by Matt Larkin
And what could they say?
Chandra please let this have worked. Let it be enough, let Rahu be far enough away he couldn’t take anyone else. Loro had guessed it would be, but by the way each of the crew looked at one another, they all thought the same thing.
She’d just killed not only her mentor, the man who had saved her life countless times and protected her from childhood, but her own sister. She’d killed Pohaci, even if it had been the other woman’s choice. Pohaci should have been heir to the Lunar Empire, and she was dead. Because she loved a man too much to leave him in torment.
And Chandi would have done the same. She tried to stop crying, but the tears just kept falling. She cried until there was nothing left.
And then Landorundun pulled her to her feet. “We should find Naresh,” Landi said.
Chandi nodded.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT
For as long as Landi had known Naresh he’d been reckless, impulsive, and arrogant. And perhaps that had never changed, but he’d harnessed it somehow, and become something more than she ever thought he could have. Something more than she would have thought anyone could have.
When he Strode aboard the Jin Laut, a shout went up among the crew. He looked worn and ragged, but the moment he saw their eyes on him, he stood tall. Landi tried not to let herself be jealous. That had always been her problem. She’d worked so hard to prove herself, but Naresh always seemed a step ahead. When she was chosen as First of the Arun Guard, part of her thought she’d won.
But maybe it had never been a contest. Naresh wasn’t trying to beat her. And now, she wouldn’t want his burden. Not for anything in the world.
Landi leaned back against Bendurana’s chest, taking comfort in his warm hands as they stroked her hair. Everyone was watching Naresh. Even her. He’d never really wanted the attention, not like this, but at long last, she could see he’d accepted it.
He wrapped his arms around his wife and held her as she spoke of killing Malin and Pohaci. That couldn’t have been easy for her. Landi had lost her home not once, but twice … But so had Chandi. Landi knew what it felt like to lose a sister. Whether she and Hainuwele had been close didn’t matter. She was her sister.
And Tioman … Tioman had given Landi her life back. She’d brought her back to Ben, when she should have died. She owed the dragon everything. And she was probably gone now, too.
Naresh nodded when Chandi finished speaking. “But it worked … You were far enough away?”
“That demon is back in the underworld,” Chandi said.
Something Landi couldn’t read passed through Naresh’s eyes, then he shut them and took a deep breath.
Tua Pek Kong walked toward them. “We do not have much time.”
Naresh turned from Chandi and nodded at the Tianxian. “No, we don’t. Less than you know, in fact. Rangda plans to use the Tripura Device to breach the boundaries of her realm in Kahyangan. She claims she can flood the world with the mists of the dead and unleash her world on ours.”
Landi blew out a long breath. She brushed her hair from her face with her good hand, then Ben held her hand tight. Rahu’s people had built a device that could break all the laws of nature. It floated cities, altered the course of the moon, affected the atmosphere. What possible madness possessed them to build such a thing? What arrogance?
But if the device could breach Kahyangan, even if that wasn’t its intent, this thing went beyond madness or arrogance. It would end the world.
“So we have to take the place back from her,” Landi said.
Naresh turned to her. “We have to destroy it.”
“That could be complicated,” Loro said. “And very dangerous. A device of such power is liable to explode if disrupted. There’s no telling how much damage it could cause.”
“Ah, Naresh,” Ben said. “I hate to spoil the party—gods know I love a good party—but you seem to have forgotten the part where the person using this beacon of idiocy is the Demon Queen of the underworld. You know, icy goddess of death, pain, and black magic? Likes to maim, kill, and torture for fun. She might object to us spoiling her little plan.”
Naresh sighed, and looked away. “I know, Ben. I’ll deal with her. I can’t just kill her, though. The same thing would happen to me that happened to Malin.”
“Naresh, no!” Chandi said, grabbing him and spinning him around. They’d had to kill Malin and Pohaci both to free him. Maybe the same would happen to Naresh. And poor Chandi could never accept that. No more than Landi could let go of Ben.
“Chandi … We have to stop her, no matter the cost. This isn’t just about us, or even the Skyfall Isles. She’s going to end all civilizations across the Earth. Mankind will be finished. At best, we’ll be enslaved to the spirits of her frozen domain. At worst, we’ll be wiped out entirely.”
“We cannot allow that to happen,” Tua Pek Kong said. “Whatever forces we have left, we have to direct them at her.”
Naresh held Chandi’s hand, and Landi found herself fumbling to hold Ben’s as well. “Rest tonight,” Naresh said. “Say whatever needs to be said. Because tomorrow, we go to war with a goddess.”
Landi watched Naresh and Chandi descend into the forecastle. No, she didn’t envy him anymore. Nor did she envy Chandi, who had to love the man carrying such a burden.
Ben led her away by the hand, back to their cabin. Naresh had said to say whatever needed to be said.
Looking into Ben’s eyes, she thought they spoke all she ever needed to hear.
Which didn’t stop him from talking all night long.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE
The gale tore at Naresh’s clothes and hair. He’d felt this before, in the cyclone on Suladvipa. The Jin Laut drew near the glass beaches of Astral Shore, but the winds were too high. Every time Ben tried to close, the waves hurled them back out.
With one hand he gripped a line, holding Chandi with another. They’d be lucky not to capsize in this. “We have to get in there!”
“I can’t do anything like this,” Ben shouted from the poop deck.
Naresh could Stride there, but he was going to need help to fend off the leyaks and whatever else Rangda had in store for them. He may have cleared most of her army before, but she would have more.
The black clouds almost obscured the red sky. Almost. As they’d drawn near, something had happened in the air above the Temple. It had swirled into a vortex, opening into a burning crimson abyss. Freezing mists had reached them long before the cyclone winds.
Most of the crew had bundled in extra layers of clothes, but none had the thickness for this kind of chill. They’d need mountain clothes soon. More and more of the fell mists poured from the Temple, so he couldn’t even see it clearly from here.
“Loro!” Chandi shouted. “Do something!”
“Too much power,” the goddess said. “It would burn me out to bring us through this.”
“We don’t have a choice!” His wife was screaming, but even he almost couldn’t make out her words.
Dewi Kadita looked at them, then turned to look at Ben. “I … love you.” Naresh couldn’t see her face, but something passed between them. When she turned back, her eyes were wide and her breaths came in gasps. She tore open her baju and cast it aside.
Then she leapt over the side into the icy sea.
Ben mouthed something Naresh couldn’t hear.
A moment later the winds stilled, and a wave hurled the Jin Laut forward. The waters carried them so high the ship sailed past the edge of the shore and almost crashed into the cliff side. Naresh’s stomach leapt into his throat and he screamed, his grip crushing the gunwale. The prow tore into the glass, crunching it beneath them before the whole bow ruptured. Naresh Strode ashore with Chandi, praying the others would make it to safety.
The dhow toppled onto its side, the mast snapping in half while it skidded along the glass shore. The retreating waters threatened to pull everything back into the sea, but the dhow halted its movement before
it got that far.
For a moment, Naresh couldn’t breathe. No one could have survived that. He’d saved Chandi, but the others were still there. He Strode back to the ship. The moment he arrived, he saw most of the crew had jumped off the side as it fell. Some poor souls lay crushed under the weight of it, or torn to shreds by shards of glass.
As he ran looking for survivors, Naresh spotted Ben lying still on the broken glass. No. Ben couldn’t die … Ben was Ben. He’d outlive them all, and then brag about it. He’d …
“Ben!” Landi shouted. She ran to him and fell at his side, and Naresh joined them. Landi grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the wreck.
The Serendibian groaned, then gasped, clutching his leg. “Surya’s fiery loins!”
Well, that probably meant he’d be fine. Naresh helped Tua Pek Kong up, before returning to Ben and Landi.
“Ah, sorry boys and girls,” Ben said. “I think my leg’s broken. You may have to do this one without your big hero.”
A handful of shrieks sounded from the smoldering Temple above.
“Hold off the leyaks,” he told Landi. “Chandi and I will finish this.”
She nodded, then suddenly embraced him. “Take care of yourself, Naresh.”
Unable to decide what to do, he just stood there, his arms open for a moment, before at last returning her embrace. Landorundun had rarely been so affectionate with him. Not in years. He took a deep breath. It was because she knew they might not see each other again. When he thought he’d lost her to Rangda before, he’d never gotten this chance to say goodbye. Despite all the tensions that had run between them, he supposed she had become his best friend, apart from Chandi.
“I want to hear that song again when this is over. I want to hear it in a concert hall.”
“Then you’d better kill the Demon Queen. I don’t think she’ll be throwing any concerts.”
Ben lay in the sand, still clutching his leg, a wry smile on his face. “Ah, Naresh, don’t think I didn’t see what you were doing with my wife there. It seems only fair I call Chandi over here and return the favor.”
“Probably best you give it up while you still have one good leg,” he said, then bent down and clapped the captain on the shoulder.
He bowed to Tua Pek Kong, who now stood, sword in hand. “Draw them off us if you can.”
“It would be my great honor, Naresh. Never have I known a warrior like you.”
The three of them and Chandi were all that was left in his world. He might not see them again, but he’d make a better world for them.
Naresh returned to Chandi then, and took her hand. The mists swirled outward from the Temple like the winds of a cyclone, ever expanding. Perhaps by now they stretched hundreds of miles. Maybe even farther. Every moment they delayed the chill of the world grew. Rangda’s underworld was taking over. The fell spirits she had brought forth, the leyaks she’d called so far, would be only a shadow of the horrors that would wash over the Earth when she was finished.
“I’ll deal with Rangda,” he said to Chandi as they walked toward the cliff. “I’ll draw her away. I need you to stop what she’s done to the Tripura Device. There’s no one else I could trust with this, Chandi.”
“No, Naresh. I’m staying by your side.” She squeezed his hand and folded herself against him.
“Chandi, you have to. If you don’t stop the machine, nothing else will matter. When you do it, you have to move fast. You need to go through the orrery as soon as you can.”
“What?”
“Semar said the machine would explode if you disrupted it. The whole temple compound could be engulfed in flame. Your only chance is to escape through the Time Chamber.”
She was already shaking her head. “I have no idea where it could send me—or when. How would I find you again?”
“I’ll find you. It’s your only chance.”
She sighed. Deep down, she had to know what he said was true. This was the way it had to be. He had to face the Demon Queen alone, and she had to save the world. Naresh smiled at her. “I love you, Chandi.”
She pulled him down and kissed him then, and time and the chill faded away. Naresh felt only the burning, brilliant sun and moon. No matter what this cost him, she was worth it. When her lips at last left his, her voice was a whisper. “I love you, too.”
Rangda was killing their world. They didn’t have much time left. But the Demon Queen had stopped to throw a cyclone at them, to try to stop them from reaching her. Which meant part of her was afraid. And she should be. Naresh was coming for her.
CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED
So little remained of the world Naresh had known. The Solar Empire had fallen. Yawadvipa had been overrun by demons. The Astral Temple itself lay in ruins. The Arun Guard was broken. All that remained of his world stood by his side, holding his hand.
Chandi was all he had left. And he would protect her, no matter the cost. That meant he had to draw Rangda off so she could destroy the Tripura Device. Whether fate or choice had brought him to this point no longer mattered. All that mattered was the next step before him.
He Strode them to the top of the path outside the temple. “Wait until I have her attention, then sneak underground.”
Chandi squeezed his hand in response, and Naresh held her for one moment more. One breath longer, before he had to face the Demon Queen. And then the breath was gone. He released his wife’s hand and Strode into the ruins. The mist was thickest here, and he could make out shapes in the distance, but only see clearly for about ten feet.
A handful of men walked here—leyaks, probably. Naresh Strode behind one and decapitated it. He kicked another in the face, then ran it through. A third tried to attack him, but he caught its arm and broke its shoulder, then stomped its head when it fell.
“Rangda!” he shouted.
Silence filled the ruins. Once, countless temples had composed this place. Naresh had brought them all low. Molten stone had now solidified, giving the compound the look of a blasted seascape, frozen in motion. The heat hadn’t scorched the metal of the bowls, though, and Rangda climbed from one. Her steps fell heavy, and she stumbled as she crested the top of the bowl.
“Using it takes a toll, even on you,” Naresh said.
“I’m going to devour your soul. It should prove quite invigorating.” She advanced on him, her steps growing steadier, as the red light of her eyes intensified.
Half her face was nothing but a skull, and the other half had turned icy blue. Her hair had gone white, and frost formed around her eyebrow and at the tips of her hair. Once, this woman had been beautiful. Ratna, Chandi’s cousin, had given herself in marriage to end a war. She’d made a noble sacrifice, and it had cost her everything. Surya allow that her soul had already fled this body. If not, Naresh would free it soon.
“Would you like to kneel and worship me now? Feel free. I’ll kill you after you’re done.”
Naresh sneered. “You should have stayed in the underworld.”
The Demon Queen circled him, disappearing in and out of the mist. Naresh began to do the same, and as they walked, the distance between them slowly decreased. “How does it feel to watch your world end?” she asked.
“I’ve seen the end of one era already. The world recovered and gave rise once again to the brilliant flourishing of life. To thousands of years of glory and love and hope. To redemption. As it will when you are gone, spirit. You have no place in the mortal realm.”
She sneered. “So speaks the man himself reliant on powers granted by Kahyangan. Come, Solar, let me send you to Surya. Let me show you the weak, fragile face of your god.”
Rangda slammed her fists together and lances of ice exploded outward from all over her body. Naresh Strode into the air, dodging around the missiles, then back down to the ground behind the demon. He thrust his sword at her, but as she growled the blade grew cold, so cold his fingers numbed and he lost his grip. Rangda spun and knocked the sword aside, and it shattered when it hit the ground.
“You think me a mere demon, Solar? You think I can be slain so easily?”
She swung, and he blocked half a dozen blows before kicking her in the knee. She fell to one leg and Naresh caught her across the face with a hook. She jerked backward, then the stone beneath him ruptured, launching shards. Naresh Strode away, but not before the slivers of rock tore dozens of gashes along his legs.
He collapsed on the ground where he reappeared a hundred feet away, his legs no longer able to support his weight. Rangda smiled as she closed the distance between them. Naresh drew his Potency Blessing harder to block the pain and climbed back to his feet.
“You would make a fine host, of course,” she said, “but now is not a good time to have my work interrupted. I think devouring your essence will work better for me today. Unless you succeed, and then, I guess I’ll take you.”
“Not if I’m dead, too.” He took one painful step toward her, then saw Chandi make her way to the bowl. She ran and slid down the metal incline. A moment more, and she’d be there.
Rangda laughed. “Then what? You’ll kill everyone else on this island? I can travel hundreds of miles before my essence would dissipate back to the Spirit Realm. What do you think you can do?”
“Fight.” He Strode behind her, then right back in front of her. As she turned, expecting him to be in back of her, he pounded her in the side with rapid body blows. Her ribs crunched under the pummeling, and she screamed, a ragged, bloody sound.
A spear of ice formed in her hand and she thrust it at him. With her hand on him, he couldn’t Stride away, but he twisted, taking the blow in his side rather than through his chest. Hot pain lasted only a moment, before his entire right side began to turn numb. He shoved her backward, and stumbled down himself, falling to the ground.
Blood, his blood, covered the rocks, making his every attempt to stand impossible. The lance of ice throbbed in his side. He slammed his hand down, snapping it in the front. Hard as he drew his Potency, he couldn’t block that much pain. He couldn’t fight it all. A haze of red and black clouded his eyes.