Realms of Shadow - Lizz Baldwin [28]
Zossimus ran on. From behind, he heard Pleeancis squeak indignantly. "From now on, it's Pleeancis the Mighty to you, Boss!"
Despite himself, Zossimus cracked a grin. Not even this Karsus-made catastrophe could quiet his familiar. They should all be so blissfully ignorant.
Before he reached the villa, Jennah burst from the doors. Her long red hair flew wildly behind her her skin had gone white. Zossimus had never seen such a lost look in her green eyes. She too was a mage. She too had sensed the destruction of the Weave, but unlike Zossimus, Jennah had steadfastly refused to tap the Shadow Weave. She had no shadow magic in which to find at least some succor. "Zoss! The Weave!"
He raced to her and took her in his arms. "I know." She pushed him to arms length, looked him in the face, and said, "And the city…?"
He shook his head in the negative. She blinked while that registered.
"Are we doomed then? What's happened?" Zossimus didn't want to answer her first question and couldn't answer the second. Clearly, Karsus had done something…
Pleeancis flitted over and squirmed between them. "What in the name of Asmodeus's arse is going on around here?" He glared at Jennah. "Why're you so upset? I'm the one who can't teleport." He shoved his ring finger before her face.
Zossimus did not have the energy to engage in further nonsense with his familiar. He gently plucked him from the air and placed him on his favorite perch-Zossimus's right shoulder. Jennah seemed hardly to see the quasit. Her gaze was far away.
"What now, Zoss? What now? I want to see the flowers again. Like we used to." She looked at him with her gentle eyes.
Remembering their many days spent among the purplesnaps on the plains below-the plains where they would die today-his eyes began to well. He took her in his arms.
"We'll see them again, dearest. We will. I promise."
She sobbed into his shoulder, he fought to keep down his own tears. Shade fell further.
"Oh, for crying out-Your hair is in my eyes, human woman," Pleeancis hissed.
Jennah ignored him or did not hear him. Zossimus shooed the little demon away.
"Be gone, Pleeancis, we've no time for you now."
Pleeancis fluttered away, leaving a stream of curses in his wake. "All right, Boss, now it's really Pleeancis the Mighty to you! I was jesting before, but now…"
Zossimus made no reply, merely held his love as she sobbed.
He knew they had only moments. He wanted to tell Jennah how much he loved her, whisper to her how her presence had made his life in the twilight bearable, but he could not give voice to his feelings, not even now. Instead, he stroked her long hair, held her tight, and said nothing. Pleeancis, as usual, spoiled the moment.
"Boss, I think we're falling."
The quasit spoke with such surprise in his tone that Jennah's sobs turned to laughter. Zossimus too began to laugh. What else could they do?
"It's not funny," Pleeancis said. "Did you hear what I said?"
"We heard, little one," said Zossimus.
Jennah leaned back from Zossimus and looked him in the eyes. Her tear-streaked but smiling face looked luminous. He found his voice and spoke before she did.
"I love you, dearest. More than anything."
Jennah opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, a strange silence descended, as though they had filled their ears with wax. The twilight turned darker. The air grew charged.
"What's that?" she asked, her voice dull and seemingly far away.
She disengaged herself from him and looked westward. Curious, he too looked to the western sky.
Above the city, the sky roiled. There, the twilight of Shade gave way to a deeper darkness. Whorls of black and ochre rippled across the sky and expanded toward them. A multitude of miniature cyclones took shape and ran before the ever-expanding curtain of darkness, an honor guard of destructive force. Some of them were large enough to damage buildings. Pieces of roofs