"Where are you?" the Dain said, coughing and spluttering as he rose once more to his feet.
He took his war hammer in his hands and swung it in the air, first hitting left, and then right. Barden's third blow jarred his arms to the bone as he hit something hard.
In front of him a shadow flickered as drops of water fell down from the shape of a man. "Now I have you," the Dain snarled.
He swung his hammer in quick, successive blows, trading strength for speed. There was some… force… that blocked his strokes, but each time the figure's skin sizzled and Barden could see runes outlined, allowing the Akari to see more of his opponent. He could feel his hammer starting to have an effect, and finally he heard a cry of pain when he swung with all his strength at his opponent's chest.
As the air shimmered and the form of a man materialised, Dain Barden saw that whatever his opponent's powers were, the man was young, with red hair dripping wet to his shoulders and a bare chest covered with fading runes. The young man punched at him again, but the Dain was a skilled warrior and he blocked easily. He raised his hammer to strike at the young man's face.
"The portal! No!" Evrin suddenly cried in anguish.
Barden and his opponent both turned to the relic. The Dain couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Primate Melovar Aspen had dragged his broken body into the pool. There was something in the strange power the Primate possessed that allowed him to survive the touch of the essence for the time it took for him to cross the pool and drag himself onto the raised platform.
When the Primate reached the last seal and struck it away, Barden heard a spluttering chuckle come from the Primate's lips.
And even as the Primate's face contorted from the terrible agony of the essence, there was an expression of triumph on his face.
69
SURELY no one could stand such pain? Then Killian thought of the Primate's elixir. Would it keep Melovar Aspen alive?
Killian shifted his gaze and saw that the Dain's mouth was open, their battle forgotten.
What would happen now that the last seal had been struck away?
The Primate's eyes opened wide as he looked at something past Killian and then the screams of Melovar Aspen were forever silenced. An arrow fletched with green feathers suddenly sprouted from the Primate's throat. It was swiftly followed by another that plunged into the Primate's eye, and a third appeared in the centre of Melovar Aspen's mouth.
The Primate fell back down into the pool of essence. His screams were terrible as his insides were liquefied, even as the elixir tried to heal him. The Primate's skin hissed and bubbled as if acid was fighting to escape the confines of his veins, and then his skin began to fall off his body in pieces that were quickly devoured by the essence. He tried to push with his arms, to keep his head above the surface, but then the Primate's left arm fell from his body. The Primate opened his mouth and a stream of red and yellow fluid gushed forth as the pressure inside his body forced what had been his organs out. The screams turned to horrible gurgling moans.
His death was terrible, yet Killian couldn't help but think that this was a fitting end for the ruler of the Assembly of Templars, to be killed by essence.
The Primate's body sank under the surface of the pool, hissing and steaming, bubbling as it broke into little pieces, until it was as if Melovar Aspen had never been.
Killian turned. A dark-haired man in the green silk of a bladesinger stood by the edge of the pool. He carried a bent piece of wood in his hands, shining with activated runes, the string still thrumming from the release of the last arrow. He had angular features and the white line of a scar rose from his jaw line to his left eye. He was perhaps the same age as Killian and a cord tied his long hair back from his face.
Instantly, Killian knew this was Ella's brother. Their hair was different but the features were the same. Ella's description hadn't done her brother justice. It was written in the lines of his face: this was a warrior who would fight to his last breath in the pursuit of his ends. Killian doubted even the powerful Dain of the Akari would be a match for Ella's brother, Miro.
Miro fitted another arrow and then turned, holding both Killian and the Dain in sight. "No one is to move," the bladesinger said, his voice firm, and Killian knew he meant it. "I don't miss."
"The seals!" Evrin's cry brought Killian's attention back to what the Primate had done. "The beacon!"
The last seal was gone; the Primate had struck it away, and now the three seals lay on the stone just below the tall oval mirror. The way was open. The beacon would call.
The sound came all at once.
Dain Barden dropped his hammer and put his hands to his ears, his face twisted at the deafening note that resounded through the chamber.