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As if in a daze, Shanis watched as the Ice King approached, his sword raised. The force of his will was so powerful, so utterly dominant, that only the tiniest part of her reacted. He had promised to spare her. Why was he going to kill her now?
Somewhere within her a tiny voice cried out. There was no life in surrender. What good was it to surrender if it meant subjugation? Death on the altar?
Surrender or I will kill you like I killed your friend.
A spark blazed deep inside her, and she felt that familiar, welcome anger burn inside her again. He had killed Granlor. She could not let him kill anyone else. Her strength returning, she gripped her sword and rose unsteadily to her feet. The Ice King roared, the sound like a winter wind inside her mind, and he came forward.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something flash through the air. Heztus had charged into the battle, and hurled a knife at the Ice King’s head. On her other side, Gillen ran forward, flinging balls of fire.
The Ice King brushed both attacks away as if swatting flies. A mere flick of his finger sent the two tumbling to the ground.
And then the world exploded.
Somewhere nearby, a bolt of lightning burst from the clear sky, striking a tree and sending charred wood, scorched-earth, and the soldiers unfortunate enough to be standing in its vicinity, flying through the air.
It was all the distraction she needed. Shanis sprang forward, the power of the Silver Serpent once again coursing through her. For the first time, the Ice King fell back before the force of her onslaught.
Shanis fell into the familiar forms of swordplay she had studied all her life. She struck again and again, and now the Ice King was on the defensive. A strange sense of calm came over her. The sword had been a part of her for as long as she could remember and as she fought, she forgot the world around her. No longer did the Ice King’s will batter at her resolve. No longer did she hear his voice inside her head.
She struck at him again and again, her blade coming closer and closer as he struggled to parry her strokes.
“You will never...”
Their swords met and blue and white sparks flew
“hurt my friends...”
Her vicious downstroke knocked his sword to the ground.
“Again!”
She thrust the Silver Serpent through his chest.
White fire burned where the sword pierced the Ice King’s body. Ice shot along her arms and she wrenched her blade free and staggered backward. Cracks formed in the god’s blue flesh, radiating out outward from the burning wound.
Before her eyes, the Ice King threw back his head and cried out in pain and rage as his body shattered into shards of blue ice.
Shanis fell to her knees, barely able to keep her head up. A mournful cry rose above the battlefield and she saw the enemy forces fall back and then break into full retreat. Bolts of lightning and balls of fire chased them back into the forest.
Shanis glanced back and saw to her surprise a line of men in brown robes standing atop the battlements. Seekers? All around them, men clad in crimson Galdoran uniforms had joined the defenders. Help had finally arrived.
She scanned the battlefield. A few of the Ice King’s soldiers continued to fight, but many had dropped their weapons and stood with their hands above their heads, their eyes wide with confusion as if they had awakened from a terrible dream.
Or, perhaps it was she who was dreaming. In the midst of the retreating forces, she saw Prince Lerryn, make that King Lerryn, lop the head off of an ice cat. And to her left, was that Larris riding toward her?
She wanted to call out to him, but then something whispered her name. Something dark and sinister. She slowly turned her head toward the sound.
Vapor rose from the melting pile of ice that had been the Ice King. Instead of dissipating, it formed the shape of her vanquished foe and stood over her.
It laughed.
You think you have won? You did not defeat me. You fought a mere shadow of me. Look.
Shanis’ blood seemed to turn to ice. Where the shattered remains of the Ice King had lain there now lay the body of a man. She recognized him at once. It was Arlus, one of the clanless who had refused to accept her leadership, and had gone to follow Pedric Karst.
My servant, the voice hissed. Possessed by a mere shadow of my true self.
Shanis wanted to cry out in frustration, but she lacked the strength. It could not be. She had thought she faced the Ice King but this... this specter had nearly beaten her. Hopelessness welled inside her, threatening to overcome her.
I am coming, and all shall despair
The final word echoed in her mind.
Despair
She tried to stand, but a wave of dizziness brought her back to her knees. As darkness slowly closed in on her, she saw a dark shape moving toward her. A bear of a man, his shaggy black hair drenched with sweat, rivulets of blood running down the blade of his sword. It should have been a fearsome sight but not to Shanis.
“Papa?”
Her consciousness fled as Colin Malan swept his daughter up in his arms.