Akiri: Sands Of Darkness
Page 25
Akiri sniffed. “Don’t pretend that this has all been part of some celestial plan. I am not so easily deceived.”
“You are the one deceiving yourself, mortal. I will never understand your arrogance. Do you really believe that you can resist their will indefinitely? Are you so dense as to believe yourself so powerful?”
Akiri took a step forward, but Hagrik was several paces away in the blink of an eye.
“Mind your temper,” he scolded. “I will not be as easily caught as last time.”
Akiri smiled. “Is that right? Don’t be so sure.”
Swooping down from out of the night sky, Kyra planted her talons solidly into Hagrik’s chest, knocking him from his feet and pinning him to the sand. Thrashing and twisting furiously, he fought to free himself. It was futile. He was never going to break loose from the dragon’s powerful grip.
Akiri walked over and crouched down beside the demon spirit. Hagrik glared back, his pained expression rapidly becoming one of anger.
“Now I want you to listen to me carefully,” Akiri told him. “I control my own destiny. You can tell Mishna or Xarbaal or whomever it is you really serve that I am not theirs to toy with. And should they not heed my warning, I will put their immortality to the test.”
“This is not over, mortal,” Hagrik shouted back, his features a deep red from his struggling.
“It is for now,” he replied.
At a nod from Akiri, Kyra bit down on Hagrik’s skull. With a single violent shake, she ripped the demon’s head clean away from his shoulders, then spat it out beside his body. With a growl of deep satisfaction, she looked at Akiri and then leapt skyward, vanishing into the night.
Moments later, tiny flakes of light began floating up from Hagrik’s body, rapidly multiplying until they numbered in the thousands. They continued to rise until finally being caught on a warm breeze that sent them swirling and dancing off into the distance. Then, in a flash, the body was gone.
Akiri returned inside the tent and lay down beside Shelia. She stirred and moaned, rolling onto her side.
“What was that?” she asked. “I thought I heard something.”
Akiri kissed her brow. “Nothing you should trouble yourself with. Just a nuisance. One I am well rid of. Go back to sleep.”
As he lay there he could feel Kyra soaring on a strong current of air. He envied her the freedom she was experiencing. Hagrik was gone for now, but he would return. And no matter how much he wanted to deny it, the foul demon had been right about one thing: He was deceiving himself. The peace he had felt this past month was now being replaced by the need to move on.
He shut his eyes, breathing in the sweet aroma of the fierce beauty next to him. But he could afford to stay a little bit longer. Borlon had once told him that joy wasn’t found at the end of a journey, it was found along the way. Though he hadn’t understood this at the time, now he understood all too well.
If only Borlon had warned him how hard it would be to leave those passing joys behind.
End - Sands Of Darkness
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