Scion’s Sacrifice

by R. Michael Card

  “Straight to the Blacklord, yes,” Wyllea said.

  “Still,” Tirol said taking several steps over to the edge of the pool of lava. He seemed to be getting a sense for the fiery liquid and the few stepping stone across the lake of molten rock. “We’re mostly in one piece and haven’t strained ourselves too much.”

  The lava jumped up and attacked Tirol.

  It was only the man’s incredible agility which saved him and the fact that he’d been looking intently at the lake of fire. Tirol leapt to the side in a dive-roll and came up running.

  “Don’t get too close to the walls.” Davar reminded them all as Tirol came to a quick halt several feet away from the rough stone. The small man turned back, swords out and ready.

  “What’s that?” he called pointing to a shape emerging from the lava.

  But Davar had no clue. This was new.

  The shape took form, roughly that of a man with two arms and two legs, and seemed to be made of the molten rock. It had no head and the arms and legs were thick, two feet in diameter. The whole monstrosity was over ten feet tall, nearly as high as the low ceiling in this room.

  Even as it emerged fully and came to stand on the rocky shore, dripping fiery liquid rock, two more began crawling from the lava as well… and the stepping-stones all began sinking into the lake. There would be no way across but flying at this point.

  “They’re beings of earth and fire!” Cass called out. She must have used her abilities to assess their makeup. Davar kicked himself and did the same, using all of his talents to give these new monsters a once over.

  They were indeed as Cass said. Made of spirit and body, fire and earth, they were yet another demonstration of the Blacklord’s power. Combining opposing elements like that was not easy.

  “What do we do?” Senia asked.

  “I don’t know. These are new. Kill them however we can.”

  Arrows began peppering one of them only to burst into flames and fall away. “This isn’t working!” Wyllea’s voice was a pitch too high, strained. The three lava creatures were pushing forward as even more climbed from the lake. There was precious little room left for the allies, especially if they couldn’t get close to the walls.

  Senia stepped forward as flames blazed to life on Emberthorn, but every slash she took at the giants seemed to do little damage, her fire only adding to their own. She stepped back. “We need to get out of here.”

  Davar agreed.

  “I can’t rip them apart like I did with the stone giants,” Cass yelled. “They’re more fire than rock, and I’m not as strong in spirit.

  That was it.

  “Senia, don’t attack them, use your spirit talent to hold them, stop them. If they are mostly fire, you should be able to affect them.”

  The willowy young woman threw her hands out in front of her, an intense look of concentration on her face.

  The monsters stopped.

  “I can’t force them back,” Senia said through gritted teeth. “They may be mostly fire, but there’s enough earth in them for them to resist me as well. Stopping them is the best I can do.”

  “It’ll do.” Wyllea plucked Tirol up and flew over the burning forms. If they’d been able to move their arms, they could have bashed at her, so low was the ceiling of this long room. Wyllea flew as fast as she could to the far side, setting Tirol down, then returning with all haste.

  “I can feel something or someone opposing me,” Senia said. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold these things.”

  “Cass, can you teleport us across? It’s not that far.” Davar called out.

  “Yes, everyone join hands.”

  They all met up around Senia. Touching her as she kept the lava forms as bay.

  Then in an instant, everything shifted and they were on the far side of the long chamber.

  Tirol was shouting at them, pointing at more of the things crawling out of the lava on this end.

  The way out of this chamber was a shaft directly upward for several hundred feet. Wyllea or Davar would have to ferry them all up, and they didn’t have time for that.

  “Join us!” Cass called out, and Tirol didn’t need any more incentive, he was already there with them.

  Davar, Cass spoke into his mind, I need to know what the landing up above us looks like now!

  He sent here a mental image of the antechamber they would arrive in. Then the lava chamber vanished and that’s where they were.

  Cass cried out from the exertion and collapsed to the floor, tremors wracking her body.

  Davar knelt next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder, checking her eyes. She was staring off into space, mouth slightly agape, shudder after shudder wracking her body, unresponsive. He focused inward, using his talents to assess her and find out what was wrong. He wasn’t the healer she was, but he could try.

  He tried with mind first, as that was one of his strongest talents. Yet as soon as his mind touched hers, it reeled back as if struck. He’d gotten only a glimpse of the chaos within her. Thoughts jumbled together in a cacophony of images and sounds playing over one another.

  Next, he tried his earth talent to feel through her body and instantly found the problem. She was exhausted. That made sense, he should have realized that. Two teleports back to back, even at such short range would drain her. He funneled earth-energy into her, but he soon had to reign in the transfer. Her body was so fatigued it acted like a sponge, sucking the energy from him faster and faster. Even after only a moment of this, he had to stop or he too would be drained as much as she. Yet it wasn’t that easy to cut the flow and took a near inhuman level of power to finally break the connection.

  He grunted and sat back heavily, but he saw Cass blink and stop shaking, gasping in air. He’d overextended himself, but she was alive and no longer thrashing about. It was worth it.

  After several gulps of air, Cass finally looked around. Her gaze met Davar’s and a tear slipped from her eyes.

  “You shouldn’t have done that. Now we’re both nearly drained.”

  “I had to do something. You were dying. Your body was consuming itself.”

  “We’re all alive, that’s what matters,” Tirol said. “All of us have to face the Blacklord, remember.”

  Wyllea spoke up. “But it looks like it’s coming at too high a price. If we’re this exhausted, do we even have a chance against him? He’s still fresh.”

  Davar dug into his reserves of strength, as shallow as they might be at the moment and pushed himself to stand. “It will be enough because it must be enough.”

  Ahrn knelt next to Cass, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.” He looked up at Senia then. Cass had saved them all.

  Cass raised a hand and waved at him before the hand fell back to the rocky floor. “Anytime.” Davar could tell she was trying to be light about this, but the toll it had taken on her was clear.

  Do you need more energy? Starsong asked.

  Yes, how much can you give?

  The usually cheery voice grew somber for a moment. How’s this? Energy flooded into Davar and he channeled it into his earth talent, feeling his body renew itself.

  Thanks.

  Perhaps we can rest a bit before we go on? That was a lot of spirit I just gave you. I might only have one more like that left in me.

  I don’t think we can rest. Not here.

  Starsong gave the impression of a nod.

  Even with the infusion of energy, Davar still felt tired and worn. The others looked similarly as exhausted, but time was drawing short and they had to move on.

  Cass especially looked haggard, working to drag herself to her feet. It looked like they’d all be fighting fatigue as much as the Blacklord.

  But there was little choice.

  “Let’s go,” Davar said.

  At the far side of this antechamber was a door. It was a false door, opening it would reveal only a great pit filled with razor spikes and a sucking wind to draw you in.

  The real door was in the r
ough stone wall beside the fake door. Davar found the secret spot to push and the wall swung inward.

  Beyond was the Blacklord’s throne room.

  Starsong was still blazing bright and the room, though massive, was mostly illuminated. A great expanse of black floor led to several steps. Atop the final dais was a great chair of blackened bones and in it was a shriveled man in black robes, his skin drawn tight over a shrunken skeleton, with barely any flesh or muscle. The skin itself looked charred and scarred, desiccated and half decomposed. His eyes were empty black sockets, his teeth gone. There was a soft scraping-slapping sound echoing through the room to meet them.

  The Blacklord was clapping.

  Chapter 24

  “Bravo!” he called out in a rich, commanding voice belying his physical appearance. “I had hoped some of you might survive my trials so I might play with you myself. Well done!”

  “He’ll only deceive and betray. Trust nothing he says and remember to be wary for the final guards,” Davar hissed.

  Scanning the room, Davar couldn’t see either of the two demonic guards. These were the pinnacles of the Blacklord’s work, animating raw elements to protect him. Both constructs had been created and imbued with all four elements and talents. Their bodies were stone and could regenerate and heal themselves like someone with the earth talent. Their eyes burned with red flames and liquid fire — like a physical manifestation of their spirit — flowed through the stone like blood. Their wings were made of air and their speed was like the wind. More, they had cunning minds capable of intricate thought and deduction. Their souls radiated with despair and hopelessness and it manifested physically as a miasma which wept from their joints and gaping mouth. One breath could dishearten the most stalwart of foes. Finally, they could cloak themselves in shadow or reveal themselves in blinding light. They were the masterwork of all the Blacklord’s creations.

  “What have they done to you, my son?” The Blacklord called across the great room. There was a mixture of curiosity and mock dismay in the resonant yet rasping voice. “I can’t sense you. Your mind is blocked to me, your spirit protected, your soul entwined with your whore of a mother. Are you lost to me?”

  Davar did not deign to respond.

  The six of them stalked slowly into the room, ready and cautious. Starsong blazed a bit brighter and the far walls were revealed. The room was truly colossal in scale, perhaps five hundred feet across and twice that long. Wyllea took to the air, spinning slowly, arrow notched.

  “And you brought me a pair of scion beauties as well as your multi-talent lover. I shall enjoy breaking them as I did your mother. You’ve even started a child for me. Corrupting the unborn is one of my favorite past-times.”

  Davar shuddered. Unbidden, one of the memories of his distant past — or perhaps it wasn’t his memory at all, but his mother’s — came to mind. It wasn’t an image so much as a mixture of sensations, intense pain and sorrow, and over it all was the gleeful cackling of the Blacklord. Davar knew exactly how much the Blacklord loved to corrupt and defile babies, even those as yet unborn. It was a truly horrid thought.

  “Chatty isn’t he,” Tirol said.

  “Ignore him and watch for the guards,” Davar warned. Yet they were nowhere to be seen. That meant that they were cloaking themselves in shadow and invisible. They could be anywhere.

  “Cass,” Davar said softly. “These things reek of a rotten soul. Can you sense them?”

  She paused in her slow pacing forward and looked around. “Yes. They’re waiting, unmoving… over there.” She pointed.

  “Oh!” The Blacklord cried in feigned terror. “Oh no, did you find my pets? Very well, then I will let you play with them.”

  And they appeared. Towering monstrosities of evil.

  “Gods!” Wyllea breathed and immediately began filling one with arrows. It didn’t seem to notice.

  “Entertain me!” the Blacklord shouted gleefully.

  The two abominations moved with incredible speed, one flying up to Wyllea, the other charging in at the rest. Davar hoped Wyllea could deal with hers and concentrated on the one before him. It spun, one translucent wing of air knocking Cass down, sending her sliding across the floor.

  Davar’s heart lurched, but he knew Cass could take a hit or two and he didn’t have time to think about it now. The creature completed its spin with a rake of its claws at Davar. Davar blocked with Starsong and spun into the creature, knowing proximity would be a hindrance to the larger foe. He sliced into the thing’s leg and it bled lava, but the wound did not hinder it.

  It kicked at Davar.

  He blocked the blow with Starsong, but the force of it sent him tumbling backward.

  He was up quickly, but the demon had moved on to attacking Tirol who was doing an amazing job at blocking slash after slash with his dual blades. That was until the creature completely sliced through one of Tirol’s blades, severing it just above the guard. The next swipe was blocked by Tirol’s other sword, but he could only block one at a time now and the creature’s other hand followed quickly.

  Senia not only blocked the blow aimed for Tirol, but Emberthorn cut cleanly through the abomination’s wrist.

  The creation flailed wildly, the opened arm now gushing lava and black smoke that sprayed over Senia who screamed and staggered back.

  Tirol stood stunned for a moment, staring at Senia, but the demon wasn’t long distracted and came for the rogue once more.

  Davar was up and moving. He stepped in the way of the attack, blocking the oozing wrist with Starsong. A wash of burning stone splashed over him as well as a wave of heart-tearing despair.

  The force of the blow knocked him back several steps. The liquid fire on his face and torso seared away skin and ate at bone, but Davar felt no pain. He pushed his spirit and body talents: the fire to burn away the lava in a rush of flame and the earth talent to heal and remake his body.

  Davar stalked back in and took a quick assessment of the situation as he did. The Blacklord sat on this throne laughing. Wyllea was using her incredible speed and agility in flight to dodge the one creature that pursued her. Tirol was doing the same on the ground, tumbling with incredible coordination to avoid the blows from the one relentless going after him. The rogue was evading most of the attacks, blocking some with this remaining sword but he’d soon have his back to a wall and be able to go no further. Cass was healing Senia, though both women looked strained. Ahrn was… nowhere to be seen and Davar didn’t have time to look.

  Davar charged. As he did, he sent a thought to Cass. I don’t know how much strength you have left, but do you think you can rip these things apart like you did with the stone giants earlier?

  I don’t know. I can try.

  Please do. I’m too busy trying to keep myself and everyone else alive.

  Davar ran up behind the demon and, leaping, sliced deep into its back in a long scoring hit across the top of its shoulders. Again, there was no reaction, only the ooze of lava. It clapped its wings together in a torrent of wind behind it and buffeted Davar out of the air. He only just managed to land on his feet, his head spinning, vision blurred from the force of the blow. That gave the thing time to lash out backward with a leg and once again send him flying across the room.

  He rose, forcing his body to heal the many cracked and fractured bones, then leapt back at it. It had Tirol against the wall now, its last slash with its claws rending the stone of the wall itself as Tirol ducked and tried to roll underneath it. It was too quick for that and before Davar could reach it, it slammed its legs together, catching one of Tirol’s legs, completely crushing it. The man screamed, trapped.

  The abomination released him, turning nimbly and lifting a leg to stomp on Tirol and finish him.

  Davar added a great gust of wind to his flying leap and slid Starsong home in its chest, hitting with all the force he could, trying to knock it off balance or at least backward.

  He succeeded only in stalling the deathblow on Tirol as the creature’s forwar
d momentum was halted, not knocked back.

  Cass must have used her earth talent to lift the stone under the creature’s feet. That finally sent it off balance, falling backward. Davar pulled Starsong free, leaping away as the demon crashed into the wall.

  Tirol was trying to crawl away, shattered leg dragging behind him. Davar had to give the man credit, for someone who couldn’t block pain he was handling the injury admirably.

  The creature recovered quickly pushing itself off from the wall with its wings. It bellowed a cloud of noxious gas at Davar that ate at his soul. Soul wasn’t his strong suit, but he’d learned a lot from Cass, and he fortified himself. He managed to not fall prey to the fear and hopelessness. However, that had only been a distraction.

  Davar managed to only just get Starsong up in time to block the massive clawed hand raking at him. He surged his earth talent, not wanting to be knocked away yet again and instead was only pushed back a few feet by the great strength behind the attack. But that few feet made all the difference.

  The demon was now within stomping distance of Tirol. It lifted a foot to crush the man and Davar did the first thing that came to mind, he threw himself down over Tirol as the creature’s foot fell. He reinforced his bones and muscles to their max, managing to stop the great stone foot from crushing him and the man under him.

  He was nearly tapped out of earth-magic, but with one last great effort heaved upward, hoping to throw the abomination off balance again, but it simply lifted its foot and remained standing.

  Davar spun and thrust Starsong up into the bottom of the thing’s foot.

  I have an idea! Starsong said.

  You don’t need to tell me, just do it!

  The demon’s foot exploded in a great blast of light. Davar turned and covered Tirol, feeling the searing lava pour over his back.

  “I have it!” he heard Cass cry out and a moment later, another great explosion rocked the room.