Even his fingers and toes had gone numb and Samuel quickly sucked on the fingers of one hand in desperate effort to revive them. He could sense the incredible amount of damage that had been done inside him and realised it was only pure luck that none of his vital organs had burst altogether.
A tingle in his spine lit Samuel’s senses and brought him back to alertness. He rolled aside as another beam silently pierced the tower directly beside his head and flashed out into the distance. Smoke seeped out from the two tiny holes that now marked the tower stones. Not wasting any time, Samuel started straight upwards.
The land all around was now cast in shades of grey and the sun was just a glimmering sliver of gold on the horizon. Flecks of silver covered the shimmering ocean, gathering towards a single gleaming point far away but, as the tiny crack of the sun melted and vanished away, the sea, too, became grey and quiet, leaving only the distant clouds with any colour, saturated in pinks and oranges. Directly above, the sky was darkening as storm clouds slowly gathered, and a soft groan rumbled out from amongst them as lightning flickered in their depths.
Samuel continued moving up the sheer, stone wall with labouring breaths. A flurry of silent beams sliced through the tower behind him and always the laughter continued, seeming to issue from the very air itself.
Samuel reached his goal and leapt over onto the top of the tower, waiting in the eerie silence of dusk while he gained his breath. The wind made a soft whisper and the other palace towers were dark shards in the twilight. The city was grey below, but tiny dots of light were quickly appearing everywhere as people lit the lanterns in their homes. The ocean, spread out vast beside the city, was tranquil, now barely seeming to move at all. Various city sounds seemed to carry up to him on the wind and, occasionally, a distant breaker could be heard striking onto the shoals with a
A whimpering sound made Samuel turn around and he found Lullander, the magician, splayed out on the tower roof, bawling and whimpering like a child. On spying Samuel, the man leapt to his feet and ran screaming and blubbering straight off the side of the tower, leaping as if to his salvation. His howling faded quickly as he plummeted away.
The wind blew up and the sound of rippling cloth caused Samuel to turn back as Ash rose slowly beside the tower heights, held up by the air itself. Samuel stepped away. He could no longer see the aura around the man as he had dulled his senses so much, but he could still feel the tremendous power threatening to be unleashed within. For an instant, Samuel wished he could get a glance at the weaves around Ash-even for just a moment. He could learn so much just by looking at the spells that Ash had brought into existence through sheer force, but he could not risk it in his current state.
A sickening grin was painted on Ash’s mask-like face. He observed Samuel, but his eye sockets were empty, gaping holes and his skin was taut and dried like bark. The Staff of Elders was clutched so tightly in his left hand that the tendons in his wrist were popping out with strain. The Argum Stone glinted, shimmering on his finger and still feeding magic into the corpse of a man. Somehow, Ash still lived, even as the mage-fire continued to eat through his body. He no longer relied on his own mortality. Such concentrated power was sustaining him beyond all normal reason.
Samuel needed far more power than he had ever summoned before, even if he was just to escape with his life. He sought within himself for the calm he needed and fought to slow his desperate, shallow breaths. There was nowhere left to run. Only his magic could save him, if only he could gather enough of it in time.
‘I see now what the universe is about,’ Ash whispered without motion-his words poured black vapour, his skin was bone white. ‘I no longer care for the trinkets and coins of this world. Even my eyes and flesh are only keepsakes that I willingly discard. What is being an emperor when I can be a god! I can feel the energy, the life, within everything, within you.
Ash lifted his hand and five arcs of raw energy flashed out from his fingertips, striking at Samuel like vipers. Samuel’s legs kicked out from underneath him, sending him sprawling onto his face. He thrashed and convulsed, his cheeks and teeth striking the stones as he flailed about uncontrollably. He could feel the life draining from him, being stripped from his marrow.
Ash stopped abruptly and a wash of pain flooded back into Samuel. He screamed into the floor and choked on the fluid that spilled up into his mouth, coughing it up in volumes, retching pure blood. He rolled over with wide eyes-his muscles felt knotted and torn-to see Ash standing over him, gnarled and twisted like a salt-withered tree.
Ash’s mouth widened, bearing the yellow teeth that still hung from his blackened gums in a hideous toothy grin, but Samuel barely saw the man, for he was looking beyond him, up to the darkening sky. Things were moving high above-enormous leviathans of power colliding and interweaving. A jagged patchwork of light silently zigzagged overhead, leaving tracts of fading scars across the heavens. More lightning flashed in the north and then the south and the rumbling rolled in towards them. Angry clouds gathered above and churned as if in a restless dream.
The pain then stopped and Samuel took a great gulping breath, seeming to taste air for the first time in his life.
‘I can stop the pain for you, Samuel,’ Ash hissed, stooping over him.
Samuel opened his mind and drew magic, but before he could use it, it had vanished again, sucked out by the insatiable creature above him.
‘How sweet is your soul,’ croaked Ash. ‘The more you fight me, the sweeter it tastes. Please don’t give up just yet. Your struggling gives me so much pleasure. There is so much of you to eat-more than you will ever know.’ Ash bent down further and cradled Samuel’s head in his palm. He pressed his grinning face and eyeless sockets against Samuel’s cheek and the stench of boiled meat was overpowering. A distant boom sounded in the sky and was echoed by more flashes of light and thunderous clashes just above.
An unholy suffering filled Samuel as Ash began his work once more. All was darkness and pain as Samuel twitched in Ash’s thirsty grasp. His bones felt skewered with pins, as if his very veins were being pulled out through his skin. Yet, somehow, Samuel’s mind disregarded the pain and the agony that pierced his tortured body, and locked onto a sudden obvious fact.
Dividian had summoned the power to transform and awaken the Argum Stone, and he had spoken the ancient phrases required to transform the artefact into its new state, and yet, after all that tremendous effort, it seemed incredible that he could make a simple error in the final words. Unless, having realised Ash had betrayed him, had Dividian knowingly subverted the ritual? Was it a subtle message meant for Samuel? Whatever the reason, the spell was incomplete and the Argum Stone was vulnerable. Given time, it would revert back to its dormant form, but that could be hours or days or weeks away. Ash could do untold damage in that time.
If he was to survive, if he was to save the city and all within it from utter destruction, Samuel needed to get the thing away from Ash here and now-and he had only scant moments to do it.
Then, with his mind desperately searching for answers, the thunder sounded once more and Samuel knew what to do.
Ancient words came dancing onto his tongue, appearing almost from nowhere.
‘What’s that?’ Ash asked, tilting his head to one side like a curious dog. ‘What are you whispering about, boy?’
Ash screamed and reeled back, dropping Samuel’s head thudding to the stones. He stood to his full height, screeching in pain as the Argum Stone flashed white-hot upon his finger. He held his claw-like hand before his face in sheer disbelief and howled at it like a raging banshee. Finally, his finger cracked off, withered and baked all the way through, and crumbled to dust. The Argum Stone bounced to the ground at Ash’s feet while Ash was left trembling and wailing, cleft from his source of power.
Waves of harmonious energy sang out from the powerful relic, making a resonant song in Samuel’s ears. With the sealing-phrase spoken, the Argum Stone transformation was now complete.
Free of Ash’s grip, Magic surged back into Samuel like a wave heaving up and pounding itself down upon the shore. He threw up one hand as if clutching at the very ether and he was instantly filled with raw, pulsing power. His skin and bones and tissue and mind were brimming with magic, replacing the terrible pain that had wracked him only moments before. His body was already spent but, while he could still draw a breath, his magic could sustain him. He and Ash were vastly different. He would never have let himself be overcome by such deranged power.
