"So you know."
Mark nodded.
"You gave me a scare," Ikawa said, trying to smile. "We were flying out to give you cover and some of your folks thought we were the enemy."
"That's the last I remember."
"Walker saw you fall. You took a little water before we got you out."
Mark smiled feebly. "Kind of hard to believe we lost."
"But we haven't," Ikawa replied.
"Sure as hell seems like it," Kraut said, his voice sad and distant. "We're all gonna die in about another ten minutes."
Ikawa looked up at Kraut and the others.
"Yet it's worth it in the end. We all should have died back in China, when we were enemies. Instead we came here, and found our power, our loves, our adventures--and far more, we learned that we are brothers. Shigeru and Walker, who once hated each other, would now lay down their lives for the other."
Shigeru and Walker looked at each other nervously.
"Ah hell, Captain, the big lug needs someone to look out for him, that's all."
The men laughed.
"So we have found that. We are all fated to die some day. Yet as a samurai, as a warrior of Allic, I find this a fine moment to choose that death. For we will die saving a world that is precious to us."
He paused, and saw Leti coming to the edge of the group.
"And we die together as friends."
"It's time, my love." Her thought whispered through his mind.
"I cannot tell you how much I love you," Ikawa thought in reply. "You are my joy beyond words, beyond thoughts."
"On the other side of the sea we will meet again. I will wait for you there."
The two looked at each other in silence.
"It's time," she whispered, this time out loud.
The warriors looked shyly at each other, exchanging handclasps.
Ikawa looked down at Mark again. "Good-bye, my brother. If we should succeed, just remember..." He found he could no longer say the words.
"But I'm going with you." Mark forced a smile.
"Captain, that's kind of crazy," Walker announced. "You're busted to hell."
"I'm going with you," Mark insisted. Weakly, he tried to struggle to his feet, then looked imploringly at Ikawa, who gazed at him with a sad smile of understanding.
"Shigeru, give him a hand."
The wrestler strode forward and gently lifted Mark onto his feet. Mark looked back at Kochanski and Smithie, who were still unconscious.
"Let's get going." Mark's voice was cold and even.
The group turned away and followed Leti back to where a team of sorcerers had formed around the Heart.
From out of the crowd, Giorgini pushed his way through and came to stand before Mark.
"Mind if I fight alongside you?"
Mark looked over at Boreas, who nodded.
"Of course," Mark said, and a broad grin crept across Giorgini's features.
"At least Imada will be saved his life of humiliation," Shigeru said darkly. The wrestler had been stunned to hear of his friend's betrayal and openly wept at the news. His mood was now grim.
"Yeah, I can't believe it," Walker sighed. A quizzical look crossed his face, and he reached into his tunic and pulled out a slip of paper.
"Funny--just before we lifted to attack I saw him scribbling something, and then he gave this to me. Looks like Japanese or something."
Walker held out the paper. Saito took it and unfolded it.
"She destroyed my life, though I am still living," Saito read. "Now I shall finish it all for both of us. Good-bye, my friends."
"What is he up to?" Kraut asked, looking at Ikawa.
"He was a boy with honor," Ikawa said evenly. "Perhaps he thought he could still do something. I think our friend was not a traitor, but just someone who could no longer see the world clearly," and then he could say no more.
"Say, anybody got a cigarette?" Walker ventured, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I remember that," Kraut laughed. "Here we're getting our butts blasted off during the siege of Landra and you're pulling out cigarettes. Shit, I could go for one."
The group chuckled, trying to control their nervousness.
Leti smiled at the offworlders.
"I'll be with the Heart," she said evenly. "Boreas, can you fly?"
The demigod nodded, but all could see that his strength was gone. The blow he had suffered would have killed any normal human, or even a sorcerer.
"We'll stay low," Leti told her command. "They must have a picket screen out ahead. We punch through, and move as fast as we can. I want to try and get this straight over the palace, but if that is impossible, at least to the base of the city wall. As I said before, if there's time I'll give a minute's warning. Then you are free to escape, but if I fear we are being overwhelmed I will strike this," and reaching into a pouch by her waist she pulled out a red crystal, "against the Heart without warning."
"Do you all understand?"
No one replied.
"Then let's move!"
The sorcerers surrounding the Heart lifted into the air, holding on to the rope netting which encased their burden. Ikawa swung in by Leti's side as she rose a scant dozen feet into the air and then started forward.
Leti looked over at him.
"Do you remember our first night together?" her thoughts whispered through his mind.
He smiled.
"Then let us think of those things once again."
The group pressed in toward the city.
From a wooded grove half a mile forward, six sorcerers rose and started back toward the city.
"They're on to us," Ikawa shouted. "Keep our formation close!"
As they streaked low over a village, a quick flurry of bolts shot up from sorcerers on the ground. Ignoring the strikes, the attack force pushed in.
"Those lousy bastards," Walker shouted.
Looking over his shoulder, Ikawa saw that a sizeable fraction of the group had turned away to flee in the opposite direction.
"Ignore them!" Ikawa shouted. "Their lives will be far worse than whatever we shall face."
Skimming iow against light opposition, Ikawa dodged down between a row of trees, sending a flock of golden birds in every direction with his passage. It was a glorious moment, that now filled his entire world. He had felt this before, this certainty that he was about to die, and with the coming of that moment, never had he felt so alive, so completely bonded to his world and the magnificent splendor of it.
The picket line of sorcerers kept falling back, trading long-range shots with the advancing group. The city was now less than two miles ahead. Just another couple of minutes was all that they would need. Ikawa felt his heart soaring. Perhaps they could break all the way through, and his comrades could still escape while he and Leti finished what had to be done.
"Here they come!" Shigeru snarled.
Looking forward, Ikawa was stunned. A cloud of demons and sorcerers rose above the wall to greet them.
Staggered by the intensity of the power now revealed, Patrice felt as if she had torn open the entire world to his presence. Surging and coiling, Gorgon pushed against the last flimsy barrier.
It exploded into a wall of fire.
The temple floor swayed beneath her feet, the arched buttresses overhead cracking.
Gorgon stepped through into the world of Haven.
He was the essence of fire, the creator of torment, his flaming limbs dripping with oily smoke, his fangs oozing a green, sulphurous glow, his eyes like flaming diamonds.
He leaned back and laughed, the booming of his voice counter-pointed by the shrieking calls of his minions, who groveled before him in a terrible ecstasy of lust.
And in that instant she knew.
He lowered his head and looked at her with sardonic bemusement. "Does my form still please you?" he whispered.
She said nothing, standing proud, alone, her mind screaming to her that all the dreams, all the desires had, after all, been only an
illusion.
"Come to me," he snarled. "I wish to take you here, now. My servants can watch, for I have promised them this sport."
His mouth curled in a dark leer, flames running down its sides. A fiery hand reached out to grab her.
"We were to rule together as equals," Patrice snapped, backing away. "There's still a battle to be fought outside these walls."
Gorgon laughed, and looked over at his servants.
"Go out and finish them," he snarled. "I'll be along shortly."
The demons poured out of the room, shouting triumphantly, eager for battle.
Gorgon looked back at Patrice. "No one is my equal," he boomed. "Be my servant and submit to all my wishes now--or die. And if you die, I will enslave your soul in torment."
She raised her shield and leveled a bolt of flame into his face.
It seemed to stun him; he drew back. She fired again and the terror started to rise in her as she continued to pour out her strength, screaming in rage at him.
Ever so slowly, he raised his hand and pointed it at her.
A single shot took her off her feet, slamming her against the wall, her gown scorched, her shield gone.
"You are mine--Haven is mine--it is all mine," Gorgon laughed, rising over her.
"For God's sake, keep moving!" Walker roared, his shield glowing white hot. "We've got to keep moving!"
Crouching low on the ground, Ikawa slammed a burst into a demon hovering above the group. The shot seemed to have little effect as the demon, roaring his defiance, threw a bolt straight at Ikawa.
Walker turned with a wild scream and lifted back into the air. As he reached out, his hand seemed to touch the demon. There was an explosive flash and the creature plummeted into the circle of sorcerers surrounding the Heart.
"Up, get up!" Leti screamed.
The beleaguered group rose and started forward. The sky above them was dark with the enemy. But the wall was still a half mile off, and to Ikawa it seemed a nightmarish eternity away.
Shigeru looked around wildly, unable to fight with Mark in his arms, ignoring Mark's commands to put him down.
A stunning blow hit Ikawa from behind, and he fell to earth. He could feel the icy-hot talons tearing into his flesh.
"Captain!"
Kicking and clawing, Ikawa rolled away and got to his knees, then slammed a bolt into the demon's face. The creature's head disappeared. Frantically, Ikawa looked around. The group had pushed another hundred yards ahead. Saito was above him, shouting, "Come on, Captain!"
Ikawa flew back into the air. Cutting and slashing with their bolts, the two pushed forward. Smoldering bodies littered the ground in a bloody trail, and wounded sorcerers crawled away from the inferno of combat. Horrified, Ikawa saw one of Storm's retainers struggling on the ground, his legs gone. A demon alighted beside him and with a slash of razor-sharp talons decapitated the man. Holding the head aloft, the demon soared into the air, roaring with delight. In their killing frenzy, the demons had lost all control and were firing without care, striking enemies and allies alike.
The warriors cut their way back into the decimated group.
"Again!" Leti screamed.
They surged upward and forward, but a virtual wall of demons opposed them. The formation started to disintegrate into a confused melee of individual combats. Nearly half the sorcerers carrying the Heart were down, unable to effectively defend themselves. A knot of demons cut straight through the party, and suddenly the Heart tumbled out of the net and crashed to the ground.
Leti alighted beside it and looked around wildly.
"Almost there," she screamed. "Just a bit further!"
Ikawa landed beside her, and Boreas fought his way through to join them. Wildly, Ikawa looked around. Shigeru, still carrying Mark, and his escort--Saito and Walker--landed to join them. From over the wall Ikawa saw the sky darken further as several hundred more demons seemed to explode outward.
"More coming!" he cried.
"It's as far as we're getting!" Boreas shouted.
But the wall was still several hundred yards away, and the palace a quarter mile beyond it.
"I only hope we're close enough!" Leti reached into the pouch and held the red crystal high.
Despairing, Ikawa knew that it was not close enough. All they could hope for was to take as many with them as possible, and perhaps weaken Gorgon for Jartan, if he should ever return.
"Everyone clear out of here!" she screamed.
A demon exploded into the middle of the group, slamming Leti with a bolt that sent her staggering, so that she dropped the red crystal.
With a wild scream, Ikawa dove, scrambling for the gem. The demon set up a wild undulating roar and his comrades, hearing his warning, swarmed in.
Ikawa snatched the red crystal from the ground. Before him a demon rose up. The demon staggered and fell, the back of his head gone. Through the confusion Ikawa saw Mark, his broken arm up and his battle crystal glowing hot, Shigeru on the ground by his side.
"For God's sake, do it!" Mark screamed.
For an instant Ikawa saw Leti looking up at him, her eyes wide with pain and grief. Then he staggered forward to the Heart.
They had ignored him. Imada watched the struggle between his deceiver and the one who had deceived her in turn, and though he felt that it should fill his heart with joy, he was left instead with an infinite sadness. He had wanted to believe better of Haven, that one could love with innocence and truthfulness and that somehow it would be returned.
If that was possible, he would never know it.
A detached smile crossed his lips as he reached into his tunic and pulled the object out. With his thumb he pushed back a section of the clay to reveal the sharp glimmer of red underneath.
He walked forward into the circle of flame. With his shield down the fire leaped to his body, his hair curling, his flesh screaming in protest as it started to smoke and peel away. It was curious, but he felt no pain.
He came up to the large portal crystal, which was still glowing brightly, and felt as if he was looking straight into the heart of the sun.
"Patrice! Gorgon!"
Locked in their loathsome struggle, the two paused and looked back at him, even as the fire swirled about his body.
He held the great red crystal up high.
"No!" Gorgon screamed.
Even as his eyes burned away, he could see her face, the one who had destroyed his life. It was strange, he realized; there was no rage, no horror. In Patrice's tormented eyes he saw only relief.
Imada brought Jartan's great red crystal down, striking it hard against the crystal of Horat.
There was no pain, just a final flash of thought, the sense that the real Vena, the one that must have truly existed and been killed, was waiting for him after all. And then there was silence, and peace.
An explosion filled the sky, first flashing white-hot, changing in an instant to a boiling black cloud that raced straight up to the heavens. The sun seemed to be blotted from the sky. Stunned, Ikawa looked up. The palace had disappeared, and for a wild moment he thought he had actually hit the Heart and he was seeing the results from beyond the realm of the living. And then the shock wave hit him, slamming him backward to the ground.
It felt as if the earth was being torn asunder. The piercing shrieks of the demons counterpointed the explosion. A swirling maelstrom seemed to fill the entire world.
"He's come through!" Saito cried. "The Heart--destroy the Heart."
Ikawa tried to regain his feet.
"Wait," Leti cried, and her voice was filled with hope. "Look, look what's happening!"
The demons that had swarmed over the group twisted and writhed in agony. As if suddenly weightless, they were pulled back into the conflagration. The sky was filled with their forms, their agonized cries audible even above the roaring inferno.
The demons burst into flames as they were pulled inexorably into the storm. The sky was awash with their fire as they tumbled end over end into the heart
of the storm, trailing plumes of oily smoke.
"The portal's gone!" Boreas cried. "The bastards are finished!"
Ikawa let the red crystal fall, and walked over to stand beside Leti.
Stunned, he watched as the maelstrom swirled and seemed to fall in upon itself. Suddenly there was only silence, though black smoke seemed to fill the very heavens.
"We've won," Leti sighed. "Gorgon has been destroyed, and the portal is closed."
"How in the name of all the gods?" Boreas whispered.
"It was Imada," Walker whispered.
A thin smile crossed Ikawa's features. He looked over at Shigeru and Saito, their sad smiles matching his.
"A good death," Shigeru sighed. "Good-bye, my little friend."
"Perhaps the real Vena waits for him on the other side," Leti said softly, slipping her hand around Ikawa's waist.
Her gaze held his for a moment, and for the first time since their swim in the lake long ago, Ikawa felt as if his old lover was truly back again.
"We better get into the city," Leti finally announced.
"I think the fight's over," she continued, raising her voice, "but a lot of people in there are going to need help." Patrice's surviving sorcerers, who had been staring at the ruined city in stunned disbelief, looked over at Leti. A sorcerer stepped forward and tore the offensive crystals from her right wrist, dropping them by Leti's feet.
"She betrayed us, too. We had no idea, even to the end, what this was truly about."
"She betrayed all of us," Leti told her.
"My family's back there," the sorcerer said, fighting to control her emotions.
"I'll take your parole later," Leti said soothingly, touching the woman on the shoulder. "Go save them. Pass the word that the fighting is over. We'll come in shortly to help with the injured."
The sorcerer bowed low, lifted into the air, and streaked toward the city. The other sorcerers came up before Leti, so that within a moment there was a pile of offensive crystals at her feet.
"Boreas, will you stay with the Heart? I'll take anyone who's still fit and go into the city."
"Gladly. I've had enough for one day," Boreas said, his voice full of exhaustion and infinite sadness.
"Say, what in hell is that?" Kraut called, pointing toward a lone figure flying naked above the city.
Crystal Sorcerers Page 29
