The Last Goddess

by C.E. Stalbaum

  ***

   

  Rook coughed and tried to ignore the agony searing down the entire right side of his body. He rolled to his feet and quickly took in his surroundings—Selaste was gone, and not forty feet from him a wall of fire was hastily consuming the forest. When his ears finally stopped ringing from the aftershock of the blast, he heard voices just off to his left.

  He scanned the area for his weapons and saw his repeating crossbow lying a few feet away. He snatched it up and dashed towards the voices. The blast had apparently hurled him over an impressive mound of dirt and rock, and he climbed over it as best he could. There, perhaps twenty feet away, Selaste stood upright as three Faceless bore down on her. A mage on horseback barked orders at them, his hand surging with Fane energy.  

  Rook flattened himself down and aimed his weapon, trying his best not to think about their odds. Three Faceless and a Darenthi mage, and at least twice that many somewhere else nearby…

  He lined up a shot on the nearest Faceless, his finger settling on the trigger—

  And Selaste moved. It was a grand gesture, throwing her arms up into the air as a spark of magic danced up her body. An instant later the curtain of fire roared and flickered, and the flames themselves leapt off the trees towards her, encircling her body like a molten tornado. They writhed and danced as they engulfed her, and within seconds the wall of flame was gone.

  The mage swore under his breath, and Rook felt his jaw drop open. He had never seen anything like that before, even from groups of magi. It looked like she had been completely swallowed whole…

   And then, with an odd clapping sound, the flames leapt from her body and lashed out at the mounted mage.

  He never had a chance. Whatever meager magic he tried to protect himself with instantly buckled beneath the intensity of the blast. With little more than a single, echoing shriek, the man’s body disintegrated in a fiery plume of ash. His horse, terrified but otherwise unharmed, bucked and bolted off in the opposite direction.

  Any normal soldier would have soiled himself and run at the display. Unfortunately, Faceless weren’t ordinary soldiers—and worse, without a human commander to guide them, they would likely just try to kill everything around them. They lumbered forward towards her, weapons drawn, and Rook hoped she would pull another miracle and rip them apart just like she had back at the compound. She reached out a hand as if to scare them off—

  And then collapsed. Her body flopped over like an empty sack, and Rook couldn’t tell if she was unconscious or dead. But even if she was still alive, the Faceless wouldn’t leave her that way for long.

  Which meant that it was up to him to stop them.

  Rook lined up the shot and fired. It pierced cleanly through the helmet of the closest one, and the creature staggered briefly before swiveling awkwardly to face its attacker. Rook grimaced and fired again. His second shot lodged into its leg armor, and it fell to a knee, unable to move. Unfortunately, the other two were now almost on top of him.

  Rook tossed aside the weapon and unsheathed his blade. He had no chance of defeating two Faceless by himself and was under no delusion to the contrary. But what he could do was fight his way over to her and then carry her away. Faceless were slow and awkward; the ritual that separated them from the Fane took away every last ounce of creativity they had once possessed. They would probably be too stupid to get back on their horses and chase him down without a commander to order them around, but they were tireless. He would have to get far enough away to hide before he collapsed in fatigue.

  It wasn’t much, but it was better than going down without a fight. 

  He lunged forward towards the first Faceless with a vicious slash; the armored man easily battered it away with his shield and retaliated with a quick thrust—but Rook was no longer there. Using the momentum of his swing, he spun to the right and jabbed at the second Faceless. It, too, was ready, deflecting the attack with its blade and showering the area with sparks. Rook then threw himself backwards, his weapon clattering again off the Faceless’s riposte, and suddenly he’d managed to slip through their little blockade. He hopped away once more and then broke into a sprint towards the insensate Selaste.

  He covered the distance in only a few seconds and sheathed his sword as he slid down next to her, sweeping his hands underneath her body to lift her up. Her skin was cold but still wet with perspiration. He cursed under his breath as he hoisted her up, the sound of heavy booted footfalls approaching quickly from behind him…

  He was out of time. A blade slid through his hip, impaling him to the ground. He shrieked as the pain burned through his entire body, and she fell from his arms and tumbled to the side. He glanced back to see the second Faceless raising his blade for a final strike—

  And then a current of blinding blue energy coursed through the bodies of the armored monsters, as if a great ball of light had suddenly erupted underneath their armor. All three of them, even the crawling one, lifted from the ground and twitched in place, a hollow rasp seeping out from their helmets.

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Selaste leaning up, sparks of Fane energy rippling up and down her arms. Her eyes narrowed, and she abruptly pulled her hands apart—and at the same time, the Faceless were literally ripped to shreds. An explosion of light detonated from inside their armor, and metal plates knifed through the air and scattered across the underbrush. A thin trace of dust sprinkled down from where they’d once stood, and then everything went silent.

  Selaste crawled over to him and brought a hand to his face. He winced in agony, but soon the pain started to fade as if she’d tossed a bucket of cold water over the burning wound. With her left hand she reached down and slid the sword free from his hip. By that point he couldn’t even feel it; the entire lower half of his body had gone numb.

   “We have to go,” she whispered, “the others are closing in.”

  “What…” he gasped, unable to move and barely able to think.

  She grimaced and lifted him up into her arms. He glanced down to the ground beneath them and a knot suddenly formed in his stomach. It was black and shriveled, even in areas untouched by the flame. In fact, the entire area around where she’d been standing—some thirty feet in all directions—looked completely dead. The grass was gone, the bushes wilted nearly into dust…

  And then she took off. He held onto her as best he could, but his strength was waning. It was clear he was a difficult load to carry—he could feel the muscles in her arm quivering the longer she ran while holding him—but somehow her grip held and she continued onward.

  Rook felt his own consciousness slipping away as they traveled, and just before the darkness took him, he wondered what in the name of the gods he had gotten himself into.