Fallen Star

by Steven Drake

  At that point, something clicked, and one wall of the cage fell outward and landed on the dusty ground with a clank. Whether by magic or by some mechanical device, they had been released, only to meet their deaths at the hands of this monster. The other cages similarly opened as well. Nia and the rest of these prisoners were nothing more than a demonstration, a show of power. Nia clenched her fist. In that moment, she truly understood why Darien had no interest in helping the Golden Shield, and why Jerris was so suspicious of humans. Was I really one of them, Nia asked herself. Did I really not notice the horrors all around me? It made her sick in the pit of her stomach down to her very soul, but at the moment, she could do nothing. At the moment, her only concern was survival.

  Nearly all the prisoners ran from the cage the moment the door fell, leaving Nia clenching her fist alone in the cage. This proved a poor decision, as the movements quickly caught the chimera’s attention. Sharp bird eyes locked onto the prisoners scrambling movements and it charged with surprising quickness towards the nearest group, a cluster of about five women. Nia didn’t stop to watch what happened to them. While the creature was occupied, she left the cage and ran straight for the wall, choosing a spot where none of the other prisoners had gone, hoping the creature would continue to be attracted to the larger groups.

  Nia heard a sickening thump behind her that made the earth tremble ever so slightly. She didn’t turn to see what happened. Instead she fixed her eyes on the stands, looking for someone, anyone, that she recognized. It was her only chance. After a moment’s internal debate, she started northward toward the boxes of the nobility, hoping to find someone who had known her grandfather. Though she searched frantically, she saw no one, just unfamiliar faces, many contorted into ugly visages as they jeered viciously at the weaponless prisoners running from the chimera. Of course, for all these people knew, she was a criminal of the vilest sort condemned to death for unspeakable crimes. That was what they had always been told, but now Nia wondered how true it was. How many of these ‘condemned sinners’ were really just people like her who happened to make enemies of the wrong people?

  Nia stopped to catch her breath for a moment, but jumped as a body flew past her. A man with a large hole through his chest landed several yards ahead directly in her path. She darted to the wall and flattened herself against it, then froze. The creature stood less than twenty yards away. It stared at her for a moment, but then some movement on the other side of the arena caught its attention and it charged away.

  Nia quickly resumed her trek, trying to stay in the shadow of the wall as much as possible. She circled the entirety of the northern half of the arena, past the Empress’s box and past the boxes filled with foreign nobles. She only stopped when she saw something, or rather someone, out of place. A tall man with skin the color of light charcoal and sharp slightly reptilian features caught her eye. It took only a moment for Nia to realize it was Skarn. He seemed to be a guest, sitting in a box with several other heavily armed men, likely past champions of the arena. He didn’t seem particularly interested in this display, which wasn’t surprising. To a dragon, this was a truly disgusting display of power without honor. Still, Nia had to get his attention somehow.

  She screamed at him, jumped and flailed her arms, praying to the seven divinities that Skarn saw her before the creature took notice. Frustratingly, Skarn continued to stare off into the distance, but finally, one of the other warriors tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at Nia. It took only a moment. As soon as their eyes met, Nia saw the recognition in Skarn’s eyes. She then saw a righteous anger flash across his face, a fiery fury worthy of his dragon blood.

  An instant later, Skarn charged forward, grabbed a heavy spear that lay against the side of his box, and jumped the inner wall, landing heavily but skillfully a few yards in front of her. The chimera had dealt with all but a few of the prisoners, and now fixed its attention on the new opponent. It charged furiously at Skarn. Nia wanted to explain, but before she could utter a word, the air was shattered by a blood curdling wail. Skarn’s companions on the wall had all gone into action, and a javelin about the same length as Nia’s own height had pierced the chimera’s lower torso. Another man was firing arrows at the eyes in an attempt to blind the creature.

  Nia watched helpless as several more grizzled looking arena veterans jumped down and joined Skarn. The chimera appeared to grow angrier, losing what little grace it possessed. It swung wildly, and each blow shook the earth, especially the heavy morning star. Still, the fighters had the advantage of speed, and experience. They darted in and out of range quickly, baiting the monster to attack, quickly dodging, then pressing their attack while the chimera recovered from each lumbering strike. They had inflicted several wounds on the enemy, but not nearly enough to kill it, nor even slow it down. The chimera barely even bled, as its body was sustained primarily by magic. What organs it possessed were protected by several layers of leathery hide and fatty flesh, while the thick scales made its tree trunk legs nearly impregnable.

  The warriors put up a valiant fight, but Nia could tell they would not last forever. Their stamina would fade while the magically enhanced chimera could fight this way for hours. Nia wanted to help, but with her hands shackled and her magic inaccessible, there was little she could do. She looked towards the Empress’s box, hoping someone would recognize something was wrong and put a stop to this. The Empress stood, but nothing else seemed to be happening. Frustrated, Nia reached for her magic once again, not realizing exactly what she wanted to do. Again, she felt the presence of a magical energy some distance away, just as she had in the cage, but this time it felt brighter, stronger. Despite the chaos, she calmed herself and closed her eyes, focusing on finding the source of that power. Did Jerris come for me? Is he in the city? No, it doesn’t feel like him. This is something else.

  Nia focused her mind and reached out to the power, seeking it. It appeared to her as a bright light in the distance, somewhere in the city, shining through the aura suppressing walls of buildings, but undeniably present, its magic dimming everything nearby. Then, in a moment of blinding epiphany, Nia realized what it was, the Star Blade. It had chosen her, bound to her, just as the Demon’s Blade had bound itself to her brother. Now it called to her, as though it were a part of her. Without knowing how or why, Nia called back, thinking of the blade, imagining it in her hands. Then she felt something strange, as the thinnest thread of invisible magic extended from her body outward to the Star Blade, connecting her to her lost weapon. By instinct, she pulled on the thread, and she felt it move, drawing closer with each breath.

  She kept her mind focused, heedless to the chaos around her, trusting that Skarn and his friends could occupy the monster for just a little while longer. She felt the light draw steadily closer until it was in the arena. She became dimly aware of terrified shouting somewhere in the distance, but she pushed it away, drawing the light ever nearer until it was close enough to touch. She reached out, and opened her eyes.

  At first, it appeared as though she held a star fallen from heaven in her fist, but the light dissipated, and a thin outline of the sword formed, then solidified, then it was there, in her hands. She clenched her teeth and drew on the power now so close. She felt the shackles attempt to drain the power away, but this was far too much raw power. The outer shackles snapped and shot outwards, landing a dozen yards away. The rest of the mage bindings crumbled into pieces while the chain between them and the inner rings against her skin dissolved into dust. She turned back toward the battle filled with righteous wrath. The crowd set loose a deafening roar at this unexpected turn, clearly enjoying the show.

  Nia returned her attention to the fight. Skarn and his warriors still held off the beast, but the battle was turning. They had managed to disable one of the beast’s four arms, and blind an eye, but one of the fighters was down. Skarn stood over the injured man, protecting his comrade, blocking blow after blow from a monster several times his size, his feet digging pits into the dirt. With a
thought Nia shot a burning ray of light from the point of her sword. It seared into the flesh of the monster’s chest, raising a puff of smoke as it did so. Still, it did not penetrate far enough to draw blood. Chimeras were, by their very nature, resistant to most forms of magic, and this one was no exception. She changed tactics, instead freezing water out of the air and launching shards of ice at the beast as it charged her. The chunks of ice tore into the monster’s flesh but still it wasn’t enough. She simply could not do enough damage to weaken the monster. At the last moment, she dove aside barely escaping a hammer blow from the chimera’s iron morning star.

  As she recovered, she lashed out with a brilliant flash of bright light that momentarily dimmed even the sun. The creature took several steps back and blinked painfully. Even the crowd silenced momentarily as they recovered from the blinding flash. Skarn recovered from the blinding light more quickly and leapt in front of Nia. He took advantage of his opportunity and buried his spear several feet into the chimera’s body. Blood spilled from the wound and the creature shrieked in pain, a sound like a thousand eagles screaming in unison. It thrashed, turning so quickly and so powerfully that it caught Skarn in the midsection with the shaft of his still lodged spear. The blow lifted Skarn into the air as easily as a leaf in a hurricane, then slung him a dozen or more yards through the air, where he crashed to the ground and then rolled to a stop. Skarn tried to push himself up once, but then seemed to pass out.

  Nia’s anger rose again, and she tried a third time to summon an earth golem. It began to form, but something went wrong. She pulled stronger than ever before, and it started to take shape, but the golem was far too small. She focused on making it larger, but instead it crumbled as the power seemed to pull against nothing. Then the awful reality of the situation hit her. The arena floor was composed of a layer of dusty dirt just a foot or two thick, with stone beneath, stone enchanted to resist magic. There was enough earth in the floor to use basic earth shaping magic, but not enough for this. Nia backed away and tried to think while the beast continuously thrashed in anger, trying to dislodge the spear.

  Nia panted, gasping for breath as sweat rolled down off her exhausted body, desperately trying to think of some other way to fight the monster. She chanced to look at the ground, where the morning sun cast a shadow across the ground. As she felt the sun on her back, an idea flashed in her mind. She shut her eyes to focus, this would be harder than anything she had ever attempted, beyond what she should be capable of, but with the Star Blade, she could at least try.

  She felt the light all around her, the sun upon her back, the warmth of the radiant light catching in her hair, the bright blue of the sky, then focused it into the blade, and tried to bind it, form it into something solid, as she had the earth golem. It strained her mind, trying to make something as insubstantial and ethereal as light itself into a form solid enough to fight this chimera. She focused on the Star Blade, asked, even begged for its help, and it blazed like a beacon. Suddenly she felt the power take hold of her, and just as she had outside Cupernous when she summoned her first golem, and as she had during the battle with Zariel the Puppet Master, she felt a more powerful magic awaken deep within her, some hidden corner locked away by her mother long ago, now forced open by direst need. Once again, she felt overwhelmed by the power she channeled, only just barely in control of it. Her eyes fluttered open and her pupils shrunk as she felt herself locked once again into the unblinking stare.

  Before her stood a twenty-foot-tall faceless soldier of burning starlight, with arms that ended in sharpened blades of light. She felt heat and power roll off the thing in waves, and nearly collapsed from the disbelief at what she had done. The chimera had finally dislodged the offending spear, and now stared, squinting unsteadily and curiously at the light golem out of its golden bird eyes, for the first time confronted not by a helpless prisoner or a tiny warrior, but by something nearly as large and terrifying as itself. Nia did not intend to allow it to run away, not now. This abomination went against everything the Golden Shield had ever stood for, and it needed to die.

  Familiar with controlling golems by now, Nia manipulated her left hand as a child playing with a marionette. In her other hand, she felt the Star Blade burning with magic, fueling her righteous rage. She jerked a hand and lifted a finger, and the golem swiftly lifted its blade arm in a massive uppercut across the creature’s torso. The light golem was unbelievably quick compared to the cumbersome earth golems she had used before, and it moved with unnatural grace for its size. The uppercut impacted the chimera below the torso, tearing through flesh with a cauterizing hiss. Mounds of saggy flesh dislodged and tumbled to the ground, staining the earth with blood. The creature shrieked again, the sound rising above the roars of the crowd, but retaliated quickly, aiming its morning star truly and slamming a blow across the back of the golem. The same solidity that allowed the golem’s arm to cut the beast also made it vulnerable to weapons. Nia felt the force of the blow on her own back, knocking the wind out of her, and nearly breaking her focus. She dropped to a knee, the golem mirroring her movements, but she did not break. She gritted her teeth and screamed back, dipping her hand downward and bringing the left arm of the golem across the arm of the chimera, severing muscle, bone, and tendon alike, lopping off the chimera’s arm like a butcher armed with a meat cleaver. The heavy arm rolled off the creature’s body to the ground twitching, then going still. The chimera shrieked a third time, a shriek that momentarily deafened Nia and probably everyone else as well. The creature, now in complete panic, tried to run, but it stood no chance of escape, for no matter how swift, nothing can outrun light itself.

  As the chimera charged toward the place where it had entered the arena, Nia screamed again and threw her hand forward, causing the golem to leap toward its prey like a pouncing cat. Just as the chimera drew near the wall, the light golem crashed down upon it like a thunderbolt, bringing both blade arms down together and cleaving the massive monstrosity in half down the middle. In a sudden lurching death, both halves tumbled away, releasing a torrential flood of blood, bile, and ruined liquefied flesh onto the floor of the arena.

  Nia stood trembling under the tension of so much power flowing through her. She became more aware of everything around her, the crowd was half madly cheering. The arena fairly shook with their exultant celebration. Some of them leapt and clambered on each other’s shoulders, shouting to break their own lungs, but Nia had one more thing to do before she released the golem. She raised her hand and the golem stood up tall, then she turned to face the Empress, the golem again mirroring her movements. She lifted a finger ever slightly and the golem raised a hand to silence the crowed, the blade arm reshaping itself into an outward palm.

  The response was immediate, as the crowd’s awestruck wonder and cheers were silenced by the momentary terror of displeasing the power before them.

  “I have come from far away, to speak to the Empress, to plead my case. I am Niarie Kortana, granddaughter of Eldrik, Archmage of the Golden Shield,” Nia spoke as loudly as she could. She didn’t know the technique to enhance her own voice, but in the suddenly complete silence, her voice carried better than she expected. “I know I was declared a traitor, but I come to swear my allegiance once again to the Golden Shield, and to our Empress. I bring grave news. We have been betrayed to the Demon King by our own, Traiz Tiberius.”

  Hushed murmurs circulated throughout the arena. Several people began subtly and stealthily moving toward the exits, a fact not unnoticed by Nia. She thought of stopping them for a moment, but didn’t know if she could use the golem to stop a few individuals without destroying the entire coliseum. Instead, she focused on her words.

  “Even now, Geoffray Leonhardt, in his foolish pride, seeks to retake the leadership of the Order. He builds an army against you. I have come to warn you, and to offer my aid, and the aid of my friends. I pledge my sword to the Empress in our coming war with the Demon King, so long as she holds true to the purpose of the Golden Shield, as lo
ng as the war lasts.”

  Nia then released the power of the golem, and it faded into the sky as though it had never been. She fell to one knee, and the crowd roared its approval. In truth, she was so exhausted she could hardly stand, but when she heard the Empress speak, she found the strength.

  “Arise, Champion,” the Empress declared, her voice echoing through the arena over the crowd. Nia stood and saw the Empress smiling ear to ear. “You have triumphed over a monster, and upheld the true spirit of the order. You have reminded us that a pure spirit is more powerful than the greatest monsters our enemy can conjure.”

  It felt almost surreal. The Empress could not have expected this, but she sounded completely confident, as though it came as no surprise at all. Lady Barris had skillfully handled the unexpected situation without so much as the bat of an eye. It was a skill to be admired, and in that moment, the Empress reminded Nia somehow of Darien, who always seemed to be in control, no matter what chaos was happening around him. Her grandfather had mistrusted this woman, even plotted against her, but perhaps he had been wrong. Maybe it didn’t really matter who led the Golden Shield or what they called themselves, Grandmaster, King, Queen, or Empress. If the name of Sarenna could unite the kingdoms, then Nia would bow to Lady Barris. The next part of her task would be more difficult. She had to get the Empress to admit Jerris and his makeshift army as an ally, and together, they could ferret out the remains of Traiz’s organization, cutting off the tentacles that reached through the Golden Shield one by one, beginning with a certain tertiary undersecretary.

  Chapter 27: The Empress

  After addressing the Empress, chaos descended on the coliseum fairly quickly. The gore from the dead chimera covered over a quarter of the arena. The remainder of the day’s festivities were, obviously, postponed, as just cleaning up the mess would take the remainder of the day, probably much, much longer. Nia, Skarn, and the other warriors were quickly surrounded by soldiers who ushered them out of the arena and through the city quickly to a secure and windowless, though still comfortable room.