Blue Moon Rising (Darkwood) (68 page)

“Why?” groaned the King. “Why turn against the Forest? Against me?”

“Answer him, slave,” said the Demon Prince. “His despair amuses me.”

“You, John,” said Thomas Grey, smiling crookedly. “You and your damned throne. Thirty years and more I spent propping you up, making your decisions for you, but what did I ever get out of it? All those years living in your shadow, doing your dirty work, while you had all the wealth and the power. I could have been somebody, John! I could have been somebody in my own right, maybe even a Sorcerer Supreme! But I gave that up to go with you, because you needed me. I would have made a far better King than you. Lots of people said so, but no, I stayed loyal. You were my friend. And then, years later, I finally realized I had no more power or station or wealth of my own than the day I first followed you to Court to be your Astrologer!”

John stared at him, tears rolling unheeded down his sunken cheeks. “Thomas … we’ve been friends since we were children together …”

“Children grow up, John.”

“Do you really hate me so much?”

“More than you can imagine, John. I’ve looked forward to this moment for years. A great many years.”

“You …” said John slowly. “You were the one who first suggested we call the Demon Prince!”

“Of course,” said the Astrologer calmly. “With his power, I could have made myself King.”

He broke off as the Demon Prince laid a hand on his shoulder, and squeezed gently. Blood ran down the Astrologer’s arm as the long claws sank deep into his flesh, but he didn’t flinch or cry out.

“Such a foolish mortal, to think of controlling me,” murmured the Demon Prince. “You were mine, body and soul, from the moment you decided to summon me out of the darkness. From that moment on, you became an agent, my slave, my …”

“Traitor,” whispered the King.

“I have always been well served by traitors,” said the Demon Prince.

John bowed his head and looked away. In the space of a single day he had lost his Kingdom, his Castle, and his oldest friend. It didn’t seem possible that a man could hurt so much and still go on living.

Rupert cautiously raised himself up on his elbows. The geas was almost gone, but the sword was too far away. The Demon Prince would stop him before he could get anywhere near it. The King, on the other hand, was almost on top of the sword … Rupert frowned. In order to stand any chance at all, the King was going to need a diversion, to distract the Demon Prince and the Astrologer … Rupert smiled sourly as the answer came to him. He might not be able to reach the sword, but he could certainly reach the Demon Prince.
Damn,
thought Rupert,
this is going to hurt.
He quickly caught his father’s eye, and jerked his head slightly at the sword lying between them. Now, if the Demon Prince would just move a few steps closer … The Astrologer laughed suddenly, and the King slowly turned his head to look at him.

“Well, John” …the Astrologer grinned…“nothing more to say to me? No last minute appeals to my better nature, or the friendship we once shared?”

John just looked at him.

“I’m going to be King,” said Thomas Grey simply, a world of satisfaction in his voice. “At long last, I’m going to be King. My master promised me your throne, for my part in this. Don’t worry, John; I’ll put the Kingdom back together, and run it as it should be run. And with the demons to back me up, there’s not a Baron in the Land will dare stand against me.”

“You’re crazy,” said Julia harshly. “King? King of
what?
There’s nothing but the Darkwood now.”

“Things won’t always be like this,” said the Astrologer calmly. “I shall rule the Forest Land. This was promised to me.”

“Such a petty ambition,” said the Demon Prince. “I offered you all the Kingdoms of the world.”

“The Forest Land is all I want,” said Thomas Grey. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted. And now I shall be King, at last.”

“I think not,” said the Dark Prince.

The Astrologer turned suddenly to stare at the inhuman creature lounging carelessly on its decaying throne.

“I have no use for Kings,” said the Demon Prince. “Only slaves. Come here, slave.”

Thomas Grey shook his head slowly. “I’m to be King. King of the Forest Land. You promised me!”

The Demon Prince smiled, showing his teeth. “I lied.”

He rose to his feet in one sudden movement, and started toward the Astrologer. Thomas Grey backed away, and then turned and ran. He barely made half a dozen steps before the night closed in around him like a living cloak. Grey fell struggling to the ground, wrapped in darkness, and screamed horribly as within his body he felt his bones and muscles moving, changing, twisting …

The screams finally died away, and King John watched horrified as the thing that had once been his friend rose slowly to its feet as a demon. A low-browed head squatted on broad, muscular shoulders, and its overlong arms fell down past its knees. Thick oily hair showed clearly through great rents in the sorcerer’s torn robes. A simple, crafty intelligence showed in the glowing bloodred eyes, but there was no trace of recognition in them when the demon glanced briefly at the King before scuttling away to crouch fawningly at the Demon Prince’s side.

“Well?” said the Demon Prince to the King. “How do you like your friend now?”

Rupert lunged forward and slammed into the Demon Prince. The creature staggered backwards and almost fell, but recovered his balance at the last moment. Rupert caught the Demon Prince in a bear hug, and hung on grimly, his head pressed against the creature’s bony chest.

“Father!” he yelled desperately. “Get the sword! Get the damn sword!”

The Demon Prince’s head snapped forward, the long spindly neck stretching impossibly. Rupert had only a brief glimpse of vicious teeth reaching for his throat before he released his hold and threw himself backwards. The jaws snapped together just short of his face, and then a hard bony knee shot up to slam into his side. Rupert groaned as he felt newly healed ribs break, and then the ground rose up to hit him. He rolled slowly onto his face and pushed himself up onto one elbow, just in time to see Julia try again to reach her sword. The demon Astrologer drove a fist into her gut, and she collapsed again, fighting for breath. The demon giggled. The Demon Prince moved slowly forward, chuckling softly. Rupert braced himself, and glanced quickly at his father. The King hadn’t moved at all, and the sword still lay where Rupert had dropped it.

“Father!”

The Demon Prince stopped before the King, and smiled down at him. “I don’t think he hears you, boy. He’s broken now, just another of my slaves. Aren’t you, John?” He reached down, and taking the King by the throat, lifted him easily off the ground. The Demon Prince held him out at arm’s length and shook him playfully, grinning broadly as he watched the King’s feet kicking a yard and more above the ground.

“Aren’t you, John?”

The King tore feebly at the Demon Prince’s hand, air rattling in his throat.

“You shall be the lowliest of all my slaves, little coward,” said the Demon Prince softly. He drew the King’s face close to his own, and laughed mockingly. King John spat in his face. The Demon Prince howled with rage, and his hand closed tight about the King’s throat. His other hand ripped through the King’s chain mail and sank its claws deep into the King’s chest, searching for his heart.

Rupert staggered to his feet and started toward them, and the demon Astrologer came to meet him. Julia lunged forward, snatched up Rupert’s sword from the clearing floor, and threw it to him. Rupert caught the sword in mid air, and turned quickly back to face the demon. It snarled once, and backed slowly away from him. The Demon Prince threw the King aside, and stalked toward Rupert, grinning broadly. Rupert stood his ground, hefting his sword in his hand. He could see Julia and his father, both struggling to get to their feet, their blood dripping onto the filthy moss. Even the dragon was stirring uneasily in his sleep. Rupert swallowed dryly. He knew cold steel wasn’t going to be enough to stop the Dark Prince, but he had to try. His friends needed him. He lifted his sword above his head for one last desperate attack, and then all his rage and hope and need surged up into the sword and out, out into the long night and beyond, and the Demon Prince screamed despairingly as with the roaring of a mighty falls, the Rainbow slammed down into the Darkwood clearing.

Brilliant colors threw back the darkness, thundering endlessly against the long night. Rupert turned his face up into the cascading light, and laughed aloud as strength flooded back into him. Vivid shades and colors burned through the night, driving back the Darkwood. Rupert looked around him for the Demon Prince. He could just make out a tall spindly shadow struggling weakly among the colors, like an insect trapped in hardening amber. And then, even as he watched, the shadow melted away into nothing. The Rainbow blazed bright and glorious against the night, and then was gone.

Rupert slowly lowered his sword, and looked up into the night sky. For a moment he thought nothing had changed, and then, one by one, the stars came out, and the full moon overhead shone silver bright. The brooding oppression of the Darkwood was gone, as though it had never been, and already the first faint red gleam of dawn was spilling out onto the darkness. The long night was finally over.

Rupert sheathed the rainbow sword, and looked about him. The mosses and fungi that had covered the clearing floor were gone, replaced by a thick carpet of grass that glowed softly with its own inner light. The Demon Prince was gone, and with him the creature that had once been the Astrologer. The dragon was sitting up on his haunches, shaking the last drowsiness out of his head. His emerald scales shimmered brightly where the Rainbow had touched them. Julia was standing beside the dragon, happily flexing her newly healed hand, and staring about her in open wonder. Rupert went over to her and took her in his arms, and the rising sun was like a benediction.

King John sat beside the decaying throne with his head in his hands, and wept for the loss of his friend.

O
ut in the Forest, birds were singing. Leaves had begun to appear on some of the trees around the clearing, and the air was full of clean, familiar Forest smells. Sunlight poured down through the slowly widening break in the canopy overhead, and the early morning sky was so brilliant a blue it almost hurt Rupert’s eyes to look at it. High above the Forest, the dragon soared effortlessly on the gentle morning winds, his scales shimmering brightly in the golden sunlight. Rupert could feel the winter cold finally leaving his bones, and the sun was warm on his face. All around him he could hear the quiet, furtive sounds of animals emerging from their hiding places to investigate the returning Forest. And yet, for every tree that stood wreathed in green or bronze, another stood stark and dead, its wood eaten away from within. For some, for all too many, the Rainbow had come too late.

“Half the Forest’s still dead,” said Julia. “I thought that, once the Demon Prince was gone, everything would just return to normal.”

Rupert shook his head slowly. “Not even the Rainbow can bring back the dead, and some of these trees have stood in darkness for a very long time. The Darkwood may be gone, but it’ll take the Forest centuries to recover from the damage done to it. No, lass; we’re rid of the Demon Prince, but we still have to deal with the legacy he left us.”

Julia suddenly stumbled over something lying hidden in the long grass, and bent down to pick it up.

“What have you got there?” asked Rupert.

“I’m not sure,” said Julia. “Looks like a piece of bone, or horn, or something.”

“A horn? Let me see that.” Rupert reached out a hand for the object. Julia went to pass it to him, and then almost dropped it as her newly healed fingers refused to cooperate. Rupert caught the horn just in time, and smiled sympathetically at Julia. “How’s your hand now, lass? Still stiff?”

“Yeah,” said Julia wryly, kneading her injured hand with her good one. “The Rainbow healed the damage all right, just like before, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of exercise before this hand is supple enough to use a sword again.”

“I know what you mean,” said Rupert, wincing slightly as a too sudden movement brought him a warning twinge from his newly healed ribs.

“I wish the Rainbow could have done something for your eye,” said Julia

Rupert shrugged carefully. “So do I, lass; but then again, I’m happy just to be alive.” He studied the piece of horn in his hand. It was almost two feet long and thickly curlicued, the creamy white ivory cracked and discolored. Rupert nodded grimly. “I thought so.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the unicorn’s horn. He lost it to a demon in the Darkwood, remember? The Demon Prince used it to spread his plague.”

Julia looked at the horn warily. “Is it still dangerous? Maybe we ought to destroy it.”

“The High Warlock will know what to do with it,” said Rupert, slipping the horn into the top of his boot. “I’ll give it to him when we get back to the Castle. Maybe he can find some way to fix it back onto the unicorn.”