Chapter 33
Arim: Guardian of Storm
I worked to escape the whip of Darkness lashed around my throat, my eyes watering at the effort.
I’d been fighting Lexa for what felt like forever, getting no closer to defeating her than she was to defeating me. Oddly enough, I sensed she meant to keep me at arm’s length, as if she had more in store than this simple battle.
“What do you really want?” I asked for the fifth time.
Her eyes flashed, a sight that never failed to stir me. At that moment, I wasn’t sure who angered me more, myself for still being attracted to the traitorous witch, or her for being so… Dark.
She smiled, toying with me again. Annoyed I’d let my irritation with her show, I deliberately grinned despite the pain in my neck. She blinked, and I knew I’d disconcerted her before she slipped her mask of hatred firmly back in place.
Where had the shy, sweet girl I’d once known gone? Had she never existed at all?
“Hmm, what do I want, you ask?” Her lips curled though her eyes remained flat. “I want you to die like a man instead of the sniveling Light Bringer I know you to be. What a poor excuse for a mage.”
She sneered and shot blue flame from her fingertips, scoring marks across my cheek.
I retaliated with a burst of Light, almost hitting her full in the face. But she dodged at the last minute. A sudden and foreign sense of shame hit me as we fought, an unfamiliar feeling that I was fighting a losing battle against a woman not my enemy.
From where the thought had sprung, I didn’t know. But a painful spear of Dark through my thigh cleared the notion in a heartbeat.
Ice burned at my legs, middle, and arm. While I struggled to undo the noose at my throat, I waited stiffly for another blast of blue flame to hit me.
Surprised she would hesitate to take advantage, I glanced at her face only to see her fierce expression now serene, her eyes closed.
Recognizing a vision when I saw it, I hurried out of her clutches and would have turned the tables on her when she vanished without a sound.
Shocked, I instinctively hunkered into a powerful shield and waited.
The Lexa I knew had never fled from a fight. Would she attack me from behind, draw me into the open, hoping for a vulnerability I didn’t intend to give? She’d caught the one weakness in my shield earlier, but I’d fixed that problem and —
“You have to see this,” Sava blurted from my right, ducking the ball of Light I instinctively threw. “Shadows, man. Get a grip. You’ve obviously finished playing with Lexa. You need to see this and tell me what it means.”
Grabbing me by my uninjured arm, Sava teleported us behind a large verum tree.
“Watch,” Sava whispered.
In a clearing littered with scarred tables and chairs, two Dark Lords battled. Stunned, I observed as Sin Garu and Balen tore into each other.
“This makes no sense,” I whispered to Sava. “They know we’re here. Why turn on each other when the smart thing would be to exterminate the Light Bringers?”
“I don’t know. But they’ve been at this for some time. Lidra’s dead,” he said grimly. “Alandra and Aerolus are missing.”
I turned to stare at him, sensing no trickery. Only worry for my niece. “You’re sure they’re not anywhere, their —” I forced out “ — remains not in the trees or over the ground in any way?”
The thought of Aerolus dead turned me cold, but I had to know.
Sava’s expression softened. “No, friend. I swear by my sight they are not dead, and they are not here. In fact, I can’t sense Alandra or Aerolus in this plane at all.”
Breathing a small sigh of relief, I turned my attention back to the Dark Lords, watching with fascination as they grappled and fought. Nothing was out of bounds as they clawed, fired blue flame, and brought pawns into their battle. Several decapitated and dismembered wraiths and Aellei lay scattered about the clearing, quickly joined by another two scorched Der warriors.
“Come, Brother, let’s end this now,” Sin Garu said, sounding rejuvenated and not at all tired.
Balen, on the other hand, looked to be exhausted. “Fuck you, meh fre ak nahl sur.” He flashed his fangs and spat at his brother, the sting of acid landing on Sin Garu’s cheek.
Sin Garu howled with rage and wiped at his face.
