Demon Lord III - Grey God

by T C Southwell

  Drayshina glanced at Bane, who watched his young wife play with a cloud bush, a slight smile curling his lips. The scene was so fundamentally wrong it made Drayshina shudder, and she wondered what tortures he inflicted upon the hapless girl to satisfy his lust for suffering and fear. Why else would a dark god keep a mortal wife? Why did he give her such a title when in reality she could be nothing more than his slave and plaything? The two older men explored their surroundings with delight and awe, as any mortal who found himself in the light realm would. Three demon steeds stood like statues to one side, and their presence added to her outrage and indignation.

  "Fraternising with one such as he is a hard thing for me to do, My Lord. His very presence here offends me."

  "I understand. I too was suspicious at first, but I placed my hand upon him whilst he was powerless, and he was not offended. His soul is untarnished. You have nothing to fear from him save his refusal to aid you."

  "I know the legends of tar'merin, but have never understood how one such can be pure of spirit. His kind chooses the evil path."

  Kayos shook his head. "He did not, which is why he is tar'merin - well, one of the reasons. Even I am not certain what makes a soul tar'merin. He was born a god and forced to take up the dark power by the one whom he cast down. He is a mere youth, only twenty-two years old, and a child of my domain."

  "And you think he can defeat Vorkon?"

  "I have seen few who could match him for power, although he does lack skill."

  Drayshina was still doubtful. "It is not possible for one so young possess so much power."

  "Before I met him, I would have agreed with you, but he does. He came into his power when he was but sixteen years old. The god who raised him used an arcane and torturous ritual known amongst humans as the Dre'beth Runes on him, which he barely survived."

  "You trust him?"

  "It is hard to overcome my aversion to a wielder of the darkness, but in the time I have spent with him, he has done nothing untoward. It is true, even a tar'merin is not entirely trustworthy, for their power may sometimes influence them, yet he seems strong. You do not have to trust him; just persuade him to help you."

  Drayshina cast another measuring glance at Bane, who continued to watch Mirra. The girl had plucked a star flower, which surprised Drayshina since that was not an easy thing to do, and brought it to show her husband, her face alight with wonder and delight. To Drayshina's amazement, the Demon Lord smiled down at his wife with warm tenderness in his eyes and murmured soft words of wonder at her accomplishment. The star flower soon faded without its source, as they were inclined to do, and Mirra's face fell as it winked out. Grem and Mithran had discovered the bushes' soft, cloud-like nature, and Grem rolled in one, causing a cascade of flickering star flowers to blossom and wink out as his presence forced them to bloom. Mirra giggled, and Bane's smile widened at his friend's horseplay.

  Drayshina turned to Kayos again. "And how do you suggest I do that? Do you know what he wants in return for his aid?"

  "No, but I doubt it will be beyond your powers to grant it, and if it is, then I shall. Ask him, but be cautious."

  She shuddered. "The prospect of entering into a discourse with him makes my skin crawl, My Lord. Asking for his aid... is intolerable."

  "Do you want to save your domain?"

  "Do you really think he would?"

  Kayos shrugged. "He has already freed you, has he not?"

  Drayshina hesitated, torn between her longing to free her domain and her abhorrence for a dark god. Raising her chin, she walked closer to Bane, determined to try. He turned to face her, and she stopped well out of his reach, folding her hands.

  "My Lord, my earlier behaviour was rude. To welcome a dark god into my domain when one is ravaging it is not easy." She gestured to the gazebo. "Would you care to relax and refresh yourself?"

  Bane inclined his head, and she led him to the gazebo, which expanded to accommodate them, two more couches appearing at a wave of her hand. Mithran and Grem remained in the gardens, but Mirra followed her husband into the gazebo and settled beside him on the couch. When all were seated and supplied with cups of ambrosia, Drayshina turned to Bane again, avoiding his eyes.

  "Kayos tells me you may consider helping me to rid my domain of Vorkon, for which I would be most grateful."

  A slight, sardonic smile curled his lips. "Doubtless you would. Your priestess pleaded most eloquently for my aid, but you seem to lack her skill."

  "You are offended. How may I atone for my lack of diplomacy?"

  He snorted. "Spare me the meaningless posturing and speak in plain language. Flowery speeches leave me cold, and begging turns my stomach. My experience of light gods is limited, and I would not like to misunderstand you."

  "Very well. What do you want in return for your aid?"

  Bane sipped his ambrosia. "I have not agreed to help you."

  Drayshina glanced at Kayos, then turned to Bane again. "I am unfamiliar with the ways of dark gods, My Lord. I was under the impression you might be willing to offer your aid."

  "No. I agreed to free you, nothing more. I have no wish to battle a dark god, and no reason to do so. This is not my fight."

  She glanced at Kayos again, who shot her a slight frown of censure, and she looked down at her hands. "My Lord, without your aid, Vorkon will conquer my domain and I shall be forced to flee, an option you have given me.

  "Already I am grateful to you, but my domain remains at his mercy. If you destroy him, you will have my undying gratitude and friendship. My people will be taught your name and sing your praises in my temples. If some choose to worship you, I will not object, since you will be their saviour."

  Kayos looked satisfied, nodding.

  Bane smiled. "And would I be welcome in your domain, should I wish to return?"

  "Yes."

  "And if I brought my companions?"

  She hesitated, glancing at Kayos. "Yes."

  "Here, in the light realm?"

  "If that is your wish."

  "Will you give me a Key to your domain?"

  Again she looked at Kayos, who inclined his head. "If you wish."

  "And for this you want him destroyed? Not merely cast into the Land of the Dead?"

  "I do not care, so long as he cannot threaten my domain again."

  Bane sipped his ambrosia, looking thoughtful. "So, for this slight reward, offered with such great reluctance and deep mistrust, you expect me to enter into a battle with a dark god who may kill me, and will certainly cause me a great deal of suffering. You are arrogant, goddess, and I advise you to leave this domain while you can."

  Drayshina paled. "To do so would cause me great pain."

  "Fighting Vorkon will cause me great pain."

  "What do you want?"

  "Mostly, to be left alone. You see, that is the problem, is it not?" He raised his eyes and met hers. "I do not want anything. I do not want to be welcome in your domain, or to have a Key to it, and I certainly do not want any worshippers."

  "Then why did you ask for them?"

  He shrugged. "To see if you would agree."

  "You have no intention of helping me, do you?"

  "I already have."

  She nodded. "I do not mean to seem ungrateful, My Lord. How can I persuade you to change your mind?"

  "I doubt you can."

  "You fear Vorkon?"

  Bane sipped his ambrosia. "What is he?"

  "A dark god, of course."

  "Precisely."

  "But so are you."

  He nodded, gazing off into the distance. "Then I should act like one, since you choose to treat me like one."

  Drayshina glanced at Kayos, who looked sad. "You have just insulted him, my dear."

  She turned back to Bane. "I am wrong. You are tar'merin, My Lord. You fight for the light, to save the weak and innocent. What of the innocent who dwell here, who will perish in horrible ways without your help? Women and children."

  Bane shot her a sharp glance.
"Now you seek to appeal to my compassion, on the off chance that I have any?"

  "If you are tar'merin, you must."

  Bane released his cup of ambrosia, which vanished. "You would do better to apply to my ego."

  "I think not."

  He frowned. "Why not?"

  "You have already admitted that you fear Vorkon."

  "No I did not."

  "Bane," Kayos murmured. "Why not ask Mirra what she wishes you to do?"

  The Demon Lord raised a hand and pointed a finger at the Grey God, making Drayshina stiffen in alarm. "You leave her out of it. Better still, you stay out of it altogether."

  Kayos smiled, raised his hands in a gesture of appeasement and sent Drayshina a meaningful glance.

  She studied the pale girl at Bane's side, who bit her lip, looking embarrassed, then gazed at Bane. "You heed your wife's wishes?"

  "That is not your concern."

  "Do you intend to have children?"

  "In all likelihood."

  Drayshina glanced at Kayos again, who nodded. "What would you do, My Lord, if your children were down there now, being slaughtered by Vorkon? Or your wife and father?"

  "Save them."

  "So would I, if I could. But I cannot, so I must watch them die. You can save them, yet you will not. If our roles were reversed, how would you persuade me to help you?"

  Bane closed his eyes and rubbed his brow. Kayos gestured, and an Eye appeared before them, at first showing only a dull, ravaged landscape under a dark sky. Mirra gasped and gazed at the mystical oval of shimmering power with wide eyes. The scene within it changed several times as the Grey God commanded it, then filled with a vista of terrible carnage. A horde of dark people had overrun a town, and slaughtered the inhabitants in gruesome ways.

  Drayshina's eyes filled with tears, and she bit her lip as she looked at Bane, who had opened his eyes a slit to watch the scene, his expression impassive. Mirra gave a choked cry and looked away. Kayos adjusted the Eye's focus, zooming in on a huddle of children weeping together in terror, clinging to a young woman who tried to shield them. A group of men dragged the children away, slaying them cruelly. The young woman attacked them with fists and nails, but they hacked her down.

  Kayos glanced at the Demon Lord, who glared at him. Bane gestured, and a burst of shadow consumed the Eye in a blinding flash of blue light. Drayshina shrank back with a sharp gasp, and Kayos put a hand on her arm to reassure her, watching Bane. He stood up and swung away, his cloak flaring. Mirra curled up on the couch, wiping her eyes.

  "Very clever," Bane said. "You know full well the memories such a scene will bring back from what Lyriasharin told you, I suppose."

  Kayos shrugged. "I know you have compassion."

  "Sometimes I do not."

  "Most of the time you do. You know what is right."

  "You seek to sway me with guilt?"

  "No."

  The Demon Lord glanced at his wife, who gazed at him with pleading eyes. "Tell me about him."

  Drayshina forced herself to relax a little. "He was a powerful black mage who lived about four hundred years ago. His lifetime spanned almost nine hundred years, and during that time he amassed a following of black mages and dark people. He had a rival, Arjal, who slew him when he grew old and frail.

  "Arjal still lived when Vorkon rose as a god, and Vorkon destroyed him. While Vorkon was in the Darkworld, many powerful blue mages rose amongst my people, and they created instruments, engines and vehicles that use it. Some of the instruments are weapons, but they are useless against a dark god. My blue mages hold his power at bay within my cities with vast machines, but his evil slowly swallows my land, and many powerful black mages aid him.

  "They are no threat to you, but they are to my blue mages, whose lives I cherish. Four months ago he corrupted one of my priestesses and gained a Key to the light realm. Since then he has hunted me, and I have hidden amongst my priestesses, some of whom have volunteered to lead him astray. Until you came, I was certain it would only delay the inevitable."

  Bane turned to face them. "The plight of your people is pitiful indeed."

  She inclined her head, brushing tears from her cheeks. "Will you help them, My Lord, for their sake, if not mine?"

  "My power is my curse, so I am aptly named, but it is not much use against Vorkon. The goddess who guarded the Gate was weak and gullible. The element of surprise served me well against her. But from what you have told me, Vorkon will not share those traits."

  "No, he does not."

  "As for the black mages, they are a threat to me, as is any mortal with a dagger who gets close enough to use it, or an archer from afar."

  She looked away. "Of course, I am remiss, My Lord."

  "You can defeat him, Bane." Kayos smiled and gestured to the couch. "Come, sit down and relax. Let us discuss how we can do it."

  Bane settled beside Mirra and summoned another cup of ambrosia, slipping his free arm around her. "I would rather trap him in the Darkworld. Creating a ward would be a simple matter."

  Drayshina shook her head. "He hardly ever goes below anymore. The mid-realm is so much like the Darkworld now he feels quite at home in it."

  "Then I shall have to take him below, which means I cannot create the wards. You say you have many powerful blue mages?"

  She nodded.

  "Have they tried to set wards over him?"

  "Yes. His warlocks killed them."

  Bane frowned into his cup.

  "You will have to kill them," Kayos said.

  "So it would seem." Bane glanced at Drayshina. "Why not close the World Gate?"

  "I cannot, as long as he holds it open."

  "Then we cannot remain here, for soon he will discover Jishka's absence and come to find out what has happened to her. I must find somewhere to rest, where he will not find me."

  "You will be safe in one of my temples for a time."

  Bane looked puzzled. "One thing I do not understand is how he plans to capture you. Surely you could elude him indefinitely?"

  "He has only to lay his hands upon me, and I will be helpless."

  "I see." Bane paused to consider this, which solved the mystery of why light gods did not wish him to touch them. "But how would he ever lay his hands upon you?"

  "All he requires is my location, and he will have me. I block his Eye, but his hounds seek me. He has also laid many traps for me, I am sure."

  "Fetches, of course." Bane frowned. "But how will he keep you captive? Surely he will not cling to you forever?"

  "No. He will have created a flesh creature, and I will be delivered into its grasp. Once anchored by it, I cannot Move. He will fasten it to the ground, and I will be trapped."

  "A flesh creature?"

  "A monster formed from many of his worshippers."

  Bane recalled the monsters Arkonen had created in the Overworld, realising that their purpose had been to hold Lyriasharin captive. "Why use people? Why not use droges?"

  "I can strip away a droge's form, but living flesh I cannot kill except with a mundane weapon, unless it is a wielder of the darkness, like a black mage, or a mortal dark god, such as you. The flesh creature will hold me so I cannot harm it."

  "Vorkon may be clad in a droge form when he captures you, surely?"

  Drayshina nodded. "But he is a god, and therefore the dark power protects him."

  Bane dismissed his cup. "I must rest."

  "I shall take you to one of my temples. There the white fire will protect us."

  Bane stood up and stretched. "Then let us go. I need some sleep."

  Kayos and Drayshina rose, and she led them out of the gazebo, which shrank back to its former size, two couches vanishing. Tarris waited in the gardens with Mithran and Grem, and knelt at their approach while the men bowed. Drayshina gestured for her to rise, and the priestess' eyes lingering on Bane.

  Drayshina folded her hands, and a pale grey room with a window covered by a printed curtain replaced the light realm. Two chairs, a table an
d a bed furnished it, reminding Bane of the cell he had occupied in the Goddess' Temple in the Overworld. He sat on the bed and removed his boots and cloak. Mirra joined him while Mithran and Grem spread their bedrolls on the floor. Drayshina let the priestess out, locking the door behind her. Kayos created a couch and stretched out on it after removing his boots.

  "You should rest too, Drayshina," he advised.

  "Perhaps I shall. This is where I was hiding before Tarris called me. It should be safe for several more hours."

  Bane lay down and closed his eyes, yawning. "Seven at least, I hope."

  "Possibly. Dark people accompany Vorkon's hounds, but we will have plenty of warning."

  "Which makes me wonder how he ever hoped to capture you, since you can simply flee to another temple."

  Drayshina's expression became sorrowful. "He is destroying my temples, My Lord. Soon I will have nowhere to hide. Darkness is swallowing the mid-realm, and what you saw in the Eye was but a small fraction of the horror being perpetrated there."

  "I have seen its like before."

  "Then you know how terrible it is."

  "Yes."

  "Let him sleep, Drayshina," Kayos murmured.

  Chapter Nine

  The Fetch

  A soft knocking on the door woke Bane, and he opened his eyes as Drayshina let Tarris in. She placed the tray she bore on the table, bowing first to Drayshina, then to Kayos, and finally to Bane.

  "Food for you and your companions, Demon Lord, if it pleases you."

  A meaty aroma made Bane's mouth water, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Tarris offered him a bowl of steaming stew, then handed bowls to Mithran and Grem. When she offered one to Mirra, Bane shook his head.

  "My wife does not consume meat, priestess."

  "I will fetch something suitable for her at once, My Lord."

  Mirra smiled. "Thank you."

  When Tarris returned with a plate of pastries and steamed vegetables, she also brought Bane a bowl of warm water and a cloth. His years without the dark power had accustomed him to using water for washing, although he no longer needed to do so now. He offered the cloth to Mirra first, then used it before passing it on to his father.