Demiourgos (46 page)

Once the man was free of the press of soldiers he spoke and amplified his voice so it could reach them. “I demand that the elves of the lost wood surrender themselves and their lands to the sorcerer lord Rahknand. Failure to surrender to our demands will bring down the wrath of the ruler of this continent. You have five minutes.”

Rose narrowed her eyes and stood with her feet apart and her arms pointed skyward. The coward arcanist scurried away back into the crowded ranks of the army. They began advancing so it was clear they knew she would not surrender. For Rose, the Rage came easier to her this time and the hot fires burning around her skipped the silvery sheen again and slid straight to gold. Summoning up every bit of power within her and around her she swept her arms downward then up and across the gathered army. The sands before the mass of humanoids swept upward in a wall that almost reached her feet. Taking a deep breath she cupped her hands and held them up toward the sun then gestured as if she were casting water against it. A tendril of hot fire swept across the wall of sand burning and charring it to the point of solidifying the red sand into a wall of red-tinged glass. The process took a lot of her power but she poured more into it. Rose lifted from the ground and finished pouring the heat of the sun across the sands.

She took a second to recover and then she sucked in a deep breath. Rose leaned forward, put her arms behind her and screamed loudly sweeping the magically charged waves across the tall glass wall causing it to shatter into large shards and fly out into the gathered ranks of the enemy. The death below her could be heard and she tried not to let it affect her. The glass missiles skewered many of the attackers wounding and killing as they flew at impossible speeds. Rose fell to her knees and gasped a few times refusing to let the Spellrage drop. There were still so many below her, too many for one person to count. With a glance back at the gathered casters she met Liostro’s eyes. She knew that her golden-flamed visage could not be beautiful to him anymore but she stood there for a moment looking from Barius, Noranda, Avreel, then again to Liostro.

“No don’t do it!” Liostro suddenly shouted as he gathered her intent.

Without speaking another word she used a bit of magic to propel herself out into the center of the crowded army. Her body flew free into the wind and when she was where she needed to be she used a wave of force to send herself toward the sands. The impact jarred her and the waves of fiery energy that erupted from the point of impact burned many in a large radius. On her knees she fought to recover quickly and as she did Rose drew her sword and began the dance. Liostro had taught her how to fight in her own way, the dances of her former master’s palace mixed with the rhythm of her sweeping blade. She whirled and twisted, dipped and dodged throughout the gathered masses. Her sword sliced clear through all of them and their weapons melted upon the flames of her rage. Rose could feel herself tiring so she began drawing power from the gathered casters and the earth around her. They charged her again and fed her stores of magical energy as she sent golden flames among them in scythes and whips. Men and monsters alike burned and died under her blade and fire.

She could not keep the assault going for long so she stopped for a moment looking around for her quarry. Rose could feel him gathering his power as he drained both the men and earth around him as if they were nothing. Her eyes spied him and she crouched down. She leapt forward and used the flames to propel her toward her goal. The hot furnace within her was dwindling and she knew she was in trouble even before she slammed into the sorcerer lord’s body. She was causing no damage but his protective wards flared brightly. The force of her impact knocked them both down to their knees and she felt several of her elven allies weaken and stem the flow of power. The flames around her began to wane and in her desperation she turned to the only other plentiful source nearby.

Breaking the rule she had decided on herself, Rose began draining and slaying the army around her. In the back of her mind her conscience was screaming and pleading for her to stop but her body just wouldn’t listen. The horror she felt in the back of her mind did nothing to stop the Rage from continuing on. Those closest combatants to her blackened and died instantly and still others further away fell to their knees. She could not feel more like a parasite at that moment. The dying flames around her shifted from golden to an inky black mass of writhing energy. The feel of the power she was gathering was intoxicating. At the heart of the dark mass she stood laughing even as the sorcerer himself, seemingly immune to her draining influence, sent a powerful bolt of lightning from his hands directly at her. Rose absorbed it into herself and spread her arms out toward him as if to embrace the scared opponent. The writhing energy snaked outward and grasped him tight then squeezed and shook him as if he were nothing.

Sand erupted around her and blinded her causing her to stagger backward. Her hold loosed and she flung her arms out wide and a burst of air pushed the sand away. Snarling openly Rose crossed her arms in front of her head and body just in time to catch a ball of sand, fire and rock square in her face. The large projectile buffeted and bruised her. When she finally recovered her sight she gasped. Two large elementals were forming from the ground, both made of earth and sand. The first was close enough to strike at her even though it was half-formed. She flung her arms above her head and a small shell of rock shaped around her.

The elemental grabbed the shell and crushed it in its fingers, looking confused when Rose was nowhere to be seen. She burst from below it putting a hand on its chest while she was still half-buried in the sand. Her draining touch weakened it and it began to crumble even as the other pitched a ball of earth at her outstretched arm. Rose dove back down beneath the waves of sand and moved a few feet before bursting forth to face her opponents. A wave of force knocked her to her face in the hot dunes. She knew it had originated from the sorcerer lord. Rolling with the coming hit she knew was flying toward her she avoided the heavy hand of the elemental five times before recovering. Once she was on her knees she put her hands above her head and caught its fist with a spray of fire.

The creature screamed a rocky grating noise and put the smoldering stump of its arm into the earth to recover. When it did she blasted it with another wave of fire, pinning the creature to the sand by its knees and half-formed arm. Rose turned around to the wizard and stretched out a hand toward another of the mixed elemental balls of earth, sand and fire. Using a blast of air she propelled it back toward him and followed the attack by raising her hands and bringing them both down in a cross before her. Two waves of sand flew impossibly fast toward him so that all three hit him at the same time. She watched in satisfaction as the wizard fell backward and willed herself down into the sand just before the half-melted elemental flung its body down as if to squash her against the earth.

Traveling through the shifting stinging grains she exited barely a few strides from the struggling man. Her power was almost ended so she grabbed him tight; an embrace that was followed by a swift drain of his life force. The scream that came from his half-scaled lips echoed against the rock of the mountain and his eyes and mouth lit up with a burning flame even as his body crumbled into dust leaving nothing but a pile of ash that was taken up by the desert wind. The elemental fell to the ground in a heap and Rose did the same. Tears escaped her eyes when she realized that once again she had broken a rule that she held sacred. Leonidus had been right, in the end she was turning out to be just like them all. In the distance she could hear the sound of battle erupting from the ranks of the gathered army but the rage was spent and her body gave in to the sputtering black flames.

It was like she was falling endlessly in some dream-like landscape akin to the astral fade. Her vision blurred a little as she tumbled head over heels and fought to keep from blacking out. Every now and again she would hear a metallic clanging as if some sort of battle was raging. She couldn’t remember anything, her name, her face or even why she was here. The feeling of anonymity felt wrong to her but there was nothing in her mind or on her mind save the feeling of floating away into the light and dark. Something was itching at the back of her mind but she couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she tried.

“Rose.”

“That is my name.” She said in reply and nearly jumped at the sound of her own voice. Her eyes gazed around again and again and all she saw was the rocks tumbling by her or was she tumbling by them. Honestly Rose couldn’t tell which it was. A sensation of burning hit her, heat and discomfort but again there was no way to pin it down. Her senses were failing her but she did not know how she knew that.

“Rose!”

The voice was desperate, she knew it. There was recognition there but Rose couldn’t put her finger on it. Someone she knew, something she had to do. The reason she was where she was, the truth behind her journey. “What journey?”

“The one that will end you, Alethia Rose Nalfys.”

This voice was different from the others. Power was behind it, an earth-shattering might that couldn’t be anything less than a god. Suddenly she realized who she was and that her magic was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to make a difference but the one who had planted that seed of knowledge had lied to her.

“It’s not too late; you can still make a difference.” The powerful voice said down to her. “I have followed you since your birth but never have we met. My entire existence has been to watch and learn but a tear in the fabric of time has put you on the wrong path. I tell you now that you can return and you do not have to stray this far and let the rage consume you.”

Her eyes opened wide and she jumped as everything came back to her. She was expecting the mercenaries to be upon her but to her surprise she found her elven allies bunched around her fighting desperately to keep the endless mass of enemies at bay. Liostro stood in front of her and to either side Barius and Noranda were fighting several enemies at once. To her surprise Councilman Taines was behind her and Avreel was standing over her shouting her name. “Everyone form up on me!”

Shakily she stood up and tried to right her senses. The mercenaries that had been advancing on them took a step back when she stood and for that she was thankful because it took a moment for her to find the source of magic at her core. It was stronger again; she had drained another of the ancient beings from the time of old magic and added its power to her collection. Deep inside of her she felt a strong sense of regret but now wasn’t the time to grieve over broken morals. Now that her primary focus was taken care of she noticed that she had come down initially in the midst of the archers that had come with the army, so many of those who were left carried melee weapons alone. Using the same trick the sorcerer lord had used she amplified her voice for all those around her. “You have all seen what I am capable of, retreat and you will be spared. Continue your foolish march and I will kill each and every one of you.”

“If we can get back up to the pass we can hold them off.” Liostro whispered to her. “I don’t know how they planned on getting past the stairwell anyway.”

“The sorcerer lord that Rahknand sent specialized in bending the earth to his will so I am guessing he was going to make a hole in the mountain for them to march right through.” Rose said once she dropped the amplifying spell she had been holding. “Now they will have to climb the mountain themselves and in small groups venture through the caverns, I don’t think…”

Rose threw her hands up suddenly; enacting a mentalist power. A hail of four arrows stopped mid-air and dropped to the ground followed by another volley. She scowled and held the spell for a moment and turned to her companions. “I guess that’s their answer, prepare yourselves.”

In the distance Rose could see the first men of the army climbing their way up the stairs. The elves that had assisted her in channeling magic were grouped at the top throwing whatever weapons they could find. Stones, daggers, one even had a short bow. Rose knew they had to reach the entrance or the gathered elves would be slaughtered. To her surprise what looked like a long line of armed and armored elves began pouring out of the cavern. Several of them stood at the head of the stairwell ready to defend it against the attackers. “Why do they continue? I don’t understand it; they will die in droves trying to climb.”

“Worry about us first!” Liostro shouted as he sliced his blade through an attacking ashkanti’s tail, laying the squirming foe to the ground and shoving the tip of the blade into the flailing creature’s chest to silence it.

Several more of the aggressors were advancing, the decision had been made. She dare not call on the Spellrage again, it was too dangerous. Rose spread her hands wide and then angled them toward the sun as she gathered the heat to her. Everyone around her was already sweating but the sweltering heat increased tenfold as two long tendrils of fire formed on her hands gathering in size as she channeled. “Everyone get closer and touch a part of me or you’ll be burned.”

When all of them had their backs against her she flung her arms down then back upward, twirling them into a twist as her hands clapped together. The two strands of fire grew to the size of small tornados and warped together as they spiraled their way outward. The two long spirals of fire clawed through the ranks of the army and Rose prodded her allies forward taking the lead. Using almost all of the magic she had left she clapped her hands together hard enough for it to hurt and the sands in front of her sprayed forth in a long wave. When she spread her hands apart the wave turned into two walls and pushed their enemies away leaving a small path for them to run through. Time slowed down as the snarling faces of each man, woman and creature they passed loomed out of the diminishing sand wall. Several times Rose had to duck or dodge a blade or some other type of weapon in order to continue on. She had a multitude of nicks and cuts and each one began healing quickly but her body was having trouble keeping up with so many. When they reached the stairs she had more blood on her than sand.

Barius and Noranda lifted her from the ground and carried her up the stairs while Avreel and Taines cleared the way up. Rose glanced behind her and found Liostro climbing the stairs backwards attempting to keep the tide stemmed long enough for them to retreat. Rose nearly passed out twice but they reached the top and the elves standing guard let them through and called for Liostro to retreat. He dispatched his current opponent and broke off from the single-man melee climbing the stairs as quickly as he could with the mercs behind him barely a few paces away.

Her two escorts put her on the ground gently and she collapsed into a heap. The battle started again behind her as Liostro fell down to his knees as well. He looked over at Rose he crawled toward her then put her head in his hands. “If you ever do that again; well, gods help you if you do.”

“I am spent Liostro I can’t even stand.” Rose said through ragged breaths as her body began to heal the hurts just a little faster. “I don’t understand why they aren’t they breaking.”

“I don’t know.” Liostro replied to her as he turned around to watch the elven guard rotate trying to keep their strength up and stem the flow simultaneously. “Their leader is down, the easy way in is lost but they march on.”

“Thrall!” Avreel exclaimed as she came to a conclusion. “The sorcerer lord has them under thrall or they wouldn’t throw themselves at us so recklessly.”

“How do we break it?” Liostro was the first to speak over the din of battle.

“We can’t, this battle will have to play itself out. Our only hope would have been Rose but I doubt even she can break the hold on so many of them.” Avreel indicated the cave. “A tactical retreat may be in order here so we can regroup and gather up our reinforcements.”

“I don’t have time for this; I have to go after Nina.” It was painfully obvious even to herself that she was in no state to pursue Nina but she refused to let any more time come between them. “I have to go, I cannot wait any longer.”

“How exactly do you plan on getting past all of them?” Liostro queried as he lifted her up to her feet and began the retreat. “It’s not as if we have one of those flying ships the detritus had.”

“There’s another way out of the mountain.” Rose was able to stand on her own now so she wobbled along wearily beside Liostro and Avreel. “Barius, Noranda, the two of you lead the others out of the caverns. Send your fastest runner to gather the rest. Liostro, Avreel and I are heading for the deepingway.”

“May the watchful lord be with you.” Barius said as they all saluted the trio breaking off from the main group into a side cavern.

With their armed escort gone Rose took up the lead. Each step saw her just a little stronger than the last. Liostro kept a watch at the rear and Avreel walked beside her keeping an eye on the familiar-looking caverns around them. Rose knew few inhabitants of the deep caverns came this far up but there were still dangers to be wary of. “The deepingway is a place of commerce left over from when my people owned this mountain and much of the surrounding lands. Not much lives here but several things still walk the corridors.”

“By the gods I hope you don’t mean undead.” Avreel shivered a little and took a breath to steady herself. “How do you know all of this?”

“I think most of it is Leonidus. When I absorbed his power it was different from the rest. I recovered quickly and he left some knowledge the wake of his passing. There are things swirling around in my head and the more I try to sort through it the more jumbled it gets. I overhear snatches of conversations I never had and feel memories I should not know.” Rose turned her head to make sure Liostro was still following them. “We must get to Nina before they can take her before the sorcerer lord.”

“What are you going to do if they get her there first?” Avreel questioned, glancing over at Rose then going back to inspecting the caverns for danger. “It’s not as if you can take on one of the sorcerer lords yet.”

Rose was silent and when Avreel attempted to question her again she just shot a glance at the perplexed elf and shrugged her shoulders. There was something brewing in the back of her mind. She knew it was from Leonidus, some forgotten lore he had discovered but she wasn’t ready to reveal her secret yet. It was a long shot but worth a try if she needed to confront Rahknand. The cavern gave way to a set of stairs that led downward and the walls that were before uncut and rough-hewn gave way to smooth stonework that seemed to be carved out of one solid block. She knew that her people had used spells to carve their seemingly impenetrable kingdom out of the mountain itself. The torches that lit the way had long since expired and Rose had dared use a little magic to conjure several dancing balls of light that floated and flitted around like faeries playing in the wind. After the long decent they walked into a larger chamber that led the trio past stone shops and storefronts long sense forgotten and unused.

Having never seen the home of her people she drew her blade and held it aloft and used it as a focal point to cast another spell, this one with enough light to illuminate even up to the high ceiling. They all gasped. Even Avreel, from the most beautiful and deadly city below the earth, found her voice taken. The walls were carved deeply depicting the history of the naarabian people in such detail that Rose could have mistaken the large carved bodies for living beings had she not known better. At the end of the long walk with the intricate carvings they came to a crossroad. To their left and right were more passageways lined with stone columns that touched the high stone chamber’s roof. Their attention was on what was in front of them though. Before them stood a large black metal door with golden jackals for knockers, it was awe inspiring. The door knockers had rings that Liostro could stand in and not touch the top. The double doors were closed and the golden rivets that lined it shimmered in the intense light. Dust and debris stirred around them thicker here and in the distance down one of the corridors they could hear a loud series of groans.

“If we weren’t in such a hurry…” Avreel let the thought lapse as she turned around eyed the corridor behind them. “We’re in trouble.”

“What is it?” Liostro said with his sword raised before him.

Avreel focused her concentration. “I sense undead behind us and they are close but I didn’t sense them there before. It is one of my abilities as a priest of the watchful lord; I am always alert to the movements of the dead. The Darkwatcher despises undead creatures.”

“I’m not so fond of them myself.” Liostro replied to her over his shoulder. “Right then Rose, lead us out of here before we become trapped.”

“We need to head down to the right. There is a passageway that leads downward and out of the mountain through a hidden door. Leonidus kept that knowledge to himself in case his people needed to evacuate.” Rose put a hand on the side of her head and sighed. “It’s getting fuzzy.”

“Just go!” Liostro shouted, pushing them toward the right hand passage.

Before they could continue Avreel grabbed Rose by her black-and-red vestments and pulled her to halt. With closed eyes she stood stone-still for several breaths while Liostro watched the corridor behind them and to each side. “We’re surrounded.”