by J. A. Comley
The tears she shed over Gaby's fate had run dry, leaving Starla feeling empty and fragile. She had lost track of time in the oppressive darkness. She fought against the crushing feeling of loss and emptiness. She still had to fight. Somehow, she had to get the Star away from here. Dropping it along the way hadn't worked. The shaman had sensed the amulet fall each time and Starla had been made to pick it up again. So Starla racked her brains for another option, allowing frustration and anger to awaken her numb body.
Two things happened instantaneously: the magmus disappeared into the darkness; and the chain connecting Starla to the drodemion shaman vanished.
Instinctively, Starla's first thought was to run but, as she turned back the way she had come, more drodemions appeared out of the solid dark, forming a loose circle around her.
Swallowing hard, Starla mustered her strength. She hoped that the element of surprise would be enough for her to push through the circle of grey, melted bodies. Then she would run.
As she thought of this, the darkness began to brighten a little, turning red. No. Not the darkness brightening, more like a light had been lit in a vast cavern, forcing the dark to retreat a little, where it waited, brooding.
“And here she is,” a cold, disembodied voice echoed out of the blackness from behind Starla.
Starla wheeled around, looking for the source. In the faint glow of the landing magmus, she saw an impossibly tall, muscular man holding a spear-tipped staff in his left hand.
Starla took an involuntary step back. His hair was the colour of fresh blood, dead straight and hung loose to his waist. Though his face was mostly in shadow, Starla felt the hostility in his gaze. She shivered. She had seen this man before, in Larkel's worst memories.
“Well done.” the man continued, patting the magmus, his black cape fluttering in the night breeze.
“As promised, Master,” the magmus hissed. It appeared to be growing again.
Starla watched with horrified fascination as the magmus enlarged to three times the size it had been in the grobbler's clearing. Its long neck arched over the small circle of drodemions. The flickering fire within it illuminated the two figures within the circle, bathing them in flickering red light.
Starla turned her gaze back to the man. No, not a man. The Demilain, Kyron. His dual-coloured eyes, mostly a dark mauve, fell on Starla.
He took a step towards her, his sleeveless robe fluttering open from his chest, revealing more of the jagged, geometric pattern that ran down from his left eye.
“Welcome to Abyss Valley.” His cold voice held a hint of sarcasm. “You seem terribly afraid of me. You have seen me in another's memories, yes?” His pleasure in her fear was evident in every word he uttered.
“Kyron,” Starla heard herself breathe, taking another step backwards. Yes, she was afraid. She knew his cruel smile well, as it now curled his lips over his pointed teeth.
“You need to learn some respect, it seems,” he said. His voice was still cold, but a slight undercurrent of anticipation ran through it, now. “Light!”
The giant magmus behind him raised its great head into the sky and blew flames in a ring above the circle.
Starla flinched from the heat and sudden brightness. Stunned, she watched in amazement as the flames remained hovering in the sky, illuminating Kyron and a small portion of Abyss Valley in perfect clarity. The rest scrambled in chaos.
Trying to ignore the cruel stare that examined her in the harsh new light, Starla looked around furtively, trying to find an escape route even as her legs trembled with fear.
As she took in the ash-covered ground, the blackened tree stumps, the oppressive, clinging dark, Starla felt anger replace her fear. This had been Beky's home. Gaby's sister had ruled here. These had been the Light Meadows. They had once been beautiful, magical. Larkel had told her that her baby bracelet was made with metal mined from here. Thinking of Larkel gave her more strength.
I will see you again, my love, she thought, then amended that as Kyron took another step forward and she another step backwards. I will not doom our home. I will keep the Star away from him.
Suddenly, Kyron was laughing. It was a high, mirthless sound which seemed to freeze the air.
Starla's eyes snapped up to his face in horror, the hair on her arms and neck standing on end. She took another step backward as he fell silent, leaving her only a step away from the loose wall of drodemions.
“I can see why the Baron is infatuated with you,” he said in his cold voice, amused. “I normally take such pretty things for my own pleasure. They never last long,” he added, his voice sounding bored as he continued his inexorable pace towards her.
Starla didn't know if she wanted to scream or be sick as he came to a stop a breath away from her. She could now clearly see the thin ring of turquoise around each diamond pupil of his eyes. Her skin crawled at the way he looked at her. She dropped her eyes from his, following the jagged pattern that trailed down from his left eye, along his cheek, neck, and out across his left arm to his finger tips, which rested loosely around the staff he held.
“A Soreiaphin. You should be dead. Still, I promised I'd keep you for him,” he said, sighing at the Baron's short comings. “Now, the amulet,” he said, holding out his right hand.
“The what?” Starla said, trying to buy time as she tried to calculate how far she could get before he stopped her with his magic.
His lips curled over his pointed teeth in a snarl. Tendrils of fire burst up around his staff. “Give it to me,” he said, his voice a dangerous whisper.
“I don't have it,” Starla lied, sliding her foot a little to the left. His quick eyes caught the movement and he compensated casually.
He sliced his staff through the air, the whistling sound promising pain, and unleashed his magic.
Starla's screams echoed around the blackness of Abyss Valley long after she had closed her mouth. She whimpered, curled up in a ball.
Larkel. Larkel. The tendrils of fire that had burned her arms and legs retreated. Her dress still smouldered around her.
Kyron took half a step forward. “Don't. Lie. To. Me.” He pronounced each word separately, his voice still a chilling whisper. “Now, or I will simply twist your body, making you beg for death.”
He extended a golden hand as Starla got back to her feet shakily. The cold night air soothed her stinging, burnt skin.
“You will kill me, anyway,” Starla said, surprised at how even and steady her voice sounded.
The realization of imminent death had brought with it a brief moment of clarity, a single pure thought, untainted by pain or fear. She saw herself, once more, as Larkel saw her. She clung to the memory, trying to let it fill her, desperate to be that strong and brave, to be able to face death without debilitating fear crushing her. Embracing the image, she forced herself to stand tall and proud, to ignore the burning pain in her legs and arms. Looking him straight in the eyes, she braced herself for another volley of pain.
One bark of mirthless laughter echoed around her. “I at least give the High Lord credit for finding such a strong woman.”
“Don't you dare speak of him,” Starla hissed before she could stop herself. This monster had caused Larkel and his family so much pain. Her hands clenched into fists.
Good, Starla thought as her anger at his words brought her spluttering fire back up to a raging roar.
His eyes narrowed, promising an eternity of pain and worse. She melded her anger to Larkel's image of her and clung tight. He turned the air into blades slicing along Starla's arms, neck, torso, legs. A deeper gash tore through her side and Starla fell to her knees. Her teeth were still clenched together. She would not scream. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She tried to distance herself from the part of her mind that felt fear and pain, much like Larkel did to kill Corruptions.
Only one coherent thought existed in that space. The Star … she had to do something.
All the little knives vanished and a terrified-looking group of four grobble
rs pushed through the drodemion ranks, leaving a gap just a half-step from where Starla kneeled, bleeding slowly into the ash.
She tried to take a deep breath. Her bubble of strength was shrinking fast, disappearing under suffocating fear.
Kyron turned his still-blazing gaze on them. They trembled and cringed away from him.
With tremendous effort, Starla got her feet beneath her again, somehow ignoring the blood, the pain, trying to think through the fear. She concentrated only on that gap, on the concealing darkness beyond. She remained crouched as she gathered her strength.
“Master,” one grobbler stammered and they all prostrated themselves before him.
Starla tensed her muscles to spring.
“Master, the Baron sends word,” the grobbler continued, then paused for Kyron to indicate that he was ready to receive the message. “He says that the plan has run smoothly. He has the Stones and comes with them to join you, tonight.”
The grobblers all cringed into the ground as Kyron pointed the iron tip of his staff at them. “Tonight?” His cruel smile pulled his lips over his teeth. “He may be an idiot, but he does follow orders well.”
Starla took his momentary distraction as her cue and darted through the gap. Her legs propelled her into the darkness at a sprint, sheer adrenaline overriding any pain. The light from the airborne fire vanished and the darkness closed in around her. Starla couldn't see a thing in the sudden blackness, but hoped she was still running in the right direction as she held one arm instinctively in front of her, the other clutching her bleeding side.
Get us out of here, she thought desperately at the Star.
She strained her ears for any sounds of pursuit, but all she heard was the thunder of her own footfalls and the fast beating of her heart as she raced through the solid darkness.
Starla heard the sickening crack of snapping bone before she felt the pain as her arm hit and broke against something solid and invisible in the darkness. She rebounded off the wall she had run into and landed on the ground in a heap.
Starla struggled to her feet, muffled cries of pain escaping her lips as the giant magmus landed in front her. Kyron slid gracefully from the creature's back. Starla glanced behind her. In the flickering light emanating from the magmus, she could see the smooth, black wall that had barred her way. It seemed to stretch off in both directions, forever.
Kyron heaved a deep sigh, as if terribly annoyed to be surrounded by fools. “You cannot run from me in my own land,” he smiled as he noted her broken arm, pointed teeth glistening in the new fire the magmus spewed. He held a small dagger in his right hand, now, his left still grasping his staff.
As if to emphasise his words, two more walls of glistening black rose up on either side of Starla. Kyron took a step into the open rectangle, his magmus effectively blocking any possible escape.
Starla pressed her back against the wall behind her. She fought to remain conscious through the pain coursing through her body. Her broken, burnt arm had been jostled in her attempts to move, each motion sending another wave of agony pulsing through her. Kyron sauntered towards her, his eyes blazing in anticipation of the pain she was about to endure.
I can't let him have it! she thought, desperately, as he took another step.
Concentrating on evening out her breathing, denying the terror and pain that fought for control of her mind, she mentally commanded the Star away. She commanded it to disappear from this place, to go to Larkel. Her final token of farewell. She even managed to calm herself enough to close her eyes, to bring up a memory of Larkel.
Kyron was only inches from her when she opened her eyes. The cold metal of the Star clung to her clammy chest, going nowhere. A cruel smile drew up the corners of his mouth as he read the terror and despair in her eyes.
“If you had wanted your magic to work, you should have activated the amulet a long time ago.” He seemed amused.
Starla found one more scrap of defiance, a small part of her mind hoping that if she made him angry enough, he would just kill her quickly. “You won't win this war,” she spat at him. “The High Lord will stop you.”
A mirthless laugh escaped through Kyron's teeth as he drove his dagger through Starla's shoulder. Starla couldn't contain the scream that burst from her throat. Her vision began to swim, dark spots covering it. She shook her head mechanically, trying to cling to consciousness, to clear her vision as Kyron spoke.
“That proud High Lord wasn't able to stop me before. He won't, now. The Baron is bringing me the Sacred Stones. I will have them before dawn.” He casually twisted the dagger in her shoulder as he continued, “No, I have already won. He will be mine before long.” He ripped the dagger out of her.
Starla slumped against the wall, blood pouring out of the fresh wound, unconsciousness racing to claim her.
“No, it is no fun if you aren't awake,” his whisper seemed to slither into her skull. The black spots in her eyes faded. She let all her hatred fill them as she turned her head to look up at him.
“Now, you will endure days, weeks, maybe even months of torment before I kill you as I should have done twenty years ago.”
Kyron has just begun to utter some words of magic when a magnificent, white light filled the space around them, stopping him mid-incantation. Spells blasted through the air, raining down on the winged magmi that now wheeled around. There were hundreds of them, their black scales deflecting the attacks.
Kyron looked like death itself when he turned his gaze back to Starla. Her hate-filled emerald gaze locked with his, the terror of more pain vanishing at his next words.
“A quick end, then.”
Starla shut her eyes as Kyron raised his staff. In her mind's eye. she drew up a picture of her friends and family, of Larkel.
I love you all. I'm sorry, she thought, feeling the tears of terror and pain finally escape her. She let her mind reach out towards Larkel. His face, his eyes, his lips. She tried to smile at the memory, but her fear of imminent death overrode everything else.
She heard Kyron complete his Curse, audible, even over the commotion around her, and a searing, unbearable pain ripped through her body. All her awareness fled.
***
Larkel stumbled as a pain stabbed through his heart. He thought he had just felt Starla's presence, somewhere at the edge of his mind. Steadying himself, he let the images of Starla's face pulse through him as he continued to race through the western side of the Imperial Circle. Finally, he came to a stop, panting, in front of the Baron's opulent three-story mansion. It stood dark and empty.
Larkel wasted no time with formalities, blasting the door to pieces with a spell.
He took a few steps inside and froze. Everything was in tatters. Plates and glasses lay shattered and scattered across the dining room floor. The furniture was ripped and hacked to pieces. Mirrors and paintings hung skew, broken and torn. Clothing was strewn all over the place, much of it covered in blood.
“What is that man up to?” Larkel wondered aloud, disgust colouring his voice.
“You know, breaking and entering will earn you another jail term,” the Baron's rough whisper came from the stairs.
Larkel spun around, staff at the ready, to find the Baron leaning casually against the railing.
“Although,” the Baron continued, a strange smile playing at his lips, “your reckless entry does add nicely to the whole effect, don't you think?” He gazed with some satisfaction at the shards of wood and broken hinges that were all that remained of his front door.
Larkel tempered his rage. He needed the Baron coherent to tell him where Starla was. “What's all this for? Staging another crime to peg on Starla?” He winced as the pain over Redkin's murder washed over him again.
His blood boiled as the Baron laughed. “No. Actually, this one was all for you. I knew you'd never accept being locked up.” He shrugged. “And here you are. Just as planned.”
Larkel stared at the chaos again, then at the sneer on the Baron's face. He felt the heat of ra
ge boil up.
“Where is she? Where is Starla?” His voice came out in a dangerous whisper, his eyes, pools of indigo fire.
He saw instinctual fear flicker in the Baron's eyes before he rolled them in an exaggerated gesture. “Not here, Larkel.”
“Are you missing a cufflink?” Larkel asked, loathing deeply embedded in every word. He would get the truth of Starla's whereabouts if he had to drag Braxton to the palace himself. “The Commander will have already taken it to the King. You are to be subjected to a full-force Verelios Beam. All your schemes laid bare.” He would get his answers about Starla if he had to drag them out of the Baron's mind himself.
Distracted, the Baron checked his cuffs. The left was hanging open with no cufflink to secure it.
Larkel aimed a paralyses spell at the Baron just as he looked up again. The light of the spell speared towards the Baron then reflected off him. Cursing, Larkel dove out of the way and narrowly avoided being hit by his own spell as it soared over his head.
Bewildered, the High Lord spun in a slow circle, taking in the scene with new eyes as drodemion shamans appeared all over the room. Each had a grobbler clinging to its back so that they could absorb the grobblers ability to morph into just about anything.
Larkel fired off a few spells at the drodemions around him but they rebounded off some kind of shield that surrounded them. The Baron hadn't moved from the foot of the stairs but the cruelty in his eyes intensified and his smile widened.
The High Lord's mind raced through all his learning, trying to find a spell that could penetrate this new protection Kyron had given his slaves. They were closing in faster now. He swung his staff in a low arc, murmuring incantations. Three drodemions went down. The others continued their approach. It seemed not all had the same protection.
Larkel let out a disbelieving cry as one of his spells rebounded back at him, turning into flames and coiling around his ankles, burning through his clothing to just above the knee.
