Seven Wardens Omnibus

by Skye MacKinnon

  At the end of the large room, a door led up a narrow set of steps and into another level of the dungeon. More cells, and this time, not all of them were empty. She covered her mouth with her hands when they passed the first body, already starting to decompose.

  "Don't look," Luc said softly. "There's nothing we can do."

  It hurt, but she knew he was right. They were too late to help these poor buggers, but they would avenge them. Macey squared her shoulders and increased her pace. The Mahoun was going to pay, and the sooner she reached him, the better.

  Chapter 16

  She could feel each of the elements bubbling up inside her, reaching to be let loose on the world and take the vengeance Macey desired for her. She held them back though, she couldn't let them go too early or else the Mahoun would know what she had in store for him far earlier than she anticipated.

  "Are you okay?" Luc asked.

  She glared at him out of the corner of her eye. Admittedly, it was nice not to be on her own but he was bordering on clingy with his checking in. She tried to reason with herself, pointing out that he was her guide. That gave him a right to be clingy. The success of his life's mission depended on her well being.

  Her mind drifted to the vision of him with the others but she dismissed it quickly. She didn't want to think about him that way, it would only complicate matters further and blur the lines between them. She shouldn't be thinking about it at all, especially when she didn't know if her men were safe.

  Stupid thought. Of course they weren't safe. All of them were in and about the Mahoun's castle. Safe wasn't something anyone was here. Danger lurked in every corner and death was an almost certainty no matter what any of them did. She was just trying to keep the death to a minimum.

  "He's being quiet," Luc observed.

  "It doesn't mean he's not listening," Macey returned. Chances were he was always listening. Privacy was a thing of the past while they were in the Mahoun's lair.

  "I'm sure it doesn't."

  Their footsteps echoed off the dungeon floors but otherwise, there wasn't a sound around them. The bodies surrounding them didn't stir, for which Macey wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not. They didn't seem to be anyone she knew but that hardly mattered. The Mahoun had claimed so many lives it was tragic to think of.

  Shuffling started at her feet and she frowned more. "Was that you?" she demanded.

  Luc shook his head. "No..."

  "Then..." Her words trailed off as one of the bodies began to move. "They're alive!" Relief washed through her as she rushed to help the person to his feet.

  "Macey! No!" Luc called, jumping between her and the man needing help.

  "What are you..."

  "Macey, look with your eyes and not your heart. I know you want them to be alive. Trust me, I want that too, but they're not."

  She blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of what he was saying and what she was seeing. It didn't make any sense.

  The rest of the bodies began to shuffle about, doing weird jerking movements as they rose.

  "L-luc?" Her voice shook violently as her mind tried to process what she was seeing.

  "You know as much as I do." He didn't sound much steadier. "Any ideas?"

  "How will they react to fire?" She shot him a glance, hoping to find some reassurance on his features.

  She didn't. All she got was a hint of fear but an undercurrent of determination.

  "I've no idea. But let's start with the most obvious."

  As if by magic, he pulled a shimmering blade from his robes and muttered something in Greek over it. A blessing no doubt, she'd seen some of the kelpies do the same in their own language.

  Luc stepped towards the figure in front of them and swung the blade around, slicing cleanly through the neck of the man limping towards them.

  There was no blood. No scream. Nothing to suggest he'd been alive. Everything to terrify Macey even further. To make matters worse, his body still moved towards them, the blood and sinew of his neck a gruesome testimony to the body's previous set.

  "Alright, so chopping their heads off doesn't work," she muttered, disbelief coursing through her. How had her world become like this? It was almost enough to regret every dream of adventure she'd had a small child.

  "Which means that stabbing, slicing or other kinds of chopping won't work either," Luc said dryly.

  "No, I don't suppose it would. What's left then?" She backed towards him as the decomposing bodies moved inwards, forming a tight circle around them. She grunted in frustration. This was like every zombie movie she'd ever seen. She made a mental note never to yell at the characters about getting into stupid situations like this again. It was only too easy to end up in one.

  "Pure magic from the heavens?" Luc suggested with a shrug.

  "Does that even exist?"

  "How should I know? I'm a daimon, not exactly a heavenly being."

  "Is heaven real?" Awe filled her at the thought.

  "No. But can we do this another time? If we start chatting about the afterlife, we'll soon find out the truth for ourselves first hand."

  "Can you even die?" She couldn't help the question slipping from her.

  "Yes, I can die. But I don't particularly want to."

  "Right. So, ideas?"

  "I'm hoping we can come up with one pretty damned soon. I can fight them off but that doesn't seem to be slowing them down much."

  One of the bodies stumbled towards Macey, grabbing out and trying to catch her. She threw water magic at the thing on reflex, hoping it would be enough to stop the thing in its tracks.

  No such luck. She shouldn't be surprised. It wasn't like things had been going her way otherwise.

  Lightening bubbled beneath her fingertips, longing to be released but she ignored it. While the magic was powerful, she could only direct it in one place at once, which was no good against the circle of dead bodies she'd found herself among.

  Fire. That was the answer, even if unleashing that much power again still scared her. Knowing she had no other choice, she reached within herself and found the anger from before. She tugged it out of her heart, demanding it rise to the surface. Fiery pain lanced through her veins as the magic moved to the surface. This was it. The answer. All she needed to do was burn the bodies. A man without a head could still walk. Ash couldn't.

  "Stand back!" she warned Luc and unleashed the fire. Heat streamed through her and the smell of burning flesh filled her nose. She closed her eyes, unable to keep looking at the bodies being set alight. Their skin was melting, their hair had already been burned away, yet still they advanced towards them. This magic was evil, torturing the dead even further after all they'd been through in life. In this moment, Macey really hoped there was an afterlife where these people could have a better life. Hopefully, they'd never know their bodies had been used as weapons by the Mahoun.

  Luc lifted his sword, ready to defend them, but slowly, the bodies became slower as their flesh sizzled and turned into ash.

  Tears were freely streaming down Macey's cheeks. In her mind, she knew she hadn't killed them, they'd already been dead, but her heart felt unbelievable loss and guilt. She was never going to be able to use this magic on living people, not after seeing and smelling what it could do. Never.

  Despite the ache in her chest, she didn't stop until all of the bodies had burned into heaps of ash and bones. Bile rose up in her throat and she hunched over, retching. Luc put a hand on her lower back and a soothing tingling spread through her.

  She wasn't sure if it was his magic or just his presence, but it helped get her stomach under control. She wasn't going to give up now. She couldn't be weak.

  She stood and wiped her mouth.

  "Let's go," she said quietly and walked away from the carnage she had caused, not looking back.

  * * *

  Luckily, the cells on the next level were empty. No more zombies for the Mahoun to resurrect. Still, they proceeded with caution, always aware that they were likely being
watched. It was strange that the Mahoun hadn't tried to talk to them, or stop them. Maybe he was busy torturing Izban. Macey ground her jaw. As much as she didn't like the mage, she didn't want him to suffer either. She was one of the Wardens and as such, he was under her protection.

  "I wonder how many people he's imprisoned here," Luc said after a while, staring at the endless rows of empty cells. "And why."

  Macey grimaced. "Maybe not for any particular reason. He's an entity that feeds on belief, and a lot of people believe in evil, no matter the reason for it. It might be in his nature to torture and cause pain. He doesn't need an excuse to do so. He just does it."

  "I fear you may be right about that," the daimon sighed. "Let's hope the next floor is something else."

  However, before they could ascend the steps at the end of the room, a noise to their right made them turn. There was someone in one of the cells.

  Macey stepped forward, but then remembered the dead bodies from before and stayed where she was, ready to throw some magic at whoever this was.

  "Who are you?" Luc asked loudly, his sword tight in his fist.

  "No one," a croaky voice muttered. "Go away."

  "We're here to help," Macey said soothingly, realising that this person was actually alive, unless the Mahoun was able to make the dead speak. To be honest, she didn't put it past him.

  "I'm no one. I don't exist. I can't be helped."

  There was movement in the cell and slowly, a head peeked up from beneath a pile of straw. No wonder they hadn't seen the man before. He was old, really old, with almost no hair left and deep wrinkles covering his face. Hopefully, he'd been old before he came here and hadn't spent as long in the dungeons as Talon had.

  "Who are you?" Luc repeated, a little softer this time. "What's your name?"

  "I don't have a name. I'm no one."

  Macey looked at Luc, feeling helpless. What were they supposed to do with this man?

  "That's fine," she finally said, slowly approaching the cell. "We don't need to know your name. We can help you get away from this place though. Would you like that?"

  The man shook his head in what looked like a painful gesture. "No. I'm no one. I belong here. I deserve to be here."

  "Why do you deserve it?" Luc asked, frowning.

  "I unleashed some terrible evil upon the world," the man whispered. "I gave up my name as penance and let the evil take me as his prisoner. It's not enough. I must stay here. I must suffer more."

  Macey's eyes widened as she realised what he might be talking about.

  "What evil did you unleash?" she asked quietly. "Was it the Mahoun?"

  "He doesn't have a name, just like me. People call him things, but he's nameless. He only exists in your mind and that's what gives him power. He lives in all of our minds, until one of us is strong enough to repel him."

  "Wait, he's not real?" Macey was confused.

  "I didn't say that," the man said with a cough. "Just because he doesn't have a physical form doesn't mean he's not real. He's a parasite, clinging to all who fear, all who have ever had dark thoughts."

  "Well, that would be the entire population," Luc muttered, then raised his voice. "How do we defeat him?"

  The man suddenly laughed. "You can't. I created him, I'm the only one who can. But then, I can't."

  Macey put her hands on her hips, starting to get annoyed. "You just said you can. What's stopping you? Why are you here, hiding, while he's unleashing his evil upon the world?"

  The man hid his face with his hands. "I'm too weak. I need more power than I have, more power than I ever had before. Creating him was easy. Killing him is more than I can do."

  "What if someone was to give you the power you need?" Macey asked slowly. "Would you be able to do it then?"

  "Nobody has that power," the man laughed, madness shining in his eyes. "I can only take power from one person, and that person would need to carry several weapons inside of him. The evil entity is too strong to be defeated by only one magic, or even two. It would take a lot of different kinds of power to banish him."

  "Wait, you said banish," Luc suddenly said. "Does that mean you can't kill him?"

  The man shook his head. "Evil cannot be killed, it will always exist. What can be done is to stop it from acting on its own accord. It will still be able to influence people, but not have its own mind and power."

  "I guess that's as good as it can get," Macey decided with a shrug. "As long as he can no longer put his plans into practice. As long as the magic of this world can be free again."

  "But I don't have the power," the prisoner reminded them. "I'm weak."

  "Don't you worry about that," Macey said and went to his cell door. She wasn't surprised when it opened at her touch. The man was here by his own free will. His cell didn't need to be locked.

  "Are you sure about this?" Luc asked. "This could be a trap."

  Macey had already considered that. "It's the best chance we have. Alternatively, we can roam the castle, look for the Mahoun, then be deceived by him again and again. Who knows if our allies are still alive. Let's try this, it might be the only way to defeat him."

  Luc stepped in front of her, crouching until he could look straight into the prisoner's eyes.

  "Why isn't the Mahoun stopping us?" he asked. "Why are you still alive if you can banish him?"

  The man didn't avert his eyes. A good sign, Macey thought. He wasn't lying.

  "He doesn't know. He's too confident, he doesn't think he can be defeated. I don't matter to him, so he ignores me. I'm not sure he even knows I'm still here. I am no one. I don't exist."

  Luc nodded, as if he was satisfied with that answer, but then gripped the man's shoulders, lifting him from his pile of straw.

  "If you deceive us, if you harm Macey in any way, I'm going to make you suffer for it."

  The prisoner whimpered, but didn't struggle.

  "It's impossible," he whispered. "There's not enough magic."

  Macey sighed. "I'm one of the Seven Wardens. I carry the magic of all seven elements within me. Trust me, I have enough power for you to use."

  His eyes widened. "That's impossible. Seven elements... how are you still alive?"

  She shrugged. "No idea, but that's irrelevant now. How do I give you my power?"

  Slowly, his expression began to change, his despair giving way to a cautious hopefulness.

  "I can siphon it from you," he explained. "It's part of my gift... or my curse, if you will. I will have to take a lot though. I can't promise you will have enough. If you don't... this could kill you."

  "No way," Luc protested. "We're done here."

  He got up and left the cell, probably expecting Macey to follow, but she was already sitting down next to the prisoner, ignoring the wetness of mouldy straw beneath her.

  "Take it," she said, closing her eyes. "Take as much as you need. Banish the Mahoun."

  "No," Luc shouted, lifting his sword, but Macey flung some wind magic at the door and closed it, turning the lock. Now she was trapped.

  The daimon gripped the bars, his knuckles whitening. "Don't do this, Macey! Please, don't do it."

  "I have to," she whispered, her confidence leaving far too quickly. "Do it," she told the prisoner. "Do it now."

  He put a hand on her arm. His skin was callused and clammy, but as soon as he touched her, everything went black and she was ripped away from her body, screaming as unbelievable pain flashed through her mind.

  * * *

  Suddenly, the pain stopped. It had been going on for years, decades, far longer than she could imagine. She'd been tortured, flayed alive, burned, any torture that could be named and more. She'd been nothing but pain, and yet here she was, sitting on a chair, unharmed. There were two chairs in the small white room she was in, and a low table in between them.

  A man sat opposite her, smiling. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen him before.

  "You've done well," he said, and suddenly she recognised him. No one.
The man from the cell. It was him, but he looked at least forty years younger. Thick brown hair was curling down to his shoulders and a well manicured beard graced his cheeks. There were no wrinkles on his smooth skin and his eyes had none of the crazed and pained look she remembered.

  "What happened?" she asked, confusion making her uneasy.

  "I took your magic," he explained as if that was the most natural thing in the world. "I expelled the Mahoun from the minds of the world. He's gone now."

  "What? How? That was too quick, too easy," she muttered.

  "Believe me, it wasn't," the man sighed. "It took two days. You're barely alive. Even now, your Wardens are having to share their energy with you so that your heart doesn't stop beating. It's not clear if you'll survive, Macey. So no, it wasn't easy, nor quick."

  "But..." she stuttered. "It was only moments ago. I..."

  Then she remembered the pain. It had lasted for so long and no time at all. It had ripped through her body, separating it from her mind. It was a strange feeling to be free of pain after so much time, but it also felt as if there was something missing.

  "What happens now?" she asked. "Where are we?"

  "My mind," he explained. "A pocket of my mind where you're safe. While I defeated the evil entity, I wasn't able to protect you, but now that he's gone, I can at least shelter you from the pain you're still experiencing."

  Macey rubbed her forehead, unsure of what to think about it all.

  "So he's really gone? Forever?"

  He nodded. "Until another fool summons him. Evil is never quite gone from the world. It's always lurking in the shadows, ready to jump on the unwary and foolish, but yes, for now, it's no longer existing as a being." He sighed. "And now, it's time for me to pay for my sins. I'm sorry for all the world has suffered because of me. I hope my final act will make up for some of it."

  He got up from his chair and walked around the table. Without warning, he took Macey's hands in his, squeezing hard.