Nightfall

by Den Patrick

  ‘I can’t believe how much they’ve grown,’ said Steiner, breaking his silence at last.

  Nor how much pain they have endured, added Silverdust.

  ‘Where is Namarii?’ said Kimi. Stonvind craned his neck until he was eye to eye with her.

  Hello, Kimi Enkhtuya. Are you yourself again, or are you still under the influence of the Ashen Blade?

  ‘I am myself again,’ replied Kimi, her guilt a horrible sickness. ‘Where is Namarii?’ she asked again.

  It seems you had quite an effect on him. Stonvind blinked his huge eyes and lay down. Kimi could almost feel the exhaustion emanating from the vast creature. Namarii rescued me from the talons of a young dragon, but in doing so he sacrificed himself.

  ‘No. Surely he’s still out there – wounded, perhaps, but not dead.’

  Streig swore quietly.

  You often discussed the concept of friendship with Namarii and it troubled him deeply. Dragons are not well disposed to think of others. Our very nature, all our thoughts, are bent towards domination and consumption. We live only for ourselves.

  ‘Did you even look for him?’ Kimi’s tone was accusatory. Tief and Taiga’s solemnity was replaced with a look of shock. Stonvind continued, unperturbed by the princess’ reply.

  But at the end, when Namarii came, I knew he came out of friendship. Not because he needed me to avenge himself on the Emperor, not because I was useful, but because of our friendship.

  ‘Frøya save me. He must have thought I abandoned him.’ Kimi’s face contorted with yet more guilt mingled with grief.

  It is miraculous to me that Namarii gave up his chance of killing Bittervinge so that he might intervene and save my life.

  ‘We’ll go out right now.’ Kimi turned away and addressed Streig. ‘We can find him. I need to tell him I’m sorry. The Ashen Blade …’ But Kimi couldn’t explain the awful power of the enchanted weapon, nor the intoxicating effect it had wrought on her. Tears tracked down her face and she shook with sobs.

  I am sorry, Kimi. Silverdust drifted forward and laid a gloved hand gently on her shoulder. He was a magnificent creature. But the princess flinched away, an angry look on her face. She pointed at Flodvind.

  ‘You! I demand you take me to Namarii.’

  He is gone. The blue dragon stretched her neck until her blunt snout was a few away from Kimi.

  ‘I demand you take me there.’

  He died knowing that you would kill Bittervinge, just as he died knowing he was saving Stonvind.

  ‘I can save him.’ She pulled the Ashen Torment from beneath her tunic. ‘I know it.’

  You cannot save Namarii from death. The Ashen Torment does not work like that. He has been dead many hours, and even if such a thing were possible it would be deeply unnatural.

  ‘Damn you!’ shouted Kimi. ‘Damn you all! I demand you take me to him!’

  I will take you to his corpse. Flodvind flared her wings. It is clear you need to see with your own eyes what you will not understand in words.

  Kimi slumped to her knees as her anger left her and the possibility of accepting Namarii’s death became real. Taiga and Tief held her tight through the storm of grief that followed.

  They had departed the rooftop in pairs and groups of three until Silverdust found himself alone. Hours passed by and the ancient cinderwraith decided he would watch the sun set on Khlystburg, ruined and broken as it was. The living were resting, coming to terms with the huge violence they had witnessed and partaken in, trying to find a way to justify and make peace with the swathes of death they had cut across the continent. Kjellrunn and Felgenhauer, related and yet strangers, were all but inseparable, while Tief and Taiga remained by Kimi’s side, all of them grieving for Namarii. Stonvind and Flodvind slept and kept their own counsel. Streig had decided to pursue a more practical course and had taken to looting the palace of anything that looked portable.

  And Volkan Karlov is finally dead. Silverdust would have wept had he been able to make tears. The stain of his hubris would forever mark Vinterkveld, but the Emperor’s reign of cruelty and deceit was at an end.

  ‘I thought you’d be up here,’ said Steiner from behind him. ‘Like that time on Vladibogdan, on the rooftops of the academy.’

  I remember it well. I revealed my true nature to you that night.

  ‘I never dreamed we’d find ourselves standing on this rooftop, just months later, having slain the Emperor.’

  Nor I. So much has changed and I am grateful to you, Steiner. You set this in motion. Your will, your determination, your refusal to back down even in the face of overwhelming odds.

  Steiner nodded but said nothing. Silverdust knew he heard the words, but his feelings were too bound up in grief for his father, his thoughts an endless roil of self-recrimination and frustration.

  You are still torturing yourself for Marek’s fate, yet you know that no one here blames you. You are a hero, Steiner.

  ‘Just not to myself.’ He looked away. ‘I wish Kristofine were here. Everything is better when Kristofine is beside me.’ He walked away, leaving Silverdust with the fading light and a great sadness. Suddenly he turned, his face caught in an expression of revelation. ‘In the catacombs, we spoke to my great-grandfather and my father.’

  We all did. I performed the summoning, but the ties of blood allowed you and Felgenhauer to converse with him.

  ‘Then it follows you could summon Volkan Karlov,’ said Steiner with a grim look of determination. ‘We could ask him how to destroy the Ashen Blades.’

  Steiner, what you are asking is no easy thing. There is no guarantee Volkan will surrender such knowledge to you.

  ‘But there’s a chance.’

  There is always a chance, but everything comes at a price with Volkan.

  ‘We have to try. We have to destroy the Ashen Blades.’

  Surely there must be some other way?

  ‘Then tell me, tell me how we destroy them?’ Steiner frowned with impatience.

  As you wish, but you will be hard pressed to convince the others.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Steiner

  All those years the rumours supposed that Veles was the ultimate authority on death magic, but Volkan Karlov had always thrived on secrecy. What came next should not have been a surprise for anyone.

  – From the memoir of Drakina Tveit, Lead Librarian of Midtenjord Province

  It seemed appropriate that they try and raise the dead at night, and the Imperial Court was the perfect venue, filled with stench of death and littered with corpses as it was.

  ‘Seeing the dead is one thing,’ said Streig to the cinderwraith, unaware Steiner was within earshot, ‘but conversing with them?’ The soldier shook his head and grimaced.

  Everyone who had fought against the Emperor had gathered for the grim ritual, though none spoke. Lanterns were held high in the gloom, illuminating weary faces and tired stares.

  ‘Are you sure about this?’ muttered Tief to Steiner.

  ‘It might be the only way to learn how to destroy the Ashen Blades,’ replied Steiner.

  ‘I understand that but it don’t seem right is all. I’m not a priestess but—’ Tief fell silent under Steiner’s unfriendly stare.

  Taiga and Kjellrunn stepped forward. Steiner couldn’t escape the feeling they were squaring up to each other, like knife fighters slowly circling their opponent.

  ‘Sundra would not approve of this,’ said Taiga in a quiet yet firm tone.

  ‘This is our only chance to rid ourselves of the blades,’ replied Kjellrunn. Their conversation was interrupted by the flutter of wings high above. As one the assembled people raised their lanterns and their glances to where the stars in the night sky stared down through the hole in the roof. The stars were not alone in witnessing the ritual to raise Volkan Karlov. Ink-black birds stared down with eyes of jet, almost invisible save for the quick, jerking motions of their heads. One of their number called out, its cry loud.

  ‘It seems you have Frejna�
��s attention,’ said Taiga. Her gaze fell to the ground at Kjellrunn’s feet, where two score cats patiently waited, eyes glittering in the lantern light. ‘And Frøya’s too.’

  ‘Let’s get on with it,’ muttered Steiner.

  ‘And when it’s done,’ said Streig, ‘we can burn this whole palace down and salt the earth.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Felgenhauer. Kjellrunn returned to her aunt’s side and slipped one arm around Felgenhauer’s waist, holding her steady. She was not the only one among them feeling weak after the battle. Silverdust had spent time reinvigorating himself, marshalling his powers for the morbid task ahead. Even by the standards of the arcane it was unusual.

  ‘Doesn’t seem right, using one ghost to raise another,’ grumbled Tief, before Taiga shushed him with a stern look.

  Let us begin, though the goddesses may not look kindly on us for doing so. The cinderwraith turned to Taiga. You have your holy weapons, I trust?

  Taiga nodded and took the silver dagger and sickle in each hand, a look of calm resolve upon her slender face.

  Silverdust held out a gloved hand and bowed his cowled head in concentration. The mirror mask reflected Volkan Karlov’s maimed and aged corpse. The man was barely recognizable in death. The Ashen Blade had reaped a cruel harvest on his corpse, sapping his youth just as he in turn had sapped the youth of so many. Several minutes passed and the lanterns were lowered to the floor to spare aching arms. Steiner was ready to give up when he noticed his breath steaming on the air.

  Slowly Silverdust raised his arms, gloved hands reached towards the night sky, fingers splayed. Steiner clutched the stone sledgehammer, out of habit more than anything – what use could it possibly be?

  Come back to us from Frejna’s realm, Volkan Karlov. We have questions for you.

  The corpse at Silverdust’s feet glowed with an amethyst light that shone through the cracks of Volkan Karlov’s shattered face, emanating from empty sockets. The crows had been busy, it seemed.

  Volkan Karlov, come back to us now, I command you.

  A crow descended from the ruined roof and alighted on Silverdust’s shoulder, making the already sinister form of the mirror-masked, black-clad cinderwraith more imposing still.

  Volkan!

  The corpse twitched and shook and the amethyst light grew brighter still.

  ‘He is resisting us,’ said Taiga. Her words stirred Silverdust’s frustration, and the cinderwraith lifted the corpse from the floor with an arcane gesture.

  You were formerly my student, Volkan, and I have questions.

  The corpse blazed, as if an amethyst fire burned from every inch of its skin.

  Gods damn you all, and you especially, Serebryanyy Pyli.

  The Emperor’s words sounded in Steiner’s mind as if coming from a great distance, with faint echoes chasing each word.

  Was my death not enough for you?

  I was damned by the Ashen Torment on Vladibogdan. As well you know. Damned to live a life without food, or drink, or friendship. Until recently.

  Spare me your whining, Serebryanyy. I would rather return to the punishments Frejna has devised for me in the afterlife.

  ‘We have questions,’ said Steiner, stepping closer to the amethyst light. The spirit of Volkan Karlov turned his face, still whole, with the high forehead and piercing eyes Steiner remembered.

  You have no power over me. What can you threaten me with? I am already dead and in a place of such suffering that you cannot begin to imagine.

  ‘I will petition my goddess to release you from your torment,’ said Kjellrunn, ‘but only after you have told us how to destroy the Ashen Blades.’

  Ah, the Stormtide Prophet. The girl who helped plunge an Ashen Blade into my very skull. What a hero you are.

  He sneered. ‘You can accept her offer or we can send you back this instant,’ said Steiner. ‘Back to your tortures.’

  The spirit of Volkan Karlov bowed his head. After a moment he raised one arm and pointed at Steiner’s petrified sledgehammer.

  You have everything you need.

  ‘But it’s ruined,’ said Steiner. ‘It will break apart with a single swing.’

  ‘How can we trust you after decades of deceit and lies?’ said Felgenhauer.

  Trust? Of course you can’t. But what other choice do you have, Nika?

  Silverdust was tiring. Summoning the dead was no easy thing. He regarded the glowing amethyst light and marvelled that, for once, Volkan Karlov was telling the truth. Death had stripped him of his arcane defences, just as Frejna had stripped Felgenhauer of hers. The Emperor’s mind, always a fortress against the mind-reading abilities of Academy Vozdukha, was now laid bare. He was desperate and afraid, yet a mote of arrogance remained, even now.

  And how will this petition work? How will you wrest my soul from Frejna? Surely this task is beyond even her favoured prophet?

  ‘I made no promises,’ replied Kjellrunn. ‘Only that I would pray to Frejna for your release.’

  The crows on the rafters above called out, a shocking and discordant choir of outrage. Their coarse voices filled the night until one by one they became silent and brooding once more. Every bird stared with undisguised hate in their jet-black eyes. The spirit of Volkan Karlov smiled.

  It was foolish to think she would release me after everything I have done to her and her precious Spriggani.

  ‘Let’s end this,’ said Steiner, glowering at the apparition. ‘We’ll find out soon enough if he’s telling the truth.’

  We must take him at his word. Steiner’s sledgehammer will unmake the Ashen Blades.

  Silverdust tried to end the connection to Frejna’s realm, desperate to cancel the summoning. The amethyst spirit knelt down and reached into the very ground with insubstantial hands and bowed his head.

  ‘What is he doing?’ shouted Taiga. ‘End this. End this now!’

  I am trying but he is keeping the connection open!

  Volkan Karlov looked up with a smirk fixed firmly on his face.

  Goodbye, Serebryanyy.

  The spirit of the Emperor exploded outwards in a wave of amethyst light that passed through everyone present. The sphere of illumination became ever larger, rolling onwards until it passed, phantom-like, through the walls of the palace itself.

  Tief swore in Spriggani before saying, ‘I told you this wasn’t right.’

  Did the light harm any of you? enquired Silverdust. Everyone checked themselves over but none found evidence of physical harm.

  ‘Perhaps it’s a curse,’ said Felgenhauer.

  ‘It is a curse,’ said Steiner, his voice rusty with grief. He stood up and retrieved his sledgehammer from the floor, struggling under the weight of the stone weapon. ‘But it’s not a curse on the living.’

  Silverdust followed the direction of Steiner’s gaze. The burnt bodies littering the Imperial Court were slowly climbing to their knees. Many simply tore themselves apart with the effort of standing, but some lurched to their feet.

  ‘Gholes,’ hissed Tief. ‘He cursed us with gholes.’ The crows flapped their wings in agitation and the entourage of cats at Kjellrunn’s feet fled.

  ‘We destroyed them in Izhoria!’ Taiga held out the silver dagger and sickle of the goddess. ‘And in Frøya’s name we will destroy them here.’

  ‘Form up in a circle!’ shouted Kimi.

  ‘Kjellrunn!’ Felgenhauer’s face was pale in the lantern light, her skin waxy. ‘My powers …’

  ‘Stay close to me,’ replied Kjellrunn. ‘Streig! Guard my aunt!’ The young soldier nodded and took up position.

  ‘There must be two dozen of the bastards,’ said Tief as more of the corpses rose to their feet.

  ‘That’s around four each,’ replied Kimi, ‘and we’ve all faced worse odds than that.’

  Silverdust launched a lance of arcane fire across the room, taking one of the gholes down in the blink of an eye. Steiner, are you sure you can wield that weapon now that it has been petrified?

  The gholes came at them
from all sides, bodies bent low, arms held out wide with fingers crooked into bony claws. Steiner stepped forward and swung with a war cry containing all of his grief and all of his fury. The ghole before him simply disintegrated under the force of the blow, coming apart in a shower of bone fragments and blackened sinew.

  It seems I was wrong to doubt you. Silverdust surged forward and caught a ghole by the throat as white-hot arcane fire burned around his hand. The ghole shrieked and twisted, but its head came loose in moments as flesh and bone were immolated.

  ‘I am not dying like this,’ grunted Steiner as he heaved the much heavier sledgehammer around, breaking the forearms of the nearest ghole. The creature reared back and hissed, but Steiner slammed the shaft of the hammer into the ghole’s face, splitting the skull.

  ‘I knew it was a bad idea,’ muttered Taiga as the gholes charged towards her. Tief and Kimi stood either side of her, weapons drawn, faces focused for the battle to come. ‘Ready?’ shouted Taiga. She took a step forward and crossed the silver dagger and sickle above her head, releasing a wordless shout. The enchanted weapons chimed softly as they met and a brief aura of silver light illuminated them. The gholes, confronted by the weapons of the goddess Frøya, stumbled or hesitated. ‘Now!’ shouted Taiga. Kimi reached them first, hacking downward through a shoulder until her blade met the sternum and lodged fast. She planted a boot upon the creature’s chest and kicked the corpse free.

  ‘That’s one!’ she shouted back. Tief ducked under the slashing claws of the ghole attacking him, dropping to a crouch and slicing through the undead horror’s hamstrings with a wicked-looking short blade. The ghole fell to the floor and scrambled around, using its hands to pull itself towards Tief with a single-minded fury.

  ‘Hate these things,’ said Tief, drawing a longer blade. The ghole swiped at him, but Tief met the attack with his blade and removed the claw-like hand with a deft strike. ‘Hate. Hate. Hate,’ he repeated, stamping on the ghole’s head until it came apart on the tiled floor. The ghole stopped moving. ‘That’s two.’

  ‘Three!’ bellowed Kimi as she took another ghole under the chin with a powerful strike from her two-handed sword. ‘And four!’ The blade descended and smashed another ghole to the floor. It tried to stand but was quickly relieved of its head.