light. He had survived the destruction of the onyx bridge.
The shadevar recovered its balance, digging clawed feet into the stone on the very edge of the pinnacle's summit. It turned its eyeless face toward K'shar, slit-shaped nostrils flaring. 'Fool!' it shrieked.
'Defiler! You cannot harm me. I will rend your flesh to liquid with that of these other mortals.'
'Truly?' K'shar mocked. There was no fear in his expression, only a feral eagerness. 'Very well, creature. I will make it easier for you. I will not try to escape. On the contrary, I will come directly to you.'
Before the shadevar could react, K'shar dove, curling his lean form into a tight ball and rolling toward the creature. The half-elf struck the thing's legs forcefully, knocking the shadevar off balance. The creature's obsidian talons made a hideous screeching noise as they scrabbled against the edge of the precipice. The thing nearly caught itself. Then the rock crumbled under the terrible force of its clawed grip. With a piercing shriek, the creature toppled backward.
They watched as the shadevar fell through the air and plunged into the center of the glowing lava pit far below. The ancient creature's cries were cut short as it sank into the pool of magma. A roiling cloud of crimson fire burst out of the pit, then dissipated. After that, there was no sign of the creature. Even shadevari were not proof against the hellish fire of molten rock.
K'shar rose to his feet.
'How did you survive the fall into the chasm?' the mage demanded.
The half-elf shrugged. 'I did not fall. I managed to grab a ledge a few yards down, then pulled myself up the cliff face to follow you.'
'You saved us from the shadevar,' Mari said in amazement, approaching with Ferret and Kellen.
The Hunter regarded her with his startling eyes. 'You are wrong, Al'maren. I killed the creature because it was in my way, that is all.' A wistful smile touched his lips. 'Would that I could be as free as you, Renegade. Perhaps one day I will be. But at this moment, duty to the Harpers binds me still.'
In a single fluid motion. K'shar reached out and pulled
Mari's sword from the sheath at her hip, then lunged toward the basalt throne. The Hunter moved so swiftly that the others had no time to react. They could only watch in horror as K'shar pulled the sword back, then plunged the sharp blade deep into the heart of the jet-black chrysalis.
Twenty
Mari screamed.
She tried to move, tried to dive for K'shar and wrest the gleaming sword from his hands. The half-elf might as well have stood a dozen leagues away instead of a dozen steps. A single agonizing thought pierced Mari's brain, as if it were she whom the Hunter had stabbed. I Have failed you, Caledan!
Smoothly, K'shar pulled the sword from the black chrysalis. A thin stream of dark vitriol spilled out of the slit, pooling before the throne. The chrysalis gave one final twitch, then lay still. The stream of dark fluid slowed to a trickle before ceasing. Whatever had pulsated inside the glossy shell moved no longer. Slowly, his golden eyes unreadable, K'shar turned away from the throne.
'You've killed my father,' Kellen said quietly. The sword slipped from K'shar's hands, clattering to the stone. 'I know,' he replied solemnly. 'Yet whatever you think of me, do not think that I feel no sorrow. I watched my mother die at the hands of men who feared her for the blood that ran in her veins. Your father has died for no better reason. And for no worse.' A bitter smile twisted his lips. 'Now we are like kin, you and I.'
'Damn you to the Abyss!' Morhion snarled. 'You are nothing to him, save his father's murderer!'
Ferret sprang forward, pressing a dagger against K'shar's throat. The half-elf did not resist. 'I'm sure you want to kill this bastard yourself, Morhion,' the thief rasped, 'but I'm afraid I'm going to do it first. Sorry-you know how selfish we thieving types can be.'
'Stop!'
The others looked up in shock as Mari stepped forward, raising a hand in protest. She would not allow further conflict. There had been enough death in this blasted place.
Morhion's eyes blazed. 'What is wrong with you, Mari? Let the thief do his work.'
Ferret pressed the knife harder against the bronzed flesh of K'shar's throat. A bead of dark blood ran down the half-elf's neck. K'shar did not even blink.
'Yes,' the Hunter whispered. 'Let him.'
'No, I will not.' Mari was surprised at the icy authority in her voice. 'It was not K'shar who killed Caledan. It was the Harpers. The half-elf was simply their tool, something with which I am well familiar. Murdering K'shar will not change anything. It will merely spill more blood.' She glared at Ferret. 'Do you want that blood to be on your hands, Ferret Talondim?' She turned to face Morhion. 'How about on yours, Morhion Gen'dahar?'
The two men stared at her in silence while K'shar watched with curious eyes. At last Morhion opened his mouth to say something. His words were cut off by
Kellen's frightened cry. 'Look at the throne!'
Ferret lowered his dagger as all turned to gaze at the throne. Something moved inside the black chrysalis. It pressed against the glossy sheath, distorting it. Then the husk rocked violently, once, and a dark shape began to push through the slit cut by the sword. Something was hatching out of the chrysalis.
They watched in a mixture of fascination and revulsion as, slick with black mucous, a tightly coiled form struggled weakly through the rip in the glossy shell. With one final, spasmodic jerk, the thing heaved itself free, falling with a wet smack! to the stone platform. It lay curled before the throne, flexing feebly, rhythmically, like a newborn creature still damp with fetal liquid. That was exactly what it was, Mari realized with a nauseating feeling. They were witnessing the birth of a shadowking.
The thing was curled tightly, so sticky with black ichor they could make out little of its form, save that it had long, supple limbs and two pulsating protrusions on its back that could only be stubby wings. A dull, spiky lump of metal rested against its chest. The Shadowstar. The creature was shuddering.
'There's something wrong with it,' Ferret choked. 'It was born too soon,' Morhion said grimly. 'K'shar's blow released it from the chrysalis before its metamorphosis was complete.'
Mari shivered. 'Will it…' She forced herself to rephrase her words. 'Will he die?'
Morhion shook his head. 'No. It's growing stronger every moment. I think it will live. But it is vulnerable now, while it is still taking shape.'
'Then Milil save me,' Mari whispered. She picked up her short sword, then took a step toward the still- forming shadowking. They had been too late to prevent Caledan's metamorphosis. Now there was only one thing she could do. Forgive me, Caledan! she cried silently. She lifted the sword, ready to end his misery.
A shriek of ancient hatred shattered the air as a dark shape swooped down from the leaden sky. Mari stumbled backward barely in time to avoid scythelike talons. With a rush of jet-black wings, the shadowy blur sped once more toward the clouds. Mari craned her neck, gazing up to see a shadowsteed whirling high above the throne. Another malevolent cry echoed off hard stone. Another shadowsteed rapidly approached the pinnacle.
Morhion pulled Mari to her feet. 'The remaining two shadevari will protect the shadowking while it is taking form,' he warned.
Mari gripped her sword. 'Then we have to try to kill him.' She gazed at the alien creature that struggled before the throne. Its wings were continuing to grow. They pulsated more strongly now. Each throb squeezed dark fluid into the appendages, stretching them like the expanding wings of a newly hatched butterfly. Was there anything at all of Caledan left inside that hideous form?
Morhion snatched the sword from her hand. 'This will not avail you.' He heaved the weapon off the pinnacle. The only thing that can destroy the shadowking now is the Valesong. We must restore the song, while the shadowking is still taking shape.'
'Somehow we have to try to unblock the fissure,' Mari responded.
Morhion nodded in agreement. 'You must do it, Mari, I will try to distract the shadevari, to give you time to reach the fissure.'
Mari paled, biting her lip fiercely. The mage intended to buy her time with his own life. Yet, could it be a worse bargain than the one he had already forged with Serafi?
