Its sword lashed out, hooking around Arxu’s left toward his head. He narrowly brought his staff across in a double-handed grip. He fiercely kicked the hominid in its abdomen. The igliuh reacted by nearly tearing off Arxu’s head. He evaded the sword just in time and retreated gracefully. Nothing short of a blade would damage the hulking mass of muscle.
Arxu worked his hands as fast as possible, parrying a blow, inverting his staff into a jab, thrusting into its belly, and kicking it in the side. The human seemed to amuse the volatile igliuh. It seized Arxu by the arm before he could evade and lifted its sword to amputate the limb. A blade sheared through the igliuh, nearly impaling Arxu in the process.
Hrioshango was slightly disappointed. He had intended to impale Arxu, too. The warlord roared in anger and kicked Arxu, sending him sprawling. It spun on the darkling and snapped its blade across in violent hysteria. Hrioshango agilely skittered aside with a devious smile.
An opponent worthy of his skills was rare indeed. He would savor this battle of egos. He tagged the igliuh with his blade, cutting across its leg. Back and forth the chaos magician mocked the brute, taunting its rage.
Hrioshango immediately realized he had underestimated his opponent. He could not possibly block its strikes; the force alone would break his arms and possibly shatter his blade.
Arxu sprang back to his feet and joined the fray. He raised his staff over his head and—something closed around his throat. The igliuh seized Arxu’s neck with a single hand and cast him at the fire. He landed on his back, stray embers flickering near his blue hair, devouring it. He cried out in pain as the igliuh’s form plunged on top of his, its knee digging into his abdomen. It straddled Arxu, pinning him beneath three hundred pounds of muscle.
The warlord lifted its arms and swung its blade at the prone man. Arxu swept his staff across, robbing the igliuh of two fingers. Undeterred, it wielded the sword in its right hand and swerved toward Arxu’s neck.
Arxu bucked his hips below the igliuh, throwing it off balance. Arxu’s knee jerked into its groin and it lurched forward. Quick to act, he tucked his legs and lifted the large igliuh, almost snapping his spine. Arxu cried out against the agony and kicked the igliuh into the fire.
Panting for breath, he scrambled away and brushed the embers out of his hair. He wiped the soot from his pants and recuperated from the brush with death.
A flaming figure burst from the bonfire with outstretched arms, screaming incoherently. Arxu realized a red hot blade had embedded in the igliuh’s melting flesh, melding with its right forearm. The warlord threateningly raised its limb, the curved steel protruding like a claw.
Molten liquid dripped from the six-foot-long blade, sizzling as it spattered on the earth. The abomination strode forward, the absence of flesh on its jaws displaying even more of its clenched teeth.
“A friend of yours?” Hrioshango smiled.
“Hardly,” Arxu quipped.
“Look at the way he’s smiling. He wants to hug you.” Indeed, the creature’s broad expression looked like a demented grin.
“I would much rather kill it.”
“Women must find your lack of compassion irresistible.”
The smell of charring igliuh made Arxu physically sick. It lunged forth and flailed a blade protruding from bone. Arxu floundered backward, narrowly escaping the deadly extension of its limb.
He could not call upon his magick to defend himself, having expended his arcane powers during the initial attack.
Arxu feinted to the right and again to the left, lunging forward with a high strike. He barely ducked under the blade as it glanced off his staff. He thrust the blunt end into its stomach, temporarily knocking the igliuh back. The aggressor didn’t relent to the blow, sweeping Arxu off his feet with its arm. He jerked as the blade slammed into the ground between his legs, narrowly missing its target.
He groped for something to hold onto as he scrambled to his feet. He chaotically darted across the campsite as though inebriated. In truth, the pain in his arms and legs made it difficult to run. He did not want to look down and see the wounds that undeniably marred his limbs.
The igliuh bared a repulsive mouth of fangs and charged. Arxu tried to evade but suddenly the world had turned upside down and he landed roughly on his back. He reached for his staff as something crushed his hand. The igliuh warlord breathed heavily and leveled the red hot blade with Arxu’s throat, ready to impale him. He thrashed under the igliuh’s weight and his free hand plunged into the satchel at his waist. Perhaps there was something left, a magickal component he hadn’t used.
His fingers were not quick enough.
The igliuh lunged forward and its corpse landed on Arxu. Acting purely on instinct, he wriggled out from under the smoldering body. The creature had succumbed to its burns, extinguishing its last breath in the midst of a killing blow. None of its brethren survived.
“Arxu!” Nishka cried out, running toward him. “What did you do to it?!”
“The creature died of its wounds.”
“A second longer and you would have been killed!” she said, relieved he was alive. Hrioshango looked at the igliuh’s scorching blade and again at Arxu.
“I am disappointed with the results,” he said. The darkling shrugged in defeat and resumed searching the campsite.
Nishka spotted a crossbow neglected on the ground and she scooped it up.
Meanwhile, Arxu studied the cart, more specifically the wheel that had snapped off the axle. Nishka’s heart sank when she saw the destruction. It looked as though the igliuhs tried hacking up the cart for tinder.
“We have to retrieve the weapons somehow,” she said miserably. She knelt down and gingerly gathered the food they had brought for the journey. Arxu quietly assisted her, scavenging the provisions that had not been devoured by igliuhs. When they gathered the last morsel of bread, they considered the forlorn weapons and armor.
Nishka beseeched Arxu with her blue eyes.
“We shall figure something out in the morning,” he said. Nishka nodded. Perhaps it was for the best they rest and recover their strength.
Hrioshango slinked away from the bonfire and lay down with a heavy sigh.
“I don’t want that thing sleeping near us,” Nishka whispered.
“I would prefer to keep an eye on it.”
“What if he tries to hurt us?”
“I only rest for a few hours at night. If you wish, you can sleep and I will stay awake for the night.”
“Okay.” Nishka wasnt surprised that he required less sleep than the average man. “Arxu?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for helping me.”
“I played a minor role in your healing. Hrioshango used his energy to resuscitate you.” Nishka looked perplexed. She glanced at the darkling snoring in the distance. She didn’t know what to say. It was strange to owe a debt of gratitude to the darkling. She winced as a twinge of pain shot through her head.
“You should rest,” Arxu said, resting his hand on her shoulder. She nodded and lay down, but sleep would not come.
Chapter 10
The forest outstretched around Margzor like a universe awaiting discovery. Ancient trees towered arrogantly above him, swelling with pride and casting their blackest shadows on the man. Margzor did not at all mind the darkness. In fact, he preferred the company of shadow to light.
Something within him indicated that there was a large population of disciples toward the south. The presence inside him desired their deaths. They would fall before him as they did in Sepulzer. He needed to take approximately one hundred lives; that number would be sufficient. If he could meet his objective, everything would fall into place. He couldn’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers now. Only one hundred more and…
He walked slowly through the shadow strewn forest and his eyes settled on a deer. Its body lay on the forest floor, the wound beneath its brown fur leaving a crimson trail. Margzor inched closer toward the body. The delicate and graceful cre
ature reposed there in peace. The sobering sight triggered something within him. He had feasted on many deer in his feral isolation, and he could not remember the last time he ate. He realized he no longer had the will to feed. He knelt down on the earth where he could see the terror in the deer’s eyes.
What a familiar expression.
He grimaced as he thought about the women who beheld him with loathing and disgust. They had shown more aversion than they did terror. He would not soon forget it. How strange that even their disgust overwhelmed their fear of death. He knew why they felt such visceral dislike looking upon him; they knew what he was. Something he had accepted as a part of himself long ago.
Still, it was him they viewed in utmost revulsion, not the thing growing inside him.
Every woman he encountered seemed to think he was a loathsome excuse for a man—if they would even give him the dignity of calling him human. Margzor was convinced he would never find a woman who treated him as a human with feelings. They would only regard him with…
Hatred consumed him.
* * *
“We have to leave the cart,” Arxu said the next morning. “We must travel to Azia-Nocti and acquire a beast of burden.” Nishka began to protest but she couldn’t utter a reply.
“I’m taking this with me at least—” She picked up an iron breastplate. Arxu watched her struggle as she tried to don it over her woolen shirt. He reached out to assist her but she turned to him with pleading eyes.
“I can do it.” Her tone was less defiant. In fact, she sounded like she was pleading with him. Nishka awkwardly equipped the armor, fumbling with the straps and plates. At last, she managed a triumphant and sheepish smile. “Okay…” she breathed. “On to Azia-Nocti to get a mule?” Arxu nodded.
Again, Nishka looked at the armor and crafts assembled by their campsite. She vowed to return as soon as possible once they purchased a pack mule. Hrioshango yawned and woke to find them preparing for the journey.
“Where are you going?”
“Azia-Nocti.”
“Arxu!” Nishka cried.
The darkling cheerfully pounced to his feet and adjusted the three or four cloaks around his shoulders.
“It just so happens Hrioshango is going the same way!” he chimed gleefully. He ambled along the road with a spry step, his eyes gleaming mischievously. Nishka couldn’t imagine why this creature wanted to follow them. Perhaps he had nowhere to go and he desired company. She shuddered at the thought and kept close to Arxu.
Their stay in Azia-Nocti would be much longer than the brief interlude in Sepulzer. The flourishing markets of Azia-Nocti would welcome them graciously. Nishka periodically looked over her shoulder and saw the darkling shuffling along behind.
“I think he’s stalking us,” she whispered.
Chapter 11
Nishka winced as a dull pain set in behind her ears. A week had passed since encountering the igliuhs in the forest, but the ache endured. Her pain was arguably less intense, but it remained a persistent reminder of the danger she had evaded. She couldn’t even remember the attack that nearly delivered her to the realm of the dead. It was inconceivable that she had escaped death only seven days ago.
Others had not been so fortunate. Nishka couldn’t take her mind off the crimes the merchant had reported in Sepulzer.
“Those people in the temple... were slaughtered?” she said.
“According to the merchant, yes.” Nishka couldn’t even imagine a crime as horrendous as mass murder. Admittedly, she lived in a quiet village for most of her life. Nonetheless, she was unsettled by the atrocity.
“It’s despicable,” Nishka said. “Why in the world would someone hurt so many people?”
“It is possible a religious sect seeks to—”
“Kill them? What sick person would use religion to justify the murder of someone who believes differently? It’s inhuman.”
“This killer may have radical beliefs.” Arxu suspiciously glanced over his shoulder to the north. “Perhaps this man seeks to punish the religion because it has wronged him.”
“What I don’t understand is why someone would hold a vendetta against people who consider virginity sacred.”
“Virginity and spiritual purity,” Arxu clarified. “The motives of killers are notoriously complex. Neither did the merchant explicitly say it was a man. It may have been a woman.”
“Or several people,” Nishka speculated. “A group of people could coordinate the attack much easier than an individual. A cult or religious organization may be behind this conflict. After all, the murders occurred in Sepulzer.”
“Why are you concerned?” Arxu asked. “You didn’t know anyone in the temple, did you?”
“No, but the fact that people are capable of doing this is disturbing. It shouldn’t happen.”
“There is nothing you can do about it now.”
“You should be concerned,” Nishka said. “Ideological people are very dangerous… If this is an attack in support of something much bigger than we can see…”
“A moral revolution attacking virginity? That seems unlikely. It may be nothing more than a deranged individual hearing voices in his head.” Nishka watched as Azia-Nocti reared its head in the distance, a colossal city that nearly obscured the sun.
“I hope you’re right.”
* * *
Twilight glazed Azia-Nocti in its celestial grace, scintillating across garrisons, mansions, and statues. Nishka’s eyes glimmered and her jubilant face alit with a smile. She could hear a great body of water beyond the cliffs, its roaring melody fusing with the voices of several thousand people. Water bridges stretched across an immense gulf into the city-state.
A surge of excitement swept through Nishka as Arxu joined her to survey the spectacle. She admired a vibrant dome garnished with mosaics and a minaret blushing in the embers of the sunset.
The metropolis teemed with courtyards host to alluring gardens, painting panoramas of luscious beauty. Nishka could see a flowering cliff jutting from the edge of Azia-Nocti. Stairs carved into the terrain led to a quiet oasis, where several officials surveyed the ships ferrying spices.
“Azia-Nocti is said to be a city of surprises,” Nishka revealed. “By night, it looks very different from its appearance during the day.”
“How?”
“You’ll see.” Her heart skipped with excitement as she led him on. Not even her vivid imagination could grasp all of the wonders and enigmas of Azia-Nocti.
When Nishka thought she couldn’t walk any longer, Azia-Nocti reared above her like a humbling goliath. Hrioshango gleefully followed his newly acquired companions toward a vast water bridge. It guided them over an ancient abyss into the jaws of a soaring garrison. As Arxu traversed the water bridge, he witnessed merchant ships below navigating through aqueducts. Some professed that the ships have been used to transport strange animals to Azia-Nocti, but no one could confirm such sightings.
Arxu’s eyes met the aqueducts and he paused in his voyage across. Murmuring waters from the mountains flowed into the valleys below. The watercourse stretched as far as his eyes could see, melting into the foothills of the surrounding mountains.
Nishka smiled at the man’s awe. She figured they both needed each other, for he couldn’t traverse the cities alone. She realized with amusement that the thought of traveling with him did not bother her as much as before.
Long before Azia-Nocti reigned over the mountain pass, an empire flourished here and explored new forms of technology. Without warning, their empire was annihilated in a cataclysm. According to lore, a combination of science, mysticism, and divine intervention eradicated every last resident of the city. Some professed the clerics were studying the human soul and trying to recreate heaven. The city ruins remained, however, providing the foundation for Azia-Nocti.
Viewed from above, one could see the city had been conceived in a strange pattern of geometric shapes. Historians speculated that its design served a mystical purpose.
&nbs
p; A great amphitheater for blood sports lay northwest of the plaza. It had been assembled over the course of twenty years by the labor of prisoners. Often, these same prisoners were executed for their crimes in this arena. Warriors and creatures were herded from across the realms to indulge the citizens’ voyeuristic tendencies.
Azia-Nocti also boasted cryptic technology the likes of which were unsurpassed. During the arena excavation, slaves harvested numerous artifacts from the ruins below. Many concerned citizens speculated the city officials were trying to rebuild the empire or at least adapt their designs.
The ironic parallel between Azia-Nocti and the former empire was chilling: the city was developed to simulate a civilization that attempted to recreate the afterlife.
Nishka strolled past several shops selling imports from lands she never knew existed.
She took note of a shop selling arms and armor, and she instinctively regarded it as competition. Unfortunately, she couldn’t sell anything in Azia-Nocti until she acquired another pack animal.
Nishka followed the street until she found what appeared to be an inn. The meager establishment reminded her of the village of Riverwell. Suddenly, she glimpsed something in the city square that took her breath away.
“Arxu, look!” Mistaking her tone for alarm, Arxu gyrated toward the plaza. He beheld a black pyramid gilded in sigils, weighing thousands of tons. Even as Arxu pondered why it had been assembled, the adorning sigils began to glisten like embers. Nishka’s eyes dilated with wonder as the entire structure glowed from within.
Flames spat and erupted from inside the pyramid, billowing like a funeral pyre in the dead of night. Arxu realized the magnificent structure was transparent. A mechanism installed beneath the ancient streets illuminated the structure.
The Undying God Page 7
