He yelled aloud—a mixture of exertion and desperation—and all throughout the city those fireflies of life came flying towards him, their abandoned husks dropping behind them as they fled. In every building and on every street within that quarter of the city the people fell dead—whether running or hiding or holding onto each other in fear, it made no difference. Their energy was plucked from their bodies at Samuel’s summons and they came flooding towards him. He could hear Grand Master Anthem shouting out in protest, but even the roar of the creature’s breath was a whisper compared to the din of all these souls stampeding into him. He lost all thought of the beast that held him and his mind turned to gaining more and more such souls. The thought occurred to him that what he was doing was wrong, but he ignored it, for nothing mattered more than freeing himself and devouring these morsels. He knew that each bite was the life of an innocent human, but he could not think of that now; the unquenchable hunger for more overtook him, unchallenged.
‘No!’ came a sudden furious shout and Samuel was roused from his task. The demon was no longer holding him, for it lay beneath him with its head split apart as if its mouth had been unhinged and kicked open, yet he still hovered in place, hanging in mid-air, held aloft by burning tendrils of magic.
‘No, Samuel!’ came the voice again and he realised it was the stubborn old magician who had disturbed him. ‘What are you doing, Samuel? For the love of everything, look at what you are doing! You are killing everyone! This is vile work! I cannot allow it or we all will be lost!’
Samuel opened his mouth, but he could no longer form words. Something spilled from his lips, hot and infused with power, and he had no interest in communication. The light around the jabbering old magician had enticed him and his attention focussed on that. He willed himself to float towards the old man and began pulling at his energy, as if he were unravelling a thread from a woollen jumper. In turn, a whip of magic came hurtling out from the old magician and wrapped itself around Samuel.
‘Two can play at this game!’ the defiant Grand Master roared and he began tugging at Samuel’s power in return.
Samuel was enraged and howled in anger as Anthem sucked at his strength. The two of them tugged back and forth with their power, playing a tug of war with each other’s very spirit. The old man was incapable of doing too much harm, but every drop of power that was stolen stung Samuel and left him mindless with rage. He drew closer and closer to the old man, pulling faster and faster as he closed the distance, until Anthem had barely a sliver of life remaining.
‘I’m sorry, boy, but I must do this for the sake of everyone,’ and, with that, Anthem gave a leap, grabbed Samuel by the ankles and hung on tight. He screamed in pain, for his hands blistered upon touching Samuel, but he would not let go. He pulled Samuel down to be at his own level and then he threw his arms around him and hugged onto him with all his might. ‘I guess we shall both get to see what hell really looks like,’ he said and the beast that was Samuel now saw the old man’s intent.
A string of magic still tethered Anthem to the demon he had summoned and, by releasing the spell, the fallen creature would return to its own realm and take the old man with it. He must have planned for that from the start—a last resort for just such a situation.
Deep within himself, Samuel put these facts together, but somehow he could not act on them, for voices were still chanting in his head and he was still overcome by the primitive drive to consume. It should have been simple to fight the old man off, but Samuel’s body would not respond. Instead, he kept on sucking at the magician who held him, gobbling up the final shreds of his life force.
In the final moments of his life, Anthem released his spell, and the demon vanished into a shimmering haze. The tendril of magic that ran between them was sucked in after it, and the slack of the spell began to disappear as it was pulled in after the beast.
Just then, something whistled through the air and a shaft of glass appeared through the middle of Samuel and Anthem both. To Samuel, it was inconsequential and he hardly would have noticed such a thing, but the old man spat blood and gasped with a terrible realisation. Worse than the pain was the fact that, in his moment of surprise, he had let slip his grip on Samuel and had staggered back, sliding from the end of the spear that had pinned them together. It was a single, tragic moment, but it was too late for Anthem to grab hold once more. Instead, he stood defeated, knowing this moment was his last.
‘For god’s sake, boy, listen to me,’ Anthem said, choking on his blood. ‘You were supposed to bear the hope of the world, not its damnation. You don’t have to forgive me, but forgive yourself. It is not too late.’ Then his gaze became unfocussed as his blood fell freely and he dropped to his knees. He looked through Samuel altogether. ‘Forgive me, brother.’
With that, the tether around him tightened and he was gone in a flash. The oppressive presence of the demon vanished and, as the ether gulped the beast back into itself, Samuel’s garnered power was sucked in with it. Thousands of souls’ worth of power vanished, drawn in by the tear in the pattern and Samuel was left shuddering and gasping in wordless pain.
The voices in his head started shouting at him, and he could hear it was the Ancient Lick; they were speaking, commanding him to gather more souls. He would not listen to them for, with the pain, his mind had cleared. He realised that Anthem’s parting words were true. If he had continued, perhaps he would have become the very demon that he was trying to prevent from returning, or a mirror of Ash, the very man whom he had despised. He would have consumed everyone—even his own son and the child’s mother. Instead, he fought back against the voices, using the old man’s final message to empower him. He refused to become a tool for destruction. He would not hurt the ones he loved. In defiance of the voices, he held his hands to his ears and screamed as loudly as he could.
‘Get out of my head!’ he told them. The voices increased in intensity and he continued to yell, but he refuted their claim on him and refused to let them in. Slowly, they dimmed away and he could hear his own hoarse voice once more. Finally, the whispering faded away altogether and only his own thoughts remained to fill his mind.
With his power all but gone, he became aware of his body and he suddenly realised he still had a spear through his chest. He dropped to his knees and cried in pain, as he strained to slide the thing from his middle. Length by length he drew it out, until it was finally free and he cast the thing aside. It shattered on the rooftop, a shard of glassed rod. He looked about to discover who had cast such a weapon, but no magician was in sight or could be sensed.
He had only shreds of power left, and he instilled that magic into the hole in his chest and knitted back the broken flesh as well as he could, leaving a pale scar just below his ribs. He would live and his power would return, but it had been a sobering experience. Anthem had saved him in the end with the parting gift of his words. He had probably saved them all. Samuel had little love left for the old man, but, despite his misdirected methods, his intentions had no doubt been true. Perhaps, one day he could forgive the old man. One day, but not today.
He dropped from the roof and rolled uncomfortably onto the lower balcony that had fallen against the building, now forming a broken ramp that led to the ground. Standing on his throbbing ankle, Samuel carefully descended to the street and began hobbling along the curved terraces, up towards the palace.
The city was deserted here, for everyone caught nearby now lay dead. As he climbed the hill and neared the glorious palace, he found more and more people: some ignored him completely and others fled in terror as they recognised him. His mind was on the Koian woman, but he still had to retrieve the two rings from Alahativa. He had felt firsthand what a demon could do and he had no wish to fight something like that, something which could devour souls with its thoughts.
He took deep breaths as he climbed and, by the time he had entered the abandoned palace, he had gained enough power to heal his ankle and was feeling something more like a magician again.
<
br /> Despite his fears that Alahativa may have fled, she was still in her chamber, still arguing with the chained Emperor. Her hair was messed and she looked crazed. Strange energies were billowing around her: a mix of her own ring-empowered magic and the strange alien aura that was threatening to overcome her.
‘So you live!’ she yelled at him, and she hid behind her captive with wild eyes and held a jagged dagger to his throat.
‘I want you to free him,’ Samuel commanded.
‘Never!’ the woman declared. ‘He is mine, forever! I will kill him and kill myself before I let him go to another.’
‘He has his own mind to decide.’
‘But he does not remember yet. I do! Once he realises who I am, he will never want to leave me again. We were made to be together for all time! He just does not remember!’
‘I am not that man!’ the Emperor roared.
‘You are!’ she cried into his ear. ‘I know it!’
‘Then put the other ring on my finger,’ the Emperor suggested. ‘If I am truly who you say, I will have the same powers as you dormant inside me, the same powers that have brought back your memory. If not, then it will prove that I am just a man, and not whom you think.’
‘Yes! Yes!’ she said and she forgot Samuel as she hurried around in front of her captive. She dropped the dagger and, fumbling in the pockets of her elegant gown, drew out Samuel’s magical ring. She pushed it onto the Emperor’s finger and Samuel saw the energies bloom around him. ‘There! Do you remember now?’
The chains dropped from his hands as he spelled them loose, using the power that came to him via the ring. Just having such power proved that the man called Edmond Calais was, indeed, a magician of some description. The fact that he already knew how to wield his power also spoke volumes.
‘Yes, of course I remember you, Rei,’ and for a moment she had a look of utter elation. But he went on. ‘I have remembered for as long as you have, cursing you every day as you held me captive but, unlike you, I have turned my back on who I was. We have lived under the curse of Marrag Lin for so long that we have forgotten we each have our own free will. Our memories fade over the years but, each time our master returns, we relive the same troubled lives of our past. We cannot keep on doing this forever, Rei. I refuse. I want to be a better man than that.’
‘No,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I know who I am, but I do not love you any more. I have been a slave long enough and I will make my own choices from here. You have kept me prisoner in your palace and kept me from my wife and son. I harbour no ill will towards you, but I will stay no longer. You can do as you wish, but do it without me.’
‘What do you mean, Edmond?’ Samuel asked.
The man turned towards Samuel. ‘I am no more Edmond Calais than I am Andor Ferse. I have been countless different people, but I am no more any one of them than I am the man born so many Ages ago called Thann, as she is not truly Rei. Once upon a time, we were lovers, but we have both died countless times since then. We are no longer the people we were. We have been blended and merged with the souls of so many others. It is pointless to lay claim to our old selves. I realised that when my memories first came creeping back to me but, for some reason, she cannot seem to reach the same conclusion.’
‘Don’t leave me, Thann! We have only just found each other. How can I live without you?’
‘Wake up, woman! Nothing will change while we keep re-enacting our old lives. We are not those people any more. I want nothing of you or of being Thann.’
‘It is because of that child!’
‘It is. For some reason I cannot fathom, fate has granted me a son and this tiny improbability has finally given me hope. I admit that I am incapable of having feelings for his mother, but she is a good and intelligent woman and she will raise our boy well. I will take them into some deserted part of the world and we will do our best to escape Lin’s return. When I die, I will be reborn within another and it will all begin over again, but I will not think of that now. Who knows what will happen in the future? But at least I will have a son. For a short time, perhaps I can be happy. What will you do, Rei, but follow his commands until the end of time—a hollow woman with a hollow life, raising armies to do his bidding?’
‘Lin will find you! He will kill you, too!’ she declared, pointing an accusing finger towards him. ‘As his strength returns, so will yours, and your memories will overpower you!’
‘Perhaps, so. But I can have my hope. Perhaps this time, things will be different.’
‘Pah! A foolish hope! The Demon King’s legacy cannot be denied!’
‘You mean the stories are true?’ Samuel said, interrupting their argument.
‘Yes, Samuel,’ the man who was once Emperor replied, ‘Lin is coming and there is very little time.’
‘How did this happen?’ he said, feeling defeated by the news. ‘After all we have been through, after all the battles we have fought and all the lives lost, how did we possibly fail? Was it her? Did she put the relics together? I thought she didn’t know how to do it?’
‘Sometimes these things happen instinctively, Samuel. It is too late now to do anything about it. Lin’s return is certain, but is not a sudden event and he will not raise his head for some years to come. It will take time for him to gather his strength and make himself known. Go to your woman. Raise your child. Enjoy these final days as much as you can. That is certainly what I plan to do.’
‘What about the rings? Were they not the relics we were seeking?’
‘The rings are not related to his return at all. These are just as Rei has said—aids for those who are learning to master their magic—children’s toys in our time. When Lin left this world he took our powers from us, but now, in these days of his return, our power is returning along with our memories. In a short time, we will have our full power at our fingertips.’
‘But, I thought the rings had great power? Have we wasted all our time?’
‘They have no power of their own; that is why one ring is no more useful than two. Relics like this were common in those early days when we were learning how to control our magic and were teaching it to others. We also made staves and rods and a multitude of devices used to manipulate the energy of the ether, but most of them are now long gone. Some of the hardier ones had innate methods of preserving themselves. These rings, as you know, transform into great metallic blocks when lost, which simply makes them easier to find. It was nothing more mysterious than that.’
‘It was Dividian who changed the ring from the stone,’ Samuel said. ‘He used the Ancient Lick to form the Great Spell that transformed it.’
‘Such foolishness. If only he had found the proper spell, it could have been done easily. The Ancient Lick can accomplish much, but it is a power that does not belong to us. Its use is forbidden, even to me. Never use it, Samuel. Forget it; destroy any scrap of it you may have learnt.’
‘Why is that?’
‘It is an evil language, rampant with dark power.’
‘I thought it was the language of the Ancients?’
‘Not at all. It was first found in that time, and it is true we Ancients did foolishly play with it—little knowing what it would do—but it is not the language we spoke. It is the tongue of evil, which beckoned to us from other realms. Evil calls to all in this world who become powerful, for power is a beacon for beings that seek to devour it. We knew no better and gave ourselves to that evil and, because of that, we became what we are. We fended off that evil in the end and regained our selves, but we are left forever changed by it. Lin made the ultimate sacrifice, becoming little more than a demon himself to save us. ’
‘So what are you?’ Samuel asked him. ‘Why is it that you live forever like this, taking the bodies of others?’
‘We are two of the last three surviving Ancients. Lin cursed us for our role in his creation and left us to walk the earth in his absence. We can be killed easily enough, but our spirits will readi
ly fill the body of another. Our memories fade with time, whether we die or not, but our nature is difficult to change. Every age we become kings and queens and raise our empires and armies, just as we did back them. It is an eternal curse that we cannot escape.’
‘But to what end?’
‘For Lin. He thrives on destruction and the souls that are released he gathers for his own purposes. They empower him. Every death upon the earth fuels him and makes him stronger.’
‘Is it something to do with the star? Is it truly a portent of his return?’
The man with many names shook his head. ‘I have never seen its like before. The comet’s presence can only be a coincidence. At least, it is not as a result of Lin’s power.’
‘You mentioned another—a third Ancient.’
‘Poltamir,’ the man responded. ‘I have not spoken with him in many Ages. He may be in hiding, and if he can accomplish such a thing, then perhaps I can, too. I’m sorry, I must go now. I hate to leave you here, but I think you can manage on your own. I don’t think she will bother you further,’ and he gestured towards the broken woman as she lay weeping upon the floor, ‘and I must find my Lillith and Leopold. If they have returned to Cintar, I will need to remove Rei’s army before they threaten any more of my people.’
‘Will you return to being the Emperor?’ Samuel asked him, but the other only shook his head.
‘No. I have had enough of crowns and empires. I will slip away with my family and leave the ruling for others. Goodbye, Samuel. I am genuinely honoured to have met you. You have done well.’ He strode towards the broken balcony, looking out the gaping hole over the ruined city. ‘You have acted nobly when all others around you have been corrupt. Please don’t feel disappointed in the way things have worked out. Perhaps in the next age things will be better.’
She Who Has No Name (The Legacy Trilogy) Page 53