘I don’t think that’s important right now,’ Sen replied.
‘Very well, if you’re not interested in the jibes, perhaps you can tell us why Auber’s run off like a coward,’ Grand said. ‘What was that about?’
‘Like I would tell a filthy paladin,’ Sen replied.
‘Your choice, Sen,’ Grand said. ‘In that case, tell me how to bring the shield down.’
‘Not a chance,’ Sen said, nothing but venomous hatred in his eyes now. ‘You idiots. Your world is about to be brought down around your ears, and you think taking some pointless settlement is going to stop it. I don’t matter, the soldiers don’t matter, this castle doesn’t matter. My plans are in motion and will continue to proceed even when you kill me.’
‘Scary words, Tel Ariel,’ Grand said. ‘So pathetic. I never expected you to lower yourself to the level of your old enemies.’
‘What we are doing is the saving of a foul and dirtied world,’ Sen said, fixing Grand with a piercing glare. ‘Where evil men like you hold power under the name of goodness and light.’
‘Save the sermon for the priests,’ Grand said. ‘I want information from you, no excuses. If you don’t tell us what we need to know, then I shall find ways to get it.’
‘No torture would make me speak,’ Sen said.
‘That we can find out for ourselves,’ Grand said with a smile.
‘Look at you, so smug and pretentious,’ Sen said. ‘I’ll enjoy watching you die to my lord and master.’
‘Bartell? He’s washed out.’
‘Not Bartell, no,’ Sen replied. ‘My real master is truly the greatest of all masters of the arcane. Soon you will meet him.’
‘You weren’t just working with Bartell, then?’ Grand asked.
‘Auber is an idiot,’ Sen replied. ‘He’s not the man he was. He’ll never manage to succeed at anything, he never noticed anything about my dealings, and he lapped everything up that I told him. He set up the order of New Valanthas ready for once my King comes back, not knowing he’d never have a part in it. Bumbling fool.’
‘You have both lost, Sen,’ Grand said, drawing close. ‘I’ve waited this long, and now I’ll take your dome and forge my own kingdom here. The Light should not be subject to any kings. Bartell’s time is over.’
Sen opened his mouth to reply when everything shook rather unpleasantly. Then the lights outside changed from the shade of blood to the unfamiliar brightness of normal daylight. Delarian felt an unpleasant suspicion develop very quickly in his stomach. He’d given Bartell one of the crucial parts of the dome enchantment, the dagger, with which Auber could have opened a temporary hole in the dome wall so he could ride on to Arranoth. There was no way Auber would have read up or discovered any details about Vortagenses’s last trap instead, though… he couldn’t have…
Grand meanwhile did not know anything about what was happening, but he recognised on Sen’s face that something very serious and unexpected had turned up. Not now, not when he was this close to succeeding! He involuntarily found himself reaching for the throne for safety.
An almighty hum built up in the space of a handful of seconds, to such an extent that all in Aldrack were deafened by the sound. As Grand and Sen were wracked with pain, the whirling energies unleashed their full power, and searing light filled their vision, followed by hollow darkness.
*
Archimegadon, Neurion and Obdo had procured a couple of cheap horses from a stable owner whose delight at being freed from Lord Bartell’s grip had made him particularly generous. Obdo and Neurion had been forced to share a horse, naturally. They’d also purchased a map that probably wasn’t terribly accurate, but it did have both Aldrack and Arranoth on it, so they hoped they’d be able to pick up Bartell’s trail and follow the Lord of Aldrack to his final resting place.
Their enthusiastic departure from the city came to a sudden halt as the winds changed around them, and instinct caused them to turn and look back at the ominous black shape of Aldrack. As the assembled companions watched, the magicks of the dome seemed to bid a hasty retreat back to the place of their birth above Castle Aldrack. While Archimegadon was still getting his head around the sudden return to a blue sky, Bartell’s vengeance fell upon the beleaguered Aldrack. Even from this distance, the sound of the deadly magi
c shuddered through the companions, and air rushed past as though fleeing the devastation.
There was a particularly long moment where the inexperienced adventurers could do nothing but just stare at the ruins. Archimegadon loosed his grip on the Staff of Antagules as he gazed blankly at the remains of Aldrack, and the staff clattered as it fell to the road. Neurion dismounted and ran past Archimegadon’s horse, hand outstretched as though he could somehow heal the scar Bartell had left in the land. After a moment the young paladin fell to his knees, with no idea how to handle destruction on this scale.
‘What just happened?’ Obdo asked finally, dismounting and stepping over to Neurion.
‘It’s gone.’ Archimegadon swallowed hard. He lowered himself from the horse, retrieved the Staff of Antagules and then joined the other two, squeezing Neurion’s shoulder comfortingly. ‘Someone turned the barrier on the city. That must have been Sen, or Bartell.’
‘But why would they destroy their own city?’ Neurion asked, looking up at Archimegadon. ‘That would have killed every single person there. All their troops there would have died.’
‘And all of Grand’s paladins, the biggest threat to Bartell hereabouts,’ Archimegadon said. ‘The city had fallen anyway. What would Bartell care for the people there?’
The initial shock of seeing the city fall wore off, and suddenly it hit Archimegadon just what Bartell had done. From suddenly having the tide going their way, Archimegadon and his companions were back on the losing side. All the paladins hereabouts had probably been taken to Aldrack to depose Bartell, and now they were gone. All the people who had seen Archimegadon was not the villain Bartell had advertised had been wiped out. While the dome had been brought down by this act, that suddenly no longer seemed to be an issue. With such colossal power on his side, it was no wonder that Bartell did not care for the defence of Aldrack.
Bartell would most likely be incredibly confident in his plans after this evil act. Whether the man was aware of the impending death awaiting him in Arranoth, Archimegadon didn’t know, but the priority now was stopping him from ever unlocking that last door in the Tomb of Vortagenses. If Vortagenses was responsible for the madness in the Mage Academy, the magical toys Bartell was playing with, and the power of the dome, then unleashing him on the world would likely bring about a disaster.
