Tamlin’s shoulders ached, his arms throbbing with exhaustion and pain. He had kept any of the abscondamni from touching him, but some of the acid had spattered on his arms and chest. It had left small round burns on his arm, and the droplets had burned through his tunic to sting his chest.
Another abscondamnius came at him. This one had once been a saurtyri, and bony spines had grown from the slimy muscles of its arms. Tamlin shifted his stance, slashing down with his sword. He took off the saurtyri’s right arm at the elbow, but wounds never seemed to slow the abscondamni. The creature kept coming, and Tamlin dodged, slashing his sword across its neck as he did so.
The abscondamnius fell, but another rushed to take its place.
Next to him fought Sir Aegeus, his chest working like a smith’s bellows, his dwarven axe rising and falling as he chopped and hacked. He had controlled his swings as promised, but perhaps that was because he was exhausted. His face had gone pale beneath its glistening sheen of sweat, and he had stopped hurling ice spikes into the enemy, instead conjuring his shield of ice. Tamlin hadn’t expected his friend to fight so well while drunk, but as Aegeus had said himself, fighting, drinking, and wenching were the only three things he really enjoyed.
Behind them Kalussa threw bolts of fire at the abscondamni, stunning them long enough for either Tamlin or Aegeus to take them down. She, too, was reaching the limits of her strength. Sweat dripped down her face and stained her dress, and she was swaying on her feet. Tamlin knew firsthand the strain extended magic use put upon the body, and he could tell when someone was reaching their limits. Both Kalussa and Aegeus were nearing theirs.
Come to think of it, so was Tamlin.
Three abscondamni came in a rush, arms extended. Tamlin forced magical power through his growing exhaustion and cast a spell, arcs of lightning leaping from his left hand. The glowing blue-white arcs jumped across the three abscondamni, causing their exposed muscles to jerk and twitch. The abscondamni stumbled, and Tamlin slashed, his sword sinking deep into the neck of the Accursed on the left. He ripped his sword free, and Aegeus bellowed and brought his axe hammering down, burying it in the skull of the abscondamnius on the right.
The final creature lunged at Tamlin, but he had not yet pulled his sword free from the first. He started to retract the blade, but it was too late.
The glistening fingers reached for his throat.
A bolt of fire slammed into the abscondamnius, rocking it back. Tamlin wrenched his sword loose and stabbed, plunging his blade home into the creature’s chest. The abscondamnius stiffened, the yellow fire in its empty eyes going dark, and collapsed to join the others on the floor.
“Thanks,” croaked Tamlin, lifting his sword once more.
Kalussa managed a nod, blinking sweat from her eyes. “You saved my life before. Only fair.”
“Come on!” roared Aegeus, brandishing his axe at the abscondamni upon the dais. “Is that all you got?”
As it turned out, it was not.
More abscondamni rushed forward, and Tamlin braced himself to face another wave of foes.
As he did, he caught a glimpse of black fire behind them.
###
Rypheus’s lip curled with contempt as he strode towards the three Arcanii.
Throughout the hall, his abscondamni were winning, cutting down the knights and Companions and forcing them to flee. Yet on the dais, Tamlin, Kalussa, and Aegeus still held firm. That was annoying. Even more annoyingly, they stood guard over King Hektor, who was still alive.
Well, Rypheus would rectify that shortly.
He stepped forward, and Kalussa and Tamlin saw him. Rypheus noted with amusement the rage that went over their faces. They were loyal to the wretch lying on the ground behind them with the Sword of Fire on his chest. Could they not see Hektor for the loathsome fool that he really was?
He was even more amused to see both Kalussa and Tamlin starting spells, preparing to hurl a volley of elemental magic at him. Could they not yet understand the power of the New God?
Well, Rypheus would teach them.
He lifted the Sign in his left hand and called upon its power.
###
Tamlin saw Prince Rypheus striding towards them, sword in his right hand, that strange black amulet in his left.
Something about the Prince looked…wrong, twisted. The symbol of the New God burned with black fire in his left hand, and some of that black fire had sunk into his flesh. His skin had taken a grayish, corpselike cast, and an eerie blue glow shone in his dark eyes. The teachers of the Arcanii said that using dark magic sometimes caused mutations in its wielders, and Tamlin had seen firsthand evidence of that in Urd Maelwyn. Often the high priests of the Maledicti had not been particularly sane.
That same madness seemed to burn on the Prince’s face now.
“You murderous cur!” said Kalussa, her weariness falling away beneath her rage. “To lift your hand against your own blood.”
Rypheus laughed at her, the sound heavy with contempt.
“How many women did you kill today, Rypheus?” said Tamlin. “How many children?”
“Oath-breaking dog,” spat Aegeus. “Come closer and see if that magic medallion saves you from my axe!”
“I don’t expect you to understand,” said Rypheus, “stupid as you are. The coming of the New God shall undo all oaths, break all covenants, shatter all laws.”
Kalussa sneered. “It just as well that Queen Helen died when she did. Else she would have been horrified to hear you spouting such foolish nonsense. Perhaps she would curse the day that you were born…”
Tamlin had long ago decided that Kalussa had a knack for insults, and that was proved right once again. A shudder of rage went through Rypheus, the blue light in his eyes brightening, and he lifted the amulet in his left hand.
“Then die,” he snarled. “Die, and…”
Tamlin, Kalussa, and Aegeus all struck at once. Tamlin cast a lightning bolt, throwing every scrap of power he could muster into the spell. Kalussa flung another one of her searing blasts of magical flame, and Aegeus hurled a spear of ice at the traitorous Prince. The combined volley of magical power would have been enough to kill any man, would have even been enough to kill an urvaalg on the spot.
It did nothing against Rypheus.
The black fire around the medallion darkened as Rypheus lifted it, and the shadow fire around the metal disc seemed to drink their spells. Tamlin’s lightning and Kalussa’s fire were sucked into it and extinguished. Aegeus’s spike of ice touched the dark fire and shattered into glittering dust.
“Is that all?” snarled Rypheus. “My turn.”
He thrust the amulet, and blasts of blue fire leaped from the medallion.
Tamlin cast a warding spell, a protection designed to shield him from magical attack.
Rypheus’s power tore through the spell like wet paper.
Tamlin screamed as agony flooded through him, and he stumbled and fell to one knee, his muscles trembling and jerking. He heard Kalussa shriek and Aegeus let out a long groan, and he heard the clang as the axe fell from Aegeus’s shaking hand. Tamlin tried to fight the spell, tried to stand up, tried to summon magic to throw another lightning bolt at Rypheus. He had endured pain before, had suffered whippings and beatings in Urd Maelwyn. One flogging had been so bad it had almost killed him, and he knew how to struggle through the pain.
But this agony was overpowering.
It took all of Tamlin’s strength to stay on one knee, to keep from falling over. He managed to look to the side and saw Kalussa collapsed next to her father, saw Aegeus on his hands and knees.
Rypheus stalked towards them, a dozen abscondamni trailing after him, a sword in his hand and murder on his face.
###
The Sign of the New God burned colder in Rypheus’s fist.
The little harlot. How dare she. How dare she! The impudent girl was not fit to even speak his mother’s name, let alone to throw her death in Rypheus’s face like that.
She would die first, Rypheus decided. No, better. He would kill Hektor first and make her watch. Then he would kill all three of them, slowly and painfully. Then he would…
A flicker of light caught his eye.
Rypheus frowned and looked over the great hall.
The battle continued, but his abscondamni were winning, and soon they would have driven the knights and the Arcanii from Palace. Then, Rypheus decided, he would take the Sword of Fire and lay waste to Aenesium before he presented the Sword to Khurazalin. He wanted the satisfaction of seeing the city in flames, of seeing its smug, stupid people burn at his will.
Then that flash of light came to his eye again, jerking him out of his musings.
A group of jotunmiri battled their way into the great hall, Earl Vimroghast at their heads. A dozen Arcanii came with them, and to judge from the intensity of the bolts of fire that stabbed into the abscondamni, Nicion Amphilus himself led them, and with them came…
A shiver of fear and anticipation went through Rypheus.
The Shield Knight and the Keeper came with them.
The Keeper flung a shaft of white fire that slashed through the abscondamni, shattering the dark magic upon them and throwing three of them to the floor. But the Shield Knight was far more effective. He tore into the abscondamni, his burning sword rising and falling, killing one of the Accursed with every step that he took.
And the light from his sword…
Rypheus flinched.
The light hurt his eyes.
It hadn’t the first time at Tamlin’s domus. Rypheus wondered what had changed. Perhaps the dark magic of the Sign had altered his vision.
A chill went through him.
The Shield Knight and the Keeper were coming for him. That terrible burning sword was coming for him.
The chill turned to glee.
Let them come! They, too, would see the power of the New God.
###
Kalussa would have screamed, but she was in too much pain and was having trouble breathing. The dark magic filled her with wave after wave of agony, and she could not stand, could not fight, could not even think.
This was how she would die, murdered by her mad half-brother, a man she had always admired. Regret flooded through her and mixed with the agony. Kalussa would never have children, would never prove herself worthy of her royal blood and magical power.
Instead, Rypheus would slaughter her like a pig and bring Owyllain crashing into ruin.
Kalussa braced herself for the end, praying for the Dominus Christus to forgive her sins and accept her soul.
The pain winked out.
Was she dead?
No, she could still feel the beat of her heart.
Kalussa scrambled to her feet as Tamlin and Aegeus did the same. Rypheus had withdrawn from the dais, accompanied by his abscondamni guards. Where was he going?
White light flashed before her eyes, and she saw a new battle starting on the far side of the great hall.
A man in blue armor and a gray cloak strode into the great hall of the Palace of the High Kings, a sword of white fire in his right hand, and next to him came a blond woman in red with white fire burning around her fingers.
Hope flooded through Kalussa.
The Shield Knight and the Keeper had come at last.
***