Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos (14 page)

“
But it is, Nikira. What you saw...” He shook his head. “You
will see soon enough. I recommend that you go and watch your
instruments. You are about to witness a rare and amazing event, one
that even gods seldom see.”

Nikira glanced
at Bane, her heart torn. He had turned to face them, his expression
grim. Mirra stood beside him, and he pulled her his arms and
whispered soft words in her ear. She clung to him, nodding. He
stroked her hair, then held her away and bent to kiss her. She
raised a hand to caress his cheek, her eyes shimmering with
tears.

Releasing her,
he glanced at Drevarin and nodded. His eyes flicked over the rest
of them, lingering on his father, whose sad smile looked a little
forced. Bane swung away and walked towards the far wall, murmuring
a harsh word. As he vanished through it, Ethra covered her face and
wept. Sarrin comforted the girl, murmuring encouraging words, but
she seemed to take little notice of them. Mithran went over to
Mirra and put an arm around her, holding her as she wiped her eyes.
Nikira headed for the lift, Drevarin following.

Montar looked
up as she entered the dimly lighted observation room, his
expression puzzled.

“
The tar’merin just left the ship. What’s he doing out
there?”

“
We’re about to find out.” Nikira went to a console and touched
a key, routing the video feed to the wall screen. It showed Bane
walking towards the group of fiends and their crimson-clad master,
his cloak billowing in the wind. After a few strides he vanished,
and she glanced at the scanner screen, where his form was a paler
grey than the fiends, while the dra’voren was ink black. Drevarin
smiled as he gazed at the screen, and his soft words broke the
tense hush.

“
Behold, where darkness reigns, so shall there be light that
shines through it. And where these two shall meet, there shall come
a great destruction. And out of this destruction shall come life.
Thus all things are brought to balance.”

***

Kayos gazed
into the Eye, his sight blurred by fatigue. Bane approached across
familiar grey rocks under a dark sky, and he sagged with relief.
Never had he thought he would be glad to see a dark god
approaching, but now intense joy filled his heart at the sight of
his dark son. He chuckled as the tension leaked out of him, leaving
behind a kind of euphoria. Now Torvaran would have to deal with the
Demon Lord, and Kayos could finally rest. His eyes, which he could
barely keep open, slammed shut, and he slumped.

Chapter Six

The Battle

Torvaran
sensed a dark being behind him and swung around, tucking away the
key. A huge demon hound trotted towards him, its eyes aglow with
triumph, its form solid. He frowned. So, the dark god who had
watched him had come to challenge him for his prize, an unwelcome
annoyance. The Hellhound gave him reason for pause, for it was
larger and more powerful than his own. He was not going to give up
his prize without a fight, however, and he had learnt a few tricks
over the millennia.

There was
always the possibility of striking up an alliance if the newcomer
was particularly formidable. After all, destroying a Grey God was
almost as satisfying if another helped, the aim was still achieved.
He waited for the stranger to reveal himself, and after a moment a
black-clad man appeared a dozen or so yards away, heading towards
him with confident strides. Torvaran’s eyes narrowed as he studied
the newcomer, who was of the same type as the Grey God, a woefully
common species. The man’s chiselled features held the dark power’s
unmistakeable imprint, and the fragile glow of life shone from him.
Torvaran realised with a start that the dark god who faced him was
mortal, and a youth.

He smiled.
“Welcome, Brother.”

The youth’s
expression remained hostile. “I am no brother of yours.”

“
Then I hope you are just passing through, because this prize
is mine. Go and find your own.”

“
No. This one belongs to me. He is my friend.”

Torvaran
chuckled. “You have been hunting him for that long? It did not take
me long to catch him. You are outmatched boy, so leave. Do you know
who I am?”

“
Should I care?”

“
If you were not an ignorant youth. I am Torvaran, the
Destroyer.”

The youth
sneered, “How nice for you.”

“
Has anyone bothered to give you a name, or a
title?”

“
I am Bane, the Demon Lord.”

Torvaran
sniggered. “Demon Lord is a title hardly worth owning. Even a
demi-god can summon a demon.”

“
I have another title, which you will like less.”

“
And what is that? Dolt?”

A slight,
chilling smile curled the stranger’s lips, and Torvaran wondered
what gave this upstart youth the right to be so confident in his
presence.

“
Look within me, and see it for yourself.”

Torvaran
frowned. He never bothered to look at souls, they were predictable
in gods, but now he did as the youth advised, and closed his eyes.
The brilliant white light of Bane’s soul made him step back with a
grunt of surprise, and his eyes sprang open.

“
Tar’merin!”

Bane’s smile
widened. “Now you know.”

“
Traitor! Filthy light lover. Spawn of a whore!”

The Demon
Lord’s brows drew together and his smile vanished. “Do not sully my
mother with your foul tongue.”

“
Only a filthy light loving whore could birth a god child who
would take up the darkness and betray it.”

Bane waved his
hand at the row of fire demons beyond the shimmering silver sphere.
“Begone!”

They vanished
in an implosion of foul air, and Bane turned flinty eyes upon his
foe. “Now I shall destroy you.”

Torvaran
snorted. “You are no match for me, traitor.”

“
You are correct, I far outmatch you.”

“
You dream, upstart -”

Bane leapt at
Torvaran, and his hands flashed out to grip the dark god’s wrists.
As Torvaran recoiled, a spike of gleaming steel sprouted from his
chest, forcing Bane to duck. It skimmed over his shoulder, slicing
into his skin. He gritted his teeth and Gathered with all his
power. The seven runes on his chest flared brilliant yellow,
shining through his tunic, and Torvaran’s droge form smeared as it
lost its substance. The shadows that rushed into Bane filled him in
moments, and he shed the excess in a column of pure blackness that
shot into the ground beneath him.

Torvaran
roared with rage as he fought the Gather, hanging onto his power
with immense strength. His droge body reformed, and another steel
spike sprouted from his belly, aimed to disembowel his foe. Bane
took hold of time and slowed it, twisting so the spike only pierced
the flesh of his flank. A second spike shot towards his gut, but
this time Torvaran countered his attempt to slow time. Bane was
forced to release him and leap backwards.

Torvaran
glared at him, his face twisted with hatred. “I will take great
pleasure in destroying you, tar’merin. Your kind has always
sickened me, but I never thought to meet one.”

***

The screen in
the observation room showed Bane and his foe standing a few feet
apart, the zoom lens allowing a close up view of them. Nikira
wished she could hear what they were saying, but there were no
external microphones. When the dra’voren jumped back, looking
surprised, she glanced at Drevarin, who nodded and smiled.

“
He has just discovered what Bane is.”

“
You can hear what they’re saying?”

“
No, but I can guess.”

Nikira gazed
at the screen as the fiends vanished, and then her heart leapt into
her throat when Bane lunged at the dra’voren and grabbed his arms.
A silver spike shot out of the dra’voren’s chest, which Bane evaded
with his split-second reflexive recoil.

“
Bloody hell!” Montar shouted, and Nikira swung around. On the
scanner screen, Bane’s form had turned pitch black, and a column of
darkness poured into the ground beneath him. She turned back to the
screen as the dra’voren’s droge form shrank and smeared under the
force of Bane’s Gather. Another silver spike shot out of the
dra’voren’s belly, then he seemed to slow while Bane tried to avoid
the weapon, which pierced his side. A third spike lanced towards
his gut, and he leapt back, releasing the dra’voren. Nikira chewed
her lip as Bane retreated, clasping his side. When he lifted his
hand, it was red with blood.

“
He’s already wounded.”

Drevarin
nodded. “The dark god is cunning, probably many thousands of years
old.”

A sword
appeared in Bane’s hands as he charged the dra’voren, but he
rebounded off a black shield that shot up in his path and staggered
back. Nikira glanced at Drevarin, her eyes filled with anguish.

“
How can he hope to defeat that monster? He’s only flesh and
blood! Is this what you saved him for? One battle that he’ll die
trying to win?”

Drevarin’s
brows rose at her tone. “Certainly not. By his own account he has
already defeated three dark gods.”

“
How? He’s not even using his power.”

“
He cannot use it against one of his own kind, to do so would
be sheer folly. Watch, and you will see.”

Nikira turned
back to the screen, where Bane appeared to taunt the dra’voren, his
arms spread in an invitation to strike. A double-headed battle axe
appeared in the dra’voren’s hands, and he rushed at Bane, the
weapon raised. Bane stepped aside at the last instant and plunged
his sword into the dra’voren’s side, then sliced through him with a
vicious jerk. The dra’voren’s droge form parted, revealing the
darkness within. He whipped around and swung the axe at Bane’s
neck.

The Demon Lord
plunged his sword into the dra’voren’s chest and released the hilt,
his hands flashing up to grip the dark god’s wrists. Once more
black fire burst from Bane, pouring into the ground in a river of
darkness. The dra’voren flung himself backwards, and the flow of
dark power from Bane slowed as his foe fought the Gather. Another
metal spike shot out of the dra’voren’s belly, forcing Bane to
release him and leap back.

Bane gestured,
and a huge mound of rocks appeared from nowhere and buried the
dra’voren. Before Nikira had time to register it, the dark god
crawled from the settling pile of boulders, minus his axe and
Bane’s sword. Four earth demons armed with twisted metal spears
shot up behind Bane, making Nikira yelp in alarm. He spun, and a
swathe of black fire exploded from his hands, reducing the fiends
to piles of scattered soil and bubbling lava.

Nikira’s eyes
widened, Montar cursed, and the rest of the crew gaped at the
screen. The lift doors slid open to admit Sarrin’s group,
accompanied by a sheepish looking guard. Nikira looked around with
a frown, and the soldier saluted.

“
They demanded to be brought to you, Commander. Standing orders
are that they get what they want.”

Nikira nodded
and turned back to the screen, where Bane had taken hold of the
dra’voren again. Black fire poured from him, making the ground
beneath him glow, then the dra’voren broke free once more. The
little group gazed at the screen, and Ethra gave a strangled cry of
anguish. Sarrin put her arm around the girl, while the guard stared
at the embattled gods, spellbound. Mirra’s eyes shone with pride
and sorrow. Mithran placed a comforting hand on her shoulder,
watching Bane with intense sadness mingled with amazed admiration.
Grem stood behind them, fingering the hilt of his sword, his
expression a mixture of pride and admiration.

“
Montar, send this vidfeed to every comscreen on the ship, I
want everyone to see this,” Nikira ordered.

The obstech
touched his panel, never taking his eyes from the main screen. Bane
summoned another sword and attacked the dra’voren with sweeping
strokes. The dark god retreated, deflecting Bane’s blows with
another huge axe.

“
By the light,” Sarrin murmured. “That is the monster who slew
Armorgan.”

Drevarin
glanced at her. “It may only be one of the same kind.”

“
Forgive me, Lord, it is him. The same clothes, the same face.
That is Torvaran, the Destroyer.”

“
I have heard of him. He has a key that opens many gates, and
he has slain numerous light gods. He is said to be
powerful.”

Artan’s eyes
glittered, and his hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. “Let me
out of this ship, and I will aid in his destruction.”

Drevarin
smiled. “I applaud your courage, but you would not last two seconds
out there.”

“
Why doesn’t he lure him into our trap?” Nikira asked. “It
would be over in moments.”

“
Because Bane wants to destroy him.”

Nikira sank
down on a chair as Torvaran raised his axe, then slowed as if
trapped in treacle. Bane lunged at him and sliced through his droge
form three times before the dra’voren broke free of whatever was
slowing him and brought his axe down in a glittering arc. Bane
skipped aside, half floating over the ground, dark fire supporting
him in a column of shadow that made his cloak flare and swirl.

Nikira glanced
at Drevarin. “Why did the dra’voren slow down like that?”

“
Bane slowed time.”

“
Bloody hell,” Montar swore, earning a hard look from Nikira.
“Sorry, Commander, but you’ve got to admit, that’s bloody
amazing.”