Duality (39 page)

“Mortal witch.” Enraged, Jalad threw up his hands at her. Demon-fire flared at her, bounced off the draconian blood torque shield.

The voices roared. The flaming circle flared brighter.

“You are fools,” the Other raged, spinning within the bindings. “This vessel brought me over. This vessel only can send me back. You hold not the key. How long do you think to hold me here?” Its laughter was a hollow echo.

Aletha stepped forward from the shadows. She glowed with the Lady’s Light. “I am She in this earthly realm. Thou speaks of thy focus? Rest assured, we have no need of such a device.”

Everett stepped across the bindings from Aletha. “I am he who is Her consort. Man to woman, sun to moon. Know the man who summoned thee wished to gain power, not lose his immortal soul. Doth he renounce thee, thou shalt find no other home here.”

Loren stepped betwixt Lorelei and Dara, holding Justice afore him. The sacred toshi blade gleamed white-hot, brighter than the sun. “I am her champion, wielder of Her justice. I am the instrument of her freedom, for all who turn from thee and to Her.”

“I was summoned and bound to this plane by this vessel, and I am not yet done with it,” the Other snarled. “If I go, this soul comes with me.”

“Earth and rock, shake the very foundations of this land,” Gwendolyn intoned.

The hair stood up on the back of Dara’s neck as the land shrugged off the coming winter sleep. A tremor shook the tower, and then another. Stronger.

The voices joined the torque, and the bloodstone glowed as Dara cried out, “
Iliyardach pelesss fortuitar elemental levitusss. Komme mountinium Aege levitusss
. Bring forth thy fire.”

Screams came from below the tower as Mount Aege exploded in a mighty column of fire and ash. Molten metal and rock flowed from its summit, westward, against all its natural inclination.

“Thou wert bound to earth, metal and fire,” Aletha intoned. “In Her name, I bind thee within Mount Aege.” She and Everett faced each other with their palms pressed prayer-like in front of themselves. Heads bowed, they whispered, “Rend our here-and-now, a gateway, a portal to beyond. Send this abomination forever from our sight.” As their hands separated, a wavering split appeared within Mount Aege itself, a screaming blackness beyond the base of rock, the river of fire.

Her skin nigh burst into flames from the heat within. Darkness crawled within her, bound to the lines of fire. The voices screamed in her mind with the effort of holding the mountain and the demon at once.

“With the Light of the Lady and the cleansing of water and air, I banish thee from this realm,” Aletha declared. “Meet Her justice, fiend.”

“From Her eternal Light back into thy eternal darkness,” Loren stated, and lunged forward, driving Justice through Jalad’s body.

A pulse of blinding acid slammed into Dara, flaying every nerve, but she pushed away with all her combined draconian might. The Light was too much for the demon; a
snap
, and the Other hurled into the chasm created by the Goddess Incarnate. Aletha and Everett clapped their hands together, and the chasm closed, forever.

Blood poured from Jalad’s wound, and he fell to his knees on the floor. “Mercy,” he cried, clutching his belly.

The voices roared in Dara’s head. Her shoulder burned anew. She banked the fires in the mountain, cut her ties with Gwendolyn and Pahn. The earth stopped shaking. Lorelei caught her friend as Gwendolyn’s legs gave. With the water mage’s movements, the power bindings collapsed.

Dara stared at Jalad, watched him bleed all over the floor. No one moved.

He stared back at her. “Would you let me die, healer?”

Footsteps sounded in the stairwell coming from the hall. Hengist appeared in the doorway, his drawn sword in one hand, a rolled up scroll in the other. “Hold,” Hengist ordered. He pointed his bloody sword at his once-neighbor-now-enemy. “I call you to answer for your crimes, Count of Westmarche.”

Jalad coughed up blood, swaying on his knees. “I would stand trial afore the high court.”

“I
am
the high court,” Hengist snapped, allowing the scroll to roll open. He held the written part toward Jalad so the other man could verify the truth of Hengist’s words, Sezeny’s signature at the bottom of a death-warrant. “You stand—kneel—accused of breaking your sacred Arcadian oath of brotherhood. That is treason against High King Sezeny, a crime punishable by death by hanging. You are accused of summoning demons, a heresy punishable by death by fire. You stand accused of torture and murder, crimes punishable by death on the rack.” He glared down at his foe. “And I further convict you of the rape of a child, a crime punishable by castration and death by stoning.”

Hengist’s eyes narrowed. “I have my choice of fates. Be grateful my lady wife is not here. In the name of King Sezeny and Arcadia, I hereby find you guilty on all counts and sentence you to death. Since the Lady has seen fit to carry out your sentence, I hold all here to bear witness to it.” His eyes met Dara’s. “You will
not
heal him.”

The voices were already suggesting Dara partially heal Jalad and in which order he could face all his punishments, saving death for the very end. “
Too easssy
,” they protested.

Dara’s arm bubbled with a fierce burning. “Your brand dies with you, master of none,” she spat at Jalad as she clutched her shoulder. “For Mag, for Tegan, for Moira—for all the daughters of Light you victimized—I welcome your death. May you answer to Her and join your master in the darkest pits of the netherworld.”

Jalad’s eyes searched the faces of the group. He found no compassion on any of them. He paled and fell over with a grimace of pain. “I may be finished, but so is your Goddess. The One Truth is in ascension and the once ways are over.”

“Not here,” Hengist said. “She is still strong in the north and the east. The truth-seekers are not welcome here.”

Jalad’s eyes glazed over, and the bleeding slowed as his arms went slack. Moments later, Dara screamed as savage pain sliced through her shoulder. Loren sheathed Justice and reached for her as she clutched her ruined arm. When she took her hand away, the brand was gone. Her skin was once again smooth, as if the mark had never been there. Screams within and without the fortress walls announced the other women branded by Jalad’s iron had been freed.

Wide eyes full of tears, Dara whispered, “It’s gone. I’m free.”

Tears spilled down Loren’s own cheeks. Unashamed, he wiped them away. “Aye. It is over.” Heedless of their audience, he wrapped his arms around Dara. “Now we can live our lives as they were meant to be lived.”

Hengist dropped to his knees afore Aletha. “Great Lady,” he whispered, awe in his voice. “How may I serve you?”

Aletha smiled. “But continue, king of men,” she replied with a voice not altogether her own. “Hold these lands safe for
all
My children. Thou hast done well. But the time for secrets has ended, my lord. The time for truth has come at last. I release thee from thy vow of silence. It is necessary no longer.”

He straightened and looked to Dara and Loren. “Aye, Lady. I thank you.”

Everett reached out a hand. “Arise, king of men. We have much work to do.”

“That’s a fact.” Hengist’s voice was grim.

Dara clung to Loren. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to move. She was home, she was free. The demon was gone, Jalad was dead, and Hengist and Moira were back in power. But so many dead, many more wounded, both physical battle wounds and mental trauma. The aftermath of war and enemy occupation. She recalled the heads on pikes, the ba-pef that were once men of Riverhead whom she’d been forced to destroy.

Free. No more fear. She shuddered, cold to the bone. It was all so sudden, so overwhelming, it was almost more than her mind could grasp. Her eye caught the flicker of flame from the torches.
“Little friends, I release you from my service. With my sincerest thanks, you are free to go. Go home. Be at peace.”

“Kind halfling. You are welcome, sister of fire.”
The torches all died. The howling of the pillar was silenced.

Halfling. Sister of fire. The blood torque. The voices. Dragons. Lady Goddess, what a week. Dara squared her shoulders and eyed Jalad’s crumpled form with loathing. A part of her wanted to kill Jalad a dozen more times, for all the sorrow one man’s twisted ambition had caused.
Forgive me, Lady
. “Let’s get out of this room.”

“Aye.” Loren looked at the body of the man who had rained such destruction down on their world.

“Gloreriell? Where—”

“With Cianan and Kikeona by the well,”
the stallion reported.
“Moira is arguing with her brother about entering the tower.”

“It’s safe now to enter, but we were just leaving
.” Dara was willing to bet that wasn’t the only thing Trystan was snarling at his sister for. A-pregnant-woman-in-battle headed the top of the clansman’s list of unpardonable sins. “My Liege, your lady wife is most anxious for news. Mayhaps we should all go outside?”

Hengist’s face paled. “My wife? Moira is
here
?”

“Aye, Sire. She fought with the rest of the clan spears.”

“She
what?
” Hengist spun on his heel and stormed from the tower.

“Guess that is our cue to leave, as well,” Loren commented into Dara’s hair. “Think we should go rescue Moira?”

“I’d be far more concerned for
him
.”

Indeed, when they got downstairs and out into the courtyard, Moira faced off against Trystan and Hengist with her gore-splattered fellow she-warriors backing her up. Lorelei came over to Dara and Loren. “Well, younglings, we made it. Thou didst a fine job.”

Anika addressed her elemental sylphs. “Inform Kings Cedric and Pari of our victory. Tell them we shalt be home soon. Then thou art free to go, with my sincerest thanks.”

“Mine as well,” Dara added. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

The wind swirled away with a titter like wind chimes.

Dara stared around her. Acres of burned and blood-soaked earth, polluted with demon acid, piles of dead, a scattering of wounded. Safehold was the only building still standing.

Aletha and Everett strode up as well. “Gather the Safehold survivors,” the high priestess ordered. “We have work to do, and undo, afore we leave.”

Dara looked around her, spotting Conn and his men rounding up the Boar and riever merc survivors for the upper dungeon until Hengist and Moira had time to see to their disposition. Xavier was speaking with the housekeeper, Belchris, so Dara hurried over to them, Loren and Lorelei trailing after.

“Lady healer.” Xavier gripped her arm. “I am glad you are well. And you also, son of the dawn.”

“Belchris, Xavier,” Dara said. “We need all Safehold people gathered for the Lady’s blessings.”

Xavier’s jaw tightened. “Aye, we need some good counter-magic around here, and that’s a fact.” He and Belchris spread the word among Hengist’s survivors.

By ones, twos and larger groups, the Safehold folk gathered, silent and shaking, afore their leaders and the Lady’s representatives. Dara’s heart broke at how few of them there were, at how many were missing. Even the little pot boy, Micah, was nowhere to be found. Hengist and Trystan looked grim. Moira’s face was white, her lips a thin line. Cianan stood aside Tegan, towering over the teenager yet half-supporting her. Tegan, Dara was quick to note, looked torn betwixt leaning into his strength and flinching away from his touch. The other survivors also noticed the girl; none of their gazes were sympathetic, their memories too raw for forgiveness.

Aletha was quick to single out Lacey’s daughter, as well. Her face glowed with the Light, her eyes melting with compassion as she spoke. “Come to me, daughter of the Light,” she called, in a voice from beyond the mortal realm.

Cianan helped a shaking Tegan forward. The girl stared at the ground, not looking anyone in the eye.

“These events that culminated today were not of thy making, child.” Aletha laid a hand on Tegan’s head. “Thou art still my daughter, and I hold thee blameless for any crimes others might lay at thy feet. Those responsible shalt face My wrath, but that is not thee. I heal thee and restore thy soul.”

Everett likewise laid a hand on Tegan’s shoulder. “I dim thy memories, take thy nightmares for my own. Go, and be at peace, daughter of My Light.”

Dara gasped as Light poured into Tegan. She saw the ghosting shadow dissipate and Tegan relax.

And so it went, until every one of the Riverhead folk had knelt afore Aletha and Everett, including Moira and Xavier. When it came time for Xavier’s turn, Aletha had a strange offer.

“She hast heard thy plea, Auger Xavier. Much thou hast risked and lost in the service of this kingdom and thy people. She wouldst restore what was lost to thee, in exchange for the terrible gift thou wield.”

Xavier trembled. “My vision in exchange for the sight?”

“Aye. Mayhaps thou hast seen too much?” Aletha waited.

Xavier swallowed hard. “Nay, Lady. Of the two, my sight would serve my people best. I couldn’t be selfish enough to take that from them, for my own benefit. It wouldn’t be right. So nay. My thanks, but nay.”

Aletha and Everett smiled. “Thou art a worthy son of man, Auger Xavier of Riverhead. Behold the wonder and powers of our Lady Goddess.” Aletha glowed so with the Light as she touched Xavier’s face Dara had to turn her head away.