Son of Khyber

CHAPTER TWENTY — SIX

Fallen Lharvion 22, 999 YK

Thorn’s vision shifted to compensate for the darkness. The first thing she saw were the angel’s wings-outspread and glorious, with long feathers as dark as a moonless night. The source of the chimes became clear, for there were chains attached to every feather. Strange weights were bound to the ends of the chains-weights of many shapes and sizes, engraved with symbols Thorn didn’t recognize. Their purpose was clear: for all his glory, Vorlintar could not rise from the ground.

The raven wings drew Thorn’s attention, but the figure between them was nebulous and enigmatic. Her first impression was of a wraithlike being, cloaked in shadow, with long arms and hungry, grasping hands. No… it was her father, as he had been on the day that he left them for the last time. Or a whirling mass of dragonshards surrounding a great pillar. The sight was overwhelming and disorienting. She turned her eyes away, and not a moment too soon. Confused as she was, Thorn hadn’t even noticed the angel’s approach. Now, guided by the rattling of the chains, she realized he was almost upon her. She rolled to the side, and while she couldn’t see the angel’s hand, she felt a chill as it passed close to her skin.

Thorn’s companions moved. She heard the whir of Xu’sasar’s bone wheel and a ringing crash as it struck the wings of the chained angel. If Vorlintar felt any pain, he gave no sign of it. But that was just the prelude. Brom ran across the hall, smashing into the Keeper of Hopes with enough force to dent steel and shatter stone. Yet the angel was unmoved by the blow. He caught Brom by the neck and lifted the dwarf into the air. A horrible sound filled the air, a despairing wail torn from Brom’s throat as he flailed in the angel’s grasp.

Thorn moved behind Vorlintar. Steel was in her hand. One thrust could bury the blade in the angel’s spine. But how did she know he even had a spine? How could she hope to succeed when both Brom and Xu’sasar had failed so completely? Brom’s strangled cry was already dying, and she knew there was no way to save him. Her only hope was to flee, to try to save her own life.

No!

These weren’t her thoughts. There was always a way. There was always hope.

She wrestled with her doubts, struggling with the terrible malaise and fear-and then the despair broke.

Thorn struck with the speed of a viper, burying Steel in the back of the angel’s neck. His scream echoed throughout the cathedral, an unearthly howl of pain. There was no time to savor her triumph. Vorlintar lashed back with his wings. The sheer force flung Thorn back, and the impact of a chain against her forehead made the world go white. She rolled with the blow, twisting to land on her feet. A thought called Steel back to her. He flew from the wounded angel and into her hand. Streams of shadow and dark wisps of smoke poured from the injury.

Brom lay crumpled on the ground, and Xu’sasar was standing frozen, likely paralyzed by the same doubts Thorn had struggled with. Drego and Daine stepped into the fray. Drego raised his hands, and argent flames illuminated the room. “I know you, Vorlintar.” His voice was clear and strong. “Fifth among the Fallen, bound in this place for coveting that which you were born to inspire. My light will strip away your power and constrain you to the fate that awaits you.”

Drego thrust his hands forward, and bolts of silver light flowed across the room. Yet Vorlintar laughed, raising his hands and blocking the flames with shields of shadow.

“What mockery is this?” the angel said. “Your hopes are hidden from me, but I shall pry them from your soul.”

Drego’s magic couldn’t reach the Keeper of Hopes, but the onslaught was holding Vorlintar’s attention, and now Daine strode forward with his blade drawn and his dragonmark pulsing in the dim light. Thorn circled around the other side. Vorlintar was beating his wings, and the lashing chains made it difficult to close in. Still, she just had to wait for an opening.

“You are alone in this place, fallen one,” Daine said. “You cannot stand against us all. End your struggles and accept your fate.”

“Oh, I always have hope,” the angel said. “Just as long as I have innocents.”

The children rose to their feet.

It was just as Thorn had feared-a mob driven by the same feral fury as those they’d fought in the tunnel. They weren’t armed, but the sheer numbers would be deadly.

“Xu’sasar!” Daine snapped.

Whether it was the order or the change in focus, the dark elf broke free of the trance. She didn’t hesitate. She leaped across the room, an impossible bound that sent her flying through the air and right into the midst of the savage youths. Her weapon shifted into a long bone staff, and she lashed out as she landed and knocked a child to the ground.

Thorn wanted to help the dark elf, but she knew the angel was the greater threat. She flung Steel at Vorlintar’s back, and the angel hissed as the blade struck home. Then she saw something that made her heart sink. The wound she’d made in the angel’s neck had vanished, as if he’d never been injured.

This revelation brought new waves of despair. Even Daine seemed to feel it. He had reached the angel and his blade was held high, yet he did not strike. Thorn could only assume that he was struggling with his own doubts. She tried to think, to come up with a solution, but all that she could think about were the people she had failed. Lharen. Mayne. Her mother.

Then a new hope appeared. Brom slowly rose to his feet, unsteady yet strong. Thorn smiled And then Brom swung his huge fist at Daine.

No! Xu’sasar couldn’t last long on her own. Daine was struggling with Brom. Drego’s silver flame was growing dim, slowly being consumed by Vorlintar’s shadows. And Thorn couldn’t hurt the angel with Steel.

So she’d have to find another way.

Dropping Steel, Thorn charged Vorlintar. His wings buffeted her, but inhuman strength flowed through her. She slammed into the angel and wrapped her arms around his chest.

Now, she thought. She tried to remember the sensation of killing the Sentinel Marshal, of draining the life from the man in the tunnel. But nothing happened. Whatever the nature of the power, it wouldn’t answer her call. And now strength was fading. The angel was thrashing, his chains flailing against her skin, and she couldn’t hold on for long.

No. She could. Thorn had never been one for grandiose dreams. All she wanted was to serve her country, to know that her father would be proud of her. And that was enough. She was fighting for Breland and the memory of the best man she’d ever known, and she had no intention of failing either one. There was always a way. There was always hope.

The angel screamed again.

Hope. That was her weapon. Vorlintar consumed hope, and he could not claim hers. He struggled, howling, but Thorn locked her hands together and refused to let go. He would fall. They would find a way. She was sure of it.

The shadows the angel had summoned vanished, and Drego’s flames washed over him. For a moment Thorn thought she would be burned, but she felt only the slightest tingle against her skin. Not so Vorlintar. The angel’s thrashing grew weaker. The weight of his chains pulled him to the ground.

Daine moved forward and placed his hand against the angel’s forehead. His dragonmark burst into light, and the lines of it flowed off of his skin and wrapped around the head of the Keeper of Hopes. The angel’s cries suddenly silenced, and he stiffened in Thorn’s arms. As she held him, his body began to fade beneath her hands, as if he were turning into mist. There was a jangling sound as one of his chains fell to the floor. Another followed, and another, and then there was a crash as dozens fell at once. Thorn’s arms closed on empty air. Daine held a ball of writhing shadows in his hand, bound in the brilliant lines of his mark. He took a deep breath and closed his palm, crushing the sphere. He gasped as inky blackness spread from his hand along his mark, flowing up his arm.

“Thorn, get back!” Drego cried. “Stay away from him!”

Daine’s face was a mask of pain. The shadows spread to his face, moving across his eye. He dropped to one knee, his fist still clenched, every muscle bulging.

Thorn snatched Steel off of the floor. “What can we do?”

“Just stay back!” Drego yelled.

He’s right, Steel whispered. I don’t know what this is, but there’s immense power at work. You need to stay clear of it.

It seemed that the shadow-touched mark was fighting to pull free of Daine’s body. Inky tendrils rose from his skin, lashing at the air. It was a terrifying sight, and yet Thorn couldn’t just stand by and watch. She was sure that she could help. You’ll know when the time comes, he’d told her. And she did. Sheathing Steel, Thorn walked to Daine’s side and set her hands on his shoulders. Immediately, she felt a surge of warmth in the shard in her neck. Only this time, it wasn’t pain.

“You can do this,” she said. The words came to her without thought. “Remember who you are. Remember what you’ve done. What’s one more to one such as you?”

Daine stiffened at her touch. Then, as she spoke, crimson light burned at the shadows along his skin. The ruddy glow reclaimed the lines of the dragonmark, and the mark itself pulled back against his flesh. He gasped, falling forward and catching himself with one hand.

“You have my thanks, my lady.” His voice was ragged. “I knew I could count on you.”

Thorn didn’t even know what she’d done or where the words had come from. Yet it had felt terribly familiar, as if she’d done it before.

“Of course,” she said.

“Xu,” Daine said, rising to his feet.

The chaos had passed. Thorn saw that Brom was sprawled out on the floor behind him. Daine was still unsteady on his feet, but he pushed passed Thorn toward the mass of savage children.

The battle was over. The children were sprawled across the room. A few bore signs of injury, but others seemed completely unharmed. As Thorn followed Daine, she saw that all of the fallen were smiling, their faces frozen in expressions of joy and peace.

Not so Xu’sasar. The dark elf had held her own, but the children had possessed the manic strength of the marauders at the tunnel, and she’d fought dozens of them. She was covered with bruises, and there was something wrong with her left leg-a sprain, if not a broken bone. Blood was flowing from her mouth, and Thorn wondered if there was internal bleeding.

Daine took her in his arms. She looked at him, and her pale eyes were glazed. “It reflects poorly on the soul… when one is killed… by children,” she whispered.

“You’re not dying here,” he told her. “Drego!”

“I cannot let you… stand alone,” she said. “The spirits told me… danger still to come.”

“I will not be alone,” he said. “And you have done your duty to the spirits.”

“Brom’s dead,” Drego said, coming up behind them. “A mercy after what that thing did to him.”

Daine looked up at him then back at Xu’sasar. “Help her.”

Drego looked down at the injured woman. “There’s little I can do-”

“Do it.”

The Thrane knelt beside Xu’sasar, studying her wounds. Even weak as she was, she refused to cry out in pain. But it was plain to see that she was in agony. It was then that Thorn remembered what she had in her cloak. Finding the proper pocket, she produced the second vial of dreamlily that she’d taken from the Tarkanan stores.

Xu’sasar resisted when Drego tried to give her the medicine. “Weakens the mind,” she murmured.

“Drink,” Daine said. “I need you alive.”

On his order, she swallowed the potion. Her breathing slowed, and she relaxed.

Drego studied her for a few more moments. “She’ll live,” he said. “I need to splint the leg, and she needs to rest. But as long as she avoids any strenuous activity, she’ll survive.”

“Do what you need to do,” Daine said. He looked away, and Thorn finally had a good look at him. His dragonmark had spread, covering his entire neck and a wider portion of his face.

“What happened?”

“Vorlintar,” he said. “He’s bound within my mark. It’s difficult to hold such a powerful spirit. Fortunately for me, I had an experienced mentor.”

“Your mark’s spreading.”

“I know. It always does. I imagine the spirits I had bound were released when I died. When I returned to the flesh, my mark was the same size as when it first appeared. With each new spirit, it grows. I can feel it, writhing against me, struggling to be free.” As if to illustrate his point, the lines along his arm twisted and shifted. “But I held it before, and I can contain it now.”

Thorn said nothing, just watched the aberrant dragonmark as it crawled on his flesh. Drego called them back.

“I’ve done what I can,” he said. “But we should get her back to the haven.”

“No,” Daine said. “There is no haven in Sharn. Not anymore. My orders to our brethren were to evacuate as soon as we left. If Cannith hasn’t found it yet, they will soon.”

“So where are we going?” Drego asked. “Xu’sasar can’t fight.”

“And she will not be joining us,” Daine replied. “I will speak to her alone. As for us, we have one more angel to find.”

“What do you mean?” Drego said.

“I want you to take us to the Cardinal Point.”

“The Cardinal Point?” Drego said. “You mean…”

“Yes,” Daine said. His mark gleamed against his skin. “Tonight we face the Angel of Flame.”