Demon Lord III - Grey God (31 page)

Bedak's
eyebrows rose. "How will you do that?"

"I'll find
him."

He gave a bark
of scornful laughter. "He's a god!" He swung away with a gesture of
despair. "Another dark god! Surely we're doomed now!"

The priest
strode off, and the muttering crowd followed him. Shevra donned her
torn dress and went to the spot where the dark god had stood to
study his footmarks in the ash. He had been right there, a living
god in their midst, and he had saved her. She looked up at the
thinning grey clouds, marvelling at the weak light that poured
through them, more than she had ever seen. Would she glimpse the
sun? Why had a dark god slain a dark army to save a town? She knelt
beside the footmarks and touched an imprint with a trembling
hand.

When the men
had grabbed her, she had thought her life was over. Then the dark
power had surged past her in a river of burning shadow, yet it had
not touched her. She had been staring into the eyes of the man who
had been crouched over her when his face had blackened, turning to
ash. The dark god had unleashed the fire, and commanded it. She
bowed her head, tears burning her eyes as she recalled the death of
her parents.

Her father had
tried to fight when the dark creatures had invaded their house,
stabbing one with a kitchen knife. Shevra had flung fire at them,
but the monsters had rushed at her, and her mother had told her to
run. Their screams had followed her as she had raced away, and
after that she had hidden and fled until the men had caught her.
Was Derrin dead, too, and Marik?

Shevra gazed
around at the devastation; the streets filled with ashen shapes and
smoke rising from smouldering houses. Where had the dark god gone?
The Demon Lord. His name made her shiver, yet he had not. Rising,
she walked down the ruined street towards her house, the ashen men
and beasts crumbling as she passed. How was it possible for anyone
to wield so much power?

Her house was
a gutted ruin, and she searched within it for her parents,
stumbling amongst the charred debris until she found their burnt
corpses. The bodies of two dark creatures lay nearby, testament to
the fight that her father had put up, and her mother's body lay
close to his, as if he had striven to protect her to the last. She
knelt beside them and wept as she prayed for their swift journey to
the safety of the goddess' realm.

After covering
them with a sheet she found on a neighbour's washing line, wishing
she had the strength to bury them, she went in search of Derrin.
His house was burnt out too, but she found the trapdoor that led to
the cellars, shattered. After calling his name several times, she
descended the stairs, dreading what she would find.

In the gloom,
the still shapes of Derrin and his mother lay together in their
final embrace, their faces pale and waxen in death. Shevra gave a
strangled cry and ran, weeping afresh. Back in the street, she
stumbled in a daze until her shivers forced her to enter a house
and purloin a shabby grey gown and an ugly brown shawl. She
wandered amongst the horde’s ashen shapes, averting her eyes from
the disembowelled corpses that hung from lamp posts and
doorways.

The stench of
death and scorched flesh filled the ruined town, and she headed for
the road that led out of it. There was nothing for her here now,
not even food, for the black fire the Demon Lord had unleashed
would have destroyed all the supplies, no matter how well stored
they were. The city would take her in; they could not turn anyone
away who came from a destroyed town. All she had to do was travel
there.

When Bane
Moved, he tapped into the new font of knowledge that had opened in
his mind, and, recalling not only the place that he wished to go,
but also the time, he returned only a moment after he had left.
Bashir came over to him, looking puzzled.

"What
happened?"

Bane cocked
his head. "Why do you ask?"

"You... faded
for a moment, then reappeared."

"Ah. Nothing
untoward." He approached Tygon. "If you are ready, we should
leave."

"Yes, of
course," Tygon said, and signalled to the officers, who bellowed
orders at the soldiers. The men formed up into ranks and filed out,
followed by the officers, Tygon, Shrea and Bane. Bashir and Kimera
headed back the way they had come, presumably to seek the shelter
of hallowed ground.

Outside the
opposite end of the hall, three carriages waited, one much like the
ones Bane had ridden in, only grander, the other two larger, like
wagons. The soldiers climbed aboard the wagons, and the blue mages
entered the carriage. Bane sat opposite again, his back to the
driver. The vehicles hummed and moved off, passing through another
set of tall iron gates manned by four soldiers.

They followed
a wide road that headed for the light wall, one wagon ahead of the
carriage, the other behind. The glowing blue barrier loomed ahead,
and the vehicles passed through, its touch sending a shiver through
Bane as its power tingled in his flesh.

Kayos waved
the Eye out of existence and sat back in his chair, a frown
furrowing his brow. The domain had trembled when Bane had destroyed
the dark army, and again when he had Moved against time. Mirra,
Grem and Mithran sat on the bed, engrossed in a whispered
conversation.

"Syrin!" Kayos
called.

The angel
stepped from the air, clasping her arm. A slight frown marred her
smooth, serene features. The trio of humans gaped at her in shock
and wonder. Kayos glared at her.

"What have you
done? What in the name of chaos did you think you were doing?"

"Helping. He
hurt me!" Her perfect mouth turned down.

"It serves you
right." Kayos shook his head. "I warned you to leave him alone, did
I not? You do not know what you are dealing with, stupid
child."

"He is
tar'merin. How could he strike me?"

"I told you
that he could hurt you. He is a dark god, he is evil." Kayos
sighed, shooting Mirra an apologetic look. "And good. He is
fundamentally good, but influenced by evil, unpredictable and
dangerous. You put him in a situation that he is not yet equipped
to deal with. You could have destroyed him."

She tilted her
head. "How so?"

"He is young,
inexperienced, and still full of doubts. He hates himself, and the
dark power mocks him. He has not yet learnt to control it, and its
influence over him grows stronger with every moment that he carries
it, and redoubles whenever he uses it.

"You thrust
him into a situation that the dark power enjoys, but that he knows
is wrong, and his nature was at odds with it, something I have
tried to avoid. When you speak to him, you must also speak to the
dark power within him, so there is no conflict between its wishes
and his. If he sets himself against it, the evil could consume him.
Fortunately, he was able to rationalise his deed in a way that was
acceptable to the dark power."

"Consume him?"
Syrin looked puzzled.

"The same way
it consumed the evil in that village at his behest. It can kill
him." Kayos paused, considering. "The first time he was purged it
must have hurt him enormously. It took a great deal of courage to
do it. The dark power does not easily give up its hold. I was
watching him this time, and I would have saved him had it attacked
him. He is too valuable to lose, and you have no right to meddle,
Syrin."

She cast him a
coy look. "But he was not consumed, and he Moved through time."

"Yes. He is
stronger than I thought. It should have taken hundreds of years for
him to reach the stage that he has now, and yet in other ways his
powers are stunted. But if he had found himself incapable of
feeling horror at that carnage, it might have tipped him over the
edge, and it is a dangerous fall from where he is perched
precariously between good and evil."

"He can cease
to be tar'merin?"

"No. He could
be driven mad. I am sure I do not need to tell you how dangerous
that would be."

Syrin
shuddered. "But you would have saved him."

"Not from
madness, that is beyond my power. I could have saved him if the
dark power had tried to consume him, but I would have had to go
there and drive it out. Then it would have been weeks, perhaps
months before he could take it up again, and that would have been
disastrous."

"He told me
that he did not know how to Move through time, yet when he returned
from the village, he did."

"Yes." Kayos
tapped the table. "It seems he confronted the dark power, and
triumphed, which has opened a part of his mind that he has not been
able to access before, and should not have for hundreds of years
yet.

"He has
acquired his God Sight. He used it to destroy the evil in that
town, leaving the innocent untouched. Until now, he could only see
demons amongst people, but now he can see the good and the damned.
He requires guidance, but I cannot provide it until Vorkon is
trapped below. And you will leave him alone from now on."

Syrin looked
down at her arm, removing her hand to reveal a greyish mark on her
glowing skin. "This hurts."

"I hope it
taught you a valuable lesson." He chuckled. "Trying to stop him
from speaking. What foolishness. Even I would not dare." He leant
forward. "No one can prevent a dark god from doing what he wishes,
unless it is through persuasion. Normally we would not come into
contact with one of them, but always remember, when you have any
dealings with Bane, and I recommend that you do not, that you speak
to both him, and the evil he holds.

"He will never
master it, no one can, but he will get it under better control as
he gets older. For the first four years that he wielded it, it
ruled him, and my daughter knew that the only thing that would save
him from it, that was strong enough to turn him from that dark
path, was love."

She rubbed her
arm and held it out, looking hopeful.

He eyed her.
"I should let you suffer a little longer, so you learn your lesson
well. Next time, he might strike harder. That was no more than a
slap."

"I have learnt
my lesson."

"Good." He
touched her arm, and the grey spot vanished.

Kayos settled
back and considered the young dark god he had come to know only a
little on the journey here. He suspected Bane of having many deep,
dark secrets from his horrific childhood in a dark realm, which he
hid well. How those traumas would affect his personality and
decisions remained to be seen, and Kayos hoped his scars were not
so deep that they would make the dark power’s influence unbearable.
The fate of Drayshina’s domain, and everything that dwelt within
it, was in the hands of a powerful youth with a twisted heart and a
wounded mind.

*****

The tale continues in Book IV,
Lord
of Shadows
, followed by Book V,
God Realm
, and Book
VI,
Son of Chaos
.

About the
author

T. C.
Southwell was born in Sri Lanka and moved to the Seychelles when
she was a baby. She spent her formative years exploring the islands
– mostly alone. Naturally, her imagination flourished and she
developed a keen love of other worlds. The family travelled through
Europe and Africa and, after the death of her father, settled in
South Africa.

T. C.
Southwell has written over forty novels and five screenplays. Her
hobbies include motorcycling, horse riding and art, and she earns a
living in the IT industry.

All
illustrations and cover designs were done by the author.

Visit the
Demon Lord blogspot: http://www.demon-lord-book.blogspot.com

Acknowledgements

Mike Baum and
Janet Longman, former employers, for their support, encouragement,
and help. My mother, without whose financial support I could not
have dedicated myself to writing for ten years. Isabel Cooke,
former agent, whose encouragement and enthusiasm led to many more
books being written, including this one. Suzanne Stephan, former
agent, who has helped me so much over the past six years, and
Vanessa Finaughty, good friend and business partner, for her
support, encouragement and editing skills.