Destroyer of Worlds

3

The blue flash lit up the swamplands even through the mist, followed closely by the echo of Callow's scream across the black water.

Caitlin broke off her examination of the myriad paths through the swamp and removed the axe from its harness on her back. Etain, Tannis, Owein and Branwen were already climbing into their saddles as Mallory growled, 'With any luck, something's eaten him.'

'That flash — it was Blue Fire,' Caitlin said coldly.

Mallory didn't respond.

Another blue flash filtered through the mists, but this time it was accompanied by a shout of gleeful anger.

Callow was so engrossed in his vigorous attempts to destroy the lantern that he didn't hear their approach until the last. With a girlish shriek, he booted the lantern towards the deep water and ran.

Diving at full run, Mallory's fingertips skimmed the Wayfinder before it splashed into the depths, spinning it upwards where it threatened to escape him again. Scrabbling wildly, he eventually snagged it and hugged it to his chest.

'Sorry, Hal,' he whispered. 'I won't let you out of my grasp again.'

With powerful strides, Caitlin caught up with Callow in seconds, brutally kicking his legs out from under him. His frightened pleas quickly turned into sly attempts to explain his actions, but when he saw the dark fury in Caitlin's eyes his voice faded away.

'I bleed, you don't,' she said, 'so how do I get my revenge against a dead thing?' She pressed the blade of her axe against his face. 'I could chop you into tiny chunks, but would there be any conscious thought left in them to suffer?'

'Being in this place is suffering enough, m-m-m-ma'am,' Callow stuttered.

'But it doesn't make me feel any better. Where's the justice in that? Where's the lesson learned?'

'Please,' Callow called out to Mallory, 'have a heart! I made a mistake, that's all. You are Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. You celebrate all that is good about life.'

Distractedly, Mallory polished the lantern. 'True. But unluckily for you we're not Church's group. They've got compassion in spades. Existence brought us together with specific qualities in mind. They're the good guys. We're the hard bastards.' He gave Callow a brutal smile. 'All except Hal, and I'm betting he's not feeling very sympathetic towards you right now.'

Callow let out a small whimper. Caitlin dragged him to Etain and retrieved a rope from her saddle. His searing cries echoed across the entire swamp as Caitlin bound his wrists tightly behind his back, looped the rope around his ankles, then threw the other end over the branch of one of the spindly trees overhanging the swamp. With a jerk, she whipped Callow's feet out from under him and suspended him an inch above the water, where snapping shapes swam hungrily just beneath the surface.

He cried and pleaded until his throat was raw, and when he finally stopped, Caitlin said, 'I think the best thing would be to leave you here where you can't do any more harm. With a few friends for company.'

Another jerk of the rope plunged Callow's head into the water up to the bridge of his nose. The water boiled around him as the razor-worms plunged into his eyes and ears, burrowing and eating for what could be eternity.

Half an hour later they could still hear his terrible screams as they made their way out of the swamp and onto a barren plain, once again following the lantern's blue flame.