World's End

by Will Elliott

  A second piece of skystone fell some distance from the city. Not quite so large as the first, perhaps; but again the ground quivered and rolled as if for a brief time it had turned partly liquid. Another great dust cloud rose up. The distant booming sounds he thought at first were echoes from the two falling slabs, until he realised more pieces of skystone were falling elsewhere.

  The ground’s shaking eased. The distant thunderous rumbling eased off too and the screams and cries of people could be heard instead. That sound was just as terrible, maybe worse. The skystone block was completely intact, though only a corner of it protruded now from the crater it had pushed for itself into the city. Sharfy stared at the slab – in fact he could hardly look away from it. The impact of its fall was not enough to break it … and yet something up there had hit it hard enough to split it from the rest of the sky.

  Shadow searched for Loup among the large groups of people moving north from the old cities, to be closer to the castle. The people thought they’d be safest there. They’d begun to move when the lightstone started raining down. The dragons were coming, and some of these people knew it. The pull of the traps on Shadow had grown strong. Two of the three charms were now nearby – the third may have been too, but he could not perceive it. It seemed the traps called him more urgently at different times, as if whoever made them had a specific place and time for him to be kept. If it weren’t for Sharfy, and what Shadow had come to regard as their friendship, Shadow would have gone to the far south, perhaps even across World’s End to be away from their pull. One of the traps was in the castle, of course, in the charm Aziel wore. He remembered that prison, the spinning room of chains, the way they’d soothed him for a time, but burned him in the end.

  Being within Eric’s charm-trap had been different from Aziel’s; in a way it had been beautiful. There was a temple of white stone, with water through a stream cut in the middle of its floor. He’d dived into that water at one time, floated far, but the temple moved along with him, no matter how far or fast he went along the water. There’d been no days and nights in that place, no way to count time, but it had seemed a long while that he stayed there, learning nothing. No one to know, no one to speak with, not even anyone to fight. In that place he’d been solid, unable to do these things he did in freedom, like cut across the face of a world in just moments.

  The loneliness of that place had worn him down, perhaps more painfully than Aziel’s chains had burned. He’d thrown himself at the walls – hurled himself into them till he’d known nothing but pain and bruising. So gradually had the cracks begun to appear in the stone he’d never thought it’d break completely. When it finally did, when the will keeping it together had just for a moment weakened, or turned its attention elsewhere, he’d flown through the gap and found freedom again.

  Ah, here at last was Loup, very near the castle. Why did Sharfy want him? His magic was not at all strong. Another mage was showing Loup drawings and trying to convince him of something. Errand complete: Loup had been located. Shadow sped back towards Sharfy.

  He was halfway there when a voice said, ‘Shadow,’ with enough authority to jag him from his sprint. A woman stood before him. He knew her! It was the one who’d tried to kill Sharfy with the silver scale. She was alone. He made his face terrible, made it so it would have frightened off anything that wanted to live. But she showed no fear, in fact gave no reaction at all. ‘Speak with me awhile,’ she said.

  He tried to shadow her but she became a million or more tiny pieces of herself, and he couldn’t separate one piece from the others. ‘How did you do that?’ he said.

  ‘I am not truly here,’ said Shilen. ‘You cannot exercise your power over an illusion.’

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Far away. Don’t fear me. And don’t fight me. I am here to help you. I have answers you need. Have you questions for me, Shadow?’

  He had many, but would he know the difference between truth and lie, if it came from her?

  ‘Ask me what you need to know, Shadow,’ she said.

  ‘What am I here for? I am not like anyone else.’

  The illusion of Shilen smiled. ‘It is a good thing, to be like no one else in this world. None of the others have any worthwhile purpose. You do. You are a weapon, Shadow. You were created to help the dragons.’ She paused. ‘Why does my answer seem to confuse you?’

  ‘Vous is my father. Eric is my mother. Not dragons.’

  ‘Who told you those things? It’s true that Vous made you. But we dragons made Vous. Rather, we controlled the men who made Vous. Controlled them from a distance, very subtly, and for a long time, by mortal – human – measure. They never knew it. A push in the right direction now and then, that was all we needed to do. We cared nothing for how they conducted their wars. Nor did we cause them to enslave and murder their own kind – that was their own doing. Shadow, it was no accident that they found the rites, spells, tools and power sources which made Vous’s ascension possible. In the process, Vous made you possible. You owe your existence to us, Shadow. To the dragons. Do you believe me?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter whether you do or not. There is an ancient conflict, Shadow. It was ancient before the first humans came to this world. Now it approaches its end with remarkable swiftness. One part of that conflict is a battle between the dragons and the Spirits. We dragons want no war with the Spirits, but they shall attack us. To them, we do not belong free in these lands. To be a weapon in that battle is your purpose, Shadow. You are made to help us fight the gods.’

  Shadow grappled with understanding. ‘A man with a sword cut me and hurt me. A woman can hurt me just with words. I am only sometimes strong.’

  ‘The man who cut you had a sword given to him by a god, Shadow, by Valour. And you mirrored that man, so you were his equal, or near enough. Do you see? That’s why it was possible for him to hurt you. Had a dragon been there with you, and had you mirrored that dragon, you would have slain the man with ease. Did you know I slew that man for you? It is another reason you are in the dragons’ debt. He will never hurt you again. No dragon, no human mage and no haiyen has ever known the power you have, Shadow. It may be that you can mirror anything. Anything at all. No such being has existed in this world before.’

  ‘Mirror means copy. But I don’t copy things. I … become like something, not the same as it.’

  ‘A likeness is enough. You are able to use your power on the lesser dragons, as you have shown. Do you recall mirroring Dyan? He is a dragon, like I am. Do you remember?’

  ‘Yes. I did not know what a dragon was, back then.’

  ‘Can you mirror the greater dragons? Those of the Eight?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You must find out. You must attempt to do it. But you must never attempt to shadow a god. That is important.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because the dragons forbid it. That is reason enough. We created you and we have dominion over you. We have many ways to hurt you, if you defy us. It is the dragons who designed the shadowtrap charms. Do you like being imprisoned within them?’

  A hot flush of rage went through him, though he didn’t understand why a question should so enrage him. He sped around her so fast the ground caught fire. Patiently she waited within the burning ring for an answer. ‘No, I don’t like it,’ he said when his rage was vented.

  ‘Only the dragons can make it so you are free of those prisons forever. We can destroy all the shadowtraps, and those who wield them. We shall, only if you help us. Will you help us, Shadow?’

  ‘You use lies.’

  ‘Only with foolish men. Not with you. You are more important than all the men and women in the world. The time for a test has come. A dragon – one of the Eight – shall descend on this day. He will come to the place your friend Sharfy waits for you. I steered your friend to that place, in order that you would be there when the mighty dragon descends. His name is Tzi-Shu. But he does not know of you beyond a rumour, for th
e others share no thoughts with him, and Tzi-Shu does not care for the myths and stories of humankind.

  ‘Mirror him, Shadow. Prove that you are useful to us in battling the Spirits. If you battle the Spirits with us, we shall remove from the world all that torments you. We shall give you the learning you seek. We shall give you a place of honour. Do you believe me, Shadow? You have no choice. If you refuse to help us, I will slay your friend. We will make more shadowtraps, until the land is filled with them, and you will never be free for more than an instant. Never free, not even free to destroy yourself. Do this task for us. Go now.’

  He screamed at her, swiped one arm like a sword at her, but it passed through the illusion as it would through smoke. She was gone.

  There was a rumbling noise, and something made the ground shiver.

  44

  TZI-SHU

  It had turned into a poor day to be drunk. There was no telling how much time had elapsed between the sound of the great stone falling and the descent from the skies of more Invia than Sharfy had believed existed in the world. All around the city they landed. At first he wondered if the drink in the flask had gone bad and was playing with his head.

  As things progressed in the newly ruined city it looked as if the Invia were helping people. They were digging furiously through the rubble of collapsed buildings, tossing aside pieces it would have taken several men to lift. They moved through the wreckage as fast as they moved when in battle. They carried wounded people from under the debris and flew them out of the city: men, women, children, many of them unconscious in the Invias’ arms, possibly dead. The Invia carried them over to the fields where there had been stacked piles of lightstone (now scattered everywhere). They placed the people gently down. Some Invia stayed there among the wounded, while others flew back into the city to fetch more. Scores, dozens, hundreds of people were soon brought clear of the ruins, where fires had begun to burn.

  The group of young people had come to the woods’s edge to look down upon the scene. Sharfy didn’t notice them until one or two began crying. Their houses were probably under that great skystone slab, maybe their families too.

  Sharfy ducked deeper into the woods to piss, half expecting a great chunk of skystone to land on him before he’d finished. He thought he heard the whoosh of beating wings. One of the kids cried out in alarm. Sharfy got his sword out and ran back. He had indeed heard wings; there was an Invia flying away from the woods, back towards the city. ‘What happened?’ he asked the kids.

  ‘They took my sister,’ said one of them.

  ‘Why? She hurt? Must’ve been hurt. They’re helping people. I been watching them down there. Getting hurt people out of the city.’

  ‘You need to look closer, old man. They’re tying people up down there.’

  ‘What? No they ain’t.’ He peered down. Maybe his eyes weren’t what they used to be (and the liquor had made everything a touch blurry) but he’d seen nothing like that. ‘Why’d they pull people from fallen-down houses only to tie em up? Bah. You don’t know nothing. Too young to know nothing.’ Sharfy lost sight of the Invia in question among all the others swooping in all directions. ‘Invia don’t bother you if you leave em alone,’ he insisted. ‘What’d your sister do first?’

  ‘I … I don’t think it was an Invia,’ said a skinny young boy. Tears were starting in his eyes.

  Stupid kids! ‘Course it was. Got wings, looks like a woman? Invia. You never saw one before is all.’

  ‘It didn’t look like they’re meant to look.’ The others nodded agreement, eyes wide in fear. ‘Its face. It was ugly.’

  ‘It’s coming back,’ said another of them. ‘What do we do?’

  Sharfy entertained the possibility that something peculiar was going on after all. The Invia were coming back – this time there were four that he could see. They flew languidly, but they were coming. ‘Climb up in the trees,’ he said. ‘Up there quick. The ones with thick leaves. Can’t fight Invia. Even if you kill em you’re Marked. Better hide.’

  He followed his own advice, scrambling up the nearest tree and shielding himself behind thick fans of green. He peeked through a gap in the leaves and saw the kids still just stood there gawking, like first-timers in battle. Then the Invia were upon them: wings beat the air loudly. Now the kids ran, for all the good it would do them. Sharfy risked leaning out a little to get a look, just as one of the Invia flew right past his tree. He had only a glimpse, but it was enough to know something was indeed very wrong: what should have been a beautiful woman’s face was hardly even a woman’s. Its mouth was wide, almost ear to ear. Its skin was tinged with green, its hair like damp coils of white rope. And its teeth … lots of teeth …

  I’ve seen war mages prettier than that, he thought with a shudder. Maybe the creature was ill. The teenagers’ voices erupted in a short-lived panicky chorus before they were all seized and carried down.

  Sharfy swigged from the liquor flask again, deeply. Screams carried from the field below. Sharfy dropped to the ground, forgetting his years again – the jolt shot through his whole body, his knees and ankles flaring in pain. The people down there just kept screaming and screaming …

  He hobbled to the woods’ edge for a better view and soon saw why: something else was descending from the sky with slow majesty. Something big. The dragon’s colour was a deep gold on its belly and legs, shining like metal. It ran to rich deep brown up the middle of its body, with black points along its wing tips and tail. Spikes fanned down the long length of its back, all down its tail. It was huge, far larger than the dragon Far Gaze had battled with.

  As it descended it moved in a controlled shift from side to side the way a leaf falls, wings fanned wide. It was surreal to see the vast thing set down with just a few strides to halt itself in the same field the Invia had brought the rescued people. A hush fell.

  Set into a sharp-featured skull atop a long curved neck, the great dragon’s eyes were dark and set deep in wide slits. Slowly it drew back its wings and folded them, arching its head back, unmistakeably the pose of a king among its kind.

  Sharfy’s throat went dry; his knees trembled. He put a hand on the nearest tree stump to keep from falling. Renewed screams rang out among the people all over the field before it. Only a few managed to run away. Those ones the Invia quickly rounded up and brought back.

  The great dragon’s head slowly turned, surveying the scene before it. Sharfy was struck by a sense of malevolent intelligence like nothing he’d seen or imagined in all his years. It wasn’t anything he could have spoken aloud … but watching the great creature, it almost seemed to him that it was within its rights to destroy a city of these lesser beings, to do what it would to these wailing, crying helpless ones.

  ‘That’s the one she meant,’ said a voice right beside Sharfy. He jumped and screamed. Shadow was back. ‘I’m not going to do what she wanted me to. She said she’d kill you if I didn’t do it, but she lies. She lies to everyone.’

  ‘Shut up! Don’t want to hear your shit. Not now. Look at that.’ Sharfy kicked the tree in frustration. He knew there would be no running away now that Shadow had returned. He couldn’t run away, not with someone here to witness it. If he did, the last tale of Sharfy would be about a fleeing coward.

  Maybe those kids would tell such a tale anyway, if they lived long enough. He’d scrambled up a tree, after all, and let the Invia take them down there. That had been a missed opportunity to die with the glory of a true warrior’s death.

  He undid the flask lid and tipped every burning drop down his throat. He said, ‘Remember I told you, never back down? I’ll show you how.’ He drew his sword and marched towards the incline.

  ‘Where are you going?’ said Shadow behind him.

  ‘Make that big bastard thing swallow this,’ he said, shaking his blade. He was surprised to find he meant it, surprised to find he was so furious. ‘Wrecked the city. They were just trying to clean up. Doesn’t even care. Sits there looking at it all. It could help, if it want
ed. Just sits there.’

  There was a flurry of motion as several Invia approached the dragon with bundles in their arms. Sharfy was close enough now to see the bundles were children. What happened next made him stop cold. The dragon lowered its head, opened its mouth. The Invia placed two of those bundles on its lower jaw. They may have been already unconscious, for neither of them moved. The dragon closed its mouth, eyes shutting in pleasure. Its jaw worked as it slowly chewed then swallowed.

  Those gathered suddenly understood why they’d been gathered and what awaited them. They screamed. Sharfy ran down the incline, now almost blind with anger, thinking he’d scramble up the huge thing’s back, run up along its neck maybe, go for the eyes since its scales were probably harder than plate armour. But he tripped and slid the rest of the way down the incline, falling so awkwardly he was lucky not to break his neck. ‘Stop it,’ he yelled, his voice lost in the horrified screams, as two more bundles were put in the dragon’s open mouth. These ones writhed and kicked, needing to be held by the Invia. A riot broke out among the more able-bodied people in the crowd. But they were unarmed, and there were far too many Invia for them to have a chance. Invia darted through the crowd with a blur of their wings’ white. People fell.

  The dragon reacted to none of this. Its servants had things under control. At its leisure it ate the morsels placed in its mouth, savouring them. It was in no hurry.

  Sharfy got painfully to his feet – how old and useless he felt. Somehow it seemed to him that his younger self would never have let any of this happen. Tears blurred his vision. His sword arm shook. He’d staggered only a few more steps when, to his shock, a second dragon appeared beside the huge one. This new dragon looked small at first – only a little bigger than Dyan in size. But it grew, till in just a few seconds it was the same size and shape as the big one. It had no colour – it was black and featureless as a shadow.

  As a shadow …

  Sharfy dropped his sword as understanding hit him. ‘Kill it!’ he screamed. ‘Kill it!’