The wraiths descended, ripping the dead woman apart. Beyond us, I knew the kingdom lay under siege. Sava battled several wraiths and two Nocumat, and I felt relieved to have him here to control the Shadren monsters, as only he could. Other warriors and sorcerers battled with the Netharat just in this room.
I could only imagine the battle spreading throughout the western territory. Reaching out with a small part of my mind, I contacted my nephews and learned that the entirety of Tanselm was under attack.
I reacted, launching a blast of Light that should have killed Sin Garu outright. The speed and intensity of the attack were on my side, but the demons protecting him allowed him to wave the blast aside, which took out several Netharat instead. Lexa fired with blue flame that did little to Sin Garu but burn some of his hair.
To my surprise, the Dark Lord cursed and retaliated as if we’d done him major harm.
“And I thought Sava had vanity issues,” Lexa murmured before Sin Garu struck back.
Joined as we were through combined magic holding our shield, we experienced the same sensations. The violence of the blow hit us hard, since I had no way of protecting Lexa from it. Our defense held fast, even against the cold fire attacks launched by several surrounding wraiths…until a subtle fluctuation in Tanselm’s energy allowed for a thinning in the shield.
Deliberately pushing most of my energy over Lexa, I wasn’t surprised to for a sharp, brutal blow and consequent loss of energy. Despite the pain, I didn’t turn away from our enemy. I kept my eyes glued to Sin Garu, but it wasn’t long before I felt wetness sliding down my side.
Immediately, I worried about Lexa. “Blue, are you okay?”
She looked angry but intact, thank the Light. I fed her a little more power, pleased when she made no move to reject the help.
“I’m fine.” Her eyes widened when she spotted my wound. “But you’re not.” She turned back to Sin Garu, her blue eyes sparking with rage. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“As are you, sister. I’ve waited a long time for this. Much longer than I wanted, certainly. But now there’s nothing stopping us from being together.” His tone changed to one of cajoling, raising my hackles. “Why not join us?” Us, I noted, not me. The demons had truly taken Sin Garu over. “Become one with us and the power is limitless.”
Demons echoed in whispers around us. “A life for a life, in this world or the Next.” As several demons coalesced into black shadows around Sin Garu, I noticed that even the wraiths backed away from their master and his new “friends.” Apparently, even the Netharat recognized that demons didn’t belong outside their own realm.
The demons seemed to grow more substantive as Sin Garu’s minions killed the Light around them. I wondered how long it would take them to fully integrate into Tanselm’s plane and what would happen once they did.
Lexa tugged my attention by moving farther from me, weakening our shield. I wanted to call her back, but the sharp look she shot me told me she deliberately increased the distance. The fool woman was probably trying to protect me by making herself a better target.
“‘Us’ and not ‘me’?” She sneered at Sin Garu. “Two’s a crowd, Sin. But hundreds of demons and you? Way too many. Face it. You were never as good as Arim, and you’re still way less of a magic user. You had to resort to demons to equal the playing field. Even now you’ve yet to really hurt him.”
I scowled at her. Had she missed the part where I was bleeding? “Lexa, don’t push too far too fast,” I warned. Yes, we needed Sin Garu out of control, but not until we had him where we wanted him. Right now, bleeding behind a shield flimsier than a sheet of paper was not where I wanted to be. If only we’d had time to plan this out.
Correction. We’d had time. But I had used it seducing Lexa instead of readying us for the worst. This situation was partly my fault because I couldn’t keep my Light-forsaken dick in my pants. The Darkness inside of me that wanted Lexa with an obsession bordering on madness would be the death of us. I shook my head, disgusted with my lack of discipline.
Sin Garu’s eyes blazed red, his hands turned into flaming balls of green fire, and his body shook with undisguised rage as he cursed us to the Pit and eternal suffering at his hands.
As he aimed a blast squarely at Lexa, I leaped to intercept it, wondering if our luck had indeed run out.
Chapter 32
Sava
King of the Aellei
I looked over in time to see Sin Garu on a tear as he tried to knock down Lexa with demonic flame. She seemed prepared to take it, but Arim’s reflexes weren’t as off as my turbulent magic, and he shot between them to absorb the attack. Lexa snarled something even as she jumped over Arim and crouched low.
She protected him, her aura a bright blue as she leaned over her lover. At the same time, she changed the force of her blast and aimed at the demons around Sin Garu, who writhed in pain and began to diminish in power, their bodies fading again.
Arim groaned and rose unsteadily to his feet, a dark bruise on his forehead and blood dripping down his side a testament to my sacrifice. A sacrifice which was going to be unalterably fatal if the three of us didn’t figure out a way to solve this power problem. Hell, even I could feel the fading threads of Tanselm’s energy as she tried to aid her champion.
I grimaced as I noted how fat and full several newly arrived demons appeared. The bedamned things had to be feeding off the land, making Tanselm weaker as they used her energy to bridge the gap between planes.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a demon outside of Mount Malinta and didn’t plan on looking at them any longer than I had to. The sight of the nasty fiends reminded me all too vividly of my time in the Pit, a nightmare I still revisited if I had too much to drink and too much on my mind before sleeping.
Sharp talons sliced through my thigh, and I cursed as I pulled myself together. Dwelling on what-ifs and a horrible past weren’t helping. I had to figure out a way to assist Arim and Lexa with Sin Garu. Now.
The sooner we killed him, the sooner the Netharat, at least, would crumble. Together, the Netharat were strong. They worked well under Sin Garu’s control. Without him, they’d likely scatter, their inability to focus and follow orders a definite plus. The wraiths would flail, the Nocumat I would control, and the enemy Djinn would fight among themselves for power.
But how to take out Sin Garu without Light Bringer magic? I toyed with the problem as I destroyed three more wraiths and settled my attention on a naughty Nocumat.
