by Ronald Craft
Chapter 32
Kane tightened his grip on the sword at his waist. His palms sweated, and his heart thumped against his chest.
So this is who Chaerok truly is. But how?
Valnoth regarded Chaerok coolly. “You can't be Bale.” He turned his head towards Dagfinn. “Whoever this impostor is, rest assured, it isn't your dear brother.”
Dagfinn's eye was fixated on Chaerok, his mouth twisted into a vile grin. “There's no mistake. This is Bale.” The fallen gods eye slid over to Kane. “Hmm. How could you fall so low as to bind a dead man to you, Bale?”
“A dead man?” Valnoth faced Kane, and looked him up and down. “He looks alive to me.”
Dagfinn chuckled. “You're so blind, Valnoth. All these years, and you still can't see a damn thing. Death hovers above this human.”
Chaerok crossed his arms. “You wonder why I bound him to me? I needed a vessel to draw life from.” He took a few steps past Kane, and leaned against the wall. “This isn't my body. I don't know who's work this is, but I must properly thank them for it someday.”
Valnoth poked Chaerok in the chest, “Your heart still resides inside my son. Without a whole body, your power will be unstable at best.”
Chaerok slapped Valnoth's hand away. “Don't you dare touch me. I have a debt to settle with this piece of trash you have hanging from the wall.”
Valnoth narrowed his eyes. “You haven't the power to slay him, you fool. And you think I'll let you try?” He brandished his knife, and stood between Chaerok and Dagfinn.
“I needn't fight you, Valnoth. I have my own dog for that.”
All eyes turned towards Kane.
He tried to back away, but instead found himself drawing his sword. It seemed darker than black in this unholy place. The sword hummed in his hands, and thoughts that weren't his own ran through his mind. Thoughts of death and blood, screaming and yelling, savoring the taste of fear in the air.
What devilry is this? Why can't I command my body?
Kane sought to drop the sword, but his hands ignored his commands.
Chaerok smiled. “This is the other reason I needed you, Kane. You are my sword.”
He gritted his teeth.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Nothing has gone right since that night in Lochden. I felt the cobblestones on my back, saw my own blood stained on the ground, and I knew I shouldn't be alive. And yet, here I am.
Kane took a step forward, and brought his sword up. What kind of a life is this where a man doesn't even have control over his own body?
“You want me to fight your puppet?” Valnoth sneered. “I'll have you hung up beside Dagfinn soon enough. The two of you can spend eternity together in chains.”
Chaerok shook his head. “I may not be whole, but you sorely underestimate me mortal. I am nothing like my pathetic excuse of a brother.”
Valnoth lunged forward, and kicked Chaerok in the chest. The impact sent him sprawling. “And you sorely underestimate me if you think it'll be that easy. I've been feasting on his blood for a long time. I, too, share your immortality now.”
Chaerok laughed, stood up, and dusted himself off. “You are nothing like a god.” He turned to Kane. “Dog, it's time for you to dispatch this piece of trash.”
Kane planted his feet onto the ground. “I... won't be your... puppet. Please,” he gasped, “don't make me kill any more.”
Chaerok raised an eyebrow. “You dare defy me? If it wasn't for me, you'd be rotting in the ground. Worms would have eaten holes in your body long ago.”
His legs shook with the effort of holding himself back. “This isn't what I wanted, Chaerok. I'd rather rot than be your play thing.”
Valnoth laughed. “And that will be your undoing.” He rushed forward quicker than Kane's eyes could follow, the knife a blur in his hand. It shot out towards him quick as lightning.
Kane lost control of himself for a moment, stricken by fear. It was all Chaerok needed. His body twisted to the side, and his sword swung towards Valnoth's neck.
Too slow.
Valnoth seemed to vanish and appear on the other side of the room. He cocked his head, and smiled. “Now we can have a proper fight.” He crouched down, and vanished.
Chaerok waved his hand. “Must you play these assassin games, Valnoth? They won't work on me.”
Kane's feet moved of their own accord, and he dashed across the room quicker than a human should be able to move. His sword lashed out, hit air, and struck out again. Valnoth's shadow danced around the room.
Kane felt like he was moving through molasses in comparison.
Blood flowed from his chest as Valnoth's invisible dagger cut into his flesh. He brought up his guard, but another slash cut into his shoulder.
Where is he? I can't keep up!
Kane jumped back, just as Valnoth's blade slashed the air where his throat had been. The blade whipped through the air, visible for a split second, and then vanished back into the darkness.
Chaerok laughed. “You're just prolonging the inevitable, Valnoth.”
A knife drove itself into Chaerok's chest, and was gone. Chaerok eyed the hole with disgust. Laughter seemed to come from everywhere, and nowhere at once.
“You didn't see that coming, did you?” Valnoth jeered.
Chaerok sighed. “It seems I must do this myself. This maggot desires a death by my hand, after all.” He closed his eyes, and disappeared into a torrent of dark fire.
There was a crash, and a knife clattered to the floor. Kane spun around, his body released from Chaerok's hold. He slid the sword back into its sheath.
Anything to be rid of that blasted taint prattling on inside my head.
Valnoth clawed Chaerok's arm as the man pressed him up against the wall. Chaerok's hand wrapped around his throat.
“How is this possible?” Valnoth choked out.
Chaerok shook his head. “No matter what you do, no mortal will ever become a god. You could drink all the blood in my body, eat my flesh, and name yourself after me. Yet, you would still be mortal.” He grabbed the knife out of Valnoth's hand, twisted it around, and drove it into the man's stomach.
Black shackles formed around Valnoth's arms and legs. Chaerok ran his free hand through one of the chains, and it passed through unimpeded. “Ghost shackles. They are ethereal for all those except the one they bind. See how immortal you are as you sit here bleeding to death.”
Valnoth's stared at the knife sticking out of his stomach. Blood soaked his clothes, and dripped onto the ground. “You bastard,” he gasped. “This isn't over yet.” He strained against the chains that bound him, grunting and sweating with the exertion, even as more of his blood trickled from his body.
Chaerok smirked. “Oh, I think I have.” He shoved his fingers into Valnoth's mouth, and ripped out his tongue.
Valnoth screamed, and choked on the blood inside his mouth. His body spasmed, and blood spurted out of the wound in his stomach.
Kane's stomach heaved at the sight before him. How could a father's love become so twisted?
Chaerok tossed the tongue on the floor, and smashed it with the heel of his boot. “Some people in this world would be better off born without a tongue.” He faced Kane, a look of amusement on his face.
“Defy me again, blacksmith, and I'll take away your free will.”
Kane slumped against the wall. “Seems I haven't much choice.”
All I ever wanted was to protect Ilian from Karena, but in doing so I doomed myself to eternal darkness. Did I make the right decision? What if I had just let her take him?
He thought of his smithy, the heat on his face as he molded iron into tools that cultivated the land. And then he thought of what it'd be like without Ilian, without the son he'd raised through so many winters.
No, it wouldn't be worth it. Ilian, though not of my flesh and blood, is more my son than Valnoth's. I'd make the same decision again.
Dagfinn
cackled. “I like you more without your heart, Bale. If only you had been like that all those years ago.” His purple eye sparkled in the dim light. “Come now, free me from this hell I've been in brother. If I'm to recover, then I'll need your help.”
Chaerok walked over to Dagfinn, and placed a hand on his shoulder. A smile formed upon his lips. “Who said anything about helping you?”
“What?” Dagfinn's features hardened. “What are you saying?”
“You had your chance. As I said, I owe you a debt. One that I intend to repay.” Black flames burst to life around Chaerok's hand.
Dagfinn shook against his manacles, but they didn't budge. His tattered body hardly seemed like any of the gods' Kane had heard in the legends. How could one such as he fall from greatness? From a god to this ragged mess of a shell. It still doesn't seem real.
“Bale, you must listen to me. I never thought—”
“Exactly.” Chaerok shoved his smoldering hand into Dagfinn's chest, “You didn't think, and that's what got you here. Begone.”
Black flames burst from within Dagfinn's body. He screamed a soundless scream as flames shot out his eye sockets and his mouth. Skin melted, and bone turned black as the flames ravaged him.
“Bale,” Dagfinn screamed, his voice high-pitched as the agony wracked his body, “stop...”
Kane raised his hand. “Chaerok, don't do this. I don't know what happened in the past, but please don't kill any more!”
I can't bear this weight!
Chaerok smiled. “But, I've only just begun.” Dark fire burst to life in his other hand, and he pressed his palm against Dagfinn's face. Dagfinn's head shook back and forth, his purple eye boiling and turning a putrid black.
Before long, nothing remained of the former god except for a pile of ashes.
Dagfinn, the traitor, was dead.
Kane gasped, and emptied the contents of his stomach on the ground. The smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed his nostrils, and hung heavy in the air.
Is this real? Did I really just witness the death of a god?
Kane dropped onto this hands and knees, tears dripping onto the ground beneath him.
No mortal should have to witness the death of a god.
“What are we, as humans, supposed to believe in now if not the gods'? Tell me, Chaerok. What purpose did the gods' serve?”
Chaerok's depthless eyes fixed on his own. “Believe in yourselves. Humans are so weak willed it disgusts me. Stop relying on a higher being to fix your problems for you and find a way to do it yourself.” He smirked. “Besides, there's no gods' left to bestow those so called miracles on your kind any longer.”
“So you're going to shirk your duty as well?”
Chaerok spit. “You speak to me of duty, yet you know nothing about me. You weren't there when my own brother and his half blood bastard turned on me.” He shook his head. “The time of the gods' is over, Kane. My brother saw to that. Your people will have to make due without us.”
Kane pulled himself to his feet. “And what will you do, Chaerok? Or should I call you Bale?”
Chaerok shrugged his shoulders. “Call me what you will. I still have a score to settle with the bastard child of my brother.”
Will he stop there? Most likely not. He's bitter, and angry, and nothing will sate his thirst for blood.
“What about your heart?”
Chaerok snorted. “What of it?”
“Well,” Kane crossed his arms, “what do you intend on doing to Ilian? I suppose you intend on going after him next.”
“Sure, I can get the heart out of him.” Chaerok chuckled. “It's not a procedure he'll survive, though. Besides,” he motioned towards his chest, “I'll have to retrieve it eventually.”
I knew it.
“I won't allow you to harm Ilian. If you even try to lay a finger on him, I'll cut you down.”
Chaerok stared at him for a moment, and then laughed. “You're the funniest dead man I know, Kane.” His tone grew serious, and his eyes darkened. “If you try to stand in my way, I'll cut your strings and make your beloved Ilian my new puppet.”
Kane gripped the hilt of his sword. “I will not—”
The sound of footsteps on stairs came down to them from above. An instant later, two guards burst through the door.
“What have you done?” The closest guard exclaimed. His eyes widened as they settled on Valnoth's bloody remains. He motioned towards the one behind him. “Kill them both.”
The other guard nodded, and they drew their blades.
“These two are yours, Kane. Enjoy.”
“What? No!”
Before he even realized what he was doing, the sword was in his hand again. The flames leapt across the blade. His feet moved with the same speed as before. Kane's blade slashed upwards across the first guard's chest. Where the blade cut, skin melted away to the bone.
The guard dropped to his knees, screaming and clawing at his chest. Then he went still. The other guard backed away, his eyes wide with fright, but Kane's blade found its mark through his heart and out his back. A low gurgling sound came from his throat, and then the guard slumped to the ground, his life extinguished.
Kane breathed hard, the sword loose in his hand. Not a speck of blood covered the blade. It absorbed the blood! What sort of wicked weapon is this?
He tried to throw it away, but his hand refused to obey him. It clung ever tighter to the hilt.
“You shouldn't be so quick to throw away my gift, Kane. It'll prove useful yet.”
Kane slid it back into its sheath dolefully. “What do we do now? You've killed Valnoth, and now the entire keep is going to come after us.”
Chaerok tapped his head. “Nothing I can't handle. Come, follow me like a good dog.”
Kane ground his teeth as he followed Chaerok up the stairs. You will loathe this day, I swear it. I'll make you regret everything you've done.
Even if I die with you.
—
Do you wish to live? A voice whispered inside Valnoth's mind.
Who's there?
Accept my power, and I will grant you life, the voice responded.
His mind was hazy, and it hurt when he tried to think. He remembered the dagger in his stomach, his tongue, and blood. Blood was everywhere.
His blood.
Valnoth tried to move his arm, but only his fingers twitched in response.
Tell me now, mortal, do you desire life?
Yes! Valnoth screamed back to the voice inside his mind.
So it will be.
There was a searing pain as white fire surrounded him. Pain quickly turned to pleasure as his wounds healed, and the strength returned to his body. The stump of his tongue lengthened, and grew, until it returned to its former state.
The flames burned through the shackles that restrained him, and dwindled away. He filled his lungs with air. No longer did he feel any pain. Valnoth rubbed his wrists and stood up straight, surveying his surroundings.
“Amazing! I'm whole again.” He eyed the bloody remains of the guards on the floor. “I will have my revenge on you for what you've done, Bale.”
Thus your life is restored to you, the voice echoed inside his mind. And, so I shall exact my price.
“Price? What price?”
The searing pain returned, this time in his head. The white flame raged anew, within him. His memories and thoughts were consumed, each consumed by the greedy fire.
“No—stop! Who... who... am...
In the blink of an eye, it was over, his mind wiped blank. The fire vanished, and the room descended back into darkness.
Valnoth dropped face first onto the floor, landing with a thud.
Two strong arms pushed his new, stronger body to its feet. He ran his hands through an unfamiliar head of hair. His lips curved upward into a broad grin.
“From fire and ashes, I am reborn.” Dagfinn turned towards the stairs. “It's time we sett
led this once and for all, brother.”
He began the long climb to the surface.