Darkness Rising: Disciples of the Horned One Volume One (Soul Force Saga Book 1) (32 page)

D
amien watched
as the Baroness Trasker took her turn drinking from the little well. Somehow the woman managed to make drinking out of her cupped hands look dignified. When she straightened he asked, “Everyone ready?”

They all indicated they were.

“Then gather around.”

The women and kids moved to join him. Some of the little ones had fallen asleep and their mothers carried them. He couldn’t remember ever seeing such a bedraggled collection of people in his life.

A chill went through him and Damien looked up. A dark figure was riding across the sky on the back of a horse so dark it appeared to absorb the light. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the imposing figure. The horse was a seething mass of demonic energy, but nothing compared to the armor. A black cable of dark energy connected the rider to his mount.

Damien had read about men like him. They were called Black Knights. One step removed from actual warlocks, a Black Knight was a warrior who had formed a contract with a demon. The demon provided power to the knight. In exchange, at the moment of his death, the demon would consume the knight’s soul thus increasing the demon’s own power. His demon was bound to the ornate armor, much as Lizzy was bound to his father’s sword.

Was this the same Black Knight the archmage mentioned in her account of Jen’s adventure in Port Valcane? He hoped so. One of the monsters was bad enough.

Some of the children started whimpering and their mothers tried to calm them. Success seemed unlikely. The kids were feeling the effects of the Black Knight’s corrupt aura.

“What is that thing?” the Baroness Trasker asked, disgust dripping from her voice. “That creature has been our captor these many weeks. Since the other one disappeared.”

“He’s trouble. Keep everyone together. It’ll be easier for me to protect you that way.”

“Won’t we make an easier target, gathered all in one place?”

Damien really didn’t want to argue with the woman, but the baroness wasn’t used to taking orders. “Together or spread out, without my shield he’ll kill you all in a second. Please, keep everyone together.”

She pressed her lips in a thin line.

Please don’t argue
.

The Black Knight was getting closer by the second.

Please, please, don’t argue
.

“Very well, young man.”

Thank heaven.

“I’ll keep everyone together while you deal with that, I hesitate to call him a man, that thing.”

The knight drew power from his armor and a ball of hellfire came screaming toward the oasis. Damien conjured a giant hand and swatted it aside.

The ball exploded a safe distance away. Wind mixed with corruption blew through the oasis. The children started crying and several of the women threw up. The Baroness Trasker never faltered. She guided the last two people into a tight group.

Damien conjured an invisible shield over them, investing a quarter of his power to be sure they’d stay safe. He hated going into battle with such a disadvantage, but anything less would leave the ladies and their little ones exposed.

He shot into the air and met the monstrous man a hundred yards from the oasis. Anxious to confirm his identity Damien asked, “Mikhail Santen?”

A hollow snarl came from inside the helm. “Don’t call me that. Mikhail died when he sacrificed his father to gain the power of a demon. Sir Darkness was born in that moment.”

“Sir Darkness? What a stupid name. Couldn’t you have come up with something a little less idiotic?”

Mikhail drew his sword and leveled it at Damien. He drew power from the demon and sent a stream of fire roaring toward Damien.

Damien dodged easily enough, but like Sloan’s attack earlier the fire twisted and pursued him.

This time Damien was ready. He spun away, conjured a golden sword, and severed the stream of fire from the demon’s power. The hellfire behind him flared and vanished.

It worked, excellent. He fired a pair of golden blasts at Mikhail’s chest.

The Black Knight didn’t bother trying to dodge or deflect. The blasts hit his breastplate and fizzled. “Is that the best you can do?”

Damien frowned. He hadn’t put much power into the blast, but he’d hoped to at least dent the armor.

Mikhail leveled the sword again. This time he drew a huge amount of demonic energy. “Burn away to nothing, worm.”

A river of hellfire poured from the tip of Mikhail’s sword. More power than the demon Damien killed had possessed in its whole body screamed toward him.

Damien drew deep from his core and raised a shield. He angled it to deflect the blast rather than take it full on.

Black fire hit golden shield. Cracks spread all over in his construct as the corrupt power ate away at it. Damien drew more power and repaired the damage.

Still the river of flames came on, no end in sight.

Damien poured more power into his shield, his vast reserve of soul force draining in a hurry. He had to hold on. If he failed, twenty-four women and children would stand defenseless before this monster of a man.

When only a small fraction of his power remained, the river dried up. Damien reabsorbed the meager energy remaining in his shield. Before him Mikhail’s sword trembled in his hand. He’d used the bulk of his power with that attack.

Maybe Damien had a chance.

“Impossible!” Mikhail screamed in nearly inarticulate rage. “That should have reduced a worm like you to nothing.”

Damien shrugged and began conjuring a pair of invisible swords behind Mikhail. If he could keep the idiot merchant distracted maybe he could take him by surprise. “It was an impressive attack from a halfwit greengrocer. I didn’t think you could manage it.”

“Greengrocer!” Mikhail shrieked.

That hit a nerve.

“I am Sir Darkness, right hand to the mightiest warlock in the land, Connor Blackman.”

Blackman! This fool worked for the missing sorcerer? That must be who opened the hell gate in Port Valcane and gave Mikhail his demon armor. He probably put the hellfire wards in the bandits’ heads too. No way this clown had the skill to do such fine conjuring.

Damien needed to end this and report back. The archmage had to know Connor Blackman had become a warlock and was behind the attack on the barons.

Damien’s invisible swords struck Mikhail in the back. Armor screamed in protest as the soul force blades cut it open. Black fire burst from the rent in Mikhail’s armor, shattering Damien’s swords before they could pierce flesh.

The demon horse’s mouth hung open and with Damien’s enhanced sight it was clear the idiot had drained the beast almost dry. If Mikhail had possessed a fraction of Sloan’s skill combined with the demon’s raw power… Best not to think about it.

“You’ve proven a formidable opponent.” Mikhail turned his gaze to the former prisoners huddling under his shield. “I wonder if the other worms will prove as durable.”

Damien raced for the ground at full speed. Hellfire spewed from Mikhail’s sword. A stream of soul force shot from Damien’s hand, striking and reinforcing his barrier.

Black flames hit a moment later. Palm trees withered and turned to ash. The dirt blackened as the dark flames consumed every shred of life in them.

When the onslaught ended, his shield, cracked and wavering, still stood. The people inside remained unharmed.

Damien needed to end this. Now.

He absorbed and reshaped the shield into a focused blast, augmenting it with most of his remaining power. The golden lightning bolt streaked up at Mikhail.

It struck the side of the demon horse’s head, burning off an ear and exposing its skull. An instant later it struck Mikhail in the shoulder. His armor gave way before the assault.

Mikhail roared in pain.

An armor-covered left arm came crashing to earth.

Damien crafted the last of his power into a crackling javelin and held it ready to throw.

The Black Knight snarled at him. “This is your lucky day, worm. We’ll finish our battle another time.”

Mikhail kicked the demon horse in the ribs and flew north, back into the kingdom. Damien waited until he was well out of sight before he collapsed to his knees. The javelin vanished when he absorbed the energy to refill a tiny portion of his depleted core.

As first missions went this one was turning out to be a doozie.

A gentle hand settled on his shoulder. Damien looked up into the concerned eyes of the Baroness Trasker.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

Damien sighed. He needed to rest and burn away the corrupted arm and armor Mikhail left behind before he flew the baronesses and their children home. “Sure. Just give me a few minutes to catch my breath and I’ll get you people out of here.”

L
ane squinted
into the bright noon sky. On either side of her the nine barons did the same. Five minutes ago one of the guards, a loyal one, they’d left on watch had come running into the dining hall shouting about something in the sky flying their way from out of the badlands. Everyone had rushed into the courtyard then up on the southern wall. Either Damien was returning or he’d failed and the Bandit King was coming to exact his revenge for the barons’ failure to live up to their agreement.

When the object got close enough Lane recognized it as a golden sphere. It had to be Damien. A warlock’s power would be darker. Some of the tension went out of her. He’d survived. When one day passed, then another, she’d feared the worst for her young bodyguard.

The sphere passed over the wall and Lane realized it was bigger than she’d thought. It settled in the courtyard and vanished. Dirty women and children in torn clothes surrounded a slumped-over Damien. She joined the barons as they rushed down the stairs to seek out wives and children. Most of the normally stoic men wept openly as they gathered loved ones in their arms.

Damien straightened, caught her eye, and grinned. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes. An ugly red burn decorated his cheek, but other than that he looked intact.

“The barons give you any trouble?” Damien asked.

Lane choked back a sob. He was worried about her. This young man she hardly knew, who’d just gone through hell if his face could be believed. She hugged him and he patted her back.

After a moment she let him go. “They behaved like gentlemen. Once their minders fled they had no more reason to be hostile. They threw the assassins, along with the servant in your wardrobe, in the dungeon before the bindings wore off. I think they were waiting to see if you succeeded in rescuing their families before they hung all four.”

Damien nodded, seeming neither shocked nor surprised at the self-serving ploy. “What about their complaints against the kingdom?”

“They were pretexts to do what the Bandit King wanted. We had a meeting after your barrier vanished and they explained everything. With their families returned I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble.”

“I hope you’re right, but the king will have to make some changes down here all the same. The barons are too vulnerable to blackmail. I doubt His Majesty will leave them in charge of border security after this debacle.”

Lane saw his point, but feared any drastic change would raise the prickly nobles’ hackles. She wanted to ask what he thought the king would do, but the barons and their families had turned their attention to Damien. Everyone wanted to shake his hand and several of the wives and children hugged him with tears in their eyes.

Damien bore it all with a disconcerted look that made Lane smile. When the last of the hugs had been distributed Baron Trasker and his wife moved to the fore. As the oldest of the barons he often seemed to take the lead. Did that annoy the others or had they gotten used to it?

“I don’t know how we can thank you for saving our families. It seems a miracle you returned everyone alive. Anything within our power to grant you, just ask.”

“Which one of you is in charge of Allentown?” Damien asked.

That seemed to surprise the barons as much as it did Lane. Baron Kannon moved to stand beside Trasker. “Allentown is within my lands. Is there some problem?”

“The Lord Mayor is corrupt and I intend to remove him on my way back to the capital. I suggest you think of a replacement, one less susceptible to bribes and underage girls.”

Kannon stiffened at Damien’s cold tone. Lane would have to give him lessons in diplomacy on the trip home.

“Is the Lord Mayor’s removal the reward you desire for saving our families? He’s my cousin and it will be difficult to convince him to renounce his position, but I can manage it.”

Damien’s expression turned hard. “I require no reward for doing my duty, nor do I require your assistance or permission to remove the Lord Mayor. Eliminating corrupt officials is one of the responsibilities of a kingdom sorcerer. If I find the accusations against him true his head will decorate a flag pole at his residence before dark tonight.”

Baron Kannon stalked off, muttering to himself. Lane debated going over to try and soothe him, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. If he knew about his cousin’s actions he was lucky Damien decided to only punish the mayor himself.

“Are you ready?” Damien asked.

“What about horses? The bandits stole or drove off every mount in the stable.”

He smiled at that. “I think it’s safe to assume everyone knows I’m a sorcerer. How about I just fly us home?”

Lane looked away. She’d never been comfortable trusting a sorcerer to keep her from falling to earth. It seemed like such a precarious, unnatural thing, to fly without wings.

When she thought about flying with Damien she felt no doubts about his ability to keep her safe. If she were honest with herself the only real reason she hesitated was because the trip would only take two days and then they’d be home and go their separate ways. She found the idea left a hollow feeling in her chest.

“Flying would be okay, I guess. I started packing yesterday, more to keep busy than anything.”

Damien nodded. “Then let’s finish packing and get out of here.”