“You are too noble.” Dizon took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “It is you that should be king, not these other fools. Take them all down, and start over again while you can.”
“I don’t want to be king. The people can sort that out among themselves. I prefer to stay in the background and keep a close eye on them.” As they watched the people of Mendes react to the stones he’d sent into the streets, Finster sat on the wall and leaned against the battlements. He felt the rings on his fingers. They were everything he had desired. He could throw lightning, disintegrate flesh, and make fire, water, and ice on command. The telekinetic powers allowed him to fly. At the same time, he could summon forth shields of protection and regenerate.
Nothing in the world could stop him. Nothing in the world could have stopped Ingrid and Rolem, yet somehow, he had. Still, at his strongest, he’d almost died several times. With the powers in hand, he’d become a magnet for his own destruction. He twisted the black iron ring around his index finger. It took away his pain, destroyed the poison within, but there was still a chronic nagging in his back from the scarab. The Founder’s Stone and Moth gnawed at his mind. Before long, he knew, one would destroy the other. He was not that strong.
“I need a drink.”
“No,” Dizon said. “That is the last thing you need. You will finish this task first.”
He sighed. Night came. He waited for a message from King Rolem. None came. Instead, the shoreline remained quiet. The army of Mendes stood by campfires and carried torches. The people in the streets watched the Black Tower with fascination. There was little activity on the king’s patios either. Everything was at a standstill.
Osgald approached. From behind his metal mask, he said, “It’s going to be a long night. It always is on the eve before a battle.”
“You don’t think that Rolem will give, do you?” Finster replied.
“I’ve served three kings and met with many more. I’ve never known any of them to admit to being wrong.” Osgald looked out over the sea to the armies that waited below. “They are scheming.”
“Kings are excellent schemers. Especially this one.”
“I have much respect for your efforts, Finster.” Osgald patted his sword pommel. “But Dizon is right. There is only one way out of this. It will bring casualties. King Rolem will sacrifice every citizen to save himself.”
“I know. And I will risk myself to save the kingdom. In the end, it is the right thing to do.” Staring into the star-filled tapestry in the sky, Finster said, “I have enough blood on my hands from serving kings such as him. I was young. The crown was an excuse to do evil. Guilt drove me another way. I found myself in the thick of it once again but with new perspective. Someone in the fallen world must stand for what is right. It has to be the Red Citadel. We must lead the kings with wisdom.”
“Men will always be men. Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall. The only thing that matters is that good men do what they can.” Osgald put a hand on Finster’s shoulder. “Fight the good fight until the bitter end. Protect the ones you can.”
“Aye.” Finster turned his attention to Dizon and Rinny. They traipsed over the rooftop, holding hands and yawning.
From the stairwell that led onto the rooftop, slimy tentacles snaked out of the dark opening. Like whips, they snared Dizon and Rinny by the ankles and yanked them into the tower’s bowels. Rinny’s screams echoed back.
CHAPTER 99
Lucen, the Magus Supremeus of the Violet Citadel, along with a score of his mages, journeyed from the shore to the king’s war galleons on a rowboat. Inside the hull of the warship, they linked arms. There, they chanted a chorus of twisting words that carried over the ship’s deck, souring the otherwise durable sailors’ stomachs.
When the sorcerers finished their incantation, they slunk up to the ship’s deck and looked over the bow. Fifty yards away, the Black Tower hovered dozens of yards above the water. The shining moon brought a glimmer to the mineral-rich stones of the slowly spinning cylinder, glinting now and again like tiny bits of firelight. Below the tower, the water jumped. A round surge started in a circle, rolling toward the galleon, causing it to pitch and rock.
The white eyes of the sailors and soldiers could be clearly seen. They pointed at the spot in the water that had started to gurgle and create sea foam. The spot began to spread.
The captain of the galleon, a slender sailor with muttonchops and a heavy stare, stepped in behind Lucen. “What is amiss? My hairs are dancing on my neck.”
Lucen’s sharp, vulturelike features cracked a smile. “Captain, in all of your sea adventures, have you ever encountered Tubulkaan?”
“The sea god? I dare not say the name.” The captain’s Adam’s apple rolled. His face beaded with new sweat. “But once I believe I saw him. My eyes would not close for sleep. The sea god took a brigantine down into the belly of the sea and feasted on all of the sailors. Tell me you have not awakened him.” He cast a nervous look at his men. “Tell me you jest.”
“Tubulkaan does not sleep. He is fully awakened… now,” Lucen said with a chuckle.
Like a great fountain, a geyser of water burst out of the sea. The marveling sailors gasped. The geyser surged upward to the bottom of the tower. From the top of the water, black-purple tentacles wriggled out. The writhing things stretched upward, and like the slimy limbs of an octopus, they latched onto the tower. Pulling upward, a bulging creature with a huge, misshapen body as large as a gray whale’s climbed inside the tower. Its body was long and covered with tentacles and spikes like sea urchins. The hulking sea monster vanished into the tower. The geyser collapsed into the water, making waves that quickly became a part of the sea.
“Tubulkaan, the sea god, has successfully been summoned,” Lucen said with a winning expression. His fellow mages shared thin smiles. “As old as the sea, as merciless as the waves crashing against the rocks, nothing can stop him from devouring his prey. Isn’t that right, Captain?”
“The sea god is as immortal as the sea itself.” The captain sucked his teeth. “It’s like trying to kill waves with a sword. Nothing can stop him. Nothing.” He took out a handkerchief and dabbed his forehead. “We should row away. Far, far away, back toward the beach.”
“The sea god has been summoned. I think he would be offended if his audience abandoned his efforts. Stay put, Captain. Stay put, and watch the show.”
The captain backed away from the magus. He gathered the sailors and soldiers, and they started praying.
CHAPTER 100
Rinny’s cry sent a jolt through Finster. The black tentacles that had taken the girl and Dizon were spreading out onto the rooftop in a wave. Propelled by a will that was not his own but rather Moth’s, the combined man ran straight into the heart of danger. Sword in hand, they hacked through the thick, bulbous tentacles. The sword cut clean through the appendages, but the monster didn’t flinch.
What is this ghastly thing?
The sorcerers of the Violet Citadel had made their move. They’d summoned an abomination from the deep water. It had slipped inside the tower, unnoticed, ready to feed on everything that moved.
One of the new Citadel Guardians let out a scream. Tentacles encircled the man’s entire body. His metal chest plate bowed inward. Bone crunched. The tentacles reeled the man into the hulking monster that waited below.
Meanwhile, Moth hacked into the flesh-hungry sea monster with berserk fury. Sharing his body with Finster, he fought his way down the steps. Rinny still screamed, her voice carrying through the darkness like a nighthawk of terror. Moth surged forward. Finster’s will wasn’t strong enough to tear control away. Instead, he let Moth control the body. He focused his mind on the power of the rings and tore the rooftop away. The rocks dropped into the sea. Waiting below, filling the chamber, was the bulging, jellylike horror spawned in the waters of hell. The monstrosity had many eyes around a cave-hole of a mouth filled with many rows of shark-like teeth. There was great intelligence in those hungry, fearless eyes. Its jaw ope
ned and closed. It drew Dizon and Rinny, both kicking and screaming, toward it.
“No!” Finster managed to scream. Somehow, as Moth chopped a path through the mound of flesh toward the woman and girl, Finster commanded fire from his fingers. Strands of lightning erupted out of the savage’s free left hand, smiting the sea god. The semi-gelatinous body of the sea god quavered. Its tentacles straightened, and it flung Dizon and Rinny over the wall of the tower. Finster watched in horror as the women disappeared. “Noooo!”
On command, Finster summoned the powers from the telekinetic ring made from silver and adorned in garnet gems. The small stones flared. He envisioned himself catching the women who were plummeting toward their deaths. Suddenly, dozens of tentacles burst out of the sea monster’s mouth, engulfing Finster’s new body head to toe and yanking them down to the awaiting maw.
***
The Black Tower dropped straight down into the sea with a titanic splash. Lucen stood with his fellow mages, mouth wide open with joy. The sailors and soldiers let out a wild cheer. They flung their caps into the air. The boat rocked to and fro as the tower sank like a stone. It came to a stop with the very top of the battlement jutting up out of the water like teeth.
Unable to contain his elation, Lucen said, “Hah!” He shook his fist. “Take that, Finster, you lowly crud from the Red Citadel!”
A jovial cry erupted from the shoreline and carried over the crashing sound of new waves. The brass horns of victory blared throughout the ranks of the waiting soldiers.
Lucen shook hands with his fellow mages. They were all very quick to congratulate each other. He looked to the captain of the galleon. “Captain, ready the rowboat. Take us to shore. I’m certain King Rolem is eager to congratulate us on our victory.”
The captain nodded. “Aye. We’ll row with godly speed, mighty wizard.”
***
Alexandria stood beside King Rolem, looking out over the patio. The king’s strong hand gripped hers like a vise. It tightened the moment the Black Tower dropped out of the sky and plunged into the seawater.
“Yes!” The king pumped his fist. “Yes!” He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her. “We did it! It is done! That foul wizard is finally sunk.”
“I wouldn’t rest without seeing his washed-up corpse,” she said.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure the water will wash him up.” King Rolem broke away from her. He faced his constituents. “Wine! The finest wine for everyone. This travesty is over! We need to have a hearty salute to our mysterious colleagues from the Violet Citadel!”
“Hear, hear!” someone said.
“Hear, hear!” added another.
Eyes fixed on the water, Alexandria felt something gnawing at her gut. The longer there was no sign of Finster the better. No man could hold his breath forever. She watched. She counted. The savage and the sorcerer had slipped free of death’s icy grip more than once. Be gone, Finster. Be gone.
***
Moth controlled the physical portion of the body he shared with Finster. Inside the bowels of the monster that had swallowed them whole, the reckless savage unleashed all his fury with the sword. Flesh came off the sea monster in hunks. It didn’t matter. It replenished itself almost as fast as it lost. At the same time, thousands of sharp teeth lining the monster’s throat swallowed their body deep into its black, watery bowels. The jagged teeth rent flesh on the way down. Only the regenerating ring kept them together.
Summoning forth the power that he controlled in the rings, Finster released everything that he could think of. Fire. Lightning. Disintegration. The mystic onslaught tore through the bestial, water-bloated hulk with wroth force that would wipe out an army. The monster shook, but its devouring efforts never slackened. Ancient, evil, and hungry, the sea monster took everything that Finster had. To Finster, fed by his own growing anger at the deaths of Dizon and Rinny, he realized that time was running out. Using the onyx and copper ring of disintegration, he tore a hole through the monster’s flesh. Moth still swung like a madman.
“Fool!” Finster screamed inwardly to his counterpart. “Swim out!”
The savage had none of it. He was enraged as a wounded and wild thing, hell-bent on avenging the women.
The gap that Finster had made in the monster’s body started to close. Seawater filled it. Now, fully submerged, they would drown. There was nothing Finster could do about that. Yet fed by his rage and Moth’s, combined with the hungry powers of the Founder’s Stone, they fought on. He tried to pushed them out of the body with telekinesis. He used lightning to carve a new path out. The monster held them fast with jagged teeth and spines sticking to their flesh.
Finster choked on salty water. He dispersed all of the energy at his disposal, lighting the sea god up with the glow of a jellyfish. Everything has a weakness, sea god or not. He had learned that long ago. Find its heart, and kill it! He concentrated, listening for the beat of a heart or something else within the vile beast.
That was when the primitive instincts of Moth kicked in. The savage’s keen senses picked up on the steady, distinct thump-thump of a heart beating inside the monster’s body.
Moth swam deeper down the flesh-rending throat of the beast. Finster pushed with telekinetic power. All the while, their shredded body began suffocating. Time running out, with tremendous effort, they pushed onward, foot after foot, toward the growing sound of the heart. Using the rings for light, they came upon a mass of muscles as big as a man. Moth plunged his sword deep into the thumping heart. Finster channeled all of his power through the savage’s sword arm. The blade pierced deep.
The sea monster made an unearthly underwater squeal.
As one, Finster and Moth went elbow deep into the muscle of the monster. Finster discharged all of the rings’ unified energy with their final breath. Tubulkaan’s heart exploded. The world went black.
CHAPTER 101
At Castle Mendes, it didn’t take long for the celebration of Finster’s demise to blossom into full swing. It had barely been an hour since the Black Tower had sunk in the Gallatan Sea’s bay. With no sign of Finster surfacing in the water or on land, King Rolem led the revelry. Now, joined by Lucen and the rest of the brood from the Violet Citadel, along with the king’s high guard and the highest-ranking dignitaries, they sang and toasted in sheer revelry.
Alexandria remained close to the pack, listening in on their conversations, and King Rolem and Lucen conspired to somehow retrieve the Founder’s Stone and the rings. Their faces wore impish expressions filled with greed. King Rolem had also dispatched his soldiers, with sledgehammers, to break down the slabs that Finster had dropped all over the city. It wouldn’t be long before King Rolem would be in full control once again.
Moving toward the balcony’s edge, she stared out, fastening her eyes on the top battlements of the sunken Black Tower. Her jaw muscles clenched. There was emptiness inside her. In the end, she wasn’t the one to take credit for killing Finster. Instead, that honor would go to someone else. Despite all of her great efforts, she had failed. In all truth, she hoped that Finster and the savage had survived the monster. Then she would get a shot at them one more time. But that ship of opportunity had passed. The honor went to the savage and mighty sea god Lucen identified as Tubulkaan. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and moved back toward the party, just missing the monstrous dead husk of the sea god that emerged on the surface in the bay.
Waving her over, King Rolem said, “Alexandria, come, come!” His smile was as broad as a rainbow. He handed her a goblet of wine. “You have yet to have a toast with me. And just so you know, I plan to give both you and Lucen credit for your role in this.”
“The Circle would prefer your discretion in the matter,” she said. “What is known between the three of us will suffice.”
Lucen showed her a razor-thin smile. “I see the Circle and the Violet Citadel assuming many more charges together, High Executioner. It will be my honor.”
King Rolem hefted his glass. “To victory. New conq
uests. Bolder alliances.”
Alexandria and Lucen responded in unison. “Hear, hear!” All as one, they drank.
As they finished the toast, water dripped down from above them like rain. King Rolem held his hand out. “Why, it’s rainy, yet I don’t recall seeing any clouds.” He looked up. His face turned ashen, and he dropped his goblet. It shattered on the patio.
Alexandria’s blood froze the moment she cast her glance skyward. Finster stood in the air, dripping wet, in tattered and disheveled robes that covered a now-formidable body. His eyes were burning emeralds. An angry visage held everyone below agape. Many gasped and cowered.
He spoke in a thunderous voice. “I should have listened to her. I should have killed you at the very beginning. Like a fool, I showed a killer mercy. Never, I say, again.”
Stammering, King Rolem replied in his own loud and cracking voice, “It is you that committed murder, killing my innocent Ingrid and countless more, monster.” He looked at Lucen. “I thought he was finished. Stop him.”
Lucen’s brood gathered in the half circle. They aimed their fingers at Finster.
The king’s high guards’ spears were ripped out of their fingers. They shot across the patio, goring the exposed bodies of the sorcerers en masse. Each spear struck true through a heart, killing them instantly. The dignitaries fled in full panic. Many jumped the patio walls and dove over the decks.
Finster continued to talk as the air picked up and swirled. The deck chairs and tables lifted, forming a vortex around him. At the same time, it trapped the king, Alexandria, and many others on the deck. “You killed my dear Dizon. Her child. The King of Rayland. And the queen.” His hot stare landed on Alexandria. “Your time has come to pay for that.”
The Red Citadel and the Sorcerer's Power Page 32