She slowly shook her head as best she could. ‘No. You must live. You are stronger than me and one of us must live to save our son. He may be a demon as they say, but that can change…people can change.’
‘They can,’ Samuel admitted. ‘But you can’t die. I have only just found you.’ He looked towards the form of Balten, where he still lay on the floor. ‘Take him then.’
But she shook her head. ‘No. You are right. I can’t take the lives of others any more. You will need him if you are to escape. I’m sorry, Samuel. I don’t want to die. I just wish we could be together. That’s all I’ve ever wanted- just to be with you. I’ve always loved you, and I had you, Samuel-I had you for just a little time.’ Tears streamed down her cheeks,tears of pain and tears of sorrow mixed as one.
He laughed as he cried and held onto her, considering the pure ludicrousness of his life. He had truly been cursed, for nothing he loved, and nothing that loved him, could ever survive. ‘You’ve never called me by my name before,’ he told her, with tears dripping from his cheeks.
‘Nor have you called me by mine,’ she said softly.
‘You don’t have a name,’ he said, stifling the sobs within his chest.
‘I do…I just don’t know what it is. Samuel-’ she tried to go on, but was lost in her tears. ‘I don’t want to die without a name. Real people have names. I don’t want to be a god any more.’
He thought desperately. ‘I don’t know what name to choose.’
‘Please…think of something.’
While once he had thought of her as a freakishOutlander, nowhecould not bear the thought of being without her. She was the most beautiful thing he could imagine and he did not realise it until now, too late, as she lay dying. Again, he looked to the ceiling with watering eyes, desperate to think of a name for the one he loved. He strove to conceive of a fitting name, but every notion seemed foolish or inappropriate. The ceiling of the chamber seemed to be swimming before his teary vision, but he could not bear the thought of disappointing her.
Not knowing what to say, he returned his gaze to her, but she was utterly still and she looked up at him with vacant eyes. He pulled her to his chest and sobbed, her hair spilling over his face and matting in his tears.
‘I do love you!’ he sobbed over her. ‘I do. I always loved you, too.’ He could hardly gather his breath and his chest stung from the effort. ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!’
He sat for a time, cradling the woman in his lap and crying over her, when Balten spoke from beside him.
‘She’s gone.’
‘I know,’ Samuel managed to say. His voice was hoarse. Slowly, gently, he eased her to the floor and stood, wiping the tears from his eyes with his black sleeve. She had died to save him so that he could save their son, but he would not survive at all unless he could escape. ‘What do we do?’ he asked the solemn magician. ‘I need to be gone from here.’
‘It cannot be undone. That was the whole point. Once committed, Starfall is irreversible. Nothing can stop it and we cannot escape it.’ Baltensat down cross-legged to await his fate, still rubbing his ravaged muscles. ‘It should not be long.’
‘We must do something. We must try!’ Samuel said desperately. ‘She can’t have died for nothing.’
‘Sit down, Samuel. Accept your fate. We have prepared well. We failed here, but future generations will still have a chance. They will find the other temples that Cang has prepared. There is hope for future Ages.’
‘We must do something. It’s not over yet. She died to save me! Let me try!’
Balten sat still, but finally something must have changed his mind, and he stood reluctantly. ‘Very well. What does it matter? If you want to try, so be it. If the star can be cracked, it may lessen the impact but,even so, it will only gain us some time, until Lin begins his work. If we can damage the star enough, perhaps the destruction will be lessened and you can reach a safe haven.’
‘We could make it to Cintar,’ Samuel suggested.
‘Yes. And then what?’ Balten said. ‘You would only be waiting for your own son to come and consume you. Do you want more anguish in your life? Do you want more heartbreak than you have already received? You are a glutton for punishment, Samuel. If you sit down now and wait a few moments, you will be at peace.’
‘While we live there is always hope, Balten. Nothing is set in stone. I believe even a child that has become a demon can become a child once again. I can save my son.’
‘Your resilience impresses me, Samuel. Very well, we can try, but I will need your help. You will need to help me with the Journey spell. I will need a few minutes to prepare-and any magic you have left. I will need a lot of power, perhaps more than we have between us.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Die…but perhaps in doing so I can finally do some good.’ With that,the magician took a great breath and formed a deepSummoning stance. ‘Come. Lend me your strength,’ he said and Samuel moved to behind the man, placing his hands on Balten’s back and adding all the power he could still muster.
‘It’s not enough, Samuel!’ Balten said after a time. ‘I need much more!’
‘I don’t have any more!’ Samuel said, but,despite his own words,he closed his eyes and searched deeper, pulling at the ether around him with all his will, and scouring his insides for any last vestiges of power. It was difficult to believe that so much power had been his before, and he had accepted the fact unquestioningly. Now, he felt howhardit was for normal magicians to gather magic. It was frustratingly difficult work to compel the ether to hand over its strength and he had always taken it for granted.
‘More, Samuel! Do you want to live or not?’ Balten shouted at him.
Samuel redoubled his efforts and his head began to swim. A faint whispering sounded at the back of his mind and Samuel could hear a dark voice speaking to him, whispering promises in the Ancient Lick. It was calling to him, pleading to him, offering its power in exchange for a bargain. It knew what he wanted and he whispered back to the voice, ‘Yes!’
At that moment, more dark magic began to spill into him, channelled into him from another realm. He swallowed it and transformed it into raw power that he, in turn, fed into Balten.
‘That’s it, Samuel!’ Balten called. ‘I can feel it! We’re nearly there.’
All the while, the voice inside Samuel was chattering with laughter, but Samuel did not care. His only intention was to save his son.
Balten kept his mind on forging two Great Spells. One of them was unknown to Samuel, but the other was obviously an attempt at a Journey spell. Balten did well with the core of the spell, but Samuel guided him, filling in the crucial missing details. Balten had obviously been working on a version of the spell himself, and perhaps had been gleaning parts of its making from Eric, but he was far from perfecting it on his own.
Finally, Balten breathed a heavy sigh of relief and Samuel took it as a sign that all was finished, and he stepped away. Two great bodies of magic throbbed around him, readied to be unleashed.
‘That’s enough,’ Balten said. ‘I must go now if there is still to be time.’
‘Go? To where?’ Samuel asked him.
‘To save you, so that you can save the world.’ With that,Balten released his first Great Spell, and lines of sparkling jade began to run across his face. They met and joined in a latticework of green across his skin and,as each tessellation closed, his skin changed appearance, growing shiny and hard, transmuting into translucent crystal. Bit by bit Balten was transformed by his magic, until he had become a man of tinted diamond. His clothes, too, had become part of his physical form, fused into him and changed into such crystal. He rolled his eyes to Samuel and his voice rumbled like the trembling of the earth. ‘I cannot be killed like this, but I will only live a short time. It should be enough to do my work.’
The Journey spell still remained and it was enough to guess the tall magician’s plan.
‘Do you think you can shatter the star, even like this?’
‘I will try,’ Balten boomed. ‘This body is harder than any stone, whether it be from the heavens or not.’
Looking at the man’s crystal form, Samuel remembered something. ‘When I was fighting with Grand Master Anthem, a spear of glass saved me. Was it your doing?’
But Balten only shook his head. ‘Whatever happened, it was no act of mine. I was busy here all the while, although I would readily have saved you if I could. I once told you, Samuel, that only I can teach you what you need to know. Do you remember that day?’
‘I remember. I’ve been waiting a long time for those lessons to begin.’
Balten managed a crystal smile. ‘They began from the first day that I met you, and now they are complete. I cannot be your teacher any more, for I have nothing left to teach. I hope you have learnt well.’
