Legends of Ahn (King's Dark Tidings Book 3)

by Kel Kade

  Wesson returned his gaze to the king and was shot through with alarm as he saw one of the creatures bearing down on Rezkin, having managed to get through his weakened ward when he had lost his focus. Before he could release a spell, an arrow streaked through the air to sail clean through the creature’s throat. Another followed, striking the little beast’s chest, causing it to fall from the platform into the black water. Wesson glanced to the ledge opposite him to see Xa, or Lus, as most of the others knew him, releasing arrows into the stream of creatures. For the first time, he was thankful to have a master assassin in his midst. He glanced back at Rezkin and wondered if he should revise that to two assassins.

  Rezkin did not like losing focus on his surroundings during the best of times. Doing so intentionally during a battle was something he would not even have considered when he left the fortress only months ago. Now he was dependent on others to make sure he survived while he worked to save people he barely knew, some of whom were complete strangers. But now he hovered over a dark and vast chamber within a crystal no larger than his thumb. The faces of the crystal were sharp and clear, and he could see the light of the flame from the outside. Some monstrosity was beyond his focus, but he knew that it was his own body.

  He turned to peer out of an opposite facet. In his mind, he was the chamber, and he beckoned to the wild energy that radiated from the pyre. A spark lit in the center of the chamber and then a second. He watched in fascination as the two sparks elongated and then grew human-like appendages. On each, the waves of flame morphed into the semblance of a face. They danced gleefully, spinning about each other. They raised the tongues of flames that were their arms, and he felt a power burst through the chamber unlike any he had previously felt. A rush of wind whipped around him, encouraging the flames to grow. The little fire people ceased their dance to look at him, and in their golden gazes he saw an aged intelligence. The wind rustled the flickering flames, and the air and fire sang a melodic cadence that almost sounded like speech, but it was in a language he could not comprehend.

  Although these beings were foreign to him, not once did he consider that they might be demons. They felt ancient and wild, and while his instincts warned of danger, he did not feel from them a sense of malicious chaos he might have anticipated from a demon. To his knowledge, though, he had never met a demon, so he accepted that his expectations might have been flawed. After crackling and hissing at him for a moment, the fire people gleefully danced a merry jig. As the wind died, their forms blurred until only a normal flame burned in their place. While he was confused and disturbed by the event, he knew a battle waged outside where his body was bent over the structure. Rezkin finished drawing as much fire as he could into the chamber and then left it to fill the next one.

  “I wish we had some way of communicating with them,” Tieran said.

  “I am sure they are fine,” Frisha replied anxiously. She rubbed her clammy hands on her pants and said, “Rezkin will win. He always wins.”

  Tieran stopped to stare at her then shook his head as he took up his pacing again. “He is not a god, Frisha.”

  She scowled at him. “I know that, but if anyone could survive and bring back our people, it would be Rezkin.” Then, more to herself, she said, “He won’t let anything happen to Tam and Malcius.”

  “Or Palis?” said Tieran.

  She dug her fingers into her thighs. “Palis made his own choice.”

  “And Malcius and Tam will do the same,” he said as he plopped into a chair across from Ilanet who was quietly observing their conversation.

  He regretted his disregard for proper behavior when his rear reminded him that this chair was carved from stone and held only a small cushion to soften the seat.

  “But you are right,” he added. “Rezkin will probably return, even if the others do not.”

  “Don’t speak like that,” she snapped. “I didn’t see you volunteering to go.”

  He growled, “I was told to stay here and guard the citadel—to guard you. He would not let me go. He said that, as his heir, I had to stay here where it was safer.”

  “If it is so safe, why are you guarding us?”

  “Because we do not know if there are any underground chambers leading from the cave system into the citadel. What if they kidnapped those people to draw out our troops so they could attack from within?”

  Ilanet said, “It is a common … um … tactic, from what I have read.”

  “Surely the shielreyah would take care of them,” Frisha said with little confidence.

  Tieran huffed. “I, for one, do not place faith in ghosts to protect my life.”

  “Will you please be quiet. I am trying to read,” said Shiela from her place on a pile of cushions in one corner of the room.

  Frisha and Tieran both looked at her in dismay.

  Frisha said, “How can you be reading at a time like this, and what, in this place, could possibly be so interesting?”

  Shiela pursed her lips as she glanced at her cousin. “I did not say it was interesting. In fact, I do not know what it is because you two are making enough noise to distract the dead.”

  Tieran said, “That is not funny when we are in a place where the dead literally roam the halls.”

  “It was not supposed to be funny,” Shiela replied. “But if the dead are supposed to be protecting us, then you had best not distract them. Besides, what could you do against a horde of enemies.”

  Tieran raised his chin. “Your tongue betrays you again, Lady Shiela. Your impertinence has nearly drained me of patience. Besides, I did well enough in the tournament, and my skills have improved dramatically since training with Rezkin and the strikers. As for the horde, everyone who did not go with Rezkin is prepared to fight. Believe me, Striker Kai was not happy to be left behind.”

  “That was odd,” Frisha said. “Of the strikers, Rezkin seems to trust Kai the most. I would think he would prefer Kai at his side in battle.”

  Tieran said, “I think he believes it is safer to leave us with Kai. He is protecting his queen.”

  Frisha flushed. “I am not a queen.”

  Tieran waved his hand and said, “It is only a matter of time.”

  The stone door opened permitting previously unheard shrieks and shouts that were assailing the corridor. Healer Aelis stepped into the room and waved for them to hurry.

  “Come,” he said. “We must go. The beasts have breached the palace and are nearly here.”

  Tieran drew his rapier as he rushed toward the opening.

  “But Kai told us to stay here,” said Frisha.

  Aelis replied, “He did not anticipate they would make it this far into the palace. We must get to a more secure location.”

  “What about the others?” she said, thinking of all the people who were not fighters.

  Anyone who was not prepared to pick up a sword or wield the talent had been told to remain in assigned rooms in the palace.

  Healer Aelis said, “Most are secure in their rooms. These things seem to be heading straight for you, though. It is as if they somehow know where you are.”

  “But maybe they can’t get past the door,” Frisha said. “I think we should stay where Kai can find us.”

  “Come on, Frisha,” said Tieran. “We cannot trust in these doors to keep out the beasts. If they have made it this far, it is likely they can get past the doors.”

  Rezkin had been told to fill the crystals for each person in the reverse order they had been added to the ritual, so after divvying the fire into six parts, as the mages had instructed, he filled Yserria’s first. The crystal turned a deep crimson once it was filled, and he wrapped a leather thong around it before shoving it into a pouch at his waist. The next crystal turned yellow, the third green, and the fourth blue. He tied leather laces around each of them, as he had the first, and put them in the pouch. By the time he was done with the fourth crystal, though, the fire had been consumed. Rezkin knew he had separated it properly before starting, so he was still searching
for the answer in the ashes when Yserria shouted.

  “Look out!”

  Two of the captives, a woman and an unrelated small-woman—the first two to be taken—were free. The younger started throwing rocks at him, while the older ran forward to claw at his face.

  “I am trying to save you,” he said as he pushed the grown woman away.

  She collided with the small-woman who fell into the water and then came at him again. Before she had covered half the distance, she abruptly stopped. Her pupils expanded to consume her irises, and she donned a malicious grin. The woman snapped her hands through the air, and streamers of black smoked jettisoned toward him. Rezkin dodged to the side, and the black smoke struck a man who was tied to one of the other posts. The man’s wail was enough to weaken the stoutest resolve, although it did not last long. His skin began to blacken and bubble as it was sloughed off and to the ground, exposing his muscles and tendons. Those followed in the same manner, and within seconds, all that was left was a pile of charred bones.

  Rezkin dodged another stream of black smoke just as three arrows struck the woman through the back. She did not fall, though. Although her body struggled for function, she did not seem to notice the pain. He had never heard of a power like this, and the woman was not supposed to be a mage. She grinned at him and then raised her hands toward Yserria. Rezkin drew the black blade from his back, and with one leap, the longer blade fell, cleaving the woman in two. The pieces of her body struck the ground, and the one good eye that he could see returned to its normal, soft brown. Instead of the vibrant green lightning that normally filled the black blade, it now crackled a brilliant red.

  Several more arrows flew by him as the little white creatures threatened to swarm the platform. Most of his people had retreated a short way up the path, but Farson and Shezar held the land bridge. The small-woman, a child of eleven years, was pulling herself from the water as she stared at him with black eyes and a twisted scowl. She cackled as inky-black ribbons began slipping over her skin to snake into the air around her. The ribbons appeared to hiss and strike at the air like snakes. Rezkin did not want to snuff the potential from this small-woman, but to him, the small-one that she had been was gone. The ritual had apparently already claimed her as its victim, replacing her soul with a demon. He now understood why the last two crystals had been empty. These two had no life force left.

  Rezkin strode toward the small-woman, raising his blade to strike, when he was suddenly splattered with bloody gore. An arrow protruded from a mass of flesh where her face had been, and she fell dead at his feet. He looked to the ledge above to see Xa knocking another arrow. The assassin did not look his way as he continued putting arrows through the seemingly infinite sea of little white creatures.

  Tieran brought up the rear as Frisha, Ilanet, and Shiela followed Healer Aelis through winding corridors and strange rooms. When they came to a room that appeared more like a cave than a building, they paused. From the ceiling hung dripping stalactites, and pools of water were illuminated by colorful, radiant crystals from beneath.

  Healer Aelis hurried across the room toward a dark passage. “Come,” he beckoned. “We must make haste.”

  Frisha’s feet refused to move one step farther. “I don’t like this. Are we underground? Aren’t these things coming from underground?”

  Aelis abruptly turned and spewed a stream of black tendrils toward them. Tieran leapt in front of the women as he lobbed a handful of seeds into the air. The seeds exploded into a mass of vines that created a wall between them and the healer. The black tendrils struck the wall, and the vines immediately began to blacken and curl into withered chunks and dust.

  “Get back!” Tieran said.

  The women turned for the exit, but the entire doorway was suddenly blocked by a monstrous beast that looked like a black, horned beetle. It scored the ground with its talons and charged them like a bull. The beast was only feet away when, from one of the luminous pools, erupted a gigantic serpent. The green and brown horror wrapped its sinuous body around the beetle, constricting it until its carapace popped, and the creature’s insides were splattered everywhere. The serpent moved with furious speed to encircle the women as they screamed in terror.

  While dodging attacks from Aelis, Tieran tried casting life spells at the serpent. Everything he threw at the thing was ineffective, and at least once, he felt as though it were pushing back against his power in warning. The serpent continued to coil around and upward until it had completely surrounded the women, and then its skin began to change. Although it still bore the markings of the serpent, it became like a wooden carving of the creature. shaped into a snakelike domed structure from which sprouted twigs and leaves. He could still hear the women screaming from inside, so he knew they were alive.

  Tieran pulled his gaze from the wooden structure just in time to see a mass of black balls, each the size of a peach pit, sailing straight for him. He dashed out of the way, but shouted in pain as his arm erupted into spasms. The skin around the place where the ball hit ached and blackened like a day-old bruise. Tieran had little talent in elemental magic, but he searched the cavern with his senses for anything else living. The only pulse of life he felt was from the snake-tree. He tested it, seeing if it was willing to cooperate. Aelis was preparing to cast another dark spell, and Tieran was forced to try before receiving an answer. He yanked at the being with a spell designed for plants, since that seemed to be what it was at that moment. A mass of stems shot toward the healer.

  Aelis’s eyes had turned black as ink, and he graced Tieran with a hateful snarl as he cast a spinning black disk that threatened to smash through the plant stems. The result of their meeting was not what Tieran expected. The stems and disk met in a powerful burst that rocked the cavern causing several of the stalactites to crash to the ground. A vine-like tendril snaked out to seize Tieran, but Aelis was thrown high to smash against the far wall before lifelessly tumbling to the ground.

  Chapter 20

  After releasing the remaining three prisoners, Rezkin had joined the strikers in pushing back the swarm of cave creatures. Yserria stayed with the other two on the platform, gripping a long dagger that Rezkin had given to her. She was disoriented from her head wound, but she cut through those few beasts that managed to get past the others to attack the former captives. Individually, they were not so difficult to defeat.

  Rezkin had just sliced through three little white creatures with one sweep of the black blade when something abruptly changed in their mannerisms. Their feral gazes became placid, and the incessant screeches and hoots gave way to sweet cooing sounds. They ceased their attacks and looked around at the slaughter. Many began to wail, a haunting cry of mourning, as they tugged at their fallen brethren. Those closest to the humans ran away in fear or cowered as they blinked up at them with tear-filled, crystal blue eyes as cold and bright as Rezkin’s.

  The strikers edged forward, and the little creatures scattered, clearing a way for the former captives to pass. As Rezkin stepped onto the path in front of the cave, the creatures’ wanting gazes followed him. Those that had not fled inched closer, and when he did not strike them down, they bent as if supplicating themselves. Within minutes, he had dozens curled at his feet, like the Channerían cats, seeking solace. The cooing and wailing continued, and even the humans witnessing the strange phenomenon were stirred. Rezkin waded through the sea of white bodies, backing up the pathway that led to the surface. The creatures followed him with their pleading gazes, but eventually they turned and began gathering their dead, the haunting song of their sorrow echoing through the chasm.

  Once everyone had regrouped at the surface, they took a head count. Everyone was accounted for, and only a few had sustained serious injury. Rezkin wanted to explore the cavern to see if anything pertinent could be found, but he was unwilling to wade into the nest so soon after the battle. While the enemy had been plentiful, they had been primitive, lacking in weapons, armor, or coordination. The creatures had been a distracti
on.

  “We must return to the city quickly,” he said.

  Tieran watched in wonder as the tree-snake unwound itself, shrinking throughout the process until it resembled only a mild-mannered garter snake. It raised its head and spied him with yellow-orange eyes. Its tongue tasted the air, and then it slinked back into the pool from which it had arisen.

  Frisha rushed over to Tieran. “Oh my! Are you okay? Look at this,” she said, eyeing through his shredded sleeve the black mark that covered nearly his entire bicep. “We need to get you to a healer.”

  Tieran glanced back at Aelis who gazed at the ceiling with empty eyes.

  He said, “A healer did this.”

  His gaze softened as he looked back at the women. Frisha was shaken but more concerned for his welfare. Shiela was absolutely distraught, crying and shaking as she hugged herself, and Ilanet seemed fairly well composed as she stared in the direction the snake had gone. He wondered if the girl was in shock.

  “Are you well, Princess?” he asked.

  She nodded absently. “Yes, I am well,” she said but did not remove her gaze from the pool.

  “Come,” said Tieran. “Let us get back to the others. We know not how many others of these creatures are poised to attack.”

  As they headed toward the door, Frisha said, “Thank you, Tieran. You saved our lives. I think I underestimated you. I didn’t know you had such talent.”

  Tieran glanced back at the dead mage, and said, “I do not. I may have guided it, but the power that struck down the demon was not my own. I believe we have that snake-tree thing to thank for that.”

  “Healer Aelis—do you think he was a demon?” Ilanet said.

  Tieran shrugged as he begrudgingly wrapped an arm around the hysterical Shiela. “I do not know, but whatever it was, it was not Healer Aelis.”

  As they strode through the winding corridor, they saw few of the attackers. Tieran had not seen them up close earlier, but they no longer appeared to be the fearsome force that had somehow invaded the palace. Little white creatures cowered in corners, crying and shivering as they stared back at the humans with familiar topaz eyes.