Dark God (39 page)

Mirra tried to free herself from
Bane's hand, longing to flee the massive, malevolent demons and
their vicious, plotting words. That Bane had entered into this
polite discourse with them sickened her, and even though she did
not believe he would betray her, she had no wish to listen to him
banter with them. He pulled her closer and bent to murmur in her
ear.

"You must stay close to me. To
stray now would be dangerous."

She stopped struggling and clung
to his hand, and he turned back to the demons.

"What about the Goddess? Would
she not defend her realm?"

"Against you?" Mealle laughed, a
nasty, hissing sound. "She would flee from you in terror, Lord. Her
power brings only life, not death."

"She helped to cast Arkonen
down."

"Her fire merely stripped away
his shadow form and forced him to return to the Land of the Dead,
and only because you wielded it. But you, Lord, are alive. She can
do nothing to you."

"Who sent Arkonen to the Land of
the Dead in the first place? Did he die of old age?"

The demons chuckled. "No, Lord.
Lyriasharin descended and struck Arkonen down with a mundane
weapon."

"Then she could do the same to
me."

The demons guffawed, making
Mirra shudder. "Impossible, Lord. Arkonen was a mere mortal with no
power, you are a god."

Bane shook his head. "You are
lying, Mealle. The white fire struck me down. It almost killed
me."

"You were weak and sick at the
time, Lord. And you were not expecting the attack. You could easily
defend yourself against the white fire."

"I do not think so. Arkonen
tried and failed. Why would I succeed?"

The demons were silent, save for
a faint hissing, crackling sound that a fire would make. Mirra paid
it no mind, but Bane raised a finger.

"Do not conspire in your own
tongue, Mealle. Speak to me or not at all, lest I destroy you."

The demon shook its head. "No,
Lord, we do not conspire."

"You are in league with the
Black Lord. Has he crawled from the Land of the Dead already? You
seek to send me to the Goddess' realm so she can kill me, since
Arkonen failed."

"No, Lord. He is still in the
Land of the Dead."

"That, I believe, but as to the
rest, you are lying. I could easily banish you and summon you to
make you tell the truth. But there is no need. I know what it is
already. You do not want the wards put back, so you think you can
tempt me with your stupid scheme, and the Goddess will kill me,
leaving you free to sport in the Overworld and no one to stop
Arkonen when he rises from the Land of the Dead. Did you persuade
Arkonen to try this idiotic scheme, in the hope of getting rid of
him too? I will wager you did. Your stratagem is diabolical, but
then, one must expect that from demons."

Four more fire demons manifested
in the temple, and Mealle bowed. "We have no wish to cause you
harm, Demon Lord, we only seek to help you to conquer the Eternal
Realm."

Bane snorted. "For a demon, you
are quite stupid. You and your brethren have always hated serving
Arkonen, and you resented him for making the Goddess set the wards
that bound you all below. You hate the fact that a former mortal
can wield more power than you, and rule you in your realm. What
made you think I would believe you wanted to help me? Was it not
you who taught me not to expect or accept help? You would not even
help your own kind.

"I know you better than you
think, better than you would like. If you had planned this better,
you would have won my trust when I was growing up, then I might
have been gullible enough to believe your lies. But you did
not."

He glanced around at the growing
throng of demons. "You even think you and your kin can defeat me.
Think again. Trying to defend this Source against me will cost you
your existence. All of you."

Mealle's eyes flared to
white-hot brilliance. "Even your power has its limits, Bane. You
are but a mortal youth."

A crackling roar filled the
temple as the demons swelled. Their eyes became beams of white-hot
light that lanced towards Bane in sweeping swathes, turning the
stone it touched molten. Dozens of demons manifested together.
Earth demons rose in a rush of stone and earth, their arms raised
to crush Bane. Mirra cried out and dropped to the floor, covering
her head as Bane raised his arms and unleashed a double sweep of
dark power so thick it rent the air with curving conduits of
blackness.

The seven runes on his chest
flared to brilliant yellow as his Gather drew power from the
Source, and he flung it from him in great lashes of shadow. All
that it touched perished. The earth demons flew apart in clouds of
dust and sprays of gravel. The fire demons exploded in flares of
bright flame. Bane staggered as the sweep of a fire demon's eyes
penetrated his shields and burnt into his shoulder. More demons
rushed into the room, swelled from the fiery cracks or rose with
incredible speed, only to be obliterated by the arcing conduits of
black fire that streamed from Bane's hands.

The foul, icy touch of an air
demon engulfed Mirra for an instant, curdling her stomach, then
Bane's fire burnt it away. Several air demons coalesced as they
were turned to ash. Bane flung the power with broad sweeps of his
hands, destroying everything around him. An earth demon rose from
the floor almost on top of him, striking him with a huge fist
before it was torn apart. He staggered back, leaving Mirra
unprotected, then he leapt to defend her again before a fire
demon's eyes found her.

Then they were gone, and Bane
stood panting, his eyes searching the shadows for any sign of them.
After several minutes of vigilance, he looked down at Mirra. She
crouched, her face buried in her robe, clasping her head. He bent
and touched her shoulder.

"They have gone. I do not think
they will return."

Mirra looked up at him, then
climbed to her feet and flung her arms around him, burying her face
in his chest. Bane leashed the fire and snuffed out the runes. His
flesh tingled and his blood burnt in the aftermath of using so much
magic. Lines of glowing, molten rock scored the temple's walls,
obliterating runes and arcane symbols, and streams of lava ran from
them to drip in orange blobs onto the floor. Mirra became aware of
the blood that seeped from his shoulder and raised her head,
releasing him.

"You are hurt."

"Let us leave this place." Bane
took her arm and led her out of the temple.

On the steps, he stopped and
pulled open his shirt to examine the deep burns in his shoulder.
Three bloody welts ran from the edge of his arm to the middle of
his shoulder. Cursing, he extracted the jar of green paste from his
pocket, and Mirra took from him and smeared it on the burns. Bane
sank down on the steps and wiped the sweat from his brow with a
hand that shook a little. In many ways, fighting demons was worse
than fighting Arkonen, since their power could harm him, even as
his could destroy them.

Mirra frowned as she tended his
wounds. "How could they harm you? Surely you are far more powerful
than them?"

"They are elementals. They are
made of real fire and that is what they use. All of them are
dangerous, most of all the fire demons. Demons contain dark power,
but they cannot use it as a weapon."

"But how did this happen?"

He glanced at the wounds. "A
lapse in my shields, a break in my concentration." He shrugged. "I
am not perfect."

She finished smearing the paste
on and wiped her burning fingers on her robe, then capped the jar
and handed it back to him. "You were shielding me as well."

"Of course."

"Is this why you did not want me
to come? Did you think this was going to happen? "

"No. The thought had not crossed
my mind." He frowned. "But I should have realised that they would
try to protect the Source. They do not want to be trapped in the
Underworld again. I just did not think they would dare to go
against me. It is a good thing you did not wait outside. They would
have attacked you too."

"They certainly paid a heavy
price. How many did you destroy?"

"Quite a few. I was not
counting." He shifted and winced.

Mirra's expression became
concerned. "What is wrong?"

Bane grimaced. "An earth demon
hit me. It is nothing."

"Knowing how you tolerate pain,
it is probably bad. Where does it hurt?"

Bane lifted his arm and clasped
his ribs, and she pulled open his shirt to reveal a mottled red
mark. When she probed the area, he hissed and grimaced again.

"You have two broken ribs. Sit
still, and I will heal them."

"You cannot."

"Ellese healed your hands."

"This is too close to the
runes."

Mirra glanced at the blackened
scars. "They are not glowing."

He smiled crookedly. "They do
not have to be."

"I want to try. You just
concentrate on helping me."

Bane sighed and leant back,
allowing her to lay her hands on his ribs. She closed her eyes,
concentrating, and he sensed the intrusion of her power, his own
reacting by rushing to block it. He leashed it, forcing it into his
bones, and kept the runes dark when they tried to ignite. Her power
seeped into his skin, pushing back his defences, and he had to
fight his instinctive wish to repel the invasion. His skin tingled
and grew warm as her healing suffused it, pushing the dark power
back, the boundary between the two etched in a faint blue glow.
Bane tried to draw the power away as he had done in his hands, but
it rebelled, too close to the runes. Mirra sighed and removed her
hands, sitting back.

"I think it worked."

He sat up and probed the area,
finding it still painful but much improved. "Much better."

Mirra glanced around. "I think
we are being watched."

He nodded. "For several minutes
now. It is the people of the city."

She searched the gloomy streets,
but could find no sign of the watchers.

Bane snorted. "You cannot see
them."

"They are afraid of you."

"I do not blame them."

"Nor do I." His brows rose, and
she smiled. "Well you did murder their emperor in front of
them."

"Only when he tried to murder
me."

"It was how you did it that was
so terrible."

He sat up and fastened his
shirt, straightening his cloak. "Time to close the Source."

"And then you will help those
poor people?"

"Yes."

Mirra stood up as he rose and
walked down the steps. At the bottom he stopped and turned to face
the temple. He raised his hands, and she braced herself for the
wave of dark power. Instead, four runes brightened under his shirt,
shining through it, and his hands weaved in graceful patterns.
Their fluid movements fascinated her. His fingers traced the
strange, arcane designs with apparent ease, although a glance at
his face showed that he was concentrating hard.

A slight shiver went through the
ground, and she realised that the power he wielded now affected the
world below, commanding it as only a god could. She almost jumped
out of her skin when he made a sudden, vicious downward motion and
shouted, "Bre'nyth argarath!"

A deep, grating rumble shuddered
the earth, like stones being dragged against each other as a mighty
rock portal swung closed. The grating subsided, and a hollow boom
echoed through caverns deep underground. The ruddy light within the
temple faded as the Source closed, cutting off the stream of dark
power and foul smoke that poured from it.

Bane let his hands fall to his
sides and flexed his fingers. Glancing up at the dark,
lightning-shot sky, he raised a hand and described seven dark runes
in the air, speaking their names. Shadows fell from the sky,
drifting down like tendrils of smoke, brushing Mirra's skin with
nauseating chill that made her shiver. She sat down on the steps
and watched him, marvelling at the power he wielded.

So much power in the hands of
one so young should have spelt disaster, she mused, yet years of
training and hardship had tempered him, giving him maturity beyond
his years. He had changed a lot since their first encounter, yet he
was the same. The anger and hatred in his eyes was mixed now with a
hint of confusion and uncertainty, and the perpetual sneer no
longer twisted his lips. An occasional flash of scorn still marred
his expression, but his eyes warmed now when he looked at her,
something he tried unsuccessfully to hide. If only he would give up
the dark power, its influence would end and his true nature would
be revealed again.

The Demon Lord described the
runes seven times, each incantation of their names speeding the
shadow fall, and by the seventh the dark power had fallen and
vanished into the earth. Then he raised his hands and commanded the
clouds, causing them to drift apart, thinning and becoming grey.
The forests were not visible from where she sat, but she knew they
would be shrivelled and dead, killed by the evil that had invaded
them.

Bane turned to her. "Come."

Mirra followed him back to the
steps of the old temple, and he climbed halfway up them, then
turned to face the city.

"Come forth!" He raised his
hands and spread them. "I am the Demon Lord, and I command you to
come forth. I offer you mercy. Bring me those whom the Black Lord
changed, and I will undo what was done to them."

"You know," she murmured, "a
name like yours is not likely to inspire a great deal of confidence
in your ability to dispense mercy."

"If they do not show themselves,
they can stay as they are."

"You promised."

He shot her an exasperated look.
"What would you have me do? Claim to be the angel of mercy?"

"I doubt they would believe
it."