The Mage's Limits: Mages of Martir Book #2 (18 page)

“All right,” said Durima. “But do you know what causes it? Such as the weather patterns that precede it?”

“No,” said Hollech. “It always comes out of nowhere. Of course, if there are any weather patterns preceding its arrival, do you think I could see them in the Void?”

Durima shook her head, wincing slightly when she heard a particularly loud shattering sound outside. “No, sir. I was just wondering if there might be a way to predict its arrival.”

“Well, there isn't,” said Hollech. He gestured at the walls. “It comes and goes when it feels like it. There is no pattern to its arrival or departure at all.”

Durima scratched her chin as the Glass Blizzard's shattering sound grew to a roar outside. “Then maybe it's not a natural weather phenomena at all. Maybe it's actually a thinking, intelligent being in the form of glass.”

“Impossible,” said Hollech. “If that was true, I think I would know. I've had to endure it for thirty years and it hasn't shown even the slightest hint of intelligence to me.”

“You mean there isn't even a god or goddess controlling it?” said Gujak.

“Of course there isn't,” said Hollech, jerking his thumb at his chest. “
I
am the only god in the Void. There are no other gods here, nothing except those freaky godly wannabees anyway.”

“Freaky godly wannabees?” said Durima. “What do you mean by that?”

“I'll tell you later, after we deal with this Glass Blizzard,” said Hollech. “Now, come up with a plan to get rid of it or I will toss both of you out there and let it have you. I might just do that anyway since I'm in such a bad mood right now.”

Durima looked at the blocked off doorway. Outside, she heard the Glass Blizzard swirling and howling, the sound so loud and awful that it made her want to cover her ears and hide until it went away. Yet she knew that Hollech was not joking when he said he'd throw them out there if they didn't come up with a plan quickly.

How do you stop a Glass Blizzard?
Durima thought.
Maybe melt the glass? But can I even generate enough heat to do that? I don't even know how big the damn blizzard is.

That reminded Durima of a problem she had felt earlier. Although she had succeeded in closing off the door and windows with her geomancy, the effort had taken a lot of energy out of her, far more than it normally did. She sensed that, while it was indeed possible for her and Gujak to use their magic here, it was exceptionally harder than it was in Martir. It felt like trying to pull up a boulder from the bottom of the sea, although the fact that she could use it all was something of a miracle to her, as there were no gods in the Void to generate magical energy for her to use.

Except for Hollech,
Durima thought, glancing at the banished god, who was now impatiently tapping his foot against the stone floor.
But I don't sense as much magical energy from him as I normally do from the other gods. Skimif must have taken away more than just his authority over his dominions.

But all of that was irrelevant to her current situation. Right now, she and Gujak needed to figure out how to destroy a Glass Blizzard or at least scare it away.

She looked at Gujak, who appeared to be thinking hard about what they needed to do.

“Any ideas?” Durima asked.

Gujak shrugged. “Nope. How about you?”

“Think harder, both of you,” Hollech snapped, causing Durima and Gujak to look at him. “What do you think I'm paying you two for?”

You're not paying us at all, actually,
was what Durima wanted to say, but knowing how volatile Hollech could be, she said, “Yes, sir. We'll get back to it right away.”

“Good,” said Hollech. “Because once you two figure out how to do that, then the entire Void shall tremble beneath my feet.”

Durima walked up to the sealed door and pressed her right ear against it before immediately taking it off. The sound of the glass shattering against the castle wall's outside had been ridiculously loud and had done nothing to help her understand how to get rid of it better. She had thought it worth a try, at least.

“Sir, there's really not much we can do against it,” said Gujak, rubbing his right arm. “I think all we can do is wait it out.”

“Wait it out?” said Hollech. He whinnied angrily. “I will
not
wait it out. If you two are simply going to waste my time by telling me you can't even get rid of a Glass Blizzard, why, I—”

Without warning, the sounds of glass shattering and cutting the walls of Castle Hollech outside ceased as abruptly as it had came. Everyone went quiet, listening hard for the Blizzard to start up again, but as time went on, it seemed as if the Glass Blizzard had left for good.

“Why did it stop?” Gujak asked in a low, frightened-sounding voice. “Where did it go?”

Hollech walked up to the walls and put his ear again where one of the windows had been, just like what Durima had done a moment ago. He seemed to listen hard; then his equine eyes widened and he stepped back from the wall.

“Get back,” Hollech hissed at Durima and Gujak. “
They
are here.”

Durima and Gujak backed away from the walls, though Durima could not help but ask, “Who are
they
?”

“Shh,” Hollech said, holding a hoofed finger up to his lips. “If we speak too loudly, they will hear us.”

Hollech looked dead serious, but Durima could not help remembering how crazy he had acted today. Sure, there might be some new dangerous Void creatures out there, but this warning was coming from the same god who claimed that a dozen piles of dirt were his lazy, no-good servants. Durima did not think it unreasonable to be more than a bit skeptical about his claims.

At least, she thought it was reasonable until she heard loud
boom
against the wall opposite them. Another
boom
and cracks appeared in it.

“Get ready,” said Hollech as he held up his fists. “Once they break through, they will not hesitate to kill us all.”

“K-Kill us all?” said Gujak, looking at Hollech in alarm. “What do you—”

A third
boom
and the wall before them crumpled into pieces as the loud roars of monsters assaulted Durima's ears like cannon fire. Something long and dark shot out of the darkness and wrapped around Gujak's waist, but Durima snapped it with her teeth before it could pull him in and the tendril returned into the darkness.

But that wasn't the only thing that tried to get inside. A creature that appeared to be made entirely of metal jumped inside, but Hollech was faster than it. He jumped at it and kicked it in the gut, denting its stomach, before grabbing its head and snapping its neck in an instant.

Yet even as the creature fell dead at his feet, more strange tendrils—these ones like vines—launched out of the shadows at Hollech. They wrapped around his wrists as some huge, ugly-looking green monster with a mouth as big as Durima entered Hollech's light before the banished god kicked it in the tongue. The creature yelped in pain and retreated.

Just as it left, another beast appeared, this one resembling a human combined with a horse. Instead of attacking Hollech, however, it went for Durima and Gujak. Gujak screamed in fear when he saw it, but Durima leaped at it and punched it with all her might. The weird monster staggered backward before Durima hit it again so hard that it retreated with a loud whimper.

Panting, shaking her aching fist, Durima stepped back as a horrible, foul-smelling toxic stink filled her nostrils. A second later, some kind of muck creature peaked its head through the gap in the wall, its mouth revealing row upon row of ugly jagged, metal teeth before Hollech punched it, causing it to go back into the shadows like it hadn't been there at all.

“Quick!” Hollech snapped, looking over his shoulder at Durima and Gujak. “Repair the wall now while there's a break in the attack!”

Durima didn't hesitate. She slammed her fists into the stone floor and sent a burst of geomancy into it. The earth energy traveled to the remains of the wall, which immediately began repairing it. A clawed hand reached for Hollech, but he swatted it away, and just in the nick of time, too, because soon the stone wall was back to normal now.

“But how is it going to hold?” Gujak asked even as another familiar
boom
sound echoed through the castle. “What's to stop them from breaking through it again?”

Hollech placed his hands against the rebuilt wall. A bright glow swept over it before vanishing. Then the god stepped back from it, putting his hands on his knees as though he was tired, even though gods couldn't get tired.

“There,” said Hollech, brushing some loose hairs from his mane out of his eyes. “That is a reinforcement spell. It isn't my specialty, but it's something I've learned how to do ever since I discovered that it's about the only thing that keeps those bastards out. Should last for a week or so at least.”

“But what
were
they?” said Gujak. “And why did the Glass Blizzard leave all of a sudden?”

“I don't know why the Glass Blizzard left,” said Hollech. “But I do know what those
things
are. They are what I like to call 'half-gods.' Those freaky godly wannabees I told you about earlier.”

“Half-god?” Durima repeated. She glanced at the dead metal creature lying on the floor near the wall. “You mean like a godling?”

Hollech let out a disgusted sound. “Of course not. A godling is a mortal turned into a god. A half-god is … well, I like to think of it as an incomplete god, if you will.”

“Incomplete?” said Gujak. “What does that mean, sir?”

“It means exactly what 'incomplete' means,” said Hollech, now looking at Gujak as if he was an idiot. “Unfinished. Abandoned. Forgotten. Missing parts. A potential for greatness that was never realized.”

“But gods can't be incomplete, sir,” said Gujak. “All of the gods on Martir, including yourself, are complete, aren't you?”

“My siblings and I may be that way, but these creatures are not my siblings,” said Hollech. Then he paused. “Although in a way, they are. After all, those creatures we just fought off? The ones that tried to kill us? They are also creations of the Powers, just like you and me.”

“But I thought that there weren't any creations of the Powers in the Void,” said Gujak, who had by now backed well away from the rebuilt and reinforced wall. “I mean, aside from you, obviously, Master Hollech.”

Hollech walked over to the dead metallic being lying on the floor and kicked it over onto its back. In the light from Hollech's hand, the metallic being's wide, crazy-looking mouth and deep black eyes made Durima turn away in disgust.

“I thought so, too, until I ran into these guys after my first week here,” said Hollech, gesturing at the dead half-god at his feet. “I don't know the full story behind these beings, but I do know they were created by the Powers like you and me. I've sensed magical energy in them similar to the kind my siblings and I generate, though they are only half as strong as us.”

“Why aren't they in Martir?” Gujak asked, his eyes now fixed on the dead half-god. “Why are they here in the Void?”

“As I said, I don't know their full story,” said Hollech. “From what a half-god I once captured told me, the half-gods are unfinished gods that the Powers grew tired of. Some are prototypes of us final gods—this one here looks like a prototype of my sister—but not all of them are. The Powers didn't want to destroy them or put them in Martir with the rest of their completed creations, so they simply abandoned these half-gods in the Void indefinitely.”

“How many of them are there?” said Gujak.

“Numerous,” said Hollech. “I suspect that the half-gods have lost their minds after being in the Void for so long and so have split up into various packs that are at constant war with each other. They're little more than beasts now, easy to manipulate, but not easy to defeat.”

“That's creepy,” said Gujak. “How have you been fighting them off for so long?”

“By being smarter and stronger than them, obviously,” said Hollech with a snort. “Even without all of my original powers, I am still head and feet above them. They are an annoyance, however, and one I have been meaning to dispose of for a long time now.”

“Well, I'm glad they can't get into here now,” said Gujak. “They're too much, on top of everything else.”

Durima looked at the newly-repaired wall and frowned. “Master Hollech, how long are we going to stay in here? How will we know when it's safe to venture outside of the castle and into the rest of the Void?”

Hollech whinnied. “Safe? It is
never
safe to travel into the rest of the Void, Durima. Never. But you are correct that at some point we will need to leave. Otherwise, we'll all go crazy.”

Gujak and I will go crazy, probably,
Durima thought,
but I'm afraid that you have already gone over the deep end, Master Hollech.

“We will wait a few hours,” said Hollech, gesturing at the wall. “The half-gods usually give up fairly quickly, as they lack the patience necessary to be truly effective hunters. After those few hours are up, we will go hunting.”

“Hunting, Master Hollech?” said Gujak. “Hunting for what?”

Hollech's equine face broke into a hideous smile. “Hunting for half-gods, of course. With you two at my side, killing every last one of those bastards should be quite easy. But before we do that, come with me and I will give you the weapons and equipment necessary to kill those unfinished deities as easily as if they were insects.”

Chapter Twelve

D
arek Takren followed Jakuuth down the walkway that clung to the inner walls of the prison like a grapevine. Behind him, Aorja followed, every now and then muttering something under her breath, though he could not tell what she was muttering about exactly because of the noise from the training prisoners below.

I can guess, though,
Darek thought, remembering how Aorja had pinned him to the floor of Jakuuth's office earlier.

As for their destination, Jakuuth had said that Darek would need to be personally trained by him in order to catch up with the rest of the soldiers in time for the invasion. So Jakuuth was leading Darek to a room underneath the prison, away from everyone else, where he could give Darek the personal training and attention that he needed.