Shadow Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) (24 page)

The tiny prick roared pain across Talis’s body. The blood burst out, splashing his face, and he looked up, seeing the red rain of the Netherworld spilling from the lightning-etched clouds. He heard the whoosh of the churning shadow portal behind him, and glimpsed Aurellia’s triumphant face as he dragged Talis back through the portal.

Talis inhaled a huge gulp of air, relishing in the expulsion of pain from his chest. What had he done, swearing fealty to a monster? Waves of strange, hot currents coursed through his body. He felt completely changed…invincible even, and his body pulsed with power. He glanced around the dark cathedral cavern, silver and gold torches sending living shadows crawling across earthen walls. A long table draped in black silk held jars, clay tablets, scrolls, and leather-bound books.
 

Palarian stood at the head of the table, staring grimly at Talis. Aurellia flanked around at the opposite side, his long black robe dragging along an embroidered rug with illustrations of demons, heroes, and gods slaying lesser foes. He stopped at the head of the table, peering into a glass jar filled with luminous heads floating in a clear liquid.
 

“Our enemies fear what we’ll do to them,” Aurellia said, rotating the jar to inspect the various heads bobbing inside. “Now that you are one of us, they’ll fear you as well.”

He lifted his cold eyes to gaze at Talis. “Welcome to immortality.” He raised the curved dagger he’d used to prick Talis’s finger. “The Zacrane Dagger, bringer of immortality, usable only once each hundred thousand days. I’ve not used it in over a thousand years. As you can now understand, I don’t grant this gift lightly.”

Talis scowled, suspicious of why Aurellia would do this…what did he want from him?
 

“Why did I grant the gift to you? An arrogant young royal that despises me…don’t deny it, I can see it in your eyes. You merely misunderstand me.”

Palarian cleared his throat, and Talis swung his gaze to the other side of the table, where the old sorcerer had decided to sit on an ornately carved chair, sumptuous red silk padding the seat.

“He’s just a boy, Aurellia. We knew he’d be like this, suspicious and angry. Rightfully so, I did kidnap his girl, he should feel malice.”

“Yes, indeed, and perhaps that will only prove to make him stronger. I can mold him.”

“You’re getting old,” Palarian said, aiming a scowl at Aurellia. “I believe it’s time for youth and foolishness to reign, not to be molded by an old immortal’s outdated notion of how things should work.”

“Do you dare challenge me?” Aurellia raised an eyebrow at the old sorcerer. “He’s sworn to me now, mine to command, mine to mold…he will be shaped in the old ways….”

“The old ways.” Palarian scoffed. “Balance and focus, first the light then the darkness, steer the mind into emptiness. Hah! I’ve had it up to my throat in the old ways. What good has it done?”

Aurellia sneered at him. “Lecherous viper…you sting me with your words. The ancient plan I put forth with
my
elders—you included—thousands of years ago is finally playing itself out. We will return to Vellia, to our home, and claim what is rightfully ours.”

“You made the mistake of leaving me on that miserable planet…after four thousand years you summon a World’s Portal and fail to bring me along?”

“Foolish man, you left Darkov, you swore independence from the Dominion, you claimed the Tarasen Isles as your own.”

“And when you needed me, when you realized you were stuck here, halfway to Vellia, only
then
did you summon me? Oh! Palarian, old friend, go to Naru in the Nalgoran Desert, and bring the boy to me. Well I did my part, I brought him here, and his friends, now you plan to mold him in the old ways… Look at me!”—Palarian thumped a hand on his chest—“I’m molded in the old ways. Isn’t it pathetic? Look at what a miserable wretch I’ve become.” Why was the old sorcerer defending him? Talis wondered.

Aurellia grinned devilishly. “At least you’re still alive after all these years. But all that can quickly change.” He pointed a finger at Palarian.
 

“I know all about your form of magic, and it doesn’t frighten me. You fail to realize what a thousand years of independent study can bring to a sorcerer.”

“Those years have been kind to me also.” Aurellia sidled along the head of the table until he faced Palarian, with only the hideous rug between them.

Palarian shook his head, an amused expression on his face. “You live an indolent life, letting others fight your wars, searching for apprentices that might be
the one
. But your complacency will prove your downfall.”

“Why are you so interested in protecting the boy? What did you see inside the Netherworld?”

“That was another mistake you made, sending me in there to train him.” A devious look flashed across Palarian’s eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know….”

“Oh, I’ll find out, all right. I always do.” An explosion of shadows and lightning burst out from Aurellia’s fingertip, engulfing Palarian in a raging storm cloud. Talis felt the muscles around his skull clench because of all the electricity in the air. He stumbled, shrinking back to the earthen walls.

Talis stared at the storm, trying to see what had happened to the old sorcerer.
 

“That’s ineffective against me now,” Palarian said, his voice coming from a dark mass behind where Aurellia stood.

The dark lord whirled around to face Palarian, snapped out his hands, and cords of golden light curled out from the ground beneath Palarian, swirling and searching, trying to ensnare. The cords sucked in the black mass, draining the protection around Palarian. Aurellia commanded the golden cords to wrap around the old sorcerer’s legs, burning flesh and sending off a cloud of smoke.

Palarian shrieked in pain, jetting out cords of his own from his fingertips, allowing them to wrap around Aurellia’s neck. The cords strangled the dark lord, causing his face to bulge, red and angry, his hands trying to tear them away. Talis was surprised to see Aurellia struggling against the force of Palarian’s power.

Aurellia shot out a burst of black light, causing all the cords in the vicinity to melt into ash. The two sorcerers glowered at each other, puzzled and flushed, as if wondering what to do next.

“I told you, I’ve had a thousand years of study to beat you.” Palarian’s eyes flashed with haughtiness.
 

Aurellia wiped beads of sweat from his brow. “I am surprised by how you’ve grown in power and skill…perhaps the distance and ruggedness of Tarasen has made you stronger. But your mind is still weak…the pain of the memory of your father’s death still plagues you.” He raised a hand to his temple.

Palarian howled like an old wolf, fleeing to his knees, writhing with his hands clenched over his skull. “You think you can beat me using mind tricks? I’ve hardened myself through years of solitude and torture. You cannot hope to break through…the pain of loss has left me.”

“Then I’ll have to kill you outright.” Aurellia aimed his fingers at the old man, and everything in the room seemed to blink and shake quickly left and right. Palarian’s face was frozen in an angry scowl, body rigid and locked in an attempt to raise his hands. Talis found that he himself was unable to move, but somehow his eyes could see everything in the room, including his curled up figure and the wall behind. He had the eerie sensation of being jetted outside of his body, forced to play witness to the hideous scene.

A quavering wall of electric shadow mesh ejected out of Aurellia’s hands and wrapped around Palarian like an octopus choking prey. The mesh flashed silver light, and hundreds of twisted lines of black currents pulsed with a sickening slowness. The color and life was slowly being drained from Palarian’s face and his upraised hands.
 

Talis refused the idea of the old sorcerer dying. He had tried to protect him, and despite being forced to kidnap Mara and lead him into this trap, he sensed the old man had a good heart. So he allowed his anger to rage inside, until it was brimming over inside, the heat and the fire breaking out of the cage that had trapped him.

Aurellia’s eyes glanced nervously at Talis, shifting his focus for one crucial moment, allowing Palarian to strike back with several shadow creatures flying out of his hands and attaching themselves to Aurellia’s figure, gleaming fangs, spurts of blood and ash, growls of fury. Aurellia swung a bloodied arm around, a dark creature gnawing on his elbow, and sent an invisible shockwave howling at Palarian, knocking him twenty feet back against the earthen wall.

When Aurellia was about to raise his hands and fight the shadow creatures eating at his body, Talis listened to his anger, drawing in a vast amount of power from the crystal, and shot out a burst of Light Magic at the dark lord. The light was so strong it illuminated the room in a blinding flash that lingered for an unbearable span of time. Soon the light faded, and Talis’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the subterranean chamber.

Aurellia had vanished.
 

Talis pushed himself to his feet, feeling empty and sore from the powerful outburst of magic. Off in the corner of the room, Palarian stirred, shaking his arms and head like he’d drunk too much wine. He glanced around, a puzzled look on his face.

“Where did he go?” Suspicion flashed in Palarian’s eyes. “Did you see him open a shadow portal or somehow escape?”

“I attacked him with Light Magic while he was focused on you.”

“So that’s where the burst of light came from…I shielded myself from light the moment I sensed the power rising.” Palarian stumbled over to where Talis stood, sizing him up like he’d done something terribly wrong. “Did you actually kill him?”

Talis shook his head, unsure exactly what had happened. “One moment there was an enormous ball of light, and the next moment he was gone.”

Palarian frowned, and slumped back on a chair by the table. “Aurellia…dead?” He mumbled incoherent words, lost in world of his own.

“Are you alright? You were trying to kill each other…I only tried to help.”

“How could he be dead? Not by a burst of light from a young whelp….” The old sorcerer lifted his head suddenly, sniffing the air, then settled his gaze on Talis. “Well, whatever it is you’ve done has given us a moment of opportunity, a way of possible escape. Let’s not waste another moment.”

“But where will we go?” Talis furrowed his brow, uncertain of how to proceed. “And what about my friends?”

Palarian waved away his concerns. “They’re safe…but none of us will remain alive if we stay here much longer. If his loyal Elders find out what you’ve done, if they realize their Master is gone…then watch out.”

The old sorcerer flung his hands forward and a silver portal appeared. He grabbed Talis’s wrist, and pulled him inside. They immediately entered a vast stone room, sunlight streaming in through far windows, with Mara and Nikulo and Charna off in the corner, and a minder dressed in black robes stood scowling at the head of a long, wooden table.

With a flick of his finger, Palarian sent fibrous strands over the minder, engulfing him in a sticky web. The man appeared confused, then dazed, and finally fell asleep.

“Talis!” Mara squealed, racing over to him. Tears spilled from her eyes as she hugged him, and at this moment, nothing ever had ever felt so good.

“We were so worried about you,” she murmured in his ear. “They refused to tell us a thing. We’ve been waiting here for weeks.”

“Weeks?” Talis said, shocked it had been so long. “But it only seemed like a day…inside the Netherworld.” He glanced over at Nikulo ambling over towards them, a grin played nicely on his face. “You’re looking healthy…did Aurellia cure you of the poison?”

Nikulo’s face clouded suddenly, as if remembering a painful memory. “He did, for certain promises… I had no choice.”

“Like swearing allegiance to him?” Talis studied Nikulo, and sat next to him. He told Nikulo and Mara the story of what had happened inside the Netherworld, of his transformation into a dragon, and misadventure leading him to be cured by Aurellia. When he got to the part of the battle between Aurellia and Palarian, Nikulo’s mouth flopped open, and he snuck a glance at the old sorcerer standing by one of the windows, staring out over the horizon.