Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (54 page)

We said our farewells to them
and watched them make their winding way down the hill. As soon as they
disappeared from sight, I rushed to the edge of the hill, stopping at the tree
line to keep from being seen. Markai and some of the others joined me there.
All we could do was
wait
. “Laskia and Wulik left you
some aids.” Markai whispered to me.

I looked a question at her.

“They call them flamers. They
appear innocuous enough; some dark fluid in a glass stoppered bottle. You could
even mistake it for very strong tea, if you are going by appearances. Do not
ask me what is in them, or how they made them, but what I do know is how to use
them. You throw the bottle against something flammable; it will burst and
ignite, creating an intense, but short-lived blaze. Depending on what you
manage to set alight with it the flames may well last longer,” she explained.

I nodded my understanding. I
thought flamers could come in very useful indeed.

We did not have long to wait to
see some reaction in the camp below us. It started slow; a few shouts rising,
then movement, first a trickle and then a torrent of armed creatures started
flowing to the southwest. More and more of them followed as word must have spread
that the prize they all wanted to win, was right there in front of them. My
heart was pounding watching the flurry of activity. I fervently hoped that our
little group would reach the reinforcements before these creatures could catch
up with them. I doubted they would take very kindly to being fooled.

Once the movement out slowed,
Markai turned back to camp and we followed. I hurried to my things where I
found the Jerieghen’s flamers. There were three of them left in a carry sack.
They looked so small that I wondered how big a flame they could really cause. I
tied the sack to my belt.

Roscien lay down and his spirit
rose. The Qupari who had stayed behind would stay and guard his body, in the
hope that if danger did find him, she would be able to wake him, to give him a
chance at defending himself or at the very least defend him herself.
  

Roscien led the way. Xain
duplicated himself so that we had six of him. Now that we were on our way and I
had my Navitas focused, I felt more in control, more ready to face whatever was
to come.
 
Markai and Thaya walked to
either side of me with Seran and Trissa behind us and Xain and Malion making up
the rear.

We kept to the cover of the
forest until the castle reared up in front of us. Roscien went first to make
sure that the way was clear. We waited for his return. Previously, there had
been no guard at the door, but this time, there was a Skell. Roscien reported
that he had gone in through the wall further down and searched nearby corridors
to see if there were others around. The way was clear, but we had to get rid of
the Skell guard without raising the alarm. That meant killing it quickly. Xain
carried a bow and we all agreed that this was our best chance at it. He moved a
bit closer before nocking his arrow and taking aim.

He took a long moment to steady
his aim before he released the arrow; it flew perfectly and hit the Skell in
the throat. It dropped instantly. I realised I had been holding my breath as if
it were me taking aim, and I released it slowly.
 

We hurried on. Xain and Malion
dragged the corpse to a nearby bush and shoved it in as far as possible. Once
inside the castle, Roscien led the way once more. We had decided that the
throne room was probably the best place to start looking. He was trotting
ahead, peeking into rooms along the way. The whole structure seemed to be built
of a peculiar kind of black stone. It was ice cold inside the castle despite
the mild morning outside and I could see my breath misting in front of me.

The stone walls reminded me of
the pitch-black blades the Skell used.
 
I
was standing with my back to a wall, not touching it. It seemed to exude
something though. I turned and placed my hand on it. The next minute I gasped
and tried to pull my hand off, but I could not. It was as if I was connected to
the wall, or the wall to me.

I had an acute sensation of
being observed. Desperately, I tried to push down a rising tide of panic.
Malion was also pulling on my hand, but with no success.

“Let go of Navitas,” Markai said
in such a calm voice as to make me even more aware of my panic.

For the first time ever, it was a
struggle to release Navitas, but once I did, I flew back so suddenly, I nearly
crashed into the wall behind me.

I only had a moment to sigh in
relief, though, because at that moment, Markai turned, snarling. Coming up
behind us, were three Lakreay. I had not encountered one of these before, but
they had been among the dark beings that attacked Alathaya’s house. They were
brutal and intelligent.
A bad combination in an enemy.
Before Thaya had been able to travel back and allow us to escape their attack
on the house, one had bitten Seran’s hand off and had the injury itself not
killed him, the venom in the bite surely would have.

Seran had his whip out and
copies of Xain had formed up between the Lakreay and us. I had no idea if the
real Xain was among them or not. I was alarmed to see Seran’s whip flick up and
between the heads of the first and second Xains. He aimed it perfectly though
and the hooks bit into a Lakreay’s neck. Eyes wide with shock the creature sank
to his knees. Seran gave the whip a powerful tug to recall it and it took a
chunk of neck with it. The Lakreay collapsed lifelessly. The other two grunted
in anger and with blades flashing, attacked the Xains. They fended off blow
after blow, but were struggling to land their own. It was frustrating viewing
it from where I stood. I had Sunder out and ready, but stood useless. The
hallway was not wide enough for me to get through to attack.

I winced as a Lakreay drove his
sword deep into Xain’s stomach. He bent over double and fell to his knees, but
in that moment of distraction, two of the other Xains each sank a sword into
the neck of a Lakreay. The Xain on his knees disappeared; a copy. I blew out a
breath of air in relief.

“We need to move.” Markai was
already following her own advice and Roscien quickly recovered to lead the way
again. We hurried through corridor after corridor. They all looked the same to
me and I could not see how much use the map in my pocket would be, if I were to
get lost in there.

Markai’s ears were twitching as
if they were on fire and she was trying to put it out. “We are being pursued.
We need to find a place to turn and wait. If we must fight them, let us do it
on our terms. Roscien, find a large empty room.”

He made no response, but started
poking his head into every room we passed. Abruptly he ushered us into one.

The room was fairly bare, but
had two large sofas facing each other in the centre.
 
We formed up, waiting for the attack. I had
once again focused Navitas and unsheathed Sunder. I could hear the sound of
many feet in the stone hallway coming towards us. They were getting closer and
I readied myself.

Four Dyrrendrel burst through
the door and did not pause for a moment, but leapt, each at its own target. I despatched
the one coming towards me with ease; I stepped aside as it attacked and managed
to slide Sunder into its neck. By the time I had done that, Xain and his copies
had finished off two of the others and Markai was fighting with the last one. It
gave one final yelp as Markai tore its throat out viciously.

We set off at once, with Roscien
just scanning the hall before we left the room. We started descending. We went
down two flights of stairs before we stopped at a closed door. Roscien was the only
one not out of breath. “This is the throne room. Wait here.”

He disappeared down the hall and
around a corner. It was not long before he appeared again. “He’s in there!” he
whispered urgently. His voice was quivering, whether with excitement or fear I
could not tell. “The room is full of his followers, though. I was barely able
to have a peek and avoid being spotted by them. Malion, we will need you in
there. As soon as we rush in, use a scenario to throw them off balance. Trissa,
try your best to use your Talent. That could make all the difference for us.”
They nodded in turn.

Terror filmed Trissa’s eyes and
I wondered if she would be able to cope.

I pulled Thaya closer to me and
whispered low enough so only she could hear. “Be careful. Stay back and out of
harm’s way as much as possible.”
 

She looked at me and I could see
she was dismissing my words.

Louder, I said, “Ready?”

I looked at each of them in turn
to get a nod. It felt as though I had swallowed a rock.

At Roscien’s all clear sign, we
hurried over to the door to the throne room and taking a deep breath, I threw it
open and rushed in. I was shouting and Malion came in right on my heels. I had
a moment to see the room as it really was.
Bare
, as
Roscien had said, with Rakadamon sitting regally on the impressive golden
throne in the centre, but there was something that he had not mentioned.
 
Long rows of torches were mounted on the
walls, washing the room in a flickering light. That was the only light in the
room, for there were no windows. As soon as his foot hit the floor inside the
room, though, it all changed. We were in hailstorm in a mostly open field.
Rakadamon now sat on a large rock boulder.

My aim was simply to get to the
Master of the Dark. Ultimately, the rest of these creatures were only obstacles
in my way. The apparent change in environment had made the dark creatures
hesitate a moment, but that moment was enough to allow us to enter the room without
being slaughtered like sheep. There were many more of the enemy present than I
had anticipated, or perhaps naively hoped. Skell, Lakreay, Dyrrendrel and even
a couple of hazes that I saw were hanging back for the time being.

I flew into the forms of the
Shea-Rin. Slowly kill by kill I was getting closer to him. He sat on his throne
looking down at the melee in front of him. He did not lift a finger. He did not
even look concerned. If anything he looked… amused.

I was only peripherally aware of
what everyone else was doing. A few times, I saw Seran’s whips flying through
the air and tearing chunks out of their targets. Seran himself was only a blur,
slowing occasionally to take on a more substantial shape before picking up
speed again. Some of the enemy simply started slowing in their movements and
dropped to the floor, apparently dead. That puzzled me for a moment until I realised
they were all in Seran’s proximity. He had been drawing out their life source. Abstractedly,
I wondered if drawing such an evil life force would have an adverse effect on
him. A few of Xain’s copies took wounds and disappeared. Each time that
happened, I could only hope that it was not the real Xain. Trissa stood close
to the door, holding a sword uncertainly.

I kept expecting Rakadamon to
descend from his throne and attack me, but he only watched and waited.
 
The surroundings had changed yet again; we
were now in a field of snow with wind whipping flakes into my eyes. He sat on
an icy mound.

Suddenly everything seemed to
slow. Finally! I turned to find a Dyrrendrel leaping toward me, its massive jaw
open and vicious teeth exposed and about to clamp down on my shoulder. I spun
around and severed its head cleanly. My eyes met with Trissa’s. Her face was
deathly pale, her mouth a silent ‘o’ of horror. I forced a smile at her and
gave a small bow. She had once again saved my life.

I was right next to Roscien. He
could do nothing now. I was about to tell him to go, but before I could he
screamed and disappeared.

Only two more creatures stood
between Rakadamon and me, both hazes. I looked at the mounted torches in the
room. I knew what I had to do and I knew what the consequence would be, but I
had no other choice… but then I remembered Laskia and Wulik’s gifts. I pulled
out the first flamer. The hazes looked at it, but their features were too
indistinct to make out what they thought of it.

With as much force as I could
muster, I threw it at the haze to my left. As I had hoped, it swung at it with
its sword. There was a crash of shattering glass a moment before the liquid
ignited with a woof, and the haze with it. It let out a shrill scream before
evaporating.

I realised then that the slowing
effect of Trissa’s Talent had gone again. I dared not take my eyes off the
second haze for a moment though. I took out another flamer. The haze started
coming towards me and I hurled it, but knowing what was coming, the haze
loosened its form for a split second; just enough that the flamer went straight
through. I cursed myself for foolishness; I should have expected this. It was
still coming towards me and I barely managed to block its sweeping blow, the
blades making a sharp ringing noise when they connected. Using Navitas this
time, I pulled the heat of the torches into Sunder. I stopped when half of them
had gone out, not wishing to plunge us into complete darkness.

Hoping it would be enough, I
projected the heat through my sword and into the haze. It kept coming and for a
heart stopping moment I thought it was not going to die, but finally it
dispersed into mist.