City of Delusions (The Dying World Book 2)

by John Triptych

  Nylius gave her a smile and shook his head. “Worry not, I shall deal with them.”

  “I … am … for … ever … yours,” she said before her pupils rolled up and all he could see was the white part of her eyes. A short wheeze gushed from the remaining air in her lungs before she convulsed one more time, then her whole, fragile body became limp.

  Despite the popping noises of the guns and the shouting below, the shadows and stillness of the roof deck had an almost tranquil, quiet sense of atmosphere around it. Nylius shook with rage as he tilted his head up and let out a roar. His thirst for vengeance needed to be satisfied, and he would stop at nothing to satiate it.

  Half an hour had passed, and Miri’s mindsense had now fully returned to her. Snippets of thoughts and emotions flew through the air, ready to be taken and considered. She knew that her mind needed some time to fully attune herself to the nuances of her recovered Vis, but it felt like an old, trusted friend had come back, and her past techniques and experience made it all instinctual as far as knowing how to use it. Gripping her spear with one hand, Miri ran her other hand along the back portion of her skull. The soft part that once indicated the place where the accursed healers of Lethe had bored into her skull was now gone, as if the whole ordeal never even happened.

  Zeren was crouched low beside her, while carrying the sleeping boy in his arms. “I swear he must have some terrible wounds on his body, but I can no longer see them now.”

  “His gift of Vis is stronger than yours or mine,” Miri said. The three of them were hiding near the anteroom of the main temple hall, waiting for a lull in the fighting so that they could bring Rion out to safety. “He has the power to heal himself and others too.”

  Zeren smirked. “So I found out. That is a very attractive power to have, especially when everyone wants to bleed you dry for it.”

  Miri gave him a sullen look. “We were nearly killed and yet you continue to spew forth jokes. You have a very strange sense of humor.”

  Zeren shrugged. “I find that at times like these, it is what keeps me sane. Is there a clear path out of here yet?”

  Miri rubbed her forehead. She was still busy trying to sort out all the chaotic thoughts that swirled around them. With so much pain and emotion in the air, it was hard to pinpoint everyone’s location. The fact that she still did not have full control over her mindsense made it all even harder. “I am sensing a lot of mental Vis emanating from a nearby hall, it must be one of the matriarchs who is coordinating the defense. I am shielding our thoughts from her so they do not know we are here, but there are too much mental echoes coming from all sides which confuses me. I wish I had a few more days to practice my Vis, though I am aware of our situation.”

  “Well, perhaps it might be better for us to try our luck anyway,” Zeren said. He stood up and headed for one of the side doors.

  Miri suddenly picked up a gaggle of thoughts that had been somehow hidden from her mindsense. She got up and ran after him. “Zeren, wait!”

  The main doors behind them were suddenly flung open, and dozens of men dressed in rags and wielding guns came through. Bawk had a big smile on his face as he walked ahead of his men. The side door that Zeren was about to escape into quickly opened as well, and more gunmen came into the hall and pointed their weapons at the two of them.

  Bawk let out a chuckle as he stared at Miri. “So you are the Red Gorgon, eh? You are even more beautiful without that mask you wore in the arena.”

  Zeren sighed as he turned around and walked back over to where Miri was standing. “Looks like more work ahead.”

  Miri stared at the leader of the league. “How were you able to conceal yourself from my thoughts?”

  Bawk gave her a toothy grin as he gestured at them to move towards another direction. In his hand was a shorter version of the guns that the others were carrying. “You will find out soon enough. In the meantime, you are to follow us, for we need to parley with our enemies in regards to the future of this city.”

  Miri led the way into the cavernous hall of the reliquary, followed closely by Zeren as he carried Rion in his arms. The boy had begun to stir, but Zeren made eye contact and indicated that it was better if he continued to feign sleep. Right behind them were Bawk and his gunmen, who numbered close to twenty. The moment the double doors were flung open, they could see the matriarch of House Kentis, Acro and Kardra, along with seven wounded Magi, and close to three dozen mindless men were waiting for them, weapons at the ready. A truce had been called, and Bawk’s group advanced until both sides stood a mere twenty paces from each other, with several of his men staying close to the support columns, ready to get behind it for cover in case of renewed hostilities.

  Bawk made a slight bow as he faced the matriarch and her retinue. “A pleasant eventide to you, Cirine. How is your group faring?”

  Cirine wanted to kill him with her mind, but she was completely focused on controlling the sporemen that were standing beside her. She figured that if Bawk’s men started using their guns, she would have a split-second to have the mindless ones form a protective wall around her. She needed to wait for the right moment. “Let us dispense with the pleasantries. Why have you attacked the Magi Order?”

  “The Magi are one of the pillars of this city,” Bawk said. “My aim is to free all the slaves from bondage.”

  Cirine snorted. “We all know that this is but a lie. How much coin do you want, Bawk?”

  Bawk chuckled. “All of it.”

  “Everything? You do realize that if you dispense with the nobility, then Lethe will fall, right?” Cirine said. “History has shown us that. Every city needs its leaders. With leadership, there is order. Without order there will be starvation and chaos.”

  Bawk gave her a blank look. “So you do not believe in equality? Do you not have any feelings for the slaves who toil away and die of plague and starvation while you and the other accursed nobles get fat? Your kind drinks fresh water from the underground springs, while everyone else has to drink the sewage from your latrines.”

  “If you give away the water then there will not be much left for anyone,” Cirine said. “Our springs have been slowly drying up. Rationing is the only solution. There is very little to go around and without a proper way of distribution, then most of the people will die out.”

  There was a loud crash coming from one of the windows. Everyone turned to look up. Nylius used his Vis to cushion his landing while leaping down in between the opposing groups. He carried Elevis’s body in his arms before he knelt down and placed it gently to the floor. His face was a stone mask of rage as he stood fully upright, his hands on the hilts of his swords. “Enough!” he said while turning to face Bawk. “You and your men have caused the death of many Magi, and for that you will pay!”

  Several gunmen leveled their rifles at the Grand Magus, before Bawk raised an arm, signaling them to wait. “Lord Nylius, our quarrel with the Magi rests solely on your alliance with House Kentis and the other nobility. I am aware of the value that the users of Vis have in keeping order in the city, but I cannot allow you to side with the nobility against the slaves any longer.”

  Nylius seethed with rage as his eyes darted back and forth. Both the Striga and his accursed brother were present, and he wanted to kill them all. “There are still groups of Magi in the other buildings, ready to fight, and we can annihilate your side!”

  “We can all fight on, that is true,” Bawk said. “But we can also come to an agreement, and spare the lives of those who would otherwise die.”

  “You attacked us, you will be made to account for your aggression,” Nylius said.

  Miri turned her gaze to Nylius. “The Magi are partly to blame with what has happened. It seems that the former Grand Magus was your father, and you are therefore an abomination.”

  “Lies!” Nylius said. “I was elected to be Grand Magus of the Magi Order. No one opposed me.”

  “It is said that your father, Jetan, used the blood of children such as Rion to not only
extend his life, but to regain his loins and so fathered you,” Miri said. “According to the oldest of laws, a Magi cannot father children, and must undergo the ritual of emasculation. The Magi Order has therefore been hopelessly corrupted, and you are guilty of betraying the sacred oaths.”

  “I care not what you think,” Nylius said. “Under my leadership the Magi Order will return to prominence, and some stupid, ancient promises no longer concern us! No one can challenge my rule!”

  “I shall challenge you,” Zeren said. “Your leadership has doomed the other Magi, and this cannot go on.” He placed Rion on the floor, before turning to face the renegade slaves. “It is true that Jetan fathered Nylius. I know of this, for I am the son of the Grand Magus as well, and Nylius is my brother.”

  Loud gasps were heard from the outlaw slaves and the remaining Magi. Acro’s eyes opened wide, yet he remained silent, while Kardra scowled at Cirine. The old laws had also stated that any Magi would be eligible to challenge the Grand Magus, if the latter was deemed unfit to lead them. Zeren adjusted his sword belt, making sure that it was snug. Even the opposing sides stepped back a few paces, in order to give the duel wide latitude for safety. Nylius scowled as he began to build up his Vis, this time he would grant no mercy, not even to his own kin.

  The boy was conscious but still weak, Miri propped him up by his elbow while leaning close to Zeren. “Are you sure that this is what you want?” she said.

  Zeren nodded while making sure the armor he wore was in place. “I need to fight him, or Nylius will lead the Magi to destruction.”

  Miri nodded as she led Rion back to the crowd. “May the gods grant you luck.”

  Both men drew their weapons and began to circle each other. Their bare heads were the most vulnerable part of their bodies, and they both knew it. Nylius kept his blades close by his side, in a high guard position, while Zeren’s broadsword was almost level with his chest as he kept the blade pointed at the Grand Magus. Nylius had on a steel breastplate, with chainmail covering his arms and legs. Zeren could see that his opponent’s arming swords had cross-guards above the hilts, but Nylius also wore steel and leather gauntlets, making an attack against his hands quite useless.

  Nylius made the opening move by lunging forward and swinging his right sword arm in a downward slash, hoping to make Zeren commit and parry his initial attack, so that he could follow up with the second sword in his left hand. Zeren did parry the first blow, but he was fast enough to see the second attack coming from his right, and he was able to block it with his vambrace. Using a little bit of Vis for a spurt of speed, Zeren got in between his opponent’s blade and gave his older brother a swift knee to the groin, sending the Grand Magus backwards onto the stone flooring. Nylius used his mindforce to push Zeren back, just as he was about to thrust down with his broadsword.

  Zeren staggered backwards from the invisible force wave. Nylius tuck rolled up and held his dual blades out in front before using more of his Vis to slide forward, intending to impale his opponent. Zeren shifted sideways and used his own mindforce to propel himself towards his enemy, using both hands on his broadsword in a cutting motion to his side. As both brothers passed each other, Zeren’s blade was able to score a hit just behind the Grand Magus’s knee, right in between the armored greaves and where the chainmail had ended. The cut tore into the ligaments of Nylius’s knee. At the same moment, Nylius had been unable to bring his left blade to bear, but the arming sword in his right hand cut along the side of Zeren’s torso, tearing through the leather straps holding the side, and slicing into his ribcage.

  Both brothers grunted in pain as they turned and faced each other once more. Nylius’s right knee almost buckled and he could barely stand, while Zeren used his free hand to clutch painfully at his side. Nylius roared with anger as he ran into his brother, and both men began to struggle on the ground.

  Miri was watching the duel intently, until she sensed another presence in the room that had somehow remained hidden. Glancing over to where Cirine was standing, she noticed that one of the mindless ones had slowly made his way forward until he stood just behind the old matriarch. Miri tried to use a mind probe on the sporeman, but her mental feelers were instantly rebuffed by a solid wall of thought blocks. “Look out!” she said.

  Cirine too sensed a presence nearby and she turned to react, but it was too late. The glassy-eyed man drove the sharp point of his bone sword underneath her ribcage and punctured the heart. The Matriarch of House Kentis gasped as she fell on her knees. The sporeman wasn’t finished as he held the dripping blade by her neck and its obsidian edges tore through the windpipe and separated the neck bone with one blow. Cirine’s severed head rolled onto the floor as everyone turned and gasped in surprise.

  Nylius was able to get on top of Zeren, and one of his swords was now at a proper angle as he used his Vis to tilt the edge of the weapon onto his brother’s throat. The edge of the blade caught the side of Zeren’s neck and began to draw blood. Nylius was using his Vis reserves as extra leverage, and Zeren used his own mindforce to try and hold it back.

  “Die, brother,” Nylius said as he continued to tilt his blade further along Zeren’s throat, just a little bit more and he would cut through the main artery.

  Zeren’s left arm was pinned in between them, and his right hand was holding back Nylius’s other sword from striking him. In a bind and about to lose his life, Zeren noticed his brother’s face was right beside the cross guard of the very sword slicing through his throat. Zeren grimaced as he used his Vis, only this time his mindforce was directed against his brother’s head instead of trying to stop the blade.

  Nylius’s face suddenly slammed down onto the hilt of his own sword. The side of the cross guard entered his right eye socket, and Nylius howled in pain, momentarily losing his concentration. Zeren used his remaining Vis to throw the Grand Magus backwards, and Nylius fell on his back a few feet away. Rolling to his right, Zeren picked up his broadsword and got up. Nylius was now half-blind and in pain, but his thirst for revenge compelled him to fight on. He still had one arming sword and he screamed while running forward towards his brother. Zeren used his mindforce to pivot to his left, and thrust his blade in between Nylius’s arms and drove the sword point into his chin. Nylius fell sideways onto the floor, blood gushing from his mouth. He looked up with one eye to his brother standing over him.

  “For Ylira, and all the others who died by your schemes,” Zeren said as he held the middle of the blade with his other hand for a more precise blow, before driving it down onto the top of the Grand Magus’s head. Nylius fell to the ground and died almost instantly. Zeren stood fully upright, while clutching at the wound at his throat.

  A figure emerged from the shadows of an adjoining column, and then walked over to where the dead matriarch of House Kentis was. Everyone stood in mute surprise as Tanys lifted the hood from her cloak and stared down at the blood-drenched corpse of her rival. “Farewell, Cirine, you were not clever enough to ever displace me.”

  Miri turned to face the matriarch of House Aranida. Zeren had told her that he didn’t give Bawk’s men the additional supplies for his guns. It had to have come from somewhere else. These renegade slaves were also quite proficient in the use of the weapons, which only proved that they had been trained to use them long before they acquired the guns. “The League of the Sewer, they were under your control all this time,” Miri said.

  Bawk bowed in supplication as Tanys stood beside him. “Of course. I have been secretly giving them support, just in case I ever needed an army to fight with.” She turned to look at Miri. “Do not attempt to possess anyone, for I have placed thought blocks on all the sporemen that are present here,” Tanys said.

  Zeren walked over to where Miri and Rion were. “So what now?”

  Tanys stared at him blankly. “Now? Things go on as before. All of House Kentis’s possessions are mine. You will surrender that boy to me, and the Red Gorgon will be stripped of her Vis once more. I am sure the healers of Lethe w
ill have a grand time of—”

  The matriarch’s words were suddenly interrupted as her eyes bulged out and she made a loud gasp. To everyone’s surprise, they all noticed that Bawk had drawn his short sword and had stabbed her in the back with it. Tanys shrieked as she fell on her knees, blood dribbling from her mouth. Bawk had a glassy-eyed stare as he brought up the gun he was holding in his other hand, aimed it at the back of Tanys’s head and fired. The sudden loud bang startled the audience, and one of the mindless ones ran up and drove his sword through Bawk’s neck, and tore open his jugular. Two of the slaves aimed their guns at the sporeman who had just killed their leader, and fired, splattering his brains all over the ground. The wounded Magi in the audience prepared their Vis for more fighting, while the leaderless gunmen took cover behind the stone columns of the room.

  Miri stood in front of Rion as she used her mindsense to calm everyone down. Her mental tendrils quickly began to work their way through the crowd, sending out tranquil waves of reconciliation, while dampening the blind rages erupting around her. “Enough! No more killing!” she said.

  Kardra strode forward to the center of the crowd and held up a stone seal. Tanys had not expected someone in the audience to use their Vis, and it ended in her death. “I am Kardra, true matriarch of House Kentis. Everyone, keep your weapons at bay. My mother Cirine was murdered by Tanys, and in turn I have used my mindsense to avenge her. I am Cirine’s daughter, but I did not approve of her alliance with the Magi. Now that she and the Grand Magus are dead, I wish to forgo any further revenge. I offer the pledge of peace.”

  Rion was still weak, and his voice was barely a whisper. “I will not be made a prisoner again.”

  Kardra smiled at the boy. “You and Miri, along with Grimgrin, are free. Let the morrow be a new day for the city of Lethe.”

  Chapter 19

  Miri placed the waterskins beside the leather packs. She noticed that Zeren had finally returned and she wanted to get underway. Matriarch Kardra was as good as her word, and the nobles were in negotiations with the freemen to emancipate the slaves and let them become equal citizens of Lethe. It seemed that Cirine’s daughter wasn’t like her mother at all, for Kardra had spent many cycles posing as a slave for her own protection, yet her mother’s plans backfired, since the new matriarch of House Kentis had developed a sense of empathy for the servile caste, and she no longer wanted to keep them in bondage. The healers of Lethe were at a loss in regards to curing the mindless ones, and the mercenaries were still on edge. Belgos, the creator of the sporemen, never woke up; dying in his sleep a few days after he was injured. Nevertheless, peace had arrived once again. A great change was coming to the city, yet they needed to move on. The moment Rion had found out about the Maker of Entropy, he hurried them both to go forth and find this being. From what they discovered in the old tales, the Maker was somewhere beyond the mountains to the east, a region that had not been explored for thousands of cycles. They would have to use the ancient caravan routes if they were to navigate across the vastness of the great unknown.