The Black God's War (33 page)

When they entered the wooded area in front of the lake, she increased her pace again, not wanting to lose sight of them.

“Ilario!” a woman screamed in a foreign language.

Is that Rezzian?

She rushed ahead, thankful that she’d maintained Aayu’s
sadhana
even though her sensory perceptions were becoming stranger by the minute.

A beautiful white mist and an odd burning scent filled the forest. Cold shivers danced throughout her body.

A sizzling pop exploded. Narayani dove to the ground, lying flat on her stomach. To her right, a force like lightning fanned out in a wide swath and burned the trunks of at least a dozen trees.

Narayani froze with fear and watched the ensuing melee between Rao, Aayu, and the Rezzian woman. A Rezzian man came forward. The earth shook violently. Something she could not believe was real lifted Rao and Aayu into the air.

Narayani canceled the effects of the mantras and felt heavy in her body again.

She stood, her arms shivering, hearing a crackling hum.

“Stop it!” she yelled.

She waved her hands above her head and took steps toward the Rezzian man—a beautiful, but angry-looking man.

“Don’t hurt them!” she yelled again.

The Rezzian stepped forward into the light and stared at her, appearing confused.

“Let them go!”

Chapter 49: Vengeance

CAIO WATCHED THE DARK-SKINNED GIRL come forward swinging her arms above her head. He heard her pleading voice, but couldn’t focus on the words. He could only stare at her idyllic face as she looked back at him.

You appear just as I was going to kill them … it’s a sign of Lux Lucis …

He realized if he killed their prince before the duel, there would be no surrender or truce.

Lord Oderigo, I retract my prayer. Show them mercy.

“Are there more of you in the woods?” Caio asked in Pawelon.

The Pawelon girl kept coming toward him. “No.” She shook her head.

“Who are you?” Caio wasn’t sure why he asked.

“I love them,” she said. “Let me take them away from here.”

Lucia’s voice boomed from behind Caio, “You love them? Do you know what they’ve done to me?”

“They don’t want to hurt you,” the girl said.

“Then they’ve stolen your mind,” Lucia strode forward with her sword pointing at the Pawelon. “Do you want to see the body of my lover? Right back there.” She swung the sword back to point at Ilario.

The girl’s face trembled as she backed away.

“Lucia, she had nothing to do with it.”

“How do you know? Maybe I should balance the scales. A lover for a lover?” Lucia stepped forward in pace with the girl, pointing the white blade at the Pawelon’s ample chest.

“Lucia, as your Dux Spiritus I command you to stop.”

His sister looked back at him with narrowed eyes. “My Haizzem, why don’t you raise Ilario from the dead?”

Caio dropped his head, balled his fists, and pulled his hands against his chest.

“Or did you use your ability on a worthless Pawelon boy, even though I still lived? Even though Ilario and Duilio and our father were still alive? Were you that stupid?” Lucia swung around again and raised Ysa’s sword. She feinted a thrust at the girl, who cowered and begged.

“I will take them away,” the girl whimpered in Pawelon. “They would not want to hurt you.”

“They have hurt me. They have hurt me
very badly
, girl.” Lucia surged forward and grabbed the Pawelon’s hair, yanking her body to the ground. The girl screamed and begged. Lucia knelt on her left knee and brought up Ysa’s sword in her right hand.

With a fierce yell, Lucia swung the sword down.

Just to the side of the girl’s head.

The Pawelon girl’s wailing haunted the forest.

Lucia kept her grip on the girl’s hair and brought the blade against the back of the Pawelon’s skull.

“Lucia, I command you, stop!”

Lucia pulled the blade up, stood, and turned back. Caio saw the full length of the girl’s hair in Lucia’s left hand. The Pawelon ran her hands along her scalp and continued sobbing. The Pawelon men continued their pained grunting as Lord Oderigo’s giant vines swung through the air.

“Kill the men and let’s leave this cursed place,” Lucia said.

“We can’t. Remember the duel.”

“Kill the fat one then. He would have killed me if you hadn’t stopped him.”

“Let’s just leave,” Caio said.
There is too much risk now.

“Ilario. Is. Dead.” Lucia came so close she nearly bumped her chest against Caio’s. “Dead. And you can’t do a thing about it. Now someone has to pay for this.”

“Lucia, I am angry, too. But when I defeat their prince that will be payment enough.”

“Killing him might save Rezzian lives, Caio. He is dangerous.”

“I am going to fight their prince. We’ve reached an agreement.”

“One that will be worthless even if you win. And that fat Pawelon will still be there, looking for me and killing our men.”

Is she right, Mya? Oderigo?

The tree-length vines collapsed onto the forest floor.

Lucia scrambled around searching for their foes. “Where did they go?”

Terror punched through Caio’s heart. “I don’t see them.”

Lucia picked up her shield and stepped backward in the direction of the lake. “Caio, get behind me.”

Caio’s feet pressed against dried leaves as he walked backward and searched through the mist for his enemies.

Lord Oderigo, protect us.

All at once, the girl’s sobs stopped.

“I feel their presence,” Lucia said. “They are still here. Stand back.” She tested the sword through the fog, slicing through the air.

“Do not touch my sister ever again! If you intend to meet me for single combat, flee from us now.”

As they stepped back through the forest toward the lake, the fog thinned. Smaller flames licked the trees. The icy air still smelled of smoke and hummed with a divine presence.

“I think they’re gone. I don’t sense anything,” she said.

“I agree.” As he began to feel safe again, Caio’s heart filled with the black trauma. He stumbled on, each step toward his friend’s body harder to believe than the last. Caio fell onto Ilario and pressed an ear against his still chest.

Lucia stood over him, gripping Ysa’s sword.

Caio forced himself off Ilario’s body and, still on his knees, put his head onto the cool ground instead. “I saw Lord Sansone. He laid down his heavy chain and shut Ilario’s eyes. His god blessed him to live forever.”

Lucia dropped the sword and shield and fell to her knees, pounding her fists on Ilario’s bones. She kissed him on his lips and turned her head to Caio. “And you can’t do a thing about it?”

“No!” Caio’s insides felt pummeled and bruised. “No.”

She ran toward their horses, saying only, “We need to bring his body back for proper burial.”

The horses had been tied up, but by the time Lucia and Caio reached them, their midnight-colored forms were walking toward them.

“The goddess,” Lucia said.

Caio understood that Ysa had possessed them again. They were still capable of impossible feats. The steed Ilario rode sped up and approached his corpse. The horse lowered itself and touched its belly and then its nose to the ground.

Caio helped Lucia pull Ilario’s body onto the horse until it balanced across the beast’s back. Ilario’s stomach rested where he had previously sat, his arms falling out to one side and his legs to another. Lucia and Caio carefully lashed him to the horse’s saddle as they sniffled and wiped away tears. Lucia covered Ilario with her blanket and tucked the dark blue material under him.

She carefully removed Ilario’s necklace. The holy black anvil of Sansone reflected a glimmer of moonlight. She tied it around her own neck.

They mounted their horses in silence and Lucia tied Ilario’s horse to her own.

Caio’s whole being was a jumble of worry, confusion, denial, and anger.

And guilt.

Chapter 50: The Burden of Sacrifice

I COULD BE DREAMING AGAIN
, Lucia thought.
I could wake up in Ilario’s arms
.
It could be another test.

The horses moved with such vigor. Lucia wanted to lie across Ebon, fall off, die. The lunging movements of the horse stirred her nauseated gut. Her ill stomach told her she would vomit again soon.

Her soul felt tender and gnawed through. “
Enjoy our time together under the full moon.” You’re a bastard and thief—a force of evil. You deserve no worship, no love at all. Be alone in your hole with the dead. Leave the living alone.

“Lucia,” Caio called. “Lucia.” Silence. “Lucia, speak to me.” She focused on the contours of Caio’s voice, studying the sounds as if they were exotic, piped in from another world.

You have no idea what I can do, Caio. You have no idea the dilemma I face.

Lucia squeezed both her forearms, digging her nails into the leather.

“Why did Ysa speed our journey?” she finally asked Caio. “She must have known. She could have saved Ilario with her shield. Does my own goddess not care for me?” She slammed her eyes shut, ejecting tears. “Because Danato is her damn brother?” She yelled into the night: “I would kill the perverted god if I could!” The desert was silent except for the horses’ clomping and the soft hum of the insects. “Or he can kill me! It doesn’t matter.”

You won’t kill me without a fight. I will draw blood from you before I die. I will see it on your sister’s sword.

“It’s my fault,” Caio said. “I knew there would be a cost. Ilario told us not to go to Danato. Why didn’t I listen?”

“Because you don’t think things through. You trust and believe. You have too much faith. You knew Danato hates me. He’d kill you next just to drive me to the limits of sanity. We let him suck us into his corrupted world and now he’s going to take you to punish me even more.” Every word she spoke was a victory, keeping madness at bay. “In the underworld, Danato made me think you were dead. What if their prince kills you?”

“Lucia, he is a god of Lux Lucis. He is one with Ysa, with Galleazzo and Oderigo and Mya. He does not act against their interests or wishes. If the gods wish for me to do their bidding, they will not let another god kill me.”

“You are insane. He is not one of us. The nine should banish him from their ranks. He punishes us.
He
killed Ilario.”

Caio turned silent.

I could do something to make all of this go away. Fix everything.

She looked back at Caio’s silhouette. She needed to keep him alive. She needed to be ready in case he died. She stared at Ilario’s corpse.

Three days. Why did it have to be three days? Why not tomorrow? Why? Why? Damn it! Damn it forever. Why? Once I find out if Caio will need to be raised, Ilario’s soul will have left this world forever. My chance to resurrect Ilario will be gone … eternally gone.

Lucia pulled on Ebon’s reins and stopped the black mare. She freed her feet from the stirrups and let herself fall to the ground. A rock jabbed into her back and her body writhed involuntarily at the pain.

Caio dismounted and rushed to her. She wanted to tell him to take Ysa’s sword and run it through her. Lucia stood, gritted her teeth, and balled her fists.

She punched his chest over and over. He stood and took the blows.

Lucia let her body collapse onto the desert floor. Her face, already stinging from the Pawelon’s blows, pressed flat and heavy so that her bruised cheekbones kissed the harsh earth. The sting was sharp and raw.

I could still save Ilario. But what if you must be saved after your duel, brother? I can only raise one person from death …

Chapter 51: Dreams of Forever

RAO’S HANDS LOCKED TOGETHER under his skull as he stared up at the grey ceiling of his bed chamber, looking at nothing at all. The longer he lay there, the less dizzy he felt. Narayani covered his face with a warm, wet cloth. The otherworldly essences of some of Pawelon’s most exotic flowers flooded his awareness. She removed the cork on a glass container with a pop and dabbed a cool cream on his temples and neck, over his heart, and at his solar plexus. He tried to breathe consciously while she rubbed the salve into his skin. It burned at first, but rejuvenating shivers soon followed the heat.

“You should feel proud that you saved Aayu’s life,” Narayani said.

The killing had happened so quickly it felt like a reflex—as if it wasn’t even under his control. Did some invisible hand shape their destinies? Rao had even felt the Lux Lucis divinities there, but the only person who died was a Rezzian.