STOP ME.
“What is he telling you?” said Morgant, rubbing his temples.
“Oh, the usual,” said Caina. “Threats of death that he has failed to carry out so far.”
YOU CANNOT ELUDE ME, BALARIGAR. ALREADY MY VASSALS HUNT FOR YOU IN THE MORTAL WORLD. THEY ARE ETERNAL. YOU ARE MORTAL. SOON OR LATE YOU SHALL FALL, AND ONCE YOU ARE SLAIN THERE SHALL BE NONE TO STOP ME FROM DEVOURING YOUR WORLD.
“There,” said Annarah, opening her eyes, and the world blurred and shifted around them as Caina felt a surge of arcane power. Silent Ash Temple and its mountain crag dissolved into nothingness, reforming into the featureless plain of the netherworld, the colorless grass rippling in the strange wind that drove the clouds overhead. Caina saw the light of the gate a few hundred yards ahead, pale and flickering.
With the tower and mountain gone, she also had a clear view of the nagataaru surging towards her.
The uncounted millions of nagataaru.
It was like a wall of shadow ten thousand feet high, burning with purple fire within. Caina had seen some large waves during her sea travels, enough to make her prefer the solid ground beneath her feet, but this wave could have drowned them all. It could have covered all of Istarinmul, drowning the city in shadow.
“Run!” shouted Caina, and they sprinted for the gate, the wall of nagataaru surging after them.
KNOW YOUR FATE, BALARIGAR. YOURS IS A THREEFOLD CURSE. YOU SHALL DIE IN AGONY. YOU SHALL DIE ALONE, PARTED FROM ALL THOSE YOU LOVE. AND YOU SHALL DIE IN FAILURE, KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DEFEATED. SO IT IS ORDAINED, NOT BY MY WILL, BUT BY YOURS, FOR THAT IS THE FATE YOUR CHOICES HAVE WROUGHT FOR YOU.
She kept running, the grass crunching beneath her boots, her shadow-cloak streaming behind her as the ghostsilver dagger blazed like a torch in her hand. She shot a glance over her shoulder and saw Morgant and Annarah keeping pace with her. For a man over two centuries old, Morgant could run when he put his mind to it. Annarah looked exhausted, still drained from her battle with the nagataaru, but grimly kept pace. A dozen of the glowing spheres still trailed her. Caina supposed that was just as well. If the nagataaru caught up to them, perhaps the spirits of defense could hold off the nagataaru for a few moments.
LIE DOWN AND DIE. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR FATE.
“Watch me,” gasped Caina.
“What?” said Morgant.
Caina shook her head and kept running, and they reached the gate as the dark wall of the nagataaru towered over them. To her alarm she saw that the gate was shrinking. When Annarah had unraveled her sanctuary it had also weakened the spell upon the gate. It would not last much longer, and it was already small enough that only one person could go through at once. Through it she saw the wavering image of the Hall of Torments, shadowy and indistinct.
“You first,” said Caina.
“But…” started Annarah.
“Don’t argue,” said Morgant, pushing her forward. “Go.”
She vanished through the gate.
“Ghost,” said Morgant. “Caina. Thank…”
“Shut up,” said Caina, pushing him towards the gate. The huge wall of shadow hurtled closer to them, swallowing the netherworld. “Thank me back in the mortal world.”
He vanished into the gate.
BALARIGAR. STAY HERE AND I SHALL KILL YOU QUICKLY AND WITHOUT PAIN. THIS I OFFER YOU, FOR YOU HAVE BEEN WORTHY PREY. SPURN MY OFFER, AND YOU SHALL KNOW DESPAIR AND DEFEAT BEFORE YOU ARE SLAIN.
A chill went through her, but she forced herself to look at the advancing wall of shadow. “Then I can find a way to stop the Apotheosis, can’t I?” said Caina. “Otherwise you wouldn’t care. You wouldn’t try to bargain.”
THEN DIE.
She threw herself backwards through the gate as the shadows reached to devour her.
Again she had the sensation of falling, of gray mist hurtling past her with incredible speed.
Then she was back in the stinking gloom of the Hall of Torments, tumbling backwards across the dais. Caina lost her balance and fell, strong hands catching her arms and stopping her fall. The back of her head came to rest against Kylon’s chest, and she looked back at the dais, fearing that the nagataaru would follow her into the Inferno.
The gate shimmered with white light, and then turned into a sheet of blackness. Caina cursed and regained her balance. She saw Morgant stepping forward, the valikon blazing with white fire, saw Annarah lift her pyrikon and begin a spell.
“They are coming!” said Annarah. “Defend…”
The gate collapsed with