Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (49 page)

Enin sighed. He said nothing, not
even a goodbye. He knew Heteera was already gone. He turned his attention to
the space within the magical chamber he created. He inspected every iota of
magical energy to ensure there was no sign of the plague. It was painstaking
work, but he had to be absolutely certain. The magic in the tunnel was pure,
the plague spell had been completely obliterated with Heteera's body.

He dissolved the magical chamber
and exited the tunnel. Once out into the open air, he looked to the east. The
sun had not yet risen, but the horizon was filled with the glow of dawn.

Finding the inferns was easy.
Deciding how to fight them was not.

The moment Ryson hit the streets
he smelled the smoke from various fires and saw the flames burning across
Ashlan. Thankfully, the bright orange and white glow didn't engulf the entire
city, just select points. Still, the number of blazes brought despair to his
delver heart. Fire as a weapon generated terror by stoking fears of
helplessness and signaling belligerent, even wanton, destruction. It was a
callous foe, as unfeeling as it was unrelenting. The unpredictable nature of
the flames, the choking haze of smoke, the unimaginable pain of searing heat;
all served to inspire dread and panic.

It didn't require great reasoning
to determine the intent of the inferns. With numerous points of flaming
devastation spread across the city, the creatures had decided to fan out to
complete their task as efficiently as possible. Rather than cluster together
and form one single wall of fire, they picked strategic points throughout the
city and fueled numerous flashpoints. Over time, the individual blazes would
unite into larger infernos and Ashlan would be consumed, not by a single
rushing wave but by a convergence of multiple firestorms

Pressing the thoughts of
devastation from his mind, Ryson grasped the only strategy that seemed remotely
plausible. He couldn't stop all the inferns at once, so he focused on defeating
them one by one. As for the existing blazes, he would worry about them after
the sources had been eliminated. After all, what good did it do to put out a
fire if another one was going to start a block away?

Before rushing to confront the
first infern, he made one quick dash around the center of the city. He steered
away from the nearest blaze, as he didn't wish to reveal his presence. He
couldn't see each individual monster, but he counted over a dozen separate blazes
lighting up the night. Drawing on his memories of the city streets, he set a
path of attack.

Deciding to head east first, Ryson
raced to the far edge of the city. He would start there and work his way
inward. He spotted one infern at the edge of a main road that led out into the
surrounding farmlands. He knew of the demon's quickness, its ability to fly,
and its capacity to cast demon fire, but the spectacle before him revealed
another quality of the half-demons.

Like a small dragon, the infern
bent slightly forward and opened its mouth wide. It belched flames from its
mouth in giant streaming waves. The fire latched onto anything it touched and
immediately sparked infernos of intense magnitude. The creature focused on a
single building, and though the structure caught fire in an instant, the
half-demon continued to spit flames into the center of the blaze.

The half-demon was no longer
simply igniting a fire, but rather feeding the heat, raising it to unbelievable
temperatures. The flames burned white hot and roared like a great beast. As the
infern continued to breathe its demon fire onto the blaze, the building where
the fire ignited collapsed inward, as if swallowed by a flaming hunger. When
the debris dropped into the heart of the blaze, the fire flashed brighter and
neighboring buildings immediately burst into flames.

To Ryson, the intention of the
infern was immediately clear. It wanted to do more than spread fire across the
city. It wished to burn scars into the land, to create blazes so hot they would
leave nothing behind but black soot. The infern let loose its desire without
conscience or concern. It would leave a lasting memory for those that watched
Ashlan destroyed. The city at the center of the Great
Valleys would become a glowing
torch that lit up the land like a seething volcano.

Ignoring the heat of the blaze,
Ryson placed his focus on the infern. He wasn't sure how to successfully defeat
the half-demon, but he knew he didn't have many options. He immediately
discarded any thought of trying to distract the creature. There were too
many
 
fires burning around the city. He
needed to do more than disrupt the monster's actions or keep it occupied. If he
couldn't stop it, the other half-demons actively engaging Ashlan would reduce
the city to ashes before dawn.

To be effective, he needed to
totally subdue all of the inferns as quickly as possible. He doubted he could
make them retreat or somehow knock them unconscious. Tying them up was a
ridiculous notion. He resigned himself to dispatching them completely.

His respect for life was deep, but
he couldn't allow that to blur the truth. Creatures that invoked desolation
brought misfortune on to themselves. Even if they had to die at his hands, it
was their own actions that placed them in the path of a grave.

He didn't know if he could kill a
half-demon, didn't even know if they were really alive. He wasn't even sure
what weapons would be effective against them, not that he had much of a choice.
He never replaced his war blades. He had a dagger and the Sword of Decree, and
the dagger would probably melt in his hand. The magical blade was his only
hope.

Considering the enchantments of
the long sword, he wondered how much jeopardy he would face holding a magical
weapon that might attract the attention from inferns all across the city. Would
demon fire suddenly ignite the air around him? It was not a pleasant thought,
and one he discarded quickly. He had already dealt with that fear, fought the
battle and won. Allowing it to creep back into his thoughts would only serve to
hamper his efforts.

Rather than concern himself with
any danger, he considered the advantages of the sword's many enchantments. It
was a blade forged by elves, but in his hands, the sword earned its place in
the legends. It reflected and magnified natural light, it burned the soul of
any creature it even slightly pierced, and at times, it offered enlightenment
and lived up to the significance of its name.

Ryson didn't expect any great
insight when he removed the blade from its sheath across his back. He grasped
the jeweled handle firmly in one hand as he held it aloft. The light from the
blade burned as bright as the fire in front of him, and as he guessed, there
was no message, no clear direction of what to do. He already knew. He had to fight
the inferns and defeat them.

Hoping to dispose of the
half-demon as quickly as possible, Ryson raced forward before the infern
noticed him. The attack was swift, lightning fast. The delver jabbed at the
infern's upper chest just below the shoulder, cutting through a weak joint in
its black armor. Ryson wanted to wound it severely enough to put the creature
out of action.

The blade cut deep, and Ryson felt
the handle of the sword warm instantly. He knew the enchantment of the blade
was working its way into the half-demon's essence. The infern recoiled from the
blow. The demon fire ceased erupting from its mouth, but surprisingly, the glow
surrounding the infern increased dramatically. The creature doubled over. As it
did, its body pulled away from the blade and broke contact with the sword. The
sudden burst of light died at the same instant.

Ryson knew the wound was not
severe enough to stop the infern and that it would attack him within moments,
but the delver also realized something else. The full flash of brilliance that
surrounded the infern did not simply come from the half-demon. It also did not
come from his sword. The burst of light came from the blaze that was devouring
the buildings behind him.

Not allowing the infern a chance
to press the attack, the delver swiftly cut around the back of the half-demon
and pierced the back of its leg just above the knee. He made certain that he
moved with the infern to ensure the blade remained connected. It was not the
wound that would stop the creature, it was the reaction between its own burning
core and the magical properties of his sword.

Ryson knew the enchanted blade
would burn the infern's essence, but what he also began to realize was that it
raised the heat of the infern's core to an incredible level. The demon fire
within the creature blazed with such intensity that it attracted not only the
heat from the surrounding fires, but the flames as well.

Just as the fire sorcerer Brenn
had cast a spell of flaming fury that erupted into firestorms, the Sword of Decree
actually brought the essence of the infern to an even higher intensity. The
tremendous concentration of severe heat drew in every burning flame. A stream
of fire roared through the air and coursed over the infern's body. The flames
engulfed the black armor until they entered through the gash in the infern's
chest or through the half-demon's mouth.

In but an instant, the fires that
had raged across several buildings were no longer visible. They had not been
extinguished, but rather displaced, taken from the city and forced back into
the half-demon.

When the last flame disappeared
into the infern's body, the creature's face grew bright white, blurring out all
of its features until even its red eyes were no longer apparent. The black
armor began to melt away and was consumed by the blazing core. When there was
nothing left to burn, the essence of the infern flashed once and then
disappeared as if blown out by some powerful gust of wind.

The ground was charred where the
infern had stood, but nothing of the creature remained. The black armor, the
red hot javelin, the very body of the half-demon had all been consumed by the
compressed inferno. The delver couldn't even recognize a lingering scent of the
half-demon. Everything had burned away.

The Sword of Decree remained
intact. The enchanted blade somehow resisted the severe heat, but it glowed red
hot at the tip. Ryson was able to maintain his grip on the handle but it had
warmed substantially. He sunk the blade into the dirt to disperse some of the
heat into the ground.

Looking back to the buildings
behind him, he was relieved to see the fire extinguished. Optimism filled him.
He had found a way to defeat both the inferns and the blazes they created. All
he had to do was reach them before the city burned away, but he was a delver
and speed was his gift.

Moving to the next closest blaze,
Ryson attacked in a similar manner. He never gave the infern an opportunity. He
dashed at his target and stabbed at any opening in the armor he could find.
Once the blade made contact, he used his agility to keep the sword in place.

Again, the temperature within the
infern swelled and the heat created a firestorm within the black armor. The
burning power of Ryson's sword magnified the blazing core of the half-demon and
it pulled in every flame spawned by demon fire. Ryson had to dodge the incoming
stream of fire, but he was always prepared to move. A second infern
disintegrated in a burst of white hot plasma and another fire was extinguished.

One after another, the inferns
fell. Ryson cut up and down the roads of Ashlan making his way from the eastern
edge of the city back to its center. He disposed of eight inferns and
extinguished fires across the entire eastern half of the city. His success
surprised him, but it was short-lived.

After passing through the plaza at
the heart of the city, Ryson approached the largest of the blazes he had yet
encountered. While he moved with both speed and stealth, he found the infern
responsible for the inferno standing in the center of a wide street... waiting
for him.

"I'm very happy you
returned," the infern snarled.

It was the same half-demon that
had confronted Ryson outside the tavern during the delver's first trip to
Ashlan, the infern that ordered his capture and then tried to have him incinerated
by using the beacon stones.

"I knew you were back,"
the creature boasted. "I told you I searched you. I know your taste."

"I'm really not worried about
your twisted abilities anymore," Ryson announced without bluster, but in a
determined display of self-assurance. Not only had he defeated his fear of the
inferns, but he had faced the half-demons in battle and emerged victorious.

The infern stared deep into the
delver's face. It couldn't discount the truth in Ryson's words. The tone
carried more than confidence, it delivered a rebuke. The delver did not hate or
despise the creature, but he didn't succumb to any outright fear of its
supernatural abilities, either. There was but one small fraction of concern in
the recesses of Ryson's being, and the infern wondered if it could capitalize
on it.

"You still fear the demon
fire," the infern noted.

Ryson eradicated the attempt with
pure logic.

"Of course I do. It would be
foolish not to, but I'm not holding a beacon stone anymore."

"I don't need the stones."

"No? Somehow, I know that's
not true. Oh, you can still cast demon fire, but you don't have some link to
exploit, not anymore. It's just your speed against mine. I'm more than willing
to see who's faster."

"But what about the fear? Any
fear can be exploited."

"That's probably true, but
only to a point. I reached that point a while back. You weren't around, but
trust me, I dealt with it. I'm a delver, that means I need to explore.
Exploring means not being afraid of the path I have to travel or the answers I
might find. It also means not being afraid of what's inside. That's why I'm
holding this sword."