Two (The Godslayer Cycle Book 2) (21 page)

“
You forget,” said Avery.  “This isn't what we faced before.  Viola is only carrying a very small piece of it.  It should not have as great an effect as before.  And because it is small, we can take it away from the wall and test it at a distance before we use it directly.”

“
But how would we do that if we're not near the wall?”

“
Simple,” answered the self-declared God of Vengeance.  “We'll test it on me first.”

*     *     *

“He's some kind of vampire,” said Dart.

“
He's a what?” exclaimed the Witness.  Dart had never expected to be able to startle the implacable calm of her fellow demi-God, but she had, all the same.

“
It's the only explanation,” Dart explained, locking away her momentary sense of satisfaction.  “The sword may be the source, but the effect is the same.  He is draining life energy and getting more powerful with each sacrifice.”

“
Vampires are mythical,” responded the Witness, his calm restored.  “This is very real.”

“
Whether vampires are real or not is a discussion for another time.  But you can't argue that he is getting stronger each time he takes a life with this power he has.”

“
No,” sighed the Witness.  “No, I cannot.”

By Dart's estimation, nearly two weeks had passed since Gravin had begun his slow, systematic slaughter of Levitz.  Two weeks of torture, terror and anxiety the likes of which Dart had never experienced.

Dart was a survivor by nature.  Regardless of circumstances, no matter who would be lost, under normal circumstances she would long ago have fled.  She had tried more than once to use her power to leave, but found the talent strangely blocked.  She had never before been unable to move from place to place at will – not since the skill had first manifested in her as a teenager so many centuries ago – and that power had defined her ever since.  She had traveled the world, never allowing herself to be tied down.  She flittered from place to place, as ethereal as the power itself – unreal, ungrounded, untraceable.

Now she lived in a perpetual state of panic.  She had not been in any one place this long in centuries.  She made a practice of never staying in one place more than three days.  She had stayed five for an especially pleasant distraction in a brothel once, but that had been the one exception in four centuries' worth of traveling, popping in and out of one place before instantly materializing somewhere else.

Now she was grounded.  Now the world around her was very, very real, and she had no exit.  If Gravin chose to turn on the Witness or her, there was nothing she could do to escape. 

Of the original tavern patrons, only four survived – The Witness, Dart herself and the last two mortals to not be killed through Gravin's twisted challenge.  The Witness had been deliberately spared so that he could watch what was being done, to in effect record the rise to power of this malignant horror of a man.  Dart had fallen under the Witness' cloak of protection, as well, since she was clearly his companion.  Gravin was very keen on impressing the Witness – he had made that abundantly clear – and there seemed to be a silent understanding that the Witness' goodwill would be lost if Dart were harmed.

As for the last two, they had been deputized by Gravin in exchange for their lives.  They have been directed to go out into the community and bring back sacrifices for Gravin's amusement.  If they each brought back three souls a day, they could live for another themselves.  So far, neither had failed to meet his quota. 

And, of course, with each new death, the radiance of sheer power emanating from Gravin increased.

Most demi-Gods could sense each other by the power they each emanated.  Different powers manifested in different ways, but one thing consistent amongst demi-Gods was the
presence
of power.  As such, Dart could recognize any demi-God who came within her line of sight.  The power of their talents was visible to her eyes, and hers to theirs.  Some demi-Gods were so powerful that she did not have to see them to know they were about though – some just emitted a presence from a distance.  Those kinds, Dart had made a practice of never letting it come to the point where she could see their power – she would always run the other way.

With Gravin, it was similar, yet not.  There was a power emanating from him – and it was a presence she could feel, but not one she could see.  Like the powerful immortals, Gravin's presence alone radiated power – a power that became more and more potent with each new life he took – but her talent to see the energy of a fellow demi-God showed her nothing.  Whatever power the man controlled, it was foreign to Dart.  And that alone would have terrified her, if the fact that she was unable to escape were not already so oppressive.

“I am becoming... concerned,” admitted the Witness.

“
Oh?” chirped Dart.  “
Now
you're concerned?  What, you weren't before?”

“
Must you always be so aggressive?” murmured the Witness under his breath.  Louder, he said, “Not like I am now.  The more paths he eliminates, the fewer I am seeing moving around us.  I would expect that at some point, even if he were to kill the entire town, that he would open up this prison he has created to carry his torture elsewhere.  But that would allow other paths to enter my sight, to give room for the changes his continued existence caused.”

“
There aren't any, are there?” asked Dart softly.  She knew where this was going.

“
No, there are not.  I don't see any new paths entering.  Not one.”

Dart let silence hang between them for a moment before asking, “We're going to die here, aren't we?”

The Witness turned his strange eyes on his companion.
Odd
, thought Dart,
that I never before noticed his eyes were golden...

“
I still see paths, which means there are still
possible
futures.  I am just not seeing new ones crossing them.”

“
But does that mean we are going to die?” Dart asked again.

“
It means, I believe he intends to kill himself, and to take us all with him.  I believe that he will eventually bring the wall of water down on us all.  You and I might survive that, I don't know.  But it means that eventually, everyone else
will
die.”

“
Have ya seen tha', then?” came Gravin's voice from behind the pair. 

Dart jumped, but the Witness remained poised and unmoved. 
He knew the bastard was coming!  The least he could have done is warn me!

“
No,” responded the Witness.   “I do not see you killing yourself.  As I have said, your killing people has made it impossible for me to keep track of all the new paths you create.”

“
There're a lot less folks 'round now,” responded Gravin.  “At some point, it has ta start gettin' easier.  How many more would ya say I need ta kill 'fore ya can catch up?”

A flash of anger passed across the Witness' face before he could suppress it.  “I would not want to even consider something like that.”

“
So there's limits, then?” asked Gravin.  “Ya has a point ya won' cross?”

The hairs on the back of Dart's neck rose sharply.  There was something else going on here, something that she had not considered. 
Do these two share a past?

Gravin crouched in front of the Witness, staring up into the immortal's suddenly blank face.  Apparently, the Witness had caught the reference, as well.

“Din' think ta ask how I knew who ya was, didja?  Ya don' 'member me, I'd wager.  I was na the one ya came ta watch when I saw ya.”

“
Your path is closed to me while you are bound to that.”  The Witness nodded his head toward where the sword was embedded in the floor.

“
Does ya 'member Purtsy?  Town down the coast inta Welshire?  Oh, woulda been thirteen years gone now?”

“
Of course,” responded the Witness. 

“
An' who was ya there ta watch?”

Awareness dawned in the Witness' eyes.  “You are
that
Gravin.”

“
Aye,” said their captor.  “Tha' one.  Ya came ta watch my sister, dincha?”

“
Not exactly.  I came to witness the conception of your nephew.”

“
Ya came to watch my sister be raped by 'er own sire!”  Gravin's features twisted in revulsion.  “Ya came ta watch, and tha's all ya did!  Ya coulda saved my ma, ya coulda saved my
sister
--”

“
I only witness, Gravin,” interrupted the immortal man.  “I never interfere.”

“
Well, now yer gonna watch aplenty.  An' yer gonna know tha' the
only
reason I'm doin' what I'm doin' is 'cause I wanted ya ta
watch
.  I wanted ya to know tha' no' a single life woulda been taken if you had no' been here.  This is all 'cause o' ya bein' here, 'cause ya jus'
had
ta watch.”

Gravin stood up with a sneer on his face at the sound of one of his men returning.  “Well, I'm givin' ya somethin' ta watch now, ain't I?”

The embittered man turned to see his assistant bring in a child, a girl of no more than ten.  She kicked and screamed, and the sounds of a woman's wails outside told the tale of whose child was being sacrificed.

“
'Ad ta break 'er legs 'fore I could get the runt free,” laughed the man nervously.  “She can count as my next 'un, sure?”

Gravin did not utter a word as he stormed across the room and grabbed the child by her hair.  With a great lurch, he pulled the girl off the ground and flung her bodily in the Witness' direction.  The child landed forcefully at Dart's feet, the air knocked from her lungs.

Dart began to reach down to pull the child up, but the Witness gripped her arm hard.  She began to protest, but one look at his eyes told her how much danger they were both in at the moment and she relented without comment.

Gravin had recrossed the room and once again lifted the child into the air, by the nape of her neck this time.  “Tell me, Witness – does she 'ave a future?  Do ya see 'er growin' up ta 'ave children o' her own?”  When the immortal did not respond, Gravin shook the child brutally.  “Does she?!” he demanded.

The Witness took a deep breath, then nodded silently.  He saw her future.  But he must also have known what his admission would cost him.

“
Yer wrong,” said Gravin.  Without warning, the skin of the girls neck bulged horribly, bloating like an overripe fruit.  In an instant, her neck had filled with fluid and her face puffed and bulged.  Her panicked eyes pleaded with the two people rooted before her, incomprehension and confusion masking what must have been incredible pain.  Then the child's body could no longer contain what was being done to her, and her neck ruptured outward, splaying her blood and tissue all over Dart and her companion.

“
Yer wrong,” repeated Gravin, casting the body aside. 

The monster was about to say more, when his head suddenly jerked to the side, his eyes focused on something unseen.  “Wha's that?”

Dart felt it, as well.  A glance at the Witness confirmed they all felt it.  It was a sense of power, but unlike anything Dart had ever felt before in her long, long existence.

“
What
is
that?” mimicked Dart.  “I've never felt anything like that in my life.”

“
I have,” said the Witness.  “That is the presence of a God.  A God has breached the walls around Levitz.”

Avery sat on the grass across from Viola. He looked deeply into her eyes, searching for some sign that what he had just told her had not driven a new wedge between them.

“So...  You can lose your power?”

The former heretic nodded, but it was Hamil who responded.  “A God is only as powerful as the faithful who believe in him.  But no matter how many believe in a God, if something were to block the devotion of his faithful, he would be powerless.  He could possibly even die.”

Viola's eyes darted to her lover in panic.  “Are you going to die?”

Avery reached out and took Viola's hand.  “No, I am not going to die.  But we have discovered that whatever was in that pit back there, it tried to take away my power.  Which means it could be dangerous to do what I am going to suggest.”

The would-be-God took a deep breath, then continued.  “You have a piece of that...  black...  whatever it was.  Whatever fell from the sky.  You took a piece, right?”

Viola's other hand went reflexively to cover the pocket of her skirt. 

“Yes, that.  If I am right – and I hope that I am – that piece won't be big enough to affect me like the larger piece did before, but if it can block divine power like mine, then it should be able to also do the same to the magical power holding up the wall of water.”

Viola glanced at the enormous wall, now some distance away.  The trio had walked some distance back and away from the small community surrounding the outskirts of where Levitz had once been.  Avery had wanted isolation from any but his most trusted companions as he discussed the possibility of losing his power.  Even Aaron had been asked to remain behind, in spite of the officer having portrayed a certain amount of commitment in Avery's servitude.  If he was going to entrust anyone with the knowledge that he could soon be powerless, it was not going to be with someone he had only met that morning.

Viola's hand darted from covering the pocket to reaching inside.  Avery did not wait to see whether her intention was to draw out the object of their conversation before releasing her right hand to close in over her left.

“
No, don't pull it out yet.  I want to make sure we are all agreed on how this will work.  We need to test it, sure, but we need to be careful about it.”

Avery looked over his shoulder at Hamil.  The scribe stood behind him, but it was plain to see that he was resisting the urge himself to run.  The strange little scribe had some kind of power – that much was certain.  And he had all but admitted that the fallen debris had also affected him, though he had not been in any way specific about it. 

Turning again to face Viola, Avery gave her concealed hand a reassuring squeeze.  “We know it doesn't hurt you, so you are the only one we know can handle it safely.  But we need to see if there's anyway that
I
can.  Which means we need to do this in slow stages.”

“
The one thing – about the only thing really we know for sure, really,” offered Hamil, “– is that it has an area of affect.”  When Viola only stared at him blankly, he added, “At a distance, it stops working.”

Avery nodded his agreement.  “We also know that if this doesn't work, it won't affect me permanently.  Otherwise, my power would not have returned after what we encountered in the crater.  So if something goes wrong, we only have to get it away from me, or – as you have found – hide it away.  It seems that if it's not open to the air, its effect stops, too.”

“Which truly does not make any sense, at all,” muttered Hamil under his breath, though Avery heard him quite clearly.

Avery shot a look at Hamil to silence him, lest Viola overhear.  He then turned his attention back to her.  “So what I was thinking,” he went on for Viola's benefit, “is that first we need to see how much this one piece you have affects me.  We only experienced it when we were by the larger piece, so there's a chance this won't be nearly as strong.”

Sort of counting on that, actually
, thought Avery.

The would-be-God waited for Viola to say something.  So much relied upon her cooperation, and Avery was still not completely convinced that her doubts had been vanquished.  What would her reaction be to learning that her God was not as all-powerful as he had portrayed himself to be?

“Just tell me what to do, Avery,” said the former barmaid at last.

Avery stood up, urging Viola to join him.  At the same time, he nodded to Hamil, who moved away from the pair.

Viola did not miss the hasty retreat, though.  “Where's he going?”

“We decided,” Avery offered, “that one of us should not be too close in case we might need help.  It's just a precaution, that's all.”

The truth of the matter was that Hamil had resisted any real effort to test the object.  His plan had simply been for Viola to throw it at the wall and stand back to see what happened.  Avery had countered that it could just as easily destroy the entire wall and kill everyone inside if they did that.  Hamil's reaction had been shocking.

“At least then we'd know,” the scribe had shrugged.

Ever since Avery had revealed his deductive reasoning of Hamil's hidden talents, the scribe had become almost surly in the way he spoke.  It was as if revealing the facade over the scribe possessing secret abilities had also exposed a far less complacent personality, as well.  And Avery was not entirely certain he was going to like the person that was being revealed now for the first time.

The two had reached a compromise though.  It involved Avery taking all of the risk, and Hamil standing aside in reserve.  Avery knew it was more a fear of the object – whatever it was – stripping the scribe of his own power – whatever
that
was.  Assuring Hamil he could remain a safe distance away had been the only bargain that the young man had been willing to consider.

Viola raised her right hand to cup the side of her lover's face.  “Are you sure about this, Avery?”

The man nodded.  “I have to be,” he responded.

All at once, Avery felt his insides split apart and his brain exploded in pain.  All awareness of his surroundings vanished as he felt himself exploding in a thousand different directions, held together by the sheerest of threads.

Just as suddenly as it had onset, the disorientation and pain were gone, and Avery found himself retching on the ground.  He was vaguely aware of Viola's hand resting on his back, but he could not raise his head to respond – not yet, at least.

After several minutes, Avery felt himself take a full lungful of air, deciding he had endured this indignity long enough.  Sitting back upon his heels, he faced Viola.  “Again.”

Viola's eyes went wide.  “But, Avery--”

“
Again,” he repeated.  “I can do this.  I
have
to do this.  I know what to expect now, so it will be easier.  But I need to find a way to endure this, or we will have no way of entering Levitz.”

When the woman only looked on with disbelief, Avery went on.  “Have you forgotten what Martin said?  I am supposed to face the Godslayer here.  And I have no hope of facing him while he has
One
- not unless I can get my hands on
Two
before he gets here.

“
Viola,” the former heretic pleaded.  “Please.  I need to do this.  I know I can, because I must.”

Tears began to poor down Viola's cheeks, but she bobbed her head in agreement. 

The pain was just as sudden and overwhelming this time as before.  Once more, he felt himself being torn in a million different directions, the center of his being existing in countless places at once.  He thought he must be screaming, but his ears had been disassembled all over the countryside so that he could not hear.  And the pain receptors in his throat that might have registered the anguish of his cry had imploded in upon themselves so that there was absolutely no possibility that any air was passing out of his lungs.

But he was
aware
of his lungs.  He was not at first conscious that he was aware of anything, but eventually – after an eternity of trying to form a cohesive thought – he realized that his lungs
were
real.  And there was
something else there, too.

His heart was caught in a frozen second of time, right at the edge of bursting.  The pain – the incredible anguish – was unbearable.  And yet...

Then it was gone.  The pain, the discombobulation, the very real sense that his body was not a body any longer, but an infinity of tiny exploded – and very raw – nerve endings. It was all gone.

This time, he was on his back, and his throat was raw.  He
had
been screaming, after all.  His head was resting in Viola's lap, and her cheeks were awash with her own pain.

“
Al-almost had it,” managed Avery.  “I can do this.  Please.  Again.”

“
Avery,” came Hamil's voice from afar.  “We are attracting attention from below.  If you scream like that again, there is no way to guarantee that others won't come.”

Avery's mouth split in what he knew must have looked maniacal grimace.  “So I won't scream, then.”

The former heretic closed his eyes and remembered back to all the pain he had suffered in his former life. 
This is nothing compared to all of that
, he tried to convince himself.  He knew it wasn't true, and yet...

If the man took every pain, every bruise, bloodied wound and burned inch of flesh he had suffered through, all the emotional anguish and fear, all the terror and uncertainty he had endured, and he encapsulated that all into a single moment, a finite point of experience...

Then the pain was on him again, and he nearly lost himself again.

Yet he didn't.  Not this time.  Now he had something to compare all this pain to, and the anger, the rage, the frenzied, animalistic desire for carnage and mayhem took over. 

How
dare
the world shun him.  Not
him
!  Not Avery! 
Not me!

The torment, misery and perplexity became the crucible upon which all the pent up fury at what he endured was cast upon.  This was not something to run from, to surrender to.  This was something to challenge, to conquer, to force into submission.  He was
Avery. 
He was a
man
, by the Old Gods!  And he deserved – no, he
demanded
– respect, and by all the Pit's demons, he would have it!  And he would have it now!

At the deepest recesses of his being, Avery felt a fire burning outward and he grabbed hold of it, twisting it, directing it at the source of his pain.  At first he intended to crush the pain, to obliterate it from existence.  Some kind of divination took hold of him as he saw a new, better way.  He needed the pain, because if he conquered it, he somehow knew inherently that he would destroy the power behind it.  And he
needed
that power.  He could not exactly remember what he needed it for, but he
did
need it.

Avery opened his eyes and looked around him.  Viola lay upon her back, as though she had fallen backwards.  She looked up at him in awe and fear, uncertain apparently whether to flee or accept whatever fate this being before her had envisioned.

The man then noticed that he was laughing.  No, not just laughing – he was actually
cackling!
  No wonder Viola cowered in fear – she must have thought he had been driven mad.

With great effort, Avery forced himself to stop, to calm himself.  He still felt his heart beating fast and hard – and he also felt the fire burning in his hand.  Looking down, he saw his left hand clasped tightly.  He knew what was held there, for every fiber in his being rebelled for him to cast the infernal source of his torment away.

“We need to go now, or not at all,” the self-made God proclaimed.  Without waiting to see if anyone followed, he set out toward the great aquatic barrier looming in the distance. 

Avery envisioned himself running, but all he could manage were deliberate, forceful steps forward.  His perception of time fluctuated, with the wall first nearly a mile away, then somewhat closer, then a mere hundred paces from him.  The disorientation he experienced was still trying to dominate his senses, he realized.  And he did not know how much longer he could hold onto his own determination.  So far, his unconscious control kept him moving towards the wall, but there was no guarantee that in a moment of lost control that he might simply release the mysterious object he kept hidden in his hand.

Before he realized it, Avery stood a dozen paces from the wall.  He had not remembered stopping to stare at the edifice, but clearly he had, for there he stood. 

“
We need...” Avery managed to start speaking, without any assurance he had any idea what he was going to say, “You and I, Hamil.  We need to take this slowly.”

"I don't understand your reasoning,” came Hamil's voice.  Avery must have known that his scribe was nearby, because he certainly had not been able to take his eyes away from the massive aquatic structure in front of him.

“You have to promise me,” said Avery, ignoring the scribe's confusion, “that if the wall looks like it will collapse, to take this thing from me.”