‘We must do something. It’s not over yet. She died to save me! Let me try!’
Balten sat still, but finally something must have changed his mind, and he stood reluctantly. ‘Very well. What does it matter? If you want to try, so be it. If the star can be cracked, it may lessen the impact but, even so, it will only gain us some time, until Lin begins his work. If we can damage the star enough, perhaps the destruction will be lessened and you can reach a safe haven.’
‘We could make it to Cintar,’ Samuel suggested.
‘Yes. And then what?’ Balten said. ‘You would only be waiting for your own son to come and consume you. Do you want more anguish in your life? Do you want more heartbreak than you have already received? You are a glutton for punishment, Samuel. If you sit down now and wait a few moments, you will be at peace.’
‘While we live there is always hope, Balten. Nothing is set in stone. I believe even a child that has become a demon can become a child once again. I can save my son.’
‘Your resilience impresses me, Samuel. Very well, we can try, but I will need your help. You will need to help me with the Journey spell. I will need a few minutes to prepare—and any magic you have left. I will need a lot of power, perhaps more than we have between us.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Die…but perhaps in doing so I can finally do some good.’ With that, the magician took a great breath and formed a deep Summoning stance. ‘Come. Lend me your strength,’ he said and Samuel moved to behind the man, placing his hands on Balten’s back and adding all the power he could still muster.
‘It’s not enough, Samuel!’ Balten said after a time. ‘I need much more!’
‘I don’t have any more!’ Samuel said, but, despite his own words, he closed his eyes and searched deeper, pulling at the ether around him with all his will, and scouring his insides for any last vestiges of power. It was difficult to believe that so much power had been his before, and he had accepted the fact unquestioningly. Now, he felt how hard it was for normal magicians to gather magic. It was frustratingly difficult work to compel the ether to hand over its strength and he had always taken it for granted.
‘More, Samuel! Do you want to live or not?’ Balten shouted at him.
Samuel redoubled his efforts and his head began to swim. A faint whispering sounded at the back of his mind and Samuel could hear a dark voice speaking to him, whispering promises in the Ancient Lick. It was calling to him, pleading to him, offering its power in exchange for a bargain. It knew what he wanted and he whispered back to the voice, ‘Yes!’
At that moment, more dark magic began to spill into him, channelled into him from another realm. He swallowed it and transformed it into raw power that he, in turn, fed into Balten.
‘That’s it, Samuel!’ Balten called. ‘I can feel it! We’re nearly there.’
All the while, the voice inside Samuel was chattering with laughter, but Samuel did not care. His only intention was to save his son.
Balten kept his mind on forging two Great Spells. One of them was unknown to Samuel, but the other was obviously an attempt at a Journey spell. Balten did well with the core of the spell, but Samuel guided him, filling in the crucial missing details. Balten had obviously been working on a version of the spell himself, and perhaps had been gleaning parts of its making from Eric, but he was far from perfecting it on his own.
Finally, Balten breathed a heavy sigh of relief and Samuel took it as a sign that all was finished, and he stepped away. Two great bodies of magic throbbed around him, readied to be unleashed.
‘That’s enough,’ Balten said. ‘I must go now if there is still to be time.’
‘Go? To where?’ Samuel asked him.
‘To save you, so that you can save the world.’ With that, Balten released his first Great Spell, and lines of sparkling jade began to run across his face. They met and joined in a latticework of green across his skin and, as each tessellation closed, his skin changed appearance, growing shiny and hard, transmuting into translucent crystal. Bit by bit Balten was transformed by his magic, until he had become a man of tinted diamond. His clothes, too, had become part of his physical form, fused into him and changed into such crystal. He rolled his eyes to Samuel and his voice rumbled like the trembling of the earth. ‘I cannot be killed like this, but I will only live a short time. It should be enough to do my work.’
The Journey spell still remained and it was enough to guess the tall magician’s plan.
‘Do you think you can shatter the star, even like this?’
‘I will try,’ Balten boomed. ‘This body is harder than any stone, whether it be from the heavens or not.’
Looking at the man’s crystal form, Samuel remembered something. ‘When I was fighting with Grand Master Anthem, a spear of glass saved me. Was it your doing?’
But Balten only shook his head. ‘Whatever happened, it was no act of mine. I was busy here all the while, although I would readily have saved you if I could. I once told you, Samuel, that only I can teach you what you need to know. Do you remember that day?’
‘I remember. I’ve been waiting a long time for those lessons to begin.’
Balten managed a crystal smile. ‘They began from the first day that I met you, and now they are complete. I cannot be your teacher any more, for I have nothing left to teach. I hope you have learnt well.’
‘I always thought you were mocking me—even trying to kill me. But it is true. You have taught me much, without ever uttering a word of advice.’
‘I never lied to you, Samuel. If anything, I have only ever been brutally honest with you in hope that you would find your way. True wisdom cannot be grafted from one place to another, Samuel. Its seeds can only be thrown to the wind, and left to become what they may. I thought to pass you some of my knowledge, but I think I ended up learning more from you. I always thought I was doing the right thing by joining Cang—I suppose I still do. We only wanted to save the world, but perhaps we should have gone about it in a different way. Everything seems so clear now, here at the end of the world. If only it could have been like that at the beginning.’
‘The future is never clear,’ Samuel responded. ‘I once saw Cintar shrouded in ruin, with black-cowled things walking the streets and terrorising the people. I always assumed that some awful battle would eventually take place, as I had foreseen, and then the High Tower of the palace would fall, but, in my time beneath Mount Karthma, I figured the true meaning of this vision. It was meddling of the Order that I saw. They have filled the streets with fear and destroyed their own ambitions. In a way, we would truly be better off without magic, if those that choose how to use it cannot be trusted.’
‘All forms of power can and will be abused, Samuel, as long as man is driven by his greed. After all, power is only what you can frighten others into giving you. Perhaps that will change one day, but not any time soon from what I have seen. I would like to talk more of such things, but we have little time left. Samuel, I want to tell you one more thing before I go.’
‘What is it?’
‘I am sorry—for everything that has happened to you. You did not deserve to lose so many of your loved ones. It has never been your fault.’ Even with his crystal expression, the man looked sincere. ‘The Circle is broken and the fate of the world is now yours. Goodbye.’
Samuel was about to respond when Balten vanished. Samuel could not see the after-effect, but he could feel magic energy tearing in after him, into the hole in the ether that Balten had made, until it sealed itself shut and the chamber was still again.
There was nothing else to do and so Samuel prepared himself to leave. He would journey away and hope that Balten’s plan to somehow disrupt Starfall was successful. If not, he would probably never feel the difference.
He squatted once more by the body of the woman he had loved, and touched the side of her cheek with his finger. Everyone he knew had died and, for the second time, he had lost the one he had cherished most. This time, it was almost too
much to bear, and he considered just sitting down and waiting for it all for end. Perhaps he could find peace in that endless quiet after death took him? But something stirring inside him would not let him. She had charged him with finding and saving their son, and so he could not give up. He never would, as long as there was some strength left in him.
He left the underground chamber and found his way through the narrow passages of the temple and out into the rocky Valley of the Ancients. It was late morning now, but the Star of Osirah seemed to be larger than ever, directly above. Its tail had gone, leaving just a circle of silver fire in the sky, like a tiny angry moon. A tiny flicker appeared across it and then the white-hot circle separated and broke into a dozen smaller pieces that began to spread silently across the sky, surrounded by countless tiny specks that flashed and faded from view. Some of the remaining pieces tumbled about and disappeared altogether, but the others began to trail fire as they moved apart.
‘He’s done it!’ a voice said and Samuel turned to see Cang come struggling from the temple mouth. He reached the stairs, but came tumbling down them like a rag doll, rolling to a juddering halt at Samuel’s feet. He struggled several times to sit up, but Samuel would not help him. In the end, he seemed content to lie face down upon the sand.
‘Cang, you demon. I thought you were dead,’ Samuel told him.
‘Nearly. In truth, this body has not felt life for quite some time. Another few moments and we will die together. I could not bear to miss it.’
The heavens crackled as the first tiny fragments broke the sky. In a few more heartbeats, the larger pieces would turn the Paatin Desert into a sea of fire.
‘No,’ Samuel said. ‘I have much to do. You can die alone,’ and he opened up a Journey spell and surrounded himself with it.
‘Take me, too,’ Cang implored him. ‘I can help you to find your son. All is not lost.’
‘I have had as much help as I need from you.’
‘I know what can be done!’ he pleaded with Samuel, like a talking marionette with cut strings, from his place on the dirt. ‘What would you have me do? I think I know who would want your son more than me—Poltamir, the Third Ancient. For some reason I cannot fathom he has something in mind for his king. Perhaps he seeks to pervert the course of Lin’s upbringing, or somehow plans to siphon his power—I do not know. I will just tell you this —give up your foolish flirtation with the dark arts. You must become stronger if you are to defeat the Ancient Ones now that their power has returned, but black magic is not the way. I feel there is still potential in you, Samuel, but you need a worthy teacher. There is only one stronger than me. His name is Salu.’
‘The brother of Anthem,’ Samuel said.
‘Yes, he is the one. It will not be easy but, if he still exists, perhaps he will help. I’m sure he knows what to do.’
‘I will find him. Tell me, before you die—what was her name?’
‘Who? The woman? I don’t know. Why would I bother to learn such a thing when I can simply make it up?’ said Cang, and he bared his terrible teeth. ‘Now, will you take me with you?’
‘No,’ Samuel said assuredly, and he vanished.
Cang strained to turn his head, for there was a flash of light directly above him and the wispy clouds seemed to shudder and part, blown to the horizons in the blink of an eye. His plan had been flawless, its execution perfect. Everything has gone exactly as he wished, until that blasted magician had double-crossed him. It seemed surreal that all his plans, drawn across centuries, had come to this abysmal failure. The master of deceit has been deceived by his apprentice.
That was his last thought, for he and everything around him ceased to exist.
The world simply shifted for Samuel. One moment, he was beside the temple; the next, he was standing on a great shattered stump, high on a hillside, with a beautiful valley vista spread out below him. He knew at once where he was, although it was certainly not Cintar, as he had intended. Perhaps his mind had grasped onto this place instead as he had willed himself away from the desert. It was, after all, the place that founded his childhood dreams—the source of his fondest memories, from a time when the world was perfect.
Here, it was only early morning and the sun was still just making its presence known between the mountains. The ground was steep and it angled away directly beside him into a narrow gorge that he had once called Bear Valley. A tiny stream ran through that gorge and joined the river, glimmering silver and snaking away in the valley below him. The cascading hills in the distance looked like waves of green rising from an endless ocean of trees, with each successive swell fading behind an additional coat of pale mist, like layers of an illustration cut and slatted into place. The clouds and the earth seemed to meet so very far away in the gap between the hills, with the grey haze wedged between them indicating rain upon the lowlands.
The smoking chimneys of Stable Waterford spotted the vale just below him, and tiny scratches of roads joined them together, peeking through the trees. A wild orchard lay closest at the bottom of the hill, but it seemed as if someone had taken to rebuilding it. There were already figures hard at work, hammering and sawing in a clearing amongst the apple trees, working on the beginnings of a new house. It seemed much larger than the house Samuel had been born in, burnt down long ago on that very same spot. He listened carefully, and he could hear children at play, running between the trees and laughing while the others worked.
In the village, people were busy preparing for the day’s market and there were several new buildings here and there that he did not remember. It seemed the little village was growing, perhaps from those hoping to escape the warring and worries of the lowlands. It was obvious that such troubles had not yet come to such a remote place. With Alahativa slain, perhaps the Paatin would recede and the village would remain untouched. It would only be a brief respite, however, for with Lin reborn into the world, it seemed there would be nowhere that was safe from harm.
A sound that could have been distant thunder drummed from far away and, moments later, the birds and insects all hushed at once. Some of the trees began to hiss and sway, although there was no wind, and Samuel could feel a vibration at his feet. It lasted only the space of a few heartbeats and, as the trees settled to quiet once more, the natural noises began again and dogs in the village began barking.
He turned and surveyed the solemn peaks above him. They had not changed in the slightest over the years, still frowning down at the village with frosty clouds crowning their heads. It was reassuring to see something unchanged, when so much else had changed in the world.
Samuel, complicit in the destruction that was now unfolding around the world, who had sired a demon that would eventually devour humanity, took a moment to take in the sights all around him. For some reason, it helped to burn away some of the horror and the sorrow that had built up inside him. Not entirely, but still, it helped.
Stepping down, he began to walk along the overgrown path that led down Miller’s Hill. It had been many years since he had walked this way, yet he still knew each and every step by heart. He could have leapt to Cintar in the blink of an eye, but somehow it felt appropriate that his own two feet should lead the way. Here, his journey would begin.
End of Part Two
The story concludes in The Ancient Ones
EPILOGUE
The dark-skinned magician cradled the baby in his arms and made soothing noises towards it, but the child continued to wriggle and snuffle despite his efforts to calm it. It was dressed in a blue infant’s smock and appeared not too dissimilar to any other child born in Amandia, although its eyes may have been angled a tad more than was usual. There was quite a decent patch of shiny black hair on its head and its tiny fists remained balled up as it pumped its little arms up and down. It blinked as it scanned the chamber, but its eyes did not settle on anything for even a moment.
‘Do you think he understands us, Father?’ the magician asked, marvelling at the tiny pale creature that contorted in his dark
hands.
A rasping voice spoke from behind a thick, drawn curtain, but the voice was dense with magic. ‘No, my son, he does not. It will take him a long time to associate everything he senses with something meaningful. He must literally grow into this body and learn the implication of every stimulus he receives, not unlike a normal child. He must also learn the result of every motion and action that he attempts. Every kick of his leg reinforces itself, every wriggle enables him to do a little bit more. Moment by moment, he will discover his new body and learn its operation. It is only his thoughts that are fully developed, for Lin’s mind is housed within, if not actually in body, then at least in spirit.’
‘It would be like being trapped in a cavern of impenetrable darkness, ever searching for the way out.’
‘Something like that, yes, but it is a prison of his own design. He will find his way free soon enough.’
‘And he truly does not need any food or drink?’ the magician asked.
‘It has been a few days already, my son, and he has not suffered. Do not fret. He cannot be harmed. Would you like to throw him down and see the result? It would not bother him in the slightest.’
‘No, Father, I would not.’
‘You worry me sometimes, my boy. Do you have such little faith in me?’
‘Not at all, but it only feels wrong to commit such violence unto a child.’
The unseen speaker laughed and the air seemed to tremble from the might contained in that voice. ‘My poor boy. If I did not know how heartless you truly are, I could almost believe you. Remember, that is not a child in your hands, but a beast waiting to mature.’
‘Yes, Father,’ the magician said, nodding obediently.
‘Soon, we will leave. Is everything ready?’
‘It is.’
She Who Has No Name (The Legacy Trilogy) Page 58