“Not just Alastarius’s power passed to me,” said Ally. “His memories, as well.”
Again Marugon’s cold mask quivered. “Indeed? Ah. That elusive renegade could not have taught you such skill. Else the spell I left upon the door would have crushed you, as I intended. So Alastarius’s Prophecy was true. He did return again. In you, Alastarius reborn. Damn him. Damn him! I slew him, yet his memory haunted me, and now he has been reborn to trouble me once more.”
“His memory gave me more than just skill,” said Ally. “I know the truth about you. The Marr’Ugaoun.”
Marugon flinched at the name.
“I know who you really are,” said Ally. “I know why you sought out a nuclear bomb. And I know why you’ve brought it here.”
Marugon’s laugh was cold and bitter. “Indeed? And I thought you fought against me for revenge. I thought Lithon’s guardians had some ridiculous scheme for restoring the High Kingdoms. So instead you have come to save the mortal worlds. How noble.”
“Yes,” said Ally. “Or, perhaps, to save you.”
Marugon frowned. “What?”
“There is no need for you to do this,” said Ally.
His cold laughter redoubled. “Indeed? I have labored all my life for this moment. Am I to stop now, so near the end, at the word of a stripling girl? Even if you do have the power of Alastarius, that is a foolish thing to ask.”
Arran gritted his teeth, his hands wrapping around the hilts of his Sacred Blades. Why did Ally not strike? He had no doubt that Marugon was playing some kind of game, planning treachery or trickery.
“You do not want this,” said Ally. Marugon opened his mouth to laugh again. But Ally cut him off. “They do. The children of the void. You hear them inside your skull, always commanding, always cajoling.”
Marugon’s jaw jerked. “You know nothing. Nothing!”
“I know the truth about you, Marugon, son of Adelemoch.” Marugon flinched. “The children of the void are inside your mind. They have driven you on, tormenting you, demanding that you free them.”
Marugon said something inarticulate.
“They want you to free them, but you have never been free of them,” said Ally.
Marugon looked beyond weary, exhaustion and despair ground into every line of his face and posture. “You could not possibly understand.”
“I can,” said Ally. “I had Alastarius in my mind…”
Marugon roared in fury. “You understand nothing! Alastarius was one old mortal man. Just one man, who loved you as his kin. The children of the void are without limit. What did you experience? A few dreams, some voices, a scattering of visions from time to time? Their voices are always in my skull, always, never stopping, never a moment of silence or rest, just rest.” His voice cracked. “Just rest. And I see them in my dreams. I cannot bear to sleep more than a few hours. I see them in the void, so many of them, so hungry, waiting for me to free them.” His voice dropped to a shaking whisper. “How I hate them. Even now, they are screaming at me, demanding that I slay you, commanding that I free them.”
“Then free yourself from them!” said Ally.
Marugon made sound halfway between a laugh and a sigh. “Alastarius said much the same thing. And he paid the price. Ah, how he paid.”
“But he was still right,” said Ally. “You can free yourself. It is still not too late.
Marugon shook his head. “I slew your adoptive family, I tried to slay you, and yet you still try to help me? How like Alastarius you are. How merciful, how foolish.” Something human seemed to come into his eyes, though sad and bitter. “No. No, there is no other way. I can never be free of them, save in one way.”
“The bomb,” said Ally. “But you will perish.”
“I care not,” said Marugon. “Perhaps it will destroy my flesh, free me of the weakness of this human body. Or perhaps it will annihilate my spirit and body both, give me blessed nothingness. No, granddaughter of Alastarius, you cannot understand. I would free myself, as Alastarius urged, if I could. But I cannot. This is the only way.”
Arran stared at the bomb. Its case stood open, a display of lights flashing. The lights were glowing numbers. He watched as the displayed flashed smaller and smaller numbers. Conmager had shown him a similar device in the barn…
The device was a timer. Conmager had used one on his bomb at the gate.
The nuclear bomb was counting down.
Arran drew his Sacred Blades. “It is a trick! He is stalling for time. The bomb is counting down.”
Ally looked at the bomb, and her eyes grew wide with alarm.
Marugon grinned. “Kindness was Alastarius’s great weakness.” Grief and mockery rolled off his words in equal measure. “As is yours, Ally Wester. You should have done as the Ghost wished.” He held up a metal key. “Perhaps then you could have obtained this, the thing that could have shut down the bomb.”
He spun and flung the key into the bottomless darkness of the nearby chasm.
Ally shook her head. “You despairing fool.”
“Stop it, if you can,” said Marugon, stepping before the bomb. “The last of the Wizards, the last King of the High Kingdoms, the last Knight, and the last of the Warlocks. So! Let us see who shall prevail.”
He spread his arms and shouted a word. The floor trembled, and a great mass of shadowy shapes broiled in the darkness behind the walls. Arran saw thousands upon thousands of children of the void begin to bulge up through the holes…
Ally raised her hands, her fingers flaring with white light. Marugon growled and turned to face her, his hands clenching into fists. Their faces trembled with strain, and Marugon shuddered and stepped back. A sheet of white light shimmered over the holes. The teeming children of the void vanished into the darkness.
“Do not think to summon aid,” said Ally, wiping sweat from her brow.
Marugon snarled another spell. Once more dark masses strained at the holes in the walls and the gashes in the floor. Ally’s fingers hooked into claws, her arms trembling. The white light over the holes shimmered, strained, and seemed to bulge…
Something huge and dark burst into the Chamber of the Great Seal. It hissed and reared up, taller than a large house, great wings of shadow looming up behind it. Shadows swirled about it like smoke, and Arran caught a glimpse of a gleaming, armored hide and claws like jagged swords. The nightmare snarled, turned its horn-crowned head back and forth, and took a step forward.
“A prince of the void!” said Ally. “One of the lesser ones, its powers limited by the Great Seal, but still a prince of the void.”
“Slay her!” said Marugon. The gigantic voidspawn lurched forward.
“Arran. Keep it away from me.” Ally’s eyelids fluttered, and she began to glow with a gentle light. Shadows swirled around Marugon, seeming to armor him in darkness.
Arran nodded and drew his Sacred Blades.
###
Ally muttered spells of protection and warding over herself, their power sparking up and down her body. Marugon did the same, black magic encasing him like armor. She did not stop but cast another spell, the white magic spreading like warmth through her mind. White flames burst up from the floor and struck at Marugon, tearing at the otherworldly half of his soul.
Marugon staggered, but his wards turned the strike.
He struck back with a spell of entropy, a shadowy spear that lanced through the air. She leapt aside, and the edge of the spell clipped her. Her wards blunted its draining power, though an icy chill swept through her. Frost spread over the Seal’s silvery metal as Marugon’s spell drained the energy from the very air.
“Futile,” said Marugon. “I slew Alastarius, and I shall slay you.”
Ally laughed at him. “You did not slay Alastarius.” She had to find a way past him and to the bomb. “Rembiar stabbed him in the back. Goth-Mar-Dan tore out his heart. You had nothing to do with it.”
Marugon loosed another spell, a wall of shadows that moaned with howling whispers. The wall twisted into
a ring, shrinking to enclose her. Ally conjured the spear of frozen light and spun. It slashed through the dark ring, the shadows scattering into harmless tatters. She threw back her arm and flung the spear at Marugon. He conjured a shield of blackness, and spear shattered into fading shards of light.
Marugon laughed. “I need not defeat you. I need only wait.”
He was right. How much time remained on the bomb’s timer? Her spirit called the white magic to her, and a column of white light blazed up around her. She threw the full power at him, white fire spitting off the column.
But Marugon’s wards turned her attacks, the white fire sputtering into nothingness.
###
Arran gripped his swords, azure and white fire shimmering around the blades. The prince of the void lumbered towards Ally, sword-like talons clanging against the Seal. Lithon stood behind him, watching the ghastly creature.
“It’s going to get her!” Lithon said
“Lithon,” said Arran. “Take the guns from my shoulder holsters.”
“I’ve still got my own,” said Lithon.
“You’ll need more.” Arran slid forward, keeping the voidspawn in his sight. Lithon tugged the guns from Arran’s shoulder holsters. “And some ammo clips from my belt.” Lithon snatched the clips free. “You know how to load them?”
“Yeah,” said Lithon. “You showed me.”
“Good,” said Arran, watching the monstrous shape. “Wait until I’m clear. And for the sake of the gods don’t shoot me in the back.”
Lithon almost smiled. “Okay.”
The prince of the void lumbered past, paying them no heed, its attention focused on Ally. Arran sprang forward, raised both his swords, and slashed them in parallel lines. The burning blades tore deep into the voidspawn’s flesh, opening a deep wound. Blood like liquid darkness spattered across the floor. The shadows concealing its flesh parted for a moment, revealing skin like an insect’s armored hide. The voidspawn threw back its head and loosed a keening wail of pain. Arran spun, his swords working in a flurry, cutting through shadow and flesh alike. The voidspawn whirled, a clawed pincer reaching for Arran. He jumped back, hoping to give a clear field of fire to Lithon.
Guns roared, and a volley of Conmager’s enchanted bullets slammed into the creature. The voidspawn staggered, though the bullets did little damage to its armored hide. It turned towards Lithon, still loosing that unearthly shriek.
Arran darted forwards, swords swirling in a high chop. A gleaming pincer reached for him, and Arran sliced it off. Another plunged down for him, moving with terrible speed. Arran raised his swords in a cross parry, and the pincer shredded into black smoke against the blades. But the force of the blow sent Arran flying, and he struck the floor and slid across the Seal’s slippery metal.
The prince of the void lunged for him, hissing a whispery shriek.
Lithon charged forward, yelling, the guns roaring his fists. The huge voidspawn staggered, its wings lashing at the air as Lithon emptied both of his cartridges into the creature. It stalked towards him, a dozen pincers rearing out of its veiling shadows. Lithon fumbled with the guns, trying to shove new clips into the weapons.
Arran growled, shaking free of the pain in his limbs, and staggered up. The prince of the void swept towards Lithon like a tide of shadow, and Arran would not reach him in time.
So he flung Luthar’s sword at the creature.
The blade sunk into the voidspawn with a flash of azure flame. The prince of the void skidded to a halt, clawing at its side, and a blue glow appeared in the depths of its shadows, spreading over its hide.
“Lithon!” Arran undid his Kalashnikov and slid it across the floor. Lithon seized the gun, took aim, and fired. The weapon’s kick knocked him off balance, but enchanted bullets sprayed into the voidspawn. Liquid shadow splashed across the Seal, and the prince of the void wailed and staggered back, still clawing at the blade buried in its side.
Arran risked a glance at Ally. She stood before Marugon, a column of white light blazing around her, while shadows surrounded Marugon in a dark ring.
Arran turned away, white flames roaring from his crimson Sacred Blade.
“Are you okay?” called Lithon, reloading his pistols.
“Well enough,” answered Arran.
The prince of the void howled in fury and lurched forward. Something like a scorpion’s tail rose over its shoulder, tipped with three long barbs.
Arran spread his feet and braced himself for the attack.
###
Ally’s spell ended, the column of light winking out. Marugon’s wards sparked and crackled from the attack, but had turned aside Ally's spell. He snarled another incantation, black magic whispering around him like cold death, and fresh frost spread over the Great Seal, thickening into ice in a few patches. A ghastly specter, shaped like a winged black wolf, swooped towards her. Ally conjured an undulating ribbon of light and flung out her hand. The winged wolf struck the ribbon, destroying it in a clash of conflicting forces. The dissipating power knocked her back, her boots skidding over the ice and slick metal. She flailed her arms, trying to recover her balance.
Marugon laughed, the abyss at the Seal’s edge yawning behind him like a giant mouth. Her magical strength matched his own, but he was older, quicker, more experienced. She had inherited mastery of the white magic from Alastarius, but had little real experience using it. They might batter each other with spells of power for hours, but in the end, Marugon would wear her down.
She looked at the bomb. She didn’t have hours. She might not even have five minutes.
Marugon loosed another spell, a shadow shaped like a great spinning sword. Ally conjured a glowing sword of her own, and the blades met and shattered into nothingness. Again the backlash of clashing magic knocked Ally back. This time she fell and landed hard on her back, the breath bursting from her lungs in a painful whoosh. She groaned and clambered to one knee, preparing some defense against the black magic Marugon would unleash.
Instead Marugon stood with eyes closed, hands clenched, his lips moving in rapid phrases. He was casting another spell, but not at her. She lurched to her feet and tried to ready herself.
Marugon spun, thrust out his hand, and tried to call forth some of the children of the void. A portion of the floor exploded, increasing the size of the chasm behind him. Ally’s ward stopped the summoning, but chunks of broken stone sprayed into the air. Marugon made a cupping motion, and the rocks hovered for a moment, spun, and then hurtled at Ally with terrific speed. She just had time to cast a spell, and her magic deflected the rubble, sent it crashing against the Seal, against the walls, and into the void.
Marugon cast the summoning again, and a storm of rubble blasted free from the wall and shot at Ally. She tried to deflect it, reaching out with the white magic. Most of the rocks missed, but a spray of pebbles lashed against her face, and an apple-sized chunk struck her hip and spun her around. She landed on her side with a painful thump, the Great Seal’s metal cold even through her clothes.
Ally rolled onto her back just as Marugon sent a boulder-sized piece of wall hurtling at her. She did not have time to deflect it. She called the white magic and pushed her body into the spiritual realm. The boulder passed through her ethereal form and shattered against the Seal with a great clang.
Ally leapt to her feet. In the spiritual realm, she saw the titanic energies binding the Tower with far greater clarity. She saw the darkness and power in Marugon, power that made Goth-Mar-Dan seem puny by comparison. And beyond him in the chasm she glimpsed the uncounted multitude of the children of the void, watching her and waiting…
Marugon pointed, and the dark power within him deepened. Great winged serpents of shadow burst from him and flew towards her. Ally shifted back to the material realm and called forth the spear of frozen light once more. She impaled the first serpent, blocked the second, and slashed the third. All three shredded into smoke. Marugon ripped more rubble free from the walls, stone cracking and trembling, and Ally s
hifted to the spirit world and flung herself to the side. One stone shot through her ethereal body, but the others shattered into dust against the Seal. Ally burst back into the material world and blinked in astonishment.
Two steps in the spirit plane had carried her thirty feet in the material world.
An idea came to her.
More sections of wall exploded, the children of the void lashing at her restraining ward. Tons of rubble shot through the air, spinning in circles over Marugon’s head, and he loosed a barrage of stone at her. She ran at him, shifted to the spiritual realm at the last second, and the rocks passed through her. Marugon cast another spell, the stones still spinning over his head. A lance fashioned of something like black flame shot at her, and Ally could not hope to deflect it in the spirit world. The white magic pulled her back to the world of flesh in time to conjure a shield of light. The lance shattered against it, destroying the shield.
Marugon stood much closer. Ally’s few steps in the spiritual world had closed half the distance between them.
Ally shifted back to the spiritual realm, the magical energies of the Tower snapping into clearer focus. Marugon drew himself up, body quivering with effort. The darkness of his spirit deepened, then seemed to detach itself from his body, growing great wings.
Ally blinked in confusion. For a moment it seemed two Warlocks, one material and one spiritual, stood besides each other.
Then Marugon’s spirit flew at her.
###
Arran yelled and caught the voidspawn’s descending stinger. It struck his sword’s burning blade and rebounded, arcing over the prince of the void’s horn-crowned head. The creature shrieked and struck again, and its stinger-tipped tail wrapped around Arran’s blade with terrible strength, threatening to tear the weapon from his grasp. Arran strained for a moment, and then twisted the sword. The burning blade shredded into the tail, armored segments raining to the floor. The prince of the void leapt back, its ruined stinger lashing at the air. Lithon darted to Arran’s side and fired, pumping a storm of bullets into the creature. The voidspawn’s cries of pain grew ever louder, cutting into Arran’s ears like knives.
The Destroyer of Worlds Page 19
