‘No,’ Samuel said, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘Lomar wouldn’t do that. Ash’s men tried to kill me, too. I only got away by jumping in the river. They would have killed me, too.’
‘Those fools got carried away! They were supposed to catch you, not kill you, but those worthless scum were lazier than they were worth. Once Cadin had gotten his hands on you,he would have realised you were the one, but those fools were only interested in their spoils. Luckily, despite their incompetence, it ended well. Lomar arranged for you to move down from the mountains where we could keep a closer eye on you. When the time was right, we sent you to Cintar and,as you know, everything progressed from there.’
‘And we are stuck here now,’ said Balten.
‘We can still Journey away,’ Samuel suggested, still attempting to digest what he had learned.
‘But not to anywhere worth going,’ Cang added sourly. ‘Anywhere we can reach will still be destroyed. We need to cross the world in the next few minutes to survive. Even then, our survival will only be temporary-ten, fifteen years at the most. With Lin escaped, he will eventually come for us all.’
There was a tiny flicker of light and a swelling of magic and they turned towards the dais as Eric reappeared upon it. He fell to the stones, spilling dark blood from his belly.
Samuel left the Koian woman where she was and ran to his side. ‘Eric! What happened?’
‘Lomar attacked me,’ Eric stammered. ‘I…I don’t know why.’
Samuel put his best healing spells onto his friend, but his magic was nothing like it used to be and the wound was awful, being a zigzag through his belly that had sliced him to pieces inside.
Cang strode up beside the two of them. ‘What did I tell you?’ he said smugly. ‘Everything has gone to pot! What a sorry state of affairs.’
‘There was someone waiting in the room when we arrived,’ Eric continued. ‘Lomar gave him your son.’
‘Oh?’ Cang said, genuinely perplexed. ‘Who could it have been?’
Eric only shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Samuel,’ he said, gripping onto Samuel’s arm fiercely. ‘I never meant to argue with you. I never meant to hide anything from you.’
‘It doesn’t matter, Eric. Hush. Save your strength.’
But Eric would not be quietened. He coughed up bright red blood and yelled in pain. When he could continue, he strained to push the words from his mouth. ‘I was always jealous of you, Samuel. I always wanted to be the best, to be better than you. They call youthe Saviour of Cintar,’ he said, grimacing with the effort. ‘They made you a Lord, but what am I? I am only the one who always lets you down just before the end. I’m sorry, Samuel. I know it was foolish of me. What a stupid petty wish I made, to be better than my friend. I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t care about that. I couldn’t have done any of it without you,’ Samuel said, but Eric shuddered. Blood saturated Eric’s robes and covered Samuel’s hands. ‘Save him!’ Samuel said to Cang, looking up at the bestial magician.
‘There is nothing I can do for him,’ Cang said, bearing his jagged teeth. ‘Close his eyes and leave him be. At least his wish was granted, if only for a few minutes.’
Samuel looked back to Eric and saw that there was no life left in him. There was nothing else he could do, as he had less magic than ever before and less ability to control it. Reluctantly, he shut Eric’s eyes and gently lay him on the floor.
‘A senseless death,’ Cang hissed. ‘What is Lomar doing?’
‘What areyoudoing?’ Samuel said, eyeing Cang with rage. ‘Why have you done all of this? You have killed everyone with your ridiculous plans!’
‘No,’ Cang replied calmly. ‘It is you who have doomed us all, Samuel, setting the demon free. The world shall pay for your actions with the loss of countless lives.’
‘I’ve saved my son.’
‘Your son is a demon!’ Cang declared. ‘He would have killed the both of you the moment he could. But now we will never know. He is free and we are lost. It seems Lomar hasseenfit to raise him as his own. Who knows what god-forsaken idea has gotten into his head?’
‘We are doomed,’ Balten said from his place beside the dais. For the first time, he looked defeated, hunching over and clasping his face in his hands. ‘After all we’ve done, it’s all been for nothing.’
‘Damn you, Cang!’ Samuel said, standing to face the scrawny old magician, incensed with anger.
‘Oh, shut up, boy!’ Cang responded. ‘Sit down and await your fate. We are all dead anyway.’
Samuel took an angry step forward, but Cang would have none of it and sent him flying backwards across the chamber with barely an effort. He landed heavily on his back once more, grazing it upon the stones, but he was up again and charging himself with whatever magic he could summon.
‘Please don’t start!’ Cang called across the echoing chamber.
‘Samuel!’ Balten called. ‘Calm yourself!’
‘Stop this! Please!’ the Koian woman also chimed.
But Samuel could not;he was overcome with rage and whispering voices were screaming for his attention. We will help you. We will give you what you desire. Let us in, they called to him in the Ancient Lick.
‘Yes!’ Samuel replied to them, for he was livid with fury. ‘Come to me! Help me defeat them! I will give you anything if you just help me to kill him!’
‘What are you saying?’ Cang called across, but Samuel did not reply. Magic began filling him from some otherworldly source-dark powerful magic that breached the ether as if from nowhere. He hadtasted just smatterings of it before, but now it came spilling into him, pure in form. The vileness of it made him bend over and he emptied his stomach upon the floor, but it was a bitter-sweet feeling to have such furious power once again. As he straightenedand wiped the vomit from his chin, he was grinning with madness.
‘What are you doing?’ Cang called out. ‘What power is that? Stop what you are doing at once, you mad fool! This is senseless!’
All the while, the Koian woman stood with her handsoverher mouth, unsure of what to do.
‘Stop him, Balten,’ Cang instructed.
Balten took a step forward and Samuel raised his hand. He only thought to stop the tall magician, and that is what happened. A dark whip of magic struck out and hit Balten. It pierced his defences and the man fell to the floor,his body wracked byspasms.
‘Black magic!’ Cang roared out with dismay. ‘What kind of fool gives himself to demons over something as foolish as this? You will lose your soul and have nothing to show for it. What do you have to accomplish?’
‘I have no soul of my own to lose,’ he replied. ‘Everything I am belongs to Lin, or so you tell me’.
He came striding towards Cang and called for more dark magic. Wild beams burst from his palms, but Cang waswell preparedand turned the bolts aside with a spray of fire and vapour.
‘There has always been something terrible inside me,’ Samuel spoke aloud. ‘I have always tried to keep it at bay but,as you say, what do I have to lose? At least I will savour your death before my own.’
Cang snarled and let out scathing magic of his own. It crashed into Samuel and screeched on his dark shields. They swapped spells and tussled to and fro within the chamber as they battled against each other. The Koian woman turned and fled, for she had no defence against such magics, while Balten lay motionless on the floor.
The voices called in his head and Samuel kept saying‘yes’to whatever they asked of him, if only it allowed him to kill Cang. Still, it was not so simple a task and Cang was vastly powerful. Their spells filled the air with smoke and dust, yet both of them were forced to choose their spells carefully, lest the temple should be brought downon topof themall.
They faced each other with spells designed to burn flesh, but the magnitude of Cang’s power was astounding. Even Samuel’s dark wrath was not enough and,as the minutes dragged by and the devious leader of the Circle of Eyes remained unfaltering, Samuel’s confidence waned. The voices seemed to giv
e up their whispering as the inevitable outcome of the battle became clear. Finally, Samuel fell to his knees, exhausted, and his dark powers left him.
‘You sorry fool,’ Cang said, standing over him. The bony magician shook his head as he prepared a final spell. ‘You should be thankful you can die before they take you, but I’m sure Lin would find a way to get you back before too long. He could not be left without his father, or how would he return in the future?’
But something leapt onto Cang’s back and he began cursing, twirling away as he struggled against whatever had hold of him. Samuel stood groggily to his feet and saw it was the Koian woman who had leapt upon the man. She hung onto his back and pushed her nails into his eyes. She sucked at Cang’s power and it came streaming out into her in tempestuous volumes.
‘Get off me, witch!’ Cang roared, but she stuck fast, and the furious magician howled in fury as she drained his very life. ‘Without me you will never learn your name!’
‘I promised I would kill you, demon, and I will!’ she yelled back into his ear. ‘Now die!’
Bolts of lightning erupted from his fingers and struck the girl on his back as he twisted and shook in effort to shake her free. Magic poured out of him and sizzled upon her skin, but she would not relent. Howling, Cang finally threw himself onto his back and lay still, smoking, with the Koian woman beneath him. Samuel hobbled over as quickly as he could and dragged the stiff magician from her.
He almost cried aloud with grief when he saw her, for she was scarred and burned all over. Cang’s magic had cut into her deeply, and parts of herbodyhad been baked alive.
‘Quickly!’ Samuel told her and he dropped beside her and cradled her head upon his lap. ‘Take me! Take my life and save yourself!’
She slowly shook her head as best she could. ‘No. You must live. You are stronger than me and one of us must live to save our son. He may be a demon as they say, but that can change…people can change.’
‘They can,’ Samuel admitted. ‘But you can’t die. I have only just found you.’ He looked towards the form of Balten, where he still lay on the floor. ‘Take him then.’
But she shook her head. ‘No. You are right. I can’t take the lives of others any more. You will need him if you are to escape. I’m sorry, Samuel. I don’t want to die. I just wish we could be together. That’s all I’ve ever wanted-just to be with you. I’ve always loved you, and I had you, Samuel-I had you for just a little time.’ Tears streamed down her cheeks,tears of pain and tears of sorrow mixed as one.
He laughed as he cried and held onto her, considering the pure ludicrousness of his life. He had truly been cursed, for nothing he loved, and nothing that loved him, could ever survive. ‘You’ve never called me by my name before,’ he told her, with tears dripping from his cheeks.
‘Nor have you called me by mine,’ she said softly.
‘You don’t have a name,’ he said, stifling the sobs within his chest.
‘I do…I just don’t know what it is. Samuel-’ she tried to go on, but was lost in her tears. ‘I don’t want to die without a name. Real people have names. I don’t want to be a god any more.’
He thought desperately. ‘I don’t know what name to choose.’
‘Please…think of something.’
While once he had thought of her as a freakishOutlander, nowhecould not bear the thought of being without her. She was the most beautiful thing he could imagine and he did not realise it until now, too late, as she lay dying. Again, he looked to the ceiling with watering eyes, desperate to think of a name for the one he loved. He strove to conceive of a fitting name, but every notion seemed foolish or inappropriate. The ceiling of the chamber seemed to be swimming before his teary vision, but he could not bear the thought of disappointing her.
Not knowing what to say, he returned his gaze to her, but she was utterly still and she looked up at him with vacant eyes. He pulled her to his chest and sobbed, her hair spilling over his face and matting in his tears.
‘I do love you!’ he sobbed over her. ‘I do. I always loved you, too.’ He could hardly gather his breath and his chest stung from the effort. ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!’
He sat for a time, cradling the woman in his lap and crying over her, when Balten spoke from beside him.
‘She’s gone.’
‘I know,’ Samuel managed to say. His voice was hoarse. Slowly, gently, he eased her to the floor and stood, wiping the tears from his eyes with his black sleeve. She had died to save him so that he could save their son, but he would not survive at all unless he could escape. ‘What do we do?’ he asked the solemn magician. ‘I need to be gone from here.’
‘It cannot be undone. That was the whole point. Once committed, Starfall is irreversible. Nothing can stop it and we cannot escape it.’ Baltensat down cross-legged to await his fate, still rubbing his ravaged muscles. ‘It should not be long.’
‘We must do something. We must try!’ Samuel said desperately. ‘She can’t have died for nothing.’
‘Sit down, Samuel. Accept your fate. We have prepared well. We failed here, but future generations will still have a chance. They will find the other temples that Cang has prepared. There is hope for future Ages.’
‘We must do something. It’s not over yet. She died to save me! Let me try!’
Balten sat still, but finally something must have changed his mind, and he stood reluctantly. ‘Very well. What does it matter? If you want to try, so be it. If the star can be cracked, it may lessen the impact but,even so, it will only gain us some time, until Lin begins his work. If we can damage the star enough, perhaps the destruction will be lessened and you can reach a safe haven.’
‘We could make it to Cintar,’ Samuel suggested.
‘Yes. And then what?’ Balten said. ‘You would only be waiting for your own son to come and consume you. Do you want more anguish in your life? Do you want more heartbreak than you have already received? You are a glutton for punishment, Samuel. If you sit down now and wait a few moments, you will be at peace.’
‘While we live there is always hope, Balten. Nothing is set in stone. I believe even a child that has become a demon can become a child once again. I can save my son.’
‘Your resilience impresses me, Samuel. Very well, we can try, but I will need your help. You will need to help me with the Journey spell. I will need a few minutes to prepare-and any magic you have left. I will need a lot of power, perhaps more than we have between us.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Die…but perhaps in doing so I can finally do some good.’ With that,the magician took a great breath and formed a deepSummoning stance. ‘Come. Lend me your strength,’ he said and Samuel moved to behind the man, placing his hands on Balten’s back and adding all the power he could still muster.
‘It’s not enough, Samuel!’ Balten said after a time. ‘I need much more!’
‘I don’t have any more!’ Samuel said, but,despite his own words,he closed his eyes and searched deeper, pulling at the ether around him with all his will, and scouring his insides for any last vestiges of power. It was difficult to believe that so much power had been his before, and he had accepted the fact unquestioningly. Now, he felt howhardit was for normal magicians to gather magic. It was frustratingly difficult work to compel the ether to hand over its strength and he had always taken it for granted.
‘More, Samuel! Do you want to live or not?’ Balten shouted at him.
Samuel redoubled his efforts and his head began to swim. A faint whispering sounded at the back of his mind and Samuel could hear a dark voice speaking to him, whispering promises in the Ancient Lick. It was calling to him, pleading to him, offering its power in exchange for a bargain. It knew what he wanted and he whispered back to the voice, ‘Yes!’
At that moment, more dark magic began to spill into him, channelled into him from another realm. He swallowed it and transformed it into raw power that he, in turn, fed into Balten.
‘That’s it, Samuel!’ Balten
called. ‘I can feel it! We’re nearly there.’
All the while, the voice inside Samuel was chattering with laughter, but Samuel did not care. His only intention was to save his son.
Balten kept his mind on forging two Great Spells. One of them was unknown to Samuel, but the other was obviously an attempt at a Journey spell. Balten did well with the core of the spell, but Samuel guided him, filling in the crucial missing details. Balten had obviously been working on a version of the spell himself, and perhaps had been gleaning parts of its making from Eric, but he was far from perfecting it on his own.
Finally, Balten breathed a heavy sigh of relief and Samuel took it as a sign that all was finished, and he stepped away. Two great bodies of magic throbbed around him, readied to be unleashed.
‘That’s enough,’ Balten said. ‘I must go now if there is still to be time.’
‘Go? To where?’ Samuel asked him.
‘To save you, so that you can save the world.’ With that,Balten released his first Great Spell, and lines of sparkling jade began to run across his face. They met and joined in a latticework of green across his skin and,as each tessellation closed, his skin changed appearance, growing shiny and hard, transmuting into translucent crystal. Bit by bit Balten was transformed by his magic, until he had become a man of tinted diamond. His clothes, too, had become part of his physical form, fused into him and changed into such crystal. He rolled his eyes to Samuel and his voice rumbled like the trembling of the earth. ‘I cannot be killed like this, but I will only live a short time. It should be enough to do my work.’
The Journey spell still remained and it was enough to guess the tall magician’s plan.
‘Do you think you can shatter the star, even like this?’
‘I will try,’ Balten boomed. ‘This body is harder than any stone, whether it be from the heavens or not.’
Looking at the man’s crystal form, Samuel remembered something. ‘When I was fighting with Grand Master Anthem, a spear of glass saved me. Was it your doing?’
But Balten only shook his head. ‘Whatever happened, it was no act of mine. I was busy here all the while, although I would readily have saved you if I could. I once told you, Samuel, that only I can teach you what you need to know. Do you remember that day?’
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