by Callie Kanno
Faryl immediately assessed the situation and opened the medical pack. She muttered under her breath about reckless youth as she mixed a poultice and applied it to a bandage. Faryl carefully removed the makeshift dressing that was wrapped around his arm and grimaced at the sight of the burned flesh.
“You will not have full use of your arm until this heals, young man.”
“I will keep it completely stationary,” he said drily.
Faryl shot him a disapproving glare and applied the new bandage.
As that was attended to, Adesina used her power to release the rope from the ceiling and returned it to her pack.
The group then turned to face the next challenge of the barrier, and confused frowns creased each of their faces.
“What is it?” asked Faryl.
Kendan shook his head. “I do not know.”
It was an open area that was strewn with boulders and rubble. Here and there were pools of a black bubbling substance, and Adesina could make out the shapes of skeletons scattered on the ground.
The five companions walked into the arena with great caution, studying their surroundings with mistrust.
Ravi stopped to inspect a pile of rocks, and Adesina felt his surprised realization.
“An elemental.”
The only person who seemed to understand was Mar’sal.
“A what?” asked Faryl.
Ravi circled the rubble, getting a closer look. “A creature made from a certain element through magic—in this case, earth. It seems that this section of the barrier was guarded by monsters made from stone.”
Kendan’s dark eyes swept over the open area with new appreciation. “This was a battle arena?”
“It would seem so,” concurred Ravi.
Faryl sighed in relief. “That means we are safe, does it not? I mean, it does not appear as though there are any of those elementals left to fight us.”
“That is my hope,” said the Rashad without much confidence.
Crossing the arena was not as simple as it seemed. Most of the debris was large enough that it obstructed the path, making the travelers wind back and forth to find a way through. Mar’sal stumbled often, and Kendan was soon walking beside him to keep him steady.
After a few minutes of walking, a black pool stood in their path, and there seemed to be no way around it. The contents of the pool were viscous and gave off an evil smell. There was a sluggish movement to the liquid, and Adesina felt inexplicably repulsed by it.
Kendan found a small rock and tossed it into the inky pond.
There was a sharp hiss and the pebble was dissolved by the potent acid of the black sludge.
“I would advise against wading through that,” Kendan said blandly.
Adesina pursed her lips together. “Agreed.”
Ravi measured the distance to the far side with a critical eye. “I believe I can jump across.”
Adesina knew what he was thinking and asked doubtfully, “While carrying each of us?”
The Rashad gave a slow nod. “I believe so.”
Mar’sal raised his hand. “I can go first. At least if I fall in it will not be too great a loss for the mission,” he joked.
Adesina wasn’t amused. “Do not say that, Mar’sal. Than’os would have died if it were not for you, and I would be unable to walk.”
The soldier waved aside her words and walked over to Ravi. The large feline appraised the man, and Adesina became aware that Ravi was using some sort of extra sense to determine the wellbeing of Mar’sal.
Mar’sal’s lifeforce was low enough now that he could not use his vyala without collapsing. The only thing that was keeping him on his feet was sheer willpower.
Adesina had not realized how dire his situation had become.
He is dying.
Ravi’s thought made the young queen’s chest constrict.
No! We cannot let that happen.
If I carry him the rest of the way it will help preserve some of his strength, but it will not buy us much more time.
Adesina wasn’t certain that she would be able to convince Mar’sal to allow Ravi to carry him. Before she could even try, Mar’sal wavered where he stood and began to pitch forward. Kendan rushed forward to catch him.
Adesina made some quick decisions and began issuing orders. “Faryl, you will cross first with Ravi. We will tie you to him, so you will be secure. Ravi, after you have carried the rest of us across this pool, you will take Mar’sal out of the reach of this barrier and wait for us to catch up.”
She could sense Ravi’s resistance.
“I cannot abandon you now, Ma’eve.”
“You are not abandoning me,” she corrected. “You are saving the life of our friend.”
Please, do not ask this of me.
I must. He cannot die—not when we can save him.
Ravi and Adesina stared at each other for several moments before he finally agreed.
“Very well, dear one. It shall be as you say.”
Ravi made each leap across the pool of acid seem effortless, but Adesina shared in his physical strain. He, too, was affected by the draining of the barrier, and his extraordinary strength was beginning to flag.
“Go,” ordered Adesina. “We will catch up as soon as we can.”
Ravi gave a single nod and bounded away with Mar’sal tied securely to his back. Adesina felt strangely alone as she stood to face the remaining obstacles of the second barrier.
Chapter Forty-eight: Cha-sak
Adesina, Kendan, and Faryl moved as quickly as they could through the debris of the former battle arena. They came across several pools of black acid, but none of the pools blocked the path the travelers took.
Adesina couldn’t help but notice the skeletons they passed along the way. Only some of them appeared human in shape—most of them had an eerily bestial appearance.
“I wonder what these demons look like,” said Kendan when he saw the direction of her gaze. “Legends describe them as fearsome creatures.”
“I would rather not find out,” stated Faryl with a shudder.
“That is what we all hope,” Adesina reassured her.
The L’avan was painfully aware of the amount of vyala she could feel gathering around the Threshold, and her terror of arriving too late to stop Basha continued to grow.
Ma’eve, be cautious. The ground ahead of you in unstable, and a black pool lies underneath.
Adesina held up a hand and brought her comrades to a halt. She knew that Ravi was seeing what she was seeing, but she couldn’t discern any differences in the path before them.
Where?
Her gaze was drawn to a patch of ground that was slightly higher than its surroundings.
There.
Adesina pointed it out to Kendan and Faryl. “Ravi says that area is dangerous. We need to go around.”
Kendan studied her thoughtfully. “You can communicate with him from a distance?”
She averted her eyes and muttered, “In a way.” Then she said more clearly, “Come, we should not waste any time. Mar’sal needs medical attention.”
They climbed over some of the smaller boulders in order to bypass the peril they had been warned against and found their way back onto the path.
“There!”
Faryl gestured towards an opening in the wall of the cave.
Adesina saw it as well. “The exit.”
“I must admit I am relieved,” confessed Kendan, sighing heavily. “I am very weary.”
He was not the only one. Faryl was almost white from the exertion, and she was beginning to stumble as she walked. Adesina felt her own strength flagging, and she wished there was time to sit and rest.
The ground became more smooth and free of rubble, making their progress faster. They hurried through the opening and found themselves in a narrow tunnel. The effects of the draining barrier immediately stopped, but they did not regain any of the energy they had already lost.
Ravi and Mar’sal were waiting a short distance fr
om the exit. Mar’sal was still unconscious and tied to Ravi’s back, and Ravi waited patiently to be released.
Faryl rushed forward, pulling out the medical pack as she went. Kendan untied the rope, and Ravi thanked him. Mar’sal was gently laid on the ground, and Faryl examined him carefully.
“I am not certain how much I can do for him,” she admitted in a worried tone. “He is incredibly weak.”
She rummaged through her herbs, murmuring to herself about their different properties. Kendan beckoned to Adesina and spoke quietly in her ear.
“We cannot take him with us like this. He would have to be carried, and we do not know what dangers lie in store.”
Adesina knew that he was right. She sighed heavily, “We cannot leave him here alone.”
“Faryl will have to stay with him,” Ravi asserted.
“What about L’iam?” Adesina argued. “Kendan said that Faryl is the only one who can cure L’iam and restore his mind.”
Kendan placed a reassuring hand on Adesina’s arm. “We will simply bring him back here to be healed.”
“Faryl may need time to create the antidote, so we may have to leave this place with L’iam in his trance anyway,” pointed out Ravi.
Disappointment welled up within Adesina, and she tried to hide it from her face. “Very well. We shall—”
Her words were cut off as a rumble sounded from deep within the earth and the ground began to shake. A wave of white light flashed through the tunnel from the direction of the mountain’s peak.
No one spoke, but they all knew what was happening.
The Threshold was beginning to open.
***
L’iam struggled to anchor himself in his own mind.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to remember who he was and what he was doing. A thick haze surrounded his thoughts, and he was easily disoriented.
He must keep fighting.
If he gave up, they would win.
He could not remember who “they” were, but he knew that he must fight them with every fiber of his being.
L’iam’s eyes were open, and he was glad to be able to look out through them. He could not control his body—
Was it his if he could not control it?
—but he was occasionally able to tap into the sights and sounds that filtered through.
L’iam’s body was surrounded by a solid shaft of light, and he stood on a circle of runes. Wisps of light swirled around him beyond the beam in which he stood.
Where was he?
He tried to turn his head to look around, but again, he found that he could not control his body. L’iam tried to force his mind more deeply into his physical form in an effort to claim mastery over his actions.
It must have been working, because he suddenly felt everything in his body.
Extraordinary amounts of vyala were flowing through him, leaving behind a tingling feeling. His head began pounding from the heightened activity of his brain. His entire being felt heavy and exhausted.
Why was he so tired?
It was too much of an effort to push his mind so close to his body, especially with the fatigue that carried over. He distanced himself enough to break the connection, but he continued to gaze through his own eyes.
A woman with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes knelt a short distance away from L’iam. She was dressed completely in black, and she wore an expression of impatience on her face.
He knew her.
What was her name…?
He couldn’t remember, but he knew that she was his enemy.
Why was he with her if she was an enemy?
L’iam’s thoughts were interrupted. The glowing light that surrounded him grew brighter and the ground began to shake. The woman stood in eager anticipation, and she puffed out her chest as if congratulating herself for what was happening.
A voice sounded through the beam of light. It was deep and powerful, chilling the room with a tone of pure malice.
“Mortal creature, dare you approach the Threshold of Immortality?”
The woman’s voice wavered, but she tried to sound confident. “I dare many things that other mortals fear.”
“You would be wise to fear as well,” warned the voice, “for I am Cha-sak, Demon Lord of the Shimat.”
A sensation passed through the room like a crack of a whip. It struck terror into L’iam’s heart, even as a distant observer. The woman’s spirit crumbled in the face of such overbearing power, and she fell to her knees.
She touched her head to the ground in a groveling bow. “Great One, I am called Basha, and I beg for the honor of becoming your servant.”
“How came you to open the gate?” hissed the voice of Cha-sak.
Basha gestured towards L’iam, but she remained in her abject position. “I captured a magic-user and wiped him of his mind. He obeys my every command, and I used him to open the portal between worlds.”
“His mind is not yet gone,” sneered Cha-sak. “I can sense his thoughts lingering in the shadows. But no matter. His life will soon be consumed and the Threshold will open enough to let me through.”
L’iam was chilled with horror. He was being used to release a demon into the world.
Basha sounded confused as she answered. “Forgive me, Great One. I thought that the Threshold was opened now.”
“A crack,” snapped Cha-sak, “a mere crack in the door. The life you offer is not strong enough to open the Threshold completely, but it will be enough for my purpose.”
She cowered before his palpable displeasure. “Yes, Great One.”
“Your life is also puny,” declared Cha-sak with disdain. “Humans have always been like mewling insects that plague superior beings.”
Basha cried out in pain, but L’iam could not see what was causing it. He assumed that the demon was using its power to torture the woman.
“Mercy, Great One,” Basha begged between cries. “I can serve you, though unworthy I am. I found a way to open the Threshold!”
The pain must have ceased, because Basha stopped shrieking. She huddled on the ground and moaned as quietly as she could.
“Yes, you did, though not on your own,” mused Cha-sak. “Could it be that humans have become resourceful in our absence?”
“I have resources,” gasped Basha. “Many resources all over the world. I would be a valuable servant to you.”
Cha-sak’s tone became silky. “There is much to be accomplished. Ordinary mortals could never assist me in so great a work.”
The woman was eager to prove her worth. “We are not ordinary. I belong to an organization that is highly trained and well hidden. We are able to move in secret and influence the world from the shadows.”
“Do you know what you request of me?” purred the demon. “A blood vow is not to be made lightly.”
Basha kept her eyes on the ground, but it was clear that she was doing some rapid thinking. “A blood vow?”
“Surely you know of blood magic,” snapped Cha-sak. “You used it to put that half-breed under your command.”
L’iam was surprised to hear such a term applied to himself. He had never considered the L’avan to be half-breeds. The contempt in the Cha-sak’s voice led L’iam to believe that half-breeds must be something repulsive in a demon’s mind.
Basha clearly had other things on her mind. Her downturned face took on a hungry expression at the mention of magic.
“Forgive my ignorance, Great One. Magic is so rare in our world, and I know little of it.”
“Is that so?” was the calculating reply.
L’iam instinctively felt that the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous. He knew that Basha was in more peril now than when she had been tortured by the demon lord.
“Magic forged through blood is the strongest magic that can be given in physical form,” explained Cha-sak with unexpected patience. “Higher forms of magic are bound by very specific laws, but blood magic can be… altered to meet certain needs.”
; “Yes, Great One,” answered Basha without confidence.
“To be my servant you must make a blood vow—a contract founded in magic and forged with blood. You will be bound in loyalty and labor, and in return, your mortal life will be tied to mine. You will share in my power and my immortality.”
L’iam could see the glow of greed on Basha’s face, and he wanted to shout a warning. The demon was clearly omitting important details of what the contract entailed.
The Shimat woman seemed oblivious to the nuances of Cha-sak’s tone. She appeared to think only of the power that was promised—power that she had felt first-hand.
She slowly raised her head with a smile of anticipation.
“What must I do to make this vow?”
Chapter Forty-nine: Remnants
Adesina, Ravi, and Kendan were all that was left of the band of travelers. They were filled with a sense of trepidation as they rushed down the tunnel that led away from Faryl and Mar’sal.
If it came down to a fight between the three of them and Basha—along with L’iam as her obedient pawn—then Adesina and her friends would stand a good chance of winning.
However, the Threshold was opening. If Basha managed to convince any demons to fight on her side…
Adesina didn’t know what would happen.
From what she remembered from her Dreams, demons didn’t seem overly fond of humans. That did not stop demons from using humans for their own purposes, though.
The narrow tunnel opened up to a larger passageway, and Adesina slowed to a stop. Ravi and Kendan joined her in studying the room with careful eyes, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary other than the unusually high ceiling.
“This must be the fourth barrier, and yet…”
Ravi narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “And yet, there is nothing here.”
“How is that possible?”
“Perhaps it has ceased to function,” said Kendan with a joking smile.
Adesina gave a small shrug. “Perhaps.”
Her former instructor frowned. “Can magic simply stop working?”
“That depends largely on the nature of the magic,” stated Ravi without further explanation. “We should still proceed carefully.”
