The Archmage Unbound (58 page)

Our hands entwined for a moment and I felt the
immensity of Celior’s unwitting strength, but I didn’t care. Clenching my hand
into a fist the shining god’s bones broke, snapping like dry twigs under my
fingers. Staring into the brilliant blue eyes of the god I spoke, “You will never
touch her.”

Celior screamed and drew back as I released his hand
but he recovered his composure within seconds. “I am done playing with you
wizard,” and so saying he held up his hand, flexing it, as if to demonstrate
that it had already healed.

Raising my staff I created a new shield around the
two of us. Using my newfound strength I imbued it with so much power that blue
sparks sizzled and spat around the edges. My instincts were screaming at me to
find some way to get Penny and our unborn child away, but I knew there was no
escaping the monstrous deity that stood before us.

Luminescent tendrils of power were beginning to test
the boundaries of my new shield but I ignored them and looked back, into
Penny’s dark brown eyes. There were dark circles under them and her body had
swelled even more with her pregnancy but gazing at her all I could see was the
girl that had run with me through the open fields of our childhood summers.
The word love simply wasn’t enough to describe what she meant to me. Gazing
into those eyes I saw my future, and the proof of it was growing in her belly.
I wanted nothing more than to hold her and forget the nightmare around us.

I opened my mouth and said, “You are such an
asshole.”

Her expression faltered, “What?”

“Was that really the best message you could leave
me? I thought you were dead!” I said angrily.

Disbelief marched across her face, “I couldn’t say
more! I didn’t know what might affect your fate.”

“Fuck fate! Fate is a goddamned whore! She changes
her mind more frequently than that fickle bitch Lady Luck! Next time you tell
me the truth and consequences be damned!” I shouted.

Penelope’s face twisted into an expression that was
a mixture of irony, humor and worry. “There may not be a next time, this was
as far as my vision got; the rest is up to you.”

Now it was my turn to be incredulous. All the
suffering and fear I had been through, and this was the extent of her vision?
“If we make it home alive we are going to have a serious talk,” I said and
turned my attention back to the angry god.

In the short time I had ignored him Celior had
changed. He had grown several feet in height and golden mists wreathed the
ground about his feet. His overall luminosity had increased as well, making it
almost painful to look at him.
This isn’t looking good,
I thought to
myself.

Across the room, Cyhan was kneeling over Rose and from
his awkward motions I could tell he was having difficulty moving. Celior’s
presence was like an iron weight and without powerful protection I doubted any
normal human could move. Reaching down Cyhan pulled the necklace from around
Rose’s limp form and settled it over his own head. His movements became
considerably quicker after that.
Is he just seeking to escape?
I
wondered. Dorian couldn’t possibly have appeared with his arms and armor by
chance. “Take them and get out!” I yelled at him as loudly as I could,
gesturing at Rose and then Elaine. I would have liked Dorian safe as well, but
there was no way Cyhan could have carried them all and at least Dorian was
armored.

Celior smiled chillingly, “Save your breath mortal.
I will only hunt them down once I am finished with you.” Reaching out, his
hand pressed against my shield causing brilliant sparks to fly. “Your shield
has improved. I might have to exert myself slightly to break something like
that,” mused the shining deity, “though I know an easier way.”

I hardly liked the sound of that. Glancing backward
I noticed one of the giant stones from the ceiling lay beside Penny and me,
forming a natural barrier. “Get behind the stone Penny,” I ordered quietly.
Turning back to Celior I tried to buy some time. “I’m done listening to your
pathetic childish threats,” I said loudly.

The god laughed, “One small taste of the earth and
you think you have a chance, I begin to doubt your intelligence Mordecai.”

For a moment I doubted my resolve. Obviously
bear-baiting an angry god wasn’t among the smartest things I had ever decided
to do.
Stupid never dies,
I thought inwardly, and then I replied,
“Intelligence is overrated. I don’t need wits to see that you are nothing,
despite your power. You are a parasite, a plague upon humanity, a figment of
some man’s demented dream, drawing your sustenance from the hearts and souls of
those who mistakenly worship you.”

As I spoke Celior’s face went from amused to
thunderous and I put even more power into my shield. Whatever was coming would
be bad. “I will show you the folly of your fool’s tongue,” the god replied and
then I discovered my error.

A flash of light illuminated the room and for a
split second it was as though the sun had touched the earth. It centered upon
Celior and so intense were those rays that everything they touched burned and
turned instantly to ash. The cloth furnishings in the room burned so rapidly
they didn’t even have time to catch fire. Even the very stones smoked where
that awful light played across them. My shield, on the other hand, was
transparent, for light had never been a danger.

Staring up at Celior my skin and clothing crisped
and vanished almost instantly from the half of my body facing him. My eyes
shriveled and burned so quickly it was a mercy to no longer have to see the
light. A scream rose in my throat but failed to escape for the pain had taken
my breath away. As quickly as the light had appeared it vanished.

In its wake I was left a smoking ruin. The outer
layer of clothing, skin and fat on the side of my body that faced the shining
god was gone. If it hadn’t been for the cauterization that occurred
simultaneously I might have bled to death, but instead I was left in a horror
of agony and pain. Collapsing to the ground I knew I was dying already, but it
might take hours unless Celior decided to hurry it along.

“Mort? What was that flash? I can’t see
anything!” That was Penny’s voice. Though my eyes were gone I could still see
her with my magesight, shielded by the lee of the stone. “Are you alright?”
she asked.

Oddly enough the pain faded.
Most of the nerve
endings are gone,
I mused. “It’s alright,” I tried to answer her but
though my voice worked my ruined lips made the words sound almost foreign.

“Now you more closely resembled the blind worm you
truly are,” said Celior mockingly, “when your whore’s sight returns she may
thank me for improving your appearance.”

Anger was all I had left to drive me, that and a
stubborn desire to somehow save my wife and child. The drumbeat of the earth
quickened in response and I sought refuge in its rhythm and solace in its
rage. “I don’t need eyes to see your ugliness Celior,” I answered and then I
began to stand once more.

Something struck the back of my head like the blow
of a forge hammer, sending me back down against the stone floor.
Moira,
help me!
I cried mentally. Somehow I began rising to my feet again, though
another hammer blow sent me reeling to one side. Celior was battering me with
his fists now.

I can do nothing against the might of a
god Mordecai,
came Moira’s words in my mind.

Another strike sent me flying across the room to
strike the wall, and yet again I started to rise up.
Not me! Hide Penny.
Take her away, through the stones if you must. Save her!
My attention was
fully engaged by Celior’s fists then.

Though his blows struck ever harder they seemed to
hurt less. I was larger now, though Celior had kept pace with my growth. At a
guess we both towered a full twenty feet above the floor now.

“You should stay down,” Celior’s voice told me.
“You only delay the inevitable.”

His next blow swung toward my head but I was ready
for him and this time I brought up my own arm to block it. Before he recovered
I drove my other fist into his stomach. Without realizing it my hands had
grown massive stony spikes and they pierced the shining god’s belly, spilling
blood that looked like liquid gold upon the ground. “I am so tired of hearing
that,” I replied in a voice that was reminiscent of the grating of two massive
stones. “You’d think you would find some original threats during your eons of
immortality.”

Celior stumbled back and then tried to
counterattack. Ignoring his strikes I grabbed his head as he leaned in and
jerking it downward I brought my massive stony knee up to meet it. With a
crack like the sound of thunder I felt the bones in the shining god’s face
break. Drawing his head back I repeated the motion, pulverizing what was left
of Celior’s beautiful face. Then I reached down and grasped the limp god by
the legs and swung him bodily into the wall.

Unfortunately I lost my grip on him at that point
and he flew from my grasp. Despite the grievous injuries he recovered faster
than I could reach him and leaping upward fiery wings sprung from his back.
Several desperate wing beats sent him soaring above my head and through the
ruined ceiling of the palace.
That was not in the damn rulebook!
I
thought, cursing him mentally.

Taking advantage of my brief respite I scanned the
area for my friends. Only Dorian was near, still lying unconscious in the
stone rubble of one wall. Cyhan was almost out of the palace now, carrying
Rose over one shoulder and Elaine over the other. Of Penny I could find no
trace and I took that as a good sign.

I decided to get some fresh air. Raising my fist I
demolished one wall and pushed my way through the rubble until I stood in one
of the palace’s inner courtyards. Given the relative size of the dollhouse I
was destroying I must have stood over forty feet tall at that point. As soon
as I emerged from the fallen stone and timbers I discovered what Celior had
been up to. A searing beam of pure sunlight bore down on me, burning into my
stone skin.

Above me the god flew on his flaming wings, like
some grotesque parody of a phoenix. He kept the light focused upon me and
parts of my body began sloughing away like bubbling magma. Even in my rocky
form I began to experience a sensation that my human self might have labeled
pain and I tried to shield myself with my arms to no avail.

Drawing upon my magic I sent a bolt of pure force at
my antagonist but the distance and his maneuverability made it impossible to
hit him. “Fool!” Celior screamed down at me. “Your power cannot last, but
mine is eternal.”

I was beginning to think he might have a point. As
his assault continued it was becoming more and more difficult to reconstruct my
body and even my thoughts were growing sluggish. The more power I drew from
the earth the less I cared. I was beginning to forget myself.
If I could
just get my hands on that glowing bastard,
I thought desperately.

A shadow crossed the sun and in the distance I saw
something impossible. It was too far for my magesight, but my stony eyes could
see what appeared to be a huge bird diving from the sky, down toward Celior.
Apparently the god sensed something as well, for he broke off his laughter and
glanced up and behind himself in alarm. His measured wing beats became frantic
strokes as he tried to gain speed and altitude, but it was far too late. The
bird… no it was a dragon, had far too much speed already from its dive.

It struck him with such force that they both
plummeted from the sky and Celior was driven into the street beside the
palace. The ground shook and the dragon tore at the god’s body, ripping into
his belly. For a moment I was still, staring on in complete shock.
Could
that be Gareth Gaelyn?
According to the story Moira had told me dragons
were the stuff of myth and fairy tale. The only one that had ever existed was
the result of an archmage gone mad and that was over a thousand years ago. He
had also slaughtered his own people.

The dragon was at least a hundred feet in length
from nose to tail and armored in glistening grey-black scales. His body was
sleek and streamlined yet as he moved I could see powerful muscles rippling
under his skin. The dragon’s wings were folded tightly against his body now
that he was down on the ground, but they had been vast when they were unfurled
a moment before. He held Celior with his jaws and two powerful forelimbs while
his rear legs clawed and tore at the shining god.

Not knowing what else to do I started running to
reach them, at least I tried to run. I quickly discovered that my size
prohibited such activities and I was forced to proceed at a hurried lumbering
gait. I still covered much more ground than I could have in my normal human
form.

Even as I neared them Celior recovered his balance
and twisted free of the dragon’s grip. Rolling the two of them fought on the
ground like two drunken brawlers.
If drunks had scales, wings, and glowed…
I thought. Celior had the advantage now, using the weight of his body to press
the dragon into the crater they had formed while his hands attempted to rip the
beast’s head from its neck. The deity’s wounds had already vanished and his
beauty was horrible to watch as he began to exert himself, pulling the dragon’s
head inexorably upward.