Demon Lord V - God Realm (20 page)

The last
soldier drew his sword in futile defiance before he too fell with a
grunt, his sword skittering away along the stones. Bane's legs
tingled, and he sensed the white power flowing into him from
somewhere nearby, innocuous and placid, but with a malicious intent
behind it. He sank to his knees as the strength drained out of his
legs, and then sat back on his haunches.

Sarrin turned
to him and gasped as, with a burst of white light, the child god
appeared near Bane. Frendar chortled and skipped around the dark
god.

"You can't
walk now," he taunted. "And you can't see!"

Bane bowed his
head. "Do not make me harm you, Frendar."

"You can't!
You're too feeble!"

"I can, but I
do not want to."

"You're just a
blue god; you can't do anything to me!"

Bane spread
his hand, and blue light poured from it in a shining stream. "Let
us go."

"No! You can
crawl back to my town, and stay there! Then maybe I'll let you walk
again!" Frendar watched Bane, looking puzzled. "Why have you sprung
a leak?"

Bane smiled.
"If you let these people go, I will not hurt you. We can still be
friends, and you can come with us."

Frendar's eyes
were intent upon the blue light flowing from Bane's hand. "You're
still leaking."

"I know."

While Bane let
the blue light flow out, he concentrated on the white power that
paralysed his legs, tugging at it experimentally with his will. He
was curious to see what he could do with it in the benign form that
Frendar had channelled into him. Although his attempts to
manipulate it failed, it retreated when he pushed at it. So, he
could cast it out, but he could not use it. That much he had
suspected, yet still he was disappointed. The last dregs of blue
fire seeped from his fingers, and Bane cast out Frendar's power
with a flick of his mind.

Sarrin sighed
with relief as Bane stood up, and the child god glared at him. The
Demon Lord started to raise his arms, then let them fall back to
his sides, and her heart twisted with shame. The torture Bane had
suffered whilst wearing the shackles was clearly still fresh in his
mind, and his tension spoke volumes of his reluctance to Gather the
dark power again.

"Let these
people go, Frendar," he said.

"No! You can
go, but they stay!"

Bane cursed
and stepped towards the child, who skipped back. "I will make you
release them if I must. I am not a blue god, I am a dark god,
stupid boy, now let them go."

Frendar cocked
his head and eyed Bane. "Liar! You've got no power!"

Bane's mouth
twisted. "Then you leave me no choice."

Raising his
arm, he spread his hand towards the darkness that lay beyond the
ruddy light of the roaring pillars of fire. The shadows surged
forth, pouring into him with a sickening rush of evil that made
Sarrin's stomach twist. He staggered under the weight of the foul
burden, and Frendar vanished with a shriek. Sarrin found that her
legs would move again, but Grem was the first to leap to his
feet.

The horns on
Ethra's head sank back into her flesh, and the rest of the men
scrambled up, Juvo helping Sarrin. She gazed at Bane, saddened by
what he had been forced to do. Already he had cut the Gather, and
the shadows swirled around him, thwarted. Sarrin glanced back,
expecting to find Frendar's people rising to their feet also, but
they still crawled over the stony ground, wailing their misery.

Sarrin
hesitated, half afraid to attract Bane's attention now that he was
filled with the dark power and free of the shackles. The others
seemed to harbour similar doubts, for they shifted uneasily,
staring at him. Mithran and Grem looked sad. Kimi stood gasping, a
hand over her mouth, and Sarrin guessed that she was frozen with
terror, or she would have fled. Her feline features had vanished,
and she had a plain, wholesome peasant face framed by honey-gold
hair. The Demon Lord stood immobile, his head bowed as if harkening
to some inner music. Sarrin berated herself for doubting him,
reminding herself that he was tar'merin.

"Lord."

Bane swung
around, and Kimi whimpered. Artan grabbed her as she tried to flee,
grating harsh words in her ear. Sarrin gestured at the crippled,
malformed people.

"Frendar has
only released us."

"Pray to him,
tell him to release all of them, or I will hunt him down and hurt
him."

She clasped
her hands, and Bane turned to Mithran. "Father, go now, and hurry.
I do not know if Morvanor will come, but if he does, you must not
be here. Go, all of you."

Mithran gazed
at his son with sad eyes, then bent and picked Mirra up before
striding away. Artan dragged away the terrified Kimi, snapping
orders at his men, who picked up their burdens and hurried after
him. Grem paused, hefting his sword, then followed Mithran with a
curse. Sarrin hesitated, torn between her longing to remain at
Bane's side and an equally strong urge to flee before Morvanor
appeared. He flicked his fingers at her.

"Go."

Bane turned to
face the town, his mind opened to the far-see by the dark power
that filled him with its unnatural strength and brooding
malevolence. Frendar's people rose to their feet, exclaiming in
surprise and delight as they found that they had been restored to
their original forms. They ran towards him, following Artan's
group, and many called out words of gratitude as they passed,
unaware of what he had become in the brief surge of shadow they had
been too far away to witness.

Bane made
certain that all of them had been released, then turned and limped
away from the town. His ankle throbbed, and he wished that air
walking did not require such vast amounts of power, for it would
have been a relief to fly. He had Gathered only a little, and
intended to cast it out as soon as he could. The darkness ahead
beckoned, and he had begun to hope that Morvanor would stay away
when the dark god rose from the ground in his path. The people
screamed and fled as two earth demons shot up on either side of
their lord.

Bane stopped
and eyed Morvanor. The dark god's droge form was that of an
eighteen-year-old boy, his sculpted countenance framed by golden
curls, like his brother. His blue-green eyes raked Bane with a hard
glance, his full lips twisted in a contemptuous sneer. Dark green
trousers hugged his narrow hips, and a broad black belt with an
ornate, ruby encrusted golden buckle held a silver-hilted rapier at
his side. Tucked into it was a ruffled white shirt, over which he
wore a silver-trimmed blue jacket that lacked fastenings, and hung
to the back of his knees. Lacy cuffs protruded from the broad
sleeves and shiny black boots shod his feet. He was almost a foot
shorter than Bane, and possessed the feminine beauty of extreme
youth, coupled with a rather weak chin. Dark gods usually chose to
wear a droge form that was a perfected version of their former
mortal bodies, and Bane wondered why Morvanor chose such a young
aspect.

"I have no
quarrel with you," Bane said.

"You steal our
people."

"I advise you
not to try to stop me."

Morvanor's lip
curled. "Frendar may fear you, because he's a baby, but I
don't."

"Then you are
either a fool or a liar, or possibly both." Bane stepped towards
Morvanor, whose hand flew to the hilt of his rapier, his eyes
narrowing. Bane snorted. "So you are a liar. No surprises there I
suppose. Do not think that two earth demons are going to be of any
use to you."

Morvanor
scowled. "Send the people back, or I'll kill all of them, including
the ones you brought with you."

"Now why would
you imagine that I would care? I might find it annoying, and then
perhaps I shall kill your brother, and maybe I will destroy you
too, just for fun."

"You won't
find it annoying, because you'll be dead."

Bane smiled.
"You challenge me?"

Morvanor's
eyes raked him. "You're mortal, and injured. My brother wants his
toys back, and I'm going to see to it that he gets them."

"A dark god
who loves his brother. A novel situation, especially given
Frendar's power. It will be a pity to destroy you. What will
Frendar do?"

Morvanor
raised a hand to signal to one of the earth demons, which sank back
into the ground. "You're not going to destroy me. It will be you
who dies."

"We could swap
threats all day, but what good does it do? If you want to challenge
me, do it."

Morvanor
looked smug. "I already have."

A sudden
outburst of screams made Bane swing around. Earth demons shot up in
the midst of the fleeing people, starting to chase them, and fire
demons stepped from the pillars of flame. A slither of steel warned
him, and the far-see gave him panoramic vision, allowing him to see
Morvanor draw his rapier and lunge at him. Bane spun away, slowed
by his weakness and his injured ankle, which protested painfully.
Morvanor's rapier stabbed through the flesh of his flank, and Bane
jerked up his head, using his mind power to hurl the dark god
backwards several feet.

Morvanor
sprawled with a curse, then leapt up as Bane strode towards him.
The Demon Lord raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of black fire
that burnt away part of Morvanor's head. Without sunlight, however,
injuring a droge form did little harm to its owner. Morvanor could
easily have shucked it, but skipped away instead, the rapier
brandished before him. His features reformed, and he pointed at the
ground beneath Bane's feet, which opened with a grating rumble.

Bane flung
himself aside in the nick of time, cursing. He would have to Gather
more power in order to fight Morvanor, something he was loath to
do. From experience, he knew that the best way to defeat Morvanor
was to grab him and Gather from him, a tactic that had worked in
the past. Bane leapt at the youth, pain shooting up his leg, but
Morvanor skipped aside as lightly as a dancer. From his foppish
garb and the fact that he carried a mundane weapon, something dark
gods did not usually do, Bane deduced that he was up against a
trained swordsman.

Bane summoned
a sword, and Morvanor grinned. While he was distracted by the ploy,
Bane reached out with his mind and tore a huge chunk of rock from a
distant mountain and dumped it on top of the youth. Morvanor
shrieked and flung up his arms as he was hammered to the ground.
Bane waited for him to re-emerge, which he did a few moments later,
minus his rapier. He glared at Bane and summoned another, his eyes
flashing with rage. Screams of terror and agony came from the
people who fled the demons, but for now there was nothing that Bane
could do to save them.

Battles
between gods tended to be lengthy, and he feared that not many
would survive, but those who were dear to him were safely away.
Morvanor danced around him, lunging and slashing. He did not come
too close to Bane, who turned to face him, his cloak flaring in the
slight breeze that had sprung up. The youth seemed to be trying to
tire him out, which was not a bad tactic, considering his weakened
condition. He might also have been keeping Bane busy until the
demons had killed all the people. Either way, he was succeeding.
Being unable to Move hampered both of them, but it made it almost
impossible for Bane to get close enough to grab his foe. Becoming
invisible might give him a moment's advantage, but then Morvanor
would do the same, and they would be equals again.

Recalling
Arkonen's almost successful tactic, Bane whispered the words of
summoning, followed by a name. As he did so, he lunged at Morvanor,
his sword aimed for the youth's gut. Morvanor skipped back lightly,
straight into the arms of the earth demon that shot up behind him.
He shrieked, and black fire burst from him, annihilating the demon
as Bane's sword sank into his gut. He released it and grabbed
Morvanor's arm.

Taking hold of
a dark god was always dangerous, and Morvanor was no exception. He
stabbed the rapier at Bane's chest, forcing him to raise his left
arm defensively. The rapier's blade broke on the stone cast, and
Morvanor dropped the hilt. He reached for Bane's neck, his fingers
lengthening and curling into claws. Bane clubbed his hand aside
with his left arm, pain shooting from it as the broken bones grated
together. Everything happened so fast that he had not started to
Gather, but he did so now, causing Morvanor's droge form to warp.
The youth's eyes widened and he beat at Bane, reaching for his
throat again. The dark power he drew from Morvanor sickened Bane,
so he cast it out, channelling it into the ground.

Morvanor swore
foully and shouted, "Frendar!"

Bane's heart
turned cold, and he whipped around, dragging Morvanor with him. If
the child god was close by, there was no way to tell, but Morvanor
had given Bane fair warning. He unleashed the power he drew from
the dark god in broad sweeps of darkness, hoping to frighten the
boy away. Morvanor shouted again, struggling against Bane as his
droge form dwindled.

White fire
ignited on Bane's shoulder, and he gasped as it spread over him in
a flash of pale flame. His air cut off, he staggered back,
releasing Morvanor. Falling to his knees, he clutched his throat as
he struggled to draw breath that was now denied him. Morvanor
retreated, taking a moment to recover his droge form while he
watched Bane with a sneer.

"Now you die,
mortal."

The Demon Lord
collapsed, tugging at his collar, his mouth stretched wide in a
vain attempt to breathe. This had happened to him once before, long
ago in the Lady's Temple of his own domain, but then Lyriasharin
had saved him. Frendar certainly would not. Light gods controlled
flesh, and, whereas they were helpless against a dark spirit god, a
mortal dark god was easy for them to slay. Panic hammered at Bane's
brain as a red haze clouded it, and he struggled to think. At the
same time, he was aware that Morvanor had summoned another rapier,
apparently intent on ending his suffering.