The Archmage unbound m-3

by Michael G. Manning

  Like a twisted imitation of a marionette Rose stood and walked haltingly to stand before the golden perfection that was Celior. “You have sinned against me child,” said the god, and tears began flowing freely down Rose’s cheeks. Leaning down Celior kissed her slowly. Rose’s body jerked as if she had been shocked for a moment and then she began to writhe sinuously in his grasp.

  The god pulled away from her causing Rose to cry out in anguish at the sudden loss. “That is the bliss you might have had,” he told her and then twisting her thick black tresses in his hand he lifted her from the ground by her hair. “This is what you will receive instead,” he intoned cruelly as she cried out in pain.

  “Stop it!” I screamed.

  “Or what?” asked the god, sneering in my direction.

  “Put her down,” came a gravelly voice that I nevertheless recognized. Dorian Thornbear stood in one of corner doorways behind the throne. Cyhan and Penny were close behind him. Impossibly he wore the armor I had made for him, though I couldn’t imagine Edward would have been foolish enough to leave him with it.

  Chapter 45

  Dorian repeated himself again, “Put her down or I’ll cut your fucking head from your shoulders.” He held one of the enchanted swords I had given him.

  Celior looked at him in amazement. “A stoic? How unusual. Do you think you can save this woman? Here, I didn’t really want her anyway.” Using a slow sweeping movement the god threw Rose at Edward and the two of them went down in a pile of tangled limbs. Several torn locks of her hair hung loosely from Celior’s fingers. Glancing at the hair the deity began to laugh.

  Screaming in rage Dorian charged at the mocking god. He moved with speed and his size along with the shining armor he wore made Celior seem small in comparison.

  The god didn’t bother trying to dodge or avoid him. With one arm he caught Dorian, grasping his armor at the gorget that protected Dorian’s throat. Despite Dorian’s incredible momentum Celior was not moved at all, and even his hair hung calmly about him. Lifting he drew Dorian up, until his feet dangled above the floor. “You amuse me greatly, but you must not die yet little warrior.”

  As he found himself rising above the floor Dorian swept his sword up and across, attempting to cut Celior’s arm from his shoulder. His heart pounded with the strength of the earth and when his blade struck the god’s arm it made a sound as if a massive gong had been struck. The sword shattered as though it was made of glass and fragments of steel flew in every direction.

  In a movement that seemed almost languid the shining god threw Dorian across the room. My friend’s armored body struck the wall so hard that it bowed outward and the stones cracked, and then he fell to the floor unmoving.

  While Celior’s attention had been on Dorian the pressure on the rest of us lessened. Hearing a cry of pain I saw Rose rise from the dais holding a bloody dagger. Edward lay bleeding beneath her.

  Turning his attention back to us the pressure increased again and Rose’s knees buckled. Kneeling in the King’s blood she still laughed. “You cannot have everything,” she said in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

  Around the room everyone was on their knees again, including Penny and Cyhan now. My eyes sought Penny’s and for a moment we were together again, despite the intervening distance. In Penelope’s haggard face I could see fear and exhaustion, along with worry, probably for me. Still I felt a tiny flower of hope blossom in my chest at the sight of her.

  The god’s attention was fully on Rose now and holding up his hand a tiny ball of flame flickered into life above it. “You have displeased me child. I think perhaps you should burn first.” With a twist of his hand he casually tossed the flame at her.

  Drawing on reserves I hadn’t known were there I somehow erected a shield before her, sending the flame sliding away to one side where it flickered and died. The god laughed and looked at me. “You amaze me wizard. I thought you had reached your limit.”

  The continual strain of shielding my mind against his power had left me weary and I found myself wishing for a clever response. The best I could manage was, “That just shows your ignorance.”

  Celior frowned and holding his hand out toward me he said, “Learn humility.” Then he turned his palm toward the floor as if pressing downward.

  The pressure on my shield and mind increased several fold and I collapsed. Pain shot through me as my shield vanished. Drawing inward I tried to protect my mind but Celior’s will shot through me and it felt as though knives were stabbing into my skull. Blood began to drip from my eyes and I could hear myself screaming.

  My entire world dissolved into agony and I felt my sense of self slipping away. In my desperation to escape the pain my body curled into a ball on the ground while my fingers clutched at the hard floor. The stone! That single thought permeated my being and gained focus as I sought to preserve what was left of my sanity. Remembering the stone Moira had once given me to shape, I struggled to emulate it. Surrendering my humanity I tried to become the stone… for stones feel no pain.

  Still the sharp barbs of Celior’s thoughts wrapped around my tortured mind and even through my misery I could hear his voice, echoing in my mind, “Did you think you had the power to protect yourself tiny mortal? I let you believe so only to increase your shame and suffering.”

  I was utterly blinded by the agony, and yet somehow I could hear. A sharp cry rang out, and I recognized Rose’s voice. It was followed by an anguished yell and then Celior spoke again, “You seek to hinder me by killing your King? Watch and know despair.” After an unknowable pause he spoke again, “Rise Edward, King of Lothion, your wounds were not fatal.”

  “Mort! Mort! Can you hear me?” Penny’s voice was next to my ear and somehow I knew she was stroking my brow, though I couldn’t feel it. The only sensation left to my body at that point was ceaseless burning pain. My deepest desire was to answer her, but I couldn’t. Instead I focused on the only thing that seemed to give me surcease from Celior’s torment, the image of the stone I held in my mind.

  My focus increased and the wracking agony lessened as I felt my conscious mind harden. At last I was able to open my eyes again and I saw Penelope leaning protectively over me. Over her shoulder I glimpsed the angry god approaching.

  “Do you think to protect him woman? He is of no use to you anymore. I will make his death long and painful. You should worry more for yourself,” Celior announced with a grin that would have made children laugh at the beauty of it.

  “His dying breath is worth more than your entire being!” Penny screamed in defiance as she drew me close, cradling me beneath her. Her tears fell on my face and I struggled to speak, but my mouth still would not cooperate.

  At last the pain was gone, along with my vision of the world around me. I saw and felt nothing. In peaceful bliss I relaxed and deep below I could hear the steady beat of the earth. Closer and yet more faintly I heard a single perfect voice, “I will rip your cursed child from your womb and crush it before your eyes.”

  “No,” I said simply and I began to sit up. The pressure against my mind was still there, but it was no longer beyond my ability to stop. Something had changed inside, and a new strength had emerged, drawn primarily from the pulsing heart of the world. Looking around myself with new eyes I took in the room with a clarity that came from a calm center. I had found my balance, and in that timeless instant I saw everything.

  Dorian and Elaine were both still unconscious, their bodies collapsed near the wall to one side of the room. Rose lay face down near the throne, a still spreading pool of blood fanning outward from beneath her. Edward stood over her now, a bloody dagger in hand and a smile upon his face. His grey hair was gone and he looked younger than I remembered. Last of all, I spotted Cyhan, crouched near the doorway, still holding a sword though he seemed powerless to move.

  Most importantly the shining god was reaching down, though his movement seemed terribly slow. Penelope’s face was still above me, framed by loose strands of soft brown hair
, shining golden with Celior’s light behind her. Her eyes were on mine and in that moment something passed between us, a type of communication that was ineffable. Apologies and regrets were forgotten and meaningless, for our hearts had found each other once again.

  Celior’s hand was over her head, and his fingers were beginning to clench inward, to grasp her by the hair when finally the universe snapped back into motion. Without conscious thought I drew deeply upon the power beneath me while reaching up to meet the god’s greedy hand with my own, “ Na’Pyrren Ingak mai Lathos” It was the spell I had created to harden and strengthen my hands when working with the hot metal of the forge.

  Our hands entwined for a moment and I felt the immensity of Celior’s unwitting strength, but I didn’t care. Clenching my hand into a fist the shining god’s bones broke, snapping like dry twigs under my fingers. Staring into the brilliant blue eyes of the god I spoke, “You will never touch her.”

  Celior screamed and drew back as I released his hand but he recovered his composure within seconds. “I am done playing with you wizard,” and so saying he held up his hand, flexing it, as if to demonstrate that it had already healed.

  Raising my staff I created a new shield around the two of us. Using my newfound strength I imbued it with so much power that blue sparks sizzled and spat around the edges. My instincts were screaming at me to find some way to get Penny and our unborn child away, but I knew there was no escaping the monstrous deity that stood before us.

  Luminescent tendrils of power were beginning to test the boundaries of my new shield but I ignored them and looked back, into Penny’s dark brown eyes. There were dark circles under them and her body had swelled even more with her pregnancy but gazing at her all I could see was the girl that had run with me through the open fields of our childhood summers. The word love simply wasn’t enough to describe what she meant to me. Gazing into those eyes I saw my future, and the proof of it was growing in her belly. I wanted nothing more than to hold her and forget the nightmare around us.

  I opened my mouth and said, “You are such an asshole.”

  Her expression faltered, “What?”

  “Was that really the best message you could leave me? I thought you were dead!” I said angrily.

  Disbelief marched across her face, “I couldn’t say more! I didn’t know what might affect your fate.”

  “Fuck fate! Fate is a goddamned whore! She changes her mind more frequently than that fickle bitch Lady Luck! Next time you tell me the truth and consequences be damned!” I shouted.

  Penelope’s face twisted into an expression that was a mixture of irony, humor and worry. “There may not be a next time, this was as far as my vision got; the rest is up to you.”

  Now it was my turn to be incredulous. All the suffering and fear I had been through, and this was the extent of her vision? “If we make it home alive we are going to have a serious talk,” I said and turned my attention back to the angry god.

  In the short time I had ignored him Celior had changed. He had grown several feet in height and golden mists wreathed the ground about his feet. His overall luminosity had increased as well, making it almost painful to look at him. This isn’t looking good, I thought to myself.

  Across the room, Cyhan was kneeling over Rose and from his awkward motions I could tell he was having difficulty moving. Celior’s presence was like an iron weight and without powerful protection I doubted any normal human could move. Reaching down Cyhan pulled the necklace from around Rose’s limp form and settled it over his own head. His movements became considerably quicker after that. Is he just seeking to escape? I wondered. Dorian couldn’t possibly have appeared with his arms and armor by chance. “Take them and get out!” I yelled at him as loudly as I could, gesturing at Rose and then Elaine. I would have liked Dorian safe as well, but there was no way Cyhan could have carried them all and at least Dorian was armored.

  Celior smiled chillingly, “Save your breath mortal. I will only hunt them down once I am finished with you.” Reaching out, his hand pressed against my shield causing brilliant sparks to fly. “Your shield has improved. I might have to exert myself slightly to break something like that,” mused the shining deity, “though I know an easier way.”

  I hardly liked the sound of that. Glancing backward I noticed one of the giant stones from the ceiling lay beside Penny and me, forming a natural barrier. “Get behind the stone Penny,” I ordered quietly. Turning back to Celior I tried to buy some time. “I’m done listening to your pathetic childish threats,” I said loudly.

  The god laughed, “One small taste of the earth and you think you have a chance, I begin to doubt your intelligence Mordecai.”

  For a moment I doubted my resolve. Obviously bear-baiting an angry god wasn’t among the smartest things I had ever decided to do. Stupid never dies, I thought inwardly, and then I replied, “Intelligence is overrated. I don’t need wits to see that you are nothing, despite your power. You are a parasite, a plague upon humanity, a figment of some man’s demented dream, drawing your sustenance from the hearts and souls of those who mistakenly worship you.”

  As I spoke Celior’s face went from amused to thunderous and I put even more power into my shield. Whatever was coming would be bad. “I will show you the folly of your fool’s tongue,” the god replied and then I discovered my error.

  A flash of light illuminated the room and for a split second it was as though the sun had touched the earth. It centered upon Celior and so intense were those rays that everything they touched burned and turned instantly to ash. The cloth furnishings in the room burned so rapidly they didn’t even have time to catch fire. Even the very stones smoked where that awful light played across them. My shield, on the other hand, was transparent, for light had never been a danger.

  Staring up at Celior my skin and clothing crisped and vanished almost instantly from the half of my body facing him. My eyes shriveled and burned so quickly it was a mercy to no longer have to see the light. A scream rose in my throat but failed to escape for the pain had taken my breath away. As quickly as the light had appeared it vanished.

  In its wake I was left a smoking ruin. The outer layer of clothing, skin and fat on the side of my body that faced the shining god was gone. If it hadn’t been for the cauterization that occurred simultaneously I might have bled to death, but instead I was left in a horror of agony and pain. Collapsing to the ground I knew I was dying already, but it might take hours unless Celior decided to hurry it along.

  “Mort? What was that flash? I can’t see anything!” That was Penny’s voice. Though my eyes were gone I could still see her with my magesight, shielded by the lee of the stone. “Are you alright?” she asked.

  Oddly enough the pain faded. Most of the nerve endings are gone, I mused. “It’s alright,” I tried to answer her but though my voice worked my ruined lips made the words sound almost foreign.

  “Now you more closely resembled the blind worm you truly are,” said Celior mockingly, “when your whore’s sight returns she may thank me for improving your appearance.”

  Anger was all I had left to drive me, that and a stubborn desire to somehow save my wife and child. The drumbeat of the earth quickened in response and I sought refuge in its rhythm and solace in its rage. “I don’t need eyes to see your ugliness Celior,” I answered and then I began to stand once more.

  Something struck the back of my head like the blow of a forge hammer, sending me back down against the stone floor. Moira, help me! I cried mentally. Somehow I began rising to my feet again, though another hammer blow sent me reeling to one side. Celior was battering me with his fists now.

  I can do nothing against the might of a god Mordecai, came Moira’s words in my mind.

  Another strike sent me flying across the room to strike the wall, and yet again I started to rise up. Not me! Hide Penny. Take her away, through the stones if you must. Save her! My attention was fully engaged by Celior’s fists then.

  Though his blows struck ever harder
they seemed to hurt less. I was larger now, though Celior had kept pace with my growth. At a guess we both towered a full twenty feet above the floor now.

  “You should stay down,” Celior’s voice told me. “You only delay the inevitable.”

  His next blow swung toward my head but I was ready for him and this time I brought up my own arm to block it. Before he recovered I drove my other fist into his stomach. Without realizing it my hands had grown massive stony spikes and they pierced the shining god’s belly, spilling blood that looked like liquid gold upon the ground. “I am so tired of hearing that,” I replied in a voice that was reminiscent of the grating of two massive stones. “You’d think you would find some original threats during your eons of immortality.”

  Celior stumbled back and then tried to counterattack. Ignoring his strikes I grabbed his head as he leaned in and jerking it downward I brought my massive stony knee up to meet it. With a crack like the sound of thunder I felt the bones in the shining god’s face break. Drawing his head back I repeated the motion, pulverizing what was left of Celior’s beautiful face. Then I reached down and grasped the limp god by the legs and swung him bodily into the wall.

  Unfortunately I lost my grip on him at that point and he flew from my grasp. Despite the grievous injuries he recovered faster than I could reach him and leaping upward fiery wings sprung from his back. Several desperate wing beats sent him soaring above my head and through the ruined ceiling of the palace. That was not in the damn rulebook! I thought, cursing him mentally.

  Taking advantage of my brief respite I scanned the area for my friends. Only Dorian was near, still lying unconscious in the stone rubble of one wall. Cyhan was almost out of the palace now, carrying Rose over one shoulder and Elaine over the other. Of Penny I could find no trace and I took that as a good sign.