Mistress Of The Ages (In Her Name, Book 9) (42 page)

Finished with those nearest her, she found herself behind a Ka’i-Nur who was about to kill one of the honorless ones. With a blindingly fast slash of her blade, she took the enemy’s head from his shoulders.
 

The honorless one looked up at her, eyes wide, as the Ka’i-Nur’s body fell to the floor. “Keel-Tath,” he breathed.

She had no time to hear more before she found herself standing beside the warrior who knelt on the floor, pouring lightning, pouring his very life, into the ancient portal. His hands were charred and blackened, the armor on his forearms red hot, and yet still he held open the bridge between here and
there
.
 

She nearly dropped her sword as recognition swept over her. “Tara-Khan,” she whispered, her mind refusing to believe her eyes.

“Quickly, my love,” he gasped. “Syr-Nagath…she has gone through the portal!”

Tearing her eyes from the love she had been sure was lost, Keel-Tath turned to see Syr-Nagath running across the chamber to reach the crystal. Putting her hand on Tara-Khan’s shoulder, she closed her eyes and imagined him healed, wishing she had time to hold him and tell him what was in her heart.

But time was a luxury she did not have. With a glance behind her to make sure Sian-Ala’i and the others had the Ka’i-Nur warriors in hand, she reluctantly let go of Tara-Khan before plunging through the portal in pursuit of her quarry.

***

Syr-Nagath ran across the enormous domed chamber toward the pillar on which stood the crystal. She had read and heard accounts of how the other crystals were of differing colors, but the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls was different. It was a light drinking black, so black that in its own way it seemed to glow, radiating darkness into its surroundings. She had never seen the like, but her joy surged as she grew closer, for with every step the power of the crystal grew. Its power surged and ebbed in her blood like white capped waves upon the ocean, and she laughed like a child.
 

Beyond her nearly delirious sense of joy, she could not help but be awed by the chamber itself, because she knew that it was not physically here. Had she cut into the stone of the stairwell where the portal was, she would have found herself amidst the glowing hot forges of the armorers, which was why no door had ever been put there. Whatever this place was, it was apart from reality in a way that she could not understand. That did not, of course, bother her in the slightest. She only understood that the powers of the crystal belonged to the Ka’i-Nur, and that meant they belonged to
her
.

At last, she reached the dais upon which stood the pillar holding the crystal. Gasping in excitement, she reached out with both hands to touch it, to take into herself whatever it might choose to give.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all, because she found she was unable to touch it. It was as if her fingers could almost contact its surface, but not quite. With a howl of fury she lunged forward, slamming her palms against the crystal’s facets, only to be rebuffed. It sat there, tantalizingly close, yet completely out of reach.

“It will only recognize the blood of the chosen one,” a quiet voice spoke from behind her.
 

Turning around, Syr-Nagath confronted Keel-Tath. Like Syr-Nagath, she was covered from head to toe in the blood of those she had slain.
 

Whirling her sword in a circle with her hand, Syr-Nagath said, “Then I shall spill your blood to satisfy it.”

***

Keel-Tath grunted in pain as she was struck by one of the bolts of lightning from Tara-Khan’s hands, but shrugged it off as she dashed after Syr-Nagath. In her mind’s eye, she imagined herself standing at the dais, putting herself in between the crystal and Syr-Nagath, ready to step into the not-space between
here
and
there
.
 

Nothing happened. She tried to leap from the ground to soar through the air, but couldn’t. She could not even project her second sight. Passing through the portal had somehow stripped her of her powers. Even the power of the Bloodsong was somehow muted in this place.
 

Accepting what was without pausing to try and understand why, she bent her head low and charged even faster after her opponent, but she could not hope to catch Syr-Nagath before she reached the dais.

And reach the dais she did. Keel-Tath watched in horror as the Dark Queen reached for the crystal, which radiated a palpable darkness into the chamber, and was relieved when nothing happened.
 

Instantly, she knew why. Among all the crystals, this one was keyed only for her. Even had one of the other priests or priestesses somehow gained access to this place, they would not have been able to draw on the crystal’s power. She wondered at Anuir-Ruhal’te’s foresight in all that she had done, and wondered if any among her race would ever again have such infinite wisdom.

To be certain, it would not be Syr-Nagath. Slowing as she came upon her, Keel-Tath watched in amazement and disgust as the Dark Queen tried to hammer her hands against the crystal, to no avail.
 

Coming to a stop, Keel-Tath said in a quiet voice, “It will only recognize the blood of the chosen one.”

Syr-Nagath turned, spinning her sword in one hand with deadly ease. “Then I shall spill your blood to satisfy it.” She cocked her head. “Or would you simply destroy me with your powers, rather than face a challenge of sword and claw?”

“I grant you the right of challenge,” Keel-Tath allowed, “and vow not to use my powers.” She need not confess to the Dark Queen that her powers had somehow been nullified. She did not know if that, too, was part of Anuir-Ruhal’te’s plan, or perhaps some trap set by her opponents for Keel-Tath. It did not matter now. “But you shall not best my sword.”

“We shall see, child, we shall see.”

Before the last word had left her lips, Syr-Nagath lunged forward, driving her blade in a blindingly fast thrust toward Keel-Tath’s midsection. Keel-Tath parried it as she pirouetted around, timing her movement perfectly to land a brutal strike with one of her elbows to Syr-Nagath’s temple.

Syr-Nagath staggered for a moment but quickly shrugged off the blow. “My congratulations, child,” she granted. Turning, she attacked more cautiously, testing Keel-Tath’s defenses with a series of cuts and thrusts, slowly driving Keel-Tath back.
 

Having had enough, Keel-Tath went on the offensive, her sword flashing in the strange light of the crystal as she, in turn, forced Syr-Nagath to give ground. She began to worry, for she knew that Syr-Nagath was better than this. Keel-Tath, as good as her skills were, should have been fighting for her life, not sparring as if they were young tresh in the arena.

Something was wrong.
 

Syr-Nagath continued to draw out the combat, and it was all Keel-Tath could do not to give in to anger and frustration, to try and bring the duel to a rapid close.

A sudden burst of sound carried through the portal. Looking away from Syr-Nagath for just an instant, Keel-Tath saw that a flood of Ka’i-Nur warriors were attacking her companions. The Dark Queen had just been stringing her along, giving her own warriors a chance to regroup.
 

That single moment of inattention nearly cost Keel-Tath her life. Syr-Nagath, a feral scream on her lips, was suddenly upon her, her sword slashing and thrusting with relentless ferocity.
 

Keel-Tath retreated, desperately fending off Syr-Nagath’s blade. While she fought with every bit of skill Ayan-Dar and Ria-Ka’luhr had hammered into her, and even managed to land a few glancing blows upon her opponent, Syr-Nagath’s superior skills with the sword were fatally evident. With a series of lightning quick overhand blows, Syr-Nagath drove her to her knees. Knocking Keel-Tath’s sword hand aside, Syr-Nagath slashed through the tiny gap between the gauntlet and the armor of Keel-Tath’s forearm, nearly slicing through Keel-Tath’s wrist.
 

With a cry of despair more than pain, Keel-Tath dropped her sword, then held perfectly still as she felt the tip of Syr-Nagath’s blade against her throat.

“Oh, child,” the Dark Queen said, shaking her head, a look of disappointment on her face as she stepped closer, holding her sword steady. “I had hoped for better from you. You were hardly any challenge at all.” With a slight movement of her hand, she pressed her sword against Keel-Tath’s skin, just enough to draw a bead of crimson. “
The blood of the chosen one
, you said. And behold, there it is.”

“Do not do this,” Keel-Tath pleaded. “Do not touch the crystal. You have no idea what will happen to you, perhaps to us all.”

“You, who holds within you the power of the other six crystals — or so you would have us believe — would deny me just one?” Syr-Nagath shook her head slowly as she pressed the blade even deeper against Keel-Tath’s skin, until the thin bead of blood became a trickle. “I think not.” She smiled. “It is time for you to join the Ancient Ones.”
 

As Syr-Nagath shoved her sword down into Keel-Tath’s throat, Keel-Tath snapped her good hand up, deflecting the blade as she twisted her head to the left. The blade sliced through the side of her neck, rending some of the muscles but missing the vital arteries. A brutal kick shattered Syr-Nagath’s right knee. Rolling to her left, Keel-Tath slammed her other foot into Syr-Nagath’s side. Syr-Nagath, screaming, dropped her sword and fell to the unyielding stone floor.

Drawing her dagger, Keel-Tath rolled atop Syr-Nagath, who writhed and twisted, trying to fling her off. With her injured arm, Keel-Tath forced the Dark Queen’s head down against the floor.
 

“Let the Darkness take you,” spat Keel-Tath as she bent her head down to catch Syr-Nagath’s Braid of the Covenant in her teeth, pulling it taut before she sliced through the ebony strands with her dagger.

Syr-Nagath went rigid, as if she had been electrified, and screamed in spiritual agony.

Spitting out the braid, Keel-Tath scrambled to her feet, ignoring the blood pouring from her own neck. She momentarily wondered if she should leave Syr-Nagath to suffer or simply put an end to her. Then she looked toward the portal where her companions were being driven back by the Ka’i-Nur. She caught a glimpse of Sian-Al’ai, whirling through the ranks of enemy warriors, her blood-stained sword gleaming. But Keel-Tath could tell she was slowing, that she was nearing the end of her strength. And if Sian-Al’ai should fall, the others, including Tara-Khan, who was helplessly bound to the portal, would be doomed.
 

Shutting out Syr-Nagath’s cries, Keel-Tath turned to the crystal. While she had been dueling with Syr-Nagath, its power had grown weaker, almost as if it had drawn back to see who would win. Now, however, she could feel it again pulsing in her blood, like waves rising as a great storm approached. She staggered from the surging power as much as the loss of blood from her wrist and neck.
 

Dropping her dagger, she moved toward the crystal, forcing herself deeper into the unnatural darkness radiating from it.
 

As she raised her hands to it, a circular opening in the apex of the dome slowly irised open, revealing the sun high overhead. She knew that it was an illusion of sorts, a manipulation of time and space wrought by the vessel of this Crystal of Souls. But she also knew that the disk of sunlight that now shone on the floor, moving quickly toward the crystal, would bring her a final wave of soul-wrenching agony when the crystal released its fire.

She stood there, arms outstretched, waiting. The power of the crystal, in great waves that beat upon her, quickened into a raging gale that threatened to tear her from her feet. The sunlight moved over the dais, finally striking the crystal.

Instead of blinding light, darkness exploded from the facets, fanning outward toward her, consuming all in its path. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of the pain, she lunged forward, thrusting her hands into the infinite darkness.

From each of the other six crystals she had felt the pain of fire, of cleansing flame. But from the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls she was stricken with cold, as if every cell in her body touched by the dark light had every trace of warmth drawn from it. The agony was that of utter, complete emptiness, of oblivion made flesh. The Bloodsong was washed away by her spiritual scream as all that she was, all she had ever been, was frozen and shattered, the shards cast away into infinity.

***

Syr-Nagath regained her senses just as the iris in the top of the dome opened, revealing the sun. The rays of light shone down, illuminating Keel-Tath, who stood before the Ka’i-Nur Crystal of Souls. Syr-Nagath stared at the white haired child as she waited to receive the crystal’s gift. It took Syr-Nagath a moment to understand the significance of what her eyes were telling her, and a moment longer to act.
 

Biting back the pain from her shattered knee, which seemed a mere ache compared to the vast emptiness left by the now silent Bloodsong in her veins, she crawled to her sword and took it in hand. Struggling to her feet, she limped toward her nemesis, who was oblivious to everything but the crystal before her.
 

The bright circle of sunlight moved upon the dais, then touched the crystal. Syr-Nagath recoiled, throwing an arm over her eyes, as the crystal exploded with darkness so intense that it nearly blinded her. A wave of frigid cold swept out as the light bloomed, and she felt as if she were freezing to death.

One last thing to do before I die
, she thought grimly.
 

Taking one more shuffling step, she thrust her sword through the armor of Keel-Tath’s back, just before the darkness took them both.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Sian-Al’ai, high priestess of the Ima’il-Kush, fought as she had never fought before. The surviving honorless ones who had accompanied Tara-Khan and the warriors brought by Keel-Tath met their foes with unbridled ferocity, but the Ka’i-Nur warriors were like a wall of slashing swords, war hammers, and battle axes that steadily crushed the defenders against the portal. Had Sian-Al’ai not been there, her companions already would have suffered a brutal defeat. With her sword and powers, they were holding their own, but her strength was quickly waning. More and more Ka’i-Nur came charging down the stairway, which was quickly being further repaired by unseen Ka’i-Nur builders.