A Shadow Flame (Book 7) (20 page)

"
That is true. They are all very ancient.
"

"
You call it the time before,
" Brian said. "
Before what?
"

Brian could feel Kroma's reluctance, that it was something about which he did not want to speak.

"
There was a lesson learned, long ago, about the truth of fire,
" Kroma said. "
It is the truth about the darkness, this power that is called the shadow, that it can only be destroyed by truefire, which is a power that can be as dangerous as the shadow itself.
"

"
How can truefire be as dangerous as the shadow?
" Brian asked. "
Isn't this god Kenra using the power of the shadow to corrupt the land, to enslave people and to cause all of these problems? If truefire can stop the shadow and destroy it, then isn't that good?"

"If not for the truth that the last time truefire was used to destroy the shadow, the fire itself nearly destroyed the world,
" Kroma said. "
That is the truth of fire, Brian. It is the nature of what is called truefire, a flame so powerful that if it is truly unleashed, it can create an inferno no less destructive than the shadow."

"
But do the dragons not have the power of truefire
?" Brian asked. "
You can use its power as well. I have seen it and felt it. You used truefire to purify the flows in the dragon lands, and to burn away the poison of the shadow.
"

"
Truefire also appears to be the power that forged the godswords,
" Kroma said. "
Yes, it is a useful power, when focused in specific ways, for single purposes, but one does not fight the shadow in such a singular way, for its nature is to spread like a weed in a field, or the way that rotting mold spreads across food that is left on the plate. The shadow seeks the power or life and consumes it. If the things Lady Ehlena has said is true about your friend, Aaron, it would seem that he understands this, and that may be why he has drawn Kenra's focus, to keep the shadow from spreading further, by tempting it with his power.
"

"
And then what?
" Brian asked. "
Will he be able to destroy it?"

"We can only hope,
" Kroma replied. "
For if he cannot, then it will consume him, and he will become one with it. Then it will fall to us to destroy the shadow.
"

"
And Aaron along with it,
" Brian added.

"
Yes,
" Kroma said. "
And it will be that much more difficult, for I understand that he has great power. If Kenra lays claim to such power, it will only make the dark god and the power of the shadow that much stronger."

"
Then why do we not attack Kenra?" Brian asked. "If we kill Calexis and destroy the god within her, then the shadow will have no life to consume, and the dark magic will fade.
"

"
If it were that simple, we could march up to the palace right now and do exactly that, but even with a godsword, Kenra is not so easy to destroy, nor is the power of the shadow so simple, for the power it would take to destroy the shadow, the way things are now, would surely kill everyone in the city."

"
Tell me, Kroma, what is the shadow?
" Brian asked.

"
It is an ancient power, a kind of magic that consumes other magic, and the essence of life itself.
"

"
And the shadow is older than Kenra,
" Brian said.

"
Yes, and Kenra has foolishly embraced that darkness in his quest for power and he will stop at nothing to have his revenge.
"

"
Why do I get the feeling that there is a whole lot you aren't telling me?
"

"
Because there is much that I am not telling you,
" Kroma said. "
There are many things with which I would not want to burden you, Brian. However, I will say that Kenra has always taken a twisted view things, ever convinced that he is the victim of some trick to weaken him or plot to destroy him, and he has taken that belief and convinced himself that he is right to deceive and destroy others.
"

"
Why would he think that? There must be some reason.
"

"
Brian, you are thinking of Kenra as though he were simply a person, but he is a god, and matters between the gods are far more complicated than you might think. We did nothing to offend Kenra, yet he took offense. And when the other gods tried to help him, he took even greater offense.
"

"
It just does not make sense,
" Brian said. "
I feel as though there must have been something that made him be so angry and distrustful.
"

"
I do not know why he thought it before, for the other gods always offered patience and understanding to Kenra, but he was convinced that we were his enemies, and now, that has become a self-fulfilling truth. He forced our hand, but even then what we did was for his own good.
"

"
What did you do?
" Brian asked.

"
We tried to seal Kenra away from this world, in a place where he would not be harmed, nor could he do any harm. Even though the other gods agreed to leave the world as well, in Kenra's twisted way of seeing things, he still believed it to be a lie and, as you can now see, we did not entirely succeed.
"

"
What is his purpose?
" Brian asked. "
What does he want?
"

"
Kenra seeks power,
" Kroma said. "
He seeks to enslave and control the world. That much has never been more clear.
"

"
Why?
" Brian could not help but ask. "
What good does that do?
"

"
I do not know,
" Kroma told him. "
Perhaps it satisfies his lust for power. I have seen many of Kenra's thoughts and tried to understand my brother but his actions in the world are nonsensical to me. The more I consider it, the more I believe his mind was lost long ago.
"

"
Maybe, but the dark god has planned so many things, organizing the priesthood, tricking Cerric and Calexis, and all kinds of other things, it does not seem that he has lost his mind,
" Brian said.

"
Then perhaps he is simply evil,
" Kroma said. "
It is something that must be considered, and perhaps that is why Stroma eventually chose to break his oath and intended to destroy him.
"

"
What oath was that?
"

"
The gods agreed long ago, that no matter what happened, no matter how strongly we might disagree with one another, that we would not fight each other directly, and that one god would never seek to destroy another," Kroma said.

"
Is that why the godswords were hidden away?
"

"
In a word, yes, but like Kenra they have found their way back into the world, though perhaps much of that is his doing as well."

"
Why not just destroy the godswords?
" Brian asked.

"
I do not know, for they were hidden away before I came to be,
" Kroma told him. "
As you can see, once forged, the weapons are difficult to destroy, even with truefire, which destroys all other things. Strangely, Lexi's fire was able to damage the great axe that was wielded by her brother, and once belonged to the duke of Kandara. Perhaps, with her power, it might be possible to remove such weapons from the world, or perhaps the watcher people might have discovered a way, but we do not know how many godswords exist, so there could always be others that might surface over time.
"

"
The godswords were made for the gods,
" Brian said. "
There are many godswords.
"

"
Yes,
" Kroma replied, his tone almost a question, for he knew what Brian had been thinking.

"
There were once many gods, weren't there?
"

"
In an earlier age, before the world was destroyed, there were many gods.
"

"
And that is the reason for the oath between you and the other four?
"

"
Precisely.
"

"
But it seems that Kenra has broken that oath,
" Brian said.

"
He would claim otherwise,
" Kroma said. "
He would claim that he was attacked by the others, that we were the ones who broke the oath.
"

"
But he is lying,
" Brian said, though he was not quite sure.

"
It is the way he sees it, an interpretation,
" Kroma said.

"
That doesn't help,
" Brian told him.

"
It is why I did not want to burden you with the problems of the gods,
" he said. "
Our relationships have sometimes been difficult.
"

"
What about the other gods, from before?
" Brian asked, mostly out of curiosity.

"
That is a story that I do not truly know. The Lady, Ayra is now the only who remains from that time, so it would be her story to tell, and neither she nor Stroma wished to speak of such things.
"

"
Perhaps we should ask her,
" Brian said.

"
First, let us deal with Kenra, and this Calexis,
" Kroma said.

"
Right,
" Brian said, though he still had questions about the shadow, and the godswords as well, but they had arrived at the end of the tunnel that led to the palace. "
One thing at a time.
"

Brian motioned to Fergus and the others that they should remain quiet, then he turned the catch that released the door to the dungeons and went ahead to see what they could expect. The hallways in the dungeon were different from when he had last been there, when he had set free the strange creature called Elric, whose identity he had learned from the Kandaran prince, Borrican. Inside the passageway, very few torches remained lit, and the stone walls were stained red in many places as though a gruesome battle had taken place. Brian noticed weapons and blood-soaked pieces of armor and clothing scattered about, apparently from some of the soldiers who had stood guard over the dungeons, but there were no signs of them or their remains.

He froze when he heard a scuttling sound down another hallway, and he thought he saw something flit by in the corner of his eye, but then all was quiet. He continued on, toward the wide stairs at the end of the passage that led up to the palace, and the stone floor beneath his feet became soft and slippery like mud, and a rank stench filled the air. It was clear that some kind of beast had been down here and he pulled out his axes, guarding for an attack and being careful of his footing on the slippery stone floors.

A shadow appeared on the stairs ahead, in the dark where one of the wall torches was missing. It was not large, the size of a dog, but from what Brian could see in the dim light, it looked to be some sort of lizard, and it hissed when it turned toward him, its glistening eyes flickering as they caught the light of one of the torches. Brian readied his axes as the creature crouched, looking as though it would spring toward him, then he stepped back as the ceiling and walls of the passage suddenly began to swarm with dark shapes, like countless dozens of reptilian rats, all moving toward him.

"
Brian, you must run from this place,
" Kroma said.

"
But...
"

"
Move!
"

Brian turned and ran as the creature sprang from the steps and chased after him down the hallway, and he was angry that the god had told him to flee, but he knew that he was badly outnumbered by the creatures, whatever they were, and Kroma reminded him that he had a responsibility to the rest of the group who waited for him in the nearby tunnel. Brian slipped through the doorway and pulled the catch that closed it, and the stone door slammed shut just in time as the creatures slammed into the other side of it. In the dim glow, given off by the stones of the passage, Brian caught his breath, then he turned to Fergus

"That way is perilous," he said. "Remain here, and do not open this door."

"Aren't we supposed to be cleanin' out this palace?" Fergus asked. "No time to start like the present."