by Tom Lloyd
The rest of the Land faded away and he lost himself in the smooth lines of the two Crystal Skulls. For a moment he could do nothing, hear nothing, as he stared dumbfounded at what was being offered to him. He knew their names at once. Unbidden, the memories rose in his head: Hunting and Protection, the Skulls Aryn Bwr had forged for himself that together made him stronger than any mortal – the weapons that had killed Gods.
With the heady beat of blood pounding in his ears, Isak slowly fought for control of his senses and at last reached out a shaky hand. The world grew heavy and textured as his fingers neared the box. He spread his hand to touch both at once. He expected them to be cold, until he felt the power they contained. They were warmer than his fingers – he could see a little wisp of steam curl away from the surface of one. Then they were hotter still, then suddenly scorching. A wrench of burning pain gripped his arm, growing fiercer with each passing instant. Then the world went black.
ENDGAME
Isak awoke to a place of dark twilight, lit by faint stars that faded away when he looked directly at them but glittered fiercely at the edges of his sight. The air was thin and dry against the back of his throat; it tasted of long memories, bitter and empty. He could see neither trees nor standing stones now, only undulating rocky ground in all directions, underneath a dawn sky of unbroken slate-coloured cloud. Kneeling, Isak removed his gauntlet and touched the desiccated grey dust underfoot. It felt dead to his fingers, not like the sand of a desert, but like a wasteland that had been drained of all life. It gave him a hollow feeling inside, as though a part of him was now missing.
Pulling his silver gauntlet back on, Isak noticed it had lost its lustre. The silver had faded with the light and now it looked plain and dull, like weathered iron. It was still his armour, yet somehow diminished; when he checked, Eolis was the same. He pulled off his helm and the blue silk hood and drew in deep gulps of thin air. His muscles were weak and stiff, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to shake off the fatigue.
'I've been waiting for you.'
Isak whirled around, hand on sword, to see an armoured figure standing ten yards away. The knight had a blank helm hiding his face and the teardrop shield on his arm was turned away so Isak could not see the design on its surface. His sword was drawn, but held behind his back; the pose reminded Isak of some of the formal duelling positions he'd seen Vesna practise.
Isak could see from the knight's stance that a challenge was being offered. The air of menace was all too apparent. He drew his own weapon and planted his feet securely, a shoulder-width apart and with one slightly ahead of the other, just as Carel had taught him so many years ago.
'Where am I? Who are you?'
'You are nowhere, caught in a moment between your past and the future.' The voice was male, rich and subtle, like King Emin's, but with an accent he couldn't place. Everything about the knight was threatening, even his words; your past, but only the future, as if there was no place for Isak in that future. The thought chilled him, this wasn't the black-armoured knight of his dreams – the one Isak knew would one day kill him – but it reminded him of Morghien's warning: that Isak would have to face a death of the mind. A sudden sadness crept over him. To die in this empty, dead place was somehow worse than any other fate he could imagine.
'What do you want from me?'
The knight hadn't appeared to expect that question, but for reply, he raised his shield and brought his sword around to point it directly at Isak. Realisation came with a jolt; the knight was wearing Siulents, and carrying the same blade Isak had in his hand, not copies, but as real as those Isak himself carried, similarly dimmed yet unmistakable.
'What do I want from you, boy? Everything, all that you are. Part of me has been with you all your life to make of you the tool I need for the years to come.'
'All my life?'
'Certainly. Events needed to be guided, my investment protected. That priest of Larat for example – he could not be allowed to rum' mage around in your head.'
'So what happened when I touched the Skulls?'
'I doubt you would understand even if I told you,' the knight sneered.
'So the prophecies of the last king are really true? You denied Death's judgement?' Some part of Isak demanded proof, despite the growing dreadful certainty in his gut.
The knight eased the helm from his head and let it drop to the ground. He shook his silvery, almost insubstantial hair loose. It accentuated his thin jaw and sharp cheekbones. Aryn Bwr's strange beauty made him look delicate, but far from weak; Isak suspected he had a whipcord strength that could strike like lightning.
'All this for revenge?'
'Don't think to pity me,' the elf lord spat. 'You know nothing of my cause, nothing of the war I fought. My time has come again, and this time I will not fail.'
In a heartbeat he leapt forward and slashed up underneath Isak's shield. The white-eye hardly saw the blow coming; he barely caught it in time. A second overhand cut flashed past his head as Isak twisted sideways and slashed wildly to deflect a cut to his exposed legs. Somehow he battered Aryn Bwr's blade away.
Isak scrambled backwards to give himself some space, but the elf pursued and struck again and again. Even Isak's unnatural speed was barely keeping up with Aryn Bwr.
The elf stopped suddenly and gave Isak a cold smile. 'Strange, when I was looking out through your eyes you seemed faster than this.' He attacked again, not looking for a killing blow, but content to drive Isak back, confusing and unbalancing the young white-eye, always stepping back at the last moment when Isak could almost feel the bite of Eolis at his neck. He took the moments of respite gladly, then lunged at the elf with every ounce of strength in his massive body.
Aryn Bwr rode Isak's clumsy attack like a willow branch flexing in the wind, then thrust hard. Isak caught the blow on his shield, and as the blade cut down it forced the shield into his shoulder with jarring force.
Isak tried to retaliate, but again the elf stepped around Isak's thrust. This time he smashed his shield down on to Isak's wrist and pain burst through his hand as something snapped under the blow. Worse, Eolis was knocked from his grip. Isak gasped and reeled; he didn't even see the elf punch forward with Eolis's hilt. The blow connected and stars flared before his eyes.
He fell, sprawled at the last king's feet. Aryn Bwr stared down at him with contempt. 'Is that all you have? So it is true, they made you weak; weak enough to be one they could control.'
Isak struggled up on to his elbows. 'What do you mean?'
'You do not know?' Aryn Bwr laughed. 'Boy, you are not even the first Saviour this Age has seen, and you are his inferior in every way. Dare you deny it? You see him in your dreams; you've known him your whole life.'
'The Saviour? Then-' Isak could not begin to find the words for the questions he wanted to ask.
‘Then what happened? Azaer happened. Azaer encouraged their vanity, urged the Gods to be their own undoing, to be divided and distrustful of each other, while I returned to power. The Gods made their Saviour the greatest of men, perhaps even greater than me, but
before long the Saviour began to question why he needed to serve any master.'
Isak lay on the floor, overwhelmed by what he was hearing, but not so dazed that he did not desperately search for a way to escape. He knew it was futile: Aryn Bwr had been the supreme warrior; he had killed Gods. He had fallen only to Karkarn, the God of War himself.
The elf sheathed his weapon and reached down to haul Isak up. Bringing him close, the last king stared deep into Isak's eyes.
Isak returned the look, staring into pale, gold-flecked eyes as though the answer would be there. He felt a fog about his mind, enveloping his thoughts and slowing draining the strength from his body. The heavy sleep of the grave called to him, drawing him in to its embrace, but as his strength faded and his mind weakened, understanding suddenly unfurled in his mind like a bud bursting into flower. 'Now I know,' Isak said calmly.
Aryn Bwr hesitated, eye
s narrowing as he tightened his grip on Isak. He had felt the change in Isak's mind and a flicker of uncertainty crept on to his face.
'Tell me, elf, can you remember your own name?'
The last king said nothing.
'Your name. Can you remember it?'
'I-' Uncertainly blossomed into loss, then fear. Aryn Bwr's true name had been struck from history, and like the Finntrail in Morghien's mind, that loss weakened his spirit.
'Can you remember your death?' As he said that, Isak felt the grip on his throat falter and weaken. 'Oh yes, that you can remember, that pain is still inside you. You're dead; a memory barely beyond Death's reach. Without name or form, what are you now?'
Isak smiled and raised his left hand, though his arm was sore, numb from the fight. Despite his feebleness, Isak took hold of Aryn Bwr's wrist and prised the fingers from his throat. Lifting his right arm, the hand twisted and curled over the broken wrist, Isak spread his fingers as best he could in front of his enemy's face and remembered what he'd done to Morghien. Under his touch, the weaves of magic parted like morning mist.
The last king shrieked and writhed in Isak's grip, but the white-eye felt his strength rush back into his body. Now the elf spirit was helpless to resist. Isak forced down the snarl that built in his throat as he embraced the magic all around and gathered a storm of power in his hand, determined not to submit to the rage in his belly as he had outside Lomin.
Reaching out with his mind, Isak cast a net of magic over the dead king's soul and savagely bound it, ripping it from the body it had tried to inhabit. Aryn Bwr howled with terror.
The elf's soul, held tightly in Isak's grip, was a feeble thing now. The shadows darkened as Death's reach crept closer. Aryn Bwr renewed his screams and struggled futilely until Isak pulled the soul away from the darkness and into himself, where part of it had hidden to avoid Death's constant watch.
Isak stood alone and breathed deeply; the air was fresher now and the weariness had left his limbs. Even the pain was gone now, for the damage was not to flesh and bone but the product of his mind. The sky was lightening, and faintly the scents of heather and wet grass came to him, smelling wonderful to him after the dead land.
In his mind Isak held the spirit of Aryn Bwr, but gently now; the time for force was over. There was no way for the elf to wield power over him any more.
What have you done? Isak felt the elf's voice in his mind, soft and pained, but tinged with fear.
I've survived; just like you've taught me to every day of my life.
What will you do with me? Aryn Bwr knew he was closer than at any other time to the final retribution of Ghenna's deepest pit.
I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you mean. I think I can find a better use for you. If the Land looks to me to be the Saviour, then I think I'll need your brain.
You were never meant to be Saviour-
I know, Isak interrupted with a smile. 'In silver light born, in silver light clothed.' That was never intended to be me; that was your rebirth tonight. Except now it's not going to happen. All things have their time; remember that, my chained dragon. Your time has passed.
You've broken history. Destiny had you die this night. Do you realise what that means?
Isak stretched and felt a cool breath of air drift past his face. He could feel himself returning to the temple inside the trees, to the life that was at long last his own.
It means we make our own future now. It means no prophecy fits what is going to happen. All we have is ourselves.
He smiled. The Land awaited him.
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Document creation date: 26.08.2010
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