by Jordan Baker
She pulled out a black dress with a long train and she stepped into it, realizing it would easily tear upon the wings that now jutted from her shoulders. As she pulled it up, it became stuck and Calexis looked behind her and saw that she had also grown a tail. It was longer and thinner than what a Darga might have, more like that of a dragon and with spikes at the end. It was surprising that she had not noticed it, but Calexis found it mildly amusing. She focused her thoughts on shifting her shape, the way Elric had changed, and she felt the tail grow smaller and almost completely disappear into the lowest part of her back. Calexis concentrated a little more and thinned out her legs and shortened the claws on her hands.
It was a powerful figure, and she knew it would be of use to her, but it was still somewhat impractical to walk around in half dragon form. She shifted a few other parts of her body as much as she could, and wriggled into the black dress, but it was too tight, so she cut a long slit down the front of it, making more room for the parts of her that stuck out. Calexis knew she could make the horns on her head shorter and less pointed if she wanted to, but she decided to keep them, as their shape matched the sharp lines of her cheeks and her jaw.
Pleased with herself, she wandered back to the outer room and stabbed a large piece of venison with a knife from the table. Calexis lifted the dripping piece of meat up high and opened her mouth wide and dropped it between her rows of sharp teeth. With her long tongue, she licked the blood from her lips, then she walked over to the corner of the room, where the guards had left a pike, upon which she had placed Cerric's head.
Calexis picked it up, smiled at the former king's dead eyes and walked from her chamber, heading down through the palace and out into the city where the people loudly celebrated the champions of the tournament. The empress, who was now a fearsome goddess, took her time as she walked through the streets, surrounded by her soldiers and gathering followers. The preparations were complete, and the black robed priests simply waited for her presence before beginning the spell that would bring the darkness and cast a shadow over the land.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Only a few people had accompanied Calthas to the temple of Stroma, mostly out of curiosity than any sort of fear, and he realized that the festivities of the tourney and the free and cheap food and drink Cerric had arranged kept the people in thrall almost as much as the dark magic of the book kept the mages in line. The night was dark when they arrived, and Calthas had expected to see the lightning of the ancient god sparking up into the sky, but the temple was dark, and even darker inside, lit by only a few torches that burned in sconces upon the walls.
"What has happened?" Calthas asked Willem, who appeared from an alcove near the side door of the temple, where he had apparently been hiding.
"I don't know," Willem said. "Cerric must have done something, for the light of Stroma vanished after he came to the temple."
"Cerric was here?" Calthas asked.
"Stroma warned us he would come," Willem said.
"What happened?"
"I have never been more afraid in my life, even when the mage priests took my eye and left me for dead it was nothing like the presence of the dark power. Stroma's power protected me. Cerric came, clearly angry, and then he left. Not long after, Stroma's lightning ceased to be."
"Can you sense him?" Calthas asked as he reached out with his own power to see if he could find the god's power.
"I sense his power, but it is different," Willem said. "I no longer feel his presence. You don't think Cerric did something?"
"It is possible," Calthas said.
"Could he have killed him?" Willem was aghast. "Could we have missed such a battle? Is Stroma defeated?"
"If so, then we are doomed," Calthas said, glancing over at the handful of people he had brought to the temple. A few of them looked around at the inside of the temple, out of idle curiosity, and a few others began to make their way toward the door. Calthas called after them. "Wait!"
"We've seen enough," said one man. "You've got some nerve, dragging us away from our cups to this dusty old place. The whole city's celebrating, and you're wasting people's time, playing tricks."
"It wasn't a trick," Calthas said.
The man turned, pushed open the doors, then walked out of the temple, and the others followed him, leaving Calthas and Willem alone in the empty, hollow structure.
"What do we do now?" Willem asked. "Without Stroma's protection, the priesthood could be upon us at any moment."
"What about the goddess?"
"Would she protect us?"
"Of course," Calthas said.
The two mages pushed open the door to the passage that would lead to the next temple and made their way to the temple of the Lady, but they found it dark and devoid of any kind of energy as well.
"Ehlena?" Calthas whispered. "Help."
His voice echoed dryly in the vast chamber, and he felt his heart beginning to sink, then he heard something. Willem started to pace back and forth and Calthas grabbed him by the sleeve.
"Stop," he said. "Listen."
Barely more than a whisper, Ehlena's voice drifted into the temple like the slightest gust of wind.
"Gone," she said. "Stroma is gone."
"Lady, will you protect us?"
"I am weakened. You must escape."
"We cannot," Calthas said. "The mage priests have already begun the spell."
"Wait."
"Wait?"
"Wait."
"Wait here? Wait for what?" Willem asked, his voice fraught with fear.
"Wait," she said again and her voice faded away.
*****
Elric heard the sound of familiar footsteps and the heavy wooden door squeaked open on its iron hinges. He sniffed the air, recognizing the smell of steel and sweat of the warrior who had visited him before.
"You have returned," Elric said, his voice cracked and dry.
"I am sorry I did not come sooner," Brian told him as he used the strength his armor gave him to pull the iron shackles apart. "I heard what she did to you. It was cruel."
"It does not matter," Elric said. "None of it matters."
"If it doesn't matter then come with me," Brian said as he yanked the irons off his scaled feet. "I took a risk to come get you, so you're coming with me," Brian told him. He grabbed Elric by the arm and pulled him from the wooden platform and he landed on his feet with a heavy thud. Brian grabbed his large, clawed hand and pulled him along. "Hang onto my arm and follow me."
"My eyes may be blind, but I can tell where you are," Elric said, sniffing the air. "Just go, I will follow."
Brian led him out of the room and down the stone corridor to where the secret door opened up to the tunnels. Once they were clear of the tunnels and through the thick vines that hid the outer entrance, Brian led Elric to the remains the shrine and helped him to sit down on a stone bench and he looked around for Pike, who was nowhere to be seen.
"Where are we?" Elric asked. "It smells like water and moss. There is also something dark here." He turned in the direction of the black sludge that had come from Pike's ears.
"We are on far side of the city," Brian told him, listening, trying to hear if Pike might be roaming around in the trees nearby. "We are only a short walk away from Lake Mara."
"I have heard of it, but alas I have never seen it," Elric said. "I suppose I never will." He sniffed the air. "Someone is cooking fish. We do not have much fish in Kandara. Not many lakes, but a few streams with mountain trout."
"You are Elric of Kandara," Brian said, acknowledging him.
"Yes, that is my name," he replied. "And you are Brian."
"Yes," Brian said. "How did you know that?"
"I can hear things, the things people say when they say something else, and the things they don't say. I can hear the other one with you, the one who does not speak aloud, though I can hear the things he does not say as well."
"And what doesn't he say?" Brian asked, curious.
"It is probably
better that I do not say," Elric replied.
"I just saved you," Brian said.
"He wonders if you were raised under a rock, for you know so little of the world, and he wonders if you would understand even half of his knowledge."
"Did you really say that?" Brian asked.
"I might have thought it," Kroma replied. "Do not be offended, Brian. I am a god. There is much that you may not be able to comprehend."
"I was raised on a farm, not under a rock," Brian told him crossly "And I might not know a lot about the world, but I'm learning as best I can."
"Fair enough," Kroma said. "Irritating creatures at times, these dragons."
"I heard that also," Elric said.
"I know you did," Kroma said. "I would have thought that being raised among the Kandaran people you would have better manners, and being the heir to the throne, you might also have some tact."
"I have been a failure on every account," Elric replied. "I betrayed my people and gave away my throne for a lie. I did not even fight, and now I have given up my birthright, and am left like this, blind and ruined."
"Quit your whining," Kroma said. "You resisted Cerric time and time again, I saw it. I was there. You're a lot stronger than you think, Elric. Even now, you are not without power, though you will need much time to heal."
"I would deny your words, but they ring true," Elric said. "I do not know what to think of that."
"Think all you want," Kroma said.
"I hear someone," Elric said, looking up with his empty eyes. "It is strange. Her voices sounds very far away."
Brian listened, but he could not hear anything, but he had the feeling that Kroma could hear the same things as Elric. He tried harder and he thought he heard a voice whispering, and he felt like there was something familiar about it, but he could not make out the words.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Brian," Kroma said. "If I had a body of my own, you would kick me for what I am about to suggest."
"We're going back in?"
"It is a request, on behalf of a goddess."
"Carly?"
"Another goddess, the Lady goddess, my mother."
"Your mother?"
"Yes."
"Well, I suppose we'd better do what she asks."
"It seems you were raised properly," Kroma said, with a warm laugh that was rich and deep. "There may be hope for you yet, my boy."
"Elric," Brian said. "Wait here and if a fellow named Pike wanders by, tell him you are my friend. And see if you can make any sense of his thoughts. He is a little confused about who he is, ever since Calexis used her magic on him."
"I will sit here and breathe in the cool night air," Elric said. "It is not so crisp as the air among the Kandaran mountains, but it is far better than the dungeon."
"That is a perfect thing to do," Brian told him as he ran back toward the tunnel. "Just sit here and breathe."
"What else am I to do?" Elric asked, but Brian was already gone.
*****
The crowd had grown to an enormous size by the time Calexis made her way to the temple district, with some people cheering her and others trying to attack her, outraged that she would kill their king and show such disrespect to him. Fights broke out in the streets as the celebration turned to angry chaos and Calexis smiled widely, ignoring the raucous madness of it all as she marched toward the great, dark stone temple, with Cerric's head atop the pike in her hand.
She handed the tall spear to one of her guards and turned to face the crowd.
"People of Maramyr, people of Xalla and all others who have traveled here to this great city for the King's Tournament, I welcome you to the temple of the one god, the true ruler of these lands. The one you knew as king, Cerric was but a vessel for this power, a regent just as he was before, but he was too weak, too petty to hold such power, thus he is dead, and I have taken his place, by right as Empress of the three kingdoms, Xalla, Maramyr, and Kandara, and goddess, the one true power, greater than any other in this world. Behold the power of the one, and fall in obedient worship."
Calexis spread her hands, calling forth black and purple flames as the mages began to work the spell, linking the crystals in the temple to those that were placed through the city. Beams of light shot from the temple in every direction, creating an elaborate lattice over the city, against the dark night sky. The door of the temple blew open and the blinding light of the crystals poured forth behind her and Calexis turned and shot black and purple hued tendrils of power from her hands. The dark power consumed the light, then it spread through the city, following every beam and darkening every crystal, and the few stars above faded as a dark, grey haze covered the sky and a grey miasma, like a combination of fog and smoke, filled the air inside the temple, and slowly billowed out of its doors.
The people fighting the soldiers in the temple square stopped as the light flared overhead then turned to darkness, unsure of what had happened, then they stopped completely when the fog touched them. One by one, they lowered their weapons and fell to their knees, the glimmering light of their will gone from their eyes. Not a one was spared, save for the soldiers and the mages who were already under the spell of the god, and one single warrior, who walked through the fog, the ground rumbling with his every footfall.
"You," Calexis hissed and growled as he walked toward her.
"An interesting choice you have made for your appearance," rumbled Kroma's deep, booming voice, coming out of Brian's mouth. "I am not sure about the horns, but the rest of you makes an impression."
"You dare to stand before me?"
"I will go where I want and stand where I choose," Kroma said. "You do not question me."
"I am an Empress, and you but a boy with a sword," she said. "You were foolish to come, brother for I know how weak you truly are."
"I have come to deliver a message," he said.
"And what is that?"
"Stroma is no more."
"That is it? That is all?"
"There is more," Kroma said. "Stoma may be dead, but the power of our father yet endures, and there are new powers rising in the land, far greater than you."
"I know of whom you speak, and I have already poisoned that well."
"Do not presume to know my mind," Kroma bellowed and the ground shook. "You could have learned many things from me, perhaps tempered your hatred and found some purpose for your existence, but in your arrogance you ignored my counsel for over a thousand years. And all that time, I watched and listened and learned while you gathered every secret, every lie, every little plan and all your magics and I have spent my time devising ways to counter you."
"And now you wish to face me? To do battle? Is that it?" Calexis laughed. "Your power is no match for mine. You will perish."
"Another time, perhaps," Kroma said and he turned and walked away as the grey fog moved closer to him.
"You would dare turn your back on me?" her voice shrilled and growled.
"No, I wouldn't. I believe I just did," Kroma said.
Calexis gathered her power and sent a blast of black and purple fire after him. Kroma spun around, then he punched the ground and a stone wall rose up in front of him. The black fire smashed against the wall, clinging to the rock and shooting off to either side of it, and Kroma ran in leaps and bounds toward the doors of his temple, which opened and then slammed shut as another blast hit them.
He kept running all the way to the center of the temple, leaping the last few paces and landing with his hand upon the seal in the stone floor. The walls of the temple rumbled and shook from another blast, and a reddish, orange glow shimmered throughout the entire structure, seeming to give the walls added strength. Kroma turned to the two mages.
"You can thank the Lady for your rescue," he rumbled. "Now, we must leave quickly. My power will not hold for very long."
"Who are you?" Willem asked.
"Who do you think I am?" Kroma said, as another blast hit the temple. "Follow me."
He walke
d to the back corner of the chamber and pressed on a stone in the wall, releasing a hidden catch and several large stones dropped and slid aside, opening a hole in the floor.
"It is not a far drop," he said.
"Allow me," Calthas said and he cast a small flame down into the darkness, revealing a passageway. "You are right, it isn't that far."
The mage climbed down, dropping easily to the floor of the passage, then Kroma helped Willem down and leapt in after him as another blast hit the temple, shaking loose chunks of stone as the roof of began to collapse. Kroma pressed another stone in the wall of the passage, a seemingly nondescript piece of rock, then another mechanism clicked and the stone floor above them closed once more.
"Now where to?" Calthas asked.
"I think I can lead them from here," Brian said.
"By all means," Kroma replied.
"This way," Brian told the mages. "It will take us out of the city."
"Your voice sounds different," Calthas said. "And I have a fairly good idea why that might be. What is your name?"
"It's Brian."
"Well, Brian, on behalf of Willem and myself, thank you and your friend for rescuing us." Calthas pulled a silver flask out of his robe and unstopped it. "Would you care for a drink?"
"Perhaps later," Brian said. "Let's get out of here."
"Lead on," Calthas replied and he took a swig then stashed the flask back in his robes.
"Do you really know all of Kenra's plans?" Brian asked.
"No, of course not." Kroma said.
"You told him you did," Brian said.
"No, I told him that I was listening and watching and learning while he made his plans. It doesn't mean I heard and saw everything. It was very dark much of the time, keeping myself clear of the shadow within him. Not a lot to do, except try not to fall prey to madness."
"I don't understand," Brian said. "Why would you say what you said?"