by Adams, Tom
They exchanged details of the conflict’s closing moments, and shared condolences for the lost. The woe of aftermath would have to wait, however.
Merrick turned his attention back to the others. “We’re just discussing our next move.”
“I would have thought that was obvious,” Johnny said. “Break out the bubbly—we’ve a victory to celebrate.
“That would be both premature and inappropriate,” Jason said. “Shamon survives, if only in his physical form. He and his general have retreated to the citadel on the backs of eagles.”
“Sounds like it’s a no-brainer. Just rustle up one of your gateways, Merrick. We’ll follow through and clean up the remaining scum.”
“It’s not that simple,” Merrick said. “I’ve already tried to breach the fortress by realm-jumping. My gateways close up as soon as they’re formed. Shamon must have conjured a magickal barrier since our last mission. It’s impregnable.”
“Couldn’t you travel to Ashgabat and use the existing gateway there?”
“Tried that as well. The gateway just absorbed my power and remained closed.”
“Well then, it looks like we’ve got a siege on our hands. We’ll post a platoon on the earth side of the gateway and surround the fortress here. It’s an untidy end, but it’s only a matter of time before they run out of food.”
Jason pointed to an enlargement of the citadel on an unrolled map in front of him. “We don’t know how many he’s got holed up in his lair, nor what resources he has. He might be diminished magickally, but there are plenty of warriors who may have survived. We can’t give them them the opportunity to regroup and marshall their resources.”
“So, what are our options?” Albany asked.
“We need to find another way in,” Aislynn said. “The main gate has been sealed with rock and debris; Merrick tells us it is strongly defended too. We could try a full-frontal assault, but we would suffer heavy losses.”
“Is there another way in?” Johnny said.
Merrick rubbed his brow. Johnny thought he looked at the point of collapse. Grey shadows hung under his eyes and his shoulders drooped. “We don’t know. Biff and Hacker are circling the citadel as we speak but haven’t found one yet.”
Johnny thought for a moment, then said “We may not have to search for one. Wait here while I check something out.”
~~~
Tessanee had all but given up testing each of the wooden spars of her cage. She had hoped for a point of weakness. Just the slightest movement in a joint and she would have something to work on. But the cage had been too well made.
Her spirits had risen upon hearing the Behomoth’s roar and the cries of terror from the enemy, but it had been short-lived. She heard the Leviathan fall and suffered the unimaginable weakening of her magickal power as the spirit of Ukurum was destroyed. Now she was just another mortal, skilled in combat, true, but after having tasted the fruits of magickal power these were a pathetic remainder.
Should she wait for death, or hasten its arrival? Suicide would remove the indignity of execution at the hands of the Hierophants, but there was something stopping her. Something deeper, more fundamental than hope or resolve.
Her thoughts were broken by Johnny’s arrival. He wore a smile—it made her trust him even less than his usual sour demeanour.
“Hi there, my little minx,” he said. His hands were on his hips as he stared into the distance. “It looks like our work is just about done here. I take it you know of Shamon’s defeat?”
She looked to the ground. Words weren’t enough to express her hatred of this man. She wasn’t going to dignify his strutting with a reply.
“I guess you want to know what we’re going to do with you?” He picked up a stone and tossed it in the air a few times. “You’ve lost your power, so you’re no real threat to us. We could simply hang you from the nearest tree. But me, I’m thinking justice would be better served handing you over to the Celebrains. They have their own judicial system. It starts with an assumption of guilt, and there are no defence lawyers. Punishment for the crime is chosen by the people, and believe me, hanging is quite merciful in comparison. So yes, we could throw you to the lions as it were.” He drew back his arm and threw the stone high in the air. It clattered on a rock somewhere down the cliff face, it’s echo travelling back to them in the thin, still air.
She looked up at him, eyes glowing feral from a face marked with blood and dirt. “Is that all you came to do. Gloat?”
“Partly. Gloating’s very underrated you know, it’s one of the spoils of war. But our leader wants to make you an offer.”
“Offer—what kind of an offer?”
He leaned closer to the cage and their gazes locked. “Information. Shamon—or what’s left of him has retreated to his lair. We figure you might know how to get into the fortress. If so, you can lead us to it. In return, we take you back to earth and give you your freedom.”
A different light sparkled in Tessanee’s eyes. “How do I know that you’ll keep your word?”
“Jason’s prepared to draw up a contract and cover it with a mage-lock.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Mage-lock? Seems a high order of magick to invoke for such a matter. You must want to storm the fortress badly.” She looked to where Johnny had cast the stone. “Very well. I accept your offer. There is a doorway, and I know how to open it. But once I’m done, that’s my obligation met. You must release me.”
Johnny spat on his hand and offered it to her through the bars. “Then, you’ve got a deal.”
~~~
It was a party of about one hundred that Merrick transported to the Celebrain city. The township itself was open, and the streets were filled with revellers, both native and terrestrial. Merrick surveyed the drunken but good-natured melee with no little satisfaction. If all they had achieved was to release these primitive people from the yolk of oppression, then that was a victory indeed. But it wouldn’t be enough until they brought down the last bastion of the enemy’s forces. Tessanee led them down a shadowed alley on the west side of Shamon’s fortress. On their way they passed many, hastily-built scaffolds displaying the corpses of Ukurum warriors. Javelins thrust into the ground bore the heads of Necrolytes at their tops. It was rough justice, but satisfying nonetheless.
After a time, Tessanee stopped. “It is here,” she said.
“I don’t see anything,” Johnny said, looking around warily.
“In the wall,” she said. “It is hidden from the eyes of the uninitiated, but I can open it with the correct gestures.”
“Then do it,” Johnny said.
She looked at her bonds. “I need the use of my hands,” she said.
Johnny looked at Merrick.
She’s peaking on adrenaline and subterfuge, he sent to Celestia.
So would you, if you were Johnny’s captive and one step away from his peculiar type of punishment.
Can you sense anything the other side of the wall?
Ne Rien. The magickal barrier still remains using a vestige of Shamon’s power. Once breached, the defence will be down forever.
“Cut her loose,” Merrick said to Johnny, “but if she runs, kill her.” Celestia widened her eyes at him.
All’s fair in love and war, he sent.
Johnny sliced through Tessanee’s cords. She rubbed her wrists to restore the circulation and approached the wall. “Stand back,” she said, “the door will open outwards.”
She touched the wall in several places according to a complex pattern known only to herself, then finally pushed against the wall.
What happened next took the companions completely by surprise. The door appeared, true enough. It was fully fifteen feet tall and the same again wide, but rather than hinge itself ponderously open, it slid across in a heartbeat. There, behind it, were a phalanx of Necrolytes, each with a poised javelin. Tessanee dove forward into their midst as they launched their shafts of death. A large handful of Hierophants fell to the ground, skewered by spears. Mer
rick didn’t have time to see who had been hit. He felt a hand push him to the ground, then Arun fell on top of him protectively. He spat out dust and looked up. Tessanee held a Necrolyte dagger, which she thrust upwards into Johnny’s heart. Pure hatred, the one thing that had sustained her, flared in her eyes as she twisted the weapon. Johnny gave a gurgling, muted cry and sank to his knees, whereupon the Necrolytes brought their blades down in a hail of blows.
“Take cover,” Jason yelled as enemy slingshots launched a rain of spiked, metal spheres, felling half of the remaining Hierophants. Some took shelter behind a low wall, while others scattered back along the alley.
Those who had taken cover behind the wall recovered quickly and drew bows. The Necrolytes made an easy target and weren’t retreating nearly quick enough to avoid a swarm of Hierophant arrows. Merrick was weaponless and considered unleashing his psychonautic fury, but the risks were too great. He hadn’t any idea what degree of control he could exercise since he had absorbed Karapetian and the Ukurum’s essence. In the end it didn’t matter, Jason launched his thaumaturgy at selected targets, causing them to keel over and take down at least one more to their side. The rest retreated. Merrick saw that Tessanee had disappeared.
“Storm the doorway,” Jason ordered, “before it closes.” He was the first to step across the threshold. Merrick was relieved to find that Albany, Aislynn and Celestia were amongst the survivors who rushed at the door. They made it through with five other Hierophants and Arun bringing up the rear. One Hierophant was not so lucky. The massive stone doorway slammed shut on his body, pulverising him to a bloody pulp. Half of his head, an arm and lower leg dropped to the floor as the only evidence of his failed attempt. Merrick resisted an upsurge of bile and turned to Jason.
“The enemy have split up,” the Thaumaturgist said. “They’re trying to confuse us.”
“It will do them little good,” Celestia said, “my far-sight is working again. Tessanee has retreated up the passageway to our right, we should follow. My guess is she’ll lead us straight to Shamon. I can already sense him skulking at the top of the fortress.”
They followed Celestia’s lead and bound up a series of spiral staircases. They encountered isolated Necrolytes and two of the Amorphic, which they dealt with in their stride. Aislynn sent another, larger group off on a false trail after conjuring a perfect illusion of the companions. After another minute they were drawing breath in large gasps. The fatigue of battle had taken its toll.
“This is taking too long,” Merrick said. “Celestia—mind meld.” Without another word they joined minds and traversed as astral forms through walls and floors until they reached Shamon’s last refuge. They both saw the vestigial group of Ukurum gathered there: Lotus, Theta, Radice, two Necrolytes and, there on the floor, the shrivelled shuck of a man that had once been Jagur Shamon.
I’ll see if I can create a gateway route to the chamber, Merrick sent.
They withdrew back to their bodies and Merrick focused his concentration. “It’ll need five gateways, but I can do it.” He removed the last vial of elixir from his belt and saw that it was only one quarter full. “It’ll have to do,” he said and swallowed the last of the green liquid.
They emerged through a gateway, crackling with blue sparks into Shamon’s chamber. The Ukurum were taken off-guard. The Necrolytes managed to lift their javelins but were too slow to launch them. They fell, two arrows each embedded in their heads.
Merrick glanced around, looking for a threat. There were few to be seen. A bloodied and weary Theta carried her Morningstar but it wasn’t raised. Radice and Lotus were weaponless and stripped of all magickal power.
Merrick wasn’t quite sure who he should address. Shamon was curled up in a foetal crouch on the ground, unresponsive. None of the others looked likely to take a lead in his absence.
“It’s over,” he said, looking at Lotus first, then Theta, then Radice. “Ukurum is no more and you’ve nothing to gain from further conflict. There’s been enough bloodshed this day.” He stepped closer to Shamon. “Surrender now, and you’ll be treated with dignity as well as justice.”
There was no immediate response, but he could see defeat on their faces. Then, to his surprise, there was a stirring on the floor. Shamon raised himself up on two hands. His body shook yet he managed to lift his face to Merrick. The visage, once formidable in appearance, was now decrepit, devoid of authority.
“I would speak—to you all—” A dry, rattling cough shook his frame, but he continued. “All I ever asked from any of my consorts and generals was loyalty. I will not … surrender. Who of you is with me?” He looked at Theta with rheumy eyes, but she cast her gaze to the floor. Radice too looked away and dropped a concealed dagger. Lastly, he turned to Lotus who rushed to his side and held him up in her arms.
“Jagur, my love. I’ve given everything I have to you. Shared experiences that I could never have dreamed of. But there is no shame in recognising the reality of defeat. I would rather know you in defeat than be separated by death.”
“There is still one who remains loyal.” The shout came from a doorway behind. Merrick spun round to see Tessanee throw the Necrolyte dagger at him. It span tip over hilt, much as Johnny’s weapon had done when it felled her unconscious. Merrick had a blink of an eye to realise that this time, destiny’s blade would strike with lethal finality.
His reactions were not fast enough. Perhaps if he were an Albany or an Arun, he could have avoided the knife. Yet, in the end, Jason intervened where his own reflexes failed. His legs were swept from under him as an invisible hand flipped him to the floor. The knife struck with deadly force at its unintended victim. The point entered Shamon’s eye and sank in to the hilt. Lotus looked at him in helpless horror, his life blood spattered across her face.
Shamon shook with a convulsion, then lay still. The cry that Lotus uttered would haunt Merrick for the rest of his days. Deja vu assaulted him as he recalled a similar scene, another loved one, Lapin. But her shriek of desolation plumbed a depth of emotion that Merrick knew she could never have felt for either of them.
He experienced a form of tunnel vision where he was only distantly aware of the scuffle behind him as Albany subdued Tessanee, and Lotus’ two remaining confederates dropped to their knees in submission. The image of Lotus, suffering in total abandonment was all he could see.
Inside of him, something broke, never to be pieced together again.
~~~
Chapter 44
After all (the dead)
Celestia and Merrick stood in solemn silence as Jason gave the eulogy. There were many of the dead to commemorate, few of which could be given a proper burial. Thousands lay beneath the earth heaps gouged out by the Behomoth, thousands more turned to dust by Shamon’s twin-headed monstrosities, but none were forgotten.
Jason spoke moving tributes to Blazej, and the leaders of the Immaculata and Thanateran orders that had perished. Special mention was given to Johnny; a man, Jason said, who had learned to fight for money, but in the end had laid down his life for a noble cause. Lastly, he spoke of Lazlo Karapetian.
“Lazlo was leader, a father and a friend,” Jason began. He halted for a moment to compose himself, then continued. “A man who was often misunderstood, yet gave himself unswervingly to the cause of freedom. He strove for liberty from the hand of a cruel, dark force that threatened to engulf not just this world, but countless others beyond. He gave the ultimate sacrifice—his life, so that the light would prevail, and darkness be dispelled.”
“Now we stand, inheritors of the same responsibility that burned in his defiant heart, and I say this: we will not be found wanting. He has given us a legacy and a unity of purpose. Those of us who remain will rebuild. There is much work ahead; to restore the world of Celebrai and establish a new order of adepts back on earth. Let us observe a minute’s silence in his honour.”
After the period of quietude, Jason stepped down from the stone plinth erected for the occasion. There followed a long litany
of the dead, read out by representatives of each order. Though the reading took hours, none present faltered or retired from the ceremony. When the final names were read, the Celebrain sun was well past its zenith and over five thousand remaining allies left to attend local burials or cremations.
Merrick turned to those standing beside him. “Jahun and Kemran. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you came.”
Jahun wiped a tear from her cheek. “We know what it is like to lose loved ones, especially those who fall in the great struggle. More poignant still to lose a father you weren’t given the chance to know.”
Merrick held both their hands and gave a pained smiled. “Thank you. For everything. You played a part in what happened here, and it’s my guess you’ll continue to fulfill an important role in the guardianship of the realms—that’s if you’re willing.”
“It is our calling,” said Kemran. The Ukurum may be gone, but darkness has a way of gathering itself into a new genesis. There will always be a need to remain watchful.”
“I’ll transfer you back to Demeldin in the morning. Once again—thank you.”
They moved away arm in arm as Jason stepped up.
“Nice speech,” Merrick said.
Jason breathed in, allowing his chest to swell in an exaggerated fashion. “You know, I think I’m getting better at it.”
“The first of many you’ll have to make, no doubt,” Celestia added.
“I’m only the interim leader of the Hierophants, you know. Until a permanent choice is made.”
“You’re learning modesty too,” Merrick said. “By the way. I haven’t had chance to thank you for the little push you gave me back in Shamon’s fortress.”
“I guess we’re even now,” he replied. “Anyway, I’m off to my tent. You coming?”
“We’ll follow in a minute,” Merrick said. “We need need to talk to a few others and pay our respects.
Once they had finished the formalities, they made their way back to Jason’s marquee, where he had promised to hold a meagre but fitting celebratory meal in remembrance of the lost. They were still a stone’s throw from the tent and could hear the noise of glasses clinking together and toasts proposed, when Celestia took Merrick by the arm.