Demon Lord III - Grey God (19 page)

"Your mages
are powerful indeed."

"It is a
machine that creates the magic of the walls. No mage could wield
such power."

"It is still
impressive." He glanced at Kayos, who gazed at the city. "Have you
ever seen anything like it before?"

The Grey God
shook his head. "Many domains have machines, but I have not seen
one that serves this purpose before. Mine is primitive by
comparison, but I like it that way. When people become so powerful,
they tend to ignore their gods."

Drayshina
smiled. "I make sure they do not."

"Ah, but it is
tedious and time consuming, to walk amongst mortals so much."

"What else do
we have to do?"

He shrugged.
"I prefer to merely watch and guide."

"I enjoy
walking amongst them," Drayshina said. "They are clever and
amusing. Mostly I do not allow them to see me, only my priestesses
sometimes. There are many warlocks around this city, because my
most powerful sorcerers dwell there. They are the ones who will be
able to create the wards." She set off towards the metropolis. "I
can show you where the black mages are."

Bane followed,
Mirra beside him. "Perhaps you should go to another temple, My
Lady. Surely it is dangerous for you to be here?"

"Vorkon will
not find me so quickly. I will show them to you before I
leave."

Bane sensed
the trap an instant before it struck. With a hissing snap, the
ground beneath Drayshina vanished. She screamed as a vast flare of
dark power engulfed her in a black fist. Without thinking, Bane
leapt after her, diving into the hole as she was sucked down, and
the earth reformed behind him. The Fetch shot downwards, the earth
flowing around it, and Bane powered after it, striving to keep
pace. If he fell too far behind, the closing earth would trap him,
and he did not have enough power to rock walk to the surface, which
was already several miles away.

Drayshina
struggled, her power warring with the black in a coruscating blue
blaze. Streams of white fire poured from her fingers as she flailed
and kicked. It turned blue as it consumed the darkness, but the
Fetch was immensely powerful, designed to hold her. She clawed at
her prison's walls, her face twisted with terror as she strived to
free herself before the Fetch carried her down to the Darkworld.
Bane tried to hook his fingers into the Fetch so it would carry him
with it, but he could not quite reach it. Drayshina writhed in its
grip, engulfed in a blinding blue shimmer. Bane knew he could not
affect the Fetch itself, for the dark power that formed it was
already commanded. All he could do was to Gather from it, but that
would take too long.

The earth
around him vanished, and he fell through the roof of an immense
cavern pillared with columns of twisted rock, its floor crazed with
glowing cracks. The Fetch disintegrated as Drayshina tore at it
with swathes of white power, but she plunged towards four squat,
many limbed creatures that waited below. Bane redirected his fire
downwards as he plummeted towards the floor, striving to prevent
himself from slamming into the stone.

Drayshina
screamed as she slammed into the flesh creature's grasping hands
with tremendous force. Bane shouted a word of power as the floor
shot up at him, his speed too great for him to stop before he
struck it. The impact punched the air from his lungs, then he sank
into it, clawing at it as he tried to pull himself back to the
surface. Dark fire poured forth to sustain him, and the runes on
his chest blazed as it ebbed, for he had already used a great deal
to follow Drayshina. His hands broke through the surface, and he
pulled himself up, gasping the hot, foul air of the Darkworld. He
barely had enough power to shield himself from the intense heat,
and as soon as he knelt upon the burning floor, he spread his arms
and Gathered.

Drayshina's
screams echoed around the cavern, and six of the runes on Bane's
chest blazed as dark power poured into him. He tottered to his
feet, still dazed by his impact with the floor and narrow escape
from it. A vortex formed around him, the air screaming with the
dark power's wild, rejoicing song as it raced to answer his
summons. He turned, seeking the goddess, who lay in the grasp of a
scaled monstrosity that had once been a dozen people, their twisted
bodies joined together. She struggled, but the creature held her,
some of its legs chained to the floor.

Sensing a
surge of dark power behind him, Bane spun around just in time to
leap backwards as a man tried to plunge a sword into his heart, and
Bane did not doubt he was Vorkon. Bane collided with the flesh
beast as Vorkon's sword swished through the air in a series of
broad slashes aimed to cut him in two. Spinning aside, Bane
conjured a sword and countered Vorkon's with a clang and a shower
of blue sparks.

A furious
scowl twisted Vorkon's lean, sculpted face, and his green eyes
blazed with rage as he flung himself at Bane, lashing out with a
fist. Bane spun aside and slashed with his sword at the same
instant, striking the black shield that appeared in Vorkon's hand
with an impact that jarred his arm. Vorkon's sword swished over
Bane's head as he ducked, then he lunged, his sword opening a
bloodless gash in the dark god's chest. Vorkon spun aside and
retaliated with a swift slashing stroke that ripped open Bane's
shirt as he flung himself backwards in the nick of time.

Drayshina gave
up her futile struggle and lay gasping, becoming aware of the
battle that raged close by. Raising her head, she gazed at the two
dark gods, who moved with such speed they were blurs of motion from
which an occasional shower of sparks fell. Dark power swirled
around them as Bane continued to Gather, his sword flashing as he
cut and lunged, countering Vorkon's strokes. Drayshina's strength
ebbed in the aftermath of her struggle with the flesh beast whose
clawed, scaly hands held her fast, and the battle riveted her
attention.

Vorkon growled
words of summoning, and four earth demons shot up, their gritty
forms twisting and flowing into ten-foot tall, six-armed
monstrosities. Each pushed forth three stony eyes and raised its
fists to bludgeon Bane. He swung and sent a lash of dark fire at
them, reducing them to dust. Vorkon continued to summon as he
parried the Demon Lord's sword strokes.

Fire demons
manifested from the flames that licked through the glowing cracks,
only to be annihilated by Bane, who summoned demons of his own to
counter Vorkon's. His sword clashed with Vorkon's again, and this
time he slid his weapon up Vorkon's, locking the hilts together.
His free hand shot out and gripped the dark god's left wrist,
preventing him from using it to beat or choke him, and Gathered
from him.

Drayshina's
eyes followed Bane, her only hope of rescue. Raw power swirled
around the two dark gods in hissing tongues black fire. Vorkon
Gathered it and Bane dispersed it, drawing it from his opponent,
using the excess to destroy the demons that rose with terrifying
swiftness all around them.

Bane's demons
attacked Vorkon's, preventing them from reaching the Demon Lord,
and the melee grew as more and more joined the fray. For every
demon Vorkon summoned, Bane summoned another to counter it, so
neither side gained an advantage. In the end, battles between dark
gods were decided by the gods themselves, not their minions, who
were too easily countered. A demon, capable of defeating many
armies of men, was no more than a distraction to Bane, who could
destroy it with a flick of his hand.

Drayshina was
terrified Bane would lose and leave her at Vorkon's mercy. Her
former aversion to him seemed petty and unfair now that he fought
to free her, and she regretted her former animosity towards him as
she clung to the desperate hope that he would win. His mortality
made him more vulnerable than Vorkon, and her future now depended
upon him.

Bane's hold on
Vorkon lasted only a few moments. A droge was far stronger than a
mortal and slightly stronger than Bane, enabling him to wrench free
and punch Bane in the shoulder before he leapt aside with lightning
speed that not even a demon could match. Bane burnt a chunk of
Vorkon's droge body away with a blast of fire, but he regenerated
it swiftly. He seemed to have no intention of shucking it and
assuming a dark form.

Bane's efforts
had resulted in little more than a loss of Vorkon's handsome
features, which had degenerated considerably during the conflict.
Now he wore the almost featureless aspect of a demon, far easier to
maintain than the complex human face he had worn at the outset.
Bane sensed that the fight was going nowhere now. Vorkon outclassed
him in skill, countering the extra power Bane possessed.

Six runes
blazed through the ragged tears in Bane's shirt, lending power to
his Gather. The earth demons pounded at each other with gritty
fists until they slumped exhausted into piles of earth. Fire demons
hurled burning bolts and seared their opponents with blazing eyes,
swiftly vanquishing earth demons, and occasionally causing one of
their own kind to wink out in a rush of foul fire.

Bane lunged at
his opponent again, knocked aside Vorkon's sword with a slash of
his weapon and grabbed Vorkon's wrist in a vice-like grip. Vorkon
slashed at him, and Bane parried the blow, hanging on when Vorkon
tried to wrench free once more. Vorkon matched Bane's Gather with
his own, and his ability to regenerate, even under such strain, was
testimony to his skill.

The dark fire
burnt Bane's flesh as it poured through him, making his stomach
knot. Its chill invaded his blood, and he sensed his increasing
exhaustion. He did not doubt that when he was sufficiently tired,
Vorkon would kill him. The tactic he had chosen, to struggle
physically with Vorkon, had been a risky one, and it was not
working. He sliced off a chunk of Vorkon's shoulder with a quick
slash of his sword, then gathered his flagging will and Moved.

They
reappeared in the light realm, and Vorkon howled as the light
shredded the exposed portion of his dark form. Bane hung on as his
foe’s struggles increased, burning away more of the droge shell,
drawing Vorkon's power off with his Gather. Vorkon dropped his
sword and tried to punch Bane in the face, but the Demon Lord
dodged the blow, which struck him on the shoulder. A dagger
appeared in Vorkon's hand, and he stabbed Bane in the shoulder as
he twisted away. Bane grunted as the impact made him stagger back,
and the momentary distraction was all Vorkon needed to regain
momentary control of the situation and Move.

Bane found
himself in a vast, pillared cavern that the lurid glow of the
domain's inner fire illuminated, the hot air thick with dark power.
Vorkon's droge form regenerated, and the Demon Lord thrust him
away, breaking his hold on the dagger before he could jerk it out
and use it again.

Vorkon
staggered back, conjuring another dagger, and a sword appeared in
Bane's fist at the same moment. Vorkon eyed him, and Bane glanced
around. Apart from a few demons that had been passing through the
cavern and stopped to stare at them, their presence was unremarked.
Vorkon frowned at the blood that flowed from Bane's shoulder,
soaking his shirt. Bane made no attempt to pull out the dagger,
knowing that to do so would only increase the bleeding.

"What are
you?" Vorkon demanded in a deep, attractive voice. His face had
resumed its human aspect, with sculpted, aquiline features and dark
brown hair pulled back in a loose plait.

"Your
nemesis," Bane said.

"You are a
mortal, but you are no black mage. So, a mortal god then." His eyes
narrowed. "Do you seek to take this domain for yourself?"

"I fight for
the light."

Vorkon cocked
his head, frowning. "Why would a dark god fight for the light?"

"I am
tar'merin."

"Tar'merin?
That means..."

Vorkon's level
brows knotted, and he launched himself at Bane, taking him by
surprise. The Demon Lord spun aside, his sword slicing deep into
Vorkon's flank. Vorkon tried to plunge his dagger into his foe's
gut. Bane jerked up his arm to deflect the weapon, which sliced
across his wrist and impaled his flank. Bane staggered back with a
grunt, bringing up his sword in a retaliatory stroke that sliced
through Vorkon's side and upwards through his neck. Vorkon's form
wavered, then reformed as he grabbed Bane's sword arm and twisted
the dagger in his flesh.

Bane growled
and punched Vorkon in the side of the head, making him stagger.
Blood poured from the wound in Bane's side, and his strength
drained away with alarming speed. Vorkon released the dagger and
punched Bane, making lights flash in his eyes. His strength was
dwindling fast, and he was no longer a match for Vorkon. He sliced
through Vorkon's arm and staggered free, then Moved.

A dead forest
shimmered into being around him, and the sword fell from his lax
hold into the soft grey ash. He sank to his knees, clasping the
wound in his side. He assumed that he had returned to the place
where the trap had captured Drayshina, but there was no sign of
Kayos. Calling his name elicited no response, and he sank back on
his haunches as a wave of dizziness darkened his vision. Was this
what it was like to die? He had come close before, at the seventh
ward and again after his first battle with Arkonen, but it had not
been like this. Now he was alone, and the pain of his wounds filled
him, along with a terrible dread. He did not want to die. Becoming
a true dark god terrified him.

Bowing his
head, he whispered, "Help me."

Darkness
engulfed him, and he slumped sideways onto the ash.

Kayos stared
at the spot where Bane and Drayshina had vanished, which had
reformed behind them, just another innocent patch of grey ash.
Horror washed over him in a cold tide, and he backed away, glancing
around. Bane's impetuous action was ill advised, and Kayos could
only hope he would survive. He did not doubt Drayshina now
languished in the grip of a flesh beast, since the trap had been
set for her.