Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 5 - The Cerulean Storm (39 page)

When the storm subsided, Rajaat's eyes were almost white with anger. He raised a foot to
step toward Sadira, flashing sheets of lightning crackling off his crown.

Hamanu and Nibenay pointed toward the Dark Lens, roaring the incantations to cast their
spells. Tiny streams of absolute blackness shot from their fingertips into the orb. The
currents came out on the other side magnified into great rivers and washed over Rajaat,
swallowing Rikus and Tithian on the way.

The Oba and Andropinis attacked next, facing each other and moving their hands through the
empty air. They kept their eyes fixed on the ebony murk that had engulfed Rajaat, and soon
the dark mass began to assume the shape of a sphere. When the globe was perfectly round,
the two sorcerers moved closer together. The black orb holding Rajaat began to shrink.

Sadira felt far from relieved. The sorcerer-kings' plan had been an efficient one, and her
intervention on Rikus's behalf had kept Rajaat's counterattack from interrupting it.
Still, the ancient sorcerer had clearly been expecting the sorcerer-kings-even looking
forward to their arrival. Given that, it seemed strange that he had relied on only one
spell to stop them, and that his last act before being captured had been to come after her.

This battle, the sorceress suspected, was far from over. Nevertheless, she had learned
something valuable from it. The Dark Lens was not only a mindbender's tool. The
sorcerer-kings had used it to increase the power of their spells a hundredfold.
Unfortunately, Sadira had already seen that her own magic had very little effect on
Rajaat, and she did not think the lens would change that. But she knew of someone else who
might be able to use the orb to good effect.

Sadira took a deep breath, then turned and uttered a soft incantation. When she exhaled,
her cloud began to move as though a stiff wind were blowing it across the sky. The
sorceress cupped one hand and held it out to her side. Her flying cushion turned toward
the Dark Lens. Keeping a watchful eye on the sorcerer-kings, she flew over and slowly
circled the area.

Nibenay raised a hand to wave her down. “You've served us well,” he said. “You have
nothing to fear from us.”

Sadira did not fly any lower. Watching both him and Hamanu even more closely, she asked,
“And what of Rikus?”

“In there, with the Usurper and Rajaat,” said Hamanu, gesturing at the black sphere. The
Oba and Andropinis had already managed to squeeze the globe down so that it was no taller
than a small giant.

Sadira tried not to be afraid. She had retrieved people from the Black before, and she saw
no reason that she would not be able to do it again.

Her hopes must have shown on her face.

Nibenay said, “Don't think that your powers can call your husband back. He's beneath the
Black, not part of it.”

“What's the difference?” Sadira asked.

“The Black is shadow. It shows what is by what is missing,” explained Hamanu. “But beneath
the Black is the Hollow, where nothing is missing because nothing remains-not the future,
not the past, not even the Gray. Nothing-simply nothing.”

“Now, come down here as I told you to do,” Nibenay commanded, his voice growing irritated.
“It will be better for you and us if we declare a truce.”

Pretending to accept the sorcerer-king's offer, Sadira circled around to have one last
look for her husband. She angled her hands so that her cloud descended, swooping low over
Rajaat's new prison and the Dark Lens. When she saw nothing but the white, lifeless
rockstem that Nibenay and Hamanu had defiled, the sorceress curved away.

That was when she noticed a black shadow swimming through the water behind Andropinis.
Though only about the size of an elf, the silhouette retained Rajaat's basic shape. It was
slithering along the bottom of the defiled lake, so that only someone looking down from
directly above was likely to see it.

Rajaat had learned a new trick in his prison. While the sorcerer-kings concentrated on
capturing his body, he had been lurking in his own shadow all along.

Sadira smiled to herself. Now she knew how to defeat Rajaat. All she had to do was steal
the lens and return to the crater with it.

Nibenay turned his palm downward and defiled more rockstem, preparing to cast a spell. The
sorceress continued to fly, trying not to watch Rajaat's shadow. The sorcerer-king raised
his hand, pointing toward Sadira.

In the same instant, Rajaat's shadow emerged from the water and threw his dripping arms
around Andropinis's throat.

“For you, eternal confinement,” Rajaat hissed.

Andropinis screamed in alarm as his ancient master's silhouette swallowed him. The
sorcerer-king's cry fell silent almost at once, and no sign of him remained.

Nibenay changed his aim from Sadira to Rajaat and fairly screamed his incantation. A net
of pulsing white energy shot from his hand. It passed through the ancient sorcerer's
shadowy form without effect, but the Oba, who had been standing across from Andropinis
when he was seized, had to duck to avoid being hit. Deprived of any chance to cast a spell
or use the Way against her former master, she dropped into the water and pushed herself
away from him.

Rajaat ignored the sorcerer-queen and stepped toward the Dark Lens, which was still being
supported on King Tec's back. Nibenay and Hamanu, standing between the ancient sorcerer
and the lens, retreated in opposite directions, one summoning the energy for a spell and
the other furrowing his brow as he prepared to use the Way.

Sadira circled around and lined herself up behind Rajaat. She moved toward the back of her
cloud so there would be room for the Dark Lens, then angled the nose downward and started
to descend.

On the other side of the lens, the Black stopped shrinking. “I need help!” King Tec
yelled, still trying to keep the lens focused on the shadowy sphere. “Nibenay, Hamanu-”

Rajaat stepped up behind him, plucking the Dark Lens off his back. “For you, death.”

He brought the orb down. Tec's skull split with a tremendous bang, spraying foul-smelling
smoke and sizzling drops of fiery red blood in all directions.

Sadira smiled. She was coming up directly behind Rajaat. The sorceress hoped to lift the
Dark Lens out of his grasp as her cloud passed through his shadowy body. But if her tactic
resulted in a collision instead, she would have a better chance than anyone of recovering
the Dark Lens. With her body imbued by the sun's power, the impact would not harm her, and
at least she was anticipating it.

Rajaat faced Nibenay, raising the lens in both hands. “For you, a thousand years of
torment.”

Rajaat stepped toward the sorcerer-king, causing Sadira to pull up the front of her cloud
and execute a tight bank. She rose along the side of the ancient sorcerer's shoulder. For
an instant, the sorceress feared he would glimpse her in his peripheral vision, then she
was staring up at the Dark Lens.

The cloud lifted the heavy orb out of Rajaat's hands- then abruptly dove as the extra
weight pushed the nose down. Sadira found herself dropping straight toward the dark sphere
in which Rikus and Tithian were imprisoned. Behind her, Rajaat cried out in surprise and
sorcerer-kings began shouting orders. The sorceress hardly heard them, for she was too
busy trying to pull the Dark Lens toward the rear of the cloud so the nose would rise.

As Sadira approached the Black, a surge of searing energy rushed up from the depths of the
Dark Lens. Forks of blue lightning crackled over her body, and she began to suffer muscle
spasms. Surprised, she could not prevent her cloud from continuing its dive, and it
crashed straight into the murky sphere the sorcerer-kings had created.

Sadira saw a black flash. The explosion that followed was not as large as the one that had
destroyed the Dragon's sanctum, for the lens was only partially charged. Still, the
sorceress found herself soaring through the air backwards. She splashed into the shallow
lake some distance away, with the Dark Lens pressing down on her chest and water filling
her lungs.

Rikus kicked off the hipbone of a massive skeleton and sailed through the colorless ether.
He grabbed Tithian by his long braid of gray hair and used it to pull them together, then
slipped an arm around the king's throat and squeezed. The king coughed and rasped for
breath, digging his fingers into the mul's arm in a futile attempt to free himself. Rikus
only tightened his grip.

The mul, the king, and Sacha were floating inside a black sphere with a huge skeleton
Rikus assumed to be Rajaat's. It was impossible to tell the size of their prison. The
place seemed entirely filled by the ancient sorcerer's yellowed bones, yet Tithian had
tried several times to push off an ankle or hand and float out to the dark walls. He had
never seemed able to reach them, and when Rikus caught up with him, they had always seemed
to be next to the skeleton.

Rikus glimpsed Sacha floating toward his back from behind a thighbone. The mul gave his
torso a sharp twist, but used too much power and spun himself past the disembodied head.
More accustomed to maneuvering through the air, Sacha took advantage of the mistake to
streak forward. He clamped his teeth around the warrior's ear and began to rip.

Screaming in pain, Rikus shoved Tithian away, and, with a stomp-kick to the back, sent the
king tumbling toward the skeleton's skull. The mul reached up, grasping Sacha by the nose
with one hand and by the chin with the other. He snapped his attacker's mouth open,
drawing a loud crack from the lower jaw, then brought his knee up and smashed Sacha
against it. Sacha's eyes went glassy and blank, then brown, foul-smelling ooze began to
pour from his nostrils and ears.

Rikus tossed Sacha's crushed skull aside, then turned back toward Tithian. The king was
floating near the skeleton's head, his dark eyes locked on the mul. Fearing that the king
was preparing to attack with the Way, Rikus ducked under the skeleton's leg.

As Rikus started to pull himself forward, crooked lines of lightning began dancing across
the walls of the black sphere. His first thought was that Tithian was responsible. He
peered over the skeleton's torso and found the king staring in confusion at the dark shell
of their prison.

The lightning cords suddenly connected with each other, forming a crackling net of energy.
With a shrill hiss, the black walls dissolved into wisps of shadow. A blinding blue flash
filled the sphere, then the mul felt himself being drawn upward.

Rikus tumbled through the air for what seemed a long time, his eyes filled with spots.
Finally, he began to arc downward, and, through his erratic vision, he saw turquoise
clouds and a blue sun above him. He hit the water so hard that it felt as if he had
slammed into a granite plain instead of splashing into a lake. The air rushed from his
lungs, and he went under.

Rikus felt himself touch bottom, then pushed off and shot back to the surface of the lake.
He came up coughing water and flailing his arms. Somehow, he managed to keep his head
above water long enough to see a floating tree trunk, then swam toward it with choppy,
uneven strokes.

When he reached his goal, Rikus threw his arms over the log and spent several moments
clearing his lungs of water. His flesh stung and his joints ached from the impact of the
fall, but he did not feel any serious injuries.

A loud boom echoed across the lake from behind Rikus. Fearing a magical attack from
Tithian, the mul twisted around. More than fifty paces away, he saw a black orb streaking
into the sky. Sitting on top of it was the figure of an ebony-skinned woman, her long
amber hair waving in the wind. Sadira had recovered the Dark Lens.

Rikus started to call out for her to come back, but stopped when he saw the figures of
three sorcerer-kings rising from the lake to go after her. He could hear their voices
shouting, but was too distant to understand their words. Two of them turned their palms
downward, and frothing spouts of water rose toward their hands as they summoned the energy
to cast spells.

Rikus cursed his inability to aid Sadira, then watched as the sorcerer-kings closed their
hands and pointed toward his wife.

“Sadira, watch yourself!”

As the mul called the words, Rajaat's skeleton rose out of the lake between the
sorcerer-kings and Sadira. It was not as large as when Rikus had first seen it, now
standing only about as high as a full giant.

“No!” boomed Rajaat's angry voice. “You shall wait here for your punishment.”

The skeleton pointed three of its curled talons at the sorcerer-kings. Glittering blue
bubbles shot from the digits, and each engulfed one of the figures flying after Sadira.
The shimmering balls of water brought their prisoners to a quick halt. They began to drift
over the lake in a lazy circle, small bulges appearing in their liquid walls as the
occupants tried to free themselves with magic spells, the Way, and physical blows.

After watching them for a moment, Rajaat's skeleton turned around. Sadira had already
disappeared with the lens. The ancient sorcerer stared after her for a moment. Finally, he
plucked a cloud from the sky and began to flatten it into a sheet of vaporish skin,
walking after Sadira as he worked.

Rikus pushed himself to the end of his tree and began to kick his legs, but quickly
realized there was no need. A brisk tide was flowing after Rajaat, carrying the mul and an
ever-growing jumble of logs along with it. Rikus tried to raise himself above the debris,
searching for a glimpse of what he hoped would be Tithian's dead body.

Rikus saw no sign of the king, and soon he could not afford to look. The current was
beginning to froth and bang logs against each other. It took all of his mulish strength
just to keep his head above water and not lose his grip on his makeshift raft.

* * * * *

As the current carried Tithian out of the shadows, a sharp crack sounded from the roof of
the arch. The king ducked under the frothing waters, narrowly escaping before a shower of
splinters erupted from his log. The river throbbed with the pulse of the blast, battering
his ears with terrible pangs of agony.