Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos (26 page)

***

Nikira gazed
out at the blue fire dome of her base as she awaited the arrival of
the officials who had boarded Retribution two hours earlier,
representatives of the base leadership. The atmosphere on the
bridge was tense and a little excited. The ship had been docked for
only three hours, but already she could sense officialdom clamping
down. Five hours ago she had dropped off Bane’s group and the rest
of the refugees on an area of sandy ground just beyond the rock
outcrop that hid it from the city. Ethra had brought his
instructions to her, and her ability to understand the girl told
her that one of the three gods was nearby.

The refugees
had been left with supplies for several days and tents. Nikira
envied them, for Bane would return for them, while she would
probably never see him again. Again she wondered why he had found
her advances so offensive, or whether he merely found her
repulsive. Probably, she thought bitterly, because she had tortured
him, but perhaps because he was married, although that had not
posed a problem for past lovers. She wore her uniform once more,
drawing courage from its gold trimmings to face what lay ahead.

A tall,
balding official stepped out of the lift, followed by two shorter
flunkies, the kind who fawned and agreed with their senior, and
took notes. Nikira and the crew stood up and saluted, and he walked
over to her.

“
Commander Nikira. I’ve finished reading your reports, and
questioned Senior SciTech Drontar and his fellows. My colleagues
and I have reached a consensus. Drontar and his comrades will be
released immediately, and you’re to be placed under
arrest.”

“
On what charge, sir?”

“
Treason.”

A soft hiss of
surprise came from the bridge crew, and the official glanced
around, silencing them. “You’ll accompany me to the base prison
now.”

“
I request a meeting with Governor Predoran to discuss matters
of the utmost importance.”

He nodded.
“I’ll inform him of your request.”

“
Thank you, sir.”

The official
led her to the lift, and the crew saluted as she left the bridge.
The trip to prison passed in a blur, her mind numb with shock and
disbelief. She was processed in with swift efficiency, stripped of
her insignia and taken to a cell, where she sat and stared at the
wall, her heart filled with misery and dread.

Chapter Eleven

Tarnished
Light

Bane flew over
a bright city with Drevarin and Kayos, the dark power thrumming
through him with its familiar malice. The metropolis shimmered
under a translucent blue dome like a bed of diamonds, and several
ships similar to Nikira’s docked beside towering glass spires. They
had left the ship with the refugees, and now approached the
colossal Realm Gate, passing over the lesser fire dome. Drevarin
kept them invisible, thereby allowing them to see each other. Bane
followed Kayos into the Gate, swooping under flying traffic to land
on the diamond sand, which appeared tarnished, most of its sparkle
gone.

Kayos led them
into a massive, pillared Gate Hall that seemed to be made of snow
or ice. Diamonds sparkled in the pillars, but dirt stained the
intricately carved walls with streaks of yellow and brown, and soot
gathered in runic symbols of immense power. Many of the diamonds
had been pried out, leaving the glinting columns pitted with dark
holes, like pockmarks.

The humans who
had sullied it had converted the Gate Hall into an eatery. Moulded
plastic tables and chairs furnished it, filled with men, women and
children enjoying an afternoon’s outing in the light realm. Groups
of tourists followed guides into the cloud gardens, which also bore
the stamp of corruption, stained grey and lacking their glow, the
silver filigree trees almost bereft of their cloud leaves. Bane
glanced up at the sky, which should have been a swirling medley of
rainbow hues, but instead was dark turquois.

Kayos followed
his gaze. “The light realm is dormant, like its owner.”

The Grey God
led them into the tarnished gardens, away from the gazebo on the
far side of the hall. The numberless mortal visitors had formed a
broad avenue in the clouds, and tourists thronged it, laughing and
pointing. They filled containers with diamond sand while their
children rolled in the clouds, shredding them. Shops and inns lined
the avenue, and they passed a theme park where pools had been built
and children gambolled, laughing at clowns and entertainers.

The people
certainly enjoyed the light realm, Bane mused, but, judging by
Kayos and Drevarin’s tight-lipped expressions, it was forbidden.
The avenue continued for miles, past great tracts of rolling, misty
land filled with fragile trees and drifting clouds, scintillating
diamond cliffs and alabaster mountains. Fountains of pure water fed
sweet streams that gurgled over crystal beds and formed glistening
lakes whence soft skeins of mist arose to drift away on the
breeze.

Bane had
always thought that light realms were small, and their true
immensity surprised him. People disported themselves everywhere,
camped beside sleek flying vehicles and picnicked in the clouds.
Young couples courted amid the sparkling trees and lay together on
the soft white sand, leaving behind their garbage.

As Kayos led
Bane and Drevarin deeper into it, they found private mansions built
from pale material similar to that which they had seen aboard the
ship. People gyrated to loud music in drunken orgies, naked men and
women rutted in the soiled splendour of a light god’s realm. The
depths of debauchery to which they had sunk surprised Bane. There
were even demons in man form amongst them, enjoying the fruits of
corruption.

They arrived
at the foot of a vast, sparkling mountain that shone with pale
light, a last bastion of purity amid the defiled majesty. A crowd
jostled for position in front of a sweeping archway of carved
alabaster inlaid with diamonds, set into a sheer cliff. Kayos led
them around the throng, which gaped and pointed at a glowing gate
within the archway, where brilliant wards meshed the air in a fiery
web. To Bane’s amazement, a group of men used strange machinery to
try to meddle with the wards.

Kayos snorted.
“Fools.”

“
Could they succeed?”

He shot Bane a
scathing glance. “Never. A birthing chamber is impregnable.”

“
But you know how to get in, I assume?”

“
I have not tried it before, but I think I can.”

“
Will it let me in?”

Kayos shook
his head. “You will have to cast out the rest of your power.”

“
Why could you not Move into it?”

“
Because it has white wards, like a domain’s boundaries. There
is no key to this gate. It will open for the light god of this
domain, and no other.”

Bane sighed,
gazing at the portal. “Why do I get the impression that this is
going to take a while?”

“
It will not take as long as you think, if it is going to work
at all.”

Bane walked up
the slope on one side of the overcrowded road and sat down with
Drevarin, letting the remnants of his power seep away in a blue
glow. He had used up most of it on the journey into the domain.
Kayos approached the portal and stopped a few yards from the crowd,
which the slopes on either side of the pathway penned in. He stood
a short way up the slope, where no one would bump into him, and
contemplated the chamber for several minutes, his expression
pensive. As Bane lost interest, the Grey God raised his arms and
drew shining runes in the air with both hands, which floated
towards the portal.

Bane glanced
at Drevarin. “Do you know what he is doing?”

The light god
smiled. “I have no idea. This is beyond my skills, or yours, for
that matter. Probably something only a Grey God knows how to
do.”

The crowd did
not appear to see the runes. Some people left and others joined,
pointing odd instruments at the gate that clicked and whirred. For
several more minutes, Kayos sent white runes into the portal, which
absorbed them, then it sent back a stream of shining symbols. Kayos
spread his hands to receive them, his face a study of concentration
as they vanished into his palms. When the stream of runes ended,
Kayos stood like a statue, pondering. Bane picked up a handful of
diamond sand and sifted it through his fingers.

Drevarin
nudged him. “I think he communicated with the portal, and it
replied.”

Bane snorted
and smiled, nodding.

Kayos wrote a
second series of runes in the air, sending them into the gate. It
replied with a shorter string of symbols, which he pondered once
more, his head bowed. Bane yawned and closed his eyes, studied the
crowd’s tainted souls and noted that two of the men who tried to
open the birthing chamber were demons. The crowd’s number grew and
shrank as people came and went. Since there was no night in the
light realm, it served as a full-time holiday resort. Time crawled
past as Kayos stood immobile, lost in contemplation of the task
before him, probably plumbing the depths of his considerable
knowledge for a way to open the gate.

Kayos raised
his head and spoke in a whispery, lilting voice that made Bane’s
nape hairs bristle. The crowd muttered, and the men around the
machine looked up in surprise.

Bane glanced
at Drevarin. “What did he say?”

“
I cannot translate those words. They are used to command the
white power. I would not be able to understand the words you use to
command the shadows, and you could not translate those either. All
I can tell you is that he used his name.”

“
Is that significant?”

Drevarin
nodded. “When a command is used in the name of a Grey God, his
traits are brought to bear. In the case of Kayos, his is probably
the most powerful name of all, since it commands the very essence
from which all things are made.”

The ground
trembled, and the muttering crowd surged back in alarm. The men
around the machines shouted, pushing flashing buttons on their
strange mechanisms. The white wards that laced the air before the
arched doors flickered, and Kayos turned and beckoned. Bane rose
and approached him, Drevarin close behind. Kayos gripped his arm
and flashed a meaningful glance at Drevarin, who took hold of
Bane’s other arm. The Demon Lord frowned, a little put out at being
handled, and Kayos pulled him towards the gate.

“
I trust you have no more power,” Kayos muttered.

“
No.”

“
Good, because if you do, this will hurt a lot.”

They passed
through the flickering wards with only a slight shock tingling
Bane’s skin, and stopped before the carved gate. Behind them, the
wards became steady once more, and Bane eyed them as Kayos examined
the runes on the doors. Curious, Bane stuck his finger into one of
the ward lines, and snatched it back with a hiss of pain.

Drevarin
chuckled. “If you had asked, I would have told you that would
hurt.”

“
Some things I like to find out for myself, since a lot of
rules do not seem to apply to me.”

Kayos glanced
around. “He is right, Drevarin. He has many advantages, being
mortal, but passing through white wards is not one of them.”

“
Is that all that prevents you from passing through them?
Pain?”

“
No.” Drevarin grinned. “That was only a warning. If you tried
to walk through them, you would be flung back. No one can pass
through white wards, except angels.”

Bane grunted,
and Kayos ran his hands over the runes on the doors. They glowed
briefly as he read them, and he looked thoughtful, then pressed his
palms to several, activating them. The arcane symbols filled with
pearly light, and after a moment there was a soft grating as a
giant stone lock disengaged. The twin doors unsealed with a click,
and a line of light shone through the gap. Kayos pushed against
one, which swung inwards to reveal a round chamber that brilliant
ward lines webbed with searing light.

Bane eyed
them. “Hellfire.”

Kayos cast him
a smile. “Nothing is quite so well protected as an unborn god.”

The men
outside shouted at the sight of the open door, then one tried to
charge through the wards. He was flung back with a shriek of agony,
his clothes smoking, the lines of charred cloth matching the wards’
pattern.

Bane snorted.
“Fool. He should have stuck a finger in them first.”

Drevarin
chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “How does yours fare?”

Bane held up
the offended digit. “Still attached.”

Kayos said,
“Will you two be quiet?”

The Grey God
raised a hand and wrote a single shining symbol in the air, which
drifted across the chamber.

As it reached a set of runes on the far wall, Kayos whispered,
“
Sssssethin
.”

The wards
vanished, and a faint chime rang out. At the same moment, a domed
object shaped like a casket began to glow.

“
That means disarm,” Drevarin said.

“
I think I could have figured that out,” Bane
remarked.

Kayos entered
the chamber and stopped beside the silver casket, which was at
least seven feet long, five feet high and four feet wide at its
base. Bane wandered around it, studying it, and Drevarin gazed at
it with shining eyes. Hundreds of runes covered the chamber’s
walls, some grouped together to form words. The domed casket was
unadorned, and looked out of place. Kayos ran his hands over it,
its glow brightening where he touched it.