Raenon looked into the king’s eyes. “Brakur the Formless is an insane god, Tavrik. Only a fool would put faith in Him. I have heard the legends. I have heard what happens to those who summon Him.”
“Aye, pitkeeper! You are a Maehlin warrior. You dwell near Shunned Albrunn and beyond it, En-Faln. You know the things that dwell beneath Aelbrond are kin to the things that dwell below Isahin, and Kynara, and Nitaar! That is why sacrificing you will bring me favor with The Formless One.” The king reclined back in his throne.
“Whatever form Brakur chooses, He will feast on your soul, Tavrik, and I will be the one to send you to Him.” Raenon eyed his sword leaning against the throne. He resisted against his bonds and felt a few of the rivets were coming loose of the rock they were driven into. He pretended not to notice.
Tavrik shook his head and replied, “The Starless Night were born of this isle when Brakur fell here in battle. His blood bore The ‘Night and now they will gorge on Vyntane’s flesh, for your steel offends them, this castle offends them, and killing you with your own sword will bring form and glory back to Him!”
Tavrik finally rose from his throne, walked toward Raenon, and continued, “My blood offends them as well, for my line has ruled this isle since the Maehlish first sent them back into their caves a millennium ago. I have done penance for my crimes. I, like my father and grandfather before me, have been laying with The Mothers of Night for a hundred years. There is an archdemon, Suut, who is their ruler until Brakur returns. Suut demanded a deal be struck, and that bargain spawned those you see around you. My sons and daughters look enough like us right now, but soon you will see everything as it truly is!”
The sound of chanting arose from the aperture in the floor, and mixed among the low guttural chants of the ghoulish cult were the high-pitched screams of the women being tormented in the chamber below them.
King Tavrik was now standing right next to the stone table to which Raenon was chained. “The Starless Night will rise and feast on these offerings, then they will cover Isahin, sparing none save for myself and my queen, Narila, whom I believe you’ve met.”
From behind Raenon a soft hand caressed his head. A woman stepped to the side of the table—the woman who drugged him.
“The Queen of Vyntane is a common whore? Your depraved house has fallen low, Tavrik,” Reanon spoke venomously. Narila grabbed Pitkeeper and held it to Raenon’s throat. “I was squeezing every last bit of pleasure out of Vyntane’s doomed citizens when you arrived, foolish dog. Kaur, one of The ‘Night’s carriers, spotted you and your Maehlish sword down at the harbor last night. I knew to wait for you in the brothel because you Aelbronders are a predictable race.” She lowered Raenon’s sword from him and laughed.
“And you do not share our Maehlish blood then? Tavrik, where did you find such a crusty harlot?” Raenon asked, obviously growing weary of the parley.
“I am from Navordi,” Narila said haughtily. “And this will be my most cherished pleasure of Vyntane’s demise!” She raised Pitkeeper again but her last statement had already sent Raenon into a fury.
He ripped his left-side bracket loose of the stone table and grabbed Narila by the arm which held his sword. Narila screamed, dropped Pitkeeper and scratched at Raenon’s wrist.
He sat up quickly, grabbed Narila by the hair and dashed her head against the stone table no more than three times. Raenon now held a scalp and a shattered skull like a bag half full of coins. He stood up and pulled at the right side bracket until it came loose as well. He jumped down from the sacrificial dais, recovered his sword, and struck the chains from his wrists.
Tavrik yelled for The Starless Night to protect him. The frightened king ran towards the open aperture in the throne room’s floor. Raenon was already on his heels when a spear shot in front of his face. One of the king’s degenerated spawn was sprinting towards him from the entrance to the hall behind him, and two more came from each side. He would have to let Tavrik run. There was nowhere for him to go but below the hall in any case.
The acolyte to reach him first was the guard approaching from behind. Howling and barking like a beast, it hurled its last flinted spear at the Aelbronder. Raenon dodged it easily and waited for the foul thing to get close enough to attack. Once near, it ducked Raenon’s first strike and slashed open his side with sharpened claws. He ignored the pain and brought down Pitkeeper again, this time hacking into the fiend between the neck and shoulder, splitting it in two.
The other four guards slowed their pace as they surrounded the warrior from Maelhin. They held their spears out but it only allowed Raenon to cut each of their weapons into a useless dowel. The first two he beheaded with one stroke. The next he grabbed up, held high above his head and brought down onto his knee, cracking the creature cleanly so that the two halves fell to the floor separately, connected only by its skin. The last of Tavrik’s guardians jumped at the barbarian. Raenon snatched it by the neck and skewered it on Pitkeeper like a piece of mutton. He snatched the turban from its head. It shrieked at him and clawed at his face while he looked in horror upon the loathsome creature. Small curled horns protruded from its pale, black-veined head. It spit at him from a yellow fanged mouth and its cerise, dying eyes stared hatefully into Raenon’s. He flung the ghoul from his sword and ran toward the opening in the floor.
Directly below The King’s Hall was the weapons keep. Raenon descended the stairs carefully, but there was no Starless Night guarding the way. He snatched up a shield and continued down the piceous stone staircase that led down into the Crypt of Kings. He could hear the chanting of The Starless Night getting louder, such a low bellow that he felt it vibrating the walls of the chamber and the floor beneath him. The crypt was narrow and continued back so far that Raenon could not see its end. The stone slabs of the sepulchers rattled on the tombs of kings. It seemed as though there was thunder coming from the core of the island but this was not from The ‘Night’s chanting, it was more like an army approaching from the center of the earth on horseback.
There was a pale orange light glowing in the opening of the floor of the crypt which led down into the next level. Raenon peered over the edge and espied a giant iron statue of Farik. This must be the hall that Aren spoke of.
In the colossal chamber he saw a circle of the ebon-shrouded Starless Night, forty or less, standing around the orifice that was blasted through the hall from the cavern underneath. Some held held spears, others held torches. They were keeping their sacrifices at spearpoint, close to the edge of the pit. The women trembled and wailed as the chanting of The Starless Night grew louder.
Some of the acolytes stripped away their robes and turbans. They hopped around the great statue of Farik, blaspheming and gesturing at the idol. Some hurled their spears at it, others spat upon it. Raenon cursed the creatures and swore to gut every one of them.
He could see King Tavrik at the edge of the circle, chanting with the rest. He was almost certain he also saw Aren at the edge of the gaping maw, cursing and throwing stones at the robed demons.
He walked down the stairway slowly, silent as a stalking wolf, until finally reaching the base of Farik’s Hall. At the same time he could see something gain the edge of the pit.
A pallid, hairless, ruby-eyed thing pulled itself up onto the floor of the hall. Aren was right, this one was not like the others. It had claws the length of daggers and a fang-filled mouth that opened wide enough to take the head from a man. Its horns twisted and coiled down like the mountain rams from Shunned Albrunn. The creature’s anklebones bent backward, allowing it to jump abnormally high, and its arms almost met the ground. It let out a high-pitched scream and The Starless Night ceased their chanting. The great thundering from below still rumbled, and the ground still shook, but all were silent in the great hall. The pale thing walked forward on cloven hooves that clacked on the stone flags, its red eyes glaring insidiously at the offerings of Vyntane’s women.
In one quick motion it grabbed one of the girls, took her into its arms, and
jumped screaming back into the pit as the other girls cried hysterically. Raenon started toward the ghastly proceeding but as he did, another form rose from the maw. It was a creature, like the last, but much larger. A few feet taller than Raenon, it had an intelligence in its face that the other creatures did not possess. King Tavrik bowed as the abomination came forth. This must be the archdemon Suut, with whom King Tavrik had made his infernal pact. It bent its head down to the king and spoke in a low voice that Raenon could not hear, or likely understand. The king shook his head in agreement and pointed at the one who looked like Aren. The archdemon turned toward her and approached.
Raenon had witnessed enough. He emerged from the shadows and strode toward the pit. “So Tavrik, this is your demon lord? It looks like a scrawny goat, too old to fight, too dumb to reason with. You are a fool, my liege!”
Tavrik was startled. He jumped when he saw Raenon approach and ran behind the archdemon. Raenon drew his sword and raised his shield as Suut growled rabidly and began to run at him on all fours, its head slightly bent down like a ram’s. Raenon let it run close, almost close enough to strike with its overlong arms, then he threw his shield into its face and slid under the demon as it passed over. Raenon lifted Pitkeeper and sliced the thing from breastbone to abdomen, spilling its black entrails on the floor of Farik’s Hall. It bayed as a dying bear would. Slowly it stood on two hooves again, holding in its guts with one hand and clawing at Raenon feebly with the other. Raenon jumped to the side of the archdemon, then behind it. It kicked like a steed, driving its cloven hoof into Raenon’s gut. He flew back, sliding across the stone floor to the edge of the blasted pit. His breath was gone for a moment and his bottom two ribs were most likely cracked but he rose quickly and ran at Suut once more, this time parrying the demon’s strike with his sword and in turn slicing off its long-clawed hand. Again he sank Pitkeeper into the wounded goat-lord’s side and climbed upon its back. Raenon grabbed it by the horns, placed his feet on the giant’s shoulders, and pulled up as hard as he could. He twisted the head of Suut until the wan skin tore away, and with a sickening sound, snapped its head from its limp body.
Raenon threw the horned head at the circle of The Starless Night. Most of them jumped into the pit shrieking in fear. Now only a few remained in the hall, and those that did faced the wrath of the captured women who began to take up fallen spears against them.
The sound of marching hooves from below was still getting louder in the hall, pieces of stone ceiling were starting to fall, and Raenon had lost sight of Tavrik. Had he jumped into the abyss? No, too bold a move for such a feeble man, he thought. Then he saw the king’s robes behind the forged effigy of Farik.
“You may hide, king, but it does not mean that you are hidden. Come die with honor, don’t bring further shame on your line. Your archdemon is dead, your bargain died with him I’m sure. I will give you a clean death here, for your crimes against Vyntane, or you can be eaten alive be the horde, which you deserve.”
The king rose from behind the statue. “Please have mercy, warrior of Maehlin. I deserve to die but if you let me live I will show you a way out of here before they rise from that cave,” Tavrik pleaded.
“Raenon! Kill him!” He turned quickly. Behind him stood Aren, pulling a spear from the eye socket of one of Tavrik’s sons. “He has destroyed Vyntane. The citizens are not prepared for this attack. The King has offered them up to these demons like a holiday feast. Soon, all of Isahin will belong to the Blood of Brakur!”
Raenon was surprised to see her alive. The other women had fled up the stairs while the rest of The Starless Night lay about the floor of the hall, dead or dying. He smiled back at her. “Don’t worry, Aren, the king knows he is dead.”
Tavrik dropped to his knees. “There is a doorway behind that statue. I was trying to open it when you saw me there. We can make it down to the coast while The ‘Night overwhelm Vyntane from the castle. Now please, spare my pitiful life!”
Raenon raised Pitkeeper and brought it down, severing the king’s arm completely. The king cried out, pleading for Brakur to save him. Raenon finished quartering him, the other arm first, then the legs. He mercifully and effortlessly took the head of Tavrik from his shoulders. The king’s bloody pate rolled past Raenon towards Aren, who kicked it into the pit.
Raenon sheathed his sword and motioned for Aren to follow. “A shame we couldn’t spend more time prolonging the bastard’s death, but I think we had better move before we are overrun.” He knelt behind the statue and tugged at the iron door. It creaked open and Aren grabbed a torch.
Just as they were both climbing down into the secreted passage, the true Starless Night began their siege.
At first, ten rose out of the pit, then in seconds a hundred. Raenon led Aren down into the passage and waited a few moments more before he shut the iron doors above him. There were now at least a thousand of the pale creatures in the hall. Some were already feasting on the parts of Tavrik that lay near the edge of the pit. They gnashed their teeth and sent their high-pitched screams echoing through the halls under The Iron Castle.
The people of Vyntane were about to be slaughtered by a hungry, depraved, and scorned army. Raenon’s heart felt heavy. He had come all this way to learn, to see the work of his ancestors, and now he would only see the end of that culture. There was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Spiraling into the nighted depths of the narrow tunnel, they rushed down the stairs for hundreds of feet until they could hear waves crashing right outside the lapidarian walls of the passage. “We must be close. If we go any lower we will be underwater,” Aren shouted.
Finally they came to a large room carved out of the atramentous rock. The tunnel continued below the room, seemingly below the sea level. In the far corner of this large chamber there was another staircase. In the gleam of Raenon’s brand they could see the stairway led up into the open air. They ran across the room and up the stairs. Once they were out of the antechamber Raenon realized where they were.
“The Cormorant!” Aren yelled and hugged Raenon. They were in the harbor’s alley where Raenon first spotted one of Tavrik’s spawn going into the selfsame passage from which they just arose.
They started down the wharf hoping there would be at least one vessel they might escape on. As they rounded the corner of the bluff there was a lone ship, bearing the flag of The Red Jewel. “Lord Sanhar’s ship!” Aren exclaimed.
Just then, right in front of them something crashed throughout the planks of the harbor, then another. Raenon looked up and saw a score of The Starless Night falling through the air towards them. He could see flames at the edge of the cliff, and in the pale firelight high above it seemed that the demons were jumping to their deaths willingly.
They caterwauled as they fell. Some were clinging to men and women of Vyntane, taking them along into the cold ocean grave. Then Raenon observed that some fell, already dead with swords and axes driven through their colorless bodies. He was glad that not all of Vyntane were going without a fight.
They sprinted towards Sanhar’s ship. Hundreds of bodies were now splashing into the sea. Raenon could see that the ship’s crew was casting off the docklines that held the vessel in port. Behind the ship he spotted the merchant’s lift coming down. It was full of people screaming in horror. Aren arrived at the gangplank first. She called to Sanhar who was standing on the forecastle staring up in disbelief at the demonic mass suicide. “It is The Starless Night!” he yelled back at her. “Aren, I warned you! We must leave now. They are trying to summon Brakur!”
Raenon waited for the citizens from the lift to arrive at the ship. Seven had made it. He helped them onboard before casting off the plank.
The ocean seemed to boil around the ship. At least a thousand of the demons had jumped into the sea but no corpses floated atop the water. The bodies of the men they carried down with them also stayed below the torrid, bubbling surface.
Everyone on board picked up an oar, Sanhar not excluded. Even an old man an
d two small children from the lift started to row vigorously with the others. They sped a few hundred feet away from the cliff below Vyntane. No more demons fell around the ship but Raenon could still see a few of the pale shapes falling against the pure ebon backdrop of the cliff.
The water around the harbor was now a roaring cauldron. It was hard to see in the wan light of the moon, but Raenon could swear there was a shape rising from the waves.
Slowly at first, what seemed to be the arm of a giant lizard broke the surface and gripped the face of the cliff. The arm was almost the length of the harbor itself. Then, another arm shot out, its clawed hand gripped the cliff face and slowly began to pull its bulk out of the water. The Starless Night were successful; this was the insane god.
His head arose between the massive reptilian arms. From behind, Raenon could see it was hairless, but crested with spines that continued down its back. Its viridescent skin was like that of a salamander, smooth and fleshy. As the god rose higher out of the sea the crew stood mesmerized, staring in horror at the lower half of Brakur. His soft flesh became rigid. Six more legs, three on each side, gripped the bluff. They were jointed and armored like a giant crab from the lightless depths.
It was halfway up the cliff when Brakur finally turned his head towards the ship. Raenon heard Aren and the children scream in terror then become suddenly quiet.
It was a human shaped face, but it was a travesty of humanity. Instead of two eyes He had ten, black and emotionless, like a spider. His mouth, also spider-like, was an open, drooping maw with fangs horizontal, and molten rock came vomiting from it, setting ablaze the harbor below.
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