Triumph of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [61]
Stunned, shocked, no one dared move or speak.
One of the Duuk-tsarith, coming to her senses, knelt swiftly beside her Emperor. Turning over the body, she started to call for the Theldara. The words died on her lips.
A charred and blackened hole—a horrible mockery of what had once been the man’s mouth—was burned completely through the skull. Hurriedly the witch covered the gruesome wound, drawing the red hood of Xavier’s robe over what was left of the face.
But it was too late. Those who had seen the ghastly sight began to mill around in a frenzy of terror, some dropping to the ground, others flying up into the air, still others shrieking for the Corridors to open. The Emperor’s last words—“the end of the world”—were being cried out in an anthem of hopelessness and despair.
Xavier’s bodyguards sprang toward the white-robed man. Reaching behind his back, he drew the Darksword and held it before him. The weapon began to glow with a blue light.
“Stop!” Garald cried out. The warlocks reluctantly halted. The Prince stared at the corpse, then looked back at the man holding the blue-flaming sword.
“Listen to me!” the man said, his eyes intent upon the menacing Duuk-tsarith. “You will all be dead, just like my uncle, unless you act at once.” Holding the sword poised between himself and the Duuk-tsarith, he took a step nearer the Prince.
“Don’t come any closer!” Garald cried out, raising his hand as though to ward off a spirit from the grave. “Was Xavier right? Are you a demon? Did you bring this destruction down upon us?”
“You brought it on yourselves,” the man answered grimly.
Reaching out suddenly with his left hand, he grasped hold of Garald’s arm. The Prince gasped, flinching at the touch, and the Duuk-tsarith instantly closed on the man. His sword flared, and they halted again uncertainly. They could feel the magic-absorbing Darksword draining the Life, their magical powers seeping out of them.
The man squeezed the Prince’s arm tightly, painfully. “I am flesh and blood! I have been Beyond and I have returned. I know this enemy and how to fight it! You must listen to me and follow my orders or this will be the end, as my uncle said!”
Garald stared at the hand clutching his arm, doubting his senses, yet knowing he felt the touch of a living person. “Where have you come from?” he asked in a hollow voice. “Who is this enemy? Who are you?”
“There is no time for questions!” the man cried impatiently. “The giant has stopped the tanks for the moment, but the wretched thing is dead now and the enemy is moving swiftly. Within minutes, there will be no one left alive in this fortress!” Suddenly, he thrust the Darksword back into its sheath. “Look,” he said, spreading his arms wide, “I am unarmed—your prisoner, if you choose.”
As the Duuk-tsarith sprang forward, a blast shook the ground.
“The stone wall is breached!” someone shouted. “We can see them! They are coming.”
“Death crawls….” Garald murmured.
Tears of frustration and anger and fear blurred the vision of the corpse lying at his feet. Confused, shaken, horrified, scared, he put his hand to his eyes to hide them, cursing himself for his weakness, knowing he must not give way. Another explosion rocked the fortress. The people cried out to the Prince, begging him to save them. But how could he? He was as lost and desperate as they…
Near him, he could hear the Cardinal, praying to the Almin. Was this Joram? Was this salvation or destruction?
Did it matter …
“Let him go!” he ordered the warlocks finally. Drawing a deep breath, he turned to face the white-robed man. “Very well, I will listen to you, whoever you are,” he said harshly. “What do you say we should do?”
“Gather the magi and their catalysts together. No, Cardinal, there is no time for that,” the man said to Radisovik, who looked up from where he was kneeling beside the Emperor’s body. “The living need you now, not the dead. It will take you and all of the catalysts to grant the magi Life enough to cast this spell. We must build a wall of ice around this entire complex, and we must do it without expending