by Dante King
“Are you done?” I asked, boredom staining my voice. “If you’re finished with the soapbox speech, I’d like to move things along here.”
Winnie looked at me as if I had completely lost my mind. Well, I hadn’t. I’d simply had enough of Kalazar’s nagging, and I was going to put an end to it once and for all.
The golem lunged at me. I sidestepped and brought my axe crashing down on his exposed spine. The blade of my axe caused a cracking sound, but it glanced off him in his movement. He grunted and straightened up almost immediately. Winnie’s magic glittered at her fingertips, but the golem was close enough to her to strike. He sent a backhanded slap her way, and Winnie fell to the floor with a cry.
A wave of Qilzid’s magic scooped up the crossbow I had dropped and aimed it at the golem. After having charged it with lightning speed, it loosed a series of arrows at his heart. They might as well have been unleashed on a brick wall.
But Qilzid had just begun. More chairs and desks, many whose presence I hadn’t even noticed before, rose into the air and flung themselves at the golem with extreme force. Wood splinters exploded through the air. The golem crouched down low and shielded himself with his hands. I realized that Kalazar couldn’t channel his magic through the golem’s body. All he had was brute strength and speed.
“You think you can defeat me?” the golem said, straightening up. “It’s too late. Everything is already in motion, all the pieces are in play.”
“What do you mean?” I tightened my grip on the axe.
The golem curved his mouth into a grimace. “Poor human—I know you. I can see your pathetic need to prove yourself. But trust and respect are earned, not given.”
“What would you know about earning anything?” Winnie blurted out, positioning herself in front of me. “Whatever you have, you’ve stolen.”
“She speaks,” he hissed. “I was grooming you. You could have been my right hand. And now look at you, fighting alongside a human.”
I took advantage of the heated moment to take aim and slowly move around Winnie.
“He’s not just any human,” Winnie said with sturdy resolve. “He’s stronger than you’ll ever be.”
Taking that as a cue, I jumped forward and smashed my axe into the golem’s head. He seemed to shake uncontrollably, but the shock of my strike lasted only a moment. He remained on his feet, his muscles twitched.
Winnie sent a weakening ray at him, but it missed and hit the wall behind. Without hesitating, Winnie kept hurling weakening rays at the creature. The sparks of silver light flashed through the air, filling my nostrils with its supple scent.
The fifth one hit the golem in the forehead, and he stumbled backward and landed on the workbench by the kitchen. I called for my axe and flung it again. The top corner of the blade smashed into the golem’s face, and I heard another low guttural grunt. It almost sounded mechanical, as though he were programmed to react that way.
The weapons floating around us poised themselves over the golem. When he had painstakingly regained his footing, a sword started hacking at his limbs, while small daggers tried to pierce through his skin from a dozen different directions. Winnie and I watched in amazement as Qilzid fought the Golem single-handed. It was an awesome sight, all the coordinated buzzing weapons, the great creature stumbling, ducking, flinching.
Qilzid was excited too, but he was getting tired. Subtly, some of the weapons floated to the floor, seemingly trying to hide their retreat from the golem. The ones that remained kept hacking and biting with equal force, but they wouldn’t keep up the required intensity for long.
“Qilzid?” I called.
“My soul will burn out if the fight continues for much longer,” he said. Even his voice sounded strained and tired. “I’m not…strong…enough.”
I hurled my axe across the room and into the golem’s chest. He stumbled back, and Winnie took the opportunity to cast another weakening ray spell. He roared and shook his head, the silver-white hair swinging about him and glinting like clear glass.
The workshop seemed to lose its life force all at once. Everything that had remained up in the air now fell lifelessly to the carpeted floors. Even the walls seemed to sigh with relief.
“He’s really strong,” Winnie said, gesturing to the golem, who was still somewhat dazed by the weakening ray and the blows, but not significantly harmed. “What do we do?”
“Leave it to me,” I said. This was more than a life-and-death situation for me and the girls; it was Qilzid who was in danger now, the man who was behind all of this, the root of the resistance against the corrupted mages.
I walked right up to the golem and placed my hands on his face. His eyes glowed dark red, and the magical veins on his body seemed to grow brighter and more resolute. My Negation Aura was debilitating his magic, making it harder for him to fight off the spell.
Still, his strength was impressive, and I knew I needed a plan to finish the job. I didn’t get the time to think. Kalazar fought through my Negation Aura and Winnie’s spell, and the golem knocked me on the floor with ease. I managed to roll to the side when he wanted to send his heel stomping down on my crotch and raced for cover. The golem was faster than any enemy I had fought so far—but I was faster.
Qilzid flung a futile chair at the golem. Without even looking, he swung up his hand and reduced it to firewood. His eyes were fixed on me with single-minded intent. I grabbed one of the swords off the ground and aimed for the veins that crossed his grey-blue chest. They seemed to glow brightest there. I hit two of them, but that only served to infuriate him and make his attacks more brutal and determined.
There was no choice. I was acting on instinct, but I would have to try something I hadn’t tried before. I gritted my teeth and raised my gauntleted arm. But instead of holding it up in front of me so that the shield would stand as a barrier between us, I channeled the shield straight at him.
The creature came to an abrupt stop as silvery light seeped into him through his magical veins. It wasn’t clear whether it was doing anything, but I had no choice but to concentrate all I had into this improvised weapon. The golem’s eyes popped slightly, and I knew I had him. Kalazar’s magic ebbed away slowly. He was leaving the sinking ship.
“Coward,” I yelled. “Coward!”
I didn’t hold off. Suddenly, the shield flickered, as though it were trying to send me a message. I tapped into my reserve of magic and felt it change. It became brittle like glass.
The golem roared as his body started to swell. It seemed to bend backwards unnaturally far, then freeze in that position. Kalazar had abandoned him, he had pulled back every last bit of him that had been with us in Qilzid’s workshop. The creature I had succeeded in destroying was just a shell; the poor thing had served its purpose, and been discarded.
The golem’s face looked slightly perplexed as it bent back upright, right before it exploded in shards of crystal.
The only thing that remained whole was his heart. It looked like a white stone, laced with barely visible veins of powder blue. I picked it up off the ground and surveyed the room, not yet letting my guard down.
“Winnie?” I called. “Qilzid?”
“I’m here,” Winnie said, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. I embraced her briefly before she sniffed and gaped at the stone in my hands. “How did you do that?”
“I didn’t really know I could. I acted on a hunch.”
“Is he really gone?”
“His scent is sure gone.”
“That’s what you said back in the Mausoleum.”
I bit my lip. “The golem cloaked Kalazar’s magic, and I suspect Kalazar used some spell to hide the golem’s presence. He wanted the element of surprise, he thought it would help him win. But I think we’re safe now.”
“He’s no longer here,” Qilzid said, sounding drained. “I would feel it if he were still within my walls.”
“Damn,” I said, with a lopsided smile. “You’ve still got some fight in you. I can’t imagine what you’
ll be able to do when you’ve regained your strength—and I’m glad you’re on our side.”
Qilzid chuckled. “It felt good to fight. Although, I didn’t expect it to deplete my strength as much as it did.”
“Maybe this will help.” I placed the Golem’s heart inside one of Qilzid’s cupboards.
“Here,” Winnie said, picking up the crossbow Lillian had found. “This is magical too.”
“Two artifacts?”
“Three, actually.” I pulled the lich’s demon seal ring out of my trouser pocket.
“Excellent.”
The cupboard with the heart seemed to rattle slightly, as though someone were shaking it from the back. It must have contained a lot of magic for Qilzid to absorb.
I felt the workshop let out a stretched-out sigh of satiety as the objects leisurely put themselves back in their respective places.
“Let me see the ring,” Qilzid said.
The moment he said it, the ring rose from my fingertips and hovered up to the height of my face. It turned slowly in the air, I could almost imagine it being examined by a human man.
“It belonged to Kalazar’s previous skin,” I said.
“Hmm,” Qilzid said. “It has intense power. It contains remnants of Kalazar’s very own magic. Skin stealers think themselves invincible, but they do not realize that changing skins makes their souls unstable. I can transform this artifact into a soul seal ring.”
“Does that mean I will be able to trap Kalazar’s soul inside it?”
“It does. The more magic he uses in another body, and the more powerful the magic, the more unstable his soul will become. Do not mistake that for weakness, however. He will still be strong. He will still be capable of killing you.”
“Not if I kill him first. This is exactly what I need.”
I watched as the ring glowed under Qilzid’s expert care. It flipped in the air a few times before spinning so fast that I could barely make out its shape. When it finally slowed to a stop, I held out my hand for it to settle down into. It was warm, as though it had been freshly forged.
“Keep it safe,” Qilzid said.
“I will.”
“Now for the crossbow.”
Qilzid lifted the crossbow up into the air. It was a sad old thing, but I watched it transform before my eyes. A thin leather ribbon wrapped itself around the tattered foregrip. Then its arrows became longer, the tips sharper and more streamlined.
“I’ve transformed it into an arcane bow,” Qilzid said when it was finished. “It will now fire stoneheart quarrels; it will allow you to temporarily petrify any enemies without magical shields. It won’t work very well against other mages, but it’ll destroy golems, summons, and certain beasts and demons.”
I plucked the bow out of the air as it hovered over to me. “It’s perfect, Qilzid. Thank you.”
“Damn, Qilzid,” Winnie said. “Kurt is lucky to have you on his side.”
“I wish I could say the same to you,” Qilzid replied disparagingly.
The hair on Winnie’s tails and ears bristled. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You should have told Kurt about resurrection magic.”
“Ugh. You sound like Yarina.”
“Yarina is a fine woman with more than a little sense in her head. She knows how to win a fight, and she doesn’t lie—”
“I wasn’t lying. I have no contact with the necromancer, how was I supposed to know what he was planning?”
“You may not have known his plans, but you certainly knew about his capabilities. You should have told Kurt about resurrection magic.”
“I—”
“Enough,” I said with a firm voice. “We don’t have time for this. The necromancer is still alive. And he is out there. Lillian isn’t safe. You heard him; he said that all the pieces are in place. You can be sure he’s going back to the Spire to get Lillian.”
“Yarina will keep her safe,” Winnie said.
“I have no doubt Yarina will do her very best. But we don’t know what Kalazar’s plan is, we don’t know how many mages he has at his disposal, and, most importantly, we don’t know whose skin he will steal next.”
“You’re right,” Qilzid said. “Go now, save Lillian. And save Trysca.”
18
After I’d transported us back, we sprinted out of the Mausoleum and back onto the Grand Esplanade. Kalazar’s army had disintegrated. Bones of the once-summoned skeletons littered the paved streets and there were loose limbs everywhere. The city guard had taken control of the situation. They were manning the streets and removing all traces of the fight.
A tenuous calm clung to the Grand Esplanade. Beneath the surface, uncertainty and lingering notes of panic remained. Nothing had really been resolved. The fight on the streets had been a distraction. All the dark magic had slowly moved to the Spire. I could sense corruption erupting from the towers in waves from all the way back here.
If they hadn’t been accosted on the way to the Spire, Yarina and Lillian would most certainly be there. I could only imagine the trap that Kalazar had lying in wait for them. I hoped that the combination of Yarina’s skill and Lillian’s knowledge of the Spire would buy them some time before I arrived.
I started running faster, and Winnie was forced to do the same. The city had been thrown into a frenzy, the streets filled with spellswords attempting to pick up the pieces. We were attracting stares, even among this mayhem, but I didn’t have the time to slow down and find out why.
I stopped once we’d made it to the bridge leading to the front gate. Winnie was panting loudly when she caught up.
“What is it?” she asked, tripping over her words.
“Look.” I nodded toward the gates.
Only then did Winnie notice the gaggle standing outside the Spire’s black gates. They were corpses, similar to the ones in the Mausoleum. But I recognized the three warlocks we had fought against in Lillian’s bedroom among them, as well as the cocky warlock we had met right here on the bridge. These were mage corpses, and that made them significantly stronger.
“All mages?” Winnie asked.
“All mages. I can sense their strength.”
“They won’t be able to use their magic against us.”
“No, but they’re not going to be easy to cut down, like the lesser summons.”
The line of corpse mages noticed us and immediately started to advance.
“Fuck,” Winnie said, the magic already rushing to her fingertips.
I pulled out my newly minted arcane bow and aimed it at the first three greater undead mages who were coming toward me with unblinking eyes. I fired once, twice, and then a third time. Three arrows pelted across the air and hit all three of the targets. The moment the arrows hit their bodies, a little bolt of light spread through them and forced them into a frozen state of shock.
“Nice, Qilzid,” I said.
I pulled out my axe, approached the three petrified corpse mages and sliced off their arms. Their limbs thudded to the ground like wooden objects. I grabbed a couple and raised them over my head as I looked to Winnie by my side.
“You know what to do,” I said.
The moment the bone-shaper spell hit them, I flung them toward the other mage corpses. They exploded when they hit, sending off sparks that exploded in their turn. The corpses didn’t scream or panic. The explosions caught them in the head and chest and several of them went down immediately, their bodies hitting the bridge unceremoniously.
Once I was out of limbs and Winnie had expended a great amount of magic on our attack, there were only two mage corpses left. I sent my axe hurtling into one, and dashed straight at the other, blasting straight through its face with my rock-hard fist. Filled with a choking sense of urgency, I pelted them with punches and kicks before summoning back my axe.
Winnie stayed on the sidelines. She wasn’t used to using so much magic. It didn’t matter; I didn’t need any help taking care of these bastards. Adrenaline pumped through my entire body, reward
ing me for engaging all my limbs in the fight.
Both mage summons were faster than I had anticipated, and they recovered fast from my kicks. The moment I punched one and forced him back a few feet, the second rushed forward, allowing me little respite.
I sent a roundhouse kick their way to make them back off into each other, then pummeled one hard in the face, forcing him to collide with the other. Without missing a beat, I grabbed my crossbow and fired a quarrel right into the front one’s gut. As it froze, I aimed two inches to the right and fired another into the second corpse’s chest.
Despite their weak attempts to rip free of the enchantment, the quarrels were stronger than them. I didn’t want to waste more time lingering out on the bridge than I needed to, but I also didn’t relish the thought of fighting these minions again.
I grabbed one of the fallen corpses’ own weapons from the ground. It was a long, rusty sword with a crudely engraved hilt and a blunt-looking blade. I proceeded to hack off both mage corpses’ heads, each time with one sweeping movement that left my arms weak.
Their heads rolled to the floor with sickening thuds. Winnie jumped out of the way of the second, her nose wrinkled up in distaste and her hand touching my arm gently, as though to reassure herself that I was still in one piece.
I looked around carefully, scanning the area for unseen threats. Nothing, only motionless corpses.
“Come on,” I said. “We’ve got to get inside.”
Winnie and I took the glittering jade green bridge into one of the Spire’s many entrances. I could sense that the magic boobytraps had been disabled. I wondered if that was a good thing or a bad one as we raced up the nearest staircase to the second floor.
“Can you sense Yarina and Lillian?” Winnie asked as we climbed.
“Vaguely. But I can’t tell where they are. Lillian’s magic is all over the Spire, and Yarina’s magic is faint. Besides…”
I stopped at the landing and looked around cautiously. The Observatory was high up, and yet the stink of dark magic made its way all the way down to me.