The Light of Life

by Edward W. Robertson

  THE LIGHT OF LIFE

  

  ALSO BY EDWARD W. ROBERTSON

  THE CYCLE OF ARAWN

  The Cycle of Arawn: The Complete Trilogy

  THE CYCLE OF GALAND

  The Red Sea

  The Silver Thief

  The Wound of the World

  THE BREAKERS SERIES

  Breakers

  Melt Down

  Knifepoint

  Reapers

  Cut Off

  Captives

  Relapse

  Blackout

  

  Mallon, Gask, and other lands.

  1

  Dante clasped hands with his foe, ears ringing with the beat of his heart. On the white, bone-like surface of the ground, Gladdic gazed up at him, eyes shining with tears. Beside Dante, Naran looked thunderstruck and Volo looked ill, but Blays' shock was already being replaced by understanding.

  And condemnation.

  Gladdic tilted his weathered face to the clouds, as if seeking the gods behind them. He held the stump of his right arm close to his chest. Dante tightened his arm and helped the old man to his feet.

  "I want nothing more than to leave this life and step into the beyond." Gladdic's voice was husky, as if he was announcing the death of a dear friend. "Even so, I will help you fight what has been unleashed. But I believe our fight will be in vain."

  Dante tried to smile, but his mouth wouldn't do more than twitch. "You'd be surprised how much you can accomplish when you don't know that you're not supposed to be able to do it."

  "This belief explains much about your behavior."

  "I'm sorry." Naran's reddened face swiveled between them. "I don't understand what is happening."

  "That's because you're in possession of a working sense of right and wrong," Blays said. "What's happening is that Dante is proposing an alliance. With Gladdic. Not Gladdic of Yorton, friendly baker. But this Gladdic, the most unfriendly butcher."

  This left Naran too flummoxed to speak.

  Spears of guilt ran up Dante's spine. "You don't know what you're talking about."

  Blays snorted. "You're doing that thing where you throw away every principle you've ever had because you think it'll provide you the slightest advantage in getting what you want."

  "We've stumbled into something we don't understand. We can't afford to make rash decisions right now."

  "And the decision to befriend a mass-murdering lunatic is reasoned and logical?"

  "You saw what we fought back there. He was trying to destroy it—and we stopped him."

  "'He' being the same person who has also repeatedly tried to destroy our allies from existing. Based on Gladdic's history of judgment, he was probably trying to stop that big fellow back there from declaring world peace."

  "You are more correct than you know," Gladdic said. "But this 'world peace' would be the peace of eternal slavery."

  Blays turned on him with the full fury of his scorn. "He's going to enslave us all, is he? Then why have you spent the last year trying to colonize the Plagued Islands and exterminate the Collen Basin? Driven mad by the impending end of the world, no doubt?"

  "It was thought that the Eiden Rane remained in his prison. Unbeknownst to my former ally the Drakebane, who ruled these lands, the rebels of Tanar Atain have been working to release him so that he might destroy the Drakebane for them."

  "This is exactly why we need his help." Dante glanced in the direction where they'd fled from the being Gladdic called the Eiden Rane—the White Lich—but the ghoulish landscape was currently empty. "He knows a whole hell of a lot that we don't. Fire destroys, but it can also illuminate. We need to see what it can show us."

  "Right." Blays swung back toward Gladdic. "Where did you come by all this knowledge? Reading books? Speaking to people?"

  The cadaverous man nodded. "In large part."

  "Excellent. Then we will also go read these books, and speak to these people, freeing us up to kill you now."

  "As you wish."

  "We came here expecting to kill him," Dante said. "So to you, any action that doesn't involve killing him is the most foolish act since the last time you forgot to eat breakfast. But new information has come to light. Information that changes everything. Our plans have to change with it."

  "Let me give it some thought." Blays wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword. "On closer consideration, I'm pretty sure it's still a great idea."

  "If we slay him now, we have no idea how long it'll take to learn about the Eiden Rane. Because whatever it is, the Drakebane's last act here was to try to destroy it. And when that failed, he was so terrified of it that he's abandoning his homeland altogether."

  Blays' sword arm relaxed, the tension moving from it to his face. As he made a rare struggle for words, Naran surged forward, shoving Gladdic to the ground. The priest attempted to catch himself with his right arm; the impact of his stump against the stony surface made him gasp.

  Naran drew his saber and jabbed it into the hollow of Gladdic's throat. "You murdered my captain. My oldest friend. My savior. In return, I send you to the Tilted Cabin that rests at the bottom of the sea!"

  "Make it quick." Gladdic's gaze had shifted past Naran to the south. "After, you will want to run."

  Dante wrenched his eyes away from the unfolding execution and to the southern horizon, beyond which they'd last seen the White Lich. There, a pair of dark shapes loped swiftly through the upthrust field of bony growths. The creatures had the length and height of wolves, but they were as slender as ferrets and as graceful as Galladese fishing-cats.

  Dante's mouth dried out. "What are those?"

  "His scouts," Gladdic said. "Although such a term understates their danger. They are more than a match for armed men. And their skin is hardened against the blades of the Odo Sein."

  "Thanks for the warning," Blays said. "Got a boat we can use while you stay here and bravely hold them off?"

  "Yes. It is beyond the labyrinth."

  "Perfect. Don't worry, we'll definitely send help."

  "The labyrinth?" Dante grabbed the priest's intact arm. "I don't know why you're willing to help us after everything that's happened. But if you want us to get out of here, then show us the way."

  Again, Gladdic looked up at the clouds. A look of deep yearning creased the corners of his eyes. Coming from any other priest, Dante would have assumed he was beseeching the gods for aid, but he felt abruptly certain that Gladdic was wishing to die.

  Gladdic's shoulders sank. "As you wish."

  He loped forward, moving easily despite the grievous wound that had claimed his right arm. Naran bared his teeth and followed. Blays spewed profanity. Volo, normally as free with her opinions as a crow, ran along as if in a trance, still stunned by the understanding of what her rebel movement had done in releasing the Eiden Rane.

  Dante held the rear, keeping one eye on the creatures as they pursued the five of them across the field of white spikes and red pools. He had utterly exhausted himself in the battle against the White Lich. The others were battered themselves—and Gladdic had just said the animal scouts were hardened against the nether-fueled Odo Sein blades they carried. There would be no more arguments between them. Not until they were out of this place and into safety—or whatever passed for it these days.

  Gladdic weaved through a field of rocky protrusions streaked with iron rust. Beyond the next ridge, the ground leveled out in a plateau standing a hundred feet above the swamps below. Gusts of wind snapped at their clothes. A blank wall of rock rose from the end of the plateau, broken by a single opening just large enough for a single person to squeeze through. If Dante'd had any power remaining, he might have etched a staircase twenty feet up to the top of the short cliff, but
as it was, there was no way forward but through the door.

  Outside it, Gladdic opened his palm and whispered to himself. Pure white light blossomed from his grasp. He entered and the others followed. Inside, their breathing echoed from the tight tunnel walls. It smelled damp, shot through with the scent of aquatic life and lingering decay.

  The tunnel forked. Gladdic glanced down each branch before continuing to the left. He'd hardly gotten ten feet before the labyrinth forked again. This time, the priest continued to the right, hardly breaking stride.

  "You have this memorized?" Dante said.

  Gladdic shook his white-haired head. At the next branch, he came to a stop. "Look into the nether. Where you find it, go the opposite."

  "Why? Because you think it's a sign of evil?"

  "Because down that path, things have died." The priest moved onward into the gloom, sandals scattering a pile of small bones. "The Drakebane betrayed me. He and his people will have departed, taking their boats with them. Yet we hid another canoe for just such a situation as ours. If it remains, you may employ it."

  Blays grunted. "How gracious of you to bravely use us to save yourself."

  "Just as you always have, you mistake me. This is not about my own life."

  "So after devoting your golden years to murdering heretics, your enemies, and especially us, you suddenly want to save our skins?"

  "Correct. For I believe you are the only ones who might slow the White Lich's progress."

  "Slow him? Don't you mean stop him?"

  Gladdic made a creaking noise that might have been a laugh. "You scatter words like bait on the surface of a lake, but I use each one as I mean it. To slow him is the best that you can hope."

  Blays was quiet for a moment. "If you don't think we can kill him, then what's the point?"

  "To allow the world a few more months of innocence before it is consumed."

  At the next intersection, Gladdic took the right path, only to stop a few feet into it, murmur something under his breath, and backtrack. Down a side tunnel, Dante thought he heard breathing in the darkness. He told himself it was merely an echo.

  Light shined ahead. After the black halls of the labyrinth, it burned like white-hot metal, yet it was nothing more than the overcast sunlight of the day. They stopped outside the exit to let their eyes adjust. The land before them ramped down to the rust-colored waters of the deepest swamp. At the boundary, a large canoe waited beside the white bank.

  "That is my vessel," Gladdic said.

  Blays strode forward. "I don't care if it's the boat waiting to ferry Lyle's blessed ghost up to Double Heaven. We're taking it."

  As elsewhere in the Wound, the ground was scattered with spindly, tree-like white structures ranging from two to eight feet tall. Before, Dante had taken them for a bizarre form of stalagmite. After hearing Gladdic's claim about the overflow of nether in the Wound, however, it looked as though the earth was sprouting bones.

  These provided decent cover, yet the way ahead looked quiet and clear. Dante jogged after Blays. Halfway toward the boat, two shadows darted along the shore, far too agile for their size. Long claws sent grit scattering across the ground. The creatures came to a stop directly in front of the canoe.

  Both had the height of a full-grown wolf—perhaps closer to that of a mule—but now that they were closer, Dante saw why they had appeared so slender: rather than animals of living flesh, the two creatures were made of naked bone, the same as when he reanimated a rat to scout for him. Rather than being white or yellowed, these bones were black.

  He reached toward them with his mind. "They've been reinforced somehow. Like the swamp dragons. They'll be toughened against our swords."

  Blays drew his Odo Sein blades. Purple-black nether shot along their lengths, swirling like lightning. "Bad move on their part. That only means it'll hurt more."

  "The Eiden Rane has forged these animals into weapons," Gladdic said. "Don't let arrogance blind you to their danger."

  Blays rolled his eyes and advanced, angling to the right of the two undead beasts that were cutting them off from the canoe. Dante drew his sword, jerking at the twitch from deep inside his spine. Nether flowed along the steel. He moved to Blays' left flank. Wordlessly, Naran unsheathed the sword he'd looted from one of the fallen knights and closed ranks.

  "Look out!" Volo pointed uphill. There, two more of the creatures had appeared on the ridge. They held position, as still as statues, before springing downhill with frightening speed.

  "Quickly now." Blays bent his knees. "Before they catch us in the back."

  He charged the nearer of the first pair of animals. It skipped to its right. Dante pressed forward, driving it back toward Blays. Naran cried out, throwing himself toward Dante. Dante had only turned his back to the other beast for the briefest moment, but it had closed the distance between them with a single bound. Naran smacked into his side, driving him to the ground the instant before the animal soared over him. It reached for him with its scything claws, inches away.

  At the shore, Blays swiped at the first of the creatures with both swords. It dodged most of his attacks like it was made of smoke. The few strikes that connected made a dull thwacking noise. Volo stuck close to Gladdic, brandishing her short, heavy-handled dagger. From her posture, she seemed to understand it would do little good against the bony monsters.

  Stiff from their battle with the White Lich, Dante shoved himself to his feet. The beast that had flung itself at him had already come about and was lashing at Naran with its claws, skipping from side to side with the twitchiness of a wasp. Naran shuffled forward and took a backhand swipe at its neck. The creature tucked its front paws beneath it, the sword chipping into its shoulder blade as it rolled toward him.

  As soon as it got its feet beneath it, it exploded toward Naran. The captain fell back, hacking at the animal's face and landing a glancing blow on its bony cheek, sending up a puff of bone powder. The creature sailed forward, plowing into Naran's shoulder. He collapsed under its unholy strength.

  Dante was already charging forward, slamming his nether-wrapped blade into the beast's springy, naked spine. The blow landed with a dry crack, jolting up Dante's arm. A black chip spun away. The undead creature lashed out at Dante, claws gouging his forearm, and bounded backward.

  Naran hauled himself to his feet. He was bleeding from three parallel slashes across his left shoulder. "Are we so much as hurting them?"

  "Try for their joints," Dante said. "They don't bleed, but we can whittle them down."

  Dazzling light spewed to his left. Gladdic faced down both of the animals that were charging from uphill, blasting them with streams of ether like symmetrical storms of lightning. Shadows steamed and sizzled away from the creatures' bones, but still they ran on, leaping from rock to rock. Gladdic stood firm, sheltering Volo behind him, showing no intention of trying to run. He didn't look scared. Just a little bit sad, as if hearing of the death of an old lover he hadn't spoken to since he was young.

  The ether flared so brightly Dante had to shield his eyes. The lead creature tossed its head and peeled to the side. The second dropped into a crouch and sprung, claws reaching for the old man.

  Shadows swept to Gladdic's hands. He planted his feet and sent a flood of nether coursing toward the oncoming monster. It disappeared into a cloud of darkness, crying out with a metallic, trumpet-like squall. Gladdic dropped to the side, kneeling in his plain gray robe. The creature tumbled past him, emerging from the shadows, clawing out to all sides to try to arrest its skid. Sections of its black bone had been scoured white.

  An object bounced downhill toward Dante. It landed a few feet away: a severed bony paw, claws gnarled tight. The ankle, however, was all wrong. Rather than being slender, it was wide. Knobby. If anything, it looked like a vertebrae.

  Naran called out in defiance, blocking a swipe of a claw with his sword. Dante ran to join him. They stood shoulder to shoulder, fending off one attack after another, but the creature was so quick they
rarely had the chance to counter. To Dante's right, Blays was holding his own against the other scout that had cut them off from the boat. Inch by inch, he pushed his opponent toward the shore, but other than a few white chips cut out from its bones, the construct had suffered little appreciable damage.

  Dante frowned, examining the one he and Naran were doing their best to contain. As a whole, its skeleton looked like no other animal he'd seen—but that was because no such creature existed. Rather, it had been forged from the bones of several different animals: the paws and claws of bears; the spine of some great cat; the strong snout and fangs of a massive wolf.

  As far as he knew, such a thing should be impossible. When he reanimated a dead creature, he could only do so because the nether in the animal was already in sympathy with every other part of itself. Cobbling together multiple pieces from other animals, even of the same species, shouldn't result in anything more than an inert jumble of bones.

  The beast drove forward, pushing him and Naran back in a frantic scrabble. Light and darkness shimmered where Gladdic did battle with the other pair, but the energies were already dimming. Gladdic had spent most of his powers fighting the White Lich. Soon, they'd be left with no sorcery whatsoever.

  As Dante and Naran battled the monster back, Dante examined its long, sinuous spine. The vertebrae in its ankle couldn't be a mere artistic quirk. Not when the nethereal trace—the dark soul of the body—was contained somewhere within the spine, a fact Dante had only revealed during their trip to and the battle at the Wound of the World. Physically, the creature's spine showed no signs of irregularity. Frowning, Dante delved into the nether. The shadows within its vertebrae seemed normal as well.

  After another exchange, the beast skipped back, favoring its front left paw. Naran pressed in on it, seeking to exploit their advantage. The beast tightened its fleshless jaws in something eerily like a smile and reversed course toward Naran. He thrust forth his sword. It clipped through the animal's ribs, sending chips of bone to all sides as the whirling nether discharged itself, but the beast kept onward, clawing at Naran's arm. He cried out and dropped his blade.