The Conquering Dark: Crown

by Clay Griffith Susan Griffith

  “When that crazy old man shows up here, we’ll be ready,” Charlotte assured him.

  Malcolm wondered if she truly understood what was happening. Their world was on the brink of annihilation, and she behaved like it was a day at the beach. It was that sort of recklessness that made him worry for her safety. She could be strong and quick, but she didn’t understand the ruthless complexity of the world. One day she would.

  That was a day he never wanted to face.

  Charlotte regarded her friend behind her. “Mr. Simon’s ever so clever. He’ll make sure Gaios won’t hurt anyone.” She rocked back on her heels in obvious devotion.

  Malcolm’s heart filled once more with dismay. “Gaios isn’t just some doddering warlock, Charlotte. He’s very dangerous.”

  Charlotte’s bright blue eyes rose to meet his. Those iridescent orbs seemed old beyond years. “I know that. Even Gretta spoke of him only in whispers.”

  That communicated leagues of Gaios’s mythical weight. Gretta Aldfather was a centuries-old lycanthrope and Charlotte’s past brutal mentor, a furious legend in her own right.

  Imogen pressed close to Charlotte. “We both know what he’s capable of, Malcolm. But we’ll stand together.”

  He nodded, his throat tight. Simon was right. There would be no sending them away even if it was for the best. When he spoke, it was deeper than usual. “Go down and get something to eat. Then off to bed with you both. We need you fresh and ready when the time comes.”

  Charlotte offered a smile that would melt solid ice and scampered off like an acrobat. Imogen moved slowly and carefully. He stared after them when Charlotte darted back to him. She tugged him down by his lapels, then stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek with an enthusiastic, “Good night!” She ran off again, grabbing Imogen’s hand and helping her along the tricky slope to the ladder sticking up though a gap in the roof.

  Drawing a hand across his cheek, Malcolm settled himself in their little nest of warm blankets and plush pillows, amused at their desire for simple comforts even for this small task. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was a picnic basket about somewhere to go along with it. He was tempted to look when his stomach growled. Utilizing Penny’s miraculous long-range scope on the rifle, he made a quick scan of the surrounding area. It appeared serene and still, despite the ravaged grounds. It remained that way for almost two hours.

  The sun was beginning to filter over the distant hillocks when the earth shook. Malcolm grabbed hold of the roof’s trembling edge and lifted the rifle. Gaios came riding atop a chunk of earth the size of a farmer’s cottage, pulled by what Malcolm could only call doglike golems. The creatures drew the chariot faster than a fleet coach, leaving a deep, rough furrow behind. Gaios was dressed in a long white garment with a crimson mantle over one shoulder similar to the toga of ancient Roman nobleman. His long white hair flowed in the wind like Zeus descending to Earth. Cowering next to him were Jane and her father.

  Malcolm sounded the alarm by slapping the back of his hands together. The temporary tattoos flared, as they would on everyone’s hands below, warning them of an incoming enemy. Malcolm lifted the rifle and took aim at Gaios. When the target rumbled into range, he squeezed the trigger. The shell was on target, but with a flick of his wrist, Gaios brought up a section of his stony chariot and deflected the shot.

  Malcolm heard footsteps as Simon came up quickly behind and crouched at his side. “We’re out of time, Simon. I hope we’re ready.”

  “We are,” was all Simon said.

  “He isn’t alone.” Malcolm’s voice held an edge. “Jane Somerset and her father are with him.”

  “His lightning elemental?”

  “They are innocents in this. She won’t hurt anyone.” Malcolm paused before growling, “And I won’t hurt her.”

  “I’m not asking you to.” Regret touched Simon’s eyes. “But she may not be given that choice.”

  Malcolm knew he was right.

  “Let’s see what our guest wants,” Simon said, turning to head back down. “Penny’s on her way to take this position. And that poor woman down there will need to see a familiar face.”

  Malcolm set down the rifle in case Penny wanted to use it, and he followed Simon. By the time they stepped out through the wrecked front of Hartley Hall, everyone had taken up their prearranged positions around the mansion, arsenals at the ready. The two girls had barely slept, but still they both looked spry, their enhanced natures keeping them going far beyond any normal human.

  The land and air trembled. Gaios’s chariot tore through the grounds as the massive stone monsters dragged it closer. They roared some fifty yards from the portico and stopped in a cloud of dirt and crumbling rock. The beasts collapsed into dust so Gaios could stare down unhindered, his face a mask of rage. Mr. Somerset was held in a prison of hardened dirt that came up to his chest. He looked like a man caught in a nightmare. Jane was on the other side of the earth elemental, on her knees, encased in stone as well. Her pleading eyes were on her father.

  Malcolm saw pure red. Jane had believed in the goodness of Gaios. Guilt stabbed him, knowing he could have stopped this before it began.

  “Archer!” Gaios’s voice boomed down from his mount. “I know you have the Stone. I feel it. Give it to me or this man dies. Now.”

  “Please don’t hurt my father!” beseeched Jane, struggling to move. “Take me instead!”

  Simon’s attention never wavered from Gaios. “We’ve danced this waltz already if I remember.”

  “He will die and you will be the cause!” shouted Gaios. The ground shook violently and everyone struggled to stay on their feet. Mr. Somerset screamed in pain with the stone prison twisting around him. “And when he is dead, I will reach out my hand and kill anyone within my power. And I will keep killing until you bring me the Stone. How much blood do you want on your conscience, Archer?”

  All eyes turned to Simon. He paused for a second before his breath left in a defeated rush. “All right. I’ll bring the Stone.”

  “If you cross me,” Gaios warned.

  “You will release those two in return for the Stone.”

  “Don’t dictate terms to me! Bring it!”

  Nick stood at the door and he took Simon’s arm. He leaned close. “Are you thinking? If you give it to him, he’ll kill millions. Including us.”

  Malcolm rushed back to them, his fists clenched. “Shut up, Barker! Would you condemn those two up there? They have nothing to do with this.”

  Nick didn’t flinch at Malcolm’s bluster. “Hardly. She’s the key to Gaios’s scheme. And better those two die than everyone else.”

  The ground heaved violently and the loose stones around Gaios rose slowly into the air, lifted with the man’s mounting rage. “His life is measured in seconds, Archer!”

  “No,” cried Jane to Gaios. “I beg you.”

  “I’ll bring the Stone, Gaios.” Simon turned back to the door. “Stand aside, Nick.”

  Nick hesitated. Then with a curse, he stepped aside. “Simon, you’re too good for the bad business we’re in.”

  Malcolm cast Nick a scathing glare as Simon swept into the house, but Nick didn’t even look at him. Malcolm strode down from the portico and shouted up at Jane. “Don’t worry. You and your father will be fine.” He then glared at Gaios. “If you dare hurt them, I swear to you, I will kill you.”

  Gaios’s gaze didn’t shift. He had greater things in his vision. Malcolm was not even a bothersome insect beneath the demigod’s foot.

  When Simon appeared in the doorway, he held the bone of contention in his arms. Nick watched him pass, hauling the heavy Stone down the steps of the portico. Gaios stared eagerly as Simon walked away from the safety of the house. The huge block of stone that served as Gaios’s chariot split open into a staircase in the front and the elemental walked down.

  Simon stopped a few yards away. “Free your prisoners.”

  Without removing his attention from the Stone of Scone, the demigod waved
a hand and the earth prisons around Jane and Mr. Somerset crumbled. Jane caught her father. The elderly man was so overwhelmed he could barely speak and what did pass his lips was unintelligible. Jane spoke soothingly to him as she led him to the edge of the high stone platform and they came slowly down the steps. Gaios reached out an arm and prevented them from passing.

  “Let them go,” Simon demanded.

  “When I am done with them. Don’t vex me. You are outside your safe house now.” Gaios pointed to the ground at his feet and gave Simon a stern glare. Simon stepped forward and set the Stone down. He then took a step back where he stood waiting.

  “Miss Somerset,” Gaios commanded, “come here.”

  She flinched at Gaios’s hard tone. She left her father leaning against the rock, apparently unaware of anything. She obeyed with her back straight despite her fear.

  “Bring your lightning to bear on the Stone. Seed it as I taught you to do to the earth.”

  “You lied about everything.” The muscles in Jane’s clenched jaw twitched.

  “I didn’t lie about your power. If they knew, they would fear you.”

  “You should as well.” Her eyes sparked with an unearthly light.

  Gaios smiled at her as if she were an angry infant and glanced menacingly back at her father.

  “Stop!” The light faded from Jane’s eyes and she put out her hands. “I’ll do it! Please don’t hurt him.”

  Simon took a step forward, but Gaios looked up and the ground shook with a warning rumble.

  Jane lifted her hands over the Stone. Her red-rimmed eyes searched for Malcolm. Anguish was written on her face. Her lips moved as if she was praying. Tendrils of light coiled around her hands as she held them out. Small at first, they began to build, growing brighter and larger. They crawled from her hand onto the Stone in cascading arcs of electricity. Even Gaios stepped back, with an arm thrown up against the lightning bolts that roared around her. Daylight faded into night as dark clouds billowed to engulf the sky above them. A rumble of thunder sounded. The Stone glowed unnaturally as lightning spread over its craggy surface.

  Jane slumped as the electricity faded from her hands. She staggered back as the rush of energy left her. Reaching out for her father, she lifted her head at Gaios. “I’ve done as you asked. Please let us go.”

  Gaios studied the Stone closely with a wild grin on his face. “Your father may go. You stay until I am finished here.”

  Hogarth ran up to help. The manservant gently relieved Jane of the burden of her father. Jane’s expression was filled with disgrace and regret. Tears fell from her eyes in silent sorrow. Hogarth whispered comforting words to her as he hefted the frail man into his arms and started for the house.

  Gaios dropped to his knees next to the Stone. He held his hands over the grey surface as if warming them over a fire. He laughed. “Thank you, Archer. Finally the world will be set right. It is time for Ash to pay.”

  He slapped his palms against the Stone and there was an explosion. The grey lump of rock and the elemental clutching it disappeared in a flash of white. Great arcs of lightning flared into the sky and ground. All the power that Jane had sent into the Stone now roared out. Simon had runed it to resist enhancement. He felt blistering heat and a tremendous force blasting him back. But his aether-driven strength rooted him to the spot near the Stone. He saw the figure of Jane cast away in the eruption. She had an almost comical look of surprise on her face, but the lightning could cause her no pain.

  Gaios screamed and tried to keep his grip on the Stone. The incredible power surging out finally ripped him free as well and hurled him back against the jagged surface of his huge rock chariot and he lay smoldering in the dirt. The burning ozone cracked into the atmosphere and left the ground around the Stone scorched and dry.

  Now was his chance. Simon leapt for Gaios. The elemental moved slightly, stunned and barely conscious. Simon raised his left hand to press the powerful rune against the old man’s bare face. His arm jerked to the side with horrible force. He caught a glimpse of a monstrous face, a combination of beast and stone leaking red magma from its crevices. Massive jaws clamped around his forearm. It was one of the doglike stone golems that had pulled Gaios’s chariot. It had appeared out of the ground in an instant to protect its master. The creature shook Simon wildly, threatening to tear his arm from the socket. With a guttural growl, it tossed its jagged head and sent Simon sailing toward the house.

  Simon hit the dirt and rolled, holding his singed arm close to his body. He came up on his feet and whirled to face back in the direction of Gaios. The two monstrous dogs stood beside their fallen master. Their huge heads were held low and massive shoulders bunched some ten feet above the ground. Burning stone drizzled from their mouths.

  Malcolm raced out for Jane, who was moaning where she had been thrown many yards from the Stone. He reached her and lifted the dazed woman to her feet, helping her back toward the house. One of the dogs turned its head toward him and started into a rumbling lope. Malcolm scooped Jane up and kept running, but the beast came on fast.

  A large shape sped past Malcolm in the opposite direction and Charlotte bounded into the air, lunging at the charging monster. The werewolf landed on its snout, knocking the stone head down, causing it to stumble. Malcolm vaulted up onto the portico with Jane in his arms.

  Charlotte cried out in pain and leapt into the air from the monster’s head. She trailed smoke and her fur showed red singe lines from the lava secretions. She fell heavily and rolled in the dirt to smother the flames.

  The huge dog turned toward her with steam boiling from its nostrils. It opened its mouth to reveal that instead of teeth, both the upper and lower surfaces were covered in long jagged stalactites. Charlotte struggled up awkwardly onto her feet despite the agonizing burns.

  A high arcing object spiraled in from the sky with a long smoke trail behind it. The beast glanced up at it, then its head exploded. Penny whooped in excitement from the roof of Hartley Hall and loaded another canister into her blunderbuss. The decapitated stone dog spewed streams of magma from its throat. Charlotte yelped in fear and scrambled away from the moving fountain of lava that wandered in a circle.

  When the first dog had gone for Malcolm and Jane, the second had immediately lunged for Simon. Before the scribe could react, a small object whizzed past his ear and black treacle blossomed at the monster dog’s feet. t halted, trying to pull free. Kate appeared at Simon’s side, watching the immobile beast with some pride. Then the monster began to regurgitate magma from its mouth onto the ground around it.

  Nick raised his hands and immediately the great hound began to sizzle. Steam poured off the monster and it shook its head, looking around for the source of the disturbance. It ripped a huge stone paw from the burning treacle. Nick grunted and redoubled his efforts. Soon a slight sheen of ice began to appear over the creature. It started to boil in a frothy black-and-yellow amalgam. Cooling black bubbles formed on its back. Still Nick fought on and the ice on the steaming monster grew thicker. The bright lava glowed under the thick frosty layer, deteriorating the ice from every angle. Brittle fractures crackled across the stone. Magma oozed from the fissures and dripped down the dog’s sides.

  Simon ran forward. The monstrous golem turned slowly to face him, creaking like bronze. Simon shouted an ancient word and slammed himself against the head. He strained, glowing green with the aether of his tattoos. The muscles of his arms were bulging cords. The beast fought, struggling to free itself again. Simon arched his back and wrenched the igneous head in the opposite direction. Rock ruptured with a groaning crack and the monster split open. Lava gushed out. Simon ran to escape the spreading pool of magma, which Nick fought to cool quickly.

  Then, over the remnant of the canine golem, Simon saw Gaios rise to his feet. The elemental’s eyes were clear now and filled with hate. The earth trembled.

  “Everyone back!” Simon yelled. There was no chance at Gaios now. The only tactic was retreat and survive. Simon mo
ved back slowly, holding the elemental’s attention. He then felt Kate at his side. He snapped at her, “Aren’t you part of everyone?”

  “No.”

  Gaios bellowed at Simon, “What did you do?” The ground heaved violently with his rage. Dead trees began to roll with the undulating earth.

  Simon faced the wrathful demigod. “Just a little magic trick. I rendered the stone inert.”

  The ground rushed toward them in a wave. Simon and Kate were flung into the air like insects off a twig. The thunderous wave of earth crashed near Hartley Hall and the once-grand estate shook. Another section of the roof collapsed and what was left of an upper wall toppled. Fissures appeared in the ground near Simon and Kate, separating them from the house.

  Malcolm stepped out onto the wrecked portico. “Jump!”

  Simon didn’t see any place to jump as the crack widened into a crevasse. Suddenly the air turned an ocher color in front of him. It solidified into a chunk of amber that provided solid footing over the widening crack. Simon grabbed Kate and leapt the distance to the rock.

  Gaios waved his hand toward them and the scrap of land shifted again, the amber careening with it. As they were being dragged farther away from safety, Simon whispered strength into his limbs, then lifted Kate and tossed her toward the house. She fell on the edge of the growing canyon where Malcolm seized her and pulled her up. From the roof above, Penny fired her cannon. The explosive shell impacted in front of the demigod on a wall of rock he hastily raised. It delayed Gaios long enough for Simon to make a frantic leap. His feet hit the rim of the crevasse and he found multiple hands ready to drag him forward.

  “Inside!” Simon shouted.

  Kate tried to stay upright on the undulating steps. She practically crawled into the house with Simon and Malcolm following after.

  The house shuddered and shifted. Malcolm’s stomach turned as if the great house were suddenly lifted and dropped, then lifted again. The sounds of glass shattering and wood breaking came from all around them. He heard Jane’s fearful cries. Even Charlotte and Imogen screamed. An internal gas line ruptured and a geyser of flame roared from the wall. Nick shoved clear of Jane and her father, and flung out his arms. The flames veered toward him. He directed the deadly fire out through the roof.