The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Twenty-Six





Kaden, Inga, and Lorcan made it back to the city to find the Erellens, Anwyns, and Humans fighting amongst themselves. The Sphere had fulfilled its purpose, and from what Kaden could tell it wasn’t finished. The Stühoc army stood back in awe of the scene before them. They weren’t fighting because their enemy’s own troops were doing it for them. The new Soldiers of the Dead had rendered their presence nearly unnecessary.

In the distance Kaden could see Robin leading the Humans, but they fought mostly against their own undead soldiers. Jiaros and his generals led the Erellens, but it seemed to be the same story. The Anwyns, too, fought hard against their own combatants. Blood mixed with sweat and tears as the warriors killed their friends and family members, knowing that their loved ones were already gone. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch. Kaden felt sick at the thought of making the choice to fight companions to the death in these dire circumstances. Their struggle with the current batch of Soldiers of the Dead would soon be finished, however, and they would be able to push forward, unless more of the undead were created using the Sphere.

Kaden wasn’t going to stand for that.

Resting behind a boulder, he looked at Lorcan and Inga.

“Looks like Alric and the others failed to stop the weapon,” Kaden said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get up there.”

“If I can get a sarian, I can make us invisible and get up to the top of the Pyramid,” Inga told them.

“You have enough strength for that?” Lorcan asked. “You’ve used a lot of your magic already.”

“I can handle it,” she said. “But we have to get to a sarian first.”

“I can’t tell from here,” Kaden said, “but it could be well-guarded up there.”

“We’ll see when we get there,” she answered back.

Kaden knew it would take a lot of effort to even get close to the Pyramid, but they had to try. He led them forward, through the crowd of Human soldiers, doing his best to move them away from any of the Soldiers of the Dead.

The Sphere atop the Pyramid was swelling and he could tell that another burst would shoot out at any moment. The troops wouldn’t be able to take much more. Another blast, maybe two, and the leaders would call for their soldiers to retreat.

The three ran together as fast as they could through the mess. Inga shot magical bursts of fire in every direction, and at one point, conjured a green shield around each of them.

Lorcan dealt a bit of his own magic, but mostly relied on a sword.

Kaden alternated between his sword and his bow and arrows to stave off the enemies.

He knew they were running out of time. Each second that passed brought them one second closer to possibly becoming a Solider of the Dead.

He hurried them forward. They actually found that the least amount of action happened at the base of the Pyramid. Many of the soldiers had tried to get away from the Sphere’s energy because their natural instinct was to flee as far from it as possible. But there were plenty of dead bodies and injured combatants to show that there had been conflict here earlier.

They found the group of sarians at the base – two of them dead, two of them injured, and three of them standing tall.

Kaden noticed Cole, Fury, and Skarret were the three uninjured. He didn’t see Julian’s sarian among them at all.

Daewyn sat at the base of the Pyramid with an obvious broken leg. Dink sat next to him, keeping pressure on a deep shoulder wound. With his good arm, he pointed to his left, and they could see Emma over another body, doing everything she could to save the person.

Nalani.

The three rushed to her side. She was barely conscious. An arrow stuck out of her chest, and looked like it should have killed her.

“How long has she been here?” Kaden asked.

“Just a few minutes,” Emma told them. “I think the arrow missed her heart, otherwise she’d be dead by now. But I’m afraid to take it out.”

Kaden bent down beside her and placed a calming hand on her forehead.

“Nalani, you’re going to be alright,” Kaden said.

She bit her lip and nodded. Her eyes darted to the top of the Pyramid. “They’re still up there.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Who?”

“Alric and Coffman. They need help.”

Kaden turned to Lorcan and Inga and nodded. This was it. They raced over to the three remaining sarians and mounted them.

“What are you doing?” Dink said. “The Sphere’s about to go off again!”

“That’s exactly why we’re going up there!”

With that, they took off.

*****

Inga did all she could to make it to the top as quickly as possible and the others followed right behind her.

When she made it above the platform, she almost couldn’t believe what she saw. Darius lay on the ground, dead. Coffman and Alric might have been dead too – she couldn’t tell.

Then there was Marcus. The Sphere was ready to blast, and she knew there wasn’t time to go after him before it took the lives of more soldiers.

Kaden and Lorcan were right behind her. There was no time. Before the Sphere exploded, all she could think to do was throw up a green shield of energy around them.

She had no idea if it would work. She had no idea if it actually did work. All she knew was that everything had gone black, and she was falling.

*****

Silas followed his father through the dark caves of the Reemlock Mountains.

Will held up a finger to tell him to stay quiet. “We’re not far now. Just another minute or so.”

The path wound through another set of corridors and cave walls until Silas wasn’t sure he would ever be able to find his way out again. But then, of course, he assumed he would not survive anyway.

“I want to know something,” Silas said.

“Yes?”

“Why did you tell me in my dream that destroying the Red Gate would kill me?”

“Because it will,” he answered.

“But, how do you know this for sure?”

“You hear a lot of things when you’re imprisoned in Mudavé,” Will said.

“What, some guard just said that to you or something? I find that hard to believe.”

Will turned on him sharply and grabbed his arm. “Why don’t you go and try it then?” he nearly yelled. “See if it kills you.”

Silas pulled his arm away from the strong grip, surprised at Will’s sudden burst of anger. “I plan on it. Forgive me if I’m curious as to why something would kill me.”

“Don’t you feel it, Silas? In your bones, in the magic?”

Silas knew exactly what he was talking about, but he wasn’t going to say it outright.

Will continued. “When you destroyed the Blue Gate, what happened to you?”

“I blacked out.”

“How long?”

“Two days.”

“What about the Green Gate?”

“I blacked out for three days.”

“And have you felt yourself weaken?” Will asked him. “Have you been able to use your magic as effectively?”

“No.”

“Your magic is tied to the medallions, right?”

“I guess so.”

“You’re destroying the medallions. You’re destroying whatever life you have in you right now.”

Of course Silas had suspected this. He knew that his power came from the medallions and he knew that when each one was destroyed he felt tired and weak.

Silas wished that it wasn’t true.

“I know you find it difficult to believe me,” Will said. “I just wanted you to know what you’re getting yourself into before you do it.”

“I never went into this thinking I was invincible.”

“That’s very wise of you.”

Silas didn’t like his father’s darkened tone. Didn’t fathers want to keep their sons from harm? Shouldn’t Will be urging Silas to stay away from the Red Gate?”

But this man was his father. He had to be. Kaden’s own memories had confirmed this.

Will silently led him further until they came to a door that seemed very out of place to Silas. It was a plain wooden door seemingly embedded in the cave. Before opening the door, Will looked back at Silas.

“Are you ready? He’s just on the other side.”

The revelation came so abruptly. There truly was no preparing for such a fight, and though Silas would have preferred another night’s sleep to gain some of his power back, there was obviously no time for that.

He looked into Will’s eyes deeply, wishing he had more time to explore his mind further. What would Silas find? Would he find pure intentions? Did Will want Silas to defeat Anithistor? Silas had trusted his dreams without considering the fact that he could have been set up by the enemy.

Silas nodded at Will for him to open the door, and his father complied. With a loud creak the door swung inward. Silas half expected to be blasted with some sort of powerful magic, but instead found a massive cavern, dark and foreboding.

It was a grand cave as wide and tall as a stadium. Only a faint light poked through the top from the outside world. This was it. Silas had felt the gate pulling him to this point. But before he could destroy the gate, he had to find his adversary. Though Silas had the medallion, he was not the Red Gate’s keeper. That title belonged to Anithistor.

Before stepping forward, Silas took another look back at Will. The man had his eyes closed, and looked almost like he was praying.

“Father?”

Will shook his head, but didn’t open his eyes. “I have a bad headache,” he said. “I’m just going to stand here in the shadows.”

Silas found this curious, but didn’t pursue the matter. “It’s probably for the best that you leave. It will be too dangerous for you here.”

Will shook his head again, leaving his eyes shut tight. “Let me stay here in the shadows.”

Silas nodded, though the man couldn’t see it.

Silas stepped forward, unable to see the cavern very clearly. Was this the location of the Red Gate? It felt right.

After walking another twenty feet or so, a burst of light brightened the entire cavern. He lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the glare, before they adjusted to its brilliance.

On the other side of the room he could see a flat stone wall that looked identical to both the Blue and Green Gates. But the gate itself wasn’t what held Silas’ attention. Standing tall in front of the Red Gate was Anithistor.