by Joe Jackson
“Oh, good point,” Kari said, but then she went quiet and looked back in the direction of the temple. The sounds of breaking stone had ceased, and she could’ve sworn she heard Sonja yell for help. She glanced at her companions and saw she wasn’t the only one. After a brief pause, the call came again, loudly and more panicked. Kari jumped to her feet and barked, “Grakin, stay here with Little Gray!”
The priest picked up their son and stepped back under cover of the trees while Kari and the others ran for the temple. Even with the aches and soreness she’d been dealing with, Kari found her legs carried her swiftly to and up the stairway of the pyramid when she heard Sonja calling for help. Something must’ve happened to Typhonix, she thought, and though Grakin was the most skilled healer among them, she had Danilynn and Se’sasha with her, and it was best not to make any assumptions.
Aeligos was the fastest of all of them, and he reached the top of the pyramid first. Kari heard a gasp of surprise, then a grunt and a cry of pain from her brother-in-law, and once again she heard Sonja scream for help. Eli and Danilynn reached the summit next, and Kari could clearly hear Eli let out a long, drawn-out swear, and Danilynn pulled both axes off of her belt. It had been no accident that caused Sonja to call for help.
Kari finally reached the top, and she had her scimitars in hand before she even had a moment to take in the scene before her. Typhonix lay in a growing pool of blood, and at first glance, he looked dead. Sonja’s two-handed sword lay shattered not far away, and the scarlet-haired woman was holding her hands up to keep a sheet of arcane force before her as a shield. Aeligos hobbled around the altar to keep it between him and the other who stood now in the center of the summit grounds, while Danilynn, Eli, and Kari formed a triangle around them. The rogue’s leg was lacerated badly, but he was upright and the leg was still attached.
It can’t be, Kari thought. “You’re supposed to be dead!” she shouted in defiance.
Taesenus turned his head slowly and fixed Kari with a withering glare over his shoulder. “So are you,” he spat. He was five-foot-eleven, just like Kari, muscular but in such a way that he was uniformly and perfectly built. His hair was long as was traditional among rir warriors, and the black and red hellfire-like tattoo that crossed his shoulders and throat only showed on his unarmored neck. He wore a set of paluric armor, but it wasn’t a complete set: parts of his arms and legs were unprotected, as was his neck and head, rather like Kari’s suit had been before she had it completed. Most curious of all, he had no wings despite the fact that he was serilian-rir. His baleful red eyes narrowed and his black teeth showed in a terrible grin. “Don’t worry; you soon will be, and all these with you. Except, perhaps, for her.”
Sonja growled when the Demon Prince pointed a sword at her, and she unleashed a stroke of lightning at him with a thought. He swatted it away with one of the twin katanas he held; he had to have considerable willpower to turn aside arcane power so easily. Apparently, he had taken his second katana off of Typhonix after striking down the blonde warrior, and Kari saw that now he had both swords to go along with having both arms again. Taesenus hardly seemed concerned that he faced three warriors at once now, and Kari knew why: a combination of skill and arrogance. Taesenus was probably one of the best fighters Kari had crossed swords with, but she had beat him in single combat. If he thought he could best her while she had the highly capable Danilynn and Eli with her, he was about to learn a very quick and painful lesson.
But to what end? Kari thought. Kaelariel had supposedly killed the Demon Prince just before the end of the Apocalypse, so how could Taesenus possibly be standing before them now? Kari supposed his retort to her was the answer: he’d been resurrected by someone, perhaps for the same reason as Kari and Sharyn. Whatever the case, she resolved to correct the situation and send the Demon Prince back to his mother.
Kari started to move forward, and Eli and Danilynn did so as well in tandem. Taesenus spun and threatened both Danilynn and Kari with his blades, but he focused his actual attacks on Eli. His vorpal katana cut the top of Eli’s shield clean off and caught the half-corlyps warrior unprepared. Blood flew sideways from Eli’s jaw as the sword bit into his snout, and the half-corlyps stumbled away holding his shield up, not even conscious of the fact that it had already been rendered nearly useless.
Danilynn thought to capitalize on Taesenus pursuing Eli, but the Demon Prince turned back on her. The priestess traded a couple of routines with Taesenus, and tried to move to a flanking position to give Kari the Demon Prince’s back. Taesenus was no fool, though, and he used footwork and angles to render Danilynn’s attacks harmless and keep from being pinned between the two women. Still, Danilynn was able to threaten and maneuver the Demon Prince to keep him away from Eli.
Kari checked over her shoulder briefly, and saw that Se’sasha was tending to Typhonix. Apparently, the blonde warrior wasn’t dead, but Kari accepted that he might soon be, and she used that fire to bring her rage to a deadly boil. The symbol of Zalkar began to glow upon her breastplate once again, and that drew Taesenus’ attention. He fended off Danilynn and then chased her back a few steps with a decapitating sequence, and then the Demon Prince turned and beckoned for Kari to attack him.
Temper, temper, Kari thought, remembering that his temper was what had let her beat the Demon Prince so many years ago. He seemed to have a much better grasp of his temper now, but Kari wasn’t about to make the same mistake. She was a defensive fighter, Suler Tumureldi’s sole student, and she wouldn’t make the error of attacking such a skilled fighter recklessly, no matter who he might’ve hurt, or how badly. Kari nodded past the Demon Prince to Danilynn, to let the priestess know to follow her lead and work in tandem. Kari didn’t know if she was truly under the effects of a Blood Oath, or why the symbol of Zalkar glowed on her breastplate, but she wasn’t going to take anything for granted or make any foolish mistakes.
Eli, however, didn’t seem quite cognizant of his own actions. He approached the Demon Prince slowly and quietly, but even as he raised his hammer, Taesenus spun on him. The Demon Prince raised one blade to parry the downswing of the hammer, but without hesitation he drove the other sword neatly under Eli’s ribs on the right side. That was a different tactic for him; Kari had never heard of the Demon Prince going for anything but the head of his enemies. He ran Eli through, the vorpal sword piercing Eli’s breastplate effortlessly, and then he kicked the half-corlyps to the ground, not bothering to take his head – yet.
Taesenus turned and began to circle Kari, paying his downed opponent no heed. “Liver shot,” he remarked, glaring at Danilynn and then turning his baleful, red-eyed gaze onto Kari. “He’ll be dead before you are, make no mistake.”
Sonja unleashed another stroke of lightning and began trying to rain down arcane death upon the Demon Prince. Shards of metal from around the temple’s top, a hail of fiery pellets, and a great arcane force in the shape of a fist all flew with deadly intent at Taesenus, but he brushed them aside casually as if swatting flies. “I appreciate the early wedding gifts, but save your pleasantries until after I’ve killed your friends,” Taesenus commented dryly. “Matter of fact, which of your brothers’ heads would you most appreciate as my gift to you?”
“I’d sooner marry Sekassus!” Sonja spat, but she got her wits about her and moved to pick up Ty’s greataxe after a moment.
“That could be arranged,” the Demon Prince said evenly. After staring at Kari for a couple more seconds, he held his swords out wide. “Come now, have you completely lost your nerve since last we met? Or do you simply know in your heart that while you’ve gotten older and fattened from calving, I’ve far surpassed you or that myth of a teacher of yours?”
Kari ignored his taunting remarks and glanced over her shoulder again at the syrinthian priestess. “How is he?” she asked quickly, but she turned back to watch the Demon Prince before Se’sasha could answer.
“He lives, but not for much longer,” she said. “Danilynn, I require your aid! It would also hel
p to have Grakin up here with us.”
Damnit, Kari thought. She didn’t want Taesenus to know her mate and son were in the woods, should the worst come to pass. She supposed it had to be so, though, if they wanted any chance of saving Typhonix’ life. Kari called out for Grakin, making sure to tell him that they needed him and that she didn’t just yell for him in terror. Kari gestured toward Typhonix with her head, and Danilynn slowly circled around Taesenus so she could go lend Se’sasha her aid. To Kari’s right, Aeligos had maneuvered around to Eli, and was trying to remove the half-corlyps’ breastplate to help tend to his wound.
Kari spun her swords quickly in her hands. She was pregnant, sore, achy, and probably not in the best shape for fighting, but she was standing face to face with the Demon Prince once again with no one to help her. She wasn’t sure she could defeat him again, but the blue glow of Zalkar’s symbol made her think otherwise. She uttered a silent prayer to both him and Sakkrass, and asked them to put their spirits on her in this moment of desperation. In the back of her mind, she thought that might be her saving grace: she had people and deities who cared about her, whereas the Demon Prince had only hatred to keep him going.
Taesenus chuckled. “Learn to guard your thoughts better, Karian,” he said. “The Lord of Destruction has granted me more power than either of your pathetic gods ever could or would. If you think to put that to the test, you may attack me any time at your leisure.”
Still an arrogant bastard, Kari thought. Worse than that, he had apparently learned a few things from Abaddon, if his words were to be believed. Where the younger Taesenus that Kari had fought during the Apocalypse was a great fighter, he was reckless and had a terrible temper, both of which Kari had been able to use against him. The man who stood before her now used those things as his weapons instead of letting them be his weaknesses; he was baiting Kari to make the same mistakes he had years before. Kari didn’t smile overtly, but deep down inside, she was glad to see he still didn’t understand who he was fighting.
Kari knew her enemy well, most specifically his love of decapitating his foes in battle, and she was mindful of the fact that her helmet was, as usual, tucked away in her pack. Just as when she fought Turillia in Barcon, she couldn’t help but think that oversight was going to get her killed one day. Once again, she prayed that today wouldn’t be that day. She raised her scimitars before her and considered how best to initiate their fight. Taesenus apparently wasn’t going to be goaded into attacking her, meaning Kari’s defensive, counterattacking style would be harder to utilize.
Taesenus began twirling his blades, acting bored, but as Kari beheld him holding both swords, a disturbing thought crossed her mind. Amastri – and thereby Koursturaux – had known Kari would be passing through this valley with Taesenus’ second sword. There was no way that his being here was coincidence, then: Koursturaux had to have betrayed Kari. Typhonix and Eli were both gravely wounded, and the Demon Prince had gotten his second prized vorpal sword back, all because Kari had gotten wrapped up with the demon king. His claims that he learned from Abaddon seemed a ploy: he had to be working for Koursturaux.
Kari began circling the Demon Prince, slowly closing the distance between them as she moved around him. He seemed hesitant to strike first, and this allowed Kari to get closer to him than any swordsman worth their salt would be comfortable with. Taesenus was wary about being pinned between Kari and any of the others, most notably Sonja, but he gave ground to her as he waited for her to strike first. Kari didn’t oblige him, though: she was trying to buy her friends time to stabilize Typhonix and Eli. The longer she could hold Taesenus at bay, the better her chances were of getting more help again.
Finally, the Demon Prince grew tired of waiting. He turned as if to move at Sonja, but as soon as Kari started to intercept, he whirled back on her. Kari had expected such a ploy after having her snout nearly cloven in two by Turillia; she caught his initial attacks easily. He had the advantage of reach with his longer blades, but Kari had already worked inside his range to frustrate that. Taesenus’ face contorted into a snarl when he realized she’d duped him, but he didn’t fly into a rage. His attacks came short and tight, utilizing thrusts to try to reestablish distance and swings to keep Kari moving to her left, into his more powerful right-hand arc.
Kari accepted a harmless thrust that glanced off the paluric armor of her belly to move in even closer to the Demon Prince. She turned her left scimitar over the wrong way and cut in a backwards motion, trying to use the sharpened backside to hook under his incomplete armor and go for the arteries in his thigh. Taesenus barely avoided the strike, much like when Kari used it on Turillia, but she did catch enough flesh to tear the skin and bring forth a stream of blood. In typical fashion, the Demon Prince retaliated by swinging for her neck.
His error was in not reestablishing distance first, which was what Kari had counted on. She stepped in instead of back, turned to her right, and drove her knee into his armored groin. The paluric armor wouldn’t absorb much of the blow, she knew, and getting hit in the crotch was painful whether you had padding there or not. He let forth a grunt and flashed his teeth in a snarl, but he had to accept her advantage and hop back two paces to put distance between them. Kari used that time to hold her bloodied left sword up by her face and smile at him around it.
Taesenus smiled back, and Kari began to react before he even put his thoughts into motion. He dashed to his right to strike a coup de grace on Aeligos, who was tending to Eli. Kari flapped her wings hard but crouched, and the sudden sound made Taesenus stop and change direction, to come up facing her in a ready position. She wasted no more time playing: if he was threatening further harm to her friends, Kari knew she had to duel him and get it over with as quickly as possible. She gestured briefly for Sonja to go help the priests tend to Typhonix.
Kari skulked in toward Taesenus and feinted, but this time he didn’t back away. He swung at her hard, but his second sword began to move sinuously in the wake of the first strike, preparing for a second and then probably more after it. Kari met each of his attacks but didn’t bother to try to riposte: she simply parried and worked to push his swings lower and lower, away from his favorite target. He played along, but Kari could tell he was waiting for an opportune moment to strike. She drove one of his blades wide and then left herself open on that side, and just as Turillia had, Taesenus took the bait.
Kari kicked the Demon Prince hard in the jaw, and he staggered to the side, black blood dripping from his mouth as though he’d bitten through his tongue. She followed him and stabbed hard with her left blade, and she brought her right up underneath it to try to cut off his hand if he parried predictably. Her sword glanced off the armor on his hip, but it slid down enough to cut into the unprotected side of his leg, forcing him to stumble further along. Kari followed him by sidestepping, keeping him in front of her instead of following in his wake.
Taesenus got his footing and drove both swords at her in a deceptively quick double thrust. Kari drove his swords apart, but he beat her to the attack and kicked her hard in her armored belly. Kari screamed out and staggered back. The kick brought tears to her eyes, and she gritted her teeth in a grimace of pain, backing away with her swords at the ready. Sonja rose just long enough to swing her massive decapitator at Taesenus, forcing him to his right, which bought Kari enough time to fight through the pain. More than the pain, though, she was worried about the damage it might’ve done to her baby.
The Demon Prince stalked to the side away from Sonja, but he kept his vicious scowl firmly upon Kari. “Oh, are you carrying a little one? How nice to know I’ll kill two of you with one stroke,” he spat.
Grakin reached the top of the temple with Little Gray in his arms, and his eyes widened when he saw the scene before him. He glanced at Typhonix, and there was no doubt he knew where his attention was needed, but he fixed a helpless stare on Kari. She was fighting, while pregnant, and worse than that, she was fighting alone. Kari nodded her head toward Ty, and Taesenus sni
ckered when he saw the concern on Grakin’s face.
“Perhaps I should kill him and your boy before I kill you,” the Demon Prince mused.
He shut up abruptly when he was struck from behind by Eli’s hammer. The half-corlyps nearly laid the Demon Prince flat with a bone-crushing hit to the back, but Eli doubled over in pain as soon as he’d swung. Taesenus stumbled forward and started to turn to strike back at Eli, but Kari slipped in sinuously and swung back, up, and outward with her right scimitar and sliced neatly under Taesenus’ jaw. Blood flew free and then began to spurt from the wound, and Kari knew she’d caught him in the artery.
Kari moved to finish the job, but the Demon Prince hopped up on the altar and touched his neck briefly. His blood spattered on the altar’s surface as it spurted free a few times, but after only moments, it stopped, and he rolled his head to the side as though stretching his neck. Kari began to move toward the altar to attack, but she stopped and swiveled her head when a deep humming sound erupted from behind her. She kept her swords up before her to ward off any advance by the Demon Prince, but turned her eyes quickly to the portal behind her.
Where only emptiness had stood in the center of the circle before, now a shimmering field of power rippled the air. Kari swore under her breath and moved over beside the portal defensively; she had no idea if anything would come through. Danilynn was watching the Demon Prince warily, one hand on her axe while she kept the other feeding healing energy to Typhonix. Sonja, too, still had Ty’s axe gripped firmly, waiting for any sign or gesture that she should join in the battle. Kari kept her focus primarily on the portal; everyone else seemed to be fine without her attention at that moment.
“So, it does still work,” Taesenus said. “Yes, my lord will find this most interesting. In the meantime, I would suggest you see to your little Temple, because we’ll be coming for it soon enough, Vanador.”