Demon Lord IV - Lord of Shadows (14 page)

A terrified
shout came from the chapel. "The flame! The flame is out!"

Kayos turned,
and Vorkon rose from the floor a few paces away, facing Bane. The
Demon Lord stepped back, thrusting Shevra aside as Vorkon closed
the gap between them in a stride. He lunged at Bane, his hands
closing around the Demon Lord's throat.

"Now," he
grated, "you die!"

They
vanished.

Chapter Seven

The Seventh
Ward

Kayos Moved to
the altar and clapped his hands over the wick, relighting it with a
flash of power. Next he Moved to a flat, featureless tundra swept
by an icy wind, where he knew that the seventh ward had to be. He
swung around, searching for it in the pitch blackness. A faint blue
glow lighted the clouds in the distance, and he Moved again,
reappearing beside a towering monolith of freshly hewn grey stone.
He paused for a moment to admire it, then strode to the curved wall
just beyond it, where a fur clad figure huddled on the ground.

The ward's
blue light lighted Tygon's ravaged face with harsh luminescence,
and Kayos feared that he was dead. A quick glance at his soul
assured him that he was not. He knelt and placed a hand on the
mage's brow, and golden light flowed into Tygon's flesh. It took
only a few moments for the healing power of a Grey God to banish
the cold from Tygon's shivering form and fill him with glorious
warmth. He drew in a deep breath and opened his eyes, staring at
Kayos in surprise.

"My Lord?"

Kayos
gestured, and an Eye appeared before him, an image forming within
it. The Demon Lord stood in a vast cavern. The ruddy glow of the
lava-filled crevasses that snaked across the rough stone floor
lighted it. He faced Vorkon. To be certain of their location, Kayos
tilted the Eye, and huge pillars of twisted rock came into view,
and beyond them, more caverns lighted by the inner fire. Bane was
in the Darkworld, and so was Vorkon. They held swords, but for the
moment neither moved. Kayos turned to Tygon, who stared at him with
a bemused expression.

"Get up. Raise
the ward, now!"

Tygon gaped at
him. "Now?"

"Now!
Hurry!"

"Vorkon -"

"Is below, but
Bane cannot keep him there forever. Hurry!"

Tygon
staggered to his feet and stared up at the huge monolith as if he
had forgotten what to do.

"Make haste,"
Kayos growled.

Tygon nodded,
his mouth still open, and raised his hands, pointing them at the
massive ward. Blue power enveloped them, then leapt across the gap
to the rim of blazing light that edged the base of the ward. He
closed his eyes, swaying as the freezing wind tore at him, and the
power poured from him. The light that cushioned the ward's stony
womb brightened, and Kayos waited as minutes crept past like hours.
At last, the ward began to rise, its deep rumble shivering the
earth.

Kayos glanced
at the Eye, where the two dark gods stood unmoving, then Vorkon
lunged, and Bane skipped aside in a blur of speed. His sword lashed
out, slicing through Vorkon's neck, but in the Darkworld such an
injury was nothing to him. Bane backed away, his lips moving as he
taunted Vorkon, who followed him with murderous intent. Bane was
playing for time, keeping Vorkon distracted. With a twinge of
trepidation, Kayos whispered Drayshina's name, and the image within
the Eye swirled and reformed. It showed the goddess lying in the
grip of a flesh creature. He tilted the Eye to assure himself that
she was in the mid realm, and sighed with relief when he found that
she was. He whispered Bane's name, and the image changed again.

Kayos glanced
at the ward, which seemed to have risen only a few inches. The top
was shrouded in darkness, so there was no way to gauge how high it
was now, but Tygon would know when it had reached its apex. Kayos
turned back to the Eye. Bane still taunted Vorkon, skipping aside
when the dark god lunged at him, spreading his arms in an
invitation to strike. This was dangerous, and Vorkon knew it, which
was perhaps why he had not become suspicious yet. Bane would tire,
but he would not, so to use his strength on idle taunting was
unwise if he planned to defeat Vorkon. The Death Lord, as he styled
himself, was too tempted by Bane's proximity and apparent
foolishness to consider the possibility that he had just walked
into a trap.

The Darkworld
was his chosen battleground, for it offered him a slight advantage.
Bane had to shield himself from its intense heat, which used power,
but the immense quantities of free flowing dark power benefited
them both. Demons began to appear around the two, summoned by
Vorkon, Kayos assumed, although Bane would counter with his own.
Two fire demons attacked Bane, who flung out his arms, and they
vanished in flares of foul flame. Kayos marvelled at the power that
Bane wielded now. He easily outranked Vorkon, although the former
black mage would never admit it, even to himself. Bane's eyes were
pits of darkness, and five of the runes exposed by his open shirt
glowed bright yellow. He was not even using his full power, perhaps
also to enrage Vorkon.

Kayos glanced
at Tygon, wondering how much time had passed. The ward still rose,
and the blue mage stood transfixed, sweat starting to bead his
brow. Kayos looked back into the Eye, wincing as Vorkon lunged at
Bane again, coming perilously close. His concern for Bane surprised
him, and it was not merely because the fate of the domain, and his
own, depended upon him, nor was it due to his value as a tar'merin.
In spite of what he was, he had come to like the Demon Lord. Vorkon
vanished and reappeared beside Bane, slashing at him with his
sword. Its edge caught Bane's shoulder, and blood flowed as the
Demon Lord retreated. Kayos winced again.

An earth demon
leapt at Bane from the darkness, and another lunged to intercept
it. One of its huge fists struck Bane a glancing blow, sending him
spinning. He fell, and Vorkon sprang at him, but he rolled away as
the dark god's blade struck the rock where he had been in a shower
of sparks. Kayos adjusted the focus of the Eye, zooming in to study
Bane's face, where beads of sweat had started to appear. Bane spun
closer to Vorkon, his sword lashing out, slicing deep into Vorkon's
droge flesh. Vorkon smiled and shed his droge body, his dark form
towering over Bane. He took a demon's shape, two more pairs of arms
budding from his torso like a slug's eye stalks. He lunged at Bane,
and the Demon Lord leapt back, a black shield shooting up between
them. Vorkon struck it and rebounded.

Kayos glanced
at Tygon. "Hurry!"

The mage
shuddered, and the power that flowed from him brightened. The
ward's rise quickened.

Kayos looked
into the Eye again. Vorkon followed Bane, who backed away, his lips
moving again as he taunted his foe. He raised an arm, and the roof
above Vorkon collapsed, burying him. Bane waited, breathing
heavily, as Vorkon oozed from the rubble, minus his sword. He
summoned another, and as he did, two earth demons lunged at Bane,
fists swinging. A fire demon sprang to his defence, and Bane
skipped aside. Vorkon Moved, using the momentary distraction that
the demons provided to get close to his foe. His sword stabbed
through Bane's shoulder, and Kayos groaned. Bane staggered back,
the sword embedded in his flesh, Vorkon striving to keep it
there.

The Demon Lord
threw himself backwards as one of Vorkon's fists rose to strike
him, freeing himself from the sword. The Darkworld was the one
place where Bane would not be able to defeat Vorkon. He needed
light to do that, whereas all Vorkon needed was to cut him to
pieces. Another black shield shot up in Vorkon's path as he chased
after Bane, and he struck it again, rebounding. Soon Vorkon would
start to wonder why Bane chose to fight him in the Darkworld, and
get suspicious. Four earth demons attacked Vorkon, but he scattered
them to dust with a vicious gesture of one arm, not slowing his
pursuit of Bane.

Another demon
struck at Bane from a shadowy nook, knocking the Demon Lord down.
Vorkon lunged, his sword whistling down as Bane rolled away. Bane
was tiring now, and the weapon sliced into his thigh. Vorkon loomed
over him, stabbing at him as he twisted and rolled to avoid the
blade's keen edge. Vorkon cast the sword aside and sprang at Bane,
getting a hold on his arm. Kayos made a strangled sound, his eyes
widening. The Demon Lord's white teeth flashed as he grimaced, and
to Kayos' amazement, smiled. The seven runes flared with brilliant
yellow light, and he reached up to grip Vorkon's throat.

The power of
Bane's Gather sucked the shadow from Vorkon's form, and he shrank,
two of his arms withering away. Bane directed the excess power
downwards, and the floor beneath him began to glow. Vorkon
struggled to free himself, and Kayos found that he was holding his
breath. He had witnessed a few battles between dark gods, from a
safe distance, but he could see that Vorkon was no match for Bane.
The Demon Lord might even defeat him in his own realm. Shadows
rushed into Vorkon in solid streams of darkness, replacing that
which Bane drew off, but Bane channelled the power that he took
into the stone beneath him, locking it away. The chamber in which
they fought was rapidly clearing of free dark power. Bane was using
Vorkon as a Source.

A dull,
grinding thud made him look around at Tygon as the mage staggered
back, the streams of power that arced from his hands becoming
slender threads. The ward had stopped rising. The light that held
it up was so brilliant that it was almost white, and blinding to
look at.

"Now," Tygon
muttered.

Kayos glanced
into the Eye, where Bane still held Vorkon, whose dark form had
dwindled considerably.

Tygon made a
vicious, flicking gesture with his hands, and the slender threads
of power lashed out like whips, cutting into the ward. The earth
rang like a great gong, and the ward shuddered, blue fire crawling
up and over it, mantling it. It swept higher and higher, like blue
lightning sheathing the stone, sinking into it, arcing out from it.
It reached the summit high above, lighting the clouds with an
eerie, shimmering blue nimbus. The ward atop the monolith ignited.
A flash of blue fire swept out from it in a shining wave, rolling
away across the tundra as the earth rang again, this time with a
sweet chime.

A glowing blue
pentagram appeared above the ward. Its pure, glorious power was a
wonder to behold, and Kayos' eyes burnt as he stared up at it. The
blue fire at megalith's base winked out, and the ground shuddered
again as the five sides gripped it, holding it up. Blue power swept
down from the ward atop it, spreading from it in a ripple that only
a god could see. Ward lines shot out just beneath the soil's
surface, following the original ley lines set down at the creation
of the domain. The ley lines were the domain's boundary wards, set
into its walls far beneath the Darkworld. Now they were mirrored
between the Darkworld and the mid realm, a barrier impervious to a
true god. When all seven wards were in place, not even a Hell hound
would be able to pass through it. Tygon staggered back as the blue
power winked out, and collapsed in a heap.

The great boom
that shook the Darkworld made Bane glance up, and a cruel smile
drew his lips back to reveal even white teeth. Vorkon struggled,
trapped by his need to maintain his dark form, which Bane drew off
almost faster than he could replace it. The free flowing dark power
was dwindling, and Vorkon began to Gather from the rock beneath
him, opening a glowing Source. One just like it blazed beneath
Bane's feet, but it was not a Source.

Bane exulted
in his power, and the evil within him rejoiced, urging him to
destroy Vorkon. He wanted to. The longing made him sick. He looked
into Vorkon's dark, fiery face. Its glowing yellow eyes and ugly
red maw were so much like Arkonen's, reviving the hatred that he
had thought dead long since. If only he had possessed this much
power then, he would have destroyed the god who had tortured him so
vilely, and who had made him hurt the girl he loved. His strength
was dwindling, however. The blood that seeped from his shoulder and
thigh spelt doom if he ignored it for too long. He had won.
Vorkon's destruction was within his power.

A sweet chime
rang through the Darkworld, and he sensed the lines of power
hissing into place above him, locking Vorkon here. His chilling
smile widened.

"That is the
sound of your doom, Vorkon," he grated. "This is now your
prison."

Vorkon's
glowing maw twisted. "I will escape it!"

"Do not be too
sure of that. If you do, I shall be waiting for you. Or perhaps I
should destroy you now. You know I can. Beg, Vorkon. Beg for
mercy."

"Never!"

Bane's eyes
narrowed as he sensed his weakness becoming dangerous. "Perhaps
another time, then."

Vorkon
writhed. He lacked the power to do anything other than maintain his
dark form, even summoning a weapon was beyond him now. Bane stepped
forward and thrust Vorkon against the cavern wall. Demons struggled
behind him, his own and Vorkon's, neither able to prevail. Bane
used some of the power that thrummed through him to soften the rock
behind Vorkon and pushed the dark god into it, burying him in the
stone. Bane's arms vanished into it up to the elbow. The stone
would only hold Vorkon for a few moments, but that was all he
needed. Releasing him, Bane stepped back and Moved.

Bane sensed
his passage through the ward as a frisson of power tingling through
him, then he reappeared on a barren plain. His knees buckled, and
he sank down, his strength ebbing away as the shadows oozed from
his skin. The dark power licked over him, almost beyond his
control, the runes on his chest burning bright orange. He leashed
it savagely, letting the excess flow out and sink into the earth.
Steam rose from his clothes and hair, and he slumped back onto the
grass, which blackened beneath him. Clotting blood oozed from his
shoulder and thigh. He closed his eyes, and darkness claimed
him.