She rose into the air and flew back toward the marching army. When the Voice was out of sight Lidia finally drew a deep breath. Heaven’s mercy. How was she ever going to make it through the next two weeks?
Chapter Seventy-Six
Damien powered out of the dragon’s lair and followed Al Elan’s directions to the first heretic. Al Elan had only located two before Dreamer dragged him back to his body. Damien had hoped for all three, but there was no arguing with a dragon. At least now he had somewhere to start. Before he was through one or the other heretic would give him the location of the third. And if they didn’t, he’d raze the entire city to flush his prey out. Nothing and no one would keep him from freeing Lizzy.
At his mental command one of the half-dozen stone arrows he’d shaped floated into his hand. The cool stone was smooth and came to a needle point. He’d compressed the stone as much as he could, making it three times as dense as unworked rock. If the goblins’ scales could turn them aside he’d be impressed.
It took only seconds to reach the target structure. He found no sign of the purple light Al Elan described, but that was probably a psychic thing. At this point, Damien was thoroughly sick of psychic things.
He pursed his lips and stared at the roof. Slicing a hole and diving through would be simple enough, but that would leave the black goblins at his back and he preferred not to have to rush when he got his hands on the heretic.
Damien landed and the instant his feet touched the stone, the building’s door burst open. He didn’t even see the first goblin that hit him, but the force of its impact sent him flying across the street into another building.
His shield held, but he poured more energy into it just to be sure. And not a moment too soon. A blur of slashing claws appeared above him.
Damien couldn’t distinguish one goblin from the next. Their claws shredded his shield as fast as he repaired it.
“Enough!” Damien thrust his hands out, sending a wave of soul force in all directions.
The goblins tumbled away giving him space to climb to his feet. His shield expanded out an instant before the goblins renewed their attack.
As soon as their claws touched his barrier, Damien bound them with soul force bands.
Their scales ground away at his restraints.
No time to screw around.
They’d be free in seconds.
He wrapped tendrils of soul force around his stone arrows before driving them into the base of each goblin’s skull. They twitched and collapsed.
Damien blew out a sigh, recovered his arrows, and crossed the street. He kept his shield at full power as he stepped into the first-floor entrance. The heretic was still upstairs and Damien sensed no more threats nearby.
Why didn’t the bastard try and run? Maybe he figured he couldn’t escape so why bother. Or maybe he’d set a trap.
Damien grimaced and took a step toward the stairs to the second floor. He caught himself. How stupid was it to walk straight into whatever waited?
Gathering himself, Damien leapt, smashed through the second-story ceiling, and continued on through to the third floor.
When the dust cleared he stood facing a slimy-skinned heretic who sat cross legged on the floor clutching a purple crystal just like Al Elan described. Damien struck first, sending one of his stone arrows streaking toward the rogue Builder’s shoulder.
The arrow burst into gravel.
Dozens of stone spears grew from the floor and ceiling at blinding speed only to clatter off his shield.
Power burst from Damien, shattering the spears and sending dust flying.
He lashed out with dense soul force, wrapping bands around the heretic’s chest and pinning his legs to the floor. The heretic fired an eyeless glare at him.
“I will tell you nothing,” the heretic said.
Damien had forgotten that without Lizzy shielding his mind these bastards could rifle through his thoughts at will. Well, let him look. Maybe if he saw what Damien intended to do it would loosen his lips.
“Does that crystal have a chunk of Dahlmis’s brain in it?” Damien reached out to take the purple stone but the heretic shielded it from his grasp. “Have it your way.”
He conjured a sphere around the crystal, slicing the heretic’s grasping fingers off at the same time. Damien ignored his prisoner’s howling and gave the stone a closer look. Out of the heretic’s grasp the glow vanished leaving only a dark, dull stone. Nothing about it gave an impression of importance.
He shrugged and pocketed the crystal. “How about telling me where your friends are?”
The heretic bared its sharpened teeth and a pillar of stone came crashing down out of the ceiling into Damien’s shield.
It knocked him to the floor but otherwise caused no damage. Damien blasted the stone to dust and regained his feet. “Stubborn, aren’t you? Let’s try something else.”
He reached out, located the heretic’s core, and wrapped it in a layer of his own soul force. The heretic thrashed and flailed against its bindings.
“What have you done?” he screamed.
“Can’t you read my mind and find out?” Damien asked.
“Please, restore my light. The dark, the silence, I can’t stand it.”
“Where are the others?” Damien asked.
“I will not betray my brothers.”
“Admirable of you. Maybe after an hour or two in the dark you’ll change your mind.”
Maintaining the barrier around the heretic’s core took more power than a simple physical binding so Damien transferred the soul force around his prisoner’s restraints to the barrier. Without his powers, the heretic was no threat to Damien.
The now truly blind Builder crawled around and groped in front of him. Damien shook his head at the pathetic display.
“My brothers will make you pay for this indignity.” The heretic took up a jagged shard of stone and before Damien could react, cut his own throat.
The heretic bled out quickly and soon no life remained.
“Damn it!” Damien gave the corpse a bitter kick. Now he only had one more chance to find the final heretic.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
After his brief conversation with Damien, Al Elan settled back on his makeshift bed and freed his spirit from his body. The black dragon’s spirit form waited. While he couldn’t read the creature’s inhuman expression, Al Elan felt certain it held a hint of impatience.
“Are you prepared?” Dreamer asked.
“For what?”
“To take your first step as my chosen. I will show you the wonders of the universe, things most mortals never dreamed existed, much less witnessed.”
Al Elan couldn’t grasp what the dragon was talking about. “Are you certain you have the right person? I’m a barely educated slum rat who isn’t good for much beyond fighting. Surely there are other, wiser people more suited to your needs.”
“As far as my needs are concerned, all mortals are equally ignorant. What you possess is unique. Your ability to create and project an astral body marks you as my chosen. You are the only human on this planet capable of such a feat. What you need to know can be taught, but that gift cannot be.”
Al Elan never imagined his ability was unique, though he’d never encountered another ghost during his many nights of exploring which should have given him a clue.
“So be it. What must I do?”
“Fly up between my wings. Once we are connected, I can carry you where we need to go.”
Al Elan settled between Dreamer’s massive wings. The dragon’s scaled back was one of the few solid things he’d encountered in his spirit form. Probably because they were both ghosts.
When he was in position the world shifted around them. It didn’t feel like flying. In fact it didn’t feel like anything Al Elan had ever experienced. All around them everything blurred.
“Where are we going?”
“The outer darkness,” Dreamer said.
“The what?”
“The sp
ace between worlds.”
That explanation didn’t reduce Al Elan’s confusion in the least. He doubted anything the dragon could say would. The concepts simply defied his understanding.
The blur around them vanished and Al Elan found himself in a vast empty darkness surrounded by twinkling lights. He gaped in wonder until he finally realized where the dragon had brought him.
“This is the night sky. How did you fly us to the sky?”
“Our astral forms can travel anywhere we can imagine, though it’s rude to visit other worlds uninvited. In the outer darkness no living creature can survive, but bodiless spirits like us can travel at will. My duty is to patrol the vastness of reality for threats to our world.”
“It would be far better for my country if the Fire King devoted himself to such a noble end instead of oppressing the people under his rule,” Al Elan said.
“My brother is as constrained by his nature as I am. All of the five dragons are different, yet we are all bound to our world. Wishing for the Fire King and Ice Queen to be protectors is as pointless as wishing for day to be night. Ultimately, we have less choice about who we are than you mortals.”
For a moment Al Elan felt a twinge of pity for the dragon, but he forced it down, hopefully before Dreamer recognized his thought.
“How do you find anything out here? There’s so much space it must be like finding a particular grain of sand in the desert.”
“For those who know how to look, there are trails even out here. Watch.”
In the darkness ahead of them a faint glow appeared and slowly grew stronger. When it shone as bright as a star the light shot off. Dreamer went after it like a greyhound after a rabbit. They followed the light’s twisting path until it stopped and quivered in the dark.
“What is that?”
“A probability thread. They form whenever something important is about to happen. The ones with the potential to affect our world tickle my mind like an itch that can’t be scratched. I will remain aware of the thread until the event is resolved.”
Al Elan looked all around. “There’s nothing here.”
“No. Whatever the thread is leading us to is only a possibility. Until it becomes a reality we remain in the dark.”
“Sounds frustrating.”
“You have no idea. This thread is the strongest I have encountered in my eternal existence which implies that the threat it represents is equally great. Hence my need for a chosen to act for me in the waking world.”
“But what can I do that you can’t?”
“My power is greatest in the psychic realm and I can’t leave the caverns. Sunlight strips me of all my strength. You will be my voice, delivering a warning to those who can act.”
The enormity of what the dragon expected slowly settled over Al Elan. “I will try my best not to fail you.”
“That is well. Should you fail me the consequences will prove dire indeed.” The light shot off into the darkness again. “The time grows near. Prepare yourself!”
The universe blurred and they were on the hunt again.
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Damien flew toward the warehouse Al Elan described. After his failure with the first heretic, Damien was determined not to screw up again. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t thought of a way to force the heretic to talk. Threatening to kill him did no good, the mind-readers would call his bluff at once. Torture didn’t faze Damien and he’d happily rip the heretic’s guts out if it got him the information he needed, but nothing he’d seen with the first one gave any indication that pain would make a dent in their determination.
Gah! Of all the times not to have Lizzy with him. She could tear the information he needed out of the heretic’s mind. Of course, if she wasn’t trapped, he might not be making all this effort. Damien liked and respected Dahlmis, but the truth was he barely knew the Builder.
He shook off his gloomy thoughts when the low, wide building appeared below him. It really did look like a warehouse. What did the Builders store there? He hadn’t seen anyone resembling a merchant during his time in their village.
Movement caught his eye and he swooped down. The heretic was fleeing on a bed carried by four black goblins. The dead one must have sent a warning. That was a lucky break. Now he didn’t have to worry about breaking into a building blind.
Damien focused on the backs of the goblins’ skulls. Four of his stone arrows floated up before streaking out.
Three hammered home, killing their targets instantly.
The heretic crashed to the ground, rolled and ended up on its back. Golden bands appeared at Damien’s command, binding it in place.
The surviving goblin vanished at warlord speed, the arrow in its shoulder a minor inconvenience at best.
Damien barely had time to think before it slammed into his back.
The ugly monster bit at his neck.
Needle-sharp fangs scraped against his shield.
The points pressed against his skin, nearly breaking through.
Damien flew back, slamming into the nearest building.
The impact imbedded the goblin in the stone.
Its claws barely loosened.
“Let go!” A powerful upward thrust scraped the goblin off his back.
Damien spun, gabbed a mass of stone in a soul force hand, and crushed the goblin to pulp. When he returned his attention to the heretic, Damien found his bands still in place, but the prisoner long gone.
Growling in the back of his throat, Damien landed and absorbed the bands’ energy. Underneath them was a shallow dip, just enough to allow the heretic to wriggle free. How had he forgotten their ability to shape stone in seconds? This really wasn’t his day.
He stretched out his sorcerous senses and quickly located a life force fleeing east. No way would he let his target escape a second time.
Damien took to the air and sped after his prey. Seconds later he spotted movement in the empty streets below.
“Stop!”
The heretic glanced up but didn’t slow. A wall of soul force sprang up, blocking the fleeing Builder’s path.
A stone ramp started to take shape, and Damien blasted it to gravel sending the heretic flying. This time he wrapped the Builder from head to foot in dense soul force.
Let’s see him shape his way out that. With his target looking like a cocooned caterpillar, Damien landed and faced him.
“Where is your third partner? And don’t give me any of that ‘I’ll never talk’ nonsense. I’ll rip you apart one cell at a time if I have to.”
The heretic’s head snapped left and right, but there was no help to be found. As far as Damien could sense there wasn’t another living thing.
“It’s just you and me.” Damien tightened the binding. “Just tell me what I want to know, hand over the crystal, and I’ll let you go.”
It wasn’t a lie. Damien didn’t care about this monster. Once Lizzy and Dahlmis were safe maybe he’d hunt the survivors down, but then again maybe not. He’d had about all he could stand of intraspecies warfare down here. Not to mention he’d seen precious little gratitude from most of the people he was trying to help.
“You understand so little about us,” the heretic said. “If I help you, I will be cut off from the group mind, just as Dahlmis was. That is a fate worse than death. You may as well kill me now as I will tell you nothing.”
Damien sensed no lie in the heretic’s words. While he couldn’t begin to understand how the Builders thought, he had come to recognize that it in no way resembled human thoughts. Pointless torture didn’t interest him at all. With a flick of his wrist Damien set a blade of soul force to lashing out. The heretic’s head hit the floor with a wet plop.
The binding vanished and he quickly located the purple crystal. It looked exactly like the first one. Damien glared from one to the other. What was he supposed to do now?
Dreamer could probably tell him, but the dragon was no doubt off doing whatever it was he did. Resisting the urge to blast the nearest bui
lding to rubble, Damien took to the air and flew back to the pit where he left Lizzy and Dahlmis. With two of the heretics dead, maybe he could make contact with Lizzy.
If that didn’t work Damien didn’t know what he was going to do.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
To Al Elan the journey through the outer darkness felt like it covered a vast distance even though as far as he could tell they weren’t actually moving. He wanted to ask Dreamer for an explanation but feared what the dragon might tell him. Better to just keep silent and see what happened.
Something in his awareness of the blur shifted and a moment later they stopped. Ahead of them and a little above appeared a giant cloud bank. Thrust up out of the clouds was a golden gate, much like the ones the wealthy back home used to keep people out, only without the spikes on top.
Outside the gates a tall man with gray wings and chains wrapped around his forearms struggled as if fighting wind only he could feel. The chains flailed like mad serpents. He shouted something unintelligible.
“What’s going on?” Al Elan asked.
“We are witness to something that has never happened before,” Dreamer said. “An archangel is being cast out of Heaven.”
“Heaven? Then those gates…”
“Yes, the Gates of Heaven mark the entrance to the realm where those born of the Creator’s blood dwell. The one struggling to get back inside is the Binder in Chains. He has always been the least compromising of the archangels, but something must have truly twisted his soul for this to happen.”
The Binder continued to fight the power forcing him out, but moment by moment he was driven closer to the edge of the cloud bank.
“Why does this concern our world?” Al Elan asked.
“The Binder has a strong connection to the land often referred to as the Old Empire. He was the patron of the imperial line. That connection may well draw him to our world and should that happen then we will have a real war on our hands.”
One last step back and the Binder tumbled out of the clouds. He screamed curses as his wings turned from gray to pure black. They watched as the angelic fireball continued to shrink.
Dreaming in the Dark: Chains of the Fallen Volume 1 (Soul Force Saga Book 4) Page 27