Scales of the Serpent

by Richard A. Knaak

  That is it! It must be destroyed! Quickly!

  But the morlu perhaps understood what he intended, for they came at him in a frenzy, screaming and leaping and swinging whatever weapons they carried. They converged on Uldyssian from all sides.

  Despite that, he concentrated only on the huge gem. Compared to the Worldstone, the task proved easier. Uldyssian located within it a fault and threw all his will into that one place—

  With a shattering sound worthy of the colliding Shards of the Worldstone, the Kiss of Mephisto was no more.

  The morlu did not slow even then. Their hatred for him was absolute. Foam splattered the mouths of many and their shrieks would have frightened the dead. The morlu lived only for his utter annihilation.

  Just as he had done before, a grim Uldyssian waved his arm across his view. He threw morlu left and right, into walls and into the lava flows. Those that got closer he burned with flame or speared with solid light. When even that did not halt the tide, Uldyssian seized one morlu after another and crushed their throats or broke their necks or backs. Blades cut wounds in him that he forced to heal. Gauntleted hands grasping for his limbs or neck slid off as if seeking to hold oil.

  Uldyssian pictured Lilith in his mind as he tore through the ranks of the morlu. Each one slain was her.

  And then…and then there were no more morlu to fight.

  It took Uldyssian nearly a minute to register this astounding fact. Around him lay the bodies. No part of the floor of the cavern seemed untouched by corpses or blood. Yet, the beasts of the temple did not rise to fight him again. The morlu were dead, this time forever.

  Well played…Uldyssian ul-Diomed.

  Uldyssian grunted, this the first time that he could sense respect in Malic’s voice. However, there was no time for congratulations. There was only the hunt for Lilith.

  Seek above, to your right. There you will find the way…

  Malic’s directions led Uldyssian to a door. No longer concerned about stealth, Uldyssian sent the door flying inward.

  He found two more morlu within, both slain by the door’s explosion. Uldyssian trod over their bodies, already sensing that Lilith was close at hand.

  With the aid of Malic’s ghost, Uldyssian emerged into what the spirit indicated was the Primus’s personal chambers. There was not much to see other than the elegant throne in the first and innermost chamber. The Primus, after all, had been only a facade for Lucion and his sister.

  He reached the doorway leading out, but there Malic suddenly spoke again. Hold the bone high and ready! the ghost demanded. And be prepared to throw!

  Uldyssian tensed. This extreme difference from previous instructions told him that Malic knew of some powerful threat without that even the son of Diomedes could not sense.

  With his thoughts, Uldyssian flung open the doors—

  Throw! commanded Malic urgently.

  Guided by his power as well as his arm, Uldyssian unleashed the bone. It soared out of the Primus’s chambers and down the darkened corridor beyond. Then, just as Uldyssian was about to lose sight of it, the piece abruptly veered to the right.

  He heard the bone strike something, followed immediately by a pained grunt. That, in turn, was followed by a heavy thud that Uldyssian recognized all too well.

  Darting out, he sought for the location. Sure enough, a figure clad in the robes of a Dialon lay sprawled in the corner. Blood from a wound to his forehead marked where the fragment had hit.

  Uldyssian started to reach for the bone—and then straightened. She was here.

  “Poor, poor darling Durram! He so wanted to be of assistance to his Primus!”

  Forgetting the fragment, he looked around. Try as he might, though, Uldyssian could not pinpoint exactly where she was. However, he finally thought he knew why. This was the main temple of the Triune, designed and built to Lucion’s expectations. Surely, like the ancient structure in which Lilith had planned to turn all the edyrem, this place was situated on a nexus, one of the points where the angels and demons had first begun to create the world. Lucion had usurped the forces of that nexus for his temple and manipulated them to mask the evil inherent in this place.

  And in masking the evil of the Burning Hells, those forces now also masked Lilith from him.

  “Ah, my dear, sweet Uldyssian!” the demoness mocked. “Always so near victory, always so willing to let it slip away from you…”

  “Not this time, Lilith!” he returned, pushing his will to the limits in order to find her. “Not this time!”

  “But, my love! Your brother and your friends are dead and your precious edyrem are even now being marched back here! How much greater a defeat can there be?”

  For a moment, her words sparked fear and despair in him, but then Uldyssian recalled just who spoke. “No more of your lies. No more of your games.”

  With that, he plunged toward where he believed she was.

  Suddenly, there were heavy doors in his path. Uldyssian, prepared for any barrier, threw his power into a blast that decimated them. His momentum sent him through a second later.

  He landed on all fours much like a cat…and then stared wide-eyed.

  Uldyssian crouched in one of the entrances to the huge chamber where the faithful gathered prior to the sermons of their respective priests. He knew the design of the other temples enough to know that he should not have yet reached this place. Once again, Lilith had played him.

  The towering statues of two of the false spirits loomed over him. That of Mefis—Lilith’s father, Mephisto—was oddly absent. The pedestal gave some indication that the statue had broken off at some point. Somehow, Uldyssian doubted that it had been an accident.

  Recalling Toraja, he kept a wary eye on the remaining two figures. Lilith wanted him in this chamber for a reason. Therefore, everything within was suspect.

  And just then, her laughter filled the room.

  “The game is done, my dear, sweet Uldyssian!” she called from everywhere and nowhere. “You have been a marvel and all that I imagined you’d be, but I would be finished with this, for I’ve so much more to do!”

  She was here…and yet, she was not. Uldyssian probed every direction. Each time, he felt that he had found her, but then some other location would then take prominence.

  “Show yourself,” he growled. “Show me where you are!”

  “Why, I am right here, my love.”

  Lilith appeared…and appeared…and appeared over and over and over. A hundred visions of the demoness materialized, followed by hundreds more.

  That they were merely illusion was the obvious thought to Uldyssian. Yet, when he sought to tell the true from the false, all of the figures seemed to him as the former. None were merely figments…

  “Hold me in your arms one last time,” they mocked in unison. A thousand Lilith’s pursed their lips. “Kiss me one last time, my love.” They started toward him, hips swinging, bodies moving suggestively. “Come lay with me one more time…”

  They could not all be real, yet they were. Uldyssian tried to focus, but the battle, his personal fight with the morlu…so much had happened to drain away his strength and concentration. He knew that the demoness had planned this. A weakened Uldyssian was less a threat to her and possibly, in her mind, more manageable. After all, she still wanted his edyrem and he was the easiest path to that.

  Then, Uldyssian thought about the fact that Lilith had gone to the trouble of sending him through the maze and against the morlu below. She had expected him to somehow survive. He felt certain of it. That, and her shock when she had first materialized in the midst of the jungle battle, revealed to him that the demoness respected his abilities more than she let on. In fact, Uldyssian suddenly believed that she was even a little frightened. Why else go through all this elaborate spellwork? Could Lilith not have done with him as she wished after stealing him from the others?

  Perhaps not…perhaps she had indeed needed him much weakened first…

  The horde of Liliths converged up
on him, all with arms outstretched. Uldyssian suspected that if he fell prey to her here, he was lost forever. Somehow, he had to find the one and only Lilith…

  In his fogged mind, a question arose. This was the supreme temple, the focus for the life of the sect.

  Where, then, were all those who should have been within? Lilith had sent only lesser priests, Peace Warders, and morlu into the jungle. Where were the acolytes, the high priests, the guards, and all the rest that kept the temple functioning but of whom many were not trained warriors? The only one that he had seen had been the one Malic’s bone had brought down.

  He suddenly knew.

  And knowing it, Uldyssian demanded in his mind to see the reality.

  The Liliths melted away. In their place stood the faithful. Priests, priestesses, acolytes, Peace Warders, and more. The whole of the sect was represented.

  But Lilith was not among them.

  She had to be here. Uldyssian reminded himself just who he was hunting. It would not be impossible for her to transform herself at the same time that he was ripping away her other illusion.

  The servants of the Triune must have realized, too, that they were no longer disguised, for they came at him like a maddened mob. In their minds, they still served the Primus and Uldyssian knew that nothing he said would shake their faith in that knowledge.

  But then, there were none here who did not know what the sect truly was, that it was actually a cult following the monstrous dictates of the lords of the Burning Hells. All concern for these fellow men and women abruptly faded. They cared nothing for the lives of his followers nor the innocents who came to listen to the “holy” sermons.

  As he had done with the morlu, Uldyssian swept away the ranks of the faithful. Screams echoed throughout the vast chamber as bodies went flying in all directions. Several flew high in the air, others crashed against the walls. Uldyssian left no direction unscathed. All those serving the Three were tossed aside like the refuse that they were.

  And that left one figure still standing. A nondescript follower in robes of gray and brown.

  “Hello, Lilith,” Uldyssian remarked.

  Her instinct for defense had this time played against her, but only momentarily. The human guise vanished, the demoness now in her full glory. She leapt up into the air, hovering momentarily.

  “My dear, sweet darling,” Lilith cooed. “You must be so weary! It’s a wonder that you can even stand…”

  In truth, he was very tired. Even the last spell had taxed him too much. Lilith, on the other hand, appeared strong and fresh.

  “I will miss you, my love,” she continued. “But all things must come to an end! I—”

  “Be silent, Lilith.”

  “Now, Uldyssian…” The demoness’s aspect grew dark. “That is no way to talk to me. I fear that this time I must truly punish you…”

  And suddenly, she stood before him, claws out and tail whipping. One pair of claws tore through his ruined garments and his flesh and this time Uldyssian could not entirely heal those wounds. He wanted to fall over, but knew he could not.

  His hand caught her wrist just before the second pair of claws would have raked his throat. He twisted Lilith around and threw her high into the air toward the statue of Bala. Lilith struck the top hard, cracking the head off.

  But even as the huge chunk of marble crashed to the floor, the demoness vanished, reappearing behind Uldyssian. Both her hands thrust forward, seeking his spine.

  However, Uldyssian had already sensed where she planned to materialize and so turned before that. He seized her hands in his own, clamping them together before sliding down to take the wrists tight.

  “It ends now, Lilith,” he stated flatly.

  A rumbling arose, one that shook the entire temple. Those followers of the cult who were still conscious and able to move began fleeing through the exits. They had no more reason to stay, after all. There was no sign of the true Primus, and Lilith had at last been revealed as their manipulator.

  “Now dear, sweet Uldyssian—”

  She got no further. A huge, marble hand grasped her, pulling her arms to the side and against her body. She squirmed and wriggled, but could neither vanish nor escape. Uldyssian dared not permit that to happen again.

  His breathing grew more ragged. This had to be done quickly. Uldyssian even had his doubts that he would be able to save himself, but that would be a small price to pay.

  The hand pulled the demoness high above him. Another joined it, grasping over the first. The two remaining statues had the demoness imprisoned.

  “It ends now,” Uldyssian repeated to her.

  Lilith bowed her head in defeat…and more than a dozen of the quills that were her tresses shot forth.

  Already teetering, Uldyssian allowed his powers to guide him. Almost of its own accord, his hand came up. A golden light formed in front of him.

  Borrowing from the evil of her brother, Uldyssian sent the quills back. Lilith could do nothing. Wherever she was visible, they pierced her scaled hide. Two in her stomach, three in her chest, more in her shoulders. Even her throat.

  A green ichor splattered the statues’ hands. Lilith let out a gurgling gasp, yet even then she still did not perish.

  “My sweet Uldyssian…” the demoness called out. “Think what you’ll do without my…my embraces…”

  His expression did not change. “I already do.”

  A fierce tremor shook the temple. Many of the Triune had already fled, but others still fought their way out. What neither they nor those who had already left had yet to realize was that all outer entrances had been sealed off.

  “Do you recall the last time we were in such a place, Lilith?” he managed to say without once pausing for a desperately needed breath. “Do you remember?”

  She said nothing, but her eyes burned with hatred. Her tail weaved back and forth, a sign to Uldyssian that, despite her own condition, she was very much a danger yet.

  “The last time, it was only by the strongest will on my part that the building held long enough for my people to escape.”

  By now, he could hear some of those beyond the chamber shouting and clamoring for anyone to let them out of the temple. They would shout to no avail. Uldyssian had made certain that no one could come to their aid.

  He took a very deep breath. “Now, even if it’s the last thing I can manage, I’m going to bring this one down.”

  The rumbling magnified a thousandfold. Veins spread like fire over all the walls, the ceiling, and even the marble floor. Great chunks started to fall.

  “Goodbye, Lilith. For the very last time.”

  She hissed.

  Her tail, stretching impossibly, reached all the way down to snare him. Caught unaware, Uldyssian fell on his back.

  But his own spell had already come to fruition. The entire roof—and all three towers, Uldyssian knew—collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of tons of stone and wood fell upon the chamber and all else. The shrieks of the faithful momentarily outdid even the roar of the collapse.

  Lilith, too, shrieked, as Bala and Dialon tumbled into one another…and on top of her in the process. Her tail unwound from around Uldyssian, flopping madly before vanishing into the rubble left in the wake of the demoness’s destruction.

  Uldyssian could pay no more mind to her fate. He struggled only to keep himself alive. Even as marble pieces ten and twenty times his size sought to crush him, he fought with all he could to keep a shield all around him.

  But the stone kept pressing and pressing and Lilith’s deeds had sapped him of more strength than he had let on to her. The effort of bringing down the gigantic structure was too much. Uldyssian felt the stone pushing closer, tighter—

  And then…the pressure eased. Uldyssian took advantage of that easing, straining to make his shield stronger, larger. Despite his body screaming to let it lie there, he shoved himself to his knees, then, when that worked, to his feet.

  Only then did it come to him that, other than the dust, the colla
pse was over.

  The ruins lay sprawled for as far as he could see. The dust made it impossible to know more about the destruction he had caused, but Uldyssian sensed a wave of emotions coming from the north. The capital, just beyond his physical view, had felt the collapse and now, no doubt, saw the cloud rising above to obscure the stars. It would not take long for riders to come out to see what had happened. The mage clans likely already knew.

  Uldyssian’s legs almost gave way. Fearful that he would leave matters incomplete, he quickly surveyed the area for any living sign of Lilith. After a moment, he sensed her trace some distance from him…a trace that faded away as Uldyssian monitored it.

  She was dead.

  It was over.

  The son of Diomedes let out a sigh…and fell. As he did, his fading mind wished that somehow he could return to the others. That was all that mattered, returning to them.

  And so you shall…came the voice of Trag’Oul. And so you shall…

  Twenty-Three

  There had been many losses, but many more lived who should not have. Mendeln and Serenthia saw to the comfort of all the edyrem, feeling that, in Uldyssian’s absence, they should do whatever they could.

  Despite the blood, despite the losses, there was an aura of joy among those there. They had vanquished their enemies. The few Peace Warders and priests to survive had fled into the deep jungles, their wills broken. They had nowhere to go, for everyone had felt the sudden destruction of the great temple. Jonas, climbing up a tree, claimed to have seen a dark cloud obscuring part of the sky in that direction. Daylight was coming soon, but no one needed to verify his claim…for suddenly Uldyssian himself was back among them.

  Although Uldyssian appeared alone, Mendeln knew that the dragon had lent his brother aid in the return, a second startling act by a being who insisted on complete secrecy when it came to his existence. Truly, Mendeln thought then, the Balance must have seen the good need for Uldyssian.