Sam Bowring - Destiny's Rift

He considered the corpse-littered battlefield as the shadowmander sniffed about, nudging bodies here and there to make sure they were really dead. If he unleashed the beast on an army that his other controlled, it would be like giving himself a death sentence. Well , he thought, I will just have to choose my targets wisely.

By his side Tyrellan stood admiring the view.

‘The mander proves a most excellent addition to your army, my lord,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ said Losara. He noticed black birds in the sky circling above the corpses, and saw one land. The mander tore towards it, startling it, leaping into the air as it took flight too late, and snapped it up.

‘It will not even allow their birds to feed,’ said Tyrellan. ‘Their dead will be left to rot in the elements, a warning to any who dare attack us.’

And how many did we lose? wondered Losara. Roma was off accounting for survivors, but Losara was sure that at least a hundred of their own had been killed. At least.

‘How terrible,’ he said, ‘that we must exchange such violence.’

Tyrellan sent him a sidelong glance, orb eyes glinting. ‘I have to disagree, lord.’

Losara sighed. It was vexatious that he could take no joy in this work.

‘Where do we strike next?’ asked Tyrellan.

Losara let his eyes turn west, steeling his resolve to continue what he’d started. ‘The Shining Mines,’ he said. ‘And then …every other place.’

Hesitantly Fahren opened the door to the room that held Battu, still trapped within the cell. The former dark lord was sitting at a table reading a book as he swallowed small fish piled up in a bowl – raw, by his request. His robe had been cleaned, and he was no longer the bedraggled man who had arrived at the Halls.

‘Ah,’ he said, glancing up, ‘my Throne. I was wondering when I’d see you again.’

It annoyed Fahren when Battu called him that.

Battu waved the book in a friendly gesture to approach, as if inviting Fahren into his quarters. Then he held up the cover to show Fahren.

‘ The History of Kainordas ,’ he said. ‘Interesting reading. Remarkable how differently things can be remembered by different sides.’

Fahren took a seat before the cage. ‘But we are no longer on different sides.’

‘You are right, of course,’ said Battu, dropping his fork into the bowl in front of him. ‘I have made that plain enough. You, however, are slow to reach the same conclusion.’

‘Do you still wish to see Losara defeated?’

‘Nothing more.’

Fahren considered his next words carefully. ‘What if I told you our plan is not to kill him?’

‘Oh?’ said Battu, a flash of confusion flitting across his face.

‘Do not misunderstand,’ said Fahren. ‘He must be defeated. But Arkus has instructed that Bel and Losara be re-merged into one, using the Stone of Evenings Mild.’

Battu frowned. ‘Which can only be operated by mages of shadow and light working together,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘Yes. Once it is done, Bel will emerge as the dominant personality, with the entity known as Losara absorbed into him. Gone, effectively. Dead, you might say.’

‘ You might,’ said Battu, and grinned. ‘I see why this troubles you, Throne. Intriguing. You have not mentioned before how much you need me for this plan to work. Evidently you aren’t sure that I will see it as the revenge I so desire.’

‘An adequate summation,’ said Fahren. He considered saying more, but decided to let Battu do the talking, and leaned back in his chair with a raised eyebrow. Battu stared at him for a moment, then stood and began to pace back and forth along the brightly shining bars.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘we must all make compromises to get what we want. No doubt you see it as an enormous compromise that I, within your power, am even still alive.’

Fahren inclined his head and Battu chuckled.

‘So, it is a compromise for me to help you, and a compromise for you to let me. I suppose I should be happy that, should your plan succeed, there will be no other Shadowdreamer sitting on my throne. And the Dark Gods,’ his expression twisted, ‘will be robbed of their precious champion.’

‘Yet it will not be your throne any more either, Battu,’ said Fahren quietly.

‘What?’

‘You will not be reclaiming any throne,’ Fahren said. ‘Surely that has not escaped you. If our plan works, there will be no more Shadowdreamer, no more Skygrip, no more Fenvarrow. It is victory we seek, not to reinstate you in your rightful place.’

‘Yes, yes, of course I know that,’ snarled Battu. ‘I know it keenly – the fact that I have nothing left to lose is in part what brings me to this point. And consider this, Throne …I now have a vested interest in your victory beyond mere personal satisfaction.’

‘And what is that?’ said Fahren dubiously.

‘If the shadow is triumphant,’ replied Battu, ‘then upon my death, my soul will return to the Dark Gods. Of course we could perform the rituals needed to convert my soul to light, but then my magic would be no good to you in using the Stone. So, if I am to avoid an eternity of punishment for my crimes …’

‘You must see the Dark Gods defeated,’ said Fahren.

‘Indeed. If they are no more, they will have no hold over the souls grown in any land …in the new land.’ He prodded a finger into the glistening fish, then sucked it clean and smacked his lips. ‘Much as it irks me to think I may spend eternity in the light, at least my soul will eventually be reborn and I won’t remember anything of my former life …as opposed to suffering for time immemorial.’

‘I see you have thought this through.’

‘I’ve had little else to occupy me.’

Fahren reached a decision. Be it gamble or not, he had little choice. With a flick of his wrist, he lowered the bars of the cage. Battu’s eyes widened, and he gave as close to a genuine smile as Fahren had ever seen on him.

‘Thought you never would,’ he said. ‘And now …as is only fair.’

Battu stepped down from the platform to kneel before Fahren.

‘My Throne,’ he said expansively, bowing his head, ‘I am yours to command.’

Fahren felt a shiver go down his spine. ‘Then come with me,’ he said, ‘for a walk. It is stuffy in here.’

Together they went through the Open Halls, causing heads to turns and exclamations to be uttered.

‘Do you think this wise?’ Battu said from under his hood, already uncomfortable in the sunlight.

‘If you are to serve with us, the people must grow accustomed to the sight of you,’ replied Fahren smoothly.

‘Where are we going?’

‘Nowhere in particular. I find that walking helps me think.’

‘As you wish,’ muttered Battu. His determination to engender trust was agreeable, but Fahren did not let it go to his head.

‘There is news,’ said Fahren, ‘of which you are not aware. Losara has taken Holdwith.’

‘Oh yes?’ said Battu. Fahren sensed a stray twine of hate curling from Battu’s head, resentment that Losara was free to do the things Battu had never been allowed to achieve. Good. ‘And have you sought reprisal?’

‘I did not,’ said Fahren. ‘And yet there has been one. Bel took matters into his own hands and attacked the fort. He had aid, but not aid enough. It seems Losara has created something formidable – more formidable than I could have foreseen.’

‘What?’

‘An enormous shadowmander, seemingly impervious to both magical and physical force.’

Battu shot him a look of surprise.

‘Do you know of any magic that could create such a creature?’ said Fahren.