Rune Warrior

by Frank Morin

Gregorios charged in, handgun firing, but Paul swatted him aside and continued working.

  Sarah tried to think of a rune to override the counter rune and to weaken Paul again, but her mind was blank, her eyes fixed on the bloody knife in Paul’s hand.

  “I told you this wasn’t a joke,” Paul said, his tone chiding. His calm demeanor only made the savage thrusts of the knife more horrific.

  Sarah decided she had to mark her rune onto Paul himself. It was the only thing she could think of that might overpower his blocking rune. She charged Paul, who was completing some kind of binding rune on Bastien’s back. There was so much blood, the full scope of the design was hard to read.

  “Thus you are bound to me and to your fate,” Paul said.

  “Stop!” Sarah screamed, still two leaping strides away.

  Paul yanked Bastien erect and drove the knife into his stomach, plunging it past the hilt, up into his heart.

  Bastien convulsed and for an instant his eyes burned with the strength of his nevron. His gaze locked with Sarah’s and she saw his fear, his bitter defeat, and his unbearable pain. She stumbled to a halt, unable to move, holding Bastien’s gaze in silent support as the light faded from his eyes.

  He did not abandon his host. Sarah had not expected him to. Somehow Paul had bound him to his death.

  She sagged to her knees, weeping. Bastien had been so honorable, such a good man. He didn’t deserve to die like that.

  “No,” Eirene gasped, stirring on the ground. “Oh, no.”

  Paul tossed the corpse aside and sighed with satisfaction. “That was refreshing.” He glanced at Eirene and said, “Get used to addressing me from your knees. I am your emperor. I own your souls now.”

  Gregorios didn’t scream, didn’t cry. The fires had faded along his hands, and he sagged with exhaustion. He looked from Bastien to Paul with murder in his eyes as more statues closed in. One of them raised a foot over Eirene, and the threat was clear. Any more resistance, and they’d crush her.

  Paul turned his back on them and faced Sarah. He spoke in a voice that shook the square and drove absolute terror into her heart.

  “Now that the pleasantries are over, it’s your turn. Bow to me, Sarah. Bind your soul to my service and accept your destiny as my favored slave.”

  Chapter One Hundred

  The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

  ~Plutarch

  Sarah’s eyes lingered on Bastien’s body, but his soulmask still did not emerge. Paul really had managed to murder him, a man who had lived for centuries, a man who had trusted her to help.

  She had failed him.

  Anger fueled her resolve, and she rose to face Paul, brushing aside her tears. She had tried. The cipher had worked. They’d been so close! She wanted to howl with frustration. If only she’d managed to dodge that statue. Gregorios had only needed another few seconds to finish it.

  “Don’t fight it any more, Sarah,” Paul said. “Coming here was the right choice. Submitting willingly to me will spare many lives.” His expression hardened. “But submit you will. You are now mine.”

  Standing so close, his blazing rune drew her gaze. It generated raw heat and would no doubt sear her skin if she touched it. It was masterful art, and yet it was corrupted. Its lines burned into her vision as its heat dried the tears on her cheeks.

  “Swear devotion to me,” Paul said, approaching with the bloody knife extended. “And I will seal your vow.”

  “No.” She retreated a step but ran into a statue.

  “Swear your eternal commitment to my word,” Paul insisted.

  “What part of no don’t you understand?” she shrieked.

  Paul stopped within arms’ reach. He smelled of blood and cinders, as if his rune was slowly burning him from the inside. “The world will witness your submission to me.” He gestured at the news helicopters hovering above the dome. “But we can take as long as you want and make the process as difficult as you like.”

  “Who should I slaughter next? Perhaps the hunter?” He leaned closer. “Or maybe the mortal you favor? I can find him.” His smug smile returned. “It would be my pleasure.”

  “Stop,” she said. “You made your point.” She couldn’t face another murder, couldn’t deal with more blood on her hands.

  Paul stroked her cheek with a bloody finger, his expression gloating. “Wise choice, Sarah. Now, you will swear undying devotion, offer yourself to me and embrace your duty to produce heirs of our glory.”

  Sarah dropped to one knee, her head bowed, one hand on the ground, showing him the defeated posture he so clearly wanted.

  Paul leaned over her, his left hand on her head as if she were a prized dog. Using the same knife he had just used to murder Bastien, he began slicing the skin of her neck, marking the same binding rune he had marked on Bastien.

  He wasn’t going to murder her body. He was planning to shackle her soul.

  Sarah suppressed a scream and formed the image of the cipher she needed, driving away all other thought until it blazed with perfect clarity in her mind.

  “Wait,” Eirene shouted. “Sarah, don’t do this!”

  “Paul, I’m going to rip your heart out,” Gregorios growled.

  Paul glanced in their direction. “Your threats are useless now. Be silent.”

  That distraction was what Sarah needed. She willed her rounon awake and her finger began to glow. The cipher burned in her mind, as if impatient for release. It was a simple symbol, one of sacrifice, with modifiers directing it away from her and toward Paul.

  Paul’s grip on her head tightened, fingers digging into her scalp. The blade returned to her neck, poised to make the last mark.

  “Swear it,” he commanded.

  “I swear,” she said softly, the words like ash in her mouth.

  Paul brought the knife to her neck and cut one last time.

  Sarah silently mouthed, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” And made an X mark over her heart with her glowing finger just as he completed his rune.

  Then she shouted, “I swear by all that’s holy to castrate you and shove your balls down your throat!”

  Those two glowing marks gave life to the cipher in her mind and bound it to the other four ciphers still intact, spread around the perimeter of the square. The distributed ciphers merged into a greater rune which linked to the new binding rune as Paul activated it on her neck.

  Timing it the way she did, Sarah became the vehicle for Paul to bind himself to her greater cipher instead of her soul. It was like binding himself to the tracks in front of a runaway train.

  The resulting battle cipher hummed in her rounon ears like a thousand growling cats as Paul’s soul force fueled it. His shocked gazed locked on her. Then all Paul’s power backlashed against him.

  The soundless explosion of soul force struck like a runaway truck, shattering statues and sending everyone tumbling away from Paul like tumbleweeds in a hurricane. It blasted Paul off his feet, straight up, two hundred feet. He collided with the top of his spherical shield and rebounded even faster.

  He struck the ground so hard he shattered stone and sank eight inches into the earth. The huge perimeter shield darkened, then exploded, shards of shimmering amber tearing out with destructive force.

  The sweeping arms of both colonnades around the square shattered under the onslaught, sending stone debris blasting even farther to rain down over nearby military and police forces. Much of the force of the exploding shield flew upward, shredding hovering military and news helicopters and raining burning debris for a mile around the square. The blast rocked the Basilica, crumbling the facade of the nearby entryway and tearing entire sections off the outer layer of the towering dome.

  Lying atop a pile of rubble on the south side of the square where the colonnade had stood just moments ago, Sarah groaned and sat up. Every inch of her ached, and she was amazed she hadn’t broken a dozen bones. Her enhancements burned against her skin, drawing deep from the precious well of her soul st
rength. She’d already used so much to power her ciphers, a deep exhaustion had settled over her limbs. Even as her enhancements bled away the pain, she could feel the end of her strength approaching. She couldn’t take much more.

  Strong hands lifted her from behind and she turned to find Tomas had arrived. She threw herself into his arms and drank in the feel of him. His solid presence helped hold at bay the horrors she’d just witnessed.

  She only allowed herself to hold him for a couple of seconds. Paul was too much of a threat to ignore.

  “You’re late,” she said as she pushed away.

  He grinned. “Arrived in time to see you blow up Paul. That was awesome!”

  She turned and looked across the square. Paul still lay unmoving in the little hole he’d driven into the ground, surrounded by the shattered remains of his animated statues.

  “Can someone please kill him now?” she asked.

  Tomas tapped his earpiece. “All units. Open fire.”

  Chapter One Hundred and One

  Vercingetorix manipulated all of us! Trusting any facetaker demon is a mistake, even one sworn as an enemy to Shahrokh and his new-found council. He took advantage of our support, abandoned three of our brothers to death, and employed kashaph enchanters, despite our treaty. The joy I feel at his death is turned bitter by the knowledge that Gregorios was the one who destroyed his rune web and executed the abominable kashaph. To add insult to our failure, Gregorios sought me out and extended a hand of friendship and an offer of a joint corps to hunt kashaph together.

  ~ Hayyim, hunter team leader, 52 A.D., after the Battle of Alesia during the Gallic Wars

  Most of the Italian forces were still struggling to rise when enhanced soldiers from the Tenth and from Yurak opened fire. Fifty-caliber rounds raked Paul’s prostrate form, and for the first time, they broke the skin.

  Sarah gripped Tomas’ hand hard as she watched, willing the bullets to destroy the monster. Grenades and mortars began falling in waves, the explosions rolling across the square in ever-growing echoes. The blasts sprayed dirt and debris and smoke into the air, temporarily obscuring visibility.

  “Cease fire,” Tomas ordered.

  “Why?” Sarah demanded.

  “Gregorios is going in,” Tomas said. “You lost your earpiece.” He pointed across the square and Sarah noticed Gregorios and Eirene rushing toward the fallen Cui Dashi. Eirene had found her repeating grenade launcher, and its smoking barrel testified that she’d participated in the barrage. Gregorios ran in front of her, wielding a gladius.

  “Go help him,” Sarah said, pushing Tomas forward. “Get everyone to go help.”

  He shook his head. “It’s Gregorios’ right. For Bastien.”

  Alter arrived then, skidding to a halt in the rubble. He was grinning, but still wore a haunted look from what he’d been forced to do to Reuben. “Tomas, call in napalm! Burn him.”

  “We don’t have it close enough,” Tomas said, gesturing across the square. “Besides, Gregorios will take his head off.”

  “It should be me,” Alter growled, stomping away.

  Movement beyond him drew Sarah’s gaze and she focused on Spartacus standing close to the ruined entrance to the Basilica. He saluted after Eirene and Gregorios, then hefted the red porphyry stone that held the forbidden runes. Without a backward glance, he strode into the Basilica and disappeared from view.

  Sarah was about to point that out to Tomas, who was peering through the clouds of smoke toward Paul, but instead she gasped. The lines of her latest cipher, which had been glowing across the square, flickered and died.

  “No!” she cried in frustration.

  “What?” Tomas demanded, scanning the area, raising his rifle. Alter crouched nearby, hands raised to fight.

  “My cipher is failing,” she cried.

  “No,” Alter cried, rushing to her and grabbing her arm. “Hold him!”

  “I can’t,” she said. “His counter rune is trumping mine.”

  She caught Tomas’ hand. “Get Gregorios out of there.”

  In the center of the square, Paul rose to his feet. Despite the brutal damage he’d taken and the blood covering him from head to toe, he stood tall and threw out his arms.

  “I will raze this city to the ground! The world will tremble and know my rage.”

  “I’m really starting to hate that guy,” Tomas said.

  Gregorios had stopped and glanced back at Eirene. She fired another grenade.

  Paul caught it and threw it back at Gregorios, his arm blurring with fully restored strength. Gregorios ducked the missile and it blew up behind him, knocking him from his feet.

  “Get them out of there,” Sarah insisted.

  Alter snarled, “We have to destroy him.”

  “How?” Sarah asked, feeling exhausted. No matter what they did, they hadn’t managed to do more than anger Paul.

  Paul turned toward Sarah, as if he could hear her words. He shouted, his voice so loud it vibrated the rubble at her feet. “You can’t stop me! Can’t you see that now? You fool! Everyone you’ve ever loved will suffer for your rebellion.”

  “Gregorios and Eirene will rendezvous with us on the east end of the square,” Tomas said. “They’ve ordered all units to concentrate on protecting you, Sarah.”

  He led her toward their massed troops near the Via della Conciliazione.

  “No,” Sarah protested. “You all have to get away. He’ll kill you.”

  “Not if we kill him first,” Tomas insisted. “Sarah, you hurt him. You have to do it again.”

  “I don’t know how!” she cried. “Everything I do he’s undoing.”

  “You can do it,” Tomas said, gripping her shoulder, his gaze intent. “You’re the only one who can.”

  “Give us a chance,” Alter added, flanking them. “Please.” He looked ready to rush Paul again, even though he lacked any chance to defeat him alone.

  Sarah took a deep breath. “All right.” She tried to clear her thoughts as they broke into a run. Something about the greater rune Paul was using to link those three master runes was tugging at her mind. The key was there. It had to be.

  “Think faster,” Alter shouted. “Look out!”

  Paul had crossed to the nearest of the ring of stones set around the hole where the obelisk had stood. They marked the shadow of the obelisk at noon as it entered each of the signs of the zodiac. Ignoring bullets and mortars that no longer hurt him, Paul ripped one of the stones out of the ground.

  “First, witness the death of the man you love!” He threw the stone at Tomas, and it shot across the distance faster than a professional baseball pitcher could have thrown a fast ball.

  Tomas, who was running just ahead of Sarah, barely dove out of the way in time. Sarah skidded to a halt and the large stone hurdled through the air a yard ahead of her. It careened off a broken column, ricocheting sideways and plowing into the side of a military truck, ripping the back right off and scattering soldiers.

  “Look how weak he is, Sarah,” Paul cried, ripping another stone out of the ground. “I can give you so much more.”

  “You can’t give anything,” Sarah shouted back, wishing for her favorite rifle. Her bullets might not hurt him, but shooting him a few times would have made her feel better. “You only know how to take.”

  With a furious scowl, Paul threw the heavy stone at Sarah.

  She dove out of the way, crashing into Tomas as he rose, and knocking them both back to the ground. The stone tore through the air inches from her legs and bounced off the rubble, arcing high over the city. Sarah hoped it didn’t kill anyone when it landed.

  She wondered if he’d really intended to kill her with that stone. She preferred dying over giving herself to him as his sex slave, but she didn’t want to die yet.

  “Come on!” Alter shouted, grabbing Sarah and hauling her to her feet

  Harriett arrived to help, but Paul leaped to a third stone and threw it at Tomas, just as he was rising.

  “Look out,” Harrie
tt shouted, knocking Tomas aside.

  The stone caught Harriett in the side. The impact shattered her torso, spraying blood and bits of broken bone across Sarah and the others.

  Sarah screamed, horrified by how fast it had happened. Only the sight of Harriett’s glittering soulmask slipping free as she abandoned the dying host helped her cope with the gruesome sight. She couldn’t bear to see another friend die at Paul’s hand.

  He needed to die.

  Drawing her reignited rage around herself, Sarah slashed her hand in the air, forming a shield barrier. It consumed much of her remaining rounon strength as it rose between them and Paul.

  The fourth missile deflected off of it, and she huddled behind it with Alter as Tomas risked a run to snatch Harriett’s soulmask from the ground.

  “Enough!” Paul shouted. “I’ll prove to the world my dominance.”

  “He doesn’t get it,” Tomas said. “The more he destroys, the more people will resist him.”

  “Let’s hope,” Sarah said.

  “I don’t want to see what he’s planning,” Alter said. “Come on. We have to get Sarah away.”

  The three of them ran for the barriers manned by their men, but with every step, Sarah wished she could run somewhere else. Trying to hide among those brave men and women would only get them killed.

  Paul completed the new rune in a moment, and Sarah accepted a pair of binoculars to study it. The rune was actually two distinct symbols, marked close together. They were not as complex as his greater rune, but looked unique. They incorporated Hebrew characters within their central foundational strokes.

  “What are those?” she asked.

  Alter took a look and his grip tightened so hard on the binoculars that they snapped. “Abomination!” he growled. “He’s using the forbidden runes.”

  “What do they do?” Sarah asked, frowning at the broken binoculars.

  “They must be the runes he got from Spartacus,” Alter said.

  “Not good,” Tomas muttered. “Sarah, can you use them too?”

  As she considered the idea, trying to get a sense of the symbols she’d seen, Paul threw his arms out wide, the forbidden runes burning with pure white intensity.