Shaddon pointed a gloved finger at his granddaughter, as if to gainsay her question. Instead, a slender ribbon of darkness burst from it and struck Eined in the chest. She gasped, surprise turning to horror. She fell, sprawling to the ground.
The vengeance taker rushed forward and swung his dragonfly blade at Shaddon. The crystal-covered man swayed back, just beyond the arc traced through the air by the blade's tip. Shaddon pointed his finger again, this time at Iahn. The vengeance taker simultaneously raised his own hand, and with a mumbled syllable of warding, shredded another dark ribbon into so many threads.
The sound of the wind escalated in the corridor beyond, then suddenly fell to nothing.
'Shaddon,' yelled the wizard into the sudden quiet, 'why must we fight? We…'
An icy breeze froze the words in Ususi's mouth. The crystal that sheathed Shaddon's face no longer glowed violet-it became a mask of utter night. Black vapor streamed away from Shaddon's body like the sun's corona, if the sun had been a source of darkness instead of light.
A lifeless voice rumbled, 'I recognize you, Imaskari scions. I will be revenged upon you.' The words were an archaic form of the Imaskaran tongue that Ususi had assumed was remembered only behind the Great Seal.
The wizard stumbled back, her hands already tracing the outlines of a powerful ward. As she did so, she asked, 'Why?'
'It must be so,' thundered the terrible voice. The blot of darkness that obscured Shaddon's form swelled. 'Your bloodline is Imaskaran. Imaskari remnants will be expunged first. Imaskar will fall. I will take the keystone you carry.'
Ususi finished her spell, and a blue glow took up residence on her skin and garments-the telltale sign of protective magic. She edged over to where Eined lay and touched the woman. She could pass the protective glamour to any living creature.
The glow did not pass from the wizard's finger into Eined.
Shaddon, or Pandorym, had killed her.
Ususi stood and said, 'I won't give a monster like you anything!'
'I do not ask.'
The possessed form of Shaddon stretched its arms to both sides.
From every finger, dozens of umbral ribbons burst and swirled through the air at Ususi.
The strands, in the hundreds, fell upon her glittering blue aura and broke. But her aura's potency was halved, as shown by the weakening of its glow. Where each ribbon had grazed the ward and shattered beyond its radius, lingering coolness pressed on Ususi's skin, promising worse with Shaddon's next salvo.
Iahn appeared behind Shaddon. The vengeance taker stabbed his drawn blade deep into the darkness shrouding the elder Datharathi. The form in the center of the thickening cloud jittered, then spun around with blinding speed, one arm extended wide. As Shaddon completed his spin, one hand lashed out like a scything blade, trying to catch the vengeance taker across the throat. Iahn deflected the blow along the flat of his dragonfly blade, but the force of the blow knocked the vengeance taker's weapon spinning away.
Shaddon's other hand, closed in a fist, and jabbed with the speed of an adder. Iahn evaded it with an economical head bob, just as quick. Shaddon's sinews were enhanced with the power summoned by his Celestial Nadir prostheses, but a vengeance taker's abilities drew from years of hard training and sorcery.
Ususi whispered words of ineptitude and hurled them at Shaddon, who absorbed them without flinching. The wizard next traced a sign in the air, but Shaddon evaded the small, whirling vortex that tried to pull him up. She spoke the dark syllables of the Decomposition of Umyatin, but before she could finish, another barrage of wavering black rays fell upon her from one of Shaddon's hands. His other hand connected in a particularly vicious cross to Iahn's left shoulder, just missing his head. The wizard cried out as her protective screen failed, and several thin ribbons chewed through her flesh, thankfully still hardened from the ward she'd erected upon first entering Adama's Tooth. Blood flowed, and she hoped the pain meant only a superficial wound.
Iahn continued to circle and jab with his bare hands, attempting to prevent Shaddon from matching each of the wizard's attacks with a salvo of his own. The elder Datharathi managed to release another barrage against Ususi, but the vengeance taker took advantage of his split attention and assayed a vicious, low-leg sweep. The blow knocked Shaddon's feet from under him, and he clattered to the floor.
Shaddon bounded back to his feet, tangible claws of darkness growing from his fingers, and a mane of ebony fire rimming his brow.
Iahn backpedaled, spoke a single resonant word, and faded from view.
Shaddon intoned, 'I see you.' The possessed Datharathi waved its burgeoning claws of darkness through empty air and knocked the vengeance taker into view from the mystical angle of space in which he'd hidden. Iahn rolled away from the claws in a smooth tumble toward Ususi. Simultaneous with his roll, the wizard saw the taker deftly open and plunge a finger into his damos. Shaddon turned and advanced upon Ususi, claws clacking and ebony mane dripping malevolent fire. As Iahn finished his roll, she erected a semi-solid wall of ice, hoping to hold Shaddon back long enough for her to devise a better strategy.
She glanced at Iahn. The vengeance taker popped the finger he'd dipped in the damos into his mouth. Ususi gasped, 'By the Great Seal!'
Iahn's eyes glazed, his vision fixing on some distant horizon. His head lolled, and he slurred, 'One whose flesh is partly crystalline is yet thrall to his mind-and his mind is in thrall to Pandorym. Sever the first connection, and the second connection is for naught. Sever the second connection, and we…'
Even as he uttered the last of his warning, his diction improved.
Ususi realized the vengeance taker's body was throwing off the poison.
Ice fragments exploded outward as Shaddon clawed through the magical barrier. He spoke. 'The keystone will be taken. The keystone …'
Ususi uttered a spell to freeze Shaddon's will, its sharp consonants and long vowels buzzing in her throat. The spell took shape and descended upon Shaddon like a stooping hawk. For a heartbeat, then two, Shaddon stood transfixed, his body refusing to act as his mind, or Pandorym's will, directed him.
The reprieve gave Iahn enough time to snatch up his fallen dragonfly blade.
Ususi shouted to the vengeance taker, 'Use your damos on him!'
Without answering, Iahn took his blade and shoved it unceremoniously into the unmoving Datharathi's chest, but it failed to penetrate.
The vengeance taker said, 'His flesh is completely encased in crystal.'
Ususi yelled, 'He's struggling against the bonds of my spell-kill him! Use your damos.'
Darkness scythed around the transfixed body of Shaddon, swooping and whirling like a murder of crows.
Iahn explained, 'I emptied the damos reservoir to see ahead to a future that contained both of us. It'll take a day for the damos to refill. The Voice is not something called on lightly, and doing so has consequences.'
'Then forget Shaddon-by the time Pandorym breaks down my spell, we'll be gone. The portal must be this way!' Ususi made a dash toward the tunnel Shaddon had appeared from, but paused.
The still form of Eined lay sprawled in her path. The Datharathi woman's spirit had fled the world, to a place of final freedom Ususi herself had nearly reached when the efts had mauled her. The stars had been so bright…
Iahn saw Ususi's hesitation and sheathed his dragonfly blade on his left hip. He stooped, grabbed the girl, and threw her limp body over his shoulder. Without visible effort, he ran past Ususi down the corridor. Wiping a tear from her cheek, Ususi followed.
The vengeance taker ignored the side passages. Unearthly screeches pealed from one dark opening, and a venomous glow leaked from another.
But the main passage was clear, and soon enough emptied into another large cavern. This grotto was the site of some sort of recent disaster. A pile of broken wooden tables, the wreckage of expensive equipment, and a variety of other debris left a whorled trail of destruction across the floor. A woman lay at the spiral's epicenter, unmoving. Crystal implants were visible on her body. Some creature or force had apparently removed the woman's head. Ususi turned and saw the menhir ring. Her heart leaped! The ring was a duplicate of the Mucklestones of the Lethyr Forest, which meant… 'There! A portal into the Celestial Nadir,' the wizard breathed. The bright, unwavering lights on the cavern's periphery failed to illuminate the ring's interior. 'Careful,' the wizard told Iahn as he moved toward a gap between two stones, 'it's open. Even without a keystone, they've managed to access the Celestial Nadir.' The vengeance taker nodded and stepped through. Ususi followed.
