by Jeff Inlo
When the black liquid hit the plants wrapped about his legs, it smeared every leaf, every stem, and every blade. The ebony sludge choked the weeds back down to the ground and Ansas stepped out of the dying mass with a shrug of indifference.
"You chose to attack with the life of nature. I chose to defend with suffocating death. The weakness of your spell was easy to expose. Now let us see about your other weaknesses."
Ansas called once more upon the ebony power and a grand black circle formed at his wrists. He flashed his hands outward and a dark flash of lightning speared toward Jure's chest.
The defensive shield of white power surrounding all three absorbed the spell, but not without consequence. The pure white energy sizzled and smoked. The shield held, but a slight gray stain remained visible. The three magic casters appeared as if they were placed under a shadow.
"The power you steal from the woman is vast," Ansas allowed, "but now your control weakens. Even you must admit that now your shield is vulnerable to an amber casting that would shatter it with little effort."
"But you don't cast yellow light."
"That's not the point. I was able to weaken your shield with nothing more than black lightning."
"The shield remains. That's all I care about. And what if I attack with an ebony spell of my own? I have equal power over all the hues, including black energy," Jure challenged. "Would we cancel each other out, or would I outlast you since I can tap into Heteera's deep pools of magic?"
"You can try if you wish, but you could not possibly hope to overcome me if we both cast in black. My focus is pure, yours is not. The difference is subtle to be sure. It is the difference between the darkest of gray and black. It often cannot even be seen, but it can be felt."
Once more, Holli communicated through her link to Jure.
"Keep him talking, this may be important."
Jure acknowledged the directive with a nod, but otherwise kept his attention upon Ansas.
"But my casting would not be gray. It would be as rooted in the ebony magic as any spell of yours."
"And that is where your logic fails. You cannot possibly have full control over dark magic because you open yourself to the other elements, thus you lose the complete immersion needed to understand the true base of the element. You can cast in black as well as in any color, that much is true, but you can never fully immerse yourself in the ebony power for the very same reason. Black is more than death, as aspects of death can be found in brown. Black is more than shadow, for gray can find the elements of shadow as well. Black is beyond change, as all hues can be mixed into new ones. The totality of ebony magic is its ability to darken every other color without exception. Do you understand? There is no other magical force that can match my power in that one regard."
"That's it? You can darken other elements, and that somehow gives you an advantage? By the same token, white magic can lighten all other elements. What's the difference?"
"The difference is clear. Dark magic overpowers weaknesses. Light magic softens it, and that is the difference between life and death."
Jure scoffed at the definition.
"You're wrong. You may understand death, and that may give you some greater insight of life, but it's limited."
Ansas didn't appreciate being insulted and his tone revealed his growing annoyance. "And yours is not?"
"Not in the same way, no. You know where Baannat is, I can tell. I've been probing his existence—and non-existence—as well. I've seen not only what is between life and death, but also the edges of each. You think your focus on the dark element gives you some kind of advantage? That's arrogance. Death is a gateway, a door to something larger, larger than me and certainly larger than you. Shadow is a break in light, nothing more. Change is a byproduct of every struggle, no matter how great or how small. You say your energy is this and much more. You believe you can overpower every other element because you have remained pure. Nonsense. You have limited yourself, that's all you've accomplished."
"You're right!"
It was not Ansas who made this startling remark but Holli, and she said it aloud for even Ansas to hear.
"You wish to add something to our conversation, elf?"
"Only this; if your strength is based on overpowering your foes, then all we need to do is reflect your power back upon you."
"Reflection!" Jure agreed. "Of course."
He slapped his hands together and shattered the shield that surrounded them. Before Ansas could attack during their moment of vulnerability, he cast another spell. This time he drew on the blue energy that was his initial focus of power. The spell, however, was very simple in construction.
A dome of still water took shape almost immediately, water pulled from the very air. The dome fell upon the dark sorcerer and surrounded him completely. It was not, however, stagnant. Like river currents or mighty waterfalls, the liquid hastened to react to the movement it was anchored to, and it was anchored to Ansas. It moved as he moved, followed him wherever he might step, the walls always keeping just out of touch.
"What have you done?" the dark sorcerer demanded.
"Trapped you," Holli responded. "That's what he's done."
Ansas called on the ebony magic one last time, he pressed the dark energy against the walls of water, but it only flew back at him, discharged its power in a cataclysmic blast, causing him great pain.
"I wouldn't do that again," Jure advised. "It's a simple reflection pool spell. It's not really all that sturdy. It can be disbursed with a storm spell or even evaporated with air or fire, but you won't cast those, will you? You don't want to break your purity. But if you keep casting black energy at it, it will only reflect back at you. The more you try to overpower it, the more it's going to hurt."
"You can't possibly hope to hold me with such a pathetic spell."
"Normally, no. It takes a great deal of power to maintain it around you. If it were just me, it would dissolve in moments, but I'm drawing from two others as well, and Heteera is a vast pool of energy."
Ansas remained unconvinced. He threw spell after spell at the blue walls that surrounded him. Black energy exploded within the enclosed space. Each blast forced a scream of agony from the dark sorcerer. He ignored the pain, but only for so long. The strength of his own fury battered him both physically and magically.
Jure and Holli watched the display and carefully monitored the flow of magic from Heteera that powered the prison surrounding Ansas. The outpouring of energy reached staggering levels, but Heteera's pool of magic renewed itself simultaneously. The reflective spell would hold against the onslaught.
One last shriek of pain from Ansas signaled the end. Holli and Jure could only see his shadow through the dome of water, but they didn't need to see his expression. By his movements, they knew he had surrendered.
"Are you ready to face the consequences of your actions?" Holli asked.
"What is it you propose?" Ansas replied after a long pause.
"Over time, we could probably destroy you. We could cast spells at you that would leave the dome intact, but hammer at you no end. You would eventually succumb. Heteera offers us more than enough reserves to break you. You would have two choices: you could accept death or you could cast a spell outside of the ebony energy to break the reflective walls. That, however, would end the purity of your black power."
"Then I choose death."
"Let me offer you a third choice, one that will allow you to maintain your much beloved purity. Agree to remove the dark creatures under your control from these lands, bring them back to the dark realm. Go with them and vow to remain in the dark realm. You would be banished forever, but your purity would endure. Your choice. The consequences are but a result of that choice."
Holli was not surprised when Ansas vowed to return to the dark realm and bring along every dark creature under his command.
Chapter 32
"Very Interesting," Baannat allowed. "That wizard you found in the desert is quite capable. First, he w
ins the day for the algors by killing a thrastil. To follow that up, he joins with your little elf witch and defeats what I thought was a far superior sorcerer."
"So even from here you face defeat," Enin noted.
"Defeat? That's almost funny. I told you I didn't care what happened in that pathetic town or in the desert."
"I know you said that," Enin argued, doing his best to keep Baannat's attention centered on him rather than Linda, "but you also made it quite clear you wanted to take the eastern plains and the western coast. Or, are you dismissing them as irrelevant as well?"
Baannat tilted his head as if bewildered, then let out a furious giggle that sounded like an evil child enjoying a devious act.
"I'll take them over eventually," the ghoul finally responded through several snorts. "Time is now on my side. I have all that I need. Your home is now my little sandbox and I can play in it whenever I wish."
"So delays and defeats don't matter to you? I find that hard to believe."
"Delays? Defeats? When have I faced either? I have enjoyed one victory after another where it really counted. You have to remember what was important. What I really wanted was to get you, the woman, and the delver under my control. I already have two thirds of that complete, and the final piece of the puzzle will fall right into place."
"The delver might yet surprise you."
"He's already on his way here. He cares too much about the woman."
Enin cursed to himself as he realized the ghoul's attention was turned exactly where he didn't want it to go.
As if to confirm Enin's concerns, Baannat moved back to Linda. He took great delight in tormenting her. He knew Enin shared in her pain to lessen it, but that just meant he tortured both at the same time. He could increase the torment at will if he felt she wasn't suffering quiet enough.
"How does that make you feel, woman? Maybe you're proud? Your brave protector is going to give up everything just for you. Does that make you feel all warm inside? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. He's really not doing it for you. Oh, he says he is and you, of course, believe it, but it's not really the truth. You see, he's doing it for the reason all humans—and delvers—do things, he's doing it for himself."
Surprisingly, Baannat did not explain himself further, at least not immediately. He let the thought burn in Linda's mind as he turned away from her and placed his attention back on Enin.
"As for you, brother, I'm curious about you. How does it feel to be helpless? I'm betting you got terribly used to feeling all powerful. You were like a god. You could do anything, so much so that at one point you actually chose to do nothing. You were so powerful, you were afraid to interfere in people's lives. You thought they would start to depend on you. Good thing they don't. Oh, I forgot, you changed your ways. You did get involved and now they do depend on you."
"I only helped them, I did not takeover for them. There is a difference."
"Not to them. You restored their confidence. That's what they needed, and that's what they depend on. They started looking to you as the great protector, and look at you now. How do you think the people of Connel would feel if they could see you here? They'd realize a startling truth. You can't protect them and that's what they wanted most. It's what you wanted most."
"The people survived without me before, they will do so again."
"Only if I let them. You didn't want any harm to come to this new city of yours. That's why you put your little magic casters in the abandoned town. Don't you think I knew that? It doesn't matter. I can take Pinesway... I can take the eastern plains... I can take Connel. You can't protect them anymore. You can't even protect your little friend here."
Baannat charged back at Linda and slashed at her with his claws just to drive the point home. He laughed almost uncontrollably, but only until a sneer wiped away his maniacal smile.
"I didn't forget you, woman. I told you that your dear delver was coming here and I told you he was doing it for himself. I know you don't believe me, but let me explain so that even you can't question it. What is it that pains you most? My claws or the thought of Ryson Acumen facing the same pain?"
Linda didn't want to consider the question. She couldn't speak, so she couldn't answer even if she wanted to, but she had no desire to play the ghoul's game. She tried to flood her awareness with other thoughts, press Baannat from her mind, but he wouldn't allow it.
His form exploded with blistering radiance before her, lighting up the surrounding shadows, making himself the only true focal point for her attention. He screamed at her with lust for her agony.
"You don't want the delver to suffer! That is your true pain! What would be the best thing he could do for you? He can't save you, you know that. Do you want him to join you in suffering? Of course not, it would make everything worse for you! He doesn't care. All he's thinking about is how he left you. He has his own guilt. He thinks he's responsible for your suffering, so it has become his pain, and that's what he wants to get rid of. I told you he was doing it for himself."
The emotional pain erupted in Linda. She knew Baannat was tormenting her, twisting the truth into lies so that she could suffer. Still, the words as well as the meaning behind them tore at her soul.
Baannat fed on her pain.
"Don't you see, woman? It's so simple. You're going to blame your pitiful delver for coming in here trying to save you. And what do you think he's going to do? He's going to blame you for getting trapped in here in the first place. Do you want to know what he's really going to think? He's going to ask himself over and over why you just didn't let the caelifera eat you alive. That would have been better."
Enin tried to force his will past Baannat's. He pressed his own words into Linda's mind.
"You will not blame each other, Linda. You know that."
Baannat pressed Enin aside.
"Of course you will blame each other. You already do that. I can read your thoughts here, read your fears. You blame each other for everything. You actually blame him for being a delver, don't you?"
She wanted to deny it with all her heart. She wanted to scream "NO!" but she could not find a voice to speak.
"If he wasn't a delver, he wouldn't always put himself in danger. You wouldn't be here and he wouldn't have to save you. You actually hate him for what he is. Don't you find that amusing?"
There was nothing amusing about it to Enin. Once more he fought past the slink ghoul and entered Linda's thoughts.
"Everything he says is a lie. You are with Ryson because he is what he is. You know that. Even Baannat knows that. Ryson just wants to be with you, to save you and he will go through any pain to make it so."
"Isn't that wonderful for the delver, but what does it do for the woman?" Baannat demanded. "His pain will become her pain. We all know that. If he enters this place, he does so to remove his own guilt and make her pain that much worse."
"Don't listen to him. He's just trying to use Ryson against you."
"I don't have to use the delver against her. She does it all herself. If she could speak to the delver at this moment, what would she say? She would tell him to stay away. You know that's true, so do I... so does she. Yet, he will come here anyway. He wouldn't listen to her because it's her fault she's here."
"No, it's my fault!" Enin proclaimed. "And it's my fault Ryson will be here. Linda, that one thing must remain true to you.
"Go ahead, brother. Take all the blame. She already blames you for sending her to the mountains. She can't say it, but she knows it's true. You are projecting yourself into her consciousness. Search her thoughts. You will find the blame there."
Enin didn't dig for Linda's thoughts. He didn't have to. Baannat was right. Linda did blame Enin for sending her to the mountains. He forced them apart. Enin's intentions were honorable, but what did that matter?
Enin almost broke away from Linda, but beyond her superficial blame there was a deeper emotion, one of self torment. She blamed herself more than anyone. The wizard hung unto Linda's consc
iousness with all his might. He tried to breakthrough to her again, but her own torment prevented it.
Images and memories swirled in Linda's thoughts. She recalled the journey with Ryson to the mountains. Ryson gave her another chance. He said they should run off, but she refused. She agreed to Enin's suggestion of separation, a separation that would bring them together in Baannat's realm, and then tear them apart.
Her mind reeled. Baannat was right. Ryson would blame her, and she in return would blame him. Her pain grew.
#
"I need help, Lief, and I think you're the one I need to talk to."
The apparition did not smile or frown. The spirit of Lief Woodson simply looked at Ryson expectantly, waiting for the delver to move down the right path.
"They took Linda," Ryson explained, "or are you already aware of that?"
"I'm aware of it."
"The caelifera, they took her to Baannat, didn't they?
"Yes, she's with Baannat, but she's not alone. She is with Enin."
A ray of hope.
"Is he protecting her? Can he save her?"
"No, to both questions. He is unable to do either. He has separated himself from the magical energies that give him power. He is as trapped as she is."
And just like that, the hope died.
"In the dark realm?"
"No... and yes. Their bodies remain in the dark realm, but their awareness—their very essence—is now in a completely new state of existence. It is not life or death... or even in the veil between. It is a place outside the reach of both."
More than hope was dying. Ryson worried Linda was now completely out of his reach as well.
"Can I get there... to her I mean... wherever she is?"
"The path remains open to you. Baannat wants you to enter. He's waiting for you."
Not a surprise. Dzeb warned him it was a trap. He didn't care then, and he didn't care now. He only cared about getting to Linda. Lief was telling him that was possible, but he also wanted to get her back to safety.
