hovered in place, hanging in mid-air,held aloft by burning tendrils of magic.
‘No, Samuel!’ came the voice again and he realised it was the stubborn old magician who had disturbed him. ‘What are you doing, Samuel? For the love of everything, look at what you are doing! You are killing everyone! This is vile work! I cannot allow it or we all will be lost!’
Samuel opened his mouth, but he could no longer form words. Something spilled from his lips, hot and infused with power, and he had no interest in communication. The light around the jabbering old magician had enticed him and his attention focussed on that. He willed himself to float towards the old man and began pulling at his energy, as ifhe wereunravelling a thread from a woollen jumper. In turn, a whip of magic came hurtling out from the old magician and wrapped itself around Samuel.
‘Two can play at this game!’ the defiant Grand Master roared and he began tugging at Samuel’s power in return.
Samuel was enraged and howled in anger as Anthem sucked at his strength. The two of them tugged back and forth with their power, playing a tug of war with each other’s very spirit. The old man was incapable of doing too much harm, but every drop of power that was stolen stung Samuel and left him mindless with rage. He drew closer and closer to the old man, pulling faster and faster as he closed the distance, until Anthem had barely a sliver of life remaining.
‘I’m sorry, boy, but I must do this for the sake of everyone,’ and,with that,Anthem gave a leap, grabbed Samuel by the ankles and hung on tight. He screamed in pain, for his hands blistered upon touching Samuel, but he would not let go. He pulled Samuel down to be at his own level and then he threw his arms around him and hugged onto him with all his might. ‘I guess we shall both get to see what hell really looks like,’ he said and the beast that was Samuel now saw the old man’s intent.
A string of magic still tethered Anthem to the demon he had summoned and,by releasing the spell, the fallen creature would return to its own realm and take the old man with it. He must have planned for that from the start-a last resort for just such a situation.
Deep within himself, Samuel put these facts together, but somehow he could not act on them, for voices were still chanting in his head and he was still overcomebythe primitive drive to consume. It should have been simple to fight the old man off, but Samuel’s body would not respond. Instead, he kept on sucking at the magician who held him, gobbling up the final shreds of his life force.
In the final moments of his life, Anthem released his spell, and the demon vanished into a shimmering haze. The tendril of magic that ran between them was sucked in after it, and the slack of the spell began to disappear as it was pulled in after the beast.
Just then, something whistled through the air and a shaft of glass appeared through the middle of Samuel and Anthem both. To Samuel, it was inconsequential and he hardly would have noticed such a thing, but the old man spat blood and gasped with a terrible realisation. Worse than the pain was the fact that, in his moment of surprise, he had let slip his grip on Samuel and had staggered back, sliding from the end of the spear that had pinned them together. It was a single,tragic moment, but it was too late for Anthem to grab hold once more. Instead, he stood defeated, knowing this moment was his last.
‘For god’s sake, boy, listen to me,’ Anthem said, choking on his blood. ‘You were supposed to bear the hope of the world, not its damnation. You don’t have to forgive me, but forgive yourself. It is not too late.’ Then his gaze became unfocussed as his blood fell freelyand he dropped to his knees. He looked through Samuel altogether. ‘Forgive me, brother.’
With that, the tether around him tightened and he was gone in a flash. The oppressive presence of the demon vanished and,as the ether gulped the beast back into itself, Samuel’s garnered power was sucked in with it. Thousands of souls’worth of power vanished, drawn in by the tear in the pattern and Samuel was left shuddering and gasping in wordless pain.
The voices in his head started shouting at him, and he could hear it was the Ancient Lick; they were speaking, commanding him to gather more souls. He would not listen to them for,with the pain,his mind had cleared. He realised that Anthem’s parting words were true. If he had continued, perhaps he would have become the very demon that he was trying to prevent from returning, or a mirror of Ash, the very manwhomhe had despised. He would have consumed everyone-even his own son and the child’s mother. Instead, he fought back against the voices, using the old man’s final message to empower him. He refused to become a tool for destruction. He would not hurt the ones he loved. In defiance of the voices, he held his hands to his ears and screamed as loudly as he could.
‘Get out of my head!’ he told them. The voices increased in intensity and he continued to yell, but he refuted their claim on him and refused to let them in. Slowly, they dimmed away and he could hear his own hoarse voiceonce more. Finally, the whispering faded away altogether and only his own thoughts remained to fill his mind.
With his power all but gone, he became aware of his body and he suddenly realised he still had a spear through his chest. He dropped to his knees and cried in pain, as he strained to slide the thing from his middle. Length by length he drew it out, until it was finally free and he cast the thing aside. It shattered on the rooftop, a shard of glassed rod. He looked aboutto discover who hadcast such a weapon, but no magician was in sight or could be sensed.
He had only shreds of power left, and he instilled that magic into the hole in his chest and knitted back the broken flesh as well as he could, leaving a pale scar just below his ribs. He would live and his power would return, but it had been a sobering experience. Anthem had saved him in the end with the parting gift of his words. He had probably saved them all. Samuel had little love left for the old man, but,despite his misdirected methods, his intentions hadno doubtbeen true. Perhaps, one day he could forgive the old man. One day, but not today.
He dropped from the roof and rolled uncomfortably onto the lower balcony that had fallen against the building, now forming a broken ramp that led to the ground. Standing on his throbbing ankle, Samuel carefully descended to the street and began hobbling along the curved terraces, up towards the palace.
The city was deserted here,for everyone caught nearby now lay dead. As he climbed the hill and neared the glorious palace, he found more and more people: some ignoredhim completely and others fledin terror as they recognised him. His mind was on the Koian woman, but he still had to retrieve the two rings from Alahativa. He had felt firsthand what a demon could do and he had no wish to fight something like that,somethingwhich could devour souls with its thoughts.
He took deep breaths as he climbed and,by the time he had entered the abandoned palace, he had gained enough power to heal his ankle and was feeling something more like a magician again.
Despite his fears that Alahativa may have fled, she was still in her chamber, still arguing with the chained Emperor. Her hair was messed and she looked crazed. Strange energies were billowing around her: a mix of her own ring-empowered magic and the strange alien aura that was threatening to overcome her.
‘So you live!’ she yelled at him, and she hid behind her captive with wild eyes and held a jagged dagger to his throat.
‘I want you to free him,’ Samuel commanded.
‘Never!’ the woman declared. ‘He is mine, forever! I will kill him and kill myself before I let him go to another.’
‘He has his own mind to decide.’
‘But he does not remember yet. I do! Once he realises who I am, he will never want to leave me again. We were made to be together for all time! He just does not remember!’
‘I am not that man!’ the Emperor roared.
‘You are!’ she cried into his ear. ‘I know it!’
‘Then put the other ring on my finger,’ the Emperor suggested. ‘If I am truly who you say, I will have the same powers as you dormant inside me,the same powers that have brought back your memory. If not, then it will prove that I am just a man, and not whom you think.’
‘Yes! Yes!’ she said and she forgot Samuel asshe hurried around in front of her captive. She dropped the dagger and,fumblingin the pockets of her elegant gown,drew out Samuel’s magical ring. She pushed it onto the Emperor’s finger and Samuel saw the energies bloom around him. ‘There! Do you remember now?’
The chains dropped from his hands as he spelled them loose, using the power that came to him via the ring. Just having such power proved that the man called Edmond Calais was,indeed,a magician of some description. The fact that he already knew how to wield his power also spoke volumes.
