33 - FAILURE

Overwhelming terror strangled me.

The Autarch fell, the air burning around him, trailing smoke, Sunlight in his right hand. The sword that had ruined empires, that had ended more bloodlines than could be counted.

I would soon join the list of its victims.

I turned back to the Tower. Justinia was pulling at my arm; I stumbled on, one step at a time, leaking blood, both hands pressed to my gut, attempting to stop the bleeding as best I could. Pointless, of course. Entirely pointless. But animalistic fear drove me on.

Don’t let him catch you, my mind whispered to me. Anything is better than that. Any death. The things he’ll do to you…

“Stop,” a voice boomed behind us. It was like a thunderclap. Like a physical blow. I faltered, nearly tripped and fell. Justinia pulled me onwards, and for once, even she looked afraid.

“Stop.” That voice again. My cloak fluttered around me. Bodies stirred. I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder.

Half a dozen Thorns had fallen too far behind. Now, desperate, enraged, they charged the Autarch.

And I watched Marak butcher them.

He moved like lightning, every blow, every action, containing the force of a god and the weight of a mountain. He smashed through all six grown men in less than two seconds. Their ruined bodies were blasted apart in pieces. Blood filled the air in a red mist that drifted slowly, almost beautifully, coating the Autarch’s golden armor in a fine, glistening sheen.

I knew the true nature of gods; I knew that there was really no such thing. It was just a word.

But in that moment, I almost believed.

All of the Thorns, Felice and Gavriel included, were now in the Sanguine Tower. With luck, Camillan was already forcing those within to activate the portal. It would not take them long to simply step through—then they would be on the other side of the Autarchy. Safe. For the moment. I only hoped that Akios continued to cooperate. I hoped that, seeing I was behind, they would not wait.

Only Justinia and I were outside of the Tower.

Justinia wasn’t going to leave me behind, I could tell.

She would rather die with me than break her vow to the order.

“Surrender to me,” The Autarch’s voice rumbled. My heart spasmed in my chest as though on the verge of exploding. Sweat poured down my face. I was exhausted. Dying. Losing consciousness. But I still had a little bit left inside me.

And all around, the glowing souls of the dead.

I called them to me. I sucked them up one at a time. Streams of opal energy touched my aura, crackled, and were absorbed a moment later. Names slid into my mind, a litany of the fallen. Power seeped into my muscles. My bones. My ruptured organs. I let out a little gasp. It felt good, even now, with the world fading around me.

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I extended both hands, twitching my fingers.

One last thing.

Four dead Terarch Guards exploded as their skeletons surged upward, forcing their way out of their bodies in a shower of gore. The skeletons stood there for a moment, as though vaguely confused, white bones dripping with red, intestines still tangled around their ribs.

They ran at Justinia.

Justinia saw them coming. Her eyes narrowed. She prepared to spring into action.

I commanded the shadows at her feet to wrap around her ankles and pull her to the ground.

She cried out as she fell. Was that betrayal in her voice? Surely she knew I was doing this. And perhaps she already guessed at my intention.

“Don’t do this!” She roared.

So stubborn right to the very end. I loved her, truly, like the sister I never had. My father could not have picked a better defender. But in the end, it was I who had failed her, not the other way around. I hoped that she would know that. I hoped that she could live with herself.

The four skeletons crowded around her and hauled her to her feet.

They dragged her toward the Sanguine Tower.

I turned to face the Autarch.

Only twenty feet or so from me now. Strolling almost casually. His eyes flicked past my shoulder toward Justinia. A ball of white fire appeared in his left hand, and, so easily, he threw it at Justinia’s back.

Another dead Guard convulsed. Their bones flew up into the air, a gleaming, white shield, and intercepted the ball of fire; the bones exploded, shards peppering my back, cutting at my face.

The Autarch paused. He regarded me coldly. He had green eyes, bright and vivid. I was bad at reading people at the best of times, but I thought I saw, then, in those blazing emeralds, something like curiosity.

And now that we faced each other, I took a moment to truly see him. He was the tallest man I’d ever seen, at least seven feet high, but part of this height, I thought, was owed to his armor, or to a magical projection. His hair was sleek and black and a little curly; I thought I could see the faintest impression of gray at the temples. He was handsome, but in a bland sort of way, and only if one ignored those eyes. Those eyes that seemed to pin you in place. To chill the blood. What horrors had they seen?

I grinned at the Autarch. Here, my sworn enemy.

In another life, I would’ve confronted him with the power of the god. We would have dueled in the shadow of the tower, one powerful sorcerer against another.

Instead, I was dying.

I sunk down to my knees, head lolling.

I’m sorry, father. I tried. I really did. But the world is too vast, my enemies too powerful. And there is no justice.

I could barely keep my eyes open. I thought I could hear Justinia calling my name—but perhaps that was just the ghost of her voice, carried on a warm, midnight wind.

The Autarch towered over me. I tried to push myself to my feet, only so that I was not kneeling before him. That, I could not tolerate. I wanted to die standing.

His gauntleted left hand touched my chin, tilting my face up to his feet.

He seemed to glow, brighter than the sun, so bright that it hurt my eyes to look at him. I was drowning in his aura. Overwhelmed by the power radiating off of him.

How could I ever have been so foolish to think that I stood a chance against this?

I felt like a child. Like an insect.

Something cold brushed across the surface of my mind. A foreign presence inside my head. Without thinking, I pushed back, fighting it off, driving it away.

The Autarch’s face twitched, the slightest hint of frustration.

I was fading. The world was so dark.

So cold.

A heaviness settled around me, like a weighted cloak had just been placed around my shoulders. I could not resist it.

I toppled backward.

Into utter darkness.