‘I have it.’
Molier’s gaze shifted to Albray. He was standing on the path that ran around the chamber, between the entrance door and the white-pillared annexe, and he held high a glowing white vial in his hand. ‘Hand it over or I’ll kill her.’
‘Come and get it.’ Albray ran toward the white-pillared annexe and Molier took off in pursuit. If Albray managed to return the vial to its shrine, I was the only one who could retrieve it and thus I was no good to Molier dead.
‘Get out, Lillet,’ Albray shouted to me.
To put more distance between Molier and myself, I ran to the red-pillared doorway to take the path around the wall back to the entrance. I heard Molier curse as I ran, so I assumed Albray had beaten him to the shrine and had replaced the vial. Molier came speeding out of the white-pillared doorway and, seeing me heading for the exit, he headed off around the path also, hoping to cut me off before I made it to the tunnel entrance. Albray did not pursue Molier around the wall, but went straight ahead toward the central platform and the red-pillared annexe beyond.
Unsure if I could outrun Molier, I changed my course and ran back toward Albray. He embraced me and I was so delighted at his presence and intervention that I wholeheartedly returned the gesture. ‘I’ve been such a fool!’ I blurted out through my tears, with no time to say all that I really wanted to.
‘I know,’ he said forgivingly, just to annoy me, though he did not succeed.
Molier’s pace had slowed, and he came to a stop in front of the exit. ‘Neither one of you is leaving until I get that other vial.’
‘The sun will set soon and the gateway will close. The Star vial is now locked safely in its resting place and the assassins, who hold your men captive, will bury the gateway as soon as it closes.’
‘Then I had best kill you quickly.’ Molier grinned, unfazed.
‘As soon as I engage him, run for the exit,’ Albray whispered in an aside to me.
‘I’m not leaving without you,’ I insisted, for I remembered well enough that Devere had predicted I would be the death of him.
‘I’m afraid that is your destiny.’ He gave me an amorous look, whereupon I kissed him with all the passion I possessed.
‘Nothing is predestined,’ I announced, having just rendered one of his predictions null and void.
He smiled lovingly as he backed up toward the central platform and away from me. ‘I might have lied about the kiss,’ he confessed and shrugged in apology.
‘No,’ I appealed, wanting nothing more than for him to survive. ‘Kill me, and then there is nothing more to fight over.’
‘Never.’ He turned to confront Molier to see the man gulping down the contents of the Fire vial. ‘Oh no,’ Albray said, as Molier replaced the stopper on the vial and then licked the blood-red liquid from the sides of his mouth.
‘Yum,’ he commented smugly, then gripped his head and cried out in pain. ‘No!’ he screamed, ahead of screeching even louder as the agony he felt drove him to his knees.
Albray ran to finish off Molier while he was disabled, but the sight of his foe slowly levitating into the air made Albray think twice.
Molier closed his eyes as his free-floating form began to spin around in circles.
Albray motioned to me to begin making my way around the wall toward the exit. ‘Are you going to come down here and fight like a man, Molier?’ Albray drew his sword.
‘I’m no longer just a man.’ Molier’s voice had deepened. His eyes shot open and his eyeballs shone yellow within red. ‘I am a god.’ He floated toward Albray, who backed up to lead our foe away from the exit.
As I watched them engage in a sword fight, I inched my way silently to the exit, but as I reached the path leading to daylight I could not bring myself to follow it. I had seen Albray fight before; I knew how good he was, but Molier was fighting like a demon possessed.
Locking swords with my knight, Molier cast him backwards, clean off his feet, and then turned to address me. ‘Where do you think you are going, princess? Mmm?’
The monstrous-looking knight took to the air to pursue me and, with little choice, I turned and ran for my life, doubtful of my ability to outrun him. I glanced back to see Albray spring at Molier from behind and, grabbing Molier’s cloak, he managed to hoist him backwards.
‘Ladies of the Elohim,’ Albray cried out, ‘grant me the miracle I require to save your daughter from this creature’s desire and in return I shall serve ye in death as well as I have in life!’
‘No,’ I protested, but a strong updraft erupted from within the still chamber below, preventing me from descending back into it.
‘Hurry, Lillet. The sunlight!’ Devere screamed out to me.
I ran for the gateway, and noted how dim the sunlight was becoming, when I heard the loud, strange sound of buckling metal.
Behind me, Molier howled in desperation and as I reached the entrance I heard a death blow dealt and the gurgling sound of a man choking on his own blood.
The very instant my feet landed on the dirt of the desert terrain beyond the gate, a thick sandstorm caused by a sirocco passed over the sun, and with a loud crash of metal the gateway reconstituted in a flash of light into a solid metal barrier, trapping Molier and Devere within.
‘Oh, dear heavens.’ I was sickened by the account of my knight’s death. ‘Albray’s vow to the goddesses explains why he answered Ashlee’s summons to the stone and why he continues to honour that vow and aid me.’ Now that I better understood Albray’s plight and devotion to our cause, I was saddened, for he had no choice in the matter.
‘Mia, Albray would aid you whether or not he was obliged to,’ Lillet enlightened me, as she ran a hand down my
