When she reached the front of the mob, Shannon understood why.
There was Adella dancing among the black arms extending out from the Juggernaut, and a Northing warrior seemed to have one of the tentacles wrapped around him. But there was a third figure, a large man totally engulfed in the black coils, and the only thing Shannon could see clearly was a single arm still free, an arm wearing a silvered, antiquated plate mail.
“No!” she shouted as her stomach wrenched in recognition. She charged blindly forward, driven by the overwhelming need to save her Father, and she barely noticed the surge of energy as she passed over the boundary of the stone circle.
“The Third Champion of the woman Brillis and the city of Jalan’s Drift has come forth,” proclaimed a deep thundering voice from the stone from beside the circle.
She had no time for words or boundaries, the black mass of the Juggernaut suddenly surge upwards, the blob abruptly taking a roughly humanoid shape like an oversized ogre stumbling to its feet, the tentacles now part of its many arms. The thing was still within the cocoon like a man beneath a blanket, but it surged forward blindly, as if stumbling after the living figures it sensed. The tentacles seemed to spasm as the monstrosity moved, and the jerk was just enough for the Northing to break free of the grip and slide away from his peril. But nothing could now save Darius.
“Sarinian en eval!” Shannon found herself crying, words she had never before heard coming suddenly, freely to her lips. From across the circle, the great sword answered, swinging through the air to her waiting hand, and the light burst about her with a brilliance the sword had not shown since the days of Darius’ youth.
She charged forward, the sword raised before her, seeing nothing but the blackness swallowing Darius. Eltherand released a bolt of black lightning that she barely noticed as Sarinian split the bolt harmlessly in two. The Northing gathered himself to cast again, the right spell already selected, a magic to change the surroundings and not challenge the sword directly, but that was his fatal mistake. He had dismissed the other woman as blocked off by the surging Juggernaut, impossible for her to do more than defend herself, so he paid no heed to the soft sound of a racing foot behind him. He lifted his arm to cast just as Bloodseeker pierced his heart from behind.
*
Malcolm threw off the simple cloak he had been wearing and stood up on the wall to free himself from the press of people.
The new form was emerging, a humanoid with massive wings, but it was still fully sheltered within the remains of the black cocoon, denying him his chance. He was actually trembling, the excitement taking him like a magician’s apprentice, for his Wizard’s Sight could now see the final evolution of the magics and suddenly all the issues were made terribly clear. He knew exactly what he must do, knew the precise spell that was required, and he knew the consequences of failure.
He watched as the girl Shannon summoned the Avenger into his hands and the thief Adella killed the last of the Northing champions, and he cursed silently to himself. Their presence could only complicate and possibly confound the spell he must release, and he dallied for a moment with spending his first cast to isolate them. But before he could do anything, there came an echoing voice from behind him.
“Your services are no longer required, Malcolm.”
He turned and was thunderstruck to behold the figure of Argus standing at the top of the Guild building holding the gleaming green form of the Ohric.
“We cannot permit your plans for this Juggernaut,” Argus explained.
An instant later a beam of pure energy shot from the scepter down at him, and Malcolm barely had time to throw out a defensive barrier that momentarily blocked the beam. But it was nothing more than a delay. The power of the Ohric was crushing down on the fragile barrier, destroying it, and it required nearly all of Malcolm’s power and focus to maintain even that much resistance.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw figures merging together for a final confrontationin the ring below.
*
Even though the tentacles were jerking with the emergence of this new monster, Shannon knew instinctively there was no time to hack all three of the arms wrapped around her Father before he was drawn into the black mass and lost forever, so there was only one hope.
She must kill the Juggernaut.
She charged into the very midst of the tentacles, the black arms slithering like monstrous snakes to capture her, but Shannon had been taught the ways to avoid blows by an expert, and she leaped and twirled through the coils like Adella herself.
Only Shannon had both the agility to pass the defenses of the Juggernaut and the purity of hands to carry the Avenger with her. She saw movement on the other side of the monster, but she paid it no heed, intent on delivering that one decisive blow. She tumbled to the left, sprang to the right, sliced a tentacle that came too close, and waited for the opening as her mentor had taught her.
There was no time.
The coils holding her Father were nearing the central body, his fate closing upon him, and in desperation, Shannon charged forward beneath the slashing, heedless of the dangers. She drove Sarinian right into the base of one of the tentacles holding Darius, partially piercing the black shell of Juggernaut’s cocoon.
On the opposite side, Adella had been awaiting for this very moment. She judged the distance and the range, and she thrust Bloodseeker into the back of the same tentacle at the same moment.
Deep within the shell of the Juggernaut, the tip of Sarinian touched the tip of Bloodseeker, and only the magical flesh of the titan had the power to hold those two deadly opposites locked against each other. An explosion of white and red lightning burst all around the emerging form, and Shannon and Adella were both thrown backwards, electricity leaping from the hilts of both swords in massive lightning bolts that shot hundreds of feet into the air. The energy that had powered the Juggernaut was pierced at last.
But the winged creature struggling to emerge still lived.
*
Argus saw the lightning enveloping the emerging body of the Juggernaut, and he let out a cry of rage, knowing without fully understanding that a critical juncture had arrived. The green beam had crushed the Wizard’s defensive wall and was now touching Malcolm, but he had no time to insure the death of a single human. The Ohric was roaring warnings in his ears, and he unleashed its power at the dying titan, not even sure what magics he was sending forth.
*
The time had come for the Arch-Mage Malcolm to honor his oath to Mraxdavar. He knew the power smashing down upon his shield was about to switch, but if he waited for it to be gone, he would be too late to intercept the Ohric’s next spell. For a fleeting instant, he glanced down at the ring on his left hand, a band of gold set with a diamond, a ruby, and an emerald, and he made his decision.
Even as the green dynamo switched to the Juggernaut, Malcolm yielded to the power crushing down upon him, directing his last magic towards the same target. There was an explosion of yellow as Malcolm’s body vaporized, and only the sharpest eyes saw a beam flash out to strike the Juggernaut at the exact same time as the green power of the Ohric.
*
There was horrible crashing sound, and the very earth opened beneath the Juggernaut, a chasm reaching down into oblivion as if the world itself had cracked. The thing fell, grabbed blindly with its tentacles to save itself, and it was falling, vanishing into the gaping abyss. Then with a deafening smash, the crevice collapsed in upon itself and vanished, the staggered faces of the spectators the only proof it had ever existed.
The Juggernaut was gone.
In its death throes, it had ejected both swords out of its body and they lay at opposite ends of the circle.
But the thing had taken Darius with it.
“The challenge is complete and the weldmort is satisfied,” the Median announced, quite indifferent to the devastation of the last few seconds. “The three armies of the Silver Horde now fall to Brillis and the city of Jalan’s Drift.”
“I am the designated defender of the Drift, so the armies now serve me!” he announced. “But my authority does not hinge merely upon the weldmort! Behold! Regnar is dead by my hands, and the Ohric is now mine!”
*
Adella did not wait. She seized Bloodseeker from where it lay and rushed to the side of the devastated girl standing helplessly at the site where she had last seen her Father. Shannon’s face was a moonscape of devastation, unable to understand let alone accept what had just happened. She dropped to her knees, her hands digging at the earth as if to reopen the abyss that had taken Darius from her.
Adella grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and dragged her to her feet, but Shannon still reached down for the earth, the place where her Father had vanished…the place where…he lay buried.
“Call the sword,” she told the girl tightly. “Shannon, see if you can call the sword.”
“My…Father,” the girl said dazedly. “My Father…”
“Call the sword, damn you!” she said, shaking her shoulders hard.
Shannon blinked and held up her hand, trying to remember what words she needed to speak. It didn’t matter. The next instant, she found herself holding the shining form of the Avenger.
“So it is indeed true,” she said dully to herself. “My Father is dead.”
“Your Father is gone, that’s true enough,” Adella answered. “But he’s still a long way from dead. We have to get out of here and now.”
The words eased the resistance in Shannon’s shoulders, and Adella took full advantage. She drove her towards the mob of Northings that blocked the way to Sherman’s Alley, and the stunned barbarians gave way before them.
“Where…?” demanded Shannon taking hold of Adella’s arm, though the woman kept driving them both past the press of warriors. “If he still lives, where has that thing taken him?”
“That’s for us to discover,” Adella whispered back as she pushed through the back of the unresisting crowd. “Where’s that fool Jhan?”
*
Jhan had been as stunned as anyone by the unforeseen twists of events, and after Shannon had entered the circle, he had found himself stumbling over towards the Wizard’s Gate as a likely path of escape. Then, just as the two beams of power collided and the Juggernaut vanished, something small came tumbling down from overhead, something that tinked once against the stone, struck his shoulder lightly, and landed on the ground.
A ring.
He reached down and picked it up. It appeared to be made of gold with three gems embedded in its top, one clear, one red, and one green.
Adella was hurrying Shannon towards the sewer grate at the end of Sherman’s Lane, and Jhan started in the same direction. Regnar was gone, the Northings defeated, but the sudden appearance of this new tyrant was apparently enough to send her again seeking the sanctuary of the sewers. He looked down at the ring and frowned. Without thinking why, he placed it on his finger.
“Move quicker than this, or we’ll be left behind,” a voice suddenly said in his head. “And wipe that stupid expression off our face. I have no desire to be thought a fool.”
*
Far above, Argus moved the encapsulated Brillis in her glowing green sphere to the top of the building beside him, the woman helpless and frozen within. He turned to stare at the cringing figure of Georg-Mahl, and the man’s eyes widened as he heard the silent commands of his new master. He stood forward, and his voice boomed forth with a power far beyond that of a normal man.
“The woman Brillis is hereby impeached for thus hazarding the safety of the city,” he announced to the gaping crowd. “By the power vested in him by the Council of Lords, Duke Argus is now Lord Protector of Jalan’s Drift and all the Principalities of the Southlands…”
Argus laughed out loud, the power of the Ohric flowing through his being like a second blood, the city, the Silver Horde, and the armies of the Southlands all bowing to his majesty. Who now was left to oppose him?
END OF BOOK II
Table of Contents
Titlepage
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Council of the Lords
Chapter 2: Llan Praetor
Chapter 3: The Dragon Warrens
Chapter 4: A Gathering of Armies
Chapter 5: Secrets in the Castle
Chapter 6: The Paladin and the Juggernaut
Chapter 7: The Dead Arise
Chapter 8: Dragons at the Gate
Chapter 9: Lessons by the Fire
Chapter 10: Pacts with the Devil
Chapter 11: Confrontation on the Plains
Chapter 12: Death of a Duke
Chapter 13: Malcolm’s Choice
Chapter 14: NargostCastle
Chapter 15: The Testings at Nargost
Chapter 16: Deep Plans, Dark Plans
Chapter 17: Trials
Chapter 18: Contention
Chapter 19: Condemned to the Flames
Chapter 20: The Council and the Mayor
Chapter 21: The Dragons at War
Chapter 22: The Battle of Jalan’s Drift
Chapter 23: Treacheries
Chapter 24: The Challenge
Chapter 25: The Battle of Champions
Upon This World of Stone (The Paladin Trilogy Book 2) Page 35