A dark spear of power flew at her dad, which he deflected. Then, a buzzing hail of blackness blotted out half her family.
Crystalyn’s anxiety exploded, bringing on panic. She formed a symbol, the old and familiar knockback, her first aggressive one. Releasing it, the gray star pattern with the white outline shifted into stacked silver concentric circles and streaked to the target, striking Darwin in the chest.
Lifting the black robe from the stone floor, the symbol thrust him into Malkor. Shoved through a wide doorway where steps led downward, they vanished from sight.
“Everyone take cover! I doubt I hurt him much!” Crystalyn shouted. Not heeding her own warning, she looked toward the top of the stairs, fear knotting her stomach.
Incredibly, her dad stood unscathed, a great sword in his hand. Behind him, Jade gazed over his shoulder at her. The glint of something translucent flickering with a light blackness surrounded them both. Crystalyn understood. A barrier covered them.
“Do’brieni! The enemy marches!”
Four unordered rows of soldiers marched past her father and sister, climbing down the stairway. Oddly, they moved with an inelegance unbefitting those trained in martial affairs. Archers and Dark Users slipped along both sides of the gate wall, lining the top of its arc.
Crystalyn’s warriors filed through the great double doors six at a time, Hastel’s archers and the Users fanning out as soon as they could. The Shimmering Sands clan had already spread out around the eastern side of the dais. The Valens, lined to come through, would take slightly longer, as only two could go through together.
Grinding her teeth with frustration, Crystalyn watched the progress of her warriors. Getting them into the courtyard was taking too long. Even then, the open area of the courtyard made her uneasy.
“Broth, go check on Darwin’s condition, report back to me. Stay hidden and don’t engage him under any circumstances.”
“I shall go with stealth, my Do’brieni.”
“Good. Then hurry back. I need you at my side.”
Beside the Dark Gate, four figures moved. One, she’d overheard consorting with Darwin months ago. Even from across the courtyard, the silver bands were unmistakable. Blast! Another enemy to take on. There’s no end to them on this bloody world, Crystalyn thought. The four ran to a fallen person wearing a gray robe. The hooded man stooped over the crumpled form.
A violent wind gusted into Crystalyn, sweeping her legs out from under her, slamming her into the dais. Gripping the rough stone at the lip of the dais, she held on with all her might. Finally, the wind slowed enough to pull herself upright.
“Blast her! Someone put an arrow in Sabella!” Lore Rayna screamed, shouting from where she lay upon the granite floor thrust up against the dais.
Sabella dashed toward the group gathered around the fallen man at top speed.
Beside Lore Rayna, Hastel sat up, raising his crossbow.
“Darkwind returns, Do’brieni. He has started the climb.”
Crystalyn had no time to worry about the hooded man or Sabella now. The rest of the Shimmering Sand warriors were marching into the courtyard, rows of soft flesh beckoning for arrows and strafing assaults of the Flow, six abreast. “Forget about her, Hastel! Set up the archers around the perimeter, cover those still coming in if the enemy decides to fire upon us from the wall!”
“Aye, mistress,” Hastel said. Crystalyn barely took note of Atoi moving beside her as the one-eyed man climbed to his feet and sprinted away.
“Long Sand, get your people out of the open. Move them to the stables over there,” Crystalyn shouted, pointing. “Have them set up barricades in front. Bring out wagons and stall doors, pull down statues and columns, anything you can find to protect against those archers and Users. Keep in mind, wood is flammable. Ask someone to check if Railee somehow survived.”
“Your command is my honor, Clan Leader,” Long Sand said, crouching and moving away.
“RaCorren!” she shouted next, bringing the big Valen running to her. “Position the Valens in the hallways and doors of those barracks next to the stables. There is access to deeper within the Citadel—guard for rear attacks. Have the Users install barriers in front of the archers and nomads where needed. Prepare aggressions for retaliation against the Dark Users rimming the wall.”
“I shall, Sarra’esiah,” the Valen leader said. Giving a quick bow, he, too, left at a run.
“Lore Rayna, come with me. You too, Atoi, since you won’t go anywhere else when we battle, it seems. I’m going after Darkwind.”
“You have hurt the red robe, Do’brieni. He has remained behind to heal. The black robe comes. I come,” Broth sent. A moment later, he loped though the southern door.
Crystalyn hurried toward her Do’brieni. With luck, she would have time to gather her little group on each side of the doorway and ambush Darwin when he stepped through.
She was halfway to her link mate when the walls and doorframe she ran toward exploded outward.
CRIMSON BEAM
The Great Shadow rolled off the servant using the fist grasping the orb to push the body to a stand. The two artifacts appeared intact, though the deformed arm’s grip was weak. The Great Shadow had the strength to renew it and give back the power and mobility it once had. But it would take a constant dribble of Dark Flow. Such a small convenience was not worth the high expenditure of the Flow, not yet. Perhaps after all of Astura had submitted to its domination.
The Great Shadow gazed up the stairs. The symbol of power cast by the tall outlander woman had hurled it and the living host, Darwin, many stories deep. The host should have failed, yet all but the old wound of the arm appeared intact.
A glance downward revealed the reason. The servant lay unconscious on one side, the left arm severely damaged. The shoulder’s blade protruded through the red robe. On an impulse, the Great Shadow split its essence, installing half of its dark spirit inside the red robe, expending a few bits of its Dark Flow to heal a second host. Sitting up, the servant opened eyes of radiant red rimmed with the darkness of its essence. “Follow when you have healed enough to do so. Do not use more than necessary to provide healing to make you mobile. Stay in the shadows. Add power, or healing, only when I request it of you. You now stand in as my reserve,” the Great Shadow rasped.
The servant rose and bowed.
The Great Shadow climbed, immensely pleased. Having a failsafe had on occasion insured survival through the millennia.
At the top, the Great Shadow paused on the landing. A warden bolted away from the open doorway. A small group of humans ran toward it. The symbolic User, the betrayer, dashed in front of them.
The Great Shadow cast the translucent image of its true essence, overlapping the human host. Expanding, the Great Shadow rose to a tremendous height. In one hand, the Great Shadow gripped the infused Dark Flow spirit approximation of the weapon that had made it king so long ago, when it, too, had been a man. As an afterthought, the shadow sent out the silent call for the colossal creations, getting them moving, bringing them nearer.
The Citadel’s ceiling was now too close and the doorframe too small. One swing of the great axe demolished the obstacle. The door header and the walls on both sides crumbled. Bending only slightly, the Great Shadow stepped into the courtyard. “You insects dare attack the Great Shadow? Fools!” the Great Shadow boomed.
Exulting in the power it now wielded, the Great Shadow drew the Dark Flow deeply into the Shimmer Spear, ignoring the heat of it, raised the human’s right hand that held the orb, readied the great axe, and attacked. The Great Shadow, the Dark King, bore down upon the puny humans scurrying around below.
*****
Crystalyn dived to the floor and rolled to one side, narrowly avoiding a chunk of stone the same size of her head as it sailed past close enough to billow her hair. The dark gray stone of the courtyard wall clattered in pieces upon the limestone flooring. Dust curled into the air, rising nearly as high as the lower two ma
ssive black steel doors mounted onto the cliff face of the plateau overlooking the courtyard.
Bending, Darwin stepped through the ruins of the doorway, allowing the top half, a translucent shadowy form of a crowned man with flaming eyes of red, to come through.
Crystalyn gaped. The figure of the man attached to Darwin’s feet was translucent, though high in detail, wearing war boots and plate armor. The crowned figure towered above the black robe by more than two stories. The apparition held a double half-moon axe. Darwin had Trenton’s orb in his right hand; his left clutched the Shimmer Spear.
The flaming eyes of the crowned apparition fell upon her.
The monstrosity attacked, swinging the axe as if chopping wood. Crystalyn rolled, one hand holding onto the bag containing the black candle. The axe smashed into the floor beside her, buckling it upward. Thrown to one side, her arms flailed as she twisted around and landed on her hands and knees painfully. Crystalyn rolled to her back. The great axe rose and fell, dropping toward her at an incredible rate.
“Use your symbols, Do’brieni!”
Forming her magic absorption spell in her mind, Crystalyn brought it out and laid it horizontally above her as the axe struck. The force was enormous. The white crosses on her symbol gave off blinding white sparkles as it dissolved from the impact. Again, Crystalyn rolled to one side, springing to her feet this time.
Arrows and white bursts of light peppered the crowned figure and Darwin, some aimed at the monstrosity and others going for the man. None had any effect. Red and black javelin bursts and long arrows joined the fray.
Blindly, the great axe flailed at statues breaking them apart, and then digging great chunks out of the courtyard’s south wall with the backswing. With the next swing, a water cistern burst open, flooding the floor. As the apparition splashed around, tree branches penetrated Darwin’s barrier, snaking around his wrists and legs. “No! Lore Rayna, let go! He’s too strong!” Crystalyn cried, too late.
A black cloud shot from Darwin’s hand. Arcing around at the inside edge of his barrier, the cloud separated into four parts. Darting forth from the cloud with chilling accuracy, black quills struck the four branch limbs, sinking deeply into them. Lore Rayna’s scream rent the air. The branches retreated, carrying the quivering quills. Blood welled at the bases.
The great axe turned toward Crystalyn.
“Run, Do’brieni!”
Crystalyn ran. The only path without debris led toward Sabella and the group of four. There was no time to climb a stair.
“Run faster, Do’brieni! I shall slow it for you.”
“No, Broth!” Crystalyn sent, glancing over her shoulder often as she ran.
One swat of the broad side of the axe hurled her link mate from sight as if a pest bothered it. A single abrupt “Urp” echoed in her mind. NO!
Darwin charged, gaining ground by leaning forward, putting the crowned figure at her level. The axe swung backward into the air, preparing a swing. Then it hesitated. Darwin slowed. Atoi stood in the way, her dagger held forth.
“Atoi, no!” Crystalyn shouted.
Surprisingly, Atoi listened, dashing to the side and slipping behind the head of a fallen statue.
The little girl’s diversion allowed her to get to those grouped in front of the dais. Standing side by side, the five people left her an opening between a woman with a bow and Sabella, closing the gap behind as she ran through. Crystalyn slid to a halt, throwing out her hands to stop from banging into the dais while keeping track of the translucent apparition.
Darwin had changed targets and tactics. Red flame burst from the orb, shooting forth in long lines and setting fire to archers.
Protected by personal barriers, Dark Users scattered away from the burning pillars of red that Darwin sent racing wildly around. The apparition bent forward, lunging with the great axe to cut through some of the Users, blowing through barriers as if they did not exist. Then the great figure turned, focusing on the little group of five.
“I need an opening to get within range of a potion,” the Alchemist said in a rush. “If Darkwind is still human, it will have great effect.”
The druid Camoe replied. “Aye, I will capture the bad one’s attention. Perhaps I can slip my sword through the barrier surrounding him.”
Crystalyn pulled herself upon the dais, keeping her eyes on the monstrosity lumbering toward her. The Darwin apparition paused to swing at a row of soldiers marching down the steps, razing a huge swath of death through their ranks. A red beam from the crimson orb burned through additional archers and Users. “Get behind the dais, all of you,” Crystalyn said. “I’ll provide the diversion.”
Crystalyn selected a symbol out of the multi-aggression chapter she recalled from the black-lettered Tiered Tome of Symbols. Next, she chose an airy one from the pushbacks chapter of the white-lettered one. Her third and final selection was a lovely white snowflake pattern from the decent defenses section from the same book.” Unraveling all three in her mind, Crystalyn combined them, creating a compact one, black on one side and white on the other. Octagonal in shape, the pattern inside, the symbol drawn with thin stick lines formed a myriad of pinwheels tipped with spikes at the points.
Keeping the white side pointed toward her at all times, Crystalyn released the symbol spinning at the man shape inside the translucent shell of a crowned man. Rotating faster than the turbines on a hovercraft, her symbol of splintery death streaked toward the man she once loved.
The symbol dissolved before getting near, struck by a red beam from the orb. Crystalyn tried another, all she had time for, only to watch it destroyed as Darwin reached the edge of the dais. Then Crystalyn brought out her golden absorption symbol, wrapping it around her.
The great axe fell, chopping at her barrier while she stood centered in the dais. Crystalyn looked up at the wicked curve of the descending half-moon head as it rose and fell again and again, pounding on her symbol as if the barrier was a chunk of green wood that persisted against a split.
Crystalyn reached into her kell leather bag, her hand enclosing the black crystal candle, feeling the strength return to her decaying symbol. Even with the added strength, the barrier wouldn’t last long. Already the candle thrummed, growing warm in her hand from the draw of power flowing through it. Cracks appeared above her head. Weakening, Crystalyn dropped to her knees.
Abruptly, the pounding ceased. Darwin smiled, raising the orb. “Perhaps this is stronger, betrayer,” he said, his voice a dry raspy boom.
A crimson beam shot forth from the orb focused beside the cracks at her head. The crystal candle burned hot in her hand in an instant, melting her flesh.
She couldn’t let go.
Crystalyn screamed.
DARK SHAPE
Camoe trundled around the side of the dais on his hands and knees, keeping low. He did not have to look back to know Peers and Kerna followed. They would not have listened to a command to stay back had he dared take the risk Darwin Darkwind, and the Dark King apparition, would not overhear.
Rounding the dais, Darwin’s foot came into view. Camoe froze. If all had gone according to the hasty plan, the Alchemist and the User woman would have arrived at the same position on the other side.
Atop the dais, Jade’s sister screamed, long and loud.
Camoe stole a quick peek over the dais at her. Darkwind had activated a focused beam from the crimson artifact, attempting to penetrate her barrier. The woman’s beautiful features scrunched with pain. Why that would hurt her, he had no idea, but it had, putting her in dire peril. They all were. Darkwind, coupled with the blasted Dark King apparition, was powerful, a greater foe than anything he had ever fought. His entire brash plan hinged on the blasted hooded man performing his part, something that should have happened by now. Had he make a grave mistake by trusting him?
As Crystalyn’s scream faded, the sound of glass breaking signaled the attack, which sounded the reason for the delay. Camoe gave a quick prayer of than
ks to Onan for the Alchemist’s foresight. Then he dashed the few yards remaining to him at a crouch.
Darkwind waved his hand back and forth trying to dispel the Alchemist’s thick black smoke rising inside the front half of his barrier. As Camoe reached him, Darwin abruptly stopped waving his arms and then flicked his right hand with an abrupt motion. The smoke dissipated from within his shield.
Committed now, Camoe jabbed at the side of the man’s black robe as if he held a spear instead of a sword. Partway in, plate armor scraped against his blade, or so he thought.
An arrow flew past his ear, bouncing harmlessly away at the same point his sword was. He pushed the long sword harder, jarring his arm. Though the sword had passed through the magical barrier, it encountered another one—a shield within a shield. Stunned, Camoe froze, trying to comprehend. How could someone maintain two shields? The drain on the Flow would be horrible, expending huge amounts every second for each type. How had he done it?
Camoe was still wondering when a dark crowned shape loomed over him. Then, something enormous smashed into him.
****
Dashing headlong downward, Garn took the grand stairway steps two at a time, Crystalyn’s scream adding strength to his legs. At the bottom, he sprinted to the dais at full speed. His previous captor, the Alchemist, squatted beside the place of challenge. Using the hooded man’s back as a springboard, he launched himself at the shadow of a man assaulting his daughter, ducking under the apparition’s great axe swing, the edge coated with fresh blood.
Raising his great sword in midair, he brought it chopping down with all his might on the source of his daughter’s pain, the hand holding the orb. A myriad of sparks flashed in front of his vision. Landing on the dais, he rolled, using his momentum to follow through with a handspring to his feet, holding his sword at the ready to block the next swing of the axe.
Beyond the Dark Gate Page 44