Demon Lord III - Grey God (16 page)

"Very well, I
shall free the Gate, if only to put an end to your pleading. You
will pray to your goddess and beg her attendance. Then I shall
speak to her."

Tarris slumped
with a sob. "Thank you, Lord. I will do as you command."

Mirra slid her
arms around Bane's neck and kissed his cheek.

Tarris cast
her a grateful smile. "Bless you, lady, and thank you. I had not
thought to see a slave who could influence her master so."

Bane's brows
knotted, but Mirra giggled and clamped a hand over his mouth when
he opened it to deliver a blistering rebuke.

"I am not his
slave, I am his wife," she said.

Tarris looked
stunned, glancing at Mithran and Grem.

Mirra followed
her gaze. "That is his father and his friend."

Tarris' eyes
flicked back to Bane, filled with awe and confusion. "How wonderful
and strange, My Lady."

Mirra released
Bane, who cast her a martyred look. "Yes, my husband is wonderfully
strange."

Bane dismissed
the cup of ambrosia and stood up. "Let us be on our way then."

The Grey God
rejoined them, and Tarris led them in the direction in which they
had been travelling, veering to the left. Soon, however, her
exhaustion forced her to stop and sink down in a heap, her head
bowed.

"Forgive me,
lords, I have no strength."

Grem
dismounted and approached, addressing Kayos. "She may ride my
steed, Lord."

Tarris looked
up with a weary smile. "I have not even the strength to cling to
your beast without a saddle, but thank you, My Lord."

Grem nodded
and retreated, his steed following. Kayos scooped up more sand to
create sweet cakes and a flask of honey mead. While she ate, he
came over to Bane, who had created another seat for himself, still
tired from his battle with the Naribis.

"How do you
intend to do this?"

Bane eyed him.
"As quickly as possible?"

He ignored the
quip. "The element of surprise would be of great benefit."

"No doubt, but
will that not be difficult if I have to blast my way in?"

"Through a
Realm Gate?" Kayos chuckled. "Even you are not capable of
that."

"I might
surprise you. I examined the Gate at the dead domain, and I think I
could do it."

"Beware the
arrogance of the dark power, Bane. Perhaps you could, but do not
try to walk through one, whatever you do. The wards around a Gate
are the most powerful ever created, and would incinerate you.
Unfortunately, dark gods use Keys stolen from their slaves to enter
domains. If my Key works, we will be able to enter without causing
too much of a ruckus, and then you will have to deal with the
goddess and her demons.

"In a light
realm they will have no access to the dark power, and she will be a
droge. Strip away her form and prevent her from Moving, and the
light will do the rest. Her soul will fly to the Land of the Dead,
where hopefully Vorkon will not find her for a while. If you can
defeat her and her demons quickly enough, no warning will reach
him."

Kayos looked
pensive. "He will not know of her defeat unless he is in the dark
realm, and as a spirit she cannot warn him. It is doubtful he will
be in the Darkworld, since he has already conquered the mid-realm.
He is more likely to be there, trying to capture Drayshina. We do
not need a lot of time, only enough to enter the light realm and
meet Drayshina."

Bane sighed
and rubbed his face. "I need to rest."

"Not here. The
best place to rest will be in Drayshina's light realm, before
Vorkon becomes aware of your presence. It means a delay, but that
cannot be helped. I will enter first and distract the goddess,
which will give you more time to prepare yourself. A word of
warning. Be sure to raise your shields in the instant you strike.
The discharge of dark power in a light realm will have spectacular
results."

Bane glanced
at Tarris, who had finished her meal and gazed at him pensively.
She looked away, but he found her penchant for staring at him
annoying. "What about the others?"

"They will
wait outside." Kayos raised a hand when Bane opened his mouth to
protest. "They will be safe for a short time, never fear."

Bane looked
around as Tarris rose to her feet and set off again. The journey
continued at a slow pace until she had regained enough strength to
ride with Grem, whereupon the pace quickened.

Leaving the
red desert, they passed through an innocuous area of brilliant
yellow clouds, reminiscent of a light realm, with twinkling stars
shining in the mist. After that they entered a grey, rocky
landscape under a pale, featureless sky. Creatures that looked like
giant scorpions scuttled amongst the rocks, rushed forward to
menace them with raised claws, then retreated. The sky darkened and
the rocky terrain faded, leaving them once more in an area of
darkness.

They came to a
vast cliff of black rock, and Tarris pointed to a barely visible
Realm Gate, only the fine cracks of its outline revealing its
presence. Kayos studied it, then turned to Bane.

"Are you
ready?"

Bane shrugged,
glancing at Tarris, who gazed at him with wide eyes, bit her lip
and looked nervous, but hopeful. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his
trousers.

Kayos said,
"This goddess will be nothing more than a doxy, a beautiful woman
he has corrupted to be his companion. She will not fight you."

Bane clasped
his hands behind his back. The memory of his battle with Arkonen
haunted him still. The encounter with the Narabi had been too
sudden to allow for an attack of nerves, and that had been fairly
disastrous, in his opinion. The Grey God took a shining Key from
his pocket and approached the Realm Gate.

Mirra came to
his side and took his hand, glancing up at him in surprise. "You
are shaking."

He nodded.
"Wait here until it is safe."

Concern shone
in her eyes. "You should not be afraid. I know you will win."

He forced a
weak smile. "Then you know more than I. You would not understand.
You cannot. You do not know what it is like to face a dark god, or
even a goddess. It is not what I would call fun."

"I did not
think you would be afraid."

"I am not as
confident of my omnipotence as you appear to be. If anything
happens to me, you -"

"Nothing will
happen to you. You should have more faith in yourself. You can do
this. You were not afraid when you fought Arkonen."

"Not the first
time, which is why I was almost killed and you were captured. The
second time I was almost too afraid to face him, and I only did it
to save you. This could end in disaster."

"It will not."
She shook her head, her mouth set in a determined line. "Just be
careful."

Bane raised
her hand and kissed her palm.

The wards'
radiant lines sprang into being with a soft hiss as Kayos
approached them, and he touched the Key to one of them. They winked
out, and the Gate began to glow and chime. Striding up to it, he
pressed the Key to the carved portal. After another long delay, the
chiming stopped, and the gigantic lock disengaged with a soft
grating. Bane became invisible and strode after Kayos as the Gate
opened. Brilliant white light flooded out, making him squint, and
Kayos held up a hand to shield his eyes.

A slender
woman stood framed in the gateway, the light gilding her bright red
hair and milk-pale skin, turning her green eyes to glowing gems.
She wore a floor-length gown of shimmering gold, which clung to her
curves like a second skin. Jewels dripped from her throat and ears,
clasped her wrists and adorned her fingers with flashes of
fire.

Her beauty
surprised Bane, and she smiled, beckoning to Kayos with a languid,
seductive gesture.

"Enter, My
Lord, and welcome."

Kayos ascended
to the door, Bane close behind him, where he hoped the goddess
would not sense his presence. Her attention, however, was fixed
upon Kayos, her eyes alight with delighted avarice. The light realm
brightened as Kayos stepped over the threshold, and he stopped
before her, beyond her reach.

"I seek
Drayshina."

"She will
return shortly. Take some refreshment and ease while you wait." She
looked puzzled by Kayos' lack of fear, but evidently did not have
the experience or knowledge to suspect anything untoward.

Bane scanned
the imposing hall, which was more lavishly decorated than Kayos'
one, finding fourteen demons in various guises, and five droges.
The demons stood against the walls, their forms blending into the
carved whiteness, perfectly camouflaged so as to be almost
invisible. Two earth demons disguised as pillars stood sentinel at
the Gate, which swung closed with a soft boom. The droges hid
behind the pillars, only their curiosity betraying their presence
as they peered from their hiding places when Kayos' back was
turned.

The goddess
walked away, then paused to smile at Kayos and indicate that he
should precede her with a sweep of her hand. Bane wondered if she
lacked either the power or the courage to try to capture the Grey
God herself, or merely wished to lead him away from the Gate first.
Kayos lingered, feigning interest in the hall.

Bane knew he
must strike before she sent a messenger to summon Vorkon, which she
could do at any moment with a flick of her fingers. Raising his
arms, he shed the cloak of invisibility, and the goddess' eyes
widened as she spied him. She opened her mouth to shriek a warning
at the demons, and he unleashed the dark fire in two sweeping
swathes, one directed at her, the other at the demons behind him.
Kayos dropped into a crouch and flung up a blazing shield as the
dark fire swept over him, and Bane squinted as his power warred
with the light in a flare of brilliant blue.

The goddess'
scream reached him through the hissing roar of the conflagration,
and he spun away before she could Gather from him, sending lashes
of burning shadow at the remaining demons, some of whom tried to
dive into the ground to escape it. The fire demons exploded in
crackling roars, the earth demons slumped into mounds of diamond
sand on the alabaster floor. The blinding light faded as he let his
power die, and he swung to face the goddess. His fire had stripped
her of her droge body, and her dark form shrank and shredded in the
white light, surrounded by a blaze of blue.

Bane Moved to
her side and took hold of her, Gathering her remaining power to
prevent her from Moving. The confrontation had taken mere moments,
but a furtive movement caught his eye as a surviving demon sank
into the floor. Without pausing to think about what he did, he took
hold of time with a wrench that made the hall quiver and directed a
lash of dark power at the demon that hung trapped in mid-flight,
scattering its essence. Two droges were smears of grey ash on the
floor, the other three cowered behind the pillars. He spoke the
harsh words that rescinded their forms, and they wailed as their
bodies melted away, their glowing red souls vanishing downwards.
Swinging back to the goddess, he found that she too was now a
bright spark of red light, which shot into the floor, drawn back to
the Land of the Dead.

Bane lowered
his arms as the last remnants of blue brilliance shrank into fading
sparkles and soft gleams. Kayos straightened, his shield winking
out, and turned to Bane with a smile.

"Most
impressive."

"If only
Arkonen had been so easy to defeat."

Bane glanced
around at the mother-of-pearl pillars, some of which now bore dull
grey patches, a few even had cracks in them. Kayos followed his
gaze, calculating the damage with a measuring glance, then walked
to the Gate and pressed the Key to it. It chimed, and they waited
while the locks disengaged. When the Gate swung open, Kayos
beckoned to the four humans who waited outside. Tarris' eyes
widened as she took in the damage to the hall, and the look she
cast Bane was respectful and a little fearful. She bowed to
him.

"You have
freed the light realm from the taint of evil, Lord. I thank you.
Drayshina thanks you."

"All but my
own," Bane said, raising a hand when she opened her mouth. "Do not
bother. Summon your goddess."

Tarris bowed
her head and sank to her knees, clasping her hands in prayer. Mirra
came to Bane's side and inspected him, smiled and took his hand
when she found him unhurt. Kayos wandered away into the cloud
gardens, which resembled Eternity. Only its design and the
appearance of its denizens varied. They followed him to an
intricately carved alabaster gazebo, where a pale cloud couch
hovered, bereft of its usual occupant. The Grey God gestured to
it.

"Rest, you
must be tired."

Bane sank down
with a sigh, Mirra beside him. Tiredness weighed his limbs, adding
to the lingering weakness from his injury, and he wondered how long
it would take the goddess to arrive. His blood thrummed in the
aftermath of his use of the power, adding to his fatigue.

Chapter Eight

Light
goddess

Tarris closed
her eyes and whispered, "It is safe, My Goddess. The great Grey
God, Kayos, is here. He found me in the God Realm, and his
companion has defeated Jishka and her demons. He awaits your
presence and offers you freedom. I tell you truly, see it in my
mind. There is no deceit, no trap, I swear."

Raising her
head, she sat back on her heels and thought about the strangers
whose company she now kept. The Demon Lord terrified and fascinated
her. Even though he could have been mistaken for an ordinary man,
now that she knew what he was, she recognised the distinctive look
of his kind, and recalled his eyes' coldness with a shiver.

The warmth
with which he regarded his wife amazed her. His kind was supposed
to be incapable of such emotions, and she wondered if the commonly
held belief that dark gods were cold-hearted monsters was wrong, or
if it was only tar'merin. Kayos awed her. The tales of his prowess
and his part in the Beginning Time had been well taught in
Drayshina's temples. The vast powers of the Grey Gods were
legendary, and he was the eldest and greatest of them all.