Dark God (25 page)

They had no
need to stay in the forest's dimness any longer, but did so out of
habit. There were no humans or gnomes amongst the
dark folk. Evidently the hard, fast
marches had weeded them out, along with the weaker non-humans.
Those who remained were footsore and weary, thin and dirty, their
gaunt faces filled with dull resignation and fear. Bane despised
them more than ever, knowing the folly of their dark worship, but
as long as they were loyal to him, he would make use of
them.

"Let your leaders come forth,"
he instructed.

A troll, a rock howler and a
goblin crept closer, and were joined by a dark creature from the
woods, a grim. When they were assembled, he pointed at the
abbey.

"You will protect that place.
Make your camp outside it, on the hallowed ground where demons
cannot reach you."

"Lord."

The four bowed
and retreated to relay his orders to the rest of the army.
The
dark folk doused their
fires and gathered their few possessions. Bane wandered over to the
nearest fire, whose owners scuttled away. The dark power whispered
to him in answer to his need, and he spoke a harsh word of
summoning, followed by a name. The flames leapt, streaked with
sickly hues of green and violet. A ring of blackness spread from
it, crisping the yellow grass to ash, the soil whining as it burnt.
The fire swelled and roared up, seven feet tall, sprouting six arms
as a demon formed within it. Three glowing yellow eyes opened in
its head, and it stepped forth, bowing.

"Demon Lord."

"Jarabesh. Go to the Old
Kingdom, to the temple where the Black Lord resides. Bring me news
of the healer he keeps prisoner there. When he takes her from the
rune room, return instantly and inform me. Do nothing else."

The demon bowed and stepped back
into the fire, shrinking as it mingled with the flames until it
disappeared, returning to the Underworld to travel below to the Old
Kingdom. Bane spoke the word of summoning again, followed by the
name the dark power whispered to him. A second fire demon rose from
the flames and stepped forth to bow to him.

Bane eyed it. "Vanrayel. You
will protect the Goddess' Temple, should the Black Lord's army
return. You will harm no human, and do nothing else."

The demon's eyes flared with
palpable hatred, but it bowed again. "As you command, Demon
Lord."

Bane summoned
two more fire demons, four earth demons and one air demon, issuing
the same instructions to them. The
dark folk hastened away towards the temple, casting fearful
glances at the demons, eager to quit their proximity. As they
received their instructions, the demons followed, taking up
positions around the edge of the hallowed ground and speeding the
army's retreat to its safety. The summoning tired Bane, and he
decided that nine demons would have to do. He walked back to the
edge of the holy ground, where he stopped and bowed his head,
spreading his hands.

Closing his eyes, he looked deep
within the earth, finding slight weaknesses there, imperfections of
soil and rock that he could use to ease his task. This was a power
he had always possessed, no gift of the darkness, but something
with which he had been born. At first it had been too slight to be
useful, and had served merely to fill many hours with idle play.
When Arkonen had ordered him to dig tunnels, he had tried to use
it, but the demons set to guard him had punished him, forcing him
to use his muscles instead. He took hold of a large chunk of the
earth with his mind and pulled. A shiver went through the ground as
rock and soil parted with a dull grating, and a section of the
earth floated free, held by his mind.

With a flick of thought, he sent
it to a distant plain, where it formed a hill of settling debris.
He bent and inscribed a rune in the air above the pit with a
trickle of shadow, muttering several harsh words. The yawning abyss
vanished, and an illusion of solid ground, identical to that which
had been there before, replaced it. The shadow rune remained to
mark the trap, invisible to mortal eyes.

The demons watched him, knowing
that the trap would capture them too if they strayed too close to
it, and cost them a great deal of power to escape. It was not
merely a pit and an illusion. It contained a spell that would suck
any who came within its influence into its dark depths. The black
fire within it would incinerate a mortal, and even a demon would be
forced to flee to the Underworld before it was consumed. Bane
walked along the edge of the hallowed ground, creating five more
traps.

Martal watched the approaching
dark people with growing unease, his men and some healers gathering
behind him to stare at the shuffling host. He raised the spyglass,
muttering under his breath when he spotted the demons beyond the
hallowed ground, and, close to them, Bane. Ellese appeared at his
elbow, making him jump and lower the glass.

"What is that evil bastard
doing?"

Ellese took the spyglass and
peered through it. "He is protecting the abbey. He must expect the
Black Lord to send his army back when he is not here. You should be
grateful, Martal. You know we cannot withstand another attack."

The Baron grunted. "I hope you
are right, but I dislike demons hanging around so close by. At
least they cannot come any closer, but as for that lot..." He
gestured at the dark horde. "I would not trust them as far as I
could throw them."

"I am sure Bane knows what he is
doing."

Martal jumped again when the
Demon Lord appeared a few yards away, a chill running through him
at the touch of Bane’s power. He looked exhausted again, and Ellese
made a soft sound of annoyance.

"Bane, you should be resting,
not tiring yourself further."

He frowned as he walked closer.
"The Black Lord will attack this place again, either because he
thinks me still injured, or because I will bring Mirra here. Either
way, it must not fall. I will not be able to guard you all the
time."

"Surely he knows you have been
healed?"

"His spies can only report what
they see. They have no way of knowing I am healed, only that I am
still alive. He did not see what you did. He cannot Far See within
hallowed ground."

"You would have died within
minutes from that wound."

Bane shrugged. "He does not know
that."

Martal glared at him. "How do
you know those bastards will not attack us as soon as you are
gone?"

"They serve me now." He glanced
at the dark people, who were setting up a new camp on the yellow
grass. "They would not dare."

Martal blustered, but Bane
walked away.

Arkonen gazed
around his new temple with a satisfied air
and a slight smile. He had raised it from the
reluctant earth in a matter of minutes, fulfilling a whim. Huge
pillars of twisted stone upheld a vast domed roof, and the inner
fire's ruddy glow filled the interior, shining through the cracks
in the floor. Runes covered the pillars and walls, some glowing
with dull red light, and arcane images writhed between them,
serpentine and evil.

"Much better," he muttered. "The
destruction of the Overworld goes apace."

"Your power knows no bounds,
Lord," an attendant droge assured him.

"But that damned human still
lives."

"Surely he
cannot survive much longer, Lord? He now protects himself with
demons and
dark folk, so he
must be too ill and weak to defend himself."

"Yes." The Black Lord looked
pensive. "Why would they ally themselves with one so weak?"

"They are too stupid to know,
Lord. He killed thousands when they attacked the temple."

"That in itself is remarkable."
He studied the droge. "You were once a priest. Is there any way
those damned witches could have healed him?"

"Not without power, Lord. Unless
they still had some stored."

"No." Arkonen shook his head.
"They have been without sunlight for too long, and the battle would
have used up all they had."

"Then all they have is the
Eternal Flame, and it cannot be used for healing."

"Unless the Lady allowed them
to, which she might, to save him."

"That would be a great
miracle."

Arkonen grunted, frowning. "If
he has been healed, he is only waiting until he has regained his
strength. Then he will challenge me again."

"He has no hope of defeating
you, Lord."

The Black Lord glared at the
droge, who cowered. "I know that, fool. But I have no wish to be
pestered by him in his stupid bid to save the Overworld. I will be
rid of him. I must strike while he is still weak. The army must
attack the temple. See to it."

"At once, Lord." The droge bowed
and ran off.

Arkonen gazed around his temple
again, basking in the dark power that poured from the cracks in the
floor. The evil that filled it would consume any human who entered
it in moments. He turned and strode out, heading for the old temple
where the healer was housed.

Chapter
Ten

Mercy

A shriek of terror jerked
Bane from his light doze, and he sat up to stare at the old healer
who attended him. She cowered against the far wall, her eyes fixed
on the window. Bane whipped around, following her gaze. A vampire
clung to the ledge, a shadowy form against the black, roiling
clouds. Bane swung his legs off the bed and faced the creature,
which did its best to cower. The healer crept to the door and fled
through it.

"Lord," the vampire croaked, "a
message from the demon Jarabesh. The healer has left the rune
room."

Bane nodded. "Return to your
fellows."

The vampire
left with a rustle of leathery wings, and Bane closed his eyes,
opening his mind to the Far See. The Old Kingdom temple filled his
inner vision, and he swept his gaze across it. He expanded his
view, spying a new temple whence columns of black smoke rose to
foul the dark sky. Still, he found no sign of
Mirra, even when the entire city was within his
sight, and knew the Black Lord had taken her from it.

Cursing, he searched for
Arkonen, whose presence was like a beacon to the Far See. An image
formed. The Black Lord stood upon a low hill, clad in a pseudo body
Bane had seen him wear in the Underworld, an enhanced version of
his former mortal form. Mirra stood beside him, his hand on her
shoulder holding her there, her eyes wide and blank with horror and
fear. Bane opened his eyes, rose and picked up his cloak.

Ellese appeared in the doorway,
raking him with a quick glance, and he frowned at her. She shook
her head.

"You cannot face him now. You
said it yourself, you are too weak."

"Do not presume to tell me what
to do, old woman."

"He will kill you."

Bane clipped on his cloak. "If I
do not go, he will kill her."

"No, he will not." Ellese came
closer, and more elder healers filled the doorway behind her. Bane
wondered if they camped outside his door, waiting to accost him.
"He will not kill her as long as he thinks he can use her against
you," she said.

"You wanted me to save her." He
swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over him, a penalty for using
the Far See when he was so weak.

"I still do, but you can hardly
stand. I thought you could save her without confronting him, but to
do so now is madness. It is what he wants."

"It is my choice."

"No. The Overworld needs you to
save it. If you throw away your life by falling into his trap we
are all doomed. Mirra will be at his mercy. No one will be able to
save her."

Bane glared at her, knowing she
was right and hating her for it. The sight of Mirra's suffering
filled him with a fury that swept away common sense and good
judgement, making a mockery of his plans. Ellese stepped closer and
gripped his arm.

"I will not allow you to do
this."

He scowled at her, trying to
yank his arm free. "You cannot stop me."

Ellese hung
on, jerking her head at the women in the doorway. "We can. You
cannot Move
as long as we
hold you, not without taking us with you, and that, I would guess,
would use a great deal of power."

Bane glowered at Ellese as the
healers approached, and tried to avoid the two who took hold of his
other arm. Others held onto them, forming a chain of hard-faced
women that went right out of the door, and some of them held onto
the walls or other fixtures, effectively anchoring him to the
ground.

"You forget who I am. I could
reduce you all to ash."

"But you will not. We do this
for your sake as well as Mirra's, for the sake of the Overworld and
all who dwell in it. We intend to save it all, and for that, we
need you."

"Release me."

"No."

The Demon Lord's eyes frosted,
and Ellese feared that he would indeed incinerate them, so furious
did he look. Many of the women bowed their heads when he raked them
with a wrathful glance. He turned his attention to Ellese once
more, and his eyes narrowed, promising punishment for their
temerity. She became aware that the temperature in the room had
dropped, making the healers shiver with cold and fear. She sensed
what he was about to do and dreaded it, praying she would have the
strength to hang on. A surge of dark power made the healers moan
and gag, and the two who clung to his arm whimpered, one sinking to
her knees. Although her stomach clenched, threatening to hurl her
breakfast at the back of her teeth, Ellese held on.

"Do not do this."

"Then release me."

"No." She
gritted her teeth as he let more shadows seep from him, and her
stomach heaved. He was doing what she had taught him upon the
chapel's altar, letting the dark power flow out,
unfocus
sed but controlled. It
did no harm, other than to nauseate the healers and fill the room
with frigid shadows that seeped into the floor. As a deterrent to
being in his proximity, however, it was extremely effective.
Several healers gave despairing cries and dashed out, unable to
stand it any longer. One of the women who held his other arm
collapsed, retching, and an older, more resolute woman took her
place, ignoring Bane's furious glare. He increased the power still
more, and Ellese's hands became numb, her stomach a tight
knot.