Suddenly Zavros felt a pressure on his wrist. Whatever it was, it squeezed, harder and harder, until the razor fell out of his hand, tinkling as it landed on the hard floor. Zavros looked wildly to the left and the right but there was no one to be seen. The force on his wrist increased until with a sickening crunch he felt the bones in his wrist break. The splintering fragments meshed together and Zavros screamed with the pain of it, more excruciating than anything he had ever felt. The pulling and tearing continued, until with one last squeeze Zavros's right wrist was crushed, bones poking through the skin.
The pressure ceased, and Zavros looked at the remains of his wrist in disbelief, the shock so strong he didn't even scream. He tried to see where his assailant was, whatever it was, but there was nothing, even though Zavros had rigged nightlamps throughout the chamber so he could see what he was doing.
As Zavros's breath returned he screamed, waving his arm around. Blood splattered out onto the walls, spilling onto the ground, and dripping onto the wide-eyed boy in the chair. Every sound Zavros made echoed throughout the chamber; he was used to the screams of others, but this was the first time he had heard his own voice bouncing off the walls. The pain was so great that he gasped for breath, and in the sudden silence he heard a male voice speak arcane words.
A form materialised out of the air where before there had been nothing. A bare-chested man, his face as grim as death, now faced Zavros, peering into his eyes. Through his oculars Zavros could see the symbols that covered his assailant's face, neck, arms and chest. Zavros knew they were runes, and even against the pain he wondered what power enabled runes to be drawn on a living man. Was this some form of revenant? Why didn't it have white eyes? This man was clear-eyed and filled with rage. Zavros's assailant was aware in a way that no draug was.
Zavros knew of only one man who could survive the touch of essence. Through the haze of pain, he suddenly recognised his assailant's red hair and blue eyes. "Killian," Zavros whispered.
Killian looked at his hand. "Lok-tur," he said.
The runes on the palm of Killian's hand blazed red, and Zavros felt the heat pouring from it in waves. Killian lifted Zavros's wounded arm and looked at the crushed wrist.
"I can't make this too easy for you," Killian said. "The last time we met, you told me to do my worst. I remember I said I would destroy your library. Unfortunately I can't threaten you with that now. It's already been done."
"No," Zavros said. "You wouldn't. You couldn't."
"Do you really want to test what I'm capable of? The building we're standing in is the last one left in this place, Angelmar, or whatever you call it. I thought this last structure might be some kind of prison. Look what I've found instead. I knew you were evil, but I didn't realise an evil such as yours could exist."
Killian held his burning palm in front of Zavros's face. "So unfortunately I can't destroy your library because it's already gone. The good news, however, is that this time there's no one coming to help you. So there's nothing holding me back from doing my worst, as you boldly requested."
Killian held his palm against Zavros's forehead, ignoring Zavros's screams, searing the flesh with the intense heat. When the oculars fell from Zavros's face. Killian stooped and retrieved them, picking up the razor as he did so.
Sweat poured from Zavros's forehead as Killian held the razor out, but Killian simply bent down and cut the bindings holding the boy to his chair.
"Go, lad," Killian said. "You don't want to see this."
The wide-eyed youth shakily got up from his chair and stumbled away.
Killian placed the oculars back onto Zavros's eyes.
"It's time for me to do my worst."
~
ELLA saw Killian come out of the white building with the thick walls and called out to him. When she saw his face she almost recoiled — his eyes were murderous — but then she realised she probably looked little better. The things she had seen here at Angelmar would haunt her nightmares for years to come.
"Anything still standing?" Killian asked when he saw her.
"All gone," Ella said. "The prisoners did most of it." She looked out at the smoking ruins and torn fences, at the scene of terrible destruction left behind. "Zavros?"
"I found him," Killian said. "The Primate is definitely in Seranthia. We don't know where Evrin is, so finding the Primate is our next best bet."
"I thought you said he'd never talk."
"He talked."
54
A SINGLE flake of snow floated through the sky, twisting first one way then another in the unpredictable gusts of wind that blew in from the ocean nearby.
High in the clouds, the snowflake hovered over the immense city below, careless and unrecognising of the fear pouring from the city's residents. A puff of wind coming from the harbour pushed the snowflake away from the city, past the endless walls and further inland, where the object of the residents' fear straddled the hills around the city.