Zimri was thrown backwards, skidding across the cobblestones. “Take him alive,” he ordered his soldiers, turning his attention back to me. “Only you and me now,” he mocked, smirk returning.
“FEUER!” he shouted again.
I ran to my left, barely evading the inferno. Quickly Aidan cut off the spell, panting slightly. Behind me, I heard fighting as Zimri fended off his attackers. Helga was still invisible and hopefully keeping low.
Another blast of fire right in front of me forced me to brake, hard. The sudden change in momentum threw my balance off and I toppled backwards. I could feel the heat singeing my face but it didn’t latch on to me. I scrambled back to my feet, running the other way.
“ATHALA!” Zimri called.
I turned and saw him skid one of the massive shields toward me as he retreated towards me, lugging another shield of his own. Grabbing the shield, I hefted it between Aidan and I just in time.
“Blitze!” he called, unleashing a barrage of lightning.
The shield caught the lightning, shocking me into letting go before I got electrocuted. Aidan’s lightning was more attracted to the metal shield than I and he was forced to release the spell. Ignoring the shocks, I retrieved the shield, placing it between us again.
“We can’t keep this up for long,” Zimri panted, appearing beside me. His hands were burned and he several cuts on his arms and legs, as well as an ugly gash across his forehead.
“I know,” I grit my teeth.
“Any ideas?”
“No,” I shook my head, bracing myself for Aidan’s next attack. At the moment he was recharging his power, sucking the life out of several nearby soldiers.
“I have an idea,” Helga’s voice spoke from beside us. A moment later, the cloak dropped and the child appeared.
“Not now,” I snapped as I prepared for the next blast from Aidan, desperately trying to think of my next move.
“Use me,” Helga stated calmly.
Zimri and I both froze, slowly turning to look at her.
“What?” I finally spoke, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Use my power,” she clarified. “It is enough to defeat Aidan and all these soldiers, ya?”
“But that would kill you!” Zimri protested. I was too stunned to speak.
“I know,” she said with quiet determination. “But my family is already all dead. I have no one left. And if we do not do something now, I will die anyway. I would rather you have my power than Lord Aidan.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. Never once in my sixteen years had anyone ever volunteered to have their life force drained. They always begged, pleaded, cursed, threatened, cried, and done everything else to save themselves. Never once had I ever listened to their pathetic pleas for mercy. Now someone offered themselves to me?
With all her power, I should’ve jumped at the opportunity. But as I looked into her large, kind blue eyes, I couldn’t do it. Despite everything I was, Helga had never hesitated to show me kindness and acceptance. Even when she knew I lusted after her life force, Helga had been…had been…
My friend, I realized. She was my friend. Somehow, in the brief time we’d been together, I’d come to like having her in my life. I’d never had a friend before. It was strange and yet comforting. I couldn’t lose that; I wouldn’t.
“No,” I finally spoke. “We will come up with something else.” What that was, I had no idea.
Just then, Aidan recovered enough to blast me with another round of lightning. After getting shocked enough to make my arms go numb, I discarded the shield, which left me open to a torrent of fire. Apparently, Aidan wasn’t a total idiot. Zimri once again threw himself in the way, catching the inferno on the massive metal shield.
“Use me, before it is too late,” Helga spoke quietly, looking at me with those intense blue eyes.
“No,” I shook my head fiercely. “I cannot. I will not.”
Beside me, Zimri gave a cry of pain as he tossed the superheated metal shield away. His arms, hands, and face were burned and he looked utterly spent; he could do no more. We were now completely defenseless. Aidan was recharging but his next attack would finish us.
“You have no other choice,” Helga said.
I wanted to scream. For the first time, I did not want to take someone’s life force and I had no choice but to. I was hopelessly trapped between two horrible choices.
“I am sorry,” I said, wrapping Helga in my arms, feeling wet drops start down my cheeks. “I am so sorry.”
“It is okay, if it is you,” she whispered into my shirt. “Will it hurt?”
“No,” I answered. “It will be like falling asleep.”
“That is not so bad,” she said. “Save the princess, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. Then, taking a deep breath, I said the word I never wanted to say again.
“Tod.”
Helga went limp in my arms and I felt a surge of power like nothing I’d ever even dreamed of before. It should’ve been exhilarating; instead it kindled inside me an explosive rage at the Mistress for making me this monster, at Aidan for forcing me to do this, at Zimri for allowing me to get to know her, and most of all, I was angry at myself for murdering a friend. I wanted the world to burn and I had the power to do it.
Magical energy crackled red around me, giving off a reddish pink aura. I sensed rather than saw Aidan’s next attack. There was so much power in me, I didn’t even have to speak the spell. Instead, merely held out my hand and the lightning crackled harmlessly off, dissipating into nothingness.
The energy slowly carried me into the air until I was hovering three meters above the cobblestone court. Through my blinding rage, I saw Aidan’s face go snow white as he realized what I had done. He began slowly backing away, placing his soldiers between us.
“Kill them!” he shrieked. “WEG HEIM!”
A portal opened behind him and he stepped through a moment before I sent a blast of white-hot, liquid fire at him. The portal closed, saving the coward and my fire ball vaporized a half-dozen soldiers. Despite this, the several hundred soldiers packed into the forum charged at us.
Concentrating, I drew on one of the most powerful spells I had. “FEUERSTÜRME!” I called.
The sky around me lit up in clouds made of pure flame. I held back the building energy as long as I could and then called out, “REGEN FEUER!”
Like massive, burning hailstones, fire rained down on the forum. The fiery orbs incinerated soldiers, stands, shops, and even the stone walls ringing the forum. I added to the massacre blasts of lightning to anyone who got too close to Helga’s body. No one would touch her. Within moments, the entire Wiese garrison were smoking ash heaps dotting the scorched plaza.
Even then, I still let the destruction rain, expanding it beyond the forum. I wanted the whole city, the whole Eisenberge, the whole world to suffer my pain. I would make Wiese a smoldering, desolate monument to Helga.
“Erdbeben!” I shrieked, unleashing all my pain and anger in the spell.
The universe shook in response. Across the city, buildings shattered and collapsed. The walls crumbled and the streets were rent apart. The river flooded the docks, sweeping away ships and warehouses into its icy grip.
“ATHALA STOP!” I heard Zimri scream.
I looked down to see the Alkite on his knees, desperately trying to hang on to some semblance of balance.
“You’re going to destroy the city!” he called.
“That is the idea!” I snarled back.
“Think of how many innocent people you are killing!” he shouted.
“No one is innocent of this!” I retorted. “Everyone must suffer for what happened to her. She did not deserve this!”
“And they don’t deserve this!” he answered, flinging a hand towards the crushed and burning city. “Would Helga have wanted this as her memorial?”
I stopped for a moment and finally listened. I heard the screams of terror and the wails of grief rending the night. Looking
down, I saw Helga’s body lying, Zimri hovering protectively over it. She seemed so peaceful, like she was asleep. Zimri was right; I couldn’t let this be her legacy. With great effort, I closed off the magic, ending the spell. I dropped to the uneven ground and Zimri caught me in his arms as I toppled to the ground.
“It’s okay,” he whispered as he held me. “It’s over; you won.”
“She won,” I corrected, caressing Helga’s cold cheek with my fingers. “She saved us.”
Gently, I took her small body in my arms, cradling it. My friend was dead and I had killed her. With renewed agony, the grief flooded over me once more and I broke. My chest felt like was going to explode, my throat constricted, and I felt hot water drip down my cheeks. Involuntarily, I let out a strangle wail just to relieve the pressure. I was…was…
Crying? To my knowledge, I’d never cried. Not when the Mistress punished me or forced me to take a life I didn’t want to or when she had destroyed my favorite toys. I hadn’t even cried when she’d stripped me of title and power.
But now I was weeping great tears, chest heaving with each sob. It was painful and exhausting, but I couldn’t stop. So I just sat there, cradling Helga’s lifeless body, letting out my pain.
Zimri took me in his arms, rocking me back and forth. I should push him away, I knew, but I couldn’t. Instead I let myself sink into his chest, letting his strong arms hold me as I lamented. He was the one solid, real thing in my universe and I desperately needed that anchor.
“It’s alright, I’ve got you,” he soothed in my ear. “Let it out. Let it all out.”
So I did. I wept and wept until no more tears came. I screamed out my rage at the universe until my voice gave out. Then, exhausted, I just lay back into Zimri’s arms and shook. He didn’t say anything, just held me tight while I let everything out. Somehow, that was all I needed.
“We need to go,” I finally said, shakily sitting up, still holding Helga. I didn’t know how long I’d been here but it was longer than we could afford.
Zimri nodded. “Can you teleport us to the Eisenpalast?”
I checked my reserves. Between the fire storm and earthquake, I had expended the bulk of her power, essentially destroying an entire city in the process. “I do not think so; at least, not do that and have enough power to challenge the Mistress on the other side.”
Zimri gave me a curious look but simply nodded. I sighed.
“I should not have let myself get so carried away,” I said. “I was not thinking clearly.”
“It’s understandable,” Zimri shrugged. “The bastards deserved it.”
“Aidan is the one who deserves it,” I snarled. “I know we must rescue your princess but we are going to pay Aidan a visit. I am going to kill him for this.”
Zimri nodded again. “Yeah, I think there are several reasons we need to remove him before we can face the Sorceress.”
We lapsed into silence, both too tired to move despite knowing that we must. I looked down at Helga’s form and finally through force of will extricated myself from Zimri, shakily rising to my feet.
“We must bury her,” I announced.
“Now? Here?” Zimri gave me a questioning look.
“Ya,” I stated firmly, knowing how to expend the last of her power.
Reverently, I set her down in the center of the forum, which was also the least damaged. “Erde, gehorche meinem Befehl!” I commanded, letting the power flow from me into the ground at my feet.
Mentally, I molded the elements together into hard, white stone. From underneath Helga I raised up a bed for her. Zimri, reading my thoughts, gently arranged in a peaceful, sleeping pose, hands folded in her lap. Were it not for the unnaturally pale visage, I could almost believe my friend was simply taking a nap.
“Lassen Sie nicht diesen Körper Zeit und Verfall fühlen,” I said, placing my hands on her body, ensuring the ravages of time would not touch her remains.
Then I completed Helga’s tomb, raising a four-sided pyramid of smooth white stone over her, sealing it shut. With magic, I inscribed her epitaph:
No warrior or sorcerer or great lord is remembered here.
But let those who pass by wonder not at this tomb nor at who lies within.
For as the smallest of stones unleashes the mightiest of avalanches,
So this small hero has sent the greatest of avalanches tumbling through history.
Let not the world forget Helga daughter of Lothar and Alina,
For by her sacrifice and power,
The Eisenberge was swept clean.
Chapter 24-Zimri
I had the worst nightmare of my life. I dreamed that Athala, Helga, and I were chased by Eisenbergian soldiers all through Wiese until trapped in the market square. Then my friend from Schwarztor, Adam, showed up. Only he wasn’t Adam but Aidan, the other apprentice. He’d tried to kill us. We fought as long as we could but we were dead until Helga gave her life force to Athala. Then Athala—
I woke with a gasp, cold sweat breaking out. Where was I? How’d I get here? Disoriented, I looked around. Athala and I were at the edge of a pine and fir forest, resting under a tree. The sorceress was still asleep, looking totally spent. Her new clothes were already torn and riddled with burn holes.
Burn holes? I looked down at my own hands and saw they were blistered and bloodied with burns up and down my arms. Suddenly I was acutely aware of all the burns, cuts, and bruises I’d acquired the previous night, which meant…
It wasn’t a nightmare; it had all been real.
I felt like puking my guts out. We had promised Helga we’d keep her safe and in the end, we had killed her. Looking over at Athala, I remembered her screams of rage and pain at being forced to take Helga’s life. With a shudder, I recalled her literally ripping a city apart in revenge. I remembered holding her in my arms as she bitterly wept gut-wrenching tears.
How long had it been since Athala had cared for anyone other than herself? I held no illusions that she cared for me but she had genuinely like Helga. In the brief evening spent together, I’d seen Athala more relaxed, more open, more human than I’d ever seen her. While I wouldn’t say she was happy, when she was dyeing the cloak with Helga, it was the happiest I’d ever seen her. Was Helga her first real friend? Given what Athala had hinted about her life, probably so.
And she had killed her. I couldn’t imagine what that pain was like; I didn’t want to. Just when she’d started to open up, she’d had to plunge the dagger into her own heart. Terrifying as it had been, I couldn’t blame her for the torrent of destruction she’d unleashed.
Painfully, I stood up. I needed to do something to keep my mind off last night. My stomach grumbled so I decided to start cooking breakfast. First, I had to make a fire and get some stones to cook on.
When I got back from procuring the necessary supplies a couple hours later, Athala was up. She was sitting with her back against the tree, knees pulled tight to her chest, and staring at nothing.
“Morning,” I greeted, clearing away a space to start cooking breakfast. “Hungry?”
No response.
“I’m thinking of cooking pine bark. Sound good to you?”
“It is afternoon,” she stated in a voice totally devoid of emotion.
“What?”
“You said, ‘morning’,” she explained. “But it is afternoon.”
“So it is,” I noted, glancing up at the sun. “You hungry?”
Again, she ignored me. With a shrug, I began fixing breakfast. We had some meat, cheese, and vegetables so I started frying them on a heated rock. It wasn’t fancy but it’d do. Meanwhile, Athala just sat there, staring at nothing.
When I finished, I scraped some of it onto some bread and handed it to Athala, who ignored it.
“Athala, you need to eat,” I said, kneeling beside her.
“Go home, Alkite,” she whispered, still not looking at me.
“What?”
“Go home,” she repeated. “Go back to Alkilion. Find a good
Alkite woman, make a home, have your daughter. Be happy. You deserve it.”
“I can’t, not without Princess Ariadne,” I shook my head.
“You do not understand. We were never going to save your princess,” she finally looked at me. Her normally intense, thoughtful eyes were now empty and hollow; dead.
“Aidan was not lying,” she went on. “I was going to present you to the Mistress so that she could break your mind and then send both you and the princess back to Alkilion as her puppets.”
I sighed heavily. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” I admitted. “Trying to earn your way back into her favor?”
Athala nodded blankly.
“Why?” I asked. “Why do you want to go back to that woman? Why not run and hide?”
“I was not lying when I said she would never let me live on my own,” Athala answered. “She would have hunted me down and killed me sooner or later. Sooner, most likely.”
“The world is a big place,” I pointed out.
“You do not know her,” she firmly shook her head. “It is not nearly big enough to hide from her.”
“So fight back. Take her down, just like we planned,” I said.
“Fight her? Was that another of your jokes?” she scoffed, finally showing a hint of emotion. “The one time I tried, she toyed with me like a cat with a mouse. Perhaps with Helga’s power I could have fought her, but even then…I do not know.
“But it does not matter now,” Athala continued. “After Helga…how could I ever take another’s life force? And if I cannot take life force…”
“You can’t use spells,” I finished.
She nodded. “Without magic, we stand no chance against the Mistress, not that we ever did. Go home.”
It was tempting, I had to admit. I thought of Shala, the beautiful barmaid of Schwarztor and thought of starting a family with her, assuming she was still alive. Then I remembered leaving her behind to suffer Baasha’s wrath.
“If I leave, what will happen to you?” I asked.
“What do you care?” she dourly retorted.
“Athala.”
She heaved a sigh. “I do not know. Sooner or later, the Mistress will kill me, I suppose.”
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