The Archmage unbound

Chapter 45

Dorian repeated himself again, “Put her down or I’ll cut your fucking head from your shoulders.” He held one of the enchanted swords I had given him.

Celior looked at him in amazement. “A stoic? How unusual. Do you think you can save this woman? Here, I didn’t really want her anyway.” Using a slow sweeping movement the god threw Rose at Edward and the two of them went down in a pile of tangled limbs. Several torn locks of her hair hung loosely from Celior’s fingers. Glancing at the hair the deity began to laugh.

Screaming in rage Dorian charged at the mocking god. He moved with speed and his size along with the shining armor he wore made Celior seem small in comparison.

The god didn’t bother trying to dodge or avoid him. With one arm he caught Dorian, grasping his armor at the gorget that protected Dorian’s throat. Despite Dorian’s incredible momentum Celior was not moved at all, and even his hair hung calmly about him. Lifting he drew Dorian up, until his feet dangled above the floor. “You amuse me greatly, but you must not die yet little warrior.”

As he found himself rising above the floor Dorian swept his sword up and across, attempting to cut Celior’s arm from his shoulder. His heart pounded with the strength of the earth and when his blade struck the god’s arm it made a sound as if a massive gong had been struck. The sword shattered as though it was made of glass and fragments of steel flew in every direction.

In a movement that seemed almost languid the shining god threw Dorian across the room. My friend’s armored body struck the wall so hard that it bowed outward and the stones cracked, and then he fell to the floor unmoving.

While Celior’s attention had been on Dorian the pressure on the rest of us lessened. Hearing a cry of pain I saw Rose rise from the dais holding a bloody dagger. Edward lay bleeding beneath her.

Turning his attention back to us the pressure increased again and Rose’s knees buckled. Kneeling in the King’s blood she still laughed. “You cannot have everything,” she said in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

Around the room everyone was on their knees again, including Penny and Cyhan now. My eyes sought Penny’s and for a moment we were together again, despite the intervening distance. In Penelope’s haggard face I could see fear and exhaustion, along with worry, probably for me. Still I felt a tiny flower of hope blossom in my chest at the sight of her.

The god’s attention was fully on Rose now and holding up his hand a tiny ball of flame flickered into life above it. “You have displeased me child. I think perhaps you should burn first.” With a twist of his hand he casually tossed the flame at her.

Drawing on reserves I hadn’t known were there I somehow erected a shield before her, sending the flame sliding away to one side where it flickered and died. The god laughed and looked at me. “You amaze me wizard. I thought you had reached your limit.”

The continual strain of shielding my mind against his power had left me weary and I found myself wishing for a clever response. The best I could manage was, “That just shows your ignorance.”

Celior frowned and holding his hand out toward me he said, “Learn humility.” Then he turned his palm toward the floor as if pressing downward.

The pressure on my shield and mind increased several fold and I collapsed. Pain shot through me as my shield vanished. Drawing inward I tried to protect my mind but Celior’s will shot through me and it felt as though knives were stabbing into my skull. Blood began to drip from my eyes and I could hear myself screaming.

My entire world dissolved into agony and I felt my sense of self slipping away. In my desperation to escape the pain my body curled into a ball on the ground while my fingers clutched at the hard floor. The stone! That single thought permeated my being and gained focus as I sought to preserve what was left of my sanity. Remembering the stone Moira had once given me to shape, I struggled to emulate it. Surrendering my humanity I tried to become the stone… for stones feel no pain.

Still the sharp barbs of Celior’s thoughts wrapped around my tortured mind and even through my misery I could hear his voice, echoing in my mind, “Did you think you had the power to protect yourself tiny mortal? I let you believe so only to increase your shame and suffering.”

I was utterly blinded by the agony, and yet somehow I could hear. A sharp cry rang out, and I recognized Rose’s voice. It was followed by an anguished yell and then Celior spoke again, “You seek to hinder me by killing your King? Watch and know despair.” After an unknowable pause he spoke again, “Rise Edward, King of Lothion, your wounds were not fatal.”

“Mort! Mort! Can you hear me?” Penny’s voice was next to my ear and somehow I knew she was stroking my brow, though I couldn’t feel it. The only sensation left to my body at that point was ceaseless burning pain. My deepest desire was to answer her, but I couldn’t. Instead I focused on the only thing that seemed to give me surcease from Celior’s torment, the image of the stone I held in my mind.

My focus increased and the wracking agony lessened as I felt my conscious mind harden. At last I was able to open my eyes again and I saw Penelope leaning protectively over me. Over her shoulder I glimpsed the angry god approaching.

“Do you think to protect him woman? He is of no use to you anymore. I will make his death long and painful. You should worry more for yourself,” Celior announced with a grin that would have made children laugh at the beauty of it.

“His dying breath is worth more than your entire being!” Penny screamed in defiance as she drew me close, cradling me beneath her. Her tears fell on my face and I struggled to speak, but my mouth still would not cooperate.

At last the pain was gone, along with my vision of the world around me. I saw and felt nothing. In peaceful bliss I relaxed and deep below I could hear the steady beat of the earth. Closer and yet more faintly I heard a single perfect voice, “I will rip your cursed child from your womb and crush it before your eyes.”

“No,” I said simply and I began to sit up. The pressure against my mind was still there, but it was no longer beyond my ability to stop. Something had changed inside, and a new strength had emerged, drawn primarily from the pulsing heart of the world. Looking around myself with new eyes I took in the room with a clarity that came from a calm center. I had found my balance, and in that timeless instant I saw everything.

Dorian and Elaine were both still unconscious, their bodies collapsed near the wall to one side of the room. Rose lay face down near the throne, a still spreading pool of blood fanning outward from beneath her. Edward stood over her now, a bloody dagger in hand and a smile upon his face. His grey hair was gone and he looked younger than I remembered. Last of all, I spotted Cyhan, crouched near the doorway, still holding a sword though he seemed powerless to move.

Most importantly the shining god was reaching down, though his movement seemed terribly slow. Penelope’s face was still above me, framed by loose strands of soft brown hair, shining golden with Celior’s light behind her. Her eyes were on mine and in that moment something passed between us, a type of communication that was ineffable. Apologies and regrets were forgotten and meaningless, for our hearts had found each other once again.

Celior’s hand was over her head, and his fingers were beginning to clench inward, to grasp her by the hair when finally the universe snapped back into motion. Without conscious thought I drew deeply upon the power beneath me while reaching up to meet the god’s greedy hand with my own, “ Na’Pyrren Ingak mai Lathos” It was the spell I had created to harden and strengthen my hands when working with the hot metal of the forge.

Our hands entwined for a moment and I felt the immensity of Celior’s unwitting strength, but I didn’t care. Clenching my hand into a fist the shining god’s bones broke, snapping like dry twigs under my fingers. Staring into the brilliant blue eyes of the god I spoke, “You will never touch her.”

Celior screamed and drew back as I released his hand but he recovered his composure within seconds. “I am done playing with you wizard,” and so saying he held up his hand, flexing it, as if to demonstrate that it had already healed.

Raising my staff I created a new shield around the two of us. Using my newfound strength I imbued it with so much power that blue sparks sizzled and spat around the edges. My instincts were screaming at me to find some way to get Penny and our unborn child away, but I knew there was no escaping the monstrous deity that stood before us.

Luminescent tendrils of power were beginning to test the boundaries of my new shield but I ignored them and looked back, into Penny’s dark brown eyes. There were dark circles under them and her body had swelled even more with her pregnancy but gazing at her all I could see was the girl that had run with me through the open fields of our childhood summers. The word love simply wasn’t enough to describe what she meant to me. Gazing into those eyes I saw my future, and the proof of it was growing in her belly. I wanted nothing more than to hold her and forget the nightmare around us.

I opened my mouth and said, “You are such an asshole.”

Her expression faltered, “What?”

“Was that really the best message you could leave me? I thought you were dead!” I said angrily.

Disbelief marched across her face, “I couldn’t say more! I didn’t know what might affect your fate.”

“Fuck fate! Fate is a goddamned whore! She changes her mind more frequently than that fickle bitch Lady Luck! Next time you tell me the truth and consequences be damned!” I shouted.

Penelope’s face twisted into an expression that was a mixture of irony, humor and worry. “There may not be a next time, this was as far as my vision got; the rest is up to you.”

Now it was my turn to be incredulous. All the suffering and fear I had been through, and this was the extent of her vision? “If we make it home alive we are going to have a serious talk,” I said and turned my attention back to the angry god.

In the short time I had ignored him Celior had changed. He had grown several feet in height and golden mists wreathed the ground about his feet. His overall luminosity had increased as well, making it almost painful to look at him. This isn’t looking good, I thought to myself.

Across the room, Cyhan was kneeling over Rose and from his awkward motions I could tell he was having difficulty moving. Celior’s presence was like an iron weight and without powerful protection I doubted any normal human could move. Reaching down Cyhan pulled the necklace from around Rose’s limp form and settled it over his own head. His movements became considerably quicker after that. Is he just seeking to escape? I wondered. Dorian couldn’t possibly have appeared with his arms and armor by chance. “Take them and get out!” I yelled at him as loudly as I could, gesturing at Rose and then Elaine. I would have liked Dorian safe as well, but there was no way Cyhan could have carried them all and at least Dorian was armored.

Celior smiled chillingly, “Save your breath mortal. I will only hunt them down once I am finished with you.” Reaching out, his hand pressed against my shield causing brilliant sparks to fly. “Your shield has improved. I might have to exert myself slightly to break something like that,” mused the shining deity, “though I know an easier way.”

I hardly liked the sound of that. Glancing backward I noticed one of the giant stones from the ceiling lay beside Penny and me, forming a natural barrier. “Get behind the stone Penny,” I ordered quietly. Turning back to Celior I tried to buy some time. “I’m done listening to your pathetic childish threats,” I said loudly.

The god laughed, “One small taste of the earth and you think you have a chance, I begin to doubt your intelligence Mordecai.”

For a moment I doubted my resolve. Obviously bear-baiting an angry god wasn’t among the smartest things I had ever decided to do. Stupid never dies, I thought inwardly, and then I replied, “Intelligence is overrated. I don’t need wits to see that you are nothing, despite your power. You are a parasite, a plague upon humanity, a figment of some man’s demented dream, drawing your sustenance from the hearts and souls of those who mistakenly worship you.”

As I spoke Celior’s face went from amused to thunderous and I put even more power into my shield. Whatever was coming would be bad. “I will show you the folly of your fool’s tongue,” the god replied and then I discovered my error.

A flash of light illuminated the room and for a split second it was as though the sun had touched the earth. It centered upon Celior and so intense were those rays that everything they touched burned and turned instantly to ash. The cloth furnishings in the room burned so rapidly they didn’t even have time to catch fire. Even the very stones smoked where that awful light played across them. My shield, on the other hand, was transparent, for light had never been a danger.

Staring up at Celior my skin and clothing crisped and vanished almost instantly from the half of my body facing him. My eyes shriveled and burned so quickly it was a mercy to no longer have to see the light. A scream rose in my throat but failed to escape for the pain had taken my breath away. As quickly as the light had appeared it vanished.

In its wake I was left a smoking ruin. The outer layer of clothing, skin and fat on the side of my body that faced the shining god was gone. If it hadn’t been for the cauterization that occurred simultaneously I might have bled to death, but instead I was left in a horror of agony and pain. Collapsing to the ground I knew I was dying already, but it might take hours unless Celior decided to hurry it along.

“Mort? What was that flash? I can’t see anything!” That was Penny’s voice. Though my eyes were gone I could still see her with my magesight, shielded by the lee of the stone. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Oddly enough the pain faded. Most of the nerve endings are gone, I mused. “It’s alright,” I tried to answer her but though my voice worked my ruined lips made the words sound almost foreign.

“Now you more closely resembled the blind worm you truly are,” said Celior mockingly, “when your whore’s sight returns she may thank me for improving your appearance.”

Anger was all I had left to drive me, that and a stubborn desire to somehow save my wife and child. The drumbeat of the earth quickened in response and I sought refuge in its rhythm and solace in its rage. “I don’t need eyes to see your ugliness Celior,” I answered and then I began to stand once more.

Something struck the back of my head like the blow of a forge hammer, sending me back down against the stone floor. Moira, help me! I cried mentally. Somehow I began rising to my feet again, though another hammer blow sent me reeling to one side. Celior was battering me with his fists now.

I can do nothing against the might of a god Mordecai, came Moira’s words in my mind.

Another strike sent me flying across the room to strike the wall, and yet again I started to rise up. Not me! Hide Penny. Take her away, through the stones if you must. Save her! My attention was fully engaged by Celior’s fists then.

Though his blows struck ever harder they seemed to hurt less. I was larger now, though Celior had kept pace with my growth. At a guess we both towered a full twenty feet above the floor now.

“You should stay down,” Celior’s voice told me. “You only delay the inevitable.”

His next blow swung toward my head but I was ready for him and this time I brought up my own arm to block it. Before he recovered I drove my other fist into his stomach. Without realizing it my hands had grown massive stony spikes and they pierced the shining god’s belly, spilling blood that looked like liquid gold upon the ground. “I am so tired of hearing that,” I replied in a voice that was reminiscent of the grating of two massive stones. “You’d think you would find some original threats during your eons of immortality.”

Celior stumbled back and then tried to counterattack. Ignoring his strikes I grabbed his head as he leaned in and jerking it downward I brought my massive stony knee up to meet it. With a crack like the sound of thunder I felt the bones in the shining god’s face break. Drawing his head back I repeated the motion, pulverizing what was left of Celior’s beautiful face. Then I reached down and grasped the limp god by the legs and swung him bodily into the wall.

Unfortunately I lost my grip on him at that point and he flew from my grasp. Despite the grievous injuries he recovered faster than I could reach him and leaping upward fiery wings sprung from his back. Several desperate wing beats sent him soaring above my head and through the ruined ceiling of the palace. That was not in the damn rulebook! I thought, cursing him mentally.

Taking advantage of my brief respite I scanned the area for my friends. Only Dorian was near, still lying unconscious in the stone rubble of one wall. Cyhan was almost out of the palace now, carrying Rose over one shoulder and Elaine over the other. Of Penny I could find no trace and I took that as a good sign.

I decided to get some fresh air. Raising my fist I demolished one wall and pushed my way through the rubble until I stood in one of the palace’s inner courtyards. Given the relative size of the dollhouse I was destroying I must have stood over forty feet tall at that point. As soon as I emerged from the fallen stone and timbers I discovered what Celior had been up to. A searing beam of pure sunlight bore down on me, burning into my stone skin.

Above me the god flew on his flaming wings, like some grotesque parody of a phoenix. He kept the light focused upon me and parts of my body began sloughing away like bubbling magma. Even in my rocky form I began to experience a sensation that my human self might have labeled pain and I tried to shield myself with my arms to no avail.

Drawing upon my magic I sent a bolt of pure force at my antagonist but the distance and his maneuverability made it impossible to hit him. “Fool!” Celior screamed down at me. “Your power cannot last, but mine is eternal.”

I was beginning to think he might have a point. As his assault continued it was becoming more and more difficult to reconstruct my body and even my thoughts were growing sluggish. The more power I drew from the earth the less I cared. I was beginning to forget myself. If I could just get my hands on that glowing bastard, I thought desperately.

A shadow crossed the sun and in the distance I saw something impossible. It was too far for my magesight, but my stony eyes could see what appeared to be a huge bird diving from the sky, down toward Celior. Apparently the god sensed something as well, for he broke off his laughter and glanced up and behind himself in alarm. His measured wing beats became frantic strokes as he tried to gain speed and altitude, but it was far too late. The bird… no it was a dragon, had far too much speed already from its dive.

It struck him with such force that they both plummeted from the sky and Celior was driven into the street beside the palace. The ground shook and the dragon tore at the god’s body, ripping into his belly. For a moment I was still, staring on in complete shock. Could that be Gareth Gaelyn? According to the story Moira had told me dragons were the stuff of myth and fairy tale. The only one that had ever existed was the result of an archmage gone mad and that was over a thousand years ago. He had also slaughtered his own people.

The dragon was at least a hundred feet in length from nose to tail and armored in glistening grey-black scales. His body was sleek and streamlined yet as he moved I could see powerful muscles rippling under his skin. The dragon’s wings were folded tightly against his body now that he was down on the ground, but they had been vast when they were unfurled a moment before. He held Celior with his jaws and two powerful forelimbs while his rear legs clawed and tore at the shining god.

Not knowing what else to do I started running to reach them, at least I tried to run. I quickly discovered that my size prohibited such activities and I was forced to proceed at a hurried lumbering gait. I still covered much more ground than I could have in my normal human form.

Even as I neared them Celior recovered his balance and twisted free of the dragon’s grip. Rolling the two of them fought on the ground like two drunken brawlers. If drunks had scales, wings, and glowed… I thought. Celior had the advantage now, using the weight of his body to press the dragon into the crater they had formed while his hands attempted to rip the beast’s head from its neck. The deity’s wounds had already vanished and his beauty was horrible to watch as he began to exert himself, pulling the dragon’s head inexorably upward.

How do you kill something that heals instantly? I wondered. My anger had faded somewhat, slowly being replaced by fear. Despite everything, Celior seemed more powerful than ever and there were no signs of him weakening.

I had little time for thinking, since it appeared my only ally was about to lose his head. Diving into the fray I wrapped the shining god in my arms and squeezed. Laughing Celior began glowing brighter than the sun and I felt my body beginning to melt and sag where it touched him. I couldn’t afford to let him get airborne again, so I did the opposite.

“Let’s see how you like the center of my power,” I ground out between granite teeth and I redoubled my efforts. Contracting my arms I felt his back break and the god twisted in pain. Stretching outward with my thoughts I let my body sink downward, into the ground, dragging the struggling deity with me. Sorry Penny, I thought with regret. I couldn’t keep that promise Rose wanted me to make for you.

Ever deeper we went and still I clutched Celior tightly. I could feel him weakening now, or perhaps it was just my growing strength, but I was able to encase him in the massive stone coffin that my body had become for him. Moira Centyr had defeated Balinthor this way, I remembered. She had drawn him down and when her power had been great enough she had crushed him to death. The resulting explosion had changed the face of the earth and created a new sea.

That will kill everyone above for tens of miles, came Moira’s voice in my mind.

How close is Penny?

What of your other friends? What of the people? she answered.

I felt a sense of anguish and desperation. I can’t have everything, I replied.

You cannot do this, not here.

Then I’ll move him, I said mentally.

There is a better way, she replied and then her mind touched mine and showed me.

Descending deeper I moved down beneath the crust of the world, into a realm of extreme heat and pressures. There I began crushing Celior, until his size was what it had been when I first saw him. Pushing further I compressed him until he had become nothing more than a brilliantly glowing sphere about two inches across. I reached within my massive rocky body and drew forth a power that was intensely concentrated and began weaving it in deep red lines around the trapped god. The blood of the earth, I thought to myself, for blood was the closest thing I could think to the appearance of that power.

Using my memory of the stasis enchantment and something akin to intuition I wove a series of runes that would lock the god’s twisted mind into a timeless and unchanging state. When I had finished he no longer struggled against his gem-like form but still his power was so great that it warped even time around it, causing energy to bleed outward. Drawing upon my strength I encased his enchanted form with a dense crystal that would absorb his power as it leaked out.

I’ll have to make sure the power is used or drained away regularly, I thought. Otherwise the giant diamond would eventually explode with a force that would make my iron bombs seem paltry in comparison. And the malign being within would be free again, I mentally added.

When I had finished I spent long minutes resting. The deep earth was comfortable and now that I no longer had to struggle against my foe it soothed my ragged emotions. My pains began ebbing away. My body no longer had any distinct margin or border and the deep drumming of the earth drew my tired spirit out. I should sleep, came a thought I hardly recognized as my own any longer.

Mordecai, no! Wake up! You must return. Don’t give up now. Moira Centyr’s voice nagged at my consciousness.

More from irritation than any desire to please her I lifted myself up through the dark layers of earth and stone until I once again lay upon the street in Albamarl. The dragon still lay nearby, bleeding and nursing a terrible wound to its neck. The sight of it roused my mind and brought back thoughts of my humanity.

Lifting my massive stone form I moved carefully closer to the dragon, unsure what it might do. “Can you understand me?” I said in a voice so deep and booming it surprised me.

Its eyes opened and fixed on me with a look of such intelligence I could not help but think it understood my language. Its mouth opened for a second but no sound emerged and a look of what I thought must be frustration passed across its strange reptilian features. “Are you Gareth Gaelyn?” I asked, thinking it might be able to nod or respond in some other way.

Before my eyes the creature began to shrink and its flesh flowed like water reshaping itself into something far different and much smaller. Seconds later I found myself staring down at a bizarre looking man. His skin held a strange lustrous tint and his eyes were slitted like those of a cat… or a dragon. Utterly naked he had no evidence of external genitalia and his belly was covered in large scales much like those of a snake.

Looking down at himself he cursed, “This isn’t right.” He seemed surprised when he heard the words emerge from his mouth.

I repeated my question, “Are you Gareth Gaelyn?”

Staring upward he answered, “I think I used to be, but I am unsure. I was human once.”

“Why did you help me?”

“I heard the earth rouse itself a few days ago. I came to find the reason, and to feed,” he said in slow and oddly accented words. “The shining god reminded me of my crime and my shame.”

His words made me anxious, particularly his mention of ‘feeding’. I wondered if he might repeat his first slaughter of the men he had meant to save. Before I could put my fears into words he spoke again, “Are you a wizard?”

“I am,” I replied simply, not knowing what more to add.

“That form is dangerous. More so even than mine, it will eat at your mind,” he said somberly.

His words reminded me that I still had not resumed my original flesh and blood body. Closing my great stone eyes I remembered Moira’s lesson and visualized myself as I had been before. The memory of my burns flitted through my mind for a second and I stopped, that thought had come close to killing me. Clearing my thoughts again I remembered myself as I had been before the burning light, healthy and whole.

When I opened my eyes again I saw the world in more normal hues and standing in front of me was Gareth Gaelyn. He was close enough now I could see how thoroughly reptilian he looked in every particular. “I think I still have my mind intact,” I told him.

He smiled oddly, showing rows of needle sharp teeth. “You think so, but each time you leave bits of yourself behind. Small things you don’t even notice. And you bring new things back without realizing it.”

“Will you return to the world of men?” I asked him.

He shook his head, “This is as close as I can come to your form now. The very thought of going further repulses me.”

“Then why did you take this form?” I asked, gesturing at his humanoid body.

“I’m not sure,” he said carefully. “I think just to warn you, and to thank you for helping me settle my debt.”

“Debt?”

“I failed to stop Balinthor, but I think today has settled the score,” he replied walking away from me.

“Where are you going?”

“To feed,” he replied.

“On what?” I asked.

He glanced back and showed me his teeth, “Whatever I find, human. My debt is settled and I must eat.” Saying that he began changing again and moments later the dragon was back.

“Take care where you find your meals dragon!” I shouted as he began to beat his wings. “If I find you eating humans I will not stand idly by.”

I watched him fly away through the long afternoon sunlight. The palace nearby was ruined. Walking back into it I decided to find my friends, or whatever was left of them.