The Darkness Within (A Lythinall Novel) (Book 2)

by Michael Nadeau

  Karsis was rolling again, and when he finally stopped he realized that his chest was burned clean through his shirt and blistered the skin. That was close. He thought, standing up weakly. He had waited for the creature to try and shield himself from her attack, then launched himself mentally at it with a pulse of force from his own mind to give them some space. It had worked to shield himself from the blast, well most of it at least. Caerlyn was racing over, concern all over her face.

  "Are you all right?" Even though she knew that healing in this place was just as easy as traveling, she was still worried about his injuries. Too severe and his mind would be forced out without his control.

  He smiled at her and suddenly his chest was healed. He looked down and the shirt was back a second later. He twirled around for her, just to make her feel better. It worked, as he saw the smile spring to life on her face. "Now let's think about this. That being is old, older than I have ever encountered, and it is not gone, just pushed somewhere else for now."

  "Yes, I can still feel it, him...whatever it is." She glanced back at the temple and its crumbling roof, she winced as a slab of marble choose that moment to collapse inward. She closed her eyes and the whole thing vanished. She couldn't fix it now, that would take too much energy, and she had to conserve. Caerlyn could still feel herself being eaten away bit by bit. She opened her eyes and looked at the bard with determination. "Now what or who was that thing, and how did you know it's name?"

  Karsis smiled, glad that his friend had found that old fire once more. Now if he could just keep her in this mood. "When we were linked mind to mind, I got a glimpse of who he was. It is a demon." He saw her eyes go wide with a mixture of fear and loathing, but continued before she could interrupt him. "It's name is Xilquiliv, and once it touched my mind it remembered me." He counted silently to three...

  "Demon!" She couldn't even fathom that there was a demon after her soul. This changed things. Then the rest of his statement sunk in and she grabbed his jacket and pulled him closer. "What do you mean he remembered you?!" Her voice raised in pitch until she was almost squeaking.

  Karsis gently pulled her hands off of his long coat, brushed the wrinkles out and cleared his throat, trying not to laugh. "Calm down Caerlyn, it will be all right. Now, remember that time I took Tanan's wound? Well apparently this demon is tied to all the blades made like that, and he could tell me from the smell of my soul." He should've known that the thing in here was a demon, after all, what else could be that old, or that evil? "I threw up a shield, but even that barely held him out."

  Caerlyn was pacing now, and had her thinking face on. "I've studied a lot of books Karsis, and I know that the elven arch-wizards dealt with demons, but other than that, I don't know anything about them." It seemed hopeless, Even the great bard Karsis had his limits, though there were rumors of him having pacts with demons....

  Knowing that they didn't have a lot of time, he tried to make it short. She needed to know what they were going up against, even though she did really well blasting it like that. He could only assume that it was busy with his shields so couldn't defend against her as well. A mistake it would not make twice. "Ok, I'll try and make this quick so listen carefully. Demons are tricky and not at all like the stories make them out to be. Most people think demons are horned creatures with tails and wings that were covered in flames. The stories say they were summoned with magic into chalk outlines that supposedly kept them bound and restrained. Rubbish, all of it. Demons are beings with immense power that dwell in-between worlds and can only reach out to this world through magic conduits, like the Xalrin blade. They come in varied shapes and sizes, and they only want one thing. Souls. Once they get inside your mind, they attack your soul and devour it, then leave you an empty husk, fleeing back to the space between worlds."

  Karsis knew that she was going to keep asking questions, but they just didn't have time to go into what they could do, or how best to fight them. "Before you ask, just do what you did back there, over and over until it screams for you to stop."

  "What do I do when he does that?" She asked, knowing how this was going to go. It was an old trick he used to keep his comrades calm. Tanan and Storn always fell for it. Every time. While she was waiting for his answer, she honed in on another focus of evil and closed her eyes, concentrating on its location.

  "You hit it again!" He laughed as they appeared near a small village. He looked at it and recognized it as one of the farming villages east of Alrin. J'ren, if I'm not mistaken. He thought, as he saw the monstrosity laying across the fields and digging great furrows in the barren ground with its tentacles. The demon did not look like it was frightened at all, and Karsis was working furiously on what had scared this ancient being. This was going to hurt, he just knew it.

  Caerlyn ran to the left, trying to put distance between her and Karsis, her old training and reflexes kicking it once more. She raised her arms pointing to the beast and willed the light to come forth. She didn't need to shout the words, It just made her feel better. She saw the lance of bright light slam into the things side and burn a huge line across it. The howl it made bore into her head like an avalanche, but wasn't like before. Now it just seemed angry. She called up another blast, but never got it off as she was slammed to the ground with two of those tentacles. She cried out and tried to roll with the hit, but they pinned her tight to the earth. She could hear Karsis calling for her to do something, but she couldn't hear him with her head being pushed into the ground.

  Then she remembered where she was. Suddenly she was where they started, at the edge of the field, about a hundred feet away from where she was. She spit dirt and grinned at the thing that was trying to devour her. Let's try that again.

  Karsis saw her blast and broke into a run to the right, bringing his hand up and firing off a line of energy blasts that staggered into the beasts side as well. It was pure magic energy, and should've burned the thing to ash, but they were only burning parts away. He saw the tentacles slam her down and fired again, trying to distract it. "Caerlyn, let it all go!" He needed her to lose restraint, It would never see that coming. It knew her thoughts, and personality from being in here. Karsis had to get her to do something new. He saw her travel away and smiled, smart girl. He rolled under a reaching tentacle, then came up with a jet of flame coming from both hands. He was switching his attacks so it kept the demon off balance. Not that it would work, but it made him feel clever.

  It screeched so loud when he hit it that time, that he felt blood trickling from his ears. He kept moving and firing, then a tentacle smashed into him, sending him flying through the air. Aw Hells below, this is going to hurt... He thought as he crashed into the earth and rolled for at least fifty feet. He got to his feet and jumped to the left as a tentacle slammed down where he was. This was going about as good as trying to out drink a dragon. He sprinted towards Caerlyn and prayed he could get to her before she was crushed. They needed a new plan.

  She dodged and fired again and again, then saw the tentacles coming down for her and sidestepped lightly, blasting it with her power over and over again. Why did it flee the last time? What's different? It was hard to keep ahead of it, but this was her mind and she could almost sense when this demon was going to swing at her.

  Then she saw Karsis fly through the air and hit the ground. She winced, knowing that there were very few things on this earth that could do that to him. Oh yeah, it's not of this earth. She laughed out loud at that thought and it must've caught the demon off guard because it's attacks stopped for a second. Then Karsis was there, grabbing her and whisking her back away from the demon.

  "The little girl Caer, bring us there now!" He yelled as they ran across the barren fields of dirt. He was missing something again, and that was getting tiring. He needed time to think and work through some of this before he lost his friend, and as he held her, he could tell that she was getting colder. One second they were on dirt, the next they were stepping on the cold stone floor of the throne room. they stumble
d together and collapsed, breathing heavily. He saw that the little girl was still sitting there, but now she was smiling at them fondly. It made him feel a little uneasy.

  "What now Karsis, I can almost feel him before he attacks, but I can't keep it up that long." She felt ragged, torn, but her spirit was still fighting the demon off. She saw him looking at the girl with those eyes that said he was almost onto something and she giggled; The girl on the throne giggled at the same time.

  His eyes went wide. Not because he figured out how to beat the demon, no he wasn't quite there yet. No, what he just realized was where they had been going and what everything represented. It was why he and his friends were encased behind glass, and why she was a little girl watching them. "The Temple, the fields, and here...they are all parts of you." Usually in a person's mind, it was made up of memories, but in here, at least what he was seeing, was the most important parts of what made Caerlyn who she was.

  She looked down at her feet, thoroughly embarrassed. To be laid bare in front of her friends, especially this one, was almost more than she could handle. Caerlyn was always very private, but now. "Yes Karsis. The girl is my youth, my playfulness."

  "And you have us behind the glass because you grew up watching us." As the youngest of the Companions of Everknight, she was the last one to join the group, and she was only fourteen then. "But what did the fields represent? I can see that the temple was your faith, but what could the barren........" He stopped as he saw her face fall in utter despair, Sometimes I'm too damn smart for my own good. He stepped closer and she backed away.

  "No, It's all right." She sniffed away the tears that were forming and raised her head to meet his eyes directly. She would not cave in front of this man. "I learned years ago that I could never have children. It was that wagon accident on the Southern Run road." She had saved a small child, pulling her out from under an overturned wagon, but then it collapsed on top of her, crushing her entire lower half. In fact it was Karsis that half lifted the entire thing with magic so Gareth and Arian could push it over and pull her out. She didn't remember the trip to the castle, just that they got there in record time. Only her healing, and Ralavin's got her up and walking again after that, but they couldn't restore some of the damage.

  "I'm so sorry Caerlyn, and don't worry, you have my silence." He wouldn't tell a soul, except maybe Ralavin. With his youth returned, he may be able to help her better now. "But now to the task at hand!" He shouted to no one in particular. He smiled and did a turn, spinning his coat tails and trying to make her smile again. It worked, and the little girl on the throne smiled too. Was it him, or did his clone just frown at him.

  "Yes yes Karsis. Now what was different between when we fought that demon at the Temple compared to the fields?" It was bothering her that she hit it with one blast and it fled, then later it took a dozen and Karsis's magic as well with no sign of slowing down. Except when she laughed.

  "Well the temple was representing your faith right? So, we were linked and then I told you his name....AHA!" Syll be damned how did I miss that! He thought he must be going senile. The oldest trick in the book, and one that had a solid basis in all of his teachings of magic. He knew the things true name. Xilquiliv was as good as dead.

  She laughed at the revelation as well, she didn't even think of that, but it made sense. Karsis had said it was afraid of her, and it was. It was petrified that she would've said his name before blasting him, which is why it fled as quick as it did. When they showed up at the fields and didn't say it, the demon just went on the offensive as fast as it could before they figured it out. "And I know where it will be going next." She skipped over to the bard and grabbed his hand. She didn't expect him to pull away like he did. "What's wrong?" The bard looked like he had seen a ghost.

  He saw her coming and when she touched his hand he felt the cold of the grave. When he pulled away, he saw that he could almost see right through her. He was not going to lose her. "Listen, you have to find some way to surprise this demon Caer. He knows you intimately now, your faith, your life, and now he is going to take away something else." He was so angry that he could tear apart a mountain, and after this he just might.

  "He's going after my love." She wrapped her hand in her dress, thinking that it might help him grab her. She reached out and he took it without a second thought.

  "Take me away my lady, and remember, do something unexpected." He readied himself for the unexpected, then they arrived where he first showed up. He tried to hide his puzzlement, but hearing her giggle again clued him into his failure. Xilquiliv was there , smashing statue after statue across the wide grassy plain. The demon was pulling himself across the grass with great heaves, and leaving a massive trench behind him. "Oh, I get it. The only room you have for love is Davalar." He should've known that one, but it had been a busy day. That's when he heard her say his name softly. He turned in time to see her glowing hand reach for his left arm, and he pulled away quickly to the right. Exactly where she wanted him.

  She touched her other hand, which was also glowing, to his shoulder and whispered to him as he started to fade away. "I've got this Karsis, you helped me in the only way that you could, the way I knew you would. You found out how to win, you always do. Go, I'll be right behind you." And as he faded back to reality, he stuck his tongue out at her. She had to laugh, if she didn't she would start crying. She turned, once her friend was gone and started walking towards the demon that wanted her soul. She was almost gone now, only her youth and memories that were locked away were left. If she lost here, she was gone forever. The demon must've felt something different because it stopped mid smash and slowly pivoted and started moving towards her. She couldn't do this too soon, or it would flee again, then she wouldn't have the element of surprise."Come on you evil, repugnant bastard." She thought of some of the things that Tanan had said to his opponents in the past and smiled. "Let's get this over with, I've got a date with your mother later." She hoped that would make the sly thief proud.

  It came at the girl with a hunger that seemed insatiable. He had lived for eons off of the souls of these pathetic beings, and this one seemed delectable. Too bad the wizard was gone, he was powerful, and he remembered that smell from just a little while ago. Time was fleeting to Xilquiliv, but he never forgot when he lost a soul. He hadn't expected that shield to pop up so fast, or for it to hold him out of his mind. He was sure that they had known his name, but they never used it. Closer and closer he came, his tentacles smashing into what she considered her most treasured part of her being. He wanted to consume her with his great maw, devouring her essence all in one.

  Then he noticed that her whole form was glowing, radiating a smell of delectable goodness. He knew that she wasn't the type to put all of her power into one shot, she just wasn't that type of person. He had devoured enough of her essence to know what she would do. She would hold back and conserve her strength, trying to wear him down little by little. She thought she could sense him, knowing when he would strike, but he was feeding her ego so that she would gain confidence. He thought it might be a trick, luring him in, since she had done some of those things over the fleeting time she had been with this soul. These beings so liked their tricks. He raised up, his gigantic bulk towering over her small glowing form. He would crush her quickly, not toying with her anymore. He was about to lash out, then everything changed to pure, unadulterated pain.

  Once she saw him getting closer she drew in everything she had, all of her and focused it into her core. She was glowing from the amount of power coming off of her now, and he was too close to stop her. She thought of her friends, and all of the people that she had saved, and she smiled. This had better work. "Xilquiliv! Be gone into the darkness from which you came! Xilquiliv be banished by the light!"

  Then she let go. She let go of the shame of Karsis knowing her utter most secrets, she let go of the pain of missing the adventures of the road, even the pain of never raising children of her own. Her form exploded into a million pieces
of glowing shards that sliced into the demon a million times, each one carrying the echoes of his true name. He melted away, screaming, back to that place between worlds. Then she woke up.

  Caerlyn Hold, Eastern Lythinall

  They had travelled for two days, trudging along the packed earthen road with the bodies of their unconscious friends draped over the horses. Rhoe was exhausted. He was going off of reserves that he was pretty sure he stole from someone. He was still trying to recuperate from healing and then the fight with the sorcerer. Add to that the stress of his friends being close to death, and that made for the worst two days of his life. Thank the Gods above that the King's Marshal had provisions in the horses' packs when they commandeered them, otherwise they would've fallen over dead by now. He hadn't eaten real food for days, and these rations were barely keeping him on his feet.

  "Are we there yet?" Liss smiled at Rhoe as she said it, mainly to make him smile back. He was ignoring her with practiced ease. She could see that he was barely standing, yet he was still walking with a determined step. Walking, ironic really since they all had horses. They had to lead the horses since Karsis and Caerlyn we're still out of it, fighting some evil darkness inside of Caerlyn. It was all too much for her to understand.

  She watched Rhoe lead the horse with Karsis on it and smiled again, more to herself this time. She admired the way he took charge, even though she should've been the one since she was the Princess. Enjoy it now, this will all end when we get back to the castle. She thought as they came over a rise and saw Caerlyn Hold. "Oh hey! We really are there." She walked a little faster leading her horse, so that she could be in front. She knew most of the people in charge here and knew how to deal with them. "I'll get us in Rhoe, just head to the right once were in and you'll see the stables."