Medea shook her head. “Sorry, little brother. I actually visited her once. This ain’t it.”
True to her prediction, the smoke coiled into fierce warriors, complete with armor.
And swords.
They had alotof swords.
What the hell?
“Man!” Urian snapped. “We cannot catch a break.”
“Hey, I gave you an easy way out,” Falcyn reminded him. “You could be home right now, watchingSurvivor. But no, you chose to be here.”
“What can I say? I’m an idiot. I’d blame it on the fact that I come from a long line of them, but my mom and dad would kick my ass for the insult. So I’ll blame Stryker for raising me among them.” Urian used his powers to conjure a sword. “Anyone have a clue who and what these assholes are?”
“It’s the dungeon.”
They turned to stare at Brandor.
“What did he just say?” Urian’s tone was filled with disbelief.
Brandor nodded. “There are two sections to the chambers down here.La Mort à Jamais—the Eternal Death, where Morgen and Narishka place those they want to torture without fear of killing them. It’s enchanted to ensure their victims will live no matter what’s done to them. Once they’re finished with the torture, Morgen has the lifeless body taken and added to the catacombs. But the by-product of that cruelty and magick is that the dungeon absorbs the tortured soul and holds on to it forever. It makes the soul a part of it. After a time,l’âme en peinebonds with the others that are trapped here until they become one single entity.”
“Okay.” Falcyn glanced around at the forming warriors. “So they’re ghosts?”
He shook his head. “No. The nature and strength of the residual magick combines with the souls. Instead of making individual ghosts, they become one single beast. Lombrey de la Mort.”
Falcyn let out a tired breath at the words that meantDeath Shadow. “Are you telling me that we’re facing Shadow’s evil twin?”
Brandor laughed. “His prince underling, actually. If Shadow were here, he could control Lombrey and force him into retreat. Or at least order him to stand down.”
Why did those words make him sick to his stomach?
“Without him?”
Glancing around at the numerous warriors the darkness was spawning, Brandor sighed. “We’re screwed. Lombrey’s a nasty bastard. Filled with the screams and righteous agony of a million innocent victims. They say it’s driven him mad and so he attacks everyone who comes into his domain. Indiscriminately.”
Medea scowled. “Then how does Shadow quell him?”
“Hell if I know. For that matter, no one knows for sure. Only that he goes without fear into wherever it is that Lombrey lives and emerges victorious.”
Falcyn growled in frustration. “Well that’s… fucking useless.” They had to find some way to get Maddor free without killing him. Awaken the dragons.
And stop Lombrey from attacking them.
Or killing them.
But how could anyone fight a shadow when they weren’t a shadow? When they couldn’t drag his soldiers out, make them solid, and beat the hell…
Wait a second.
Yeah, that was it!
Falcyn licked his lips in expectation of the fight to come. But as he prepared himself mentally, he had a radical idea.
Mad radical.
This was crazy, but just insane enough that itmightwork.
