Soryn gestured into the air and shouted a magical command, and fire burst out of the snake, burning it to ash from the inside out.
Ashiyn stepped from the ashes raining around him and stalked to where he could see the hole in the floor above. “Can you get us up there, Soryn?”
Soryn shook his head. “I don’t think so. I can levitate myself, but not all of us.”
Ashiyn closed his eyes and summoned his magic. The air ripped in front of him and he stepped back as Illusion screamed and stepped through to them. Soryn’s griffin followed a little more hesitantly.
“Just full of surprises, father.” Ember said with raised brows as he climbed onto the griffin behind Soryn.
“What now?” Soryn asked.
“Now we remind Seraphine that I’m immortal and get my damned blade back.”
Ashiyn got onto Illusion’s back and sent the winged equine flying through the hole in the floor. The hole led to an empty room but they could hear the army nearby. Once out of the pit, Ashiyn dismounted and motioned for Soryn and Ember to follow him. Stairs led up to a balcony that overlooked Seraphine’s throne room.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“We can’t go down there, Ashiyn.”
Soryn’s harsh whisper right near Ashiyn’s shoulder could barely be heard over the din below them. They crouched on a ledge that overlooked the giant throne room where monsters now swarmed in disorganized ranks. Every commander of the army of darkness had to be there.
“What is she up to?” Ashiyn scowled. Seraphine sat draped over the throne looking bored as her servants gathered. He could see Sihtaar sitting behind her, leaning against the throne. He attempted to use his magic to pull it to him, but it might have well been attached to the fortress for all it budged. His death had severed the bond he had with the blade so that, even with his magic, he couldn’t touch it.
“She thinks she has won. All the heroes are dead. She threw us all into the pit expecting her snake to eat you. As far as she knows her pet gobbled you up when you were dead,” Ember pointed out. The half-elf leaned against the wall behind them not even bothering to be quiet.
“With all due respect, my lord, I don’t think even the three of us have the power to kill that many to get to her. Especially without weapons.” Soryn tugged at Ashiyn’s arm. “Let us away. You can rest and recover your strength.”
“I am fine,” Ashiyn growled, yanking his arm away from Soryn. “There is no retreat, Soryn. There is only victory.”
“Easy for you to say. You and Ember both come back from death. My immortality relies on not dying in the first place,” Soryn said, as he rolled his eyes.
“You’re a celestial, Soryn. You’ll be fine,” Ashiyn reassured him.
Soryn moved forward to study the army. “What if I blow a path through them for you from here? Someone has to stay back and retrieve your sorry corpses when you fall, so you can revive in peace.”
“That will work. Are you coming, Ember?” Ashiyn looked back at his son.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, father.” Ember shoved off the wall and walked forward to join him. “Much like you, I don’t need my daggers to kill.”
“I’d tell you to be careful, but I know you won’t.” Soryn sighed, then stepped to the edge. He began to draw runes in the air with his magic, blinding white lines were visible until each rune was completed and then disappeared with a pop. As he drew, a wind started to pick up in one corner of the throne room below. As the final rune was drawn, a roaring tornado burst to life and rampaged through the center of the room. Some monstrous creatures were drawn into the winds and thrown like ragdolls, as others scattered to get out of the way.
Chaos reigned in the room below. Just the way Ashiyn preferred it. He smirked and, with a wink at Soryn, jumped down into the room onto the path the tornado had cleared for him. Ember landed deftly behind him.
“Stop him!” Seraphine shrieked when she saw them.
The commanders who heard her over the din charged at Ashiyn. He waved them off dismissively and, any time one came near him his magic struck them like lightning, and sent them flying back into each other.
“Stop! Never mind! Stop! Regroup.” Seraphine got up and stomped a foot when she saw her commanders being damaged. The confused monsters scattered to the sides of the room as the tornado dissipated.
“I killed you! My snake was supposed to eat your lifeless body.” Seraphine put her hands on her hips and glared at Ashiyn.
Ashiyn stalked toward her. “You moron. I am immortal. I told you that. All you accomplished was to make me angry and waste my time. Give me back my blade, and maybe I’ll consider making your death quick.”
Seraphine rolled her eyes as her magic started to form around her like a mist. “Such arrogance! I am the ruler of this world. You can’t kill me. No one can.” She strode down to them and threw all the power of her magic at him to flick him away like an insect.
Her magic met the wall created by Ashiyn’s magic, and while he slid back a few steps, he managed to deflect the blow. “I’m arrogant? You’re a mermaid with delusions of world domination!”
“They’re not delusions, lover! I have dominated the world. And mermaid? How dare you! I am a naga!” Seraphine closed the distance between them and somehow managed to erode enough of a hole in his shield to slap him across the face.
Ashiyn gave her a shocked look before he growled and grabbed her arm and twisted it to the side viciously. “You lost the right to touch me, sea-wench.”
“Gods. Enough with the villain posturing already,” Ember grumbled from behind Seraphine. While they had been arguing, the half-elf had apparently retrieved his daggers. They flashed as he stabbed Seraphine in the back. “Why can’t you ever just kill each other and be done with it?”
She gasped and gurgled, collapsing under the attack.
Ashiyn watched as she slid down the front of him, clutching at his dark armor as his shield faded away. Then he glared at Ember. “I wasn’t finished with her.”
Ember smirked and pulled his daggers free, then whirled them around in his hands. “Can’t let you have control of her army when I can have it.”
Ashiyn watched Seraphine melt into a puddle of seafoam, then glanced at the army of monsters that started to surround him. “Ember, you know they can’t destroy me.”
“No, but they can buy me time to get what can.” Ember started to back away, still smirking. “Commanders! Destroy him!”
The monsters surged forward and attacked Ashiyn. The first wave flew back as Ashiyn used his magic to create an explosion outward from where he stood. Through the flood of enemies, he could see Ember running for the throne and the sword. “Soryn! Stop him!” Ashiyn called over the din. He wasn’t sure where the magus was, or if Soryn could hear him over the screams and snarls of the monsters attacking him.
These were no normal monsters. Each was a commander of a massive army and had gotten that position by being extraordinarily strong. Ashiyn fought as hard as he could, but the waves just kept coming. If he had not been killed and had to waste energy reviving, thanks to the sea-witch, he might have been able to fight them all. As it was, he was still recovering, and he could feel his strength failing.
“You will not have him!” Soryn’s voice boomed through the room as the he hovered above Ashiyn on massive, feathered wings. The brilliant magic surrounding him was so blinding it was impossible to look directly at him.
Every monster in the room screamed and clutched its head, stumbling back, away from Ashiyn. Ashiyn managed to throw his magic shield up again before the monsters around him exploded in a shower of gore. Not that he didn’t enjoy a good bloodbath, but it was a bit much at the moment. “Messy, Soryn.”
Soryn looked down at him, his eyes pure white with power. Then color drained from the magus’s face, and he landed next to Ashiyn, furling his wings. “I didn’t do that.”
I did, Sihtaar announced, though this time the sword’s voice echoed through the room instead of Ashiyn’s
mind.
Ashiyn looked back to the throne. Ember lay eviscerated at the foot of Sihtaar, and the blade was rocking back and forth in place, crazy black lightning blasting from it throughout the room.
“No! We have to stop it!” Soryn said, but he was blown back across the room and crumpled against the wall.
“Silence. I’ve killed stronger angels than you, fool.” Sihtaar cracked apart and fell in pieces and from them, darkness bled into the room. The massive monster that crawled out of the remnants of the sword resembled a dragon and, as it entered the room, the fortress around them crumbled from the size of it. “On your knees before the terrifying god, Sihtaar!”
Ashiyn did not believe in retreat, but he decided a tactical advance to the rear was appropriate at this point. He was in no condition to battle a god, and he was concerned for Soryn. He fled over the stone balcony as it crumbled underneath him, only pausing to pick up Soryn. He let out a sharp whistle for Illusion as the last of the floor disappeared.
Illusion let out a stallion scream of challenge as he swooped under Ashiyn and caught them.
As they made their escape, the god-dragon let out a victorious roar that shook the entire planet.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Ashiyn didn’t go straight home. His magic told him Soryn was injured too grievously for him to heal alone. There was only one place he could think of to take his friend. He had not been to Sia’s cave in thousands of years, but he still remembered where it was, and instructed to Illusion fly directly to it.
Ashiyn slid to the ground once his mount landed. Soryn was still unconscious and any sign of his celestial magic had faded. Ashiyn was grateful the massive, heavy wings had vanished, but it also concerned him. He pulled his friend off Illusion’s back then slowly carried Soryn to the mouth of the cave.
“Sia?” he called from the entrance.
“King Ashiyn. You may enter,” the scribe’s ghostly voice echoed down the small hallway to them.
“Soryn was injured,” Ashiyn shifted Soryn’s weight as he talked. Soryn’s skin was grey, and his breaths were nearly imperceptible.
There was a long pause before the eerie voice spoke again. “Why am I not surprised? You may bring him.”
Ashiyn ducked into the hallway, almost too tall for it, and carried Soryn carefully down the winding tunnel. It opened into a vast magical library. Books danced through the air from shelf to shelf and desk to desk. He dodged a few of them in annoyance and tried to figure out where the eye of the book-storm was.
“It is very dangerous to be your friend, King Ashiyn.”
Ashiyn jumped at the ghost’s voice just behind him, then whirled around. Sia floated there with a displeased expression on his face. “I don’t have time to banter, Sia. I know, you told me so. Please just see to Soryn. He’s hurt.”
“Yes, yes. He is. Dying, in fact.” Sia tilted his head, resting his chin on his ghostly hand.
Ashiyn glared at him. He turned to the nearest desk and used his magic to blow the piles of books and papers off.
“Hey,” Sia started to protest, and floated forward to try to grab some of the papers.
Ashiyn ignored him and laid Soryn on the desk. Then he stepped back and pointed at his friend. “If you want to continue your meager existence, fix him.”
Sia’s face lost any warmth it had held, and his eyes narrowed. “All you had to do was ask nicely, Ashiyn. No need for threats here. Do you even know how to ask without demanding?” He adjusted his ghostly spectacles then floated over to Soryn and started looking him over. “I did warn you that Sihtaar devoured celestials, did I not?”
“Can you fix him?” Ashiyn growled, crossing his arms.
Sia turned to raise a brow at Ashiyn. “Oh. He is important to you. That is most interesting. Does the cold King Ashiyn finally care about something other than himself?”
“Imagine the torment you will endure if he dies if that is the case.” Ashiyn narrowed his eyes, his magic crackling over his arms. “I have never tortured a spirit, but I am sure I could find some way to do so.”
“Right. How fortunate for our friend here that I have not lost my healing magic despite my current state,” Sia murmured and turned away. He rested his ghostly hands on Soryn’s chest and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he jolted in place and looked at Ashiyn in horror. “I thought I was jesting that Sihtaar had done this. You released the god-dragon?”
“After. Heal him, damn it,” Ashiyn snarled. Sia was the world’s most talented healer, even in death, but he had the focus of a mouse.
“Well, if you’d be quiet, I could focus!” Sia shot back then closed his eyes again. The purple of his aura slowly covered Soryn’s body.
Ashiyn grimaced as he heard the magic snapping bones back into place. Color slowly returned to Soryn’s skin and his breathing became regular.
Sia floated away from Soryn then, his project already forgotten, as he stroked his ghostly beard. He flitted from shelf to shelf. “Magic, show me the books that mention Sihtaar.”
Books started flying off the shelves and floating in front of Sia, pages flipping. Too rapidly for Ashiyn to read any of it, so he walked over to the desk instead and shook Soryn’s shoulder. “Soryn, wake up.”
Soryn’s dark eyes opened, full of confusion. “Ashiyn? What happened? I had the strangest dream.”
“That I attacked Seraphine, Ember killed her, then died by Sihtaar and released the god-dragon from his prison?” Ashiyn snorted. “Sorry, as crazy as that all sounds, not a dream.”
Soryn sat up, horrified. “We released Sihtaar?”
“Correction, my idiot son released Sihtaar.” Ashiyn turned away, crossing his arms and watching Sia.
“You left Ember there,” Soryn said, his voice still shocked.
“I could only save one of you. Ember seemed to be convinced that the sword could kill me. If Sihtaar can truly kill immortals there was no guarantee he was coming back. And he betrayed me, again. As is his lot in life. You, on the other hand, have never done that. The choice was rather obvious, was it not?” Ashiyn shrugged. “I suppose I should be grateful that Sihtaar did not just eat you outright, seeing as you are a celestial.”
Soryn slid off the desk slowly. He reached out to steady himself with a hand on Ashiyn’s shoulder. “I am the last. Sihtaar consumed the others. I am all that is left of their power.”
“Sihtaar: A demi-god who prefers the form of a giant dragon. Feasts upon blood and life-force. Insatiable. The threat level to the world: Ten,” Sia read from a book then spun to face them, waving his hands in exasperation. “Ten?! Threat level ten? As if our world wasn’t already in post-apocalypse, you bring another one?! Ten is the highest there is!”
“I didn’t do it!” Ashiyn grumbled, annoyed.
“You are the one that has been feeding it for three-thousand years,” Soryn mumbled.
Ashiyn glared at him. “How was I supposed to know that an evil god lived in the sword? I don’t remember anyone specifying the creature was that dangerous or that it could get out of the sword.”
Soryn just shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips to show he was teasing.
Ashiyn rolled his eyes. “We know he’s going to destroy the world, Sia. We need to know how to stop him. And I don’t mean putting him back into prison. That didn’t work.”
“It took the lives of twenty celestials to perform the spell to imprison him the first time,” Soryn said, with a shake of his head.
Sia turned back to the books still flipping open in front of him. He waved several away. “Destroy him? How does one destroy a god, Ashiyn? This world can’t even destroy an immortal like you.”
“Well, you’re lucky they could not destroy me. I’m the only one who has any chance of saving this pathetic world now,” Ashiyn retorted. “I didn’t destroy you. I liked you.”
“Yes, I will be forever grateful for the fact I am a ghost trapped in a giant cave library only to serve you forevermore,” Sia said dryly as he waved a few more books away. “A
t least until Sihtaar consumes you!”
“Sia, please help us,” Soryn said gently. “Ashiyn is the only one who can save the world now.”
Sia floated back over to them to hover in front of Soryn. “Save this world? King Ashiyn only destroys! Do you know the millions he has slain in his three thousand years? Allow me to show you!” Sia threw an arm out and a giant scroll rolled from the top shelf of the cave and started unrolling in waves across the floor until it covered the entire room around them. “Those are all the names of those who have died by his hand.”
Soryn clenched his fists and his jaw. “And where is the list of the people he has saved in the process? He saved me, Sia.”
“You blind fool. He killed Rurik because it served his purpose to do so, not because he cares about you.” Sia scoffed, then floated back up to the top of his library. “I have nothing more to help you. There are no books written about killing demi-gods. It hasn’t been done, at least not by anyone who survived long enough to tell the tale.”
The Darkest Sword Page 19