“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come out to play,” said Will.
Madrok nodded. “I was rather attached to the idea of you futilely fighting my army for days before finally having to withdraw and accept the fact that your world was no longer your own. The idea of despair is so romantic, but you just had to ruin it.”
“I’m surprised your patience lasted as long as it did.”
The demon-lord grinned, showing pointed teeth. “I have to admit, I’ve never had anyone annoy me as thoroughly as you did today. That sound attack of yours made my teeth hurt, even at the very center of the city. I think you’ve earned some very special treatment from me today.”
Will responded with a force-lance, which Madrok blocked with ease. “In a hurry to die?” asked the demon-lord. “Annoying me further won’t speed things up. I’m going to torture you for centuries.”
This time, Will answered with a volley of five light-darts, counting on the fact that Madrok could only block one of them, but the demon didn’t bother. All five of the missiles fizzled into sparks just inches from his skin.
The demon-lord smiled. “When Leykachak died I attributed it to a substantial confluence of enemies coming together, but I can see now that you were more than just a hapless bystander. You’re still young, but there hasn’t been one like you in quite some time.”
Will tried a combination of force-lances and light-darts, with no better luck. Madrok blocked the force attacks and ignored the rest, which fell apart within inches of his skin every time.
“That won’t work,” said Madrok, then his eyes roamed to either side. “Where’s the cat? Were you foolish enough to think you could win on your own?” When Will didn’t answer, the demon looked to his rear. Selene had disembarked from Gan’s basket and moved back another fifty yards while the young troll returned to help his companions encircle their enemy. Madrok looked back at Will. “She can’t get far enough away. You realize that, don’t you? Even if she ran for a month, I would still find her—just so I could torture the two of you together.”
Will summoned his rapier, then cast the silver-sword spell upon it without considering the fact that he didn’t have the spell prepared. Stress seemed to be a good catalyst for growth. He hoped he would live long enough to profit from the lesson. Moving forward, he began threatening Madrok with the weapon while simultaneously sending a series of force-lances at the demon-lord from point-blank range. “You should have worn armor, Madrok,” he warned. “Even Leykachak wasn’t that stupid.” Lrmeg and a second troll were closing on the demon from the rear.
Madrok blocked each force-lance while summoning a thin black sword with which he stopped Will’s slashes. Still seeming relaxed, the demon answered, “My brother was a fool, and unlike him, I don’t need armor.” As he turned in mid-sentence, his sword cut completely through Lrmeg’s torso and then removed the second troll’s right arm. “I appreciate your concern, though. It’s very sweet of you.”
Will increased his speed as much as possible, and the trolls went berserk, rushing at the demon-lord from every angle. In the beginning Will supplemented his attacks with force-lances, but in the chaotic moments that followed he found himself forced to switch to using the point-defense shield more often—not to stop spells, but just to keep Madrok from eviscerating him with the blinding speed of his black blade.
Selene moved closer, until she was less than twenty yards away, and then she began attacking the demon-lord with force-lances whenever his back was toward her. She couldn’t yet reflex cast the spell, but she could construct it quickly enough to throw one every few seconds.
Between Will, the trolls, and her sneak attacks, it seemed impossible that Madrok could escape every attack, though for a while he did. Eventually, he turned away from Selene for too long, and one of her force-lances struck the demon-lord’s hip, blowing out a fist-sized chunk of flesh and bone.
Now! thought Will. Madrok stumbled, and Will dropped his sword, summoning one of the war hammers that had the new spell on it. Gan swept in with a long-clawed hand and ripped part of Madrok’s belly open, spinning the demon-lord around and disorienting him.
A better moment would never arrive. Selene might be too close, but Will couldn’t waste the opportunity. Swinging the war hammer as hard as he could with his right hand, he brought it down on Madrok’s shoulder.
Or at least he tried to.
At the last moment, something slammed into Will’s breastplate so hard that it immediately burst into flame, and despite its inertia-dampening properties Will was knocked back two feet. His swing missed, although Gan hooked a second hand around the demon-lord and began to twist as though he would rip the blue-skinned demon in two. Belatedly, Will realized that Madrok had finally used a force-lance of his own to knock him back.
Madrok ignored Gan’s devastating claws and hissed in pain, but as he did, his will stretched out like poison in the air around them. Will fought it instinctively, but as strong as his will was, he could only nullify the effect for a few feet around himself.
Everyone else took the full brunt of it, and the air was filled with the screams of twelve trolls and one very human woman whose voice rose through the octaves until Will thought it would tear his soul apart. Gan, Selene, Lrmeg, and all the others collapsed, writhing to the ground as they shrieked in agony. Will sent an unending stream of force-lances at Madrok, but the bastard stopped each and every one with a grin. The demon’s wounds healed over, and the fiend straightened up even while as he defended himself.
Madrok danced forward, swinging his black sword with perfect grace, and Will knew he’d been a fool. They had never had a chance. None at all.
He raised his war hammer, the motion seeming slow and clumsy compared to his opponent’s fluid motion, and then a roaring howl filled the air, temporarily blotting out even the screams of Selene and the trolls. Seemingly from nowhere, a massive grey form that was so dark it almost seemed black flew through the air to land on Madrok’s back.
At the same time, a disembodied voice found Will’s ear. “Run. We’ve already lost. Run while you can.”
The goddamn cat’s claws latched onto Madrok’s shoulders, and the great cat’s jaws bit down on the back of the demon-lord’s neck, crushing his spine. Black blood spurted and flowed as Madrok collapsed under the weight of the Cath Bawlg.
The pain stopped the demon-lord’s spell, and Selene and the trolls suddenly stopped screaming. Will started to run to his wife, to take her and flee, as he’d been warned, but then his eyes met those of the goddamn cat and he knew.
His friend had come to die. Though the Cath Bawlg had the advantage, the demigod knew something else was coming. This was how his end would come. This was why he had tried to leave. For whatever reason, the goddamn cat had thrown aside all reason and come anyway.
And as soon as he knew the truth, Will could no longer turn aside. He could see Selene struggling to her feet, so he shouted to her. “Take the trolls and go!” He doubted she would listen, but it didn’t matter. Together or apart, he was going to make certain of one thing. If the goddamn cat was going to sacrifice his life, at the very least one of the cat’s most ancient foes would die with him.
Turning back, he lifted the war hammer and started toward the helpless demon-lord. The Cath Bawlg had already torn through Madrok’s spine, and his rear claws were busily raking deep furrows in the flesh of the blue demon’s back. It was inconceivable that they could lose.
A new tension filled the air, an ominous gathering of turyn, but Will moved forward to strike anyway. The energy vanished as his arm went up, accompanied by a faint ‘popping’ sound. Pain shot through his hand as the war hammer was violently wrenched from his grasp to fly away from him. The handle was broken, and the shaft and weapon head tumbled in two separate directions.
Someone had used a force-lance to disarm him.
Turning his head, Will saw a wide, circular opening in the air, through which a heavily wooded glade could be seen. Aislinn, the titular Godde
ss of Magic, had already stepped through and was now being followed by her husband, Elthas the Forest Lord. Behind them more fae stood ready, armed with shimmering swords and fragile-seeming armor crafted to resemble leaves.
She warned me, Will realized, thinking of his last conversation with Tailtiu. As that thought crossed his mind, he saw Tailtiu step out from behind her mother. His aunt’s face showed no expression as she looked back at him, but her appearance was made somewhat odd by the puppy that rode along in a sack hanging from her neck, its head sticking out to stare curiously at the world around it.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment, but things snapped into motion a split-second later. Selene yelled and pointed at the fae intruders, and most of the trolls leapt to attack them. Will summoned his backup war hammer and tried again to finish off Madrok. Deep down, he knew he’d made a terrible mistake in not listening to the goddamn cat’s warning. He should have accepted the Cath Bawlg’s sacrifice and run with Selene as fast as he could.
But it was far too late for that now. If he was going to die with the demigod, he would be damned if they didn’t at least finish off the demon-lord first. Screams, growls, and roars filled the air as Will added his own snarl to the cacophony and brought the hammer down.
His blow never landed. Aislinn muttered a word and released a spell that swept over him, Selene, and the trolls. “Stop.” Golden chains composed purely of energy wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso, and though they looked flexible, they held his body rigid in a grip that denied all motion.
Similar chains held Selene and even the powerful trolls immobile. The only one of his allies who seemed immune was the goddamn cat, who still held the twitching Madrok in a death grip while he steadily devoured the demon’s spine.
That didn’t last long either. Although the fae-lord Elthas possessed powerful magic, he was in no way a match for his formerly human wife, but what he lacked in magical skill he made up for in physical prowess. Leaping forward, the fae-lord crossed the gap in a single bound and drove his sword directly through the Cath Bawlg’s chest.
The great cat’s jaws opened, and a pained cry echoed around them. Will’s face was red as he strained to move, but he was helpless. Even his magic was trapped, as though someone had wrapped a heavy blanket around him, smothering every ounce of his power.
“You have been a thorn in my side for far too long,” said Elthas, twisting the sword to increase the demigod’s torment. The cat’s flesh sizzled, and smoke rose from the wound as fae magic burned into the demigod’s torso, drawing out even louder cries of pain.
Madrok’s body fell from the Cath Bawlg’s twitching claws, and impossibly, Will saw the demon-lord’s wounds begin to repair themselves. Before his eyes, the mangled spine renewed itself and knitted together, and when it reached the base of Madrok’s skull, the blue-skinned monster’s arms and legs began to move.
Madrok’s eyes focused on Elthas, and his mouth opened. “You kept your word, Elthas. I was beginning to worry.”
The fae-lord laughed as he twisted the sword back and forth, enjoying the cat’s agony. “It was a worthwhile bargain. In truth, it feels as though I’ve been paid twice, for both the price and the reward of our deal were worth it to me.”
“He’s going to destroy this world,” Will hissed.
Elthas focused on him for a moment. “Stupid mortal. Your kind have been an annoyance since the first wizard forced the ridiculous terms of the accord on us. I would rather see your world die than suffer it any longer, and as for this creature, far too many of my servants’ bones lie bleaching in the sun around its lair.”
The fae-lord’s remark reminded Will of what Tailtiu had told him the first time he had approached the cave where the Cath Bawlg lived, “Whatever it eats does not return; its prey remains dead—forever—including us.”
At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to see the goddamn cat eating Elthas’ head and heart. The fae-lord saw the hate in his eyes, and in response he withdrew the sword for a moment, then thrust it through the goddamn cat’s chest again. Will’s ears were filled with the demigod’s scream, and he wished he could close his ears as easily as his eyes.
His grandmother moved closer, until she stood beside him. She seemed fascinated by the great cat’s torment. Then she spoke to Will, “Your power has grown, grandson, but it appears your resistance is still not strong enough to keep me from binding you.” She turned her head to face him, then added, “Are you really that weak, human?”
Will glared back at her with a hatred so intense it seemed impossible that the fire in his eyes didn’t burn her to ashes on the spot, but at the same time the more logical part of his brain was working in the background. Is she trying to tell me something?
Aislinn studied the war hammer for a second. “Interesting spell. Was it your idea? The execution is particularly elegant.” She glanced in Selene’s direction. “It was her design, wasn’t it? I knew she would make a worthwhile servant.”
“She isn’t yours and she never will be,” growled Will.
Elthas was listening, and at that comment he laughed. “Fool. Death solves a thousand problems. What do you think I promised my dear wife in return for her constant and faithful service? Your death will absolve any question of ownership, and I will get the pleasure of helping her to adjust to immortality, as I did with Aislinn herself, years ago.”
Will’s eyes fairly bugged from his head, his outrage was so great. He looked to his grandmother for help, but she merely shrugged. “I am bound to my lord’s will, though I am not displeased. You should be proud. Your wife will become a shining new star among my people. You accomplished the impossible with her. She’s now a third-order wizard, and with a few centuries and my training, she will become the second greatest magic user to ever join the fae.”
From twenty yards away Selene still struggled, but she managed to open her mouth enough to hiss a reply. “Go fuck yourself!”
Madrok’s healing was nearly complete, and as he sat up, he seemed to be impatient. “How long do you intend to take?”
Elthas frowned. “Don’t rush my pleasure.”
“Our bargain wasn’t for your pleasure. Fulfill your oath and kill the cat and the wizardling,” snapped the demon-lord.
The fae-lord seemed irritated but he nodded. It was then that Aislinn interrupted. “Let my daughter handle it. It will be an important part of her recovery.”
Elthas smiled. “An excellent idea.” His eyes went to Tailtiu then, and he seemed to see her for the first time. His gaze went to Dinner, hanging contentedly in his sack. “What is that?”
Tailtiu answered in a voice that showed little concern. “A toy.”
Elthas snapped his fingers, and a vine shot forth from the ground and ripped through the strap holding the sack. Dinner fell to the ground and before Tailtiu could protest he brought his heel down on the puppy’s head, grinding it into the soil. Tailtiu didn’t move, but her body jerked slightly as the little dog died. “Next time leave your toys at home,” admonished her stepfather.
Will was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hardly noticed the tear that suddenly ran down Tailtiu’s cheek, but he heard the heartbreak in her voice. “Yes, father.”
“Are you really that weak, human?” Aislinn’s words repeated in his mind. Should I be stronger? he wondered. Or was she giving him a clue? Why had she emphasized the word ‘human’? Maybe she thinks I’m faking it—that I’m not really helpless. That would explain the way she had labeled him as human. The only advantage humans had over the fae was their ability to lie.
But the simple truth was that he couldn’t move. If his grandmother was playing a game within a game, he was about to fail the test. Aislinn’s next command caught his attention. “Daughter, I command you, by the debt you owe me, end this pitiful human’s life.”
Will’s gaze focused on Tailtiu in alarm, and several things flashed through his mind in that instant. The first was a technical point regarding debts and the fae. When a conflict of
interest between creditors came up, the one who held the larger debt took precedence. That meant that if Elthas ordered it, Tailtiu would be bound to do as she was told, but Aislinn had surrendered all of her daughter’s debt to Will.
He held precedence, but even more importantly, Tailtiu was free to do as she pleased. Her disease had made her different from the rest of her people. Aislinn had been giving up a worthless currency when she sold her daughter’s debt to Will. He had thought that sticking him with a bad deal was the entirety of her reasoning, but now he wondered.
There was no time to spend pondering the accounting of the fae. Will focused his will, trying to override Aislinn’s control over the chains. Given their proximity to his body and relative distance from his grandmother, he should have the advantage.
But the Goddess of Magic was incredibly strong. Aislinn smiled at him as he began actively trying to absorb the magical chains that held him fast. She knew exactly what was going through his mind, but she wasn’t going easy on him. The rules of her existence bound her. Elthas had commanded her service, and her iron will wouldn’t give her grandson even an ounce of slack.
The veins on Will’s temples stood out, and sweat ran down his cheeks as he fought with everything he had to neutralize the spell holding him. Tailtiu’s voice found his ears as she entreated her mother. “Surely you don’t really mean for me to kill him, do you?”
The golden chains holding him began to flicker as Will fought desperately for his freedom, and with each passing second, he became more certain. It was possible, and with confidence his will grew stronger.
Aislinn’s could see what was happening too. “Kill him. Now!” she commanded loudly.
Tailtiu was staring at the dead puppy on the ground, tears dripping from her cheeks. The Cath Bawlg yowled once more and somehow found the strength to snap at Elthas, to which the fae-lord responded by pulling his sword free and ramming it down the demigod’s throat. “Die fiend!” screamed the Lord of the Forest.
Disciple of War (Art of the Adept Book 4) Page 54