"There is if it weakens me."
"How can it weaken you?"
"Because she is weak,
vulnerable. If I go against the Black Lord, he will strike at her,
not me."
Ellese nodded. "That is true,
but we will protect her."
"From the Black Lord?" He
snorted. "You do not stand a chance against him. He will send an
army of dark creatures to wipe this place off the face of the
earth."
"But you can protect her."
"Not without my power."
"You will be able to use your
power when you have been healed."
He gazed at her. "And you trust
me not to replace the Black Lord as ruler of the Overworld? I
could, you know."
"I know you could. And yes, I
do."
"Why?"
"Because I know you do not want
to."
"What makes you think that?"
She shrugged and sighed. "It is
not your nature, and once you have been purged of the dark power
you will see that."
"Will I?" His brows rose, and
his expression became sceptical. "That should be interesting."
Ellese nodded, fascinated by his
mood swings, which she had seen many times before. One moment he
was coldly harsh, the next in a towering rage, and now, he seemed
quite calm. She rose and picked up his jar of green paste, opened
it and scooped out a dollop. Bane scowled when she sat next to him
and rubbed it into the cut on his hand. The bleeding stopped, and
she smiled at him as she put away the jar.
"We will be able to cure you of
this."
"The bleeding?"
"Yes. Once you have been
purged."
Bane regarded her with deep
resentment, and she reached out to stroke his hair, failing when he
leant away. "I know. You do not need our help."
He stared at the floor, and she
waited for him to speak, wondering how long this calm phase would
last. At last he looked up. "What is my father like?"
Ellese rose and returned to her
chair, sensing his intense dislike for her proximity. His curiosity
pleased her. She took it as a good sign. "A quiet man, moody,
withdrawn, stays by himself in the woods, and does not like
intruders. Tall, like you. You have his nose, his mouth, and his
chin. Your eyes and hair come from your mother, the brows too, and,
of course, the widow's peak."
He looked puzzled. "What is a
widow's peak?"
She gestured at her brow, which
did not possess one. "It is... you have one on your forehead."
His hand rose to examine his
forehead, fingering the smooth skin and the deeply plunging
hairline. "I cannot feel it."
"You have never seen a
mirror?"
"No."
Ellese rose. "Wait here."
Elder Mother hurried down the
hall to her study and returned with a hand mirror. She gave it to
him, and he looked at it curiously, turning it so it reflected the
walls at odd angles.
She smiled. "Hold it in front of
your face, and you will see yourself."
Bane lifted the mirror, and
Ellese caught a glimpse of blurred black hair in it before he
turned it towards himself. The mirror shattered with explosive
force, shooting bright splinters. He recoiled in surprise and
alarm, flinging away the broken handle.
Ellese clamped a hand over her
mouth, her eyes wide with shock. "Goddess! You... It is your power.
I am sorry, I should have realised."
He glared at her. "It was not
meant to do that?"
"No! It... You should have seen
your reflection. What happens if you look into water?"
He shrugged. "It glitters."
"The dark power will not allow
you to see yourself."
"Why?"
"I am not sure."
Bane brushed splinters from his
clothes. "It is not important."
He looked tired, and Ellese
rose, not wishing to overstay her welcome, such as it was. She
paused at the door.
"I will send someone to clean up
the mess."
Ellese gazed at him. His air of
solitude and weary depression saddened her. He had the look of a
defeated man, abandoned by the world that had raised him, thrust
into another that did not want him, and which he did not like. His
apparent willingness to fight the Black Lord did not comfort her,
for he could easily change his mind, and, after the battle, if he
won, then what?
As she turned away, she said,
"Try to be nice to Mirra, she only wants to be your friend."
Chapter
Four
The Goddess
Mirra and Tallis sat on
the grass of the inner garden under black, scudding clouds.
Flickers of lightning played on the horizon, and the cold wind
plucked at their robes. Mirra had almost recovered from her ordeal
after plenty of rest and good food, and Tallis had trimmed her hair
into a pretty, gamin style, with short bangs that framed her face,
heightening its elfin quality. Her fingers wound flowers into a
chain while she listened to Tallis chatter, trying to concentrate
on that instead of thinking about Bane, alone in his
room.
Mirra longed to talk to him, but
Elder Mother had warned her to stay away from him. The wise seeress
had told her to let him seek her out, if he wished, and not to
intrude upon his self-imposed solitude. So, she had obeyed, all of
yesterday afternoon and evening, now all of the morning too. Last
night she had tossed restlessly in her bed, missing him.
A cold presence intruded into
her reverie, and she glanced up to find the Demon Lord standing
over them, studying her with an inscrutable expression. Her heart
leapt with surprise at his silent approach and joy at the sight of
him. Tallis gasped and scrambled away. Bane's lip curled in
contempt, his cold eyes following her.
"I am not going to harm you,
girl."
Tallis hesitated, looking at
Mirra for assurance, and the other girl nodded, patting the grass
beside her. "Come and sit here, Tal."
Tallis moved close to her
friend, watching Bane with deep trepidation. He folded his legs and
settled on the grass, apart from them, but close enough to
talk.
"How are you?" Mirra smiled
shyly.
He shrugged, gazing around the
garden. "Well enough."
His unnatural pallor reflected
the illness that the dark power that still filled him caused, and
she longed for the day when it was gone forever. His gaze wandered
up to the angry sky.
"The Black Lord is coming."
Mirra nodded, shivering a little
when the wind gusted as if to confirm his statement. "Elder Mother
says that he has crossed into the New Kingdom, and is heading this
way."
"He seeks me, to finish what he
left undone. No doubt his spies will have told him that I am here,
and he fears that I will be cured, and challenge him."
"He cannot set foot on the abbey
grounds."
Bane plucked a blade of grass
and crushed it. "He will not have to. He will raise an army of
trolls and goblins to destroy this place."
"What do you intend to do?"
His eyes flicked to her. "You
mean do I intend to fight him to save your Overworld?"
"Yes."
"No."
Tallis gasped. "But you have
to!"
His brows shot up in mocking
enquiry, and he turned his frigid gaze upon her. "Really? Why?"
Mirra shook her head at her
friend. "No, he does not Tal. The choice is his. We cannot tell him
what to do."
Bane shot her
a weary, resentful look. "Still so pious,
healer? I would have preferred to let your friend see
if she could persuade me. It might have been
entertaining."
"Your idea of entertainment is
different from ours. We stand to lose our lives if you do not stop
the Black Lord," Mirra rebuked him.
"Yes, even you, especially you,
he would like to kill."
"And you would let him!" Tallis
cried.
Bane's eyes brightened again.
"Why should I not?"
"Because..." The young healer
frowned, thinking hard. "Because..." Tallis looked at Mirra for
help, but she shook her head.
"You got yourself into it, Tal,
you find a good reason."
"All right." Tallis rose to the
challenge as a few reasons occurred to her. "Because he is
human."
Bane looked bitter. "And hated
by my race."
She bit her lip, frowning.
"Because the Overworld is beautiful."
"I do not think so."
Tallis' mouth dropped open in
surprise, and she shot Mirra an incredulous look. Mirra nodded,
confirming the truth of Bane's statement. Tallis cast about once
more, then stated triumphantly, "Because you hate the Black
Lord."
Bane shrugged.
"That does not mean I have to fight him. In fact, a long period of
hostilities and insults would be more satisfying than an
all-out fight to the
finish."
Tallis looked flummoxed as she
ran out of reasons. "Because... Mirra saved your life."
Bane shot Mirra an accusing
look. "I did not ask her to, and she only did it because she
thought I would protect her from the Black Lord when he rose. At
least, that is what she told me."
"Yes, that is what I told you,"
Mirra agreed. "But I did not only want you to protect me. I wanted
you to save all of us. But I could not tell you that, could I?"
"You could have, but it would
have made no difference." He glanced at Tallis. "There is no good
reason for me to fight the Black Lord. I have nothing to gain by
it."
"What do you want?"
He looked down at his hands.
"There is nothing for me here. My home is in the Underworld. That
is where I belong, but my return there does not depend upon my
defeating the Black Lord, I can go there whenever I wish. No one
can stop me, not even Arkonen." He looked up, his mouth twisted in
a bitter smile.
"You cannot return there." Mirra
shook her head, longing to reach out to him, but afraid that it
would only offend him, since he hated sympathy so much. "We want
you to stay here with us."
"We? Who is 'we'?"
"Us, the healers, me, Elder
Mother."
"You?" His smile faded. "You
should hate me."
"But I do not, you know
that."
"Do I?" He glanced down at the
grass again. "You want me to save your world, and for that, you
would do anything. Even lie. And I am not very good at telling when
someone is lying to me."
"I have never told a lie, not to
you or anyone else."
"That is true," Tallis
volunteered, sensing the tension between them building. "Like the
time when -"
"Then tell me," Bane
interrupted. "Why did you save me?"
"Because only you can save the
Overworld from destruction." She met his gaze. "And because I care
about you."
"Care? What does that mean?"
"It is hard to explain. I like
to be around you, I enjoy talking to you. I would like to spend a
lot more time with you. I do not want you to be hurt, or to die. I
want you to be happy. That would make me happy."
"And yet, if I fight the Black
Lord, I may die."
"I know, but if you do not, we
all will."
"Well, he has just said that he
is not going to," Tallis muttered.
"No." Bane shot her an annoyed
glance. "I said I was not going to fight him to save the
Overworld."
Mirra’s heart grew heavy. "For
vengeance?"
"Yes." His gaze returned to the
sky, the wind lifting his hair off his shoulders. "After it is
done, I shall return to the Underworld. Even if I survive."
Mirra's throat closed in shock,
and her eyes stung. Hastily she looked away, unable to speak. Why
did he wish to return to that foul place? How could she bear it if
he did? A strained silence developed while she stared at the grass
by her feet, trying to hide her tears.
Swallowing the lump that blocked
her throat, she said, "The cleansing will take many days, I hope we
are in time. Already people are starting to flee from him. The
roads past the temple are full."
Mirra glanced at Bane, who
stared out over the walls at the darkest part of the sky, his eyes
narrowed, nostrils flared as if he sensed his enemy's approach. She
wondered what he was thinking. How did he feel about attempting to
destroy the being he had regarded as his father for his entire
life? Her skin crawled when she recalled the Black Lord in all his
evil glory, as she had seen him after his ascension from the
Underworld.
A pang shot through her at the
thought of Bane fighting that monstrous creature, and deep sorrow
filled her at the prospect of never seeing him again after that
day, whatever the outcome. She wanted to flee to her room and weep,
but remained rooted to the spot, swamped by misery. Bane lowered
his gaze to her, and she looked away, spotting Elder Mother walking
towards them. Ellese's eyes flicked over them and came to rest on
Bane.
"It is time."
The Demon Lord rose to his feet,
and Ellese turned away, heading back towards the chapel. Bane
hesitated, glancing at Mirra, then followed, his cloak swirling
behind him in the wind.
As soon as his back was turned,
Mirra buried her face in her hands, and Tallis put an arm around
her in concern.
"What is it? What is wrong,
Mir?"
"He is going to return to the
Underworld."
"Well, that is where he belongs,
is it not?"
"No!" Mirra lifted her head,
revealing the tears that streaked her cheeks. "I do not want him to
go."
"Oh, Mir." Tallis tightened her
hold on her friend's bowed shoulders. "You do more than care for
him, do you not? You love him."
Mirra nodded.
"Why do you not tell him
then?"
"Do you think it would make any
difference?"
Tallis sighed. "To him, probably
not. But at least you would have told him, and then it would be up
to him. But how you can love a monster like him is beyond me. He is
handsome, admittedly, but he is evil."
"No, I have seen his true
nature. He is not evil, just filled with it."