Rage of a Demon King (58 page)

Pug watched and saw that the first wound Tomas had caused was closing rapidly.

Nakor said, “The Lifestone! It’s healing the wounds.”

Pug calculated. Calis had reduced the stone to less than a third its original size, and it appeared that the diminution was accelerating, giving him hope they would be done with this trial in less than an hour, but that meant keeping the creature at bay until Calis was finished. Pug turned to Miranda and said, “Rest. Tomas and I will try to keep this creature away from Calis until we’re done. If one of us falters, you must take over.”

He turned and hurried to stand as close as he dared to the monster, and he crossed his wrists. A stunning bolt of red light shot out, striking Jakan hard enough in the face to slam him back into the wall.

Tomas didn’t hesitate. He hurried forward and delivered a murderous backhand slash with his sword, cutting deep into the creature’s leg and sending
a gout of poisonous blood spurting across the stones. The blood smoked upon contact and a stench of rotting things filled the air.

Jakan howled in a murderous rage and leaped at Tomas. Tomas tried to move back and succeeded in getting far enough distant that the demon didn’t land atop him, but it put Jakan close enough that he could attempt to seize Calis.

A clawed hand the size of a man shot out toward Calis, and Tomas reacted by slashing down as hard as he could with his golden sword. He hacked through a wrist four feet thick, and the creature screamed in pain and pulled away, his hand severed from his body.

A stream of the foul black blood shot through the air and drenched Calis, who screamed in pain and fell back from the Lifestone.

“Calis!” shouted Miranda, and she and Nakor ran to him. Immediately Pug and Tomas threw themselves into the battle. Energy lashed out, and Tomas struck with his sword, forcing the wounded demon back. Jakan clutched the bleeding stump of his arm to his chest, letting them force him to the wall.

Nakor hurried to Calis, grabbing one of his hands, while Miranda took the other, and they dragged him out of the pool of black blood. Instantly the Lifestone ceased being active.

Calis lay on the floor twitching as his skin burned, peeling as if he had been bathed in acid. He clenched his teeth and kept his eyes closed, and made low animal noises of agony. Miranda and Nakor both felt their hands stinging and quickly wiped their hands on their clothing. Holes appeared in the fabric, but at least their hands stopped burning.

Miranda looked around and saw the servants of the Oracle huddling in the farthest corner of the great hall, sheltered behind the recumbent form of the dragon. She ran to them and said, “We need help!”

The oldest member of the band, the one who had spoken to her before, said, “There is nothing we can do.”

Miranda grabbed the old man by the arm, hauling him to his feet. “Think of something!”

She dragged the old man closer to the scene of battle and pointed to Calis, who lay moaning. She pointed at him and said, “Help him!”

The old man motioned for two others to come, and they managed to get Calis completely out of the pool of demon blood. The leader motioned for them to carry Calis around to the other side of the Lifestone and then he said to Nakor, “If he can be made to work his will on the stone again, it may save him.”

Nakor’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. “Of course, the healing energy!” He looked at Miranda. “It’s like reiki! It serves him first.”

Nakor turned to the two servants of the Oracle and said, “Hold him close to the stone.”

They did so, though every movement caused Calis to moan in agony. Nakor took Calis’s hands, burned and blistered as they were, and placed them on the surface of the stone. Nakor said, “I hope this works.” He made several passes in the air over the hands, and muttered a few phrases, then he placed his hands over Calis’s.

Nakor felt warmth under his hands, and looked down. A faint green light bathed Calis’s hands and
his own. “The energy flows,” he said. He waited for a minute while the battle between Pug, Tomas, and the demon continued, neither side able to gain the upper hand.

Nakor said to the two servants of the Oracle, “Hold him here. Keep him in contact with the stone.” Then he ran to Miranda’s side.

Miranda said, “This isn’t working.”

“I know.”

Pug let loose with a blast of mystic energy, invisible to the eye but causing the air to sizzle as it struck the demon. Tomas showed no sign of tiring, for his Valheru-created armor protected him from any incidental harm. The demon would have to get claws on Tomas to cause him serious injury.

Pug fell back. “The best we can hope for is to keep him at bay. How’s Calis?” he asked Miranda.

She pointed and Pug looked. Calis sat upright, held in place by the two servants, and a green glow was now suffusing the air around him, shrouding him in an emerald-colored nimbus. Pug watched for a moment, and said, “He’s getting stronger.”

Nakor said, “Yes, as he continues to hold the gem it heals him, and as it heals him he becomes strong enough to continue his work on it. Look!” Nakor pointed.

Calis’s eyes were now open, and while his expression showed he was still in a great deal of pain, Tomas’s son was once again unlocking the Lifestone.

Again the room was filled with tiny motes of green energy, life being returned to its rightful place. Pug pointed to the demon’s severed hand, which was fading from view, and to the bleeding stump that was now in the process of growing a new one. Pug said,
“This is healing the demon, too.” Then Pug’s eyes widened. He said to Miranda, “Do you know a powerful spell of binding?”

Miranda said, “Powerful enough for that thing?”

“You only need confine it for two minutes.”

She looked dubious, but said, “I’ll try.”

“Tomas!” shouted Pug. “Keep it back for another minute!”

Pug closed his eyes and began chanting while Miranda did the same. Suddenly crimson bands of energy surrounded the creature, seizing him and crushing his mighty wings across his back. Then they constricted, and Jakan howled in pain.

“Tomas!” Pug shouted. “A killing blow!”

Tomas drew back his golden blade, then plunged it deep between two of the crimson bands, almost to the hilt, piercing whatever served as Jakan’s heat. The demon’s black eyes widened, and blood began to flow from his mouth and nose. Tomas yanked loose his sword.

Pug dropped one hand and suddenly the room was still as the demon vanished.

They all stood in silence a moment, then Miranda said, “Where is it?”

“Gone,” said Pug. “We couldn’t kill it, but I knew some place it couldn’t survive.”

Nakor said, “Where?”

“I transported it to the bottom of the ocean, between here and Novindus. It’s a trench more than three miles straight down.” Pug suddenly felt tired and sat down on the stone floor. “I found it doing some random searches of the planet years ago, and remembered what your father said at the end.” He looked at Miranda.

“He said, ‘They are creatures of fire.’ ” She laughed in nervous exhaustion. “Now I remember. I wondered what he meant.”

Nakor sat down next to Pug and said, “That’s wonderful. I hadn’t thought of that.” He shook his head. “It’s obvious.”

“What’s obvious?” said Tomas, putting away his sword and coming to join them.

Nakor said, “Even the biggest demon is little more than a fire elemental at heat.”

Pug said, “Once I fought some air elementals near Stardock and, by forcing them into contact with the water, destroyed them.” He pointed to the space the demon had occupied and said, “A dunking won’t kill Jakan, but trying to swim upward through three miles of seawater, with Miranda’s bands around him and Tomas’s wound to his heat, will.”

Nakor said, “That’s wonderful. Now it’s over.”

“No,” said Pug. He pointed to Calis.

Calis now sat unaided, and again had his eyes focused upon the heat of the Lifestone, which was now less than a fifth its original size. Already the wounds on his face and hands were fading as if they had not existed.

“He will be done soon, I think,” said Nakor. “We can wait.”

Tomas said, “Men are losing their lives while we wait.”

Nakor said, “It is a sad thing. But this is more important.”

Dominic and Sho Pi came from their hiding place, and Dominic said, “He’s right. This may be the most important thing ever done by a mortal on this world. Now the strangled life of this world is set right, and the order of things will begin to return.”

“Begin?” asked Miranda.

Dominic nodded. “You don’t correct damage on this scale quickly. It’s been centuries, millennia, in the making. But now the healing will begin. The way is open for the return of the gods, now, where before the Nameless One blocked their return.”

“How long do we have to wait?” asked Miranda.

Nakor laughed. “Several thousand years, but”—he stood up—“each day things will be a little better than the day before, and eventually the old gods will return, and then this planet will become as it was supposed to be.”

Pug said, “Do you think we’ll ever find out what drove the Nameless One mad?”

Dominic said, “Some mysteries never are solved. And even if we found the answer, we might never understand it.”

Nakor reached deep into his bag and pulled out the Codex. He handed it to Dominic. “You take this. I think now you can do some good with it.”

“What about you?” asked Pug. “As long as I’ve known you, I’ve judged you the most curious individual on the planet. Don’t you want to continue to decipher that thing?”

Nakor shrugged. “I’ve been playing with it for more than two hundred years. I’m bored. Besides, Sho Pi and I have work to do.”

“What sort of work?” asked Miranda.

Nakor grinned. “We have to found a religion.”

Pug laughed. “A new scam?”

“No, I’m serious,” said Nakor, attempting to look injured, and failing. He grinned. “I’m the new patriarch of the Order of Arch-Indar, and this is my first disciple.”

Dominic looked aghast, and Tomas laughed. Pug said, “Why?”

Nakor said, “If these old men can bring back the Matrix, someone still has to bring back the Good Goddess, to offset the Nameless One. Else Ishap will have nothing to balance the Nameless One with.”

Dominic said, “A . . . worthy ambition, but . . .”

Miranda finished for him, “Ambitious?”

Dominic could only nod slightly. “Very ambitious.”

Pug slapped Nakor on the shoulder. “Well, if anyone can do it, it’s our friend here.”

Calis said, “It’s over.”

They turned to look at him, and as he spoke, he put his hands under the tiny remnant of the Lifestone and with a gentle motion tossed it into the air.

Like a thousand emerald butterflies, the last of the life energy trapped for centuries flew, and then the room was again dark. The servants of the Oracle relit torches that had been allowed to go out during the battle, returning a gentle yellow glow to the huge chamber. The jeweled dragon slept, undisturbed.

Calis rose, steadily. His clothing was still damaged from the demon’s blood, but he appeared unharmed. He crossed to his father and the two embraced.

Tomas said, “You were incredible. You—”

Calis Interrupted. “I merely did what I was born to do. It was my fate.”

Pug said, “But it took courage.”

Calis smiled. “No one in this room today can be accused of lacking courage.”

Nakor said, “I can. I don’t have much. I just couldn’t think of a good way to get out of here.”

Miranda said, “Liar,” and pushed him playfully.

Calis looked at his father and said, “Mother will be surprised.”

“Surprised at what?” asked Tomas.

Pug said, “You look different.”

“Different? How?”

Nakor reached into his bag and felt around a moment, then produced a hand mirror, silver-backed glass. “Here, take a look.”

Tomas took the mirror and his eyes widened as he saw what his son had meant. Gone was the alien edge to his appearance, what he judged the Valheru legacy. Now he looked mortal, a human male with elvish ears. He looked at Calis and said, “You’ve changed as well.”

Dominic said, “We’ve all changed.” He pulled back his hood and Pug said, “Your hair!”

Dominic said, “Black again, right?”

“You look as you did when we traveled to Kelewan, so many years ago!”

Miranda said, “Give me that mirror,” and snatched it out of Tomas’s hand. She inspected herself and said, “Gods! I look as if I’m twenty-five again!”

Then she turned the mirror toward Pug and his eyes widened. Looking back at him was a face he hadn’t seen since he had returned from Kelewan, a youthful man without a hint of grey in his hair or beard. “I’ll be . . .” he said softly. Then he flexed his hand and said, “I don’t believe it.”

“What?” asked Miranda.

“Years ago, I cut my right hand, damaging it enough I’ve never since enjoyed full strength in it.” He stared at it a moment, flexing his fingers again. “I think it’s completely healed.”

Nakor said, “How old do I look?” He took the mirror from Miranda and inspected himself. “Hmmm. I look about forty.”

“You seem disappointed,” said Miranda.

“I was hoping I’d be handsome.” Then he grinned. “But forty’s not bad.”

Calis said, “I now understand what that key was the Pantathians were forging with the captured life, and what the alien presence was.”

Tomas said, “The Nameless One?”

Calis shook his head. “No, some other presence. Perhaps those creatures who created the rifts for the Pantathians. But one thing was clear, that alien key would have permitted Maarg or Jakan to use the Lifestone.”

“As a weapon?” asked Dominic.

“No,” said Calis. “As distilled life energy. That’s food to demons. Can you imagine Jakan ten times the size and with a hundred times the power he had moments ago? That would have been the result of a demon using that key to tap the Lifestone.”

Miranda shook her head in amazement. “And we still don’t know how all these different players, the demons, the Pantathians, those”—she looked at Pug—“what did you call them?”

“Shangri,” answered Pug.

“Shangri, got together,” finished Miranda.