Something was wrong.
Syr-Nagath continued to draw out the combat, and it was all Keel-Tath could do not to give in to anger and frustration, to try and bring the duel to a rapid close.
A sudden burst of sound carried through the portal. Looking away from Syr-Nagath for just an instant, Keel-Tath saw that a flood of Ka’i-Nur warriors were attacking her companions. The Dark Queen had just been stringing her along, giving her own warriors a chance to regroup.
That single moment of inattention nearly cost Keel-Tath her life. Syr-Nagath, a feral scream on her lips, was suddenly upon her, her sword slashing and thrusting with relentless ferocity.
Keel-Tath retreated, desperately fending off Syr-Nagath’s blade. While she fought with every bit of skill Ayan-Dar and Ria-Ka’luhr had hammered into her, and even managed to land a few glancing blows upon her opponent, Syr-Nagath’s superior skills with the sword were fatally evident. With a series of lightning quick overhand blows, Syr-Nagath drove her to her knees. Knocking Keel-Tath’s sword hand aside, Syr-Nagath slashed through the tiny gap between the gauntlet and the armor of Keel-Tath’s forearm, nearly slicing through Keel-Tath’s wrist.
With a cry of despair more than pain, Keel-Tath dropped her sword, then held perfectly still as she felt the tip of Syr-Nagath’s blade against her throat.
“Oh, child,” the Dark Queen said, shaking her head, a look of disappointment on her face as she stepped closer, holding her sword steady. “I had hoped for better from you. You were hardly any challenge at all.” With a slight movement of her hand, she pressed her sword against Keel-Tath’s skin, just enough to draw a bead of crimson. “The blood of the chosen one, you said. And behold, there it is.”
“Do not do this,” Keel-Tath pleaded. “Do not touch the crystal. You have no idea what will happen to you, perhaps to us all.”
“You, who holds within you the power of the other six crystals — or so you would have us believe — would deny me just one?” Syr-Nagath shook her head slowly as she pressed the blade even deeper against Keel-Tath’s skin, until the thin bead of blood became a trickle. “I think not.” She smiled. “It is time for you to join the Ancient Ones.”
As Syr-Nagath shoved her sword down into Keel-Tath’s throat, Keel-Tath snapped her good hand up, deflecting the blade as she twisted her head to the left. The blade sliced through the side of her neck, rending some of the muscles but missing the vital arteries. A brutal kick shattered Syr-Nagath’s right knee. Rolling to her left, Keel-Tath slammed her other foot into Syr-Nagath’s side. Syr-Nagath, screaming, dropped her sword and fell to the unyielding stone floor.
Drawing her dagger, Keel-Tath rolled atop Syr-Nagath, who writhed and twisted, trying to fling her off. With her injured arm, Keel-Tath forced the Dark Queen’s head down against the floor.
“Let the Darkness take you,” spat Keel-Tath as she bent her head down to catch Syr-Nagath’s Braid of the Covenant in her teeth, pulling it taut before she sliced through the ebony strands with her dagger.
Syr-Nagath went rigid, as if she had been electrified, and screamed in spiritual agony.
Spitting out the braid, Keel-Tath scrambled to her feet, ignoring the blood pouring from her own neck. She momentarily wondered if she should leave Syr-Nagath to suffer or simply put an end to her. Then she looked toward the portal where her companions were being driven back by the Ka’i-Nur. She caught a glimpse of Sian-Al’ai, whirling through the ranks of enemy warriors, her blood-stained sword gleaming. But Keel-Tath could tell she was slowing, that she was nearing the end of her strength. And if Sian-Al’ai should fall, the others, including Tara-Khan, who was helplessly bound to the portal, would be doomed.
Shutting out Syr-Nagath’s cries, Keel-Tath turned to the crystal. While she had been dueling with Syr-Nagath, its power had grown weaker, almost as if it had drawn back to see who would win. Now, however, she could feel it again pulsing in her blood, like waves rising as a great storm approached. She staggered from the surging power as much as the loss of blood from her wrist and neck.
Dropping her dagger, she moved toward the crystal, forcing herself deeper into the unnatural darkness radiating from it.
As she raised her hands to it, a circular opening in the apex of the dome slowly irised open, revealing the sun high overhead. She knew that it was an illusion of sorts, a manipulation of time and space wrought by the vessel of this Crystal of Souls. But she also knew that the disk of sunlight that now shone on the floor, moving quickly toward the crystal, would bring her a final wave of soul-wrenching agony when the crystal released its fire.
She stood there, arms outstretched, waiting. The power of the crystal, in great waves that beat upon her, quickened into a raging gale that threatened to tear her from her feet. The sunlight moved over the dais, finally striking the crystal.
Instead of blinding light, darkness exploded from the facets, fanning outward toward her, consuming all in its path. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of the pain, she lunged forward, thrusting her hands into the infinite darkness.
From each of the other six crystals she had felt the pain of fire, of cleansing flame. But from the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls she was stricken with cold, as if every cell in her body touched by the dark light had every trace of warmth drawn from it. The agony was that of utter, complete emptiness, of oblivion made flesh. The Bloodsong was washed away by her spiritual scream as all that she was, all she had ever been, was frozen and shattered, the shards cast away into infinity.
***
Syr-Nagath regained her senses just as the iris in the top of the dome opened, revealing the sun. The rays of light shone down, illuminating Keel-Tath, who stood before the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls. Syr-Nagath stared at the white haired child as she waited to receive the crystal’s gift. It took Syr-Nagath a moment to understand the significance of what her eyes were telling her, and a moment longer to act.
Biting back the pain from her shattered knee, which seemed a mere ache compared to the vast emptiness left by the now silent Bloodsong in her veins, she crawled to her sword and took it in hand. Struggling to her feet, she limped toward her nemesis, who was oblivious to everything but the crystal before her.
The bright circle of sunlight moved upon the dais, then touched the crystal. Syr-Nagath recoiled, throwing an arm over her eyes, as the crystal exploded with darkness so intense that it nearly blinded her. A wave of frigid cold swept out as the light bloomed, and she felt as if she were freezing to death.
One last thing to do before I die, she thought grimly.
Taking one more shuffling step, she thrust her sword through the armor of Keel-Tath’s back, just before the darkness took them both.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Sian-Al’ai, high priestess of the Ima’il-Kush, fought as she had never fought before. The surviving honorless ones who had accompanied Tara-Khan and the warriors brought by Keel-Tath met their foes with unbridled ferocity, but the Ka’i-Nur warriors were like a wall of slashing swords, war hammers, and battle axes that steadily crushed the defenders against the portal. Had Sian-Al’ai not been there, her companions already would have suffered a brutal defeat. With her sword and powers, they were holding their own, but her strength was quickly waning. More and more Ka’i-Nur came charging down the stairway, which was quickly being further repaired by unseen Ka’i-Nur builders.
More to kill, she thought with a snarl as she whirled out of the way of a Ka’i-Nur sword nearly as long as she was tall that parted the air where she had just been. The weapon was wielded by a warrior who was huge even among the Ka’i-Nur, and wore armor as thick as her fingers. Gathering her waning energy, she sent a crimson fire bolt into the warrior’s chest. The center of his breastplate was vaporized and his rib cage blew outward as flesh and bone flashed into steam. With a gurgling cry the giant collapsed, adding his body to the waist high pile that surrounded the defenders, many of whom were now standing atop the dead, using the height advantage to good effect while preventing the Ka’i-Nur from doing
the same.
A pair of Ka’i-Nur warriors launched one of their comrades at the defensive line like a sword-wielding projectile. The attacking warrior was killed, but not before she killed two honorless ones. Dara-Kol, a sword in each hand, fearlessly moved forward to plug the gap, but was driven back by the attackers, who were quickly joined by more. The tiny gap acted as a magnet as nearby enemy warriors surged forward, trying to force their way over the barrier of the dead.
Sian-Al’ai turned to a small group of haggard warriors behind her whom she had pulled out to rest and to act as a small reserve. Pointing with her sword, she bellowed, “Hold the line!”
As they rushed forward, Sian-Al’ai darted to the left, directly behind the Ka’i-Nur warriors who were intent on killing Dara-Kol. They died in a flurry of savage blows from her sword, and the defending warriors managed to close the gap.
“We cannot long continue this,” Dara-Kol managed as she sucked air into her lungs. Like Sian-Al’ai, she was covered in blood, but not all of it was the enemy’s. She was suffering from half a dozen minor wounds that were quickly taking their toll. Even Sian-Al’ai had not remained unscathed, and her energy reserves had fallen to the point where she dared not use any of her powers except in the most dire circumstances.
As one, they looked to the portal, which Tara-Khan was somehow still holding open. Keel-Tath had followed Syr-Nagath into whatever lay beyond, but it was impossible to see much beyond the crackling lightning from Tara-Khan’s hands.
“I cannot feel her,” Dara-Kol said as she wiped some of the blood from her eyes. “It is as if the portal is a barrier to the Bloodsong.”
“Knowing what she must endure, that is likely for the best.” Sian-Al’ai ducked as a shrekka whistled past her head. “Her song is so powerful, were we to sense her pain, our defense would collapse.”
“As it soon must, no matter what we do,” Dara-Kol replied, now looking upward.
Following her gaze, Sian-Al’ai felt a cold spear of dread in her gut. Ka’i-Nur warriors on parawings were floating down around the outer edge of the stairway. But these were not like those they had been fighting up to now. These were clad in silver armor. “We will not be escaping back the way we came, it seems.” Looking over her shoulder at Tara-Khan, she added, “We must get everyone through the portal. Now.”
“But how? We’ll be burned alive by the lightning!”
“No,” Sian-Al’ai told her. “Injured, perhaps, but not killed. Besides, we have no choice.” Raising her voice to be heard above the cries and screams that reverberated through the chamber, she shouted, “Fall back to the portal! Fall back!” To Dara-Kol, she added, “Take them through. I will hold off the enemy.”
Dara-Kol stared at her, an expression of grim resolution on her face. “I will not abandon you! We…”
The rest of her words were lost as an energy beam lanced down from one of the warriors in silver armor, vaporizing a pair of honorless ones and the Ka’i-Nur warrior they had been grappling with.
Sian-Al’ai took Dara-Kol’s arm and shoved her toward the portal. “Go!”
As Dara-Kol took charge of the others who fell back, fighting every bit of the way, toward the portal, Sian-Al’ai gathered her remaining inner strength and raised her arms. The last thing any of the Ka’i-Nur warriors here would see was her fiery wrath.
***
Dara-Kol cringed as a writhing wall of fire erupted from Sian-Al’ai. The licking flames wrapped around the retreating warriors, leaving them untouched but for the heat while incinerating the Ka’i-Nur. The chamber around her grew as hot as an oven, making it difficult to draw a breath. “Drakh-Nur! Ka’i-Lohr!" she called. “Get everyone though the portal!”
The two battered warriors nodded, and with the help of Sar-Ula’an began to guide, push, and in some cases carry the survivors toward the portal.
“Tara-Khan,” she said after she had dashed over to kneel beside him. “We are trapped. The only way out is through the portal.”
He looked at her in horror, the lightning reflected in his eyes. “But there is no way out of the chamber! There are no doors to the other vessels!”
She put a hand on his shoulder, and felt an electric shock that nearly knocked her backward. Pulling her hand away, she said, “It is that, or we all die here and now. You must decide in the name of Keel-Tath.”
“Do it,” he rasped.
Glancing through the portal, where before she could peer into the great chamber, Dara-Kol now saw only darkness, a black pit beyond the swirling golden ring and crackling lightning.
The silver clad Ka’i-Nur began falling among the survivors, eliciting cries of fear and rage from the warriors, but they had nothing to fear: the enemy were dead, cooked inside their metal cocoons.
Getting to her feet, Dara-Kol gestured to Drakh-Nur. “Send them through!”
None of the survivors, however, was keen to brave the crackling lightning from Tara-Khan. And so it was that Drakh-Nur snatched up the nearest warrior and bodily tossed her across the threshold. She yelped as she passed through the web of cyan, but emerged unscathed on the far side, visible against the darkness. She stood there, shaken but alive, holding out her hand for the others.
The taboo broken, the warriors sent through the robed ones, pairing them up with those who were injured to help them through quickly.
Behind them, Sian-Al’ai had fallen to her knees, and the wall of fire was beginning to die out.
“Hurry!” Dara-Kol shouted as yet more burned Ka’i-Nur slammed into the floor around her. Grabbing Ka’i-Lohr by the arm, she told him, “You are to take charge of the others on the far side.”
“What about you?" he asked as he shoved another pair of warriors into the web of lightning. “We won’t leave you!”
“I have no intention of sacrificing myself here. Just do as I command.”
“Yes, mistress.” He saluted her before picking up a badly wounded armorer and dashing through the portal.
Dara-Kol came to stand as close as she dared behind Sian-Al’ai. The heat was frightful, like holding one’s entire body over a bonfire, just above the flames. She knew that Sian-Al’ai would not approve of what she planned, which was why she had no intention of telling her. Nor did she wish to break her concentration.
“Dara-Kol!”
She turned to see Drakh-Nur, gesturing frantically for her to come. Everyone else but he and Tara-Khan were through the portal. “Go!" she shouted.
Pausing, his blood smeared face contorted in indecision, Drakh-Nur at last saluted her before leaping into the darkness.
It was at that moment that the fire from Sian-Al’ai finally failed. Dara-Kol caught her as she collapsed, unconscious. The priestess’s armor was smoldering, and Dara-Kol hissed from the pain as she slung Sian-Al’ai over her shoulder and ran to Tara-Khan as fast as she could. Behind her she heard the enraged bellows of more enemy warriors. She stumbled, and the energy bolt that would have killed her instead only singed one of her legs.
As she reached Tara-Khan, she grabbed his shoulder armor and hauled him the short distance to the portal as enemy warriors clambered over the dead and the first of the silver clad warriors landed, alive.
“It will close before we can pass through!” Tara-Khan cried.
Ignoring him, she bellowed a war cry as she leaped through the dancing lightning that was still bursting from Tara-Khan’s hands, taking all three of them through to the other side where they were caught by their anxious companions.
With a gasp of relief, Tara-Khan gave up holding open the portal, and the golden ring instantly collapsed into a swirling cyclone.
Just as the swirling gold slowed to a stop, a silver clad Ka’i-Nur warrior tried to leap through. Caught as the portal completely closed, his body was sheared clean in half. Even then, he sought to raise his energy weapon, aiming it at those gathered around him.
With a grunt of disgust, Drakh-Nur brought down his war hammer on the enemy’s head with a sickening crunch. The weapon fell from the
Ka’i-Nur’s hand and his mangled body spasmed once before going still.
“You made it,” Drakh-Nur said, his voice thick with wonder.
“Yes,” Dara-Kol told him with an exhausted smile as the giant warrior gently lifted her up and set her on her feet. She was astonished that on this side of the portal, the chamber was well lit. Beside her, a pair of healers rushed to Sian-Al’ai who lay still, smoke curling from her skin.
“Tara-Khan!” Ka’i-Lohr pulled him to his feet and embraced him. “I never thought to see your face again, my tresh.”
“Nor I yours.” Tara-Khan returned the embrace with equal fervor, but while he was overjoyed to see Ka’i-Lohr, his heart yearned for another. Releasing his brother in spirit, he turned toward the center of the chamber, but his view was blocked by the others who had come through before him. “What has become of Keel-Tath?”
Those nearest the dais began to fall to their knees as a wave of anguish poured through the Bloodsong.
As those in front of him knelt in heartbroken silence, Tara-Khan saw why.
“Oh, no,” he whispered as he pushed his way through the survivors and began to run toward the dais where the crystal stood like an enormous black diamond, Keel-Tath’s body lying still upon the floor. Syr-Nagath was curled up just behind her, her dead hand still clutching the sword with which she had killed his love.
***
Keel-Tath opened her mouth to scream as she felt herself being torn apart, but the sensation of pain vanished as quickly as it had come. Opening her eyes, she found that she was no longer where she had been. Or, perhaps she still was there in a sense, for she still stood in the great chamber of the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls, but it was not now as it was. The chamber she had been in when she touched the darkness had been empty, save for Syr-Nagath.
Mistress Of The Ages (In Her Name, Book 9) Page 33