“Are you sure this will work, Darian?” Juana asked nervously. “I can already feel the book making me weak.”
“It has to work, or we’ll lose many of our friends on the battlefield outside,” I replied with sadness. They both stopped and looked at me.
“What are you talking about?”
“Aneera had a vision that we would lose many of our warriors in this battle, but that was when Mikel planned to keep Juana and me away from the book,” I explained. “I hope that this new strategy will change that outcome.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell us before now?” Eli asked, clearly angry that they had been left out of that conversation.
“I wasn’t supposed to hear the conversation,” I replied, “but I walked into the room just as Mikel and Raphael were discussing it. We all know that her visions are not written in stone.”
“So back to the plan then,” Eli said roughly. “We need to be very quick so that you don’t become overwhelmed. I think the best we can hope for is to knock him unconscious, but if a killing blow presents itself, I say we take it.”
“Agreed!”
They continued up the stairs, quickly crossing the balcony and sprinting down the hallway to the last room, following the pulse of the book. The door was already opened, and Zar’Asur stood in front of a large wardrobe with his back to them. The doors of the wardrobe were flung to the side, and the book lay open on a small pedestal. I could feel it calling to me with a harsh, soft voice. I focused on the rune on my back, channeling my power through the bracelet on my arm to reinforce the barrier. The voice was silenced.
“I knew you would come, but so did my master. He has given me two options, neither of which sound very appealing,” Zar’Asur said with a laugh. It sounded more like a high-pitched cackle, which made the hair on my neck stand on end. He turned to face us, and we all gasped at his torn face. Strips of flesh hung from his face, exposing the bones beneath.
“My first option is to return to my master and suffer a death at his hand.” Zar’Asur motioned towards his face. “Which will be extremely slow and painful. My second choice is to surrender Darian to him. Obviously, the second choice is preferable to me, but I don’t imagine Darian will go willingly.”
“And all this time I thought you were stupid,” I said sarcastically. “I’ve denied you twice already; what makes you think I will suddenly change my mind?”
“Because I will have your friend Eli kill the woman he loves if you do not,” Zar’Asur replied. He tried to smile, but his mutilated face prevented him from doing so.
Eli laughed, almost hysterically. “You will do no such thing!” he screamed, and he leapt towards Zar’Asur with both of his weapons drawn.
A shocked look crossed Zar’Asur’s face when he realized he couldn’t control Eli’s movements, but the shock turned to rage as he raised his arms to cast a spell. Juana threw a large wall of fire in front of Zar’Asur, causing the fireball he created to explode in his face. He screamed with pain and rage, turning on Juana instead.
I nodded to Eli and mouthed the word book. He looked at the book in the wardrobe and sprinted towards it, and I joined Juana in the fight against Zar’Asur, trusting that Eli would do what needed to be done. Juana had summoned another wall of fire to protect herself against Zar’Asur’s magical onslaught. I could tell she was fighting against the book as well, so I opened my barrier. I immediately felt Zar’Asur channeling the magic through her and into his spell. She would not hold out for long against him. I redirected the power from her, pulling it into myself. The air around me started to burn, and I compressed it into a long, thin, rope-like whip that I lashed out and curled around Zar’Asur’s neck. He stopped fighting against Juana and looked over at me with panic in his eyes.
“How are you doing that?” he croaked as he struggled for breath. He tried to pry the burning rope away from his neck, but I pulled it even tighter.
The harsh voice whispered in my head, “You could be my next champion, Darian. Zar’Asur is weak and arrogant. He cannot see the future that awaits him if he would only obey my wishes. Kill him and join me.”
A wicked smile crossed my face, the voice luring me in. Eli interrupted the cruel fixation by knocking me to the ground.
“Leave now, Darian!” Eli yelled at me. “Before he consumes you!”
I looked down at my body and gasped. I was covered in flames from head to foot. Eli was right, I needed to leave. I released Zar’Asur, and his limp body fell to the ground.
“Go help our warriors defeat the demons out front. I’ll meet you back in Santuario when it’s safe for me to be there.” I grabbed the book from his hands and left him with a shocked expression on his face.
“Darian, no!” Juana yelled, but she was too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eli cursed vehemently while pacing back and forth in the small room. He looked down at Zar’Asur’s limp body.
“Is he still alive?” Juana asked.
“I don’t see how he can be,” Eli replied and knelt down attempting to find a pulse on Zar’Asur’s scorched neck. He stood and shook his head. “Let’s go help our friends.”
They sprinted down the stairs to the balcony that overlooked the banquet hall. There were still fifty or more demons who hadn’t been able to get through the door. Eli and Juana looked at one another with the same expression. They needed to release their anger, frustration, and fear. The demons below them would do nicely. Juana launched a massive fireball into the center of the demons, killing a third of them and burning the rest who were too close to the explosion. The remaining demons turned towards them and roared. Eli roared back, and the two of them jumped from the balcony to engage them.
Eli gripped the black-ribbed hilts of both his swords, pulling the wide, sharp blades from their scabbards. His muscles bulged from their dual weight. Juana unsheathed her long, slender blade, igniting the flames that flicked around its edges. They fought side by side until all the demons in the room were dead, then they ran through the door into the courtyard in front of the castle. Bodies were everywhere, and not all of them were demons. The pair stood there in shock and grief for a moment before anger and rage took over. There were still a hundred demons fighting against their friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adalina was in an unstoppable rage. She had watched another one of her warriors die at the hand of one of the lieutenants. She approached him with a calm, controlled anger that bubbled beneath the surface. He had watched her fight many of his own soldiers. So she knew he was well aware of her strength. When she was within arm’s reach of him, she attacked with a vicious and calculated assault. He defended against her methodical strikes with effort, but he was skilled and anticipated her movements. After three quick assaults, she leapt back away from him just as Cyrus appeared, slashing the backs of both his knees. Cyrus immediately disappeared again, and Adalina rushed at the roaring demon, slicing through his abdomen and leaping back again. Cyrus reappeared yet again, hacking into the elbow of the demon’s sword arm, then disappearing once more. The demon howled in anger and pain, dropping onto its broken knees. Adalina walked forward and glared at it with disgust.
“You will not win today.” She spat in its face and removed its head.
Cyrus appeared next to her. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help kill that one.”
“Thank you for making it suffer,” she replied, her face full of pain, anger and sadness.
They both turned at the sound of Eli bellowing, then felt the ground shake with the force of his impact. They watched him leap from the entrance of the castle into the demons at the back of the group, forcing all his strength into the collision. Three demons were crushed beneath him, and he sliced through the torso of the one closest to him. Juana’s fiery blade burned through demon and weapon alike. The demons could not defend against her attacks, falling quickly and leaving a black bloody trail of bodies behind her. Her eyes held the same rage and sorrow as Adalina’s.
It wa
s another half hour before the last of the demons fell. Adalina and her surviving warriors gathered the bodies of their fallen brothers. Tears streamed down her face as they traveled back to Santuario.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eli approached Mikel with Juana at his side. “How many did we lose?”
“I’m not sure,” Mikel replied, trying to hold back his emotions. “At least six or seven.”
Eli and Juana looked at one another with sadness. “Zar’Asur is dead in an upstairs bedroom in the castle.”
Mikel looked at her with a strange expression that she didn’t understand. She thought he would be happy. “Did you burn his body already?”
“No,” she replied. “I actually didn’t think about it at the time. We left him there and destroyed the demons that were still in the castle.”
Without waiting for them to follow, Mikel rushed into the castle. When Eli and Juana caught up, he was exiting one of the bedrooms.
“He’s in the last one, Mikel,” Eli said.
“No, he isn’t in any of them,” Mikel replied with panic. “Are you sure he was dead?”
“He didn’t have a pulse, and I’m fairly certain Darian strangled the life from him.”
Mikel turned towards Eli with another strange expression. “Where’s Darian?”
“I assume he went to Santuario.” Eli’s confusion turned to worry. “He said he would meet us there when he was safe to return. And Mikel, he took the book from me.”
Mikel sank to the ground. Worry, sadness, confusion, and anger warred in his mind.
Eli and Juana looked at him with compassion, not understanding what he was thinking, but knowing his grief and frustration.
“We should burn the bodies of the demons and make sure the villagers are able to return,” Juana said, but Mikel was lost in his thoughts and did not hear her. She and Eli walked down to the banquet hall to start burning the bodies of the demons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the demons had been burned, Robert joined Cyrus, Eli, and Juana at the gates of the village and watched the people walk back to their homes. The homes and shops outside the castle had not been touched, but it was likely that the villagers would not enter the castle grounds for some time. Demon blood soaked the snow-covered ground and would likely remain until the snow melted in the spring. Robert stood there silently for some time before he turned to Cyrus.
“It looks like you’ll be my ride home, young man,” he said with a small smile. Robert knew Darian had already left, but no one told him the reason why.
Cyrus nodded. “We can go now if you’re ready.” He turned to Eli and said, “I’ll be home as soon as I drop off Robert.” He took Robert’s elbow and traveled back to Paris.
When they arrived at Robert’s house and his stomach had time to settle, he looked at Cyrus, wanting to ask the dozens of questions that were running through his mind.
“I know there are things you cannot tell me, Cyrus, but I just witnessed something that I will likely never understand. I would love to have a conversation with Mikel at some point in the near future.” Cyrus started to smile, and Robert continued. “Please tell him that we saw those strange men in black robes carry a man into the stables behind the castle. We tried to stop them, but the carriage left the stables before we could intercept.”
“Thank you, Robert,” Cyrus said. “I’ll be sure to tell Mikel.” He started to leave and paused to look at the Frenchman. “There are things that happened today that I’ll never understand either.” They both smiled sadly, and Cyrus disappeared.
Chapter 31
Mikel traveled directly to the tower using Raphael’s new portal. His clothes were covered in a mixture of blood, dirt, and snow. He wanted a hot meal and an even hotter bath, but both would wait until he found Darian. He walked across the hall into the meeting room, only to find it empty, so he left the tower and headed towards Magdelin’s. She opened the door just as he was about to knock.
“He isn’t here, Mikel,” she said solemnly, opening the door wider to allow him to come in. “He didn’t go to the plateau either.”
Mikel saw Raphael sitting at her small dining table with a large wooden box in front of him. Mikel took a sharp breath, and Raphael nodded.
“Yes, Mikel. It’s the book.” Raphael ran his hand over the top of the box. There were no visible seams or latches, only handles on each side used to carry it. “I’m glad I had already prepared the box before it arrived. The book had no effect on me, but several others were immediately impacted by it.”
“Darian brought it here?” Mikel asked, and Raphael nodded. “What aren’t you telling me, Raphael?”
Raphael took a long, deep breath. “I was in the meeting room when I heard him arrive through the portal. He laid the book on the floor and was about to leave when I walked into the room.” Tears welled in his eyes, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “I didn’t immediately know who it was. His entire body was consumed by fire. And when he spoke, it was not Darian’s voice. I didn’t know it was him until he told me that there was an evil being trapped in the book, and under no circumstances should it ever be released. He also said that I should reinforce the barrier on the box in order to contain the demon within the book.” Raphael ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. “I tried to ask him where he was going, but he just looked at me with a sad smile and disappeared.”
Mikel looked from Raphael to the box, then over to Magdelin. “You already checked the plateau?” She nodded. “Where else would he go to release that kind of power?”
“I don’t know, Mikel,” she replied. “I’ve thought about it ever since Raphael arrived, but I can’t think of anything. Maybe Cyrus will have some idea when he gets here.”
Mikel looked over at the box again. “No one can know that we have it,” he said quietly. “Do you have someplace you can hide it until we can build a better place to store it?”
“Yes, and I have an idea about that as well.” Raphael replied. He did not elaborate.
“I don’t want to know, Raphael. And I think the fewer people who know about it, the better.” A deep crease formed between Mikel’s eyebrows. “How is Adalina doing?”
“Not very well,” Magdelin replied. “It’s been a long time since we lost this many during a single battle. We need to do something special to honor their bravery. It will help the others find peace.”
Mikel looked at two of his closest friends, whose own emotions had already overwhelmed them. His voice broke as he tried to put words to his feelings. “I know we won the battle, but it doesn’t feel like it. We lost seven brave men who have been with us for over half a century, and I fear we may have lost Darian as well.” He took a deep breath and continued. “We should be celebrating our victory over the evil demon who has plagued us for years, but the pain of our loss is too great to think about a celebration.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own pain, when there was a small knock on the door. Raphael moved the box beneath the table as Magdelin rose and opened the door to see Cyrus’s worried face.
“Where’s Darian?” he asked, trying not to panic. “He isn’t home, nor is he in the tower. Please tell me he is here.” He looked at each of their faces, hoping for the answer he wanted, but realizing he wouldn’t get it.
Magdelin wrapped her arm around his waist and led him to sit at the table with them.
“We don’t know where he went to release the power he drew from the book,” she replied quietly. “We can only hope that he returns soon.”
“But shouldn’t we be out looking for him?” Cyrus asked, his voice rising with panic and anger. “How can you just sit here and do nothing?”
“Calm down, young man!” Mikel said with a deep, commanding voice. “Darian is not the only one we lost today. There are others who are experiencing their own pain and loss. You would do well to remember it.”
Cyrus looked down at his hands on the table. Tears threatened to overwhelm him. “I k
now. I watched those monsters kill so many of our warriors, men I have trained with for the last four years. They helped me grow up and treated me like a brother.” The tears were flowing down his face now, and he didn’t try to stop them. “No matter how fast I ran from one fight to the next, doing my best to weaken the demons, it wasn’t enough.” His voice cracked, and he looked up at Mikel. “I cannot lose Darian as well.”
Mikel’s features softened, and he reached across the table to lay his hand on top of Cyrus’s.
“We’ll find him, Cyrus, but we need to help our warriors find peace first.” Mikel withdrew his hand and cleared his throat in an attempt to rein in his own emotions. “I trust that Robert made it home okay?”
Just as Cyrus was about to answer, there was another knock on the door. Magdelin didn’t get up, but rather called for their visitor to enter. Eli opened the door, and he and Juana joined them at the table.
“We’re sorry to interrupt,” Juana said. “We hoped to find you here. We needed to talk about what happened today.” She had obviously been crying.
“It’s okay, Cyrus was just telling us about Robert’s trip back home.”
“Yes,” Cyrus replied, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. “He said he really wants to meet with you, Mikel.” He half chuckled remembering Robert’s sincerity. “He willingly joined us in a fight he knew nothing about, and then helped the local men feel useful by chasing down the Csökkent who were trying to escape behind the castle. And doing all of this without questioning what he saw.”
“I didn’t know they went after the Csökkent,” Mikel said with surprise. “I guess I didn’t even realize they had left.”
“Yeah, when I saw them moving away from our group, I followed them,” Cyrus explained. “Several of the local men were really good at throwing knives.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I helped them kill a few who were trying to escape before I turned back to our group.”
“Now that you mention it, Cyrus, I didn’t see any of the Csökkent during that battle,” Eli said, pondering that revelation. “I wonder how many got away.”
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