Lisa Smedman - Realms of Shadow

Pleeancis's high-pitched voice squeaked oath after oath. "Oh, curse this purple hell! I'll shred you thread-by-thread, wretched robe. Dare you to offend Pleeancis the Mighty-уеер!"

Zossimus grabbed the tiny demon by his left haunch and yanked him free of the robes. "Enough!"

The quasit fluttered in his hand. His red eyes shot the robes one last evil glare before giving Zossimus his most winning, fanged smile.

"All right, Boss. Just having a moment there. Easy on the leg, eh?"

Zossimus released Pleeancis and climbed to his feet. The quasit hovered before his face, a scaly, fanged hummingbird demanding attention.

"Boss-"

"Not now, Pleeancis."

He waved the quasit away and hurried for the villa. The city was still sinking. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach. If only he and Jennah had Pleeancis's wings.

Unperturbed, Pleeancis buzzed along beside him while he ran, the demon's fanged mouth moving as quickly as his wings.

"What's happened, Boss? Huh? I can't even teleport. There's something wrong with the ring. Watch this!"

In mid-air, wings still beating, Pleeancis squatted and made as though to… do something. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his tiny fists with the effort.

"Unh. Unh."

Zossimus would have laughed but for the end of the world. Magic had ceased to function, and Pleeancis was concerned only that his favorite toy was not working.

"See, Boss? Nothing. Nothing at all. Couldn't teleport if I wanted to. I-ack!"

Zossimus stopped, grabbed his familiar out of air, and looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Where's Jennah?"

"What? Who cares? I'm here, and my ring doesn't work!"

Zossimus knew the quasit didn't like Jennah, or at least didn't like that Zossimus cared for her, but he had no time for Pleeancis's foolishness. "Where?"

The quasit must have seen his anger. His wings sagged. He ran a forked tongue over his fangs and said, "She was in the sitting room."

Zossimus released the quasit and sprinted for the villa. Pleeancis flitted about his head.

"But, Boss, you don't need her. Didn't you hear me? I can't teleport. There's something wrong with my ring." "I said not now, Pleeancis!" "But, Boss-"

As he ran, Zossimus lashed out and smacked the tiny demon across the midsection. Pleeancis, off kilter, let fly with a stream of high-pitched epithets, spiraled out of control, and finally crashed to the lawn.

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 flew skyward and swirled in the turbulent air.

Zossimus knew at once what was occurring. He whispered it aloud, awestruck. They're taking the city fully into the Plane of Shadow."

The cyclones were planar vortices, present anywhere that two planes violently collided.

At the same moment, he realized that Shade was no longer sinking. Moving the city farther into the Plane of Shadow must have strengthened the Twelve Princes' Shadow Magic. The city had stabilized, at least for a time.

Gleeful, he turned to Jennah to sweep her into an embrace.

The look of horror on her face stopped him cold.

"I won't go," she said, and took a step back from him. "I can't live like that-like this."

She gazed skyward, and made a gesture that took in all of Shade.

The curtain of darkness-colorlessness-drew nearer. A peculiar sonic effect preceded it: not silence, but a dulling of sound. Even the destruction wrought by the planar cyclones sounded muted.

"There's nothing else to be done, Jennah. Dearest."

He moved toward her, one hand outstretched. When she recoiled, he struggled to keep the pain from his face and voice.

"Well die otherwise. The shadow magic won't keep the city afloat. Jennah-"

Something within her seemed to break. Her eyes grew pained, and when she spoke, her voice was thick with the attempt to control her tears.

"I don't care, Zoss. Don't you understand? I can't live like this anymore. I'd rather die. I stayed for you. Only for you. We've lived in the dark too long. I-"