A man dashed out from the shadows and over to the Asgardian’s fallen body, and once he stepped closer to one of the nearby glow-lamps Kroll recognized him as Jason Moore. Apparently he wouldn’t actually need to reach the safe house—the rebels had decided to bring the spark right to him.
The cube is here, he told his team. Come to me.
Kroll relaxed his stance and allowed the paladin to score a quick slash across his breastplate before he hopped backwards and earned himself some much-needed space. He was bleeding from a half-dozen different wounds at this point, and his concentration was slowly but surely starting to fade. But if he could just hold out for a few more seconds…
“I didn’t think people like us were allowed to be paladins,” he sneered, dancing backwards as she tested his defenses with a quick slash.
The dark elf swapped techniques when he retreated. She settled into a one-handed fencing stance designed for greater defense. At this rate, she probably knew if she just held him at bay for another minute or two, he would weaken enough from blood loss to either pass out or at least drop his guard. She was also canny enough to realize she needed to shield Moore.
“Unbound, I mean,” Kroll continued. “Does the Dawn even know what you are? Do the Solarians?”
“Drop the sword,” she told him. “I have no wish to kill you.”
He chuckled derisively. “If only your Highlord shared our gift. It might have saved his life.”
She lunged forward, but not in anger like he had hoped. She remained calm and precise, and without the additional force of a two-handed grip, her strikes were even more surgical. Kroll was almost immediately forced to retreat further down the alley, which in turn carried him further away from his quarry.
“Get her out of here!” the paladin called out over her shoulder. Moore hesitated only a moment before grabbing the Asgardian in his arms and running away.
Growling under his breath, Kroll hacked down hard to his left even as his feet strafed to his right. As expected, she easily parried the blow and slashed the top of his leg in retaliation, but he had earned a more advantageous position. She was cunning enough not to offer him a completely unfettered path to Moore, but that was all right. If he could buy himself one last moment of respite, he might still have a chance to turn the tide…
“You’re defeated, Crell,” she told him. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t even sweating beneath her hood. “For the last time: put down your weapon and you can live.”
“At first you said you’d give me one chance to surrender,” Kroll huffed back, exaggerating his wounds. “That was number three. I thought your people were supposed to be blood thirsty monsters.”
He chopped down directly at her head, but she easily lifted her sword and caught his blow in mid-air. Their blades remained locked in place, and he looked deeply into her blue eyes. She wasn’t afraid in the slightest, and Kroll knew there was nothing he could do to change that. At least, not directly.
“Very well,” he rasped, leaning away and tossing his sword to the side. “I surrender, paladin. You’ve won.”
Kroll didn’t expect her to actually fall for the ruse, but he knew it would buy him the half second he needed to channel the appropriate spell. Calling out to the Aether, he sheathed himself in protective energy and then lunged to the side as if he were going after Moore. Unfazed, the dark elf calmly stepped forward and slashed her sabre into his leg—
And the moment her sword touched his flesh, his newly-formed barrier jolted her with a powerful electric current. She staggered away, her muscles reflexively locking in place and Kroll finally made his move. He slapped her sabre from her grip, then used her own weapon to slice wildly across her chest. A spray of blood splashed across his face, and she twirled away and half-stumbled, half-leapt into a nearby pile of trash.
Kroll smiled as he twirled her weapon in his hand. It was light—so light it was hard to believe he hadn’t cleaved it in half with his much heftier broadsword—but Dawn-forged blades were legendary for their strength and enchantments. He stepped over her even as she whimpered in pain, and he slashed downward with all his strength.
But she was no longer there. The shadows swirled about the refuse, and he glanced back and forth along the alley to try and track her down. He had never heard of such a channeling technique before, and it was hard to believe that a paladin of all people would know how to escape so easily. But if she wanted to run and hide like a little girl, then so be it. The divine spark was nearly within his reach.
Turning on a heel, he caught a glimpse of Moore dashing back towards the safe house. The weight of the Asgardian was slowing him down, and Kroll’s smile widened as he hurled another wave of force down the alley. It pummeled Moore in the back and bowled him over, and soon he and his friend were lying in a helpless heap.
Kroll jogged over to them, clenching at his wounds and channeling a quick healing spell into his flesh. He had lost a lot of blood, and unfortunately he wasn’t sure if he could summon enough power to simply crush Moore outright. But it didn’t matter. He lifted the paladin’s sword and charged instead
Just when Kroll had closed within a few feet of the Asgardian’s body, Moore reached into his pouch and pulled free the cube. He held it outwards as if it were some type of shamanistic ward, and for a moment Kroll actually froze in place. He had seen what the cube had done to the Shadow in Taig, and he knew he couldn’t repel a burst of energy that powerful, especially not in his weakened state. The cube flared with energy…but it didn’t fire. Instead it opened up almost like a jewel case, and a brilliant light exploded from within its center, engulfing Moore’s entire body. An instant later it faded, and Moore collapsed onto the stone, lifeless.
“You fool!” Kroll hissed. Somehow the other man had released the spark, and if it hadn’t consumed him already, it would soon.
Kill him, Sovereign Damir said into his mind. Kill him and we will extract the spark from his corpse.
“As you wish,” he said aloud. Lowering his sword, he reached into the Aether and summoned a flame to his palm instead. He extended a hand and unleashed a cone of flame—
And suddenly the paladin materialized in front of him, her shimmering Aetheric shield raised protectively over Moore. Kroll didn’t even have a chance to blink before the flames reflected off the shield and seared his flesh. As he shrieked in pain and surprise, her saber flipped free of his hand…and in a single deft motion she caught the blade in mid-air, twirled it around in her hand, and then drove it straight into his chest.
The pain and light were so intense he couldn’t even breathe. He collapsed, and in the last fleeting moment before he lost consciousness, a vision of Sovereign Damir appeared in his head.
I am sorry, Mistress. I have failed you.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Pity and protect the scorned children of the world. Let not their reckless magic endanger themselves or another. Offer them shelter and guidance but be wary of their embrace, for it carries with it the inevitable darkness of their souls.”
—The Book of Maeleon
“The Highlord’s orders were quite clear,” Gabriel Alric said flatly. “We are here to reinforce the rebels’ position in Lyebel and eradicate the demonic infestation plaguing the city, and that is exactly what we are going to do.”
“He doesn’t even know how rampant the infestation is, or who is behind it,” Lady Savilen shot back. “Doesn’t it seem a bit foolhardy to send your knights into battle without more information?”
Alric smiled tightly. “Fortunately, my lady, my men are not accountable to you or this Council. I am here as a convenience to you, nothing more.”
“Everyone calm down,” the Voice soothed, making an open gesture with his palms. “We are simply evaluating the available information.”
General Darius Iouna leaned on his right arm and rubbed his forehead. To no one’s surprise, the Council had already reverted back to its default position of denial. Even with first-hand reports about demonic activ
ity in Lyebel—even with an assassination attempt on the Highlord of the Last Dawn—they still weren’t willing to commit to action. It was as bewildering as it was infuriating.
Still, the situation could have actually been worse, at least for him. The news of the attack on Lyebel had completely shifted the discussion away from the inconvenient fact that the Crell invasion force was much smaller than he had anticipated. He had expected to be the Council’s official whipping boy today, but instead they had mostly contented themselves with yelling at Sir Alric.
“With all due respect, there isn’t much to evaluate,” General Salia Belyise replied, struggling to keep her voice calm. “There is a demonic infestation in Lyebel; we have proof of this. General Moore’s son has obtained what he believes to be a legitimate divine spark, and the Zarul tried and failed to wipe the rebels out to get a hold of it. We have a unique opportunity here to obtain a valuable tactical asset, and we should do everything in our power to recover it.”
“Including starting a war?” Lord Margrove asked pointedly. “Because that’s exactly what will happen if we send our forces anywhere near Lyebel.”
“War is coming whether you like it or not,” Darius told them. “It is in our best interests to have every advantage we can before that happens.”
Savilen let loose a pronounced sigh. “That is pure speculation, General. For months you have warned us of an ‘impending Crell invasion,’ yet none have been forthcoming. And on top of that, my sources report that their supposed build-up on all our fronts has stopped. They don’t have enough troops to threaten our outposts.”
Darius suppressed a grimace. He had almost started to believe that the Council hadn’t seen the new reports, but of course they were every bit as well-informed as he was. Savilen was also playing her trinity coin pretty early, though, which meant she probably didn’t have much else to fall back on.
“That doesn’t change anything,” Belyise insisted. “Whether or not Crell have marshaled enough forces to strike now or later is not the issue. You can’t seriously sit there and tell me the Crell Imperium and its despotic Sovereigns are going to sit idly by and maintain the peace forever.”
Savilen favored the other woman with an icy glare. “I can tell you I’m not willing to risk war over supposition of intent without proof.”
“Forget the war,” Darius replied, abruptly standing from his seat. “Forget the Crell invasion force. Just consider this spark: are you telling me that you really want to let the Sovereigns have it? Or the Zarul?”
“Of course not,” Savilen said dismissively. “We should instruct Mr. Moore to bring it to us and provide him an escort the moment he hits our territory—but not before. If Sir Alric wishes to provide him an escort earlier, that is his prerogative.”
Alric glared at her in annoyance. Darius didn’t particularly care for the man, but he could empathize with that look completely. “You wish us to place our people in danger but are unwilling to do the same with yours?”
“Your paladins chase danger as if it were a pile of gold,” Margrove said with a sneer. “You make it sound like we’re forcing your hand.”
Belyise joined Darius in standing, and Wystan was right behind her. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” she murmured.
“That’s enough,” the Voice said forcefully. “Nothing has been decided yet.”
“And that’s exactly the problem,” Lord Alistan blurted out, breaking his uncharacteristic silence. He seemed to have sunk even deeper in his chair than normal, and his wrinkles were a bit more pronounced. “I appreciate my colleague’s position: I’m in no mood to openly provoke a Crell response by throwing troops across the border into Lyebel. But this infestation is very real, and it is something we can’t ignore. At the very least, we should dispatch a covert team into Lyebel to assist the knights in hunting down and destroying these demons—in addition to sending the Crell government a diplomatic offer of support, of course.”
Darius sat down and gestured for his colleagues to do the same, but his eyes never left Alistan. Of all the people he thought would support him here, Jonathan Alistan was probably last on the list. Then again, he had been the one who had offered Darius the scouting reports on the infestation in the first place. Maybe his eyes had finally been opened to the true danger.
The rest of the councilors seemed equally surprised, perhaps even a little shocked. Lord Tamas was the first to break out of the reverie.
“I agree,” he said softly, “and if that team happens to assist in escorting the spark across the border, all the better. There hasn’t been confirmation of a lost spark in almost a century; we can’t afford to let this opportunity slip away.”
“We can easily assemble a team strong enough to provide support but small enough to avoid overt detection,” Darius pointed out. “It’s a start.”
“If that type of limited action provokes them into a full-scale assault, we’ll know they had war on their minds anyway,” Alistan agreed.
“That’s a big risk, Jonathan,” Savilen warned. “If the Crell take the bait, your lands will suffer the hardest blow.”
He smiled wearily. “I’m well aware of that. But General Iouna is right—we can’t afford to sit this one out, not with so much on the line. If we do nothing, we risk the Crell wiping out the rebels and getting the spark. Even if they really aren’t planning on invading now, with a weapon like that on their hands….”
She eyed him carefully for a moment as if she was trying to convince herself it really was her ancient political ally and not a doppelganger wearing his face. “Very well. A small team.”
A quick majority show of nods and a few less approving shakes of the head followed. The Council had spoken; now they turned to the Voice for the king’s approval.
“His Majesty is in agreement,” Kaeldar said gravely. “He leaves the details to his loyal Generals.”
“I will deploy my knights before the end of the day,” Alric said. “If you can’t have your team assembled by then, you’ll have to rendezvous with us in Lyebel.”
“We’ll manage,” Belyise assured him.
“There is another potential problem,” Darius said. “What if Moore doesn’t want to bring us the spark?”
“With luck, Tevek and the others can convince him that this is the wisest course of action,” the Voice said.
Darius nodded. That wasn’t a real answer, of course, and it left the door open for all matter of potential responses. He suddenly wished he could be in Lyebel himself—he hadn’t seen his old war buddy in a long time, but he knew he could convince Jason to do the right thing.
The meeting adjourned, and after a few words with the other generals, Darius moved into the corridors of the King’s Tower and approached Sir Alric. He was commiserating with two of the twenty knights he had brought with him.
“General Iouna,” Alric said, nodding in greeting. “It’s unfortunate you didn’t get what you were hoping for.”
Darius shrugged. “It’s better than nothing. To be honest, I’m more worried about this ‘spark,’ as they call it. I didn’t even realize such a thing could be found in the natural world.”
“Dawn scholars believe there are still a few scattered across Obsidian,” Alric informed. “The last one I know of was discovered in southwestern Calhara roughly a century ago, and it resulted in a bloody civil between three Rivani princes. They all died…and the spark was never actually recovered.”
“It’s hard to imagine,” Darius breathed. “A living piece of a god in physical form…”
“One way or another, we cannot allow the Crell to recover it,” Alric said. “That must remain our primary goal.”
“Agreed.” Sir Alric was not the most personable man Darius had ever met, and the paladin had a tendency to talk down to him because of his age, but at least Alric was a man of action. He realized the tactical necessity here, and how that ultimately involved making some hard choices in order to save lives in the future. It wasn’t a trait many of his fellow knight
s shared.
“I agree completely, but I am especially concerned with the Crell response,” Darius said. “The Sovereigns could have sent hundreds or even thousands of troops after the spark, yet instead they chose only a few dozen.”
Alric nodded fractionally. “Dame Devarath has raised similar concerns. She believes there are other mitigating factors we have yet to uncover, and I’m inclined to agree.” He glanced about the hall and ensured no one else was within earshot. “We also have no idea how a Crell Imperator was capable of severing the Highlord’s link to the Dawn. If others learn of this technique…”
“It could completely tip the balance of power,” Darius said gravely. “Potentially even more than the spark.”
“Yes,” Alric whispered, his eyes narrowing. “We desperately need more information. If this is a new channeling technique, there must be a defense against it.”
“Elade managed to defeat the Imperator—did she have any input on the matter?”
Alric’s cheek twitched. “No. She claims to have overwhelmed him quickly before he could incapacitate her.”
Darius cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t believe her? I thought paladins didn’t lie.”
“She was a shadow knight before she was one of us,” he muttered. A flicker of disgust crossed his face, but he quickly shrugged it away. “We need more information.”
“Yes, of course,” Darius replied. He knew that many of the other knights didn’t seem to care for Elade, but apparently that animosity ran especially deep with Alric. Still, Darius couldn’t imagine that she would actually lie about something so important. What did she even have to gain? “I need to start putting my team together. I will coordinate with your knights again before our people set out.”
The Godswar Saga (Omnibus) Page 40