Richard Knaak - The Citadel

Valkyn whirled and looked up.

Enchanted, the staff had not fallen to the floor but instead flew unerringly toward the nearest of the great crystalline spheres. It glowed with magical energy, all that Tyros could put into it, turning the staff into a deadly missile.

Tyros slumped to the floor, momentarily unable to do so much as lift a finger in his own defense. However, Valkyn had eyes only for his device and the missile streaming toward it. He released his grip on Tyros and reached out a desperate hand, as if attempting to cast a spell. The blink of an eye became an eternity, yet still not enough time for the master of the citadel to stop the inevitable.

The staff struck, exploding.

At first Tyros thought that he had failed, that the energies he had focused into the staff had not been enough. Then he and Valkyn saw the massive veins erupting across the immense crystal.

The entire column shook. Raw magical forces burst from the cracks, turning them into fissures.

“No!” the mage screamed. “No!”

But the power that he had sought to contain for his own dreams would be contained no longer. The golden crystal trembled … and burst.

The explosion ripped through the area, nearly toppling the second column. Tyros flattened himself to the floor, hoping his death would be quick and painless.

Castle Atriun shook, then lurched. Only the magical energy in the second sphere still kept the citadel functioning, but not for much longer.

A scream of nightmarish torment ripped from Valkyn’s mouth. Tyros dared to look up, wondering what could cause such a cry.

Valkyn’s hands blazed with pure magic, then began to burn away.

The black wizard had truly tied himself to his creation, the better to make use of its abilities. The crystals were clearly the same type as those both atop the columns and fixed to the wand. Tyros vaguely recalled an image from his earliest struggle with Valkyn, when the other mage’s gloves had burned away, revealing what he had done to himself. The crystals implanted in Valkyn’s hands had enabled him to cast astonishing spells, yet now they assured that the very power he had hungered for would devour him instead.

And nothing could stop it.

Valkyn’s hands were no more than ash now, and yet still the magic burned away at him, twin plumes of fiery, golden light that rapidly made their way above his wrists. Valkyn clutched the stumps of his arms to himself, trying to smother what could not be smothered. At last he dropped to his knees, moaning, all trace of the mocking smile forever gone.

A menacing sound, like that of crackling ice, made Tyros recall his own imminent fate. Power still flared from the ruined crystal, but more worrisome than that were the intense web of deep fractures spreading over the remaining sphere. Without it, the citadel would definitely fall, for whatever reserves Atriun had once had surely had been drained away by now.

Forcing himself to his feet, Tyros hobbled to the doorway. He glanced behind once to see if Valkyn followed, but Valkyn no longer had any interest in him. The magic continued to eat away at the dark wizard. Already his robes were ablaze with a wicked golden fire.

A new explosion sent Tyros tumbling into the hallway. Recovering, he watched in amazement as the first column teetered. For a moment it hesitated, almost seeming to float, and then it collapsed.

Valkyn, still in agony, didn’t see it tip toward him. The column fell upon the burning figure, half crushing the master of Castle Atriun.

Tyros abandoned the area, knowing that the only way to avoid sharing Valkyn’s fate was to escape the castle entirely and hope that either Serene or Bakal still waited for him. He stumbled down the corridor, seeking the stairway leading up.

A new explosion rocked the citadel, sending him sprawling and dousing the mage with rubble from the ceiling.

Struggling to his feet again, Tyros peered through the clouds of dust, trying to make out the stairs. Rubble blocked part of his view, forcing him to climb over it. The stairway had to be nearby.…

Tyros stared in dismay. Whether or not the stairway lay ahead no longer mattered. What remained of his path had collapsed under the weight of the falling ceiling. Tons of stone now blocked the fleeing wizard’s way, and Tyros had a suspicion that some of that rubble had once been part of the very steps he sought.

His path out of Castle Atriun had been destroyed, leaving him trapped in a flying citadel that would soon fly no more.

Atriun shook violently, sending Serene sprawling. Taggi turned, sniffing in concern. Fragments of the ceiling showered them, causing the cleric to fear that the entire castle would collapse on her. Outside, the black dragon continued to try to claw his way inside. Only the fact that they obviously wanted her alive and whole had saved her from a shower of lethal acid.

The citadel shook again. More rock showered down on the pair. Taggi howled as a large piece caught his front right paw. Serene went to the griffon’s aid, freeing the paw and massaging it. The male griffon relaxed, gently licking at his bloody wound.

“Cleric!”

Zander again. Straightening, Serene went to the opening, careful to keep out of reach of the dragon’s probing claws.

“What is it?”

“You’ll die in there unless you surrender,” the arrogant young officer pointed out. “Do so and I promise that your animals and the soldier will come to no harm.”

She doubted that he would keep his word, but Zander seemed very anxious that she come out. Why became apparent a moment later as a new tremor rained down stone not only on her, but on the dragon rider and his mount as well. The great black shook his head as a particularly heavy piece struck him squarely. Zander clearly did not want to remain in this area any longer than he had to.

Serene refused to make his task any easier. “Since I doubt you’ll keep that promise, I think I’ll take my chances here.”

“You’ll die unless-” Another explosion shook the citadel, sending more rock falling. Through the dust, she saw Zander frown, then he seemed to consider something. “All right, then. Eclipse! Toss a little acid her way and see if that brings her around to surrendering.”

The dragon twisted his head around. “But I might kill her!”

“Then be sure that you take careful aim, you imbecile, or you’ll have the wizard to answer to!”

Eclipse inhaled, preparing to unleash a torrent of acid from which Serene knew she would not escape. She doubted that the leviathan could focus his stream so narrow that he would not burn her to death.

A quake far exceeding any previous one shook the damaged fortress. Part of the back end of the tunnel collapsed, forcing Taggi nearer to her. Serene held tight to the wall, not even daring to breathe until the shaking began to subside.

And then the flying citadel lurched.

Serene and Taggi tumbled toward the mouth of the corridor … and the open sky.

As she struggled to keep from falling out, the cleric saw that Zander and Eclipse also suffered. Man and monster were caught in the midst of an airborne avalanche. Great portions of both Atriun and its island poured down on the pair.

A massive rock caught Zander in the chest. The arrogant officer slipped from his seat, screaming as he futilely sought to grab hold of something. Eclipse tried to snatch him with one claw, but a section of Atriun’s outer wall battered the beast. The officer vanished from sight, still screaming.

“Zander!” the dragon roared, trying to search for his lost rider and avoid the torrent of debris. Part of the perimeter wall struck Eclipse at the shoulder near the wing, spinning the dragon around. More gigantic fragments, including what looked like the top of one of the towers, nearly buried Eclipse in the sky. The rain of rubble made short, terrible work of his wings, at last ripping the membrane of one in half.