Raging Sea and Trembling Earth: Disciples of the Horned One Volume Two (Soul Force Saga Book 2) (33 page)

BOOK: Raging Sea and Trembling Earth: Disciples of the Horned One Volume Two (Soul Force Saga Book 2)
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Chapter 51

D
amien didn’t know
if darkness could be angry, but if it could the roiling energy trying to smash its way through his barrier felt angry. A strong sense of hate permeated the miasma. Imogen held tight to him, her eyes squeezed shut. Out of the corner of his eye he caught glimpses of spectral skulls swirling through the darkness. His shield was down to half strength and the darkness showed no sign of dissipating.

He redirected all his energy to maintaining the barrier which strengthened it considerably. Imogen whimpered and Damien stroked her hair. He’d never seen the normally unshakable woman so out of sorts. It had to be an effect of the darkness trap. It made his knees weak and stomach roil, but his emotions stayed steady. Just as well; if he lost focus they were both dead.

Gradually the pressure on his barrier weakened. A minute later the melted remains of the stone shelves grew visible in the light of his shield.

Imogen looked at him. “Is it over?”

“Getting there. We’d best wait another minute before leaving the barrier. You okay?”

She looked away. “Fine. I just got a little overwhelmed for a while. You saved my life, again.”

“You’re not going to yell at me, are you?”

“No. Thanks for coming after me. It was stupid coming in here on my own. I just felt so angry and I wanted revenge so bad. Or maybe I hoped Connor would kill me and end the pain.”

“Don’t say that. Once you’re dead there’s no way things can improve. As long as you’re alive there’s always the hope that when you wake up the next day will be better. We’re teammates now. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Imogen broke down in tears and he held her. She must not have given herself a chance to grieve after Alden’s death, running on rage and hate. It looked like she’d hit her limit. Of all the terrible times for her to have a breakdown, she couldn’t have picked a worse one than this. He almost would have preferred an angry Imogen, at least until they retuned to the castle. After that she could cry on his shoulder as long as she needed to.

When Imogen calmed down she looked back to him and their gazes locked. Before he knew it she kissed him. Not a quick thank you kiss on the cheek either. The kiss matched her personality, rough and aggressive. She ran her hands over his chest. Given their proximity he was going to have a difficult time hiding his reaction.

When she came up for breath the darkness had fully cleared. He gave a full-body shiver. Damn, that was a kiss. With Imogen smiling at him in a way that made his knees weak Damien opened a tiny hole in the barrier. He stuck his finger out, and it didn’t disintegrate or even burn.

“I think we’re good to go.” At least his voice didn’t tremble.

Imogen licked her lips. “What’s the rush?”

Oh, boy. He didn’t want to just reject her, that might send her back into a depression. On the other hand, a corruption-infused cave in the middle of nowhere didn’t make the best trysting spot. Not to mention he was technically engaged, even if it was to someone he didn’t love. If he did anything with Imogen it would be a horrible betrayal to Karrie. They needed to escape and the sooner the better.

And how would he explain this to Karrie? It didn’t seem to argue well for their future that he didn’t feel especially guilty about kissing Imogen. He did worry about upsetting Lizzy even though she’d made it pretty clear that he was free to do whatever he wanted and she wouldn’t hold it against him.

Damien absorbed the energy remaining in the barrier—it wasn’t much—and put some distance between them. The tunnel leading out had melted closed. If they were going to escape it wouldn’t be that way.

“What’s wrong?” Imogen closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t you want to finish what we started?”

She’d completely lost her mind. Must be the stress. He looked around the ruined cave. “This isn’t exactly the place for that sort of thing. The lingering aura of demonic energy kind of kills the mood.”

She kissed the side of his neck. “I think I could revive the mood most anywhere.”

Damien didn’t doubt that for a moment. For a woman that had never given a man a second look, at least that he was aware of, she had a talent for teasing. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to get them out of here.

“What do you say we escape first and when we return home see if we still want to go down this path?”

She stuck out her bottom lip and pouted. Imogen. Pouted. If he lived a thousand years Damien wouldn’t have considered that a remote possibility. “Fine. But we
will
pick up where we left off. I promise.”

He swallowed. The way she said it made it sound more like a threat than a promise. Whatever, he’d deal with it later. Once they were safe and she had a chance to think it over he hoped she’d come to her senses. Well, most of him hoped she’d come to her senses.

“How do you want to get out of here?” she asked.

The pout vanished along with the sultry tone, thank heaven. “I say we just blast our way out. It can’t be more than a hundred yards out of here.”

She stared at him for a moment then shook her head. “You’re serious.”

“Sure. My soul force has mostly recovered. I’ll dig and you stabilize the tunnel.”

“Okay.”

Damien drew power and sent a twisting blast at the wall. His drill cut through the stone easily enough. When the tunnel was ten feet deep Imogen conjured a reinforcing barrier. Damien didn’t know how long it took, but it went faster than digging into the bandit castle in the badlands.

They flew out into the clear blue sky and found the rest of the search parties waiting. The archmage flew down, a fierce scowl twisting her face. “What the hell happened? I thought I said no one goes after him alone.”

Imogen flew in front of him. “It’s my fault. I lost control and went in without thinking. If Damien hadn’t followed the trap inside would have killed me.”

That brought his master up short. “Trap?”

“There was no sign of Connor,” Damien said. “But he left a black gem filled with corrupt energy. It detonated when we got close.”

“How could he have set a trap if he didn’t know we were coming?” The archmage gave voice to Damien’s thoughts.

“Someone must have warned him. Maybe I didn’t bury Mikhail deep enough.”

“It might have been Eleck,” the archmage said.

“I doubt it.” Damien shook his head. He couldn’t imagine Eleck having the nerve to contact Connor after his massive failure.

“Whatever happened we clearly missed him. Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Damien said. Imogen nodded once, her face a blank mask.

In a louder voice the archmage said, “The mission’s a failure. Let’s head home.”

When the archmage turned her back Imogen reached over and stroked Damien’s arm. When he looked toward her she smiled in a way that set his heart racing. It reminded him of Lizzy. Maybe he should have introduced Imogen to the demon spirit instead of the princess. That would have been a night to remember.

Chapter 52


H
ow do
I free you from that mirror?” Connor stood, hands on hips, staring at the spirit. He could have taken the whole mirror with him, but it would be a nuisance plus it appeared to be fused to the stone wall.

The spirit shook its head. “I’m not in the mirror, stupid. The mirror is a viewing gate to hell. You need to fetch the portable gate over there and touch it to this one so I can connect my consciousness to it.”

Connor let the insult pass and looked where the spirit pointed. A hand-sized black mirror rested in one of the sealed alcoves. He took out the key and followed the great king’s instructions to retrieve the mirror.

“All I have to do is touch this one to the big one?”

“Yes, even you should be able to manage that much.”

Connor again let the insult pass. As long as he needed the miserable creature’s aid he had little choice but to accept the abuse it seemed to enjoy heaping on him. When the mirrors touched a little thrill of power shot through his hand. When he took the little mirror away the large one was empty. Connor flipped the hand mirror around and found a tiny version of the spirit leering at him.

“Congratulations,” it said. “You finally did something right. The cave is northeast, in the Barrier Mountains.”

It would take half a day to fly back and Connor was eager to go. He started to secure the mirror in a large inside pocket of his robe.

“Hey! The inside of your robe is less interesting than the vault. Carry me in front of you so I can see where we’re going.”

“Of course.” Connor held the mirror as the spirit wished. He just needed to bear with the obnoxious creature for another day or so. Once it led Connor to the cavern he’d have Mikhail throw the mirror in the nearest river.

Connor flew upstairs where he found Mikhail standing right where he’d left him. “Success, Master?”

“What is this travesty?” the spirit asked. “It looks like a mockery of the master’s famous knights. If King Alexious saw this pathetic figure he’d destroy the poor man out of pity.”

Mikhail growled deep in the back of his throat.

“Don’t mind our guide’s wit, Mikhail. All quiet while I was gone?”

“Yes, Master.” The black knight shot one last glare at the spirit. “Do we depart?”

“Yes.” Connor conjured mounts for them both and they flew out the ceiling, turning northwest as soon as they cleared the roof.

Night had fallen when they reached the Barrier Mountains. They hovered in the sky, Connor scanning the area for any sign the spirit hadn’t led them on a pointless trek.

“Where now?”

A moment of silence then, “A little more north. Look for a short peak flanked by a taller one on either side. They’ll almost look like horns. The cavern is at the foot of the smaller mountain.”

Connor waved Mikhail further into the range then they flew on. In the dark every mountain looked like a horned head. Just when Connor had begun to despair of ever finding it he spotted the small mountain the spirit described.

If his heart still functioned like a normal mortal’s it would have raced. At the foot of the mountain was a wide opening, much like the cave he’d abandoned. Connor took that as a good sign. He landed just outside the opening and let his mount fade.

“This is it,” the spirit said. “Aren’t you glad you relied on me now?”

Connor forbore comment and summoned Mikhail. When his knight arrived they entered the cave. They’d barely taken ten steps when it widened out into a vast, multilevel cavern. Paths had been carved into the stone to allow easy access to all levels even to those who couldn’t fly.

“The crystal chamber is on the top level,” the spirit said.

Not willing to walk, Connor flew up to the highest point in the cavern. There he found a level, open space perhaps thirty yards in diameter, a raised pedestal in the center. He motioned Mikhail to his side and handed him the mirror, no longer caring if he smashed it into a million pieces.

Connor crossed the chamber, pulling the Soul Burn Crystal out of a secure pocket of his robe. The crystal felt even heavier in his hand than when he’d first picked it up. The weight of long expectation perhaps. He set the crystal on the pedestal. A small dent accepted the base of the blue stone like it was made for it, which it probably was.

Now all that remained was the awakening. Connor pulled a knife with a blackened silver blade from a sheath at his belt. The ritual dagger was a relic from the Old Empire. It held no special properties, but Connor decided a special weapon should be used for the final task.

He held his hand over the crystal and dragged the blade across his palm. Thick, reddish-black blood dribbled out and covered the stone. Connor held his breath. It had to work. After all this time, all the setbacks, it had to work.

The crystal began to glow and slowly the blood sank into the surface. A moment later the crystal expanded, forming a blue sheath around the pedestal.

It didn’t stop there. Faster than it had any right to the crystal spread, covering the floor and continuing over each level of the cavern. In less than an hour a thick layer of blue crystal had coated every inch of stone. Directly above the pedestal a black disk appeared, identical to the one he’d opened in Valcane, only ten times larger. A great, devouring maw ready to consume everything.

Connor just needed something to feed it.

Author Notes

A
nd so we
reach the end of Volume Two. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’d like to get a free story telling more about how Lizzy went from flesh and blood demon to sword spirit please
sign up for my newslette
r. I promise no spam, I hate it too. Just a monthly newsletter and, if anything interesting, like a new release, happens between letters I’ll let you know. I end this note by thanking you very much for reading my story and with the hope that you’ll join me for Volume Three.

Also by James E Wisher

O
ther Books
in the Disciples of the Horned One Trilogy:

Darkness Rising

Harvest of Souls

A complete list of my books can be found at

www.jamesewisher.com

About the Author

J
ames E. Wisher
is a writer of science fiction and fantasy novels. He’s been writing since high school and reading everything he could get his hands on for as long as he can remember. This is his eighth novel.

BOOK: Raging Sea and Trembling Earth: Disciples of the Horned One Volume Two (Soul Force Saga Book 2)
6.47Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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