Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos (32 page)

Bane turned to
him. “Do you really think I will let them enslave her?”

“
You cannot fight three of them.”

“
He is right,” Kayos said. “You cannot risk your life, you are
too important. This was my mistake. I am to blame for not thinking
of this possibility, and she is my daughter. We will close the
World Gate and hope she is mature enough by the time they breach it
to enter her shield sphere.”

“
And then what?” Bane demanded. “She will be trapped in it
forever. They will guard it.”

Kayos gripped
his arm. “I will not sacrifice you.”

“
It is not your decision.”

“
In this, you will obey me, Bane.”

He jerked
free. “No. If they kill me, I will rise as a spirit god.”

“
You will lose all the gifts your mortality
bestows.”

“
I can defeat them. None of them is as powerful as Torvaran
was, and I destroyed him. I shall set wards and cast them
down.”

“
It is too dangerous. When you create a ward, they will attack
you.”

“
I will not fight them. I will leave and wait for them to
separate. They will not be able to destroy a dark ward.”

“
Three of them might,” Kayos said.

“
Then I will cast one down before I create the ward, or even
two if I can. I will have sunlight to help me. Hell, I could even
bring them to the light realm. Remember how easily I cast Jishka
down?”

“
She was weak, and you took her by surprise. As soon as you
attack one, the others will come to his aid. They will know their
strength is in unity when they find out that you are tar’merin. It
is too dangerous.”

“
Every time I fight a dark god it is dangerous,” Bane
said.

“
And you were never this eager to do it.”

“
I am not eager. I do not enjoy being hurt, but it seems to
come with the territory.”

Drevarin
looked up from his glum perusal of his feet. “What if we do not
close the World Gate? One of us could lure one of them here, and
Bane could surprise him.”

Kayos eyed the
young light god. “That might work. They do not know about Bane.
With the element of surprise, it would be far easier for him to
cast one of them down from here. But once they are in the Land of
the Dead, they will send messengers to the other two. It would only
work once.”

“
So we will start with the most powerful, Tolrar,” Bane
said.

“
No. If he is too powerful, he will Move you both back down to
the mid realm, or the dark realm, and we will lose the advantage.
We start with the weakest, which will be the goddess.”

“
She is Tolrar’s mistress. She may alert him instead of giving
chase herself. It should be Scryon.”

Kayos nodded.
“All right. I will be the bait.”

“
I will accompany you. If he takes hold of you...”

“
He is a weak dark god pitted against a Grey God. I can Move
him here myself. He will not fight it, since he will not know you
are here.”

“
But if he is holding you when I attack him...”

“
I will suffer.” Kayos met his eyes. “I know.”

“
I shall not harm you.”

“
I will do it then,” Drevarin said.

Bane raised
his brows at the young light god. “What makes you think I would be
any happier about harming you?”

“
I am not your father.”

“
You are my friend.”

Kayos held up
his hands. “Enough. Drevarin, you have not the power for it. Even
if you succeeded in Moving Scryon here, Bane would probably kill
you.”

“
But he Gathers from them. How can that kill me?”

“
When I bring him here, Bane will burn away part of his droge
body so the light will consume his dark form. You do not want to be
in the way when Bane unleashes his full power, believe
me.”

Bane said,
“But you will have your shields.”

“
Not if Scryon is holding me. Then I will only have my body
shields.”

“
How much harm will it do to you?”

“
That depends on how accurate you are. But as long as you are
not aiming at me, I will only be caught in the backlash. It might
kill Drevarin, but not me.”

“
I dislike it,” Bane said. “If he is holding you, I will not
burn him. I will take hold of him and draw off his
power.”

“
That would be more dangerous for you.”

“
But safer for you.”

Kayos inclined
his head and smiled. “Yes. But I am quite prepared to suffer. Why
should you be the only one who does? Anyway, I am certain I will be
able to Move before he takes hold of me. I am not that old and
slow.”

“
Old you most certainly are, but slow, probably
not.”

Kayos clasped
Bane’s shoulders. “I am proud of you, Son.” Bane looked away in
embarrassment, and Kayos released him.

“
As soon as Scryon is cast down,” Bane said, “we close the
World Gate.”

“
How long will it take Scryon to send messengers to the other
two?” Drevarin asked.

Bane shrugged.
“That depends on how quickly he recovers from the shock of his
defeat and Gathers enough power to summon a demon. Perhaps a day at
the most.”

“
In that time, we could lure the others here the same
way.”

“
Maybe. It depends on how soon they take the bait,” Kayos said.
“If they are cautious, they might wait too long.”

“
Then we close the Gate a day after Scryon is cast
down.”

Kayos nodded.
“Agreed. I will send Sherinias to her birthing chamber. She will be
safe there, and I do not want her to find out about Bane yet, she
is not ready. We should do this soon, else one may come here
looking for us before we are ready for them.”

“
Tomorrow. I want to make some preparations,” Bane
said.

“
All right.” Kayos led the way back to the gazebo, where
Sherinias sat before her Eye, looking miffed. The three sank down
on their couches and went back to watching the adventures of the
mid realm. She pouted, clearly annoyed at being left
out.

***

Nikira looked
up as two guards entered her cell. Her heart plummeted and sick
dread churned her stomach. Sleep had eluded her since Predoran had
informed her of her death sentence, and she had been unable to eat.
The unfairness of the situation angered her. She longed to pray to
Bane for help, but after what Predoran had told her, some of her
doubts had returned. What if he really was a dra’voren, and had
duped her with the aid of another dra’voren, Drevarin? Was it
possible that everything she had seen had been an illusion? Could
it all have been an elaborate ruse to gain her trust and bend her
to their will?

As the
governor had pointed out, no one knew how powerful a dra’voren was,
but if they could destroy entire worlds, they must be powerful
indeed. If he was right, she had brought about the destruction of
her world, and deserved to die. Another part of her railed against
these assumptions, and her faith in Bane remained, though shaken.
The death of the people in the Dorilan Dome was on her hands,
however, whether or not Bane was evil.

Nikira stood
up as the guards placed shackles on her wrists and ankles, not
meeting her eyes. As they led her along the corridors, she wondered
what method of execution had been chosen for her. She hoped that it
was reasonably quick and painless, although torturous executions
were sometimes performed. These were inflicted on the perpetrators
of abhorrent crimes that involved the suffering of their victims,
like rapist murderers. In her case it was not required, but the
decision lay with the governor, and if she was blamed for the
destruction of their world, he might well choose something
terrible.

They entered
the bare, sterile execution chamber, its walls and floors covered
with smooth white plastic, a drain in one corner and a faint smell
of antiseptic in the air. A number of witnesses sat in the
observation gallery, Predaron in the front row, his expression a
study of official grimness. Nikira gaped at the brawny, hooded man
who awaited her, and her blood turned cold at the sight of the
curved knife he held. Disembowelment was the worst execution, and
it often took the victim many hours, sometimes a day, to die, if it
was done correctly. Nikira dug in her heels as the guards dragged
her towards the cross-shaped steel frame to which she was to be
bound.

“
No!” she shouted. “You cannot do this! I didn’t cause
suffering!”

Predaron
scowled. “Through your traitorous actions, millions of people will
suffer and die. Our world will be destroyed. What makes you think
you deserve a merciful death?”

“
Even if I have caused the destruction of our world, which I
don’t believe, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was a helpless pawn.
How could I have stopped them from doing whatever they
wished?”

“
You could have refused to bring them here.”

“
He had already been here, when I brought him to you for
study!”

“
That makes it even worse,” Predoran said. “You knowingly
brought a dra’voren here, giving him the location of our
base.”

“
He was my prisoner then, no threat to us.”

“
Commander, you’ve been found guilty. This doesn’t
help.”

Nikira
struggled as the guards strapped her wrists to the cross-piece,
their faces blank. “I didn’t do anything wrong! You have to believe
me!”

“
No, we don’t, and we choose not to.”

Nikira cast an
imploring glance at the witnesses. “I’m innocent!”

Their hard,
uncaring expressions mocked her as the guards shackled her ankles
to the base of the frame. Cold, numbing terror washed through her,
and she bowed her head and closed her eyes.

“
Demon Lord, please help me. They’re going to kill
me.”

***

Bane sat up
and rubbed his brow. The prayer that had disturbed his slumber came
again, and he listened, for he had not heard the words that had
woken him. The whispered plea cleared the last dregs of sleep that
fogged his mind, and he rose to his feet. Sherinias slept on her
couch, as did Kayos and Drevarin. Bane went over and shook her
awake, and her eyes sprang open in surprise.

“
Sherinias, open the Realm Gate.”

She looked
puzzled. “Why?”

“
Just do it, now!”

Kayos and
Drevarin sat up on their couches, their expressions confused and
curious. Kayos shot Sherinias a hard look. “Do as he says,
child.”

“
But Father...”

“
I told you to obey him, did I not?”

“
Yes, Father.” She rose and walked towards the Realm Gate,
clearly unhappy.

Bane turned to
Drevarin. “Show me Nikira.”

The light god
waved an Eye into being, and an image formed. The stealth ship
commander was strapped to a frame in a bright white room. Two
uniformed men fastened her ankles to it, while a hooded man stood
close by, holding a curved blade. Bane frowned, wondering why she
had waited so long to beg his aid. Drevarin expanded the image,
showing Bane that the execution room was in the same building where
he had taken her from her cell, only a few floors higher. Bane
strode to the Realm Gate, where many ships still hovered, waiting
for it to open perhaps, or recording it for posterity. Sherinias
stood in front of it, the key in her hand, but had not yet pressed
it to the portal.

“
Hurry, Sherinias.”

The young
goddess glanced back at him. “This is dangerous, Bane. We do not
know what is out there. Maybe a dark god.”

“
I shall risk it. Open it.”

“
That is all very well for you, but what about my
domain?”

“
There is no dark god out there, Sherinias.”

“
You do not know that.”

“
Open the Gate!”

Sherinias
hesitated, glanced beyond him, and turned to press the key to the
cluster of runes in the centre of the Gate. Bane looked back to
find Kayos standing there, frowning. The Realm Gate began to chime,
its sweet, haunting tones filling the hall with shivering echoes.
Sherinias stepped back, tucked the key into her gown and cast him a
reproachful look, then went over to Kayos.

When the
grating of the giant lock added its ominous sound to the sweet
chimes, Bane went to the side of the Gate and ran his hand over the
runes, reading them. Finding the right one, he activated it, and
the two runes at the top of the Gate’s frame lighted, commanding it
to stay open. Sherinias gave a soft gasp of dismay and glanced at
Kayos, who ignored her. The grating ended as the lock disengaged,
and the Gate swung open with stately sloth. Kayos took Sherinias’
hand and led her away, and, as soon as it had opened sufficiently,
Bane slipped through the portal.

Outside, he
summoned the dark power and flew towards the glittering city,
heading for the tower where Nikira was imprisoned. Becoming
invisible, he swooped in through a wall close to her location,
landed, and strode towards her, the walls slowing him only
slightly. Her prayer hammered at his brain, filled with terror and
despair.

***

Nikira shouted
for Bane to save her. Her cries rang in the small room, rising to
shrieks of terror as tears ran down her cheeks. She stared at the
hooded man, her stomach clenched as he held the curved blade
against her belly, which had been bared by the slicing open of her
clothes. That was part of the torture, making it last as long as
possible. The executioner tensed, preparing to thrust the blade
into her belly just below her ribs. He staggered aside with an
exclamation of surprise, and warm hands gripped her waist.