Robert Newcomb: Rise of the Blood Royal

“So,” Khristos said, “I see that you did not escape the fighting in Tammerland unscathed after all! You and your wizards likely do not know it, but there is no known cure for viper venom. By the way, I’m informed by my lead vipers that your herbmistress bitch named Abbey died like the squealing pig that she was. Partial adepts aren’t like you and me, are they? They’re really little more than pretenders to the craft.”

Finally choosing to move, Khristos raised his silver staff. “But worry not about your injured eye, Princess,” he said. “You are about to die, and your darkness will become eternal. The same will soon be true of your Minions and mystics. I come to this happy conclusion because I can readily see that my forces outnumber yours. Either we killed far more warriors then we first believed, or you left a sizable force behind to guard the palace. Even now my vipers slaughter your warriors.”

As Shailiha stood her ground, Khristos smiled again. “Ah, that’s it, isn’t it?” he asked. “Determined to never make the same mistake again, you made an even greater one by not bringing your entire force to search us out. Once you and the winged freaks you brought here are dead, taking the palace and ransacking the Redoubt should be easy.”

Pausing for a moment, Khristos casually spun his staff as he started circling Shailiha. Just as Tristan had taught her, she pivoted in place as he moved, saving her energy while Khristos expended his.

“Your method of finding us was very clever indeed,” Khristos said. “We nearly escaped forever into the Sea of Whispers. But heating the tributary in order to kill us was not so effective, I fear. Did you not realize that we could simply emerge in order to save ourselves? While it’s true that we are scalded, we are still quite able to defeat you. It seems that your vaunted Vigors mystics have finally miscalculated after all.”

Shailiha remained quiet as she glared into his eyes. No longer sleek and smooth, his olive skin was covered with red, angry boils. The vertical pupils embedded in his almond-shaped yellow irises still seemed vibrant, and they missed nothing. His black robe lay in even greater tatters and scarcely clung to his body. As she watched, his bright red tongue slithered in and out of his mouth, testing the night air.

“We did not heat the river water,” Shailiha said at last. “You and your vipers did that. I allowed you to emerge so that I might kill you personally.”

Khristos threw back his head and let go a wicked laugh. “ThePon Q’tar told me that you were not trained in the ways of the craft,” he answered. “Even so, I never dreamed you were so stupid! I am a powerful wizard, you fool! Do you believe that I can be tricked so easily?”

“It’s quite true,” Shailiha answered. “The spell that we used was of Failee’s making. She hid it in her grimoire for safekeeping, should she need to kill you and your horrible servants. It wasn’t the water surrounding you that first became heated.” Smiling slightly, she widened her stance a bit more, putting Khristos on notice.

“You are the victim of a Blood Pox,” she added quietly.

At the mention of Failee’s name, Khristos looked stupefied, as if he had been struck across the face.

“You’re lying!” he shouted. “The First Mistress would never have done me harm! We loved each other!”

“No, Khristos,” Shailiha answered. “Youmight have lovedher, but I doubt that she ever really loved you. From the time she went mad and left Wigg, she loved only the Vagaries.”

Her expression becoming darker as her memories of the First Mistress surfaced, Shailiha glared hatefully at Failee’s reptilian creation.

“I should know,” she said menacingly. “For a time, I too was under that bitch’s aegis.”

“I still say you’re lying!” Khristos raged. “And you are about to pay for those lies with your life! I’ll enjoy watching my vipers eat your liver! It is a prize to which they have aspired for a long time!” Taking a step closer, he pointed the tip of his silver staff directly at Shailiha’s chest.

To everyone’s amazement, Shailiha lowered her sword and stepped toward the Viper Lord. Holding her arms wide, she brazenly offered herself up for the killing.

“Then do it, if you’re so sure!” she hissed. “Kill me now and prove the First Mistress’s love for you! Kill me, you twisted freak!”

Shailiha’s taunting finally put Khristos’ hatred into action. Summoning all his power, he called the craft.

Shailiha tensed as she watched the craft’s power slowly build in the tip of Khristos’ staff. With a wicked smile, he let it loose.

The azure beam that streaked toward Shailiha was narrowly focused, yet far slower than any she had seen before. Whirling to one side and trying to ignore her pain, she avoided it.

Screaming with frustration, Khristos began to grasp the terrible truth. Again pointing his staff at theJin’Saiou, he did his best to call the craft. This time the results were even less powerful, and the azure bolt that erupted from the staff’s point fizzled in midair and crashed to the ground between them, knocking clumps of dirt and grass into the air.

Shailiha took a deep breath, then raised her sword again. “It’s over for you, Khristos,” she said. Although they were lessening, from time to time she could still hear the sounds of her warriors struggling with the vicious vipers.

“Kneel before me and I promise to grant you a quick death,” she offered. “I suggest that you do it. It’s a far more compassionate way to die than being impaled on a stake and disemboweled.”

Seething with anger, his powers all but gone, Khristos glared viciously at her.

“Never,” he whispered.

Screaming wildly, he raised his staff like a sword and charged straight at her.

Whirling on her heels, Shailiha sidestepped Khristos’ staff as it came flashing down, then brought her blade around swiftly. Her sword cleanly severed Khristos’ head from his shoulders and it fell to the ground, its reptilian eyes still wide open. The lifeless corpse crashed down beside it.

TheJin’Saiou took several precious moments to look around. The azure bolts had stopped raining down, and it seemed that Khristos’ Blood Vipers had been all but vanquished by her Minion warriors. Given the monsters’ depleted condition, she had gambled that they could be defeated by a lesser force, and she had won. Wanting to be sure, she called out for Traax.

The Minion commander was by her side in seconds. He appeared exhausted, and his dreggan blade was covered in blood. Hissing and screaming still pierced the cold night.

“What is our situation?” she demanded.

“Viper stragglers are being killed as I speak,” he answered. “Given the enemies’ weakness from the Blood Pox spell, our losses were light.”

Shailiha nodded as she sheathed her sword. “See to it that every viper head is taken,” she said. “Not one of those creatures is ever to walk the earth again.”

“I live to serve!” Traax answered, then quickly turned away to carry out his orders.

Shailiha watched the Minion litter descend and land nearby. As Faegan and Adrian disembarked, Shailiha approached them tiredly. The look on Faegan’s face told her that he was relieved but perturbed. Scowling, he folded his arms across his chest.

“You took a great chance, did you not?” he asked. “After all, I said that I couldn’t be sure about Khristos’ waning powers.” Then the wizard looked at the beheaded corpse and he let go a quick smile. “But don’t think we’re not glad to see him dead,” he added.

“I trust your judgment,” Shailiha answered simply. “I always have.”

She looked up at the nighttime sky. “It will start soon now, won’t it?” she asked.