Bruce Cordell - Key of Stars

Japheth drifted closer.

The half-petrified thing’s head moved to meet the warlock’s gaze.

Its eyes were stone cinders. In them the warlock saw the death of worlds unending. Japheth stumbled and nearly fell out of the sky.

The thing’s regard ground back to Malyanna. “One of the Seven Keys, one of the few to survive, is clutched in my hand, as it has been through all the long centuries of my captivity …,” it said.

The illusory wind generated by Japheth’s spell shrieked with renewed vigor. He strained to hear more … but couldn’t make out any more words. But he’d heard enough. The thing had a Key of Stars, one of seven?

He saw the eladrin raise a hand and execute a simple gesture.

Suddenly the black mastiff was at her side! Its ability to step through shadow exceeded even the powers of his stolen cloak. Speaking of which … Was the Lord of Bats lurking nearby, ready to grab him? Neifion probably wouldn’t stray too far from his ally. But the longer the Lord of Bats stayed out of sight, the better.

A black orb rose over the horizon-No, it was the false horizon of his spell. The orb wasn’t real either, but … He screamed upon seeing its indescribable face. Pain lanced his temples, and he tumbled downward as he frantically dismissed the “invisibility.”

Japheth fell out of the air in a graceless heap. Somehow, he managed to land without breaking his leg.

The warlock resisted an urge to retch. At least he was fully back in reality, thank the Nine. He looked up; the enemy monk stood over him. The man regarded Japheth’s splayed form, surprised at the warlock’s sudden awkward reappearance.

“Hail,” Japheth said, as he silently urged his cloak to translate him backward as far as it was capable.

Apparently his cloak was just as dazed as he was, as it failed to do more than flutter.

“We’re leaving,” the man said. “Malyanna has described you to me, Japheth. Do not pursue us, or you will be consumed.”

Japheth waited for an attack. When none came, he carefully stood. The man just watched him, his face impassive.

“Are you a stooge of Malyanna’s?” Japheth asked. “Why are you talking to me?”

“My name is Taal,” the monk replied. “I am oath-bound to serve the will of the Lady of Winter’s Peace that stands at Forever’s Edge.”

Japheth blinked. “Forever’s Edge?” he repeated.

“The fey echo of the world has a periphery,” Taal said. “Beyond that rim, the void is a window into the world that must be ceaselessly guarded. Malyanna was one of those guardians, before she was corrupted by what watched beyond.”

The names and concepts ran through Japheth’s head, but he’d never heard of them before. “You speak in riddles,” the warlock said.

“I speak the truth.”

Japheth stared closely at his face, trying to read the man’s intentions. Why was the enemy monk volunteering information when he should be trying to kill Malyanna’s foes? The man’s expression remained studiously blank.

Taal glanced away from Japheth. “Your friend approaches,” he said. “Besides, I expect Malyanna has finished preparing the Traitor for transport. It has the Key she seeks. If I see you again, I will slay you. Though Neifion will likely claim your death as his prerogative; he hunts you still. Failing either of those fates, when Malyanna unlocks the Far Manifold, you will certainly die, as will most creatures of this world.”

The man turned and sprinted to the base of the stump and then up it as if it were level ground. Japheth couldn’t see the broken top of the tree any more, as he no longer “stood” on Caiphon’s stairs.

The warlock was confused. Not only had Taal warned that the Lord of Bats yet hunted Japheth, the man had named where the eladrin was based, and told that she had her Key of Stars. Was the man an incompetent? Or-

Raidon flashed past Japheth without a word, following Taal’s earlier path to the stump.

Japheth tried to shake off the lingering stupor of his last spell and called on his cloak.

Unlike before, it functioned properly and pulled him through darkness. Japheth stepped forward onto the top of the stump, only a dozen paces from the eladrin.

The tentacled corpse had lapsed back into solid immobility and Malyanna had arranged the grotesque sculpture on a conjured sledge of silvery light. She was pulling the conveyance effortlessly, following her dark hound down a lane of shadow. Taal brought up the rear.

Japheth lifted his rod and loosed a blast of eldritch fire. He aimed at the sledge, but the enemy monk interceded. Taal flinched at the impact, but failed to fall.

Malyanna glanced around and sneered at Japheth. She made a clawing gesture in the air. He heard a sound like parchment tearing, but couldn’t discern where it came from.

Raidon crested the side of the stump and launched himself across the uneven petrified wood. He drew Angul as he charged forward. The blade screamed in triumph as the air kindled cerulean fire on its greedy edge.

Darkness closed in behind Malyanna.

“Face me!” yelled the half-elf.

Japheth reached for the knowledge bequeathed by his pact. Maybe if he could disperse the shadows used by the hound quickly enough …

He channeled the fire of Ulban. A blaze of blue-white fire streamed from his fingers and rent the shade that sought to steal away his foes. The light hurt his eyes, making him squint. It burrowed in after Malyanna, Taal, and her silvery sledge, but darkness won. The light went out.

They were gone.

The sound of tearing parchment grew louder. The empty space in front of Raidon rippled like distortions at the bottom of a water glass. A hulking red something emerged from the wavering light and threw itself into the monk’s path.

Raidon dived beneath the creature’s arms and rolled, holding Angul to one side to avoid snagging the blade on the irregular ground.

The thing moved as fast as the half-elf, stamping down. It trapped the monk beneath a giant hooflike foot. Japheth heard bones crunch.

Raidon swept Angul around and up. The blade sheared through the creature’s calf, severing half the hoof. The thing screamed, but in redoubled fury, not pain.

Japheth realized the vaguely manlike horror was red because it was skinless. Its muscles, raw and oozing ruby-bright blood, slid over each other like a disturbed nest of snakes. A prickle on Japheth’s skin told him what he could have guessed: the foul thing was a spawn of Malyanna’s twisted star pact.

The warlock raised his rod. A snaking strand of golden light lanced the creature’s oozing chest.

Its eyes darted to meet Japheth’s. It stumbled, its rage suddenly turned to confusion. It took a step backward, removing its weight from the half-elf. Taking instant advantage of the creature’s distraction, Raidon spun up off the ground as if caught by a whirlwind. Angul, still held straight out from the monk’s body, cleaved the creature’s skull in two.

Japheth turned to regard the dimness where the eladrin had escaped, but no-the shadow lane was rolled up and gone. Japheth, Raidon, and a slowly liquefying skinless corpse were all that remained beneath a starless sky.

Raidon held Angul at full extension, its blade pointed to the empty heavens. A wave of healing energy surged from the sword’s hilt, straightening the bones of his leg and knitting his skin where the aberrant skinless creature had stomped on him. The feeling, like hot wires being pulled through his flesh, was worse than the original injury. He ignored the pain, just as he ignored the blade’s insistence he stick it point first into the nearby warlock.

This one’s soul , imparted Angul, is entangled with the same putrid filth as the creature who lies melting at your feet. Why not-