As K’lrsa moved back towards the center of the room, trying to see if M’lara was still hiding in the passage, two soldiers dragged Badru’s limp body past her. He moaned softly as they moved him, and K’lrsa breathed a sigh of relief. He was still alive.
Aran would’ve brought him back one way or the other, but at least this way no one had to die for him. Again.
Although, looking at the young boy they’d brought in, she wondered if living another day was actually a mercy. His feet were so deformed he couldn’t walk and there were fresh burn marks on his face and hands. He didn’t even try to struggle as they strapped him into place, every line of his body resigned to his short, miserable existence.
Once more, rage pulsed through her body.
She moved towards where the staff rested, positioning herself so she could see into the passage at the same time. No sign of M’lara. Maybe she’d fled when she saw what had happened to them.
Not likely, though. She was K’lrsa’s sister after all, and just as stubborn and foolish.
Aran watched her through his bulging, hooded reptile eyes as she eased her way closer to the staff.
It called to her, begging to be used.
She could sense every drop of water in the entire palace. And the vast reserve of water below the city—an amount of water so vast and deep that it could swallow not just the palace but the entire city of Toreem.
All she had to do was call on it and it would come to her. Even now. Even without the staff in her hand.
But she didn’t want to do that. She’d destroy every man, woman, and child in the city, including Badru, Vedhe, M’lara, and the innocent children Aran was using for his dark magic. And every slave forced to be here against their will.
Everyone would die. Both the evil and the innocent.
She would die.
She didn’t want that. Not yet.
But…
If that’s what she had to do to defeat Aran? To purge his evil from the world…
She’d do it.
Not yet, though.
There were still other options. If she could just get Vedhe close enough to the sun power…
Or the sun power close enough to her…
She glanced towards the passage. She needed the necklace. She needed M’lara.
Behind her, Badru gasped as they completed the ritual. K’lrsa didn’t look at him, even though she was glad he was back. She was too busy trying to figure out how to get the necklace from M’lara without Aran noticing.
Unfortunately, his attention was completely focused on her. He clenched his gauntleted fist. “One more step and I’ll blast you into that wall.”
She turned away from the table. “I don’t get it. Why do this? You’re a powerful man. Why hurt people like you do?”
Aran stepped closer. “What’s the point in being the favored one of the gods if you never do anything with the power they’ve given you?”
“So you hurt people so you can use the power of the gods?”
He nodded.
“That makes no sense.”
In the darkened passageway behind Aran, a shadow shifted, and K’lrsa tensed.
What was M’lara doing? She was going to get caught.
She wrenched her attention away from M’lara, hoping Aran hadn’t seen her reaction. Instead she turned to smile at Badru as he made his way back to the center of the room.
“Badru!” She forced herself to step past Aran and ignore M’lara as she moved to Badru’s side. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, ignoring her sister, but she had to do it. Aran couldn’t know M’lara was there.
She threw her arms around Badru. “I thought I’d lost you,” she cried, loud enough for Aran to hear.
As Badru pulled her close, she pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, “M’lara’s here. In the passageway.”
He tensed for just a moment as he pulled her closer.
Aran interrupted them. “Enough. Sit down. Now that everyone’s healed, it’s time to see what you brought me. And then the fun can really begin.”
Chapter 70
K’lrsa sat down next to Vedhe, making sure she could see the passageway without Aran noticing. “Are you okay?” she asked, searching Vedhe’s face for signs of her earlier panic.
Vedhe shrugged, pulling her knees tight to her chest. She flinched each time one of Aran’s soldiers moved, but otherwise she seemed fine.
“Silence!” Aran shouted. He picked up the staff and ran his hands down its length, studying each whorl and notch in the wood. “Ah, the Staff of Life. A good tool to have in the desert, but not much of a weapon, is it?”
K’lrsa glared at him. The power of the staff called to her, begging her to use it, to show this arrogant little man what a fool he was. To drown his corruption and debauchery and wash away his filth.
It would be so easy…
She shoved the thought aside.
Not yet.
Not if she could get the sun orb for Vedhe.
He set down the staff and picked up the orb. “Now this is more interesting. The Sun Orb. The power of Father Sun himself.” It burned red in his hands and he raised it high as he looked at each of them in turn. “Hm. Which to test it on? The one already burned by the sun once? The fool who lost his throne to a pretty face? Or that pretty face?” He focused on K’lrsa. “Do you want to know what it feels like to burn, my little desert Rider?”
K’lrsa flinched, but Vedhe nudged her knee and spoke loud enough for Aran to hear her. “He can’t use it unless he takes off the glove.”
Aran nodded and set it back down. “True. But how did you know that?”
“I learned it in the labyrinth.”
“Ah, yes. You’ve all three been to the center of the labyrinth. Except…” He studied the objects on the table and then looked towards the passage. “There are only two objects here. Where is the third? Is it still in the wall?”
“Badru didn’t get to choose.” K’lrsa said, desperately needing him to look at her and away from where M’lara was hidden. She wanted to dash across the room and block the broken hole with her body, but she resisted.
“What?” He turned his attention back to her.
“Badru didn’t get to choose the first time because he came to the Hidden City as a death walker. He was dead as soon as he crossed the threshold.”
“And yet here he sits. How?”
K’lrsa bit her lip. Why had she told him that? He hadn’t known until she said it that Badru had been healed with death walker magic. And now he knew a death walker could leave the Hidden City. He’d use that knowledge. He’d follow it like a string unraveling from a rug until he figured out how to do it himself.
“How?” he thundered.
K’lrsa cowered as he raised his gauntleted fist.
“Father Sun.” Badru stood, confronting his grandfather. How anyone could’ve thought that Badru in all his beauty was in any way related to Aran, she’d never know. “He’s the one that freed me.”
“And how did he free you?”
“You think a god would tell a mere mortal his secrets? I don’t know. He said he could and he did.”
Aran flexed his fist. “Hm. I’ll have to talk to him someday. See what he cares to tell me.”
“You’d challenge a god?” K’lrsa asked.
“What are the gods, really? Powerful, yes. But all-powerful? No. And with this?” He clenched his fist and held it high. “And these.” He gestured towards the staff and the sun orb. “I, too, am powerful.”
K’lrsa shook her head. “They’ll destroy you.”
“Perhaps. But I’ll take that risk. You said Badru didn’t get to choose the first time. What happened the second time?”
“He was already gone. Father Sun freed him before we returned to the Hidden City.”
“And what of the necklace you used to send the twisted and bent remains of my men back to me. A nice gesture by the way. Well done. Against a weaker opponent that might’ve had some meaning.”
“The balance.” Vedhe lurched to her feet, her hands still bound behind her.
K’lrsa risked looking towards the passage. Was that a shadow with a small vial clutched in its tiny fist? Had M’lara found the moon power?
“What about it?” Aran asked, sneering at her.
Vedhe took a step towards him. “I gave up my viewing tube. I couldn’t keep it and maintain the balance.”
K’lrsa bit her lip, waiting for Aran to stop her. Instead, he laughed.
“Like the balance would be affected by that little viewing tube you took.” He shook his head. “You foolish women. You were given access to any weapon you could possibly want, and you chose a viewing tube and a necklace. I hear they were pretty, at least.”
K’lrsa held her breath as Vedhe took another step closer. “Not all of us want to destroy the world.”
“Destroy it?” He leered at her. “I don’t want to destroy it, little girl. I want to rule it. And what do you want? Pretty dresses? Fancy jewels? Men to adore you?”
Vedhe took another step.
She was within arm reach of the table now, but her hands were still tied behind her back. Was she close enough to use the orb yet? Did she need to touch it?
“What do I want?” Vedhe asked, her voice as sweet as honey, sounding every bit like the little girl he’d called her. “I want the world to burn.”
The sun orb flared to life, shooting flames in all directions.
Chapter 71
Aran screamed as his clothes caught fire, flames racing up and down his body, licking at his flesh. He wasn’t the only one the flames struck. Manen, who’d been standing off to the side, burned like a torch, screaming until he collapsed to the ground in moaning agony.
The curtains on the windows were consumed in an instant and the table smoldered.
K’lrsa could hear men screaming behind her as well—the only thing that had saved her and Badru was the fact they were seated on the floor—but she didn’t turn, her attention focused completely on Aran and Vedhe.
Vedhe had done it. She’d defeated Aran.
But even as K’lrsa thought it, Aran held his gauntleted fist out and clenched it closed. Vedhe screamed in agony. The flames disappeared as her chest collapsed. It was as if a giant hand were squeezing her body to a pulp.
K’lrsa shouted at him to stop, but he continued to squeeze, his face twisted with rage. At last he stopped, throwing what remained of Vedhe against the wall where she hit with a sickening splat.
“I’ll make you burn, bitch.” He screamed.
K’lrsa ran to Vedhe’s side even though it was too late. No one could survive that kind of damage.
But her body had landed next to the passage where M’lara hid. She had to save her. She had to…
K’lrsa glanced over her shoulder. Aran was taking off the gauntlet, his hands trembling with rage as he pulled at each finger.
“Give me the necklace,” K’lrsa hissed into the darkness of the passageway, hoping her sister was there and would listen. Now was not the time for her to decide to be a hero.
K’lrsa glanced over her shoulder again, just in time to see Aran tuck the gauntlet into his belt and grab the sun orb.
His eyes filled with fire as the orb latched onto the darkness inside his soul and fanned it to a frenzy of destruction.
Chapter 72
“K’lrsa, here. Take it.” M’lara pressed the necklace into her hand.
Aran’s smile widened. “Another one? Good. We’ll have fun together. Do you like fire, child?”
K’lrsa gripped the necklace, feeling the metal curves press into her flesh, wanting nothing more than to use it to flee this horrible room that smelled like burned flesh and death. But it was too late for that. Too late to pretend there was anywhere in the world or the Promised Plains that would be safe from Aran.
He took another step towards them, clearly fighting to control the power of the sun orb. A blast of fire shot out from the orb and struck one of the guards on the other side of the room. He screamed in agony as the others fled, leaving him to burn.
There was no point trying to find the Core. She was too scared for that. Instead she just gritted her teeth and focused on what she needed to do. M’lara was safe—she had the moon power. Which meant K’lrsa needed to attack.
Now.
She focused on the gauntlet, and with a flick of her mind, flung it at Badru, who’d been trying to sneak up on Aran from behind, a slim dagger clutched in his fist. Badru caught the gauntlet and dodged to the side as Aran turned and blasted fire at him.
K’lrsa ran to the back of the room, looking around for any sort of weapon she could find as Badru continued to run from Aran, struggling to put the gauntlet on as he ducked and rolled and dashed left and right.
A blast of fire almost caught K’lrsa, but she managed to hide behind the burnt body of one of the soldiers, gagging on the stench of him, trying not to see his burned flesh and empty eyes. He had a half-melted sword buckled at his waist, but it was useless.
She reached for his calf, hoping he’d stashed another weapon there, as Aran turned back to Badru. He threw another blast of flame and Badru cried out. He was on the ground now, crawling away from Aran, the flesh of his left leg burnt and smoking. Aran laughed, raising his hand to strike the killing blow.
M’lara ran from the shelter of the passageway, the moon power clutched in her tiny little fist. “Don’t,” she screamed, placing herself between Aran and Badru.
Aran laughed and threw another bolt of fire, this one headed straight for M’lara’s chest.
“No,” K’lrsa screamed.
Chapter 73
K’lrsa lurched forward, desperate to put herself between Aran’s fire and M’lara. But she was too late. The fire reached M’lara in less time than it took to blink.
But then…
Nothing.
The fire just disappeared.
It wasn’t there anymore.
For a count of five they all froze, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then M’lara started crying and Aran screamed in rage and threw another bolt of fire at her but it too disappeared into nothing. K’lrsa veered away from them at the last moment as she finally realized what had happened.
The moon power was protecting her.
But it wouldn’t protect K’lrsa. She dove for the bathing area, hiding behind the half-wall that seemed to have survived the fire so far, batting at her hair where it had been singed by a random spit of fire as she passed Aran.
She peeked over the top of the wall. Aran was advancing on M’lara, still throwing fire balls at her. She was stumbling away from him, safe for now. But not for long. The moon power couldn’t protect an eight-year-old child against the physical harm a grown man could do if he managed to catch her.
Badru staggered to his feet, the gauntlet on his left hand. “Grandfather,” he shouted. “Your time has come.” He reached out and squeezed, lifting his hand into the air as he did so.
Aran rose off the ground, screaming in agony as his body crumpled in on itself and his bones ground together. The sight and sound of it was too much for K’lrsa. She retched until there was nothing left in her stomach and then retched some more.
When she finally stumbled to her feet, it was over.
Aran lay on the multi-colored tile floor, his bright red blood covering a checkered section of black and white tiles, his eyes staring at nothing. He’d been crushed in half, his entire chest area no wider than her thigh.
She stumbled across the floor, fighting the urge to run away and never look back.
The sun orb lay by his side, still spitting fire as if alive, soaked in his blood.
She swallowed her bile and picked it up, fighting the urge to burn the world down. To turn it on everyone and everything and cleanse them in the holy fire of Father Sun.
Only one man in this room needed cleansed.
Aran. She focused on him, directing the flames of the sun orb at his broken body, watching him burn until there was
nothing left. Not a tooth, not a fingertip.
Nothing.
Aran was dead. Gone.
Forever this time.
No one could bring him back.
She dropped the orb and turned to the others.
Chapter 74
Badru stood in the center of the room, the gauntlet at his feet, leaning heavily to one side, hurt but alive.
M’lara stood off to the side, shaking, her eyes wide with horror as she sobbed.
K’lrsa wanted to go to her, but she didn’t. Instead she went to Vedhe. Just in case. Just in case she’d somehow survived what Aran had done to her.
Even though Vedhe had come to the Hidden City expecting to die, it still hurt to see her friend lying there on the floor, her eyes open and unseeing, dead. K’lrsa closed her eyes and brushed her pale hair back from her forehead.
She hadn’t deserved this. Hadn’t deserved any of it.
K’lrsa sobbed, letting all the fear of the last few moments finally overwhelm her.
Badru knelt beside her, pulling her into his arms. “I’m sorry, K’lrsa.”
“It isn’t fair. Everything she went through and…For it to end like this…” She shook her head, wiping at the tears that continued to flow.
It wasn’t fair. Vedhe deserved her revenge. Her chance to track down Ivan and make him pay for what he’d done to her family. And she deserved a chance to heal, to find happiness, to know that her life wasn’t just about the moments of suffering, but that there could be joy, too.
And love. Love like K’lrsa had found with Badru.
She deserved better than to be crushed to death as part of a fight that meant nothing to her.
A man moaned nearby and K’lrsa flinched. She’d left the sun orb in the center of the room for anyone to take. Fortunately, the soldier was burnt too badly to move.
He was no threat; he’d be dead soon.
She lurched to her feet.
Badru joined her. “What? What is it?”
“We can save her.”
Rider's Resolve (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 3) Page 25