Asgoleth the Warrior - By Bill Kirkwood Page 0,7

you to victory over Torr and all the lands that lie beyond. It is your destiny to be lords of the Earth. Acclaim me king and with Balzar’s blessing, that destiny shall be fulfilled. Acclaim me now!’

A roar of approval arose from the cruel and ambitious Akonites who sensed in Demos a means of achieving their ambitions, Demos laughed and turned back to face the outraged king.

‘But before I become King, there must be a sacrifice,’ he cried. ‘Behold the power of mighty Balzar!’

King Trannos, wild eyed with rage, lumbered clumsily to his feet and drew his ornate sword.

‘You insolent dog!’ he screamed. ‘You dare to lay claim to my throne. Die!’

He lunged wildly at the wizard but Demos laughed and easily avoided the clumsy blow. The king fell heavily to the floor and his sword flew from his grasp and clattered noisily away across the tiles. He lay there; gasping after his sudden exertions and Demos stepped toward his floundering form and raised his hand whereon the ring had begun to glow.

‘Guards!’ the king screamed, ‘Kill him! Kill him!’

The king’s soldiers shuffled nervously in indecision. They bore no love for their tyrant king and they sensed a great evil in this wizard. They had no wish to lose their souls to his black arts and so they did nothing.

Demos glared down at the fallen king and cried out,

‘Watch Akonites and learn the fate of those who would defy me.’

Demos concentrated all his thoughts on producing an illusion that would terrify the gathered nobility and cow them forever. He had learned the mental disciplines necessary for this from the ancient tomes of the wizards of the black path and the learning had been long and hard but now all his efforts would be rewarded. The king was enveloped in the ghastly red radiance of the ring. At once his skin began to bubble and turn black and the stench of burning flesh filled the air. The king’s eyes were wide with horror as he began to scream.

Demos knew that the king’s horror was mirrored in the eyes of those who watched and he smiled. They were nothing but ignorant fools and when he had finished with Trannos, none of them would dare defy him.

Now it was time to let them see the visage of their new God. Beads of sweat trickled down his face as he let loose the full power of his mind. Many others echoed the screams of the king as they saw his body rise slowly into the air and begin to rotate, writhing in agony as it was devoured by that hideous red brilliance. Demos raised his voice until it rang out above the bedlam.

‘Oh mighty Balzar, ancient lord of the pit, I, Demos, offer this sacrifice to your everlasting glory. Come forth and feast!’

In answer to his cry, a faint rumbling was heard. The rumbling grew swiftly louder as if something huge and terrible were rushing down upon the throne room. Men fell to their knees, covering their ears and women screamed in terror as they saw the solid stone wall behind the throne dissolve into a cloud of roiling black smoke, shot through with flashes of red and orange flame. Then, forming out of the ebon cloud, a gigantic reptilian face appeared.

Sparks crackled from the twisted horns on its misshapen head and its flesh was covered in glittering red and silver scales. Its huge maw was lined with razor sharp fangs, each as thick around as a man’s arm and half as long. A long bifurcated tongue flickered in and out among those terrible teeth and the eyes, huge yellow orbs split by vertical black pupils, burned with a ghastly, inhuman hunger as it gazed upon the humans before it.

The terrified nobility fell groveling on their bellies before Balzar and exultation flowed through Demos as he realised just how much power he would be able to command. He knew that Balzar was merely an illusion projected by the power of his mind and the strange red stone upon his finger but to the trembling Akonites behind him, Balzar would appear to be a dark and terrible god; a god hungry for human sacrifice, a hunger that Demos would satisfy with the bodies of his enemies. Although he did not think there would be too many who would oppose him. They would never dare to rebel against him after this display of Balzar’s power. Demos caused the monster to open its mouth and emit a