The Path of the Storm (47 page)

The powder sparked and hissed, sending a trail of smoke into the air. Miro carefully walked backwards, checking that the fire was travelling down the line, and then turned and ran.

He reached the open deck as the powder keg blew.

The merchantman shuddered like a creature in pain. For good measure Miro took some scraps of wood and paper he'd brought from a pocket and started a small fire on the deck, where the flames would hopefully catch onto the sails.

From his vantage Miro saw Commodore Deniz racing along the waterfront. Deniz caught sight of him and waved an arm. "We need to go. Now!"

Miro ran back along the row of ships until he was back on the dock. He took hold of Deniz's arm. "What's happening?"

"The walls have fallen. We're loading the last ship, and if you're not on it, we'll leave without you."

Miro scanned the rows of ships, searching for Amber. The smoke from the blazing vessels made it hard to see. "I have to find my wife. How will I know the ship?"

"It's my ship, the
Seekrieger
. You've seen it before. It's tied at the northern pier. Hurry!"

Miro ran in the opposite direction to Deniz, his eyes roving over every vessel, peering through the clouds of smoke, desperately looking for the familiar figure.

There she was!

"Amber!" Miro cried.

Amber was sprinting along the deck of a great warship, tied midway along a row of other vessels. Miro felt a jolt of fear when he saw she wasn't aware of the flames at both ends of the row. She was trapped.

A detonation sounded from deep in the warship as Amber's powder keg blew. Choosing a direction, Amber climbed over to the next ship in the row, not realising that after four more ships was a conflagration of flames.

"Amber!" Miro called again.

He turned as he heard an eerie roar: a guttural scream of triumph. The enemy would be pouring into the city. Every male between the ages of fourteen and sixty had died to give them this time.

Miro saw the first revenants rush into the harbour as Amber finally heard his cries.

52

K
ILLIAN'S
eyes burned with unshed tears. He saw the man who had been his father slump down, as if ready to rest now that he'd shed a heavy burden.

Lord Aidan had just told Killian that his mother was Emperor Xenovere's sister. He also thought she may still be alive. The revenant didn't know.

Killian stepped forward. Taking the revenant by the shoulders he shook him. "You must know where she is! Why did she abandon me? Is she dead or isn't she?"

Lord Aidan's fists suddenly clenched at his sides.

He straightened and looked at Killian with eyes that had shifted from white to pink, and even as Killian looked on, the whites were filling with blood, turning entirely red.

A shudder went through the revenant's body. Killian took two steps back.

Then a series of shrieks came from behind. Turning, Killian saw dozens of wraiths descending from the sky, screeching and filled with hate. Claws outstretched, teeth bared, they would strike Ella in moments.

Killian opened his mouth to call to her, pointing at the sky, when he felt hands go around his neck.

Eyes wide with shock, Killian saw that the revenant's teeth were bared and his nose was twisted in a snarl. The visible runes on his neck and hands had shifted hue, and were now bright red. The strength in the revenant's arms was incredible.

Aidan pushed harder and a growl came from his throat. Killian gasped and choked.

He heard Ella chanting behind him and a whoosh was followed by the screech of a wraith in pain. Even against the pain of the revenant's grip Killian's mind jumped from thought to thought. Could he destroy his own father? Could Ella survive against so many?

Killian wheeled his arms, smashing them down on the revenant's wrists with the iron strength of his enhanced body behind the blow. The runes on the dead man's wrists and hands flared crimson and purple, but his terrible grip held fast.

Killian panicked. His chest heaved as his body tried to suck air from his closed throat. He'd never encountered strength like this before. Unless he fought back with all his power, the revenant would kill him.

He saw Ella retreating in the direction of the stone archway. Wraiths swooped at her head, deflected by the raised hood of her dress, but Killian could see she was struggling. The prism-tipped wand she held in her hand was fainter than Killian remembered. The bolts shooting from it in quick succession were smaller and hurt the wraiths less when they hit.

Ella stopped when her back was at the archway. Dozens of wraiths came at her all at once. Teeth grazed her head while claws scraped at her back. Lightning scattered across the dress, sending three wraiths cowering in pain. Killian wondered how long she could last.

All the while he smashed his arms down on the revenant's wrists again and again. Was there anything of Killian's father left in there?

"Please…" Killian gasped. "Let… go…"

Lord Aidan released a hand from Killian's neck, but the other kept up the incessant squeezing. He drew back a fist and slammed it into Killian's chest, three times in quick succession.

Killian felt ribs snap, waves of pain spreading across his chest. Nothing should have been able to do that to him, not even the strength of a revenant. What was happening?

Lord Aidan was his father. They'd spent the last hours haltingly talking about the man he had been, as much as the revenant could drag forth from his confused memories. Killian couldn't destroy him.

A black wing knocked Ella's arm and she dropped her wand. As she bent to pick it up two wraiths clawed her back, fluttering and scratching like carrion birds on a carcass. She tilted her head back and screamed.

The dress should have stopped them. Ella needed him.

Killian closed his eyes, and a tear trickled down his cheek. He had to do this.

He put his palm to Lord Aidan's chest and gasped an activation sequence.

The revenant's grip on Killian's throat released as he flew backwards through the air, falling against the ground, his head cracking against the stone. Growling, the revenant climbed back to his feet and again glared at Killian with blood-red eyes. He came forward slowly, remorselessly, taking jerky strides like a Halrana construct.

A fist came towards Killian's head. Killian blocked the revenant's arm with his left arm, ducking underneath and putting all his strength into his right arm. The blow smashed into the revenant's sternum with the force of a mountain. Again Lord Aidan flew backwards, and this time when he stood his chest was caved in, the ancient ribs broken and splintered, poking from the dead flesh. But still he came on.

Killian glanced quickly at Ella. She was on her feet again but the wraiths had sensed her weakness, and now pecked and scratched at her, fighting each other to bite at her head and upper body.

The revenant lashed out with hands curled like claws, aiming for Killian's eyes. Killian ducked and rolled, returning to his feet a few paces away. The wraiths twisted through the sky, flying over and around the stone archway. Suddenly the air under the arch solidified and a shimmering curtain appeared.

The beacon sounded, filling the air with its wailing call, the pendulum under the arch swinging left and right with every peal.

"Ella," a woman's voice called. "Are you there? Can you hear me? This is the last time we will be able to open the portal. If you're there, you have to come through!"

Ella screamed as a curved pair of teeth bit down into her shoulder. Killian pointed both hands at the revenant, and finally accepted what he must do.

He shouted an activation sequence and twin bolts of lightning shot from his fingers, bathing the revenant in deadly radiance. The creature came on, oblivious to the pain, but Killian retreated, walking backwards, continuing the stream of deadly fire.

Smoke rose from Lord Aidan's clothes, and his hair blazed as it caught fire. The flesh on his face and hands blackened, sizzling and smouldering. Killian continued the stream of energy as he walked backwards and the revenant came on, face curled with hate, eyes red with blood.

Lord Aidan fell to one knee. He attempted to stand again, but fell down until he was on both knees. The skin on his face was now featureless; the only part of him recognisable was the redness of his eyes. His clothes burned away from his body and smoke poured from him in a steady plume.

Lord Aidan fell down face forward, and then he was still.

"Ella!" the woman's voice called again. "Please, hear me! You have to cross now!"

Killian lowered his hands. He'd destroyed the creature that was part monster, part his father.

The curtain of the portal shimmered and flickered as the beacon wailed, even louder than the shrieks of the wraiths.

Ella ducked a swooping shadow, launching a yellow bolt from her wand as it passed. Killian prepared to unleash his power on the wraiths.

A flying creature flew at the portal and disappeared through the curtain.

53

S
HANI
stared at the shimmering curtain of molten gold, willing Ella to come through before it was too late.

Bartolo and Jehral both stood with swords bared, ready to face anything that wasn't Ella or Killian. The beacon pealed, and both men grimaced at the intensity of the sound.

Shani looked at the Lexicons. They were fading visibly. The portal would close automatically rather than drain the Lexicons completely. Ella would be stranded on the other side.

"Ella!" Shani cried. "Please, hear me! You have to cross now!"

In a lull between peals she thought she could hear something on the other side. Strange shrieks and cries? What was happening through there?

"I hear it," Jehral said.

"Be ready," said Bartolo.

A black creature of nightmare suddenly shot out of the portal, into the chamber inside the Sentinel, filling the room with shrieks. The winged creature bounced off the walls and scratched at the stone. Spotting the two men, it plummeted down with claws outstretched.

Bartolo was already singing, activating his armoursilk and zenblade, filling the room with his voice. The bladesinger flared up as his silken garments protected his body with a hardness greater than steel. His zenblade became a hue of fiery blue, a sword that could cut through anything.

The creature shied away from the light, and went for the black-clad warrior holding a curved scimitar.

Jehral ducked under the sharp teeth, narrowly missing the following claws. Spinning, he hacked at the winged creature with his sword. The scimitar bounced off the shrieking creature as if striking stone. Bartolo leapt into the air and swung overhead, missing the neck but striking a wing. The zenblade should have passed through the wing like a knife through water. Instead the glowing blade bit deeply, seeming to anger the creature.

"Close the portal!" Bartolo screamed.

"You have to!" cried Jehral.

Shani looked at the portal, torn between her husband, and the friend she would be dooming by closing the gateway. Bartolo was a bladesinger, one of the best, but this creature was something none of them had encountered before. She had no way of knowing how pressed he would be, or if more of the creatures would be on their way.

Jehral struck again at the flying demon, his sword once again having no effect other than to enrage the creature. Bartolo tried to strike but the creature flew out of range, shrieking as it batted around the ceiling of the chamber.

Shani had to keep the portal open for as long as the energy would flow. With no other clear path of action, the elementalist said the words that activated the red cuffs she wore around her wrists.

Taking a deep breath, she drew her wrists together and a tiny ball of flame appeared between her palms. The flame grew steadily and Shani drew her wrists apart to give the fire room to breathe. The winged creature tried to fly down once more, and again Bartolo's fiery sword caused it to rear back, retreating to the heights.

Shani looked up at the creature and took careful aim. The ball of flame twisted and sizzled, quivering with pent up energy.

With a shout, Shani threw the fireball at the creature.

Incandescence bathed the heights of the chamber, and silhouetted in the centre the black nightmare screamed and writhed in the flame. It held together for a long moment, and then the flame triumphed.

Ash fell down from the ceiling, and the creature was gone.

Shani turned back to the portal, ignoring Bartolo and Jehral's pleas to close it.

"Come on, Ella," she muttered. "Where are you?"

54

F
LAMES
travelled from ship to ship along the row, spreading in both directions. Caught between two travelling lines of fire, Amber's face told Miro she now realised her plight.

Miro knew that any second Commodore Deniz would be giving the order, and the
Seekrieger
would be the last ship to depart. The entire harbour was ablaze, flames raging on the decks of countless vessels while masts went crashing into the water. Deniz would have to leave or face the risk his own ship would catch fire.

Behind Miro, the revenant warriors of the enemy rushed into the harbour. The enemy would be on them in minutes.

"What should I do?" Amber cried.

Miro stood on the dock while between them, in front of Amber, some smaller boats were also ablaze. He realised the only choice Amber had.

"You have to dive into the water and swim under the flames!" he called, his hands cupped to his mouth.

The fire was now at the vessel next to the warship Amber now stood on. She had put a hole in the warship with a powder keg in the hold, and even as Miro watched the vessel she stood on was sinking. Sparks flew onto the warship's deck, and it was only a matter of time before the sinking ship caught fire.

"Dive!" Miro cried.

Amber ran at the ship's rail and suddenly stopped, fear crossing her face. The warship was as big as the mighty vessel Miro had come across at the dry dock on the volcanic island. Even with the ship sinking, it was a daunting drop.