Chapter Twenty-Four

The demon loomed huge before Dryden. It was black and writhed in darkness. Fear filled him as he looked at the thing. Whether it was immortal or not was purely academic in the face of it. The sword pulled him forward. His feet wanted to refuse.

“Dryden!” He heard a voice shout from behind.

Later, after it was done, men spoke in awe of him. They said he went to the thing to save his men. That he went because there was nothing left to do but his duty. They said he was a brave man, a fearless man, a true soldier. Only he knew the truth. The sword propelled him forward against his will. He felt his bowels loosen. There was no time to think. The beast struck like lightning. He leapt aside, barely avoiding it. Somehow he ended up on his feet and again he charged the thing. The rune-etched blade cut into the beast and it howled. The sword glowed red hot in his hand and he yelled in pain. The sword lifted again and came down. The demon screamed again. Dryden hacked and yelled. Suddenly he was crashing into the ground well away from the beast. The air had been driven from his lungs and he felt his old wounds throbbed again in his side where he had broken his ribs before. Through the haze of his pain he heard muskets firing and men yelling. There was another crash. His head began to clear, though he was still dizzy.

He heard a woman shout, “Give me aethium if you want to live, fool!” It was Aisa, he realized, speaking to Mar.

“No,” Dryden croaked, but his voice did not carry. He got to a knee.

The demon tore through another man. Its wings beat the air. More muskets fired. Then he smelled sulphur and rotting flesh. He could not stand. He began to crawl across the ancient stones of the city. The demon went straight for Aisa as she cast her spell. To their credit, her handful of men stepped forward to defend her. They did not flee. They were weaponless and small against the demon and it tossed them aside like ragdolls. Then her spell was done. Shadows flew from the ruins around them, shades of the ancient city came on, nightmares from another age. They came to swarm the demon. He knew not what the spectres did. He did not care to ask. The demon swatted at the incorporeal things uselessly, then roared in anger and took again to the sky. It flew high and out of sight. He did not know if the thing was dead or not, but he was glad when it was gone.

He used the sword to push himself back to his feet, then staggered over to where Aisa and Mar were. Both seemed spent from their sorcery. Chatham was looking on awestruck. Ugruz looked at them with fear.

“I have saved you,” Aisa told Dryden, “Will you let me go when we escape this place?”

Dryden frowned, “Tell me, what was the price you paid when last you left Dau, what was the price of your power?”

Her voice was soft, and he could tell she held back tears, “My child.”

Dryden recoiled in horror.

“He was put in my belly by one of you.”

“Do I know the man?” Dryden said, frowning.

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“Colonel Hood, the man you named friend.”

“No,” Dryden was horrified.

“Will you let me go?” She asked again.

Duty beckoned to him on the left, honour on the right. He remembered the words of his father, “Duty and Honor.” How could he choose one over the other? He felt the dark eyes of his men upon him. Mar, Khathan, Albans, Steele, and the rest, all watched to see what he chose. This was the woman who had killed so many. How many wrongs had been justified by the wrongs done before? There was no right choice to be made. All he could do here was to follow his orders.

“I cannot let you go,” He said with a sigh that said it was final.

She let out a wail, then spoke so all could hear, “Dryden of Vastrum, I curse you. I curse all the Bloody 13th. You will wander until all the east is free of your King and Company. You will know no home. You will find no love. Thus I seal these words with my blood,” Then Aisa turned and leapt out into the emptiness.

Dryden reached his hand out to catch her, but he was too slow. She fell and disappeared into the inky black of the pit.

“Fuck!” Mar shouted as she went, “Bloody fucking fuck!” he cursed repeatedly after she was gone.

Chatham looked down into the pit like he wanted to follow her. Captain Khathan was too quick for him, however, and grabbed him before he could make that choice.

Mar stared out across the chasm, “I know what this is, Dryden, and I think I know what we must do. It is an unhappy thing. You must take my eye.”

Dryden stared at him, “Has everyone gone mad?”

“Not my good eye. The blind one.”

“I will not do this for you,” Dryden said, his voice full of disgust.

“I will do it,” Ugruz answered.

“I will not allow it unless you explain it to me,” Dryden demanded.

“Gods or demons or some greater power watches through me. It is taking me slowly,” He gestured to his face. The indigo scar had grown, “In our escape, I believe I made a bargain of a kind, one I did not know I made. I would have this blind eye cut from me before I am no longer myself. I think we have come into a great war that we do not, and perhaps cannot fully understand. I see the blood of the mountain, of Tizrun, going down into this evil pit. It is a pit that has plagued my dreams since I returned. I do believe I was dead, Dryden, buried in the mountain. I do not have the words to describe what I felt. This will be my sacrifice to the pit,” Mar said grimly.

Dryden was still reeling from Aisa’s death and the curse she had uttered. He had not processed it fully. He heard the words of his friend, though. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he took a deep breath, “Very well. Ugruz, you may proceed.”

The big easterner took a small knife from his belt and stepped forward. He leaned over Mar. Dryden watched, he felt he could not look away. The wizard bit down on a strap of leather. Ugruz scooped out the eye as if he had practised it many times in his life. Mar grunted and bit down hard on the strap in his teeth. He threw the indigo eye into the pit. The whole scar seemed mundane now, and no longer shone with iridescence. They wrapped the wizard’s head with a bandage that went over the socket where his eye had been. Then they rode out of the city. Shadows watched as they went. When they were out of the city the darkness lifted, the sun returned, and they found that it was only late morning. They did not stop to camp near the city. The next day they rode into the outskirts of Unkabi. Seven days to ride to the black city. One day to ride out. It sent a shiver down Dryden’s spine.

Ugruz stopped before they went into the city, “I am not going with you,” He said, then when he saw Dryden’s confused expression he continued, “I am used to fighting men of flesh and blood. Demons, sorcerers, and spirits of the dead are another matter. This is not for me, I think. I am too old for this.”

“Where will you go?”

“Home. Forget what I told you of where it is. Do not look for me, I seek solitude,” Then the big man turned his horse and rode off towards the east across the vast steppes of the Kizil.

“Albans. How many men are left?”

“We’re exactly seventy, officers included, prisoner excepted” The lieutenant answered.

“Very well, find us somewhere to stay. We rest for the night, then we return to General Haddock and tell him the fate of the sorceress.”