Destiny (34 page)

“I must put an end to her,” he told Aliana. “It’s the only way, or else we’ll be devoured by these monsters.”

Aliana looked into his eyes and nodded.

“We’re with you, Komir,” Sonea said.

“Let’s kill that witch,” Iruki said, her eyes filled with hatred. “Her abominations killed my Yakumo.”

Asti nodded. “Kill,” she said. “For Kendas!”

Komir made his way to the edge of the defensive ring and faced the Dark Lady in the distance. Between them spread a host of walking corpses. He closed his eyes.
The moment has arrived. My Destiny awaits me. I shall not fear.
He concentrated on his inner energy and searched for it, with his eyes fixed on the Dark Lady. He touched the medallion of Ether.
You came to me for a reason, a reason which has something to do with my Destiny. Now I know. And that is why I am ordering you to serve my will and destroy my enemy. Clear me a path to her.

The Ilenian medallion gave off a brief translucent flash in reply. The strange Ilenian symbols began to fill Komir’s mind, and he felt the medallion draw on his inner strength. One of the living-dead lunged at him, its rotting arms seeking his neck. Komir swallowed. Yet he did not move, for the spell was not yet finished. The bony fingers grazed his throat, and fear took hold of him. A Norriel warrior made his way to his side and cut off both the corpse’s arms with a single stroke. With a second he decapitated the roaring monster. Komir sighed with relief. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at the warrior in gratitude. It was Hartz. The big Norriel winked at him and went on hacking living-dead bodies. The last Ilenian rune filled Komir’s mind with its brilliance and exploded in a tremendous explosion of energy. This in turn precipitated a giant wave of energy, which swept through everything in front of him. The corpses were thrown into the air as the arcane energy struck them. The sea of living-dead split in two, creating a way through to the Dark Lady.

“Follow me,” Komir said to his companions, and walked on.

The Bearers followed resolutely in his steps.

The living-dead, amid voracious roars, tried to hurl themselves at the group, but the ethereal energy which had cleared the way would not let them. Instead it formed itself into a containing wall of high waves along the passage. Komir did not know how long this would last, but he decided not to think about it. They were going into the wolf’s den, and return was no longer possible.

A few steps from the Dark Lady, he stopped.

The Dark Lady’s thin lips twisted into a cruel smile. She fixed her black eyes on him and said:

“The Marked, at last. It is time to die.”

Komir studied her carefully, ignoring the Sorcerer beside her and the Guard of Honor which protected her. Seeing her from so close at hand he was able to appreciate the totality of that woman’s unequaled beauty: a savage beauty, lethal, which awed him. Her maleficent aura barely allowed him to breathe in her presence. His stomach, though, warned him with a terrible emptiness that she was as deadly as she was beautiful. She oozed power and death equally. The aura around her was heartbreaking, a poison for the soul. In one hand she carried a silver ceremonial axe encrusted with jewels and in the other, which was gloved, a sinister crystal skull.

Komir felt a shiver run down his back.
She’s a terrifying creature. She’s raised an army of living-dead. Thousands of them. By herself. How could she do anything like that
?
The Power needed for such a spell must be incredible. I feel weak at the knees just thinking about it. How can we defeat someone like this? How are we going to come out of here alive? She’s too powerful and without Haradin we haven’t even got a drop of the ocean of Power she has.
Then he remembered this was his final Destiny, just as Amtoko had predicted.
I must stand firm so that she doesn’t see my fear. I have to confront her, however impossible defeating her might seem, however impossible coming out of this alive might seem.

He glanced right and left and said to his companions in a whisper:

“Get ready. Prepare the medallions.” He saw the doubt in Asti’s and Sonea’s eyes. “Don’t doubt yourselves, you can do it, I know. I trust you. Concentrate, focus and convey your will to the medallions. They’ll respond to their Bearer’s will. Don’t hesitate, trust yourselves. We must fight, regardless of how remote the chance of victory. We’ve been through a lot to get here, and now it all makes sense. My friends, we’re here to bring this evil to an end, and her with it.”

He looked at the Dark Lady and stepped forward defiantly.

She fixed her deadly eyes on Komir.

She pointed the silver axe at him. “The Marked, at last,” she said in a velvet voice.

“The Dark Lady,” Komir said, hiding the mixture of fear and hate which was eating away at his stomach. He felt the emptiness widen, spread to his soul, filling him with desolation, but he held fast. He drew on his hatred. He had finally come within reach of his justice, she was within reach of his hand. He was in the presence of the woman who had pursued him since he was a baby, the one who had murdered his parents… hatred began to boil in his guts.

“My name is Yuzumi. It would not be polite to kill you without having first introduced myself.”

He kept up his poise in spite of the fear he felt. “I’m Komir. And I’m not going to let you kill me, nor anyone else,” he said,

“Long have I searched for you…” she said. There was a macabre smile under her slanted black eyes.

Komir spread his arms wide. “Here I am. I’m not afraid of you.”

“One of us has to die here today. So it is written. My faithful Isuzeni can confirm it.”

The Sorcerer standing beside the Dark Lady, bowed elaborately:

“So it is written and so shall it come to pass. You will die today, Marked.”

“That remains to be seen,” Komir replied defiantly, tensing his muscles to avoid trembling.

Isuzeni smiled ironically. “Oh you shall see it, rest assured of that. Many years have I longed to see that pale face, the face which always eluded us, and here at last I behold it. I expected something else, it is nothing out of the ordinary.” He grimaced in disgust. “Just another savage, with a common look.” He tilted his head to observe him. “The Premonition did not show us his face, and now I understand why. It is a disappointment. Is it truly the one, my Lady?”

“It is, I have no doubt,” the Dark Lady said. “I know his essence well, it reaches me clearly and unmistakably. It is him. At last, in flesh and blood, here before me.”

Isuzeni nodded. “Now we can put a face to him” ‒ he raised his chin and narrowed his eyes ‒ “and kill him.”

Komir turned to Yuzumi, trying to keep his voice steady. “Why do you pursue me? Why do you want my death?”

“Because it is either your life or mine.”

“Because of a Premonition?” Komir asked in disbelief.

“Yes, because of a Premonition which has tortured me for most of my life.” Yuzumi showed him the Skull of Destiny in her hand. “Because of it, and because of the Oracle’s vision of my twin destinies.”

“The Marked shall die and the Destiny of Glory shall be fulfilled,” Isuzeni said as if pronouncing a death sentence.

“You’ve been chasing after me all these years because of a Premonition? You killed my parents because of a Premonition?” Komir felt rage burning inside him.

Yuzumi gave him a disdainful look. “I killed your parents, both blood and adoptive, and countless more, to avoid the Premonition. All of you here today ‒ you, your companions, the warriors and soldiers fighting the not-dead, the Rogdonians in their ruined city ‒ you will all die because of the Premonition, for it cannot be fulfilled and of that I shall make sure by eradicating the last and remotest possibility. Today I shall hold your heart, still beating, in the palm of my hand, and devour it. Then I shall lay waste to everything the eye can see, and nothing will remain. Nothing and no-one. I shall attain my Destiny of Glory.”

At these words Komir’s rage turned to wrath, because he knew that she would kill them all.

“You killed my parents!” he accused her.

Yuzumi laughed. “And while I was looking for you I also killed the parents of those who were like you, the ones with a powerful Gift. Because I was looking for you and could not find you and I was not going to run any risk.”

“You’ll pay for all those deaths! And you’ll pay for the death of Mirta and Ulis!”

The Dark Lady bent her head in amusement. “Go ahead, Marked, nothing prevents you from killing me now. Come on.” She gave him a sinister grin, knowing he could do nothing against her.

Komir felt wrath erupt inside him like a volcano. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. With all his being he wished to kill this woman. She deserved to die, she had just confessed without flinching, boasting and laughing, to the murder of his loved ones and of many other people. She deserved to die, and he would deliver the punishment. He just had to give an order to his medallion, or bring out his sword and knife and lunge at her. She was right there, so near, within reach of his hand… he was going to do it… he needed to do it… for his father… for everyone… But something inside him made him stop and think it over. He breathed out hard, letting all his wrath out along with the air, managed to calm down a little and fought to quell his rage. This was not how to do it. He could not endanger Aliana, Hartz, all of them, just to satisfy his thirst for revenge, no matter how well deserved it might be. He could certainly not risk the lives of his friends, of the brave warriors and soldiers who were fighting with body and soul…

He sighed, unclenched his fists and relaxed.

The Dark Lady stared at Komir, the essence of perversity in her black eyes.

“What is the matter, Marked? Fear?”

There was nothing Komir wished more than to kill this woman. Nothing. But the desperate cries of his companions fighting and dying with courage and honor, beyond all call of duty, strengthened his conviction to avoid confronting her. He had to find another way out. He turned to the Bearers for a moment, then he knew for certain. He would not risk their lives for anything in the whole world. His quest for justice and revenge was coming to an end there and then. Forever.

“Order back your monsters and go whence you came, Lady of the Darkness, and nobody else will have to die here today. I have no wish to kill you.”

The Dark Lady roared with laughter, and Isuzeni joined her. A sarcastic smile flickered on her black lips.

“I did not come here simply to leave now, Marked. That would be an unthinkable act of cowardice. My destiny is to reign over all the known world, and so it has always been. So the Oracle predicted when I was no more than a child, and today I shall make sure it comes to pass. There is no other way for me, I can only move in that direction, for so my soul requires. Long years have I fought for this moment, nothing will stop me now.”

“We are not afraid to fight. There has already been too much bloodshed.”

“You do not understand, Marked, there remains only one final obstacle in my way to reach my Destiny of Glory, to govern the world.”

“Me…”

Yuzumi’s eyes flashed, with a gleam of pure, dark cruelty.

“Yes! You and that damned Premonition.” She brandished the Crystal Skull. “But it is no longer important, as it will not happen. Today you are going to die, and with you your pathetic company. Nobody is going to deny me my true destiny. I shall see my dream come true. Today I shall crown myself over your dead bodies.”

“I’ll tell you one last time, call back your monsters and go!”

Isuzeni intervened. “Control your tongue, or I shall cut it out and make you swallow it. Show the respect you owe to the Empress Yuzumi.”

The Dark Lady spread her arms wide. “Are you not going to fight me? Here I am, it is your opportunity,” she said provokingly. “I killed your parents…”

“No, I don’t want revenge,” Komir said through clenched teeth. “That’s not what I’m after any longer.”

Yuzumi lowered her arms. “Curious… I always thought you would be like me, that you would be searching for the same Destiny: two beings destined to rule the known world, colliding on the path toward the fulfillment of that ambition.”

“I’m not looking for power or glory. They don’t appeal to me. I just want to live in peace, end this nightmare, go home and be just another Norriel. That’s what my heart desires. Power, ruling over Tremia, that’s not my thing. It doesn’t interest me in the least.”

“What a disappointment,” Yuzumi said with a grimace of disgust. “You are no worthy rival. In the end, after all this time, I discover my fears were unfounded. You are no more than a simple man. What an outrage, what a waste of my time and effort, all for a spineless creature, without the courage to rise and conquer what his power offers him. It turns my stomach.”

“I’m a simple man, that’s true. We don’t have to fight.”

Yuzumi remained thoughtful for a moment. “You are wrong there… you must die so that my Destiny of Glory can be fulfilled. That statement is beyond question.”

“It might be for you, but not for me.”

The Dark Lady’s laughter sounded hollow and acid.

“You do not understand, Marked. You see nothing. Your mind, your ambition, are not enough to glimpse the greatness at your fingertips. But now I understand at last what you are and what you represent, it does not surprise me. I shall explain in a way your limited intellect will understand.” She raised the crystal skull. “For me to rule the world, the Prophecy must not come to pass. So that the Prophecy cannot come to pass, you have to die. Do you understand, Marked?”

Komir realized that nothing would sway her. He glanced briefly at Aliana, whose face was marked by concern. Her body was tense, her eyes reflected fear. He turned to Asti, Iruki, Sonea, so different and yet so similar: brave hearts, devoted, resisting fear. He thought of Hartz, Lindaro, Lasgol and Kayti behind him, surrounded by living-dead, fighting desperately to survive when there was barely any hope left. They were all going to die…
No! I can’t let that happen, I can’t let them die, not if there’s any way out.
And suddenly he saw it all clearly, like a summer dawn; he had to prevent them losing their lives. And for that there was only one way: he had to give his own.

He stepped forward. “I offer you my life in exchange for those of all the others,” he said.

“Komir, no!” Aliana cried.

“We’ll fight!” shouted Iruki.

“Don’t give yourself up,” Sonea warned him. “She won’t honor any deal.”

Asti tried to pull him back.

Yuzumi watched the scene with sarcasm written all over her face. “What a really touching gesture,” she said, “as are the reactions of your companions. I am almost ready to shed a tear. Are you not moved, Isuzeni?”

“My eyes are moist and my heart is tender,” the High Priest replied.

Komir was not daunted. “You want my life, don’t you? I’m offering it to you.”

“It is too late for that. Besides, I have the feeling your friends will not allow it.”

“Of course not!” Aliana said.

Yuzumi pointed at the four Bearers with her ceremonial axe. “Besides, I want their lives too.”

Komir moved back towards his companions. “I understand you want to kill me. But why do you want to kill them too?”

“Because I shall not take the slightest risk. You must die now, you and all those with you. It is the only way to make sure the Premonition does not come to pass. And… there is also an added reason… I want those medallions around your necks. Their power must be mine.”

“And what if we give them to you?” Komir offered.

“Don’t bother, Komir,” Aliana said. “She’s come to kill us. Nothing will make her change her mind.”