Glyphbinder (31 page)

“I don’t follow.”

“Cantrall slaughtered her family and took her as his apprentice. He raised a traumatized child to kill, and now that child knows the people she took her vengeance upon never hurt anyone. She thought they were guilty, and every last one of them was innocent. I think that’s why she turned on Cantrall, why she’s broken now. Guilt.”

Byn scoffed. “I don’t care what happened to her or why she attacked us. She’s a monster. She needs to die and she will, soon.”

“We might all die soon. You never know.” Trell shook his head. “You asked a question. I answered. Let’s save Kara and then discuss it after. If that’s all right with you?”

Byn frowned and nodded. “That seems like a good plan.”

TRELL FOLLOWED MELYSSA as she strode confidently ahead of Aryn and Jyllith, thinking on how far he’d come. Melyssa led them to a ruined square building with its roof blown off, and Trell wondered what it had been. A dormitory? A meeting hall?

A large slab of rock lay against what had once been the building doors. Melyssa stopped them. Once they were all gathered, she looked to Jyllith. “You know Cantrall best. What are your thoughts?”

“You must not glyph.” Jyllith raised her empty gray eyes to look at them. “Any of you. Cantrall can feel it. He can’t comprehend the idea of anyone following him here, but if he finds out—”

“There’s a giant rock in front of the door,” Aryn said. “How do you suggest we move that without glyphs?”

Jyllith looked down. She didn’t say anything else. Melyssa looked to Byn and nodded.

“We need Land’s strength. Move the rock.”

The “rock” was a slab as thick as a massive log and taller than a carriage. Solid stone. No man could lift it. A dozen men could not. Trell and Byn exchanged a glance. Then Byn shrugged and walked for the slab of stone. Trell supposed it was worth a try.

Byn stepped forward and glanced at Sera. She didn’t look at him. She looked at anything but him. Byn scowled, moved past her, and placed his hands under the massive slab of stone.

“You can lift it,” Melyssa said. “I promise.”

The way Byn’s eyes widened as he lifted the slab matched the eyes of those who watched, save Melyssa. Trell understood, then, what Land had done. He had given Byn all the strength of the earth.

Byn balanced the rock against his wide chest like he might balance a huge cask of ale. He sidled sideways and set the slab, carefully, against one of the aging walls. When he finished, he brushed the dust from his white-stained hands and turned on them.

“I’m ready to go kill Cantrall now.”

“Then I have one more word of caution.” Melyssa led them through the hole to a set of stairs, leading down. “One of your friends is no longer with us.”

“Jair.” Trell grimaced as he remembered the flat of his sword smacking into the man’s head. “Is he still alive?” Trell hoped so.

Melyssa led them into a tunnel with descending steps, Jyllith following listlessly. Melyssa stopped once the stairs grew dark and looked up at them, blue eyes bright in the fading light.

“I don’t know, but I know the power the dead exert upon an inexperienced Soulmage. We cannot blame Jair for what he might do, but we must also weigh his life against our whole world. If he lives and chooses to fight us, you may have to kill him.”

Byn huffed angrily from up the stairs. “It can’t be as bad as all that. I know him. He’s a good man. Whatever happened to make him lose his mind, there’s got to be a way to bring him back.”

“That may be.” Melyssa started down the stairs once more. “But if we must choose between saving Jair and stopping Cantrall, we stop Cantrall. Our world depends on that.” She paused. “Aryn. Light the way, if you would?”

New light filled the dark tunnel. Trell felt the heat. He turned and stared as Aryn walked past him, two bright flames floating in his upraised hands. Aryn bared blackened teeth.

Byn rushed past Trell, almost knocking him up against the wall of the narrow stairwell. “Melyssa said no glyphs. You’ve given us away!” He gripped Aryn’s arm and pulled so hard Aryn stumbled.

“Release me, you balky imbecile!” Aryn tugged hard, but couldn’t free his arm. “It’s not a glyph! It’s fire!”

“Let him go,” Sera ordered. The power in her unusually deep voice caused Byn to step back as if he had been burned. Together, Byn and Aryn blinked at Sera. Trell stared as well.

“Heat does not scribe glyphs,” Sera told them, in her own voice, yet even that drove a chill down Trell’s spine. “So stop squabbling.”

Trell knew no one would argue. Ruin’s power filled Sera, the power to wipe them from existence with a touch, and the thought of being
erased
bothered him more than being killed or even tortured. To cease to exist ... Trell could not imagine that.

“Melyssa leads, with Jyllith,” Sera said. “Aryn follows and lights the path. Next Trell, myself, Xander. Byn, you walk the rear.”

Before Byn could protest, Aryn strode past him and started down the stairs, holding his fire high. Anxious to find Kara, Trell followed. He didn’t look back to see if the others were with them, but he heard them starting down the steps in the order Sera had dictated. Or the order Ruin had, through her voice.

Trell wondered at the strangeness of the Five’s power alive in mere mortals. Still, Kara’s explanation made sense. The Five simply could not influence this world without a mortal to filter their power, and hadn’t the Mavoureen done much the same with Cantrall?

This was a proxy war, fought through mortals, but everyone knew the true power behind the pawns. Yet what if the pawns weren’t content to be moved around? Trell could consider the implications of that after they saved Kara.

After a long walk, the stairwell ended. Melyssa stepped into an open hall with Jyllith beside her. The balls of fire floating in Aryn’s hands revealed a tunnel with an arching, moss-covered roof of gray brick overhead. Eight archways led in different directions. Melyssa gasped, hand going to her mouth.

“It isn’t the same.” Melyssa looked from tunnel to tunnel, then looked at them. “We came down this path as we walked to the glyphing room. There were two tunnels here, not eight!

“Terras changes,” Jyllith said flatly. “Cantrall discovered that. The elders often altered the layout of their tunnels to keep intruders from finding their glyphing room. He altered them again a week ago.”

“I never imagined.” Melyssa took Jyllith’s hand. “Has he altered these halls since? Do you know where he is now?”

Jyllith nodded. Aryn gripped her shoulder. He wrenched her back and glared at the side of her face.

“Then you will lead us to Cantrall. Now.”

Jyllith nodded again. She did not try to move until Aryn shoved her forward. Then she did move, walking at an even pace down the third hall off the stairwell.

“Almost too perfect,” Xander grumbled as he stepped into the hall, an anxious Byn all but treading on his robes. “Byn moves the rock at the door, Aryn lights the way, and Jyllith leads us through his maze. I suppose Sera is going to summon up a demon next. Was this your plan all along, woman?”

Melyssa started walking with an odd smile on her face. “You should know by now nothing with me goes as planned.”

“Then understand this.” Xander followed her and Trell followed him. “I’m here for my daughter, but even after we rescue her, every moment she lives means this could all happen again.”

Trell missed a step as he realized Xander was right. Kara’s blood was the key to opening the gate to a world of demons. As long as she lived, what would stop another from following Cantrall?

Melyssa did not slow her pace, did not look back. She didn’t say anything, and Trell wondered if she would. He needed this explained. She couldn’t possibly plan to kill Kara once they rescued her.

Could she?

“Just remember my knife at your back,” Xander said, his voice all but a growl. “You’ll never hurt Kara. If you ever threaten her again, I’ll kill you myself.”

“Melyssa will not harm her,” Trell said. To ease the tension.

“You don’t know her like I do.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Trell found Xander’s eyes. “I won’t let her hurt Kara. I won’t let anyone hurt Kara, ever.”

Xander grunted and thumped Trell’s shoulder. When he looked ahead, he actually wore a grin.

“See,” Melyssa said, still showing her back. “I chose a strong protector for your daughter.”

Xander’s scowl returned. “You could have chosen me.”

“I made choices and I’ve lived with them. I’ve lived ninety years, and I’ve seen more people I loved die than you’ve known in all your life. I’m about ready. If you must kill me, do it, but let me help you save your daughter first.”

Xander glowered at her back, but didn’t say anything else. Trell considered what Melyssa had done to both of them — wiping away their memories and families — and found he could not forgive her. Melyssa might be their ally, now, but that could change. Fast.

Jyllith led them on as Aryn’s light flickered through a tunnel that twisted upon itself like a great snake. Without Jyllith, there was no chance they could have navigated these halls in time to save Kara. Breath taking her Champion had likely saved them all.

They eventually reached a closed set of massive oak doors, locked tight with a bar of solid steel. Byn lifted the bar and set it aside as if it weighed nothing. He barely made any sound.

“How did Cantrall bar this door from the outside?” As Byn grabbed the door ring, Sera snatched his wrist.

“Don’t,” Sera commanded. “Don’t you dare.”

She pushed Byn back and lowered her head. She raised her arms and chanted incomprehensible words in a low voice. Manifestations of darkness appeared before her hands. Demons loyal to Ruin. They snarled and ghosted forward.

More manifestations burst from the oak doors and ripped into those summoned by Ruin. They fought, briefly, but Ruin’s demons soon gained the upper hand, tearing the lesser demons limb from limb. When the conflict was done, Ruin’s demons smashed into the door and burned jagged symbols in the oak. Inky smoke rose.

Byn just stared at her, eyes wide. Lost.

“Open it,” Ruin’s deep voice commanded. Byn leapt to obey. Aryn grabbed the other door ring and the two of them pulled. Together, they forced the ancient oak doors open with a deafening creak.

“Well done.” Xander stared at the huge room beyond and the stairs rising at its far wall. “Shall I shout obscenities down the hall a few times, just to make sure Cantrall knows we’re here?”

“He knows.” Jair Deymartin stepped from the darkness atop the stairs. Two huge revenants clanked into view behind him.

Sera’s hand came up, her slim fingers snapping out. More of Ruin’s indefinable dark
nothing
leapt from her open palm. It lashed toward the revenants. Jair stepped into its path, and Sera’s power evaporated.

“She fights you.” Jair bared bright white teeth. “Doesn’t she, Ruin? Sera won’t let you destroy her friends.”

Sera lowered her arm. “Step aside.” Something forced her arm back up again. Ruin didn’t care for Jair as Sera did.

“No,” Jair said, as revenants clanked from all corners of the darkness, filling the room. “I don’t know how you found your way here, and I really don’t care. I’m not letting you through this door.”

Trell counted dozens of the armored monsters as he readied the revenant greatsword he had stolen back in Highridge Pass. He searched for any trace of the brave Soulmage he had come to know on the long journey from Solyr. Was Jair lost to them?

“Listen to yourself!” Byn stepped into the room, heedless of the revenants. “The Five are here to stop this! Doesn’t that tell you something about the man in your head? Drown me, Jair, you just told off Ruin himself!”

Jair’s confident smile faltered. “I didn’t...” Then his eyes narrowed once more. “The Five enslave all humanity. If you try to stop Elder Cantrall, I’ll kill you.”

“Trell,” Melyssa said softly. “We need those stairs.”

Trell raised his greatsword and started for the stairs. As he did so, lightning flashed inside the room, blinding him. When his vision cleared, a huge revenant with a skull-shaped helmet straightened in the midst of the others. It held a glowing sword of pure light. The other revenants stomped aside, leaving a clear path for Trell.

The giant revenant lowered its sword. It beckoned him closer. It offered a challenge for the stairs.

Trell walked forward and watched the revenants in the room, but none challenged him. Life’s ice sheathed his blade and then he jogged, ran, sprinted. He screamed with all his might as he brought the blade scything around to cut the revenant in half.

The skull-faced revenant’s lightning blade flashed up and blocked his strike. Trell nearly lost his grip, the impact rattling through his ice-covered arms. He stumbled, barely keeping his balance, and then the revenant moved forward. Striking fast.

Trell somehow blocked the revenant’s first strike, but even doing that sent him reeling. Rippling thunder followed the revenant’s sword as it spun the blade, extended one hand, and offered him a mocking bow. Its skull-faced helmet grinned wide.

The revenants in the room seemed honor bound to ignore their duel, but that had not stopped them from moving on everyone else. Glowing red davenger eyes emerged from the shadows, and then the mass of Mavoureen charged his friends. The front ranks simply evaporated as Aryn raised thick waves of flame.