Demon Lord III - Grey God (21 page)

Her eyes
widened. "Such ingratitude. Never have I been so offended."

"How many dark
gods have you helped?"

"None,
naturally."

"That is the
reason then. Now remove it, or I will."

She pouted.
"Very well."

The silken
threads shimmered and fell to the ground, where they vanished. Bane
lay back, watching her. Even though she was a creature of the
light, or perhaps because of it, he did not trust her. The light
had attacked and almost killed him before. The dark power filled
him with suspicion and dislike for anything that was in liege with
the light. Syrin smiled and glanced upwards, as if pleased by
something.

Kayos recoiled
with a curse, closing his eyes as a point of utter nothingness
appeared in the swirling chaos within the Eye, breaking his
concentration upon it before his gaze was sucked in by its sudden
appearance. He released the Eye, letting its image return to
normal, then sought Bane within it, finding the location of the
Demon Lord and his new companion. Rising from the couch, he
Moved.

Bane frowned
at Syrin, who watched him with a slight, supercilious smile that he
found annoying. "Why will you not tell me what you are?"

She shrugged.
"It amuses me that you do not know."

"I have a fair
idea."

"So what am
I?"

"She is one of
the first people," a familiar voice said, and Bane turned his head.
Kayos stood on the other side of him, glowering at Syrin, who
smiled coyly. "Her kind was created by the Grey Gods before the
domains, to serve us, and to populate the God Realm. They were a
mistake I was not a part of, I am glad to say." He looked down at
Bane. "We call them Vesarians, but humans have another name for
them. Angels."

Bane glanced
at Syrin. "I thought so."

"Praise be to
your name, Kayos, foremost of the Seven," Syrin purred.

Kayos knelt
beside Bane, once again hesitating to touch him. He shot Syrin a
narrow-eyed glance. "This time your meddling was thwarted, for you
have not been summoned by a dark god before, have you?"

"They cannot."
She looked displeased. "One such as he has not existed for
aeons."

"You may leave
now. He no longer requires your aid."

"I choose to
stay."

"A bad
decision."

Kayos placed
his hands upon the wound in Bane's shoulder, and the Demon Lord
leashed his power into his bones. Blue light flared between them,
and it took Kayos several minutes to penetrate the web of dark
power under Bane's skin, then the wound closed. When he had healed
the wounds in Bane's flank and wrist, Kayos helped him to sit up,
and a wave of dizzying darkness made him sag. Kayos steadied
him.

"You have lost
a great deal of blood. It will take some time for you to
recover."

Bane fingered
the holes in his shirt, and Kayos stood, eyeing Syrin. Bane was
surprised by the antagonism that crackled between god and angel.
She smiled sweetly at the Grey God.

"A light god
who is not afraid to touch a dark brother. Brave indeed, mighty
Kayos."

"Beware,
Syrin, a tar'merin may grow weary of your meddling, and he can harm
you."

"And you are
not immune to that danger. He will have no compunction at striking
you down, should you enrage him."

Bane glanced
at Kayos, who frowned at him.

"I am aware of
that," Kayos murmured.

Bane closed
his eyes and bowed his head as unpleasant memories rushed back.
"Vorkon has Drayshina."

"I know. He
hunts you now. We cannot stay here, nor can we go to the light
realm. There are demons there again. I was there a moment ago,
seeking you in the Forever City. Vorkon said you were dead, and I
went there to find you. But the Oracle told me that you lived, and
that Syrin was hiding you."

"But you could
not find him," Syrin murmured.

"I would
have."

"Perhaps."

Bane glanced
at Kayos. "Where is Mirra?"

"Safe, at a
temple."

"I must go to
her."

"She is all
right. Rest."

Bane frowned
at Syrin. "Why does she have powers we do not possess?"

"She does not.
Angels have no powers, only the abilities their makers gave them.
Hiding is one of their specialities."

Bane tried to
rise to his feet, but sank back with a growl of frustration.

"Rest, Bane,"
Kayos remonstrated.

Bane looked
down at his hands, spreading them. "I failed."

"That was not
the kind of confrontation we wanted. You were unprepared, and still
weakened by your battle with the Naribis."

"It was the
same as when I fought Arkonen. I cannot defeat a dark god."

"You can,"
Kayos said. "You will."

"He almost
killed me. I had to flee to save myself, and Drayshina is now at
his mercy."

"You did the
right thing."

"What does
that matter? I failed." Bane raised his head.

"You were not
defeated -"

"Yes I was. If
I had stayed a few minutes longer I would have been dead."

"This time,
because you are young. You have the power to defeat him; you just
do not know how to use it."

Bane bowed his
head again, wings of hair falling forward to hide his face. "What
will happen to Drayshina?"

"Do not
concern yourself about that. She will survive."

"He used a
Fetch to capture her. It must have been created long ago, and it
was well hidden."

Kayos knelt
beside him and summoned a cup of ambrosia. "Drink this; it will
help to restore your strength."

Bane took the
cup with a trembling hand, which made him frown more fiercely,
hating his weakness.

Kayos watched
him, looking pensive. "He must have created many traps for her. It
was only a matter of time before she was captured."

"She should
have left the domain while she could."

"Perhaps, but
I was the one who persuaded her to stay. It would have caused her
great pain to unbond herself from her domain, and then she might
have perished in the God Realm, searching for another realm
seed."

Bane gazed out
across the dark, burning land. Millions of tiny fires spotted it,
and narrow fissures glowed with ruddy light. The Darkworld's fire
consumed the mid-realm, and dark power rose in sickening waves. He
recalled Drayshina lying helpless in the grip of the flesh beast,
its scaly black claws gripping her arms, her face twisted with
dread and loathing. He wondered what sort of torture Vorkon would
inflict upon her, the thought making his blood burn with hatred
even as the dark power within him exulted at it. Syrin moved away
and adopted a patient pose, her hands folded before her, a slight,
inscrutable smile curling her lips, as if she pondered amusing
ideas. Kayos stared into the middle distance with a slight frown,
his mouth set in a grim line.

Bane closed
his eyes, casting the image of Drayshina's torture out of his mind,
since it served no purpose to dwell upon it. The still, foetid air
seemed to press in around him, and in the distance the
blood-chilling cries of an animal's suffering cut through the
stillness. Everything in this domain suffered, man and beast alike,
and the stench of death hung over the land in a foul miasma.

When Bane
opened his eyes again, he caught Syrin studying him, her expression
filled with curiosity, and frowned when she smiled demurely. He
took several more deep draughts of ambrosia, and a little strength
seeped back into him. Handing the cup to Kayos, he struggled to his
feet, swaying. The Grey God watched him with some concern, then
dismissed the cup and vanished.

Bane followed,
reappearing in a sparsely furnished room with bare walls and a
polished stone floor. An elderly woman knelt before Kayos, her
hands outstretched in worship. Her aged face held the remnants of
great beauty, and a slim golden circlet held a white veil in place
over her hair. She wore a simple robe of grey linen belted with
plaited flax, and the tattoos of a blue mage, simpler than Tarris',
adorned her face and hands. Her brown eyes widened in horror when
Bane appeared, and she jumped up with a shriek, bolting for the
door.

Kayos reached
it before her, blocking her exit. "He is here to help us. Do not be
afraid."

"He is a
minion of the darkness!" she cried, shooting Bane a horrified
look.

Bane snorted
and turned to study the book-lined the room, gripping the back of a
convenient chair to steady himself.

"He is no
minion, good priestess of Dryashina," Kayos said. "He is the
darkness, yet he will not harm you. We need a place to rest until
he regains his strength. He has fought Vorkon, and was
injured."

"He fought a
dark god?" She gaped at Bane.

"He is a dark
god."

Her eyes
widened, and she paled, turning to Kayos. "And he lost?"

Bane swung
around, scowling. "I would call it a draw."

"Where is our
Lady?"

"Vorkon has
her."

The woman,
whom Bane assumed was a high priestess, tottered to a chair and
sank down in it, raising a shaking hand to her mouth. "May the
light defend her."

"I doubt
that," Bane muttered, replacing the religious text he had been
looking at on the shelf.

Kayos shot him
a hard look. "We will rescue her. Vorkon hunts us now. Our presence
here will endanger you, but we must hide."

The priestess
nodded. "Whatever you wish, Lord."

Kayos turned
to Bane. "Vorkon cannot speak to the Oracle, but he will soon find
that you are not in the Forever." He faced the priestess again.
"When a hound finds me, you must flee at once."

"We are yours
to command, Lord. It is our duty and privilege to serve you." She
stared at Bane with fascinated horror. "How is it that he can set
foot upon hallowed ground?"

"He is
mortal."

Bane sank down
on the chair he had been leaning on, unable to keep up the pretence
that he possessed enough strength to stand any longer. "I am
curious too. Why is it that dark gods and demons cannot enter a
temple, but they can enter the light realm?"

"A dark god or
demon may enter the light realm only at the invitation of the light
god, or if they gain a Key and open the World Gate that links it to
the mid realm. Once the Gate is opened, the wards upon the light
realm are destroyed, and the white fire loses the power to repel
evil. The same applies to the Realm Gate. Similarly, if the white
flame in a temple is snuffed out, the hallowed ground ceases to
exist, but so long as it burns, it wards off evil."

"It seems to
me that a light realm should be better defended than that."

Kayos nodded.
"Unfortunately that is the way of things. But the World Gate is
powerful. No dark god could hope to open it except with the soul of
a pure person he has corrupted as a Key."

"They seem
easy enough to come by."

The old
priestess drew herself up. "It took Vorkon fifty-seven years to
succeed in corrupting one of us, and fifteen died resisting
him."

Bane raised a
brow, and she wilted under his gaze. "Fifty-seven years is nothing
to a god, old woman."

"The World
Gate cannot be made more secure, and the time should have been used
to find a way to defeat Vorkon," Kayos said.

"We tried!"
the priestess protested. "All our attempts failed."

"Why can a
World Gate not be made more secure? Why not seal it up?" Bane
asked, ignoring her.

"The Gate is
necessary for the white power to flow into the mid-realm. Without
it, the domain will die. The universe demands balance in all
things. It was attempted, with disastrous results. The light realm,
or to be exact, the Oracle, is the source that provides the white
power. It seeps back into the light realm through the barrier that
separates it from the mid-realm, but it only flows out through the
World Gate.

"The World
Gate that separates the dark realm from the mid-realm is the same.
When a dark god rises, he opens Sources to draw more dark power out
than can seep back, thereby darkening the mid-realm. If a light god
abandons his or her domain, the World Gate automatically seals, and
the Oracle draws the white fire back into itself, becoming a realm
seed once again, and the domain dies.

"The domain
where you fought the Narabis was one such. The light realm was
empty, and only remnants of white fire existed in the mid-realm.
Since no dark god had risen there to open Sources, the process was
slow."

Bane turned to
the priestess, who shrank back, making a warding sign. "Where do
your most powerful blue mages dwell?"

"The city of
Avadorn, far to the north. That is where the Queen resides, and the
Blue Council. Why do you ask, Lord?"

"I require
them to create wards to trap Vorkon in the Darkworld."

"That was
attempted, but black mages killed those who tried."

Bane glanced
at Kayos, raising his brows. "Why not demons?"

"A blue mage
can defend himself against a demon, but not so well against a black
mage. Blue mages can even summon and control demons with strong
spells. That is why the blue mages in the Overworld succeeded where
these have not, for Arkonen had no powerful black mages. Since
Vorkon was one himself, he has a large following."

"So if I kill
Vorkon's black mages, wards can be set to trap him below."

"Yes!" The
priestess looked eager. "Our blue mages, powerful though they are,
cannot defeat Vorkon's minions."

"But Vorkon
himself could kill your blue mages when they tried to create
wards," Bane pointed out.

"Only if he
knew what they were doing," Kayos stated. "In the Overworld, the
seventh ward was created without Arkonen's knowledge."