‘It’s a little more complicated than that,’ Zhan Tien muttered.
‘No,’ Myrrhini snapped, ‘it isn’t.’
‘You have no idea what you are talking about,’ Keshik growled.
‘Maybe not, but I don’t care. Look up there.’ Myrrhini pointed now at the ever-rising plume of smoke over the city. ‘We are in a fight here, and you two both need to be in it.’
It was clear that Keshik was about to protest, or complain, or at least grunt, but whatever it was, it never happened because another explosion rocked the city. This one was much closer. The blast sent them all tumbling to the ground. Myrrhini’s head hit the stone hard. She was dazed for a moment, then tasted blood. Around her, more dust and debris were falling, filling her eyes, nose and mouth. She spat out the mix of dirt and blood as she tried to regain her feet, but found she could not move.
In shock, she realised she was pinned to the ground by a large piece of masonry. It had fallen across the back of her legs, effectively trapping her. The first sensations of pain started to tingle along her legs, warning her of the anguish to come.
‘Ice and wind!’ she gasped.
Keshik, covered in dust, bleeding from numerous small cuts on his face and hands, crouched beside her. ‘Stay still,’ he said. ‘I’ll try and lift it … Ice and wind!’ His face went pale beneath the dust and he sprang back, his swords appearing as if by magic in his hands.
Myrrhini craned her neck around to see what had startled Keshik and immediately wished she hadn’t. Towering over the ruins of one of the buildings that ringed the open area was a huge creature. It was exactly like the hideous thing that had attacked her and Slave below the city, only bigger.
With a shattering roar, it reached three of its snakelike arms down towards her. Keshik stepped forward with his swords in readiness. As soon as one tentacle came in range, Keshik slashed at it with the metal blade. It struck hard, ringing with the force of the impact, but bounced off. From the look on Keshik’s face, it was clear that the blow had jarred through the sword, sending pain through his arm and shoulder. Keshik staggered back half a pace before regaining control. He swung again, but this time the blade gave a dull ringing sound as it shattered into several pieces. His curse was drowned out by the beast’s bellow as it wrapped one of its tentacles around Keshik’s chest.
The beast lifted Keshik high into the air, bringing him close to the gaping, slavering maw. It roared and raged at the swordsman while Keshik slashed at it with his milky-white sorcerous blade. Unlike the metal blade, this one sank into flesh. Brown fluid oozed from the wound. The beast’s grip loosened, allowing Keshik to slip through. He would have fallen to the ground had he not reacted quickly enough to grab the damaged tentacle.
Myrrhini felt anger overtake fear in her mind. This thing had already injured Slave and attacked her. It was the thing that had created all those pathetic shapeshifters who had given their lives for this city at her behest, and now it would tear Keshik apart before her eyes.
‘No!’ she raged. The power she had felt when she was confronted by this thing beneath the city surged through her again. It sent the masonry lying across her legs flying, to crash against a still-standing wall. She clambered to her feet, feeling the broken bones in her legs scrape before knitting together. Her anger built with every breath and she screamed at the monster that towered over her. No words were possible so great was her rage. Inarticulate sounds of fury erupted from her throat.
Keshik, holding onto the damaged tentacle with one hand, hacked at a different tentacle with his magical blade. Brown fluid splattered out from where the sorcerous blade chopped, gouging large wounds. The beast bellowed and roared in pain and anger. At its massive black feet, Zhan Tien was hacking with a sword in his right hand and a small but heavy-looking axe in his left. His blows rained down in an almost mechanical rhythm.
Myrrhini tried to marshal the massive power surging through her mind and body, but it was beyond her control. Violent anger beyond human understanding ripped through her body, sending sparks of power flickering all over her skin. Wherever the sparks danced, flames flowed. Within moments, she was covered in fire, both real and magical. Smoke rose from her tunic and hair and swirled around her, wreathing her in a halo of blue and grey. Her eyes ran with tears from the smoke, her lungs started to fill, but the enormous power of Mertian magic kept her from sensing anything beyond the raging inferno within her soul.
A cry of bestial fury exploded from her tortured lungs, ripping from a throat already raw with the coarse smoke. The sound carried the full force of the out-of-control Mertian magic, tearing through the air towards the beast. It smashed into it, shattering the beast into uncounted pieces, sending gobbets of flesh and brown ichor to splatter hundreds of paces in every direction. Keshik screamed in agony as the force slammed past him, catching him in the edge of the blast. He went spiralling away to crash into a broken wall where he lay motionless. Zhan Tien was too close and simply vanished in a red spray.
Myrrhini stood still, suddenly empty, as though the magic had left her with nothing. She stared at the dripping destruction she had caused. Buildings already weakened by the beast’s eruption from the ground had been blasted into rubble. Where there had been a prosperous section of a bustling city, there was now shattered rock covered in blood and something else Myrrhini did not want to name. The beast was utterly gone, pulverised by the wild Mertian magic that had caught Myrrhini unawares.
Only the Blindfolded Queen remained standing. She shimmered, enclosed by a hemisphere of power. Brown muck dribbled down her shield like mud down a window.
‘That was good,’ Quetzalxoitl said calmly. From her tone, she could have been standing in her study, commenting on a new piece of furniture. Her magical shield rippled and vanished with a negligent hand gesture. ‘What was that thing?’ she asked.
‘I think it was Kielevinenrohkimainen,’ Myrrhini said numbly.
Quetzalxoitl gave a short bitter snort that might have been an attempt at laughter. ‘That? Kielevinenrohkimainen? No — look behind you.’
Myrrhini turned slowly, suddenly struck by new fear. Beyond the carnage outside the gate, a vast black shape rose from the battlefield. Deep within it, three points of light swirled. A powerful voice crashed across her mind, obliterating Myrrhini’s consciousness.
In the instant before her mind went dark, she heard Kielevinenrohkimainen say words that terrified her more than anything else she had ever seen or heard: ‘WE WILL MEET AGAIN, DAUGHTER OF MERTIA.’
38
Maida crouched beside Keshik. He was breathing, but badly wounded. His face was battered from where he had smashed into the wall and he had at least one broken rib. His upper body would be, she knew, a mass of bruises. He had numerous cuts and gashes, some looking serious, and he had lost a lot of blood. If he had the chance, it would take him until the next Crossing to recover from this. She looked at the broken sword lying beside him, its blade snapped a finger’s length from the hilt, and realised some wounds would take even longer to heal, if they ever would. Keshik’s two swords had been his constant companions since before she had met him. When the first had been broken by Slave, Keshik never mentioned it, but now, with both gone, he would feel their loss keenly.
She stroked his forehead, pushing back a strand of ooze-soaked black hair from his brow. Her heart broke at the sight of his ruined face. Tears welled up in her eyes as yet another wave of emotion swept through her. Again, it was stronger than it should be, almost as if it were not her own. Again the surge of feelings left her weakened. This time, however, the feelings came with images. She saw the same old man, the same hideous monsters that had tormented her when she was dead, killed by Slave’s Claw so long ago in Vogel, and then afterwards, in her dreams.
‘What’s happening to me?’ she whispered.
Don’t you remember? a voice replied.
Maida sprang to her feet, looking around the shattered remnants of buildings to find who had spoken, but there was no one t
here besides Myrrhini and the Blindfolded Queen. They were standing quietly together, staring out beyond the wall. She spun around, desperately seeking a real person, hoping to avoid what she knew to be true.
I am not out there, the voice went on. I am in here, inside your mind, just as you fear.
Maida went cold.
Who are you?
You know who I am.
How long?
I have been in here ever since you died — how else do you think I brought you back?
Why?
Why am I here? Come with me and I will show you.
Maida walked away from Keshik without a second thought. She moved quickly, only aware of her actions on a subconscious level — enough to walk, to avoid obvious dangers, but no more than that. Time ceased to exist as she moved deeper into the burning city. More explosions ripped through buildings, more people screamed in terror, but Maida was oblivious.
She was oblivious to the screaming people, the falling buildings, the dark missiles flying overhead to crash into the city, and the small rodent with red eyes that stared from beneath a fallen chunk of masonry.
The rodent, however, was not oblivious. She recognised Maida with a mixture of fear and hatred, tinged with an old respect. For a moment, she watched Maida walk past, then scurried out of her safe hiding place and darted after her. At the very least, Slave would want to know that Maida was still alive.
Myrrhini struggled against the blackness that filled her mind. She knew she swayed on her feet as if drunk or exhausted, but she would have welcomed something so prosaic. This was far beyond anything physical; this was mental extinction she wrestled with. The power she had touched before hovered just beyond her reach, dancing tantalisingly as a speck of light deep within the darkness that swamped her. Myrrhini lowered her head, distantly sensing the Blindfolded Queen resting a steadying hand on her arm. Through the touch came a hint of power, casting a flicker of light through her fading consciousness.
It was not much power, but it might just be enough. Myrrhini drew on it to strengthen herself. Warmth flooded her, together with a dim light. She found herself once more staring into Eztli-Ichtaca, a vast expanse of frozen wasteland stretching as far as her mystical gaze could reach. Standing before her, far away, was the Revenant, but with it was another figure. Myrrhini willed herself to move towards them. She flew across the wilderness with frightening speed until she stood in front of the beast, close enough to recognise the other figure, Quetzalxoitl.
‘Stay there, Eye,’ the monster raged. It reached down and snatched up the Blindfolded Queen. ‘One move and I devour her.’
Myrrhini brought herself to a stop. She looked up at the beast and smiled. ‘What do you want?’ she asked.
‘Why should I want anything from you, Eye of Varuun?’
‘If you did not you would have killed her already. No, you want something from me and you hope I want her more than I do not want to give it to you.’ She felt the power within her build now that she was away from the world of Kielevinenrohkimainen. Its hold over her mind was now almost gone completely, leaving her thinking clearly. She knew it would only last here; she had to make the most of her opportunity while she had it.
‘Bring me back into my Beq. I will defeat what is killing you. I will bring peace back to your world.’
‘Ha!’ Myrrhini spat a laugh at it. ‘You? Bring peace? You are chaos, you exist to destroy.’
‘I exist here alone, but I exist in my Beq in your world, and did you not See his circle of peace?’
Myrrhini frowned. What did this thing know of her Seeing? She had never understood that part of it herself. What was that circle of peace?
‘How can you bring peace?’ she asked.
‘I told you, I will kill that thing still abroad in your world.’
‘How?’
‘Through my Beq. I gave him my blessing. Together, he and I will destroy it forever.’
‘No!’ screamed the Queen as she dangled from the Revenant’s massive fist. ‘If it is destroyed all our power will be destroyed along with it.’
‘How?’ Myrrhini demanded.
‘You silly little girl, don’t you understand anything yet? These things are Revenants — Revenants of the great races. They are all that remains of us. They are us, we are them. Destroy them and we are finished.’
The Revenant shook Quetzalxoitl savagely. She flopped like a rag doll in his grasp, but somehow maintained her consciousness.
‘You cannot unleash this thing back into the world.’
‘What will the other do if it is not stopped?’
The Revenant threw its head back and roared in vast laughter. ‘If you do not release me, you may as well stay here with me. It will hunt down and devour every mind until there is nothing but howling wasteland over the whole world. Then it will sit in silent peace until the end of time. I am your only hope.’
‘You believe this thing?’ Quetzalxoitl shrieked. ‘It is the essence of the Scaren, the barbarians that drove us to near annihilation.’
The Revenant raised the Queen to its mouth, but Myrrhini reacted with her returning power and sent a blast of energy at it. The surge smashed into the Revenant, making it release the Queen, sending her spinning away to land heavily on the frozen ground some fifty paces away. Myrrhini did not spare the beast a sideways glance as she ran to where Quetzalxoitl lay motionless.
‘She will betray you, Eye,’ the monster bellowed, but Myrrhini gave its words no heed. She knelt beside Quetzalxoitl, seeking signs of life.
The Blindfolded Queen was bruised but her chest rose and fell with breath. Myrrhini rested a hand on Quetzalxoitl’s throat, feeling the pulse. She was alive but unconscious. Myrrhini wrapped her arms around the Queen and willed them back into the world.
They emerged where they had left, but the sun was lower in the sky and the Mertian Revenant was nowhere to be seen. Keshik still lay unconscious. Alone. Myrrhini was troubled that Maida had left, but she did not have the time to dwell on that as Quetzalxoitl sat up, now unharmed.
‘We must act quickly,’ she said.
‘And do what?’ Myrrhini asked.
The Blindfolded Queen stood, brushing dirt from her torn dress. She raised her eyes towards the wall, looking beyond it.
‘Now is the time come,’ she whispered. ‘It is as I had hoped, thanks to you.’
Myrrhini sprang to her feet. ‘What?’
Quetzalxoitl gave her a savage backhanded slap across the face, her knuckles drawing blood from Myrrhini’s cheek.
‘You are impossibly dense, child,’ she spat. ‘With the Scaren gone from the world, and the Revenant of their power trapped, it is our time to rise to our rightful place. We can reclaim our full power.’ Quetzalxoitl ripped her leather blindfold from her face, revealing the raging fires in her eyes. She turned their full fury on Myrrhini. ‘Now do you understand?’ she cried.
Myrrhini was unable to respond, as Quetzalxoitl raised her arms to the sky and started to shriek words in the ancient tongue of the Mertians. Her voice rose and fell in discordant cadence. Myrrhini wanted to fall to her knees and cover her ears as the hateful words poured out, but she dared not. Overhead, clouds roiled and heaved as vast power surged through the screaming Queen.
Far to the south, a darkness that was deeper than the speeding moving thunderclouds rose from beyond the horizon. Myrrhini felt the first glimmer of answering power as Kielevinenrohkimainen heard the summoning words. In moments, it would be too late. The Revenant of Mertian power would rejoin its people. There would be no telling what the consequences of that act might be. Myrrhini looked around desperately, her gaze falling on a shard of a broken blade. Before she fully realised what she was doing, she snatched it up and drove it into Quetzalxoitl’s throat.
The razor-sharp blade slid into the Queen easily, blood pouring out of the brutal wound. Her voice was instantly replaced by an incoherent bubbling of blood and air. Quetzalxoitl’s eyes dimmed, the raging fires guttered and faded. Myrrhini release
d the blade, watching in horror as the Blindfolded Queen crumpled to the ground.
The voice smashed into her head. ‘FLEE, EYE OF VARUUN. I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN.’
Myrrhini drew a deep breath and turned to face the towering blackness that now loomed over the burning city.
‘No,’ she said softly. ‘I will find the Beq and we will hunt you down.’ Without awaiting the monster’s reply, she shifted into Eztli-Ichtaca.
From behind a ruined wall nearby, a man watched wide-eyed in astonishment. When Myrrhini vanished, he slipped out of his concealment and scuttled across the debris-strewn ground to crouch beside the unconscious Keshik. After checking for signs of life, he took up the translucent sword. Its weight was unexpected, as was its perfect balance.
The man grinned as he hefted the sorcerous weapon. Bai would appreciate this, especially given the strange things currently waging war with the people of Asnuevium. He turned to look back into the burning city. Even from here, he could see monsters striding through the city. These evil things had erupted from the ground earlier with no warning. Bai and her teams had found several of the forbidden underground temples, each one near where a monster had appeared. She was now leading her people in a sweep through the maze of tunnels that riddled the ancient city.
The man would hand her this weapon personally. He had no doubt that a blade good enough for the assassin Keshik would suit her well, especially if she met up with the Mertian witch. And now she would know what the witch looked like.
39
Maida kept walking through the chaos, dodging where necessary, but never fully aware of her surroundings. The rodent following her did not care about the woman’s state, she only cared about the destination. Slave was safe, for the moment, beneath the city, but this woman was heading towards one of the entrances to the labyrinth. The thought that she might be leading someone to hurt Slave made the rodent suddenly cold. Anger battled with caution, causing the rodent to struggle to keep her form, but she controlled herself and kept following Maida deeper into the city.
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