by Logan Knight
I slid across the polished stone on my knees and cut the legs out from the other two. When the last Nadia cut them down and they returned to their real forms, I knew I’d made the right decision.
Suddenly I was overcome with weakness. It felt like the entire weight of the world was pressing down on me. My sword weighed as much as a horse. My clothing felt like bails of straw strapped to my back, and I collapsed to the ground. I could barely breathe and felt my heart begin to race.
The general was holding his palms toward me. He’d cast a spell. I could still speak, though, so I cast one of my own.
The fireball exploded on the general’s face, knocking him off his feet. The magic that had weakened me vanished. I picked up my sword and stood, relieved to be able to breathe again.
The general began to laugh and lifted himself from the ground as if nothing had happened. He brushed off his uniform like my spell had been nothing more than a minor inconvenience. His mustache and eyebrows were gone. The top half of his armor was burning, but he acted like none of that mattered. Both women gasped.
When he raised his hand again, I raised mine. He shouted “Luvi Acolo!” and a bolt of lightning arced between his hand and mine, creating a thunderous boom that shook dust from the walls and ceiling. I felt energized and renewed. I also knew a new spell.
“What?” the general whispered as he watched me regain my footing. “Impossible!”
“What, you forgot already?” I taunted. “Did you forgot to make your brain immortal? I noticed a stink when I walked in here. Maybe it’s rotting away?”
Murmuring behind me alerted me to the fact that we were no longer alone. An element of the Xorian army—or possibly the entire thing—had made it past the portcullis. I had an audience, but they weren’t attacking.
The skin on the general’s body began to fall away in bits and pieces at first. A second later, it fell to the floor and disappeared, turning to thick, black smoke. What remained behind was a skeleton with glowing eye sockets.
“Hello, Ru’Hijan,” I said as I began circling to my left.
“You cannot stop me,” Ru’Hijan hissed. “I will escort my fleet to the Kingdom of Dahan. I will oversee the invasion personally, and I will destroy your people. The last barrier to my rulership of the entire world will soon fall.”
“Help me!” a familiar voice said from within the cage. “It’s me! They trapped me in here during the fight! Please help me!”
The thing inside the cage looked like Nadia.
“Please help me out! I’m scared!”
“What will you do?” Ru’Hijan hissed. “Fight me, or save your woman? Save your kingdom, or save only one?”
“Nadia doesn’t need me to save her,” I said.
The vampire had snuck around the edge of the room. The creature in the cage was staring at me with sad eyes, which changed to a startled expression a second later. The real Nadia slid two swords through its back and out the front of its body.
The doppelganger screamed, changing from the beautiful woman I’d rescued into a horrible creature in a second. The tan-colored thing had no face, only a smooth place where its nose and eyes would be if it were human. It did have a mouth, though, full of rows of needle-like teeth which it began to snap as it attempted to pull itself from her blades.
I fired a dozen magical arrows at Ru’Hijan and sprinted toward the cage. By the time I got there, the doppelganger had already turned, grabbed Nadia’s arms, and was attempting to drag her face close enough to the cage to bite.
An arrow hit the creature in the head but only caused it to pause for a second before it resumed pulling hard at the woman.
When I stabbed the thing with my flaming sword, it froze and released her. Smoke began to rise from the wound as little tongues of fire erupted all over the creature’s body. It thrashed, bashing itself against the sides of its cage in horrible convulsions, and howled before collapsing to the bottom of the cage.
“It was fire,” Nadia gasped. “Fire is what kills them.”
I turned my attention back to Ru’Hijan. He was staring at me, but without flesh on his face, it was difficult to guess what expression he was trying to display. I decided it was anger.
All dozen arrows were still sticking through his armor, but if any had injured him, he wasn’t showing it. He proved it by brushing them away with one hand.
“He is undead,” Nadia whispered. “He is not of the living. He is immortal. He cannot die.”
I’d never heard of anything that couldn’t die. I had to admit to myself, however, there were a lot of things I hadn’t heard of until recently. I decided if he couldn’t be killed, he could at least be disabled. If all that was left was his head, I could tie it to an anchor and sink it into the sea, never to be heard of again. First, though, I had to figure out how to hurt him. My arrows didn’t look like they’d caused any harm at all.
“It appears we have an audience,” I said to Ru’Hijan. His soldiers were still outside the keep. They wore expressions ranging from fear, to confusion, to dismay. Nobody had told them to attack, so they didn’t. Their god was fighting a mortal but hadn’t beaten him yet. It looked like the situation was more than any of them knew how to deal with.
“They are my worshipers,” Ru’Hijan said before turning back to me. “They obey my whim because I offer them peace after death. I will not torture their souls for the rest of eternity. I will not punish them as I do the others who have been sacrificed to me.”
I had him talking, which gave me a moment to reach into the heat of power within my mind. I searched for anything I could use against an undead opponent and touched something there—something promising and powerful. I lost it for a moment but was able to drag it to the surface. It was a new spell. A healing spell. Something that would have been handy a long time ago.
“I do not fear death,” Ru’Hijan continued, “which is why I do not fear Ebba, the Messenger of Death. He claimed to rule us all, but death does not come to me. I am ever-living and ever-present. I will never die.”
He couldn’t die, because he was no longer among the living. One had to be alive to be able to die. I mulled the information over as he continued to talk. There was a thought—an idea—my mind was grasping for, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
An icy chill swept over me. It was the touch of Ebba. He wanted Ru’Hijan returned to him—I could sense it. He touched my mind, guided my thoughts, and I understood what I needed to do, even though it might kill me.
“Every soldier you have killed will be replaced,” Ru’Hijan continued. “They are loyal and—”
He stopped speaking when I lifted my palm toward him. I croaked-out the magical phrase, hoping it would be enough to cast the spell successfully. “Redit salu.”
Ru’Hijan raised his arms, dropped his sword, and covered his face as an aura of bright, yellow light enveloped him. I closed my eyes and dropped to the ground, dizzy and extremely ill.
I had enough strength to lift my head and saw Ru’Hijan as he must have appeared while he had been alive. He was old, wrinkled, and nearly bald. What hair he had left was long and thin. It fell over his shoulders like spiderwebs in a wine cellar. He was gaunt, stooped, and frail.
“No,” he hissed. “What have you done? All my work! All the sacrifices I have made! No!”
Alena fired an arrow at his head. He ducked, but it cut a long wound across his scalp which began to bleed profusely.
The soldiers outside the keep gasped and began to whisper among themselves. They had just witnessed something they had to have thought was impossible. Their god was bleeding.
He was alive. He would feel Ebba’s icy embrace.
The women backed away. Ru’Hijan raised his hand and prepared to cast a spell. On his palm were intricate silver patterns, swirls, and runes.
“It is him,” Nadia breathed. “It is the man who captured me. The one who took me from my people.”
“Now you can die,” I whispered to him.
“You first,”
he said as a fireball erupted from his hands.
I lifted my hand in time and caught the spell. He cast another as I got to one knee, but it vanished into my hands.
“No!” he shrieked as he picked up his sword.
I raised mine and marched forward, determined to separate the man into several pieces.
He cast another lightning bolt at me, but it was poorly aimed, and I had to reach to the side to catch it. I felt refreshed, and my mind and body bristled with energy. The old man, on the other hand, looked pathetic and weak.
The soldiers watched, most leaning forward with their mouths hanging open. The entire purpose for their existence—the reason they were going to invade my kingdom—was backing away from me. No matter what their god did, I was still winning.
Ru’Hijan’s face was a mask of blood. He had to wipe his eyes several times to keep sight of me, and each time he did, I was a little closer.
He raised his hand but wasn’t pointing it at me. Instead, he sneered and fired a fireball at Nadia, who saw it coming and rolled out of the way, avoiding most of the damage.
I charged, but the old man got another spell cast before I reached him—a lightning bolt. I heard Alena scream, and my heart sank a moment before pain erupted in my belly. I’d been hit by a magical arrow.
The old man approached, sneering at me with his sword held low. “Pathetic,” he said. “I will return to my undead form. I have time. You, however, do not. Tell Ebba I said—”
When he was close enough, I ripped the arrow from my guts and jabbed it into his skinny calf. The pain made me gag, and for a moment, the room went dark.
Ru’Hijan screamed and fell to the floor, grasping his leg. When I started to lift myself from the floor, he raised his hand and cast a lightning bolt at me again. It was just what I needed. After I caught it, I healed myself and stood.
“This is Ru’Hijan!” I announced to the soldiers outside the keep. “He is nothing more than a man who has misused some powerful magic. He is mortal! He is no god! I have been sent by Ebba, the Messenger of Death, to remove Ru’Hijan from the living! He dies here! He dies today! Your invasion is canceled!”
The old man swung his sword in a feeble attempt to save himself. I knocked his blade from his hand and split his skull, burying my weapon an inch into the stone floor beneath his head.
The room was suddenly filled with screams and wails as thousands of souls cried out in pain. A frigid wind whirled around me. It dragged the breath from my lungs and made me stagger against its icy touch. A moment later, it stopped.
I felt like I’d been frozen to my core. My breath was a fog as it left my mouth, and everything around me was still.
“You have done well,” a man’s voice said. It was the image of Ebba, the indistinct silvery form. It approached me from the doorway of the keep. “You have slain Ru’Hijan, and I am pleased.”
“What now?” I asked through chattering teeth.
“Now you are free,” Ebba said. “You have brought Ru’Hijan to my embrace. He thought he was the master of death, but he could avoid it for only so long. I am satisfied.”
“Will I still be a mage?” I asked. “Will I still know magic?”
“Our bargain was never to take from you what I have given,” he said. “Your life has been extended. You are a war mage. You have done well.” Then his form faded away.
The warmth returned to my body a second later. My only thoughts were of my friends, Nadia and Alena. I sprinted to them and found both badly injured but alive. Two quick healing spells and they were soon on their feet. We embraced for a moment before we turned to the soldiers who were murmuring among themselves.
One of them approached, laid his sword on the ground, and showed me his hands to prove he was unarmed. “Ru’Hijan is dead?” the man asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“What do we do now?” he asked, his voice full of sorrow and panic. “Do we serve you? Are you a god?”
“I am no god,” I said. “You serve whomever you choose to serve. For now, you are free.”
20
There were close to a thousand soldiers crowding the courtyard of the Black Citadel, and all of them were stunned. Those who’d been close enough to witness the defeat of their god looked at me with expressions ranging from awe to hatred. None, though, appeared to have the courage to try to stop me. They were afraid of the man who’d destroyed their god. They weren’t sure I wasn’t a god myself.
Those who weren’t close enough to see what had happened whispered questions to those who had. Dark looks settled on their faces. Some couldn’t believe it, but when nobody else tried to attack us, they did the same. Being brave was one thing. Being stupid was something else.
The Xorians would have some struggles in the future, I knew. I’d ruined their perception of the entire world by killing Ru’Hijan. He’d become the foundation of their culture. He was their lawgiver, and they’d followed his words, transmitted through his priests, without question. They’d be lost like ships at sea on a cloudy night. They’d be adrift in a world they were woefully unprepared for. There would be power struggles, and many would die.
I hoped what Alena, Nadia, and I had done would be enough to end the war and save the Kingdom of Dahan. If nothing else, it should be enough to delay the invasion. The army who’d witnessed Ru’Hijan’s death wouldn’t be eager to head across the sea without their advantage. If they did, my people would defend themselves, and I believed the Xorian army would lose.
When I’d told them they were free, it was what they needed to hear. It was up to the Xorians what they did next.
On the way back, we stopped to see the sprites.
“What happened?” Silverwind asked.
“Did you destroy the entire army?” another sprite asked.
“He killed all of them?” a third asked before quickly buzzing away to tell the others.
“No,” I said, ignoring the gasps from the other sprites, “but I stopped the invasion. The doppelganger is dead. So is Ru’Hijan.”
Silverwind frowned. “Do you mean you proved he wasn’t real?”
“No,” Nadia said. “Ru’Hijan is dead. He was only a man who cast powerful magic upon himself. He was a mage. He was powerful, but Reese was his better. He was undead, but now is…” Her words fell away as she tried to explain.
“Now he’s real dead,” Alena said. “Like, he was undead before. Then Reese made him alive. He got all scared after that. Then killed him for real? Dead as a stone. Chopped his head in half, right down the middle.” She demonstrated with her hand on her own head.
“Yes,” Nadia said. “That is what I meant to say.”
“Wow,” Silverwind said. “I apologize for missing it. I thought maybe the army was after us. I know some guards escaped the prison. I had to be ready to defend our home.”
“No apologies necessary,” I said. “It all worked out in the end. We just wanted to come by to share the good news.
“I don’t know if your people are safe yet,” I admitted, “but I believe it was Ru’Hijan who was ordering all the magical creatures to be hunted. He’s the one who hunted the Noratari—Nadia’s people—out of existence. We know he personally kidnapped her and imprisoned her in the box.”
“His death must’ve been satisfying,” Silverwind said to the vampire.
“It was,” she admitted. “Though it will not return my people.”
“Indeed,” Silverwind agreed. “What will you do now, mage?”
I hadn’t considered anything except rest. With the help of my companions, I’d killed dozens of Xorian soldiers and guards. I’d slain a manticore, and a nadodee. I’d given my fellow prisoners a chance to survive and slew the priest who’d wanted to sacrifice them. I’d destroyed the man who’d made himself undead to avoid death. I’d met the Messenger of Death and had become a war mage.
“I think I’m going to rest for a bit,” I said. “The army isn’t going to invade without their doppelganger, and I don’t think they have any
one who can build another cage. My people are safe for now.”
“It would seem so,” Silverwind said. “Enjoy your rest, mage. Even if you have to spend time with these donkeys. Oh, sorry, those are women.”
“Hey!” Alena said with a laugh.
That evening, we were back at Alena’s secret cave. I couldn’t help but admire her round butt as she crawled through the bushes. Halfway through, she turned, noticed me watching, and wiggled it for me.
Nadia laughed and slipped her arm around my waist. “These last few days have caused us a great deal of stress,” she said. “Perhaps there is something we can do to relax and relieve our stress?”
“I can think of one thing,” I said as I wrapped my arm over her shoulder and kissed her soft lips. Nadia giggled.
When we got into the cave, I was glad to see it looked undisturbed. The supplies were untouched, and the blanket was still on the soft, sandy floor.
“I think I should go find some more ingredients for healing potions,” Alena said. “Oh, and some mana potions too, right? We used them all up. Plus there’s about a dozen more of these things I want to try out. Some of them have some pretty cool descriptions. And it looks like it might have rained recently, so there might be mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Hey, do you like mushrooms?”
“I love mushrooms,” I said.
She started to say something else but stopped as a big smile spread across her face.
I turned to see what she was staring at and felt a smile settle on my face as well. Nadia was naked. She’d quietly removed her clothing as we were talking and was standing with her hands on her hips.
“Oh,” Alena said, “good idea!”
I started to get undressed when Nadia took my hands, kissing each one in turn. “Please,” she whispered, “allow me.”
She ran her fingers through my hair and kissed my nose, then my lips, and moved to my neck. I could hear Alena frantically trying to get her clothes off somewhere behind me, but I was too enraptured to do anything but stand and breathe.