Kings of Ghumai- The Complete series Box Set

by D N Meinster

  Spira shifted before it could make contact, and Aros' arms dropped back down to his sides.

  Aros blinked a few times as he gained control back over his body. "That was lousy."

  Spira reappeared at street-level, right in the midst of Doren, Rikki, and Aros. She had no visible weapons, not even a staff. So why would she want to engage them in close quarters?

  Doren snatched his shield up from the ground and put it between himself and the resurrected sin mage.

  Spira gave them a look of utter disgust and stretched her arms out toward the Outerlings. They all fell back into a mindless state, their arms hanging limply at their sides.

  "Why don't you fight us yourself?" Rikki whined as the horde began charging in their direction once more.

  Doren spun and blocked as the first wave of Outerlings slammed into his shield. He pushed back against the throng, but he could feel his muscles cramping as more piled on. Individually, these Outerlings didn't appear to have much strength, but collectively they were a powerful force.

  Rikki twisted in place, her eyes and staff still glowing. She took control of a small group at the center of the crowd and had them shove outward amidst the oncoming mass. They took out a few in front of Doren, which was enough for him to push back with his remaining energy and topple several of them.

  Doren took to slamming his shield in the faces of each Outerling that came up beside him. They dropped onto the street, and he hoped their unconsciousness might prevent Spira from controlling their minds.

  Aros was having a much harder time, using the flat, blunt side of his blade to push back against the Outerlings. His swords were nearly pressed up against his chest as they attempted to take him down.

  "You can't win unless you compromise your morality," Spira taunted them from behind. "And you won't because your goddess forbids it."

  Doren turned back around and made for Spira, but an Outerling grabbed him from behind and pulled him backward. With his shield stretched out, Doren spun and smashed it into the Outerling's side, sending him to the ground.

  Subsequently, Doren sent his shield soaring at an approaching Outerling. The shield bounced back into his grasp after it had downed its mark. He turned again to go after Spira, but he was brought down as the throng overtook him.

  Doren curled beneath his shield as the Outerlings surrounded him and started beating their fists down upon him. "Rikki!" he screamed.

  Rikki's staff blocked Aros' two clawblades as he swiped them at her. She had her own Outerlings tackle Aros onto the street.

  Spira's Outerlings began propelling themselves off the walls to avoid Rikki's group and make for a direct attack. She touched her staff to each one of these attackers and took control of them.

  Several of Rikki's puppets made to aid Doren, but it seemed hopeless. The three of them were enclosed by Spira's horde, with only a small group of Rikki's Outerlings to act as a buffer.

  Rikki sent a few more of her Outerlings to sit on Aros and trap him on the ground until she could free him from Spira's control. To do that, she had to get at Spira directly.

  Doren managed to get back on his feet with the assistance of Rikki's puppets. He started swinging his shield at the assailing Outerlings, but his arm suddenly went numb. Then he lost feeling in his other arm. His whole body seemed to disappear from underneath him, yet he could still see it attached to his head. Was he dead? He tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't obey. He couldn't get a single body part to respond. He knew what had happened, having felt this before. Spira had taken over, and this time she didn't intend for him to be a bystander.

  As Rikki tried to make her way toward Spira, Doren watched as his body slammed shield-first into his friend. He tried to cry out, to command himself to stop. But his thoughts had no effect on the action. Rikki got back on her feet almost instantaneously, her eyes displaying an alert fury as she recognized what had been done to him.

  Doren's body prepared the shield for another swipe, but he was put off balance by Rikki's puppets. He tried pushing them away with his shield, this time with Spira's Outerlings assisting him.

  Aros managed to get up and once again assaulted Rikki with his blades. She dodged his swings and lifted both of his clawblades out of his hands with her magic. She sent both blades high above the horde, and then sent them plummeting at Spira.

  Spira shifted away to avoid the swords, and Doren instantly felt a heaviness return that almost caused him to collapse. He was back in control of his body, tingling all over as he regained sensation.

  Spira showed up beside Rikki, wrapping her hand around Rikki's staff. She kicked Doren as he ran up to her, sending him back a few feet.

  "Get your own staff," Rikki growled, and her Outerlings placed their hands all over Spira and pulled her off.

  Spira glared at Rikki, and then sent her puppets hopping into the air at almost impossible heights. They launched themselves at Rikki, who blocked by hitting them with her staff or having her own Outerlings tackle them.

  Doren saw Spira turn her attention back toward him, and he knew what that meant. To try and prevent her from taking control of his body again, he sent his shield flying at her.

  One of Spira's puppets jumped on top of the shield before it could hit her, and both fell to the ground. Spira directed her Outerlings to swarm a now defenseless Doren.

  Doren was easily brought down, and he feared it was about to get worse. But Aros threw himself at Spira while her back was turned, and they both joined him on the ground.

  Rikki and her Outerlings were fighting off what remained of Spira's puppets. The horde was shrinking as more joined growing piles on the street. Rikki would spin so fast that she would create a green blur before striking them down with both sides of her staff.

  Aros meanwhile wrapped his arms around Spira, so she couldn't easily shift away. She struggled to wiggle free beneath him, but her strength was clearly in her magic, not in her muscles.

  Doren pushed himself back on his feet and started sending out punches at any nearby Outerling that tried to jump him. His knuckles collided into their brittle bones, which lacked any sort of fatty insulation. As his hands started to ache from the repeated hits, he abandoned the attack and went to retrieve his shield.

  He walked right over to Spira and Aros, who still had her locked on the ground. Doren reared his leg back and smashed it into Spira's chin as she lay there. He picked up his shield as Aros loosened his grip on the sin mage.

  "I think she's out," Aros said.

  As the horde ended their attacks, Rikki looked over to her companions. The green color faded from her staff and eyes, and she ran over to them. "Is she dead?"

  "Wasn't she always?" Aros asked as he picked himself up off of her.

  "How exactly could we tell?" Doren asked.

  Rikki made to prod her with the staff, but Spira flipped around before it could touch her. The startled trio jumped back.

  "Filth," Spira murmured, and she shifted away.

  The three of them waited a moment to see if she would reappear in the vicinity, but she was nowhere to be seen; not on the roofs or on the street.

  Rikki poked her staff into the sandy ground to keep it steady, and then angled her weight onto it. "Let's never do that again."

  Moans and cries echoed down the block as the Outerlings regained consciousness and every strike that had been lain into them became apparent. There were more bruises than blood, and some of them were still out cold.

  "Fellow Kytherans," Doren addressed the Outerlings. "Today you have been the victim of Thalians. But you have lived your lives the victims of those of us of the Inner. I am sorry for the pain you experience now, and for the pain you have had for a lifetime."

  "Woul' yo shu' up?" one of the nearby Outerlings begged, his palms holding onto the sides of his head. "I got 'uch an ache."

  "We should go," Aros advised, taking his blades up from between some unconscious bodies.

  "Where are we supposed to go?" Doren asked, on the verge of scre
aming. "We can't just follow Spira."

  "The 'emtery," the griping Outerling said.

  "Emtary?" Doren repeated.

  "Emtery," he said again. "Emtery."

  "The graveyard," said another Outerling, getting on his feet. "It's only blocks away. Weird shit's been going down there."

  "There you go," Aros said, making to leave.

  "Hold on," Rikki said. "I'm not sure I'm ready to move."

  "What if they want to get back at us?" Aros grumbled at her.

  "We ain't the fighting type," the other Outerling said. He examined his fellow vagrants, many unable to lift themselves up. "Broke bones. Cuts likely to be infected. Half of us will die within days."

  "We'll get a healer," Doren promised.

  "Forget it. Death will be a relief to them. I'm sorry I can't join 'em. Now go to the graveyard and leave us be."

  Doren couldn't stand leaving fellow citizens to die on the street, especially since they were the cause of so many of their injuries. Spira took control of their minds, but they dealt almost every blow. "We have to go back to get healers," Doren insisted.

  "Agreed," Rikki said. "But we should check out the graveyard first.

  "They'll be fine," Aros said absentmindedly.

  "That's a stretch, Aros," Doren replied. Looking at the piles of Outerlings on the street, it did not seem likely they'd ever be fine.

  "Maybe," Aros replied. He walked over to Rikki and placed his arm underneath hers and clasped his hand on her back. "Get her other side.

  Doren followed Aros' lead and tucked his arm around Rikki's side. She lifted her staff off the ground and they started down the block. As they moved through the group of fallen Outerlings, many of them pointed in the direction they were traveling. Hopefully the Thalians would be there. Then they could report back on their location, winning his father's ridiculous contest over the guardians. But there was no chance they'd engage the Thalians at this point. They needed to get back to Castle Tornis, because the Outerlings weren't the only ones that needed healers.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Open Graves

  Rikki was a lot heavier than she appeared, and Aros felt like he was about to drop her several times as they searched the Outer for a graveyard. Doren did not appear to struggle at all with her weight as they carried her down block after deserted block. They had not encountered a single Outerling beyond the group they had regrettably engaged with. The Outerlings must have flocked together in that one street, though there could have been more on the other side of Kytheras.

  Aros started to doubt there was a graveyard the farther they traveled, for he knew they were nearing the Absentia Desert. It wasn't merely the increasing amount of sand that indicated their proximity, but he had traveled there so many times with Leidess he could estimate the number of steps it took to get there.

  He wished that voice would tell him if they were on the right track. It had started whispering to him more frequently, giving him instructions and relaying information. Why was it so quiet now when he could use the reassurance? Would it even be reassuring? Aros had taken to trusting it, but part of him was still suspicious. It hadn't gotten him or his companions killed yet, so it couldn't be that bad. But who was at the other end? It never wanted to answer that question. It never answered any question. It spoke when it wanted to and ignored him at all other times.

  "Are we going the right way?" Aros murmured under his breath, hoping for an answer that only he could hear.

  "There's no way of knowing," Doren replied, believing the question was addressed to him. "But I don't see any sign of a cemetery."

  "A sign would be nice," Aros said.

  "All signs in this place are long gone," Doren said. "If there was better upkeep...if the Inner actually cared about the Outer, maybe we would have known of Thalians gathering here. What kind of kingdom have we accepted?"

  "One with an Inner and an Outer," Rikki mumbled between them.

  "Unacceptable," the voice whispered in Aros' ear.

  "Not what I wanted to hear," Aros said.

  "Huh?" Doren grunted.

  "Nothing, nothing," Aros said.

  As they crossed into another block, Aros felt a wave of optimism spread within. The street ahead had a noticeable curve that was devoid of structures. Either it led straight to the desert, or there was something else there.

  "Look up there," Aros told Doren.

  "I see it," Doren replied.

  They quickened their pace, shooting down the street for the curve. "Don't drop me," Rikki begged, as she bobbed along in the middle.

  Making their way around the bend, they left behind the derelict corral of the Outer and stepped into the wide open space of the graveyard. Popping out from the layers of sand were rows of tombstones, with the names of the long-forgotten etched into each gray rock. Scattered about amongst the buried were mausoleums, several of which were crumbling as badly as the rest of the nearby structures. There might have been a fence on the cemetery's perimeter once, but there was hardly a trace of it now.

  Aros and Doren lowered Rikki onto the sand, propping her back against a gravestone. Aros shook out his arm, relieved to be free of the weight.

  "We'll be right back, Rikki," Doren said to her. He looked at Aros. "You go that way." He nodded his head to the right.

  Aros withdrew one of his clawblades with his right hand and headed off amidst the burial markers. The graveyard was huge, stretching across an enormous chunk of the Outer. It blended in well with the Absentia Desert, making it difficult to determine where exactly Kytheras ended and the desert began.

  Aros wasn't sure what he was searching for as he passed down each row of graves. Many of the carved-on names had wasted away, and he recognized none that remained. Who exactly was Rantiford? He had been given a gigantic stone, but there was no inscription as to why. If the name had been recited in history class, he didn't remember. Maybe Leidess would.

  Where was Leidess? Was she being kept in a hidden tomb underground? Was she in one of these mausoleums? The ones he had passed were collapsed, not leaving room for anyone to fit inside.

  Aros took a step forward but found no place to rest his foot. His leg kept dropping, and he stumbled down into an open grave. Aros panicked, believing he had fallen into a trap. "Doren!" he screamed, as he waved his sword around wildly. "Doren!"

  Doren's head appeared above him moments later, a bemused look on his face. "What are you doing down there?"

  Aros returned his clawblade to its holder and stretched out his arm. "Just pull me up."

  Doren grabbed Aros' wrist and yanked him out of the open grave. "You ought to be more careful."

  Aros brushed dirt and sand off himself and looked back down into the hole. There was plenty of dirt and sand, but no sign of a body. He turned his attention to the headstone, and read the name inscribed on it aloud. "Xander Dowin."

  "Sounds familiar," Doren responded.

  "He's gotta be one of the Thalians," Aros stated.

  "He is," Rikki said, startling her companions. "I recognize the name." She was using her staff for support, heavily leaning on it to stay upright.

  "Rikki," Doren scolded her.

  "Corrupt magic," she replied. "They resurrected him, along with Spira and Sarin. I don't know about the others."

  "We can search for more open graves," Aros suggested.

  "I'd bet there will be four of them," Rikki said.

  "Let's not get distracted," Doren said. "We need to find your friend. We can worry about the open graves later."

  "That's all I want to do," Aros replied. "But where could they be keeping her?"

  "Mausoleum," the voice whispered to him.

  "But which one!" Aros shouted.

  Doren and Rikki both raised their eyebrow at him. "Check the mausoleums," he insisted, ignoring their expressions.

  "Did you check that one?" Doren asked, pointing at one closer to the desert.

  "Nope," Aros answered. "Let's go."

  Doren went to aid
Rikki before they took off, but she pushed him away with her free hand. "I can manage," she insisted.

  Doren grunted and sped down the row of graves, leaving Rikki to drag herself along with her staff in the wake of her two companions. Aros did his best to keep up with the Prince, who must have been more anxious to get to the crypt than he was. Was he excited that he was going to beat his father's men there? Or did he want to get back to the castle as soon as possible? Doren's motivations were a mystery to Aros, but from what he had garnered in their brief time together, it likely had something to do with the King.

  Doren was in such a rush that he missed a sight that brought Aros to a complete stop. Not too far down this row of headstones was another open grave. "Doren!" Aros yelled. "Hold on!"

  Aros carefully loomed on the grave, hoping not to slip into this one. He bent close to the inscription, trying to read the faded text. "Uterak," he said, certain that's what it read. But the last name was indecipherable. It must have been worn off for some time.

  "So he's old," Doren said from behind, startling Aros. He almost fell face-first into the grave, but Doren grabbed onto his sides to prevent such a calamity. Doren pulled him back a few feet, creating distance between themselves and the hole.

  "Thanks," Aros said, turning around. "What do you mean?"

  "I didn't realize he was resurrected as well," Doren replied. "He's not a familiar name."

  "But his last name could be," Aros said. "We just can't read it."

  "I hadn't heard the name Uterak before yesterday," Rikki added, coming up behind Doren. The bottom of her staff pushed through the sand as she walked, leaving behind an observable trail.

  "So the Magenites have the advantage," Doren stated.

  "We do?" Aros asked.

  "There weren't enough living Thalians, so they had to go and bring some back from the dead," Doren clarified. "There are plenty of living Magenites. I think every Kytheran is one."

  "We have the numbers now," Rikki said. "But all they need is to release Neanthal and the advantage becomes theirs. So we should get a move on it. Or, more specifically, you two should. "

  "Right," Aros said, and he sprang past Doren towards the mausoleum. After ensuring there were no obvious pits ahead, he made a beeline straight for the crypt. The names enshrined in stone went by in a blur. He took no notice of them, focusing only on what was right ahead.