Demon Lord IV - Lord of Shadows (23 page)

"Please," she
begged, "spare me. I am no threat to you; there is no need to
destroy me. I am a pawn of the dark power, its victim!"

"Perhaps you
are, and I know you are no threat to me, but you are to Drayshina
and the people of this domain."

"I will do no
harm, I swear. Do not cast me down. Vorkon will torment me for all
eternity."

"For failing
to free him?"

She nodded. "I
will stay here in this city. I shall never leave it, I swear."

"Until I leave
this domain."

"No, never, I
swear it!"

"But you will
capture hapless travellers, and perform your disgusting rituals
upon them, damning them."

Her hair
swirled around her head as she shook it. "No! Never again."

"So you will
be a good little dark goddess, and harm no one."

"Yes!"

Syrin paced up
and down the Channel, watching the confrontation with growing
anxiety. Bane had not Gathered the dark power to protect himself,
he remained vulnerable to attack. His hands slid up to clasp
Jishka's throat, and she gazed up at him with wide eyes, her
expression fearful and pleading. Still she tried to use her charms
to sway him, striving to appear helpless and humble, knowing that
she was in great danger. Bane gazed deep into her eyes, as if
considering her plea, then shook his head.

"You are a
liar."

Jishka's face
twisted with hatred and rage, and her eyes filled with murderous
intent. Another dagger appeared in her fist, and she thrust it at
his ribs. Bane knocked the weapon aside with a swift, chopping
motion that would have broken a normal woman's arm. Her pseudo
flesh bent, and the dagger clattered across the floor. Her nails
sprouted into razor-sharp claws, and she raked one set across his
shoulder, raising the other towards his eyes. Bane's hand flashed
up to grip her wrist, foiling her attempt to scratch out his eyes,
and she struggled.

"Guards!" she
shrieked.

Bane grabbed
her other wrist, and the runes on his chest flared to yellow.
Jishka's form warped as he drew off the dark power that sustained
it, and she sucked in shadows, striving to maintain it. Her hair
became flickering darkness, then returned to shining redness as she
restored it, her face mottling and smearing. Bane's Gather sucked
the dark power from her so fast that her droge form melted away
after only a few more moments, and she became a shadowy figure with
yellow eyes and a red maw.

Fire demons
flared from the torches and earth demons rose from black circles on
the floor to attack Bane. Two fire demons and two earth demons
tried to protect him. An air demon attacked from above, engulfed a
fire demon and started to smother it. The chains on Bane's ankles
fell away as he directed a little power into them, and he pushed
Jishka off the bed, then rose to stand before her. The power he
drew from her formed conduits of shadow, and the air screamed with
the raw, wild power that swirled around them.

Bane glanced
around as a bevy of droges, armed with spears and crossbows, burst
into the room. Black shields shot up all around him, blocked their
attack and trapped Jishka within them. An earth demon rose inside
the shields, and Bane released one of Jishka's wrists to destroy it
with a flick of his hand, blocking her when she conjured another
dagger and tried to stab him in the neck.

Jishka
shrieked as her form twisted and shrank. The ground beneath her
glowed as she ran out of free flowing power and drew it from below.
As long as he held her, she could not Move without taking him with
her, and Moving both of them would be pointless. Bane channelled
much of the power that he drew from her into the shields, making
them thicker and blacker, impenetrable.

Jishka wailed
and fell to her knees. "Spare me, please! Do not destroy me!"

The Demon Lord
gazed down at her, his eyes pits of blackness, his brows drawn
together in a deep frown. His hair bristled with the raw energy
that swirled around them, and his lips twisted into a contemptuous
sneer.

"Begging
sickens me, Jishka." His voice was cold and dead.

Jishka
screamed with rage as she dwindled, her form becoming transparent,
exposing her soul's red glow. The demons pounded on Bane's shields
in a futile bid to save her, growling curses. Jishka's form became
tenuous, and his hands sank through her wrists, losing their grip
on her. He spread them, Gathering her remaining shadows as she
wailed and howled, her cries becoming torn and faint as she
dwindled.

Bane took
control of the last dregs of power that clothed her, holding her
soul in a mighty fist and denying it flight. The red light pulsed
and began to expand as it neared destruction, and Bane paused,
holding her at his mercy. The pulsing redness swirled, shedding
sparks, dwindling slowly. He closed his hands and let his arms
drop. Jishka's soul shot downwards in a fiery flash, vanishing
through the floor.

Bane stared at
the floor, then raised his head and let the shields wink out of
existence. The demons retreated, sinking into the floor or back
into the torches, all save three, who bowed to him. He raked them
with a cold glance, then waved his hand at them.

"Begone."

The remaining
earth demon slumped into a pile of foul soil, and the two fire
demons winked out with an inrush of air, leaving a bad smell.
Shadows drifted from Bane's fingers as he turned and walked to the
door. Droges scurried away or fell to their knees and pressed their
foreheads to the floor in a desperate bid to save themselves. He
waved his hand at them and spoke harsh words, rescinding their
forms and sending them below. The demons that did not go below of
their own accord, he banished.

As he emerged
from the corridor that led to Jishka's chambers, the crowd of
humans gaped at him, then prostrated themselves and cried his name.
Scantily clad women ran forward to try to kiss his boots, but he
thrust them away, making them cower and whimper. These people, like
those in the Overworld, made themselves ugly with tattoos and
mutilations. They disgusted him, and he strode through them without
acknowledging their cries of worship.

Bane stopped
beside the throne and turned to face Vorkon's tall temple behind
the palace. The Source's ruddy glow lighted its narrow windows, and
the gold streaks gleamed in the dull light. Syrin followed him in a
Channel, taking up position above and behind him, where she could
scan the crowd for signs of treachery. The Demon Lord stretched his
hands towards the Source and began the slow, graceful finger
movements that accompanied the words that commanded the earth.

The crowd
watched him in silent fascination, unaware of what he was doing.
Everyone jumped when he made a vicious downward gesture and shouted
a harsh word. The ground shivered, and a dull grating came from far
below. Rocks creaked and groaned as a mighty stone portal rumbled
shut. A dull boom reverberated through the deep caverns, and the
red glow faded from the temple's windows as the Source closed.

The crowd
muttered as Bane turned to face them, unsure of what he planned to
do to them. The Demon Lord used a trickle of shadow to write runes
in the air, speaking their guttural names. As the last symbol was
named, the dark power drifted from the sky in a shadow fall,
brushing the people with chilling skeins as it sank to the earth.
He repeated the sentence, and people cried out in dismay and fear
as the shadows fell all around them, settling on the ground in a
cold, sickening mist. Many were stricken with nausea as darkness
gathered around their feet, others tried to flee its influence.
Bane spoke the banishing a third time, and the power soaked into
the soil, returning to its source.

Five earth
demons shot up around him in a rush of soil, their arms raised to
strike, but a blast of black fire scattered them to dust. Four fire
demons manifested in the torches near the throne and flashed
towards him, their eyes melting the stone in glowing lines. Bane
directed a lash of power at them, and they vanished in bursts of
foul fire. The priests near the throne flung themselves down as the
flames swept over them, and the crowd surged back, fleeing the
courtyard.

Bane completed
the final four sets of runes uninterrupted, and the last of the
evil was sucked into the ground. By then, the courtyard was empty.
Only the spluttering torches broke the silence, and the air was
thick with the smell of burning meat from the abandoned carcasses
on their spits. The detritus of Jishka's party littered the ground,
bits of torn cloth, gaudy masks and discarded food, spilt wine and
broken crockery. Bane surveyed it, looking tired, then swung away
and vanished.

Chapter Twelve

Lord of
Shadows

Syrin turned
to the wall of the Channel, found another running parallel that
existed in the cell where Kayos waited, and pulled the two
together, stepping through the doorway that she created into the
Channel in Kayos' room. Kayos glanced up from his Eye as she
appeared, a slight smile tugging at his lips. Syrin moved behind
him to look into the Eye. In it, Bane stood in a rolling meadow
just outside the city. He appeared to be deep in thought, gazing at
the distant dead forests that the gentle rays of the rising sun
that shone through the gaps in the thinning clouds gilded.

The
destruction of the Lightworld had been far worse than the
Overworld, and, because of that, its return to normality would be
slower, but less catastrophic. Vorkon had been corrupting it
slowly, certain of his victory and revelling in its demise. The
mountains had now ceased to spew ash and lava, and the soft rain
had settled the ash, but the dead forests would have to grow afresh
from seeds. The fire walls around the cities were gone now, and the
people would survive on the food that they grew in those precious
sanctuaries until the land had recovered.

Sensing a
benign presence behind him, Bane turned to find the goddess
standing there, her hands folded in a formal pose, her midnight
hair framing the pale beauty of her face. She smiled and walked
closer.

"Is it
over?"

He inclined
his head. "Jishka has joined Vorkon below. All that remains is for
the last three wards to be created."

"Which is
being done even as we speak."

"Good."

She looked
down at her hands. "I have been foolish and rude to you, and now I
must make amends."

"I am used to
it."

"But you
should not be. It is not right. Your soul is a beacon as bright as
any light god's. It is only your power that distresses me, but that
does not excuse my behaviour. Kayos is right, I owe you a debt of
gratitude, and I intend to pay it. But first I must formally thank
you for all that you have done."

Bane shrugged.
"That is not necessary. As I said before, flowery speeches bore
me."

"Then I shall
make none. Actions speak far louder than words."

Drayshina
stepped forward and held out her hands. Bane glanced down at them,
hesitated, then took them in a firm clasp, blue light igniting
where they touched. She gazed up at him, her eyes roving his
face.

"Kayos is
right, you are a miraculous being, My Lord. One so precious to we
of the light that my insults do me a great disservice. You hate the
power you wield, but when you use it to save innocents, it is a
mighty weapon that you should be proud to wield. You are the Lord
of Shadows. Do not hate yourself for what you are; it is what is in
your heart that counts, not the evil that you bear. I apologise for
any slight that I have given you, with all my heart."

She smiled.
"This is not a flowery speech, although you may mistake it for one.
It is simply the purest truth, and my gift to you." She stood on
tiptoes and stretched up to plant a feather light kiss on his
cheek.

"Thank you, My
Lord. My domain is your home whenever you choose to honour it with
your presence, and my people may worship you if they wish." Her
eyes flicked to the deep, bloody scratches on his shoulder, visible
through the ragged tears in his shirt. "You are hurt. May I
help?"

"No." Bane
released her hands and stepped back. "Kayos can do it later."

"Of course."
She reached into the folds of her gown and drew out a shining
sphere that fitted snugly into the palm of her hand. "A Key to my
domain, as I promised."

Bane held out
his hand, and she placed it in his palm, where it lay like a
brilliant pearl filled with endlessly shifting rainbow hues,
exuding subtle warmth and a faint tingle of power.

"I shall guard
it well."

"Thank you."
She regarded him. "I go now to close the World Gate. Would you care
to accompany me?"

He looked up.
"Yes. I have seen a World Gate between a dark realm and mid realm,
but not one between mid realm and light."

"It is quite
different, I assure you. Your wound is not too bad?"

"It is just a
scratch."

"Good."

Drayshina
folded her hands, and the meadow vanished. They stood upon a floor
that looked like flat, pristine snow, thick mist surrounding them.
Bane's breath steamed in white clouds as he glanced around.
Becoming aware of a sickening drop behind him, he stepped away from
it, then leant out to gaze into the depths. Far below, what
appeared to be deep blue sea glistened with shifting sparkles and
tiny, spume-capped waves.

"It is the
sea," Drayshina replied to his quizzical look. "This World Gate is
inaccessible to any who do not have the power to reach it."

The goddess
turned and stepped into the mist, and Bane followed. After a few
steps he became aware of a structure looming over him, then the
mist cleared magically, and he stood before a pair of massive doors
made of beaten gold. A nimbus of blue light surrounded him,
testimony to the profusion of white power in the air. The Gates
were unadorned, a simple expanse of flat gold that bore the
imprints of a hammer. They stood open, and raw white fire flooded
out in a misty river. At the bottom of each door were seven
diamond-shaped openings. Drayshina walked up to the edge of one of
the doors, where the gold was melted and blackened in a swirled,
star-shaped pattern. She ran her fingers over the warped surface, a
faint frown marring her smooth brow.