Chronicles Of Aronshae (3 Book Omnibus)

by J. K. Barber

  The door to his office flew open, a chilly blast filling the room and washing over Administrator Tomas. The fire sputtered wildly but managed to stay lit. The Ice Queen charged into the room, her skirts threatening to trip her up, but years of wearing the attire kept her on her feet. Anger rippled across her skin so strongly that raw energy glowed hotly about her person. Ignoring her, he went back to stirring up the fire, which really was in need of it after the small gale. She stopped short of The Administrator and grabbed his shoulder to drag him to his feet.

  There was a loud pop and, before she knew what was happening, the Empress of Ice was on her back, clutching at her chest as the electricity that had filled her body subsided. The Administrator calmly stood and turned toward his former student, electricity crackling from his purple eyes. She stared at him in horror. Her Shadow Walker, who had been standing in the corner, ran at the Administrator, obsidian daggers flashing in the firelight. Tomas saw him coming out of the corner of his eye. With absolute calm, he opened his palm toward the creature then closed it. The Shadow Walker froze mid-stride and looked dumbly at him for a moment with its milky eyes. Broken crystal dropped to the floorboards, as the creature stood there a moment more, before it slowly slumped after the fallen shards.

  In a voice that was much deeper than that of his boyish body, so deep that it vibrated the floorboards he spoke, “You seem to forget that I am the Master and you the pupil. Never forget that or next time I will remove you from this world… permanently.”

  The Ice Queen had recovered and with a glance at the Administrator to see if he was going to prevent it stood, when no action on his part was taken. In fact, as the lightning faded from his eyes, he sat back down on his rug but facing her this time. She pointed at her fallen bodyguard.

  “If you could do this all along, why have you not? Why not kill me?” she asked, as she stood before him, honest confusion on her brow.

  The boy sighed deeply and responded in his normal voice, “It is not for me to do, but you try my patience.”

  She nodded and sat in a chair near him, pondering his response. “Duly noted,” she simply said.

  “Now, what did you want when you came storming into my office?” he asked sourly.

  The anger returned to Salamasca’s face, but she kept it in check. “I attempted to capture one of your current pupils in my captain’s first attack on Snowhaven,” the Ice Queen said, “…to learn what I could of your magical defenses. She somehow escaped, so I had her hunted again. Each time, my Shadow Walkers have been lost in the Void or killed outright. I want to know who Katya is.

  “She has a twin sister, Sasha, I hear from one of your other students that I tortured. Unfortunately, he was not strong like this Katya. He was a weak and pitiful excuse for a sorcerer and was dealt with as such.” The Empress of Ice smiled, remembering something that had brought her some kind of sick joy. The Administrator scowled at his former student, and she got back to the point under his gaze. “What makes these girls different?”

  “That, I can honestly say, I do not know. It was only recently when Sasha departed in search of her sister that I noticed something ‘different’ about them as you said,” he replied.

  “Well, they and some of their new friends have managed to kill quite a few of my Shadow Walkers,” she said and regarded her dead bodyguard dully, “and it looks like I’ll have to replace the one you killed as well.” She stood, smoothing her skirt as she did. “Since you don’t know anything about those sisters, I’ll leave you to your log-poking. I’ll be body shopping in town,” she grinned malevolently, “to make some more Shadow Walkers.”

  She walked to the door, but lingered in the doorway a moment, looking at something outside. Her remaining Shadow Walker, with her nodded permission, put a hand around her waist, moved to a shadowy corner, and slashed at the darkness with one of his daggers. A black rip formed and opened into a portal to the Void. She stalled him a moment with an upraised hand. “By the way, I did a little re-decorating to your tower. I hope you don’t mind. I’ll be back shortly,” she winked and disappeared into the rip in reality.

  Administrator Tomas stood and walked to the door to shut it behind her. His body went rigid with horror when he got there; the once clear crystal rising from the center of the tower was now an opaque black.

  “Empress,” the tall knight in full black plate sank to his knees at the sudden appearance of his superior, his helm and massive spiked greatsword placed in front of him on the floor. The orcs and soldiers milling about the trashed, tavern common room dropped their cards, wrestling with each other to be the first to prostrate themselves on the floor before the Ice Queen.

  In the shadowy doorway at the back of the room, a black shimmering in the air had turned into a tear in the fabric of reality. A deathly white hand had appeared out of it, and then the Void traveler and his companion had emerged. The Empress of Ice glowed with a dreadful radiance, dark power roiling from her gaunt form and causing her troops to grovel before her as she scanned the room. Her face tightened with anger at the filth.

  She spun on Captain Ra’thet, her staff landing solidly on the side of his head. The blow knocked him over. The Shadow Walker never moved but kept his milky eyes on the room for the slightest bit of movement. The troops knew better. To defy the Ice Queen was a swift death from the Shadow Walkers’ cruel daggers, if he were lucky enough for it to be quick or for that to be the actual end to his service.

  “What is this filth?!” she screamed at her captain. He recovered from the blow and resumed his kneeling. Blood trickled from his brow, but he did not wipe it away. She examined him for a moment, searching his face for answers. His pale handsome face was smoothly shaven but smudged with dried blood and dirt. His dark hair was matted and had come loose from where it had been bound at the base of his neck.

  As usual, his soft blue eyes did not match the firmness in his jaw nor the strength of the corded-muscle body she knew lay beneath his armor. This man lived and breathed war, and that is why she had chosen him as her champion. Still, anger powered her and kept her from being distracted. “I did not raise an army for it to wallow like swine. Captain, I require an escort from you and two of your men. The rest of you,” she scanned the room again, anger like fire in her eyes, “clean this town up, starting with this tavern. Every chair righted and every broken glass removed. Then, I want the all bodies of the Snowhaven soldiers and ours alike piled outside the Southern Gate and burning by sundown.”

  “Yes, Empress,” the entire room echoed. The Ice Queen turned and exited the tavern, her Shadow Walker disappearing from sight but she knew he was never far from her side. Captain Ra’thet with an ice orc and a human soldier exited soon after. Ra’thet had put his helm on, its long black mane sprouting from the top fluttering in the cool mountain air. He slung his sword into its back sheath. She grinned at the three men.

  “Boys, we are going body shopping,” she almost giggled with joy. “My Shadow Walker ranks need to be replenished, and I don’t have time to find fully frozen bodies in the wilderness. The chilled corpses here will have to do. Let’s start at the Northern Gate, where they held out for so long. There are bound to be some strapping fellows there.”

  “As you wish, Empress,” Captain Ra’thet purred. “You men walk ahead and drag any bodies you find onto the street for your Empress to choose from.”

  “Yes sir,” the soldier clearly replied. The orc’s words were nearly lost in his guttural voice, but his obedience was plain. The two did as they were told and got to work dragging the bodies out into plain view.

  The Ice Queen and Captain Ra’thet strolled along in silence for few minutes. She took his arm, a strangely lady-like propriety coming from a woman as corrupted as she, treading on a street littered with corpses and streaked with blood. The air was ripe with her grim victory. Smoke rose from a few of the buildings, and her soldiers were now putting out the fires. Not a single body of a commoner was in sight. Only soldier and sorcerer cadavers dotted the streets.
The Ice Queen made note of that fact but was not overly irritated at the smallfolks’ obvious escape; the town was hers now. Let the rats scurry away into the shadows. I know the darkness well. I will eventually find them, and all that do not kneel before me will be slaughtered, she thought smugly.

  “The Snowhaven defenses did well, Empress, but as you can see they did not hold,” Ra’thet stated, his voice pulling her back from her contemplations. “The town is yours, and I am yours to command for whatever you intend for it.”

  The Ice Queen smiled. It was almost pretty. “You have done well, my pet. I will have to reward you later.” She glimpsed the crook of a smile on his lips, through the mouthpiece in his helm. “As for my plans, this town is merely a gateway.”

  “Yes, it is a gateway into Illyander, but we have quite a hard fight ahead of us, if you are to push to the capital, Empress.”

  “Not as hard as you would think,” the Ice Queen’s smile turned into a fierce grin. “I have arranged for you and your troops to safely travel through the Void, and you will come out within the walls of Aeirsga. My Shadow Walkers have only to secure your destination at the crystal there. In a week’s time, we will overthrow Illyander’s capital from within.”

  Captain Ra’thet stopped in his tracks, as they neared the Northern Gate, and stared at her in astonishment.

  “Don’t look at me that way,” Salamasca giggled, her features softening and her grin flirtatious. “You might make me blush, and I haven’t done that for at least two hundred years.”

  “I apologize, Empress,” Captain Ra’thet replied, shaking his head in astonishment. “I knew your powers were strong, but this news reveals you to me in a new manner. You are strengthened yet again by your knowledge, something I could never master. With such control over this world through the Void, no one will be able to defy you. I am your humble servant.” He got to his knees and bowed his head, removing his helm.

  “Ah my pet, stand,” the Ice Queen said, still smiling, pleased at his praise and devotion. He obeyed and rose. “As you now know, this is only the beginning, but… there is one who could stop me,” her eyes went uncomfortably to the Sorcerer Tower.

  “Your old Master?” he asked, knowing of some of her past with The Administrator. She nodded.

  “He could ruin my plans, whatever he is, but for some reason he does not directly aid this kingdom. He knows more than any human could fathom. I… fear him,” the Ice Queen admitted, and Ra’thet protectively laid his other hand over where she held his arm. She didn’t seem to notice the comforting gesture at first, so lost she was in thought. The otherworldly pale woman continued on without pause, “His power is far greater than mine.” She finally noticed her captain’s hand clasping her own and pulled away, dropping even her arm from his. “That is why no one is to enter that tower but me and the Shadow Walkers.” The Ice Queen said more coolly, pausing momentarily to stare at the tower and consider the being that lived inside. “However, he doesn’t directly resist me either. We shall see if I can win him over to my way of thinking.”

  “As you wish, Empress,” Captain Ra’thet inclined his head to her, even though she only stood as high as his shoulder. “What about the magical defenses of the palace itself?”

  “The paths you will travel are far older than the King’s hedge wizard’s paltry wards,” she said. “In actuality, you will appear inside of the palace’s magical defenses if all goes well. You should have control of the palace before he knows you are even there.” Ra’thet nodded. The Ice Queen looked thoughtful again. Then her eyes fell on a corpse at her feet.

  “Well, well, what do we have here?” She knelt at the side of a male sorcerer. His robes were tattered, and his head was missing. “I see you claimed this one as a prize for your sword.”

  “Yes, Empress. His head is at the tavern sitting on the bar. He was the most powerful sorcerer we encountered and held the gate with only four men at the end of the battle.”

  “I want him,” Salamasca’s eyes then went to the guards that had died in almost a perfect diamond around him, “…and his men. Have them brought to the tower. My Shadow Walker will take them inside for their transformation.”

  “Yes, Empress,” Ra’thet bowed and gestured for his two men to gather the bodies.

  “I’ll need that head,” The Ice Queen winked at her captain.

  “Yes, Empress,” he chuckled.

  The Ice Queen turned to go, taking a few steps down the alley, back towards the tower. She stopped and looked back at her captain, who was standing over a pile of bodies, his face mature, yet still fresh and strong. His pale features were almost aglow against the stone houses and mountains around him. He is magnificent, she thought. Her captain respectfully lowered his eyes from her gaze.

  “Empress? Do you require anything else?” he asked.

  “I do indeed,” Salamasca said in a sultry voice. “Come to the tower tonight after you have cleaned up. We have much to discuss... and celebrate.” Her lips curled into a mischievous smile. He raised his eyes and greedily smiled back, looking at the way her waist and hips curved nicely about her. Ra’thet licked his lips like a hungry animal being offered a steak.

  The Ice Queen walked down the basement stairs of the Sorcerer Tower, her sole-remaining Shadow Walker in tow with a body over his shoulder. The shadow creature did not even bend under its burden. When they got to the laboratory door, there was a stool set outside with a thick unlit candle set upon it. The sorceress stopped and pondered the candle a moment, before picking it up out of its holder and grasping it with a firmness that spoke of anger, as her black nails bit into the almond-colored wax.

  More to herself than her servant Salamasca said, “My Master used to leave a lit candle for me at night, so that I would not be scared if it was dark when I finished in the lab. I often forgot to bring down a torch. While the crystal’s soft glow was enough to see by, for some reason I always got spooked going up the stairs by myself. How rude that he left it unlit this time.” She tossed the candle on the floor and entered the lab.

  For the briefest of moments, hurt flashed across her face but then was gone when she saw the crystal’s base. Anger flared throughout her, flushing her skin pink. The eggs were all gone, except for the one she had toyed with earlier; it was still on the table where she had left it. The base of the crystal was now hollowed out like a honeycomb. The crystal itself also glowed with a more intense dark aura, and the power about it created an audible hum. Shocked with awe and disgust, the Ice Queen turned to her Shadow Walker.

  “Leave the body and take me to The Administrator’s office right now,” she growled. The Shadow Walker dropped the body he held and put his arm around the Ice Queen’s waist. The world went dark for a moment, but they soon stepped out of the Void and into Tomas’ office. It was empty. No Administrator and no books for that matter. Only the furniture remained. She quickly went to his desk, pulling out the drawers. She slammed them shut, seeing them empty as well.

  “He thinks he can make a fool of me! Me?!” she screamed and flung his desk against the wall, breaking several bookshelves. “He will pay when we meet again!” She shrieked again in sheer frustration and stalked out of the room. After descending a good two hundred stairs, her skin returned to its usual cool white. The new dark glow from the crystal comforted her and allowed her to collect her thoughts. Before she knew it, she and her Shadow Walker had come to the open, alchemy lab door again.

  “Well, that is settled. At least, I now can truly focus without that old coot around.” She motioned to the body at her feet and eyed her Shadow Walker. “Prepare him.”

  The Shadow Walker went to one of the tables, flinging its contents to the floor in one swipe of its black-clothed arm. He then fetched the body with its unattached head and laid it on its stomach upon the table. Retrieving a needle and twine from the Empress’ outstretched hand, the Shadow Walker began to roughly stitch the head back onto its neck.

  While he did so, the Ice Queen went to the crystal, removed a d
agger from her belt that faintly glowed purple, and cut out a long sliver of the now black crystal. She cut it like an icicle, pointed on one end and thick on the other. She went to the table, pulling a stool with her, and began to shape the thick part of the crystal into a rough oval gem. As she worked, she began to hum and pull power to her. She pulled and drew energy until the hum became garbled dark words that raised the hairs on even her neck. The Shadow Walker simply watched after completing his task, his dead eyes expressionless, dispassionate, and uncaring.

  “Gradam Ilthuliam...” she chanted, her hands glowing the same purple color as the curved dagger with which she had shaped the crystal. Darkness swirled around her, as she pulled power from the Void as well as from Aronshae proper. Tiny crackles of energy filled the air, appearing in the dark as small lightning bolts in a cloudy storm. She yelled one final word, “Darkeeriam!” The purple glow in her hands and the darkness about her was quickly sucked into the crystal and the light faded, returning it to its black obsidian color.

  The Ice Queen smiled to herself, satisfied with her work. She stood, positioned herself above the corpse and then in one fluid motion drove the crystal into the back of the corpse’s skull. Its eyes popped open wide, as if in pain, and the body jerked. The visible skin shriveled and the veins near the surface turned slowly black like a poison spreading throughout his body. The hair on its head fell out, replaced by dark purple, pulsing runes. It then relaxed and its eyes went milky white. The Empress of Ice stepped back from her twisted creation.