Chapter 741: The Challenge |
“Now,” Stryg licked his blood-stained lips and turned to Edil and Maud, who were still standing, staring at what had become of their colleague. “Let’s continue.”
“Continue?” Maud drew her sword and kept her eyes on Holo, lest she Flicker once more. “You’ve just thrown out the most important law of negotiations and parley. Why would we trust anything you have to say?”
“Two reasons,” Stryg held up a pair of fingers, one still red with the fresh blood of Sera. “Lady Lilith can still be saved if you accept my terms of your surrender.” He channeled a trickle of white mana into his hand and produced a small orb of light to prove his point. “As for the second reason, well, it’s simple. If you refuse to negotiate, we will simply kill the three of you.”
“And then our army would retaliate and you would all be overwhelmed and killed,” Maud said.
“Eh.” Stryg cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “Not really. We’d simply escape.”
“You think you can escape from the center of an encampment of thousands of soldiers?” Maud scoffed.
“Yes,” Edil said, much to her surprise.
“Lord Aldine, what are you saying?” Maud wrinkled her brow.
Edil looked Holo over with a new light, his posture wary. “That woman is a true orange mage. She’d Flicker them to safety long before our soldiers could engage them.”
“No, it’s too far. Not even a true archmage could do that.” Maud shook her head.
“How do you think they ambushed our battlemages outside in the first place?” Edil said.
“But that would mean—?” Maud slowly turned to Holo.
“That she is beyond the powers of an archmage.” Edil pulled out his seat and sat back down. “You really are Holo The Tall, aren’t you?”
“I’m taller than I look.” Holo winked.
“And yet you listen to him,” Edil glanced at Stryg.
“What can I say? It’s his plan,” Holo said.
“So you really are the one in charge, Lord Veres? Interesting,” Edil nodded and motioned for Maud to sit back down. She reluctantly sheathed her sword and joined him, though she never took her eyes off Holo.
“So, what will it be? Your friend is running out of time.” Stryg drank down the chalice that was once again full of blood.
“Sera Lilith’s fate is already sealed,” Edil looked down at her with disdain. “Even if we did heal her, she would never fully recover from her spinal injury. You made sure of that.”
“She insulted Rhiannon,” Stryg said.
“And for that you’d kill her? All because she insulted a centaur?” Maud glared at him.
“Yes,” Stryg replied calmly.
“What assurances do we have that you won’t try to kill General Maud or me?” Edil asked.
“I need to negotiate with someone,” Stryg said.
“But not necessarily with two ‘someones,’ is that right?” Edil asked.
Stryg shrugged.
Edil looked around the tent. “You’ve brought a powerful force, but you will find the general and I are not so easily defeated. Your Flicker trick worked once, but you won’t catch either of us off guard again. All this to say, with the situation so set against us, I see no reason why we shouldn’t simply try and make a run for it.”
“You wouldn’t get far,” Stryg said.
“Possibly, but then again, I don’t have to. Our army is right outside. I’m willing to take that chance. What about you? Once my soldiers and mages join the fight, will you stay? Or will you Flicker away?” Edil asked.
“Say your gambit goes well and you manage to escape. What then? The Undergrowth and Valley armies are at your flanks. Do you think you will win this battle?” Stryg asked.
“The situation is not in my favor, true, but then again, I don’t have to win. I just have to survive and regroup. Even if we take heavy losses while we retreat, we will survive. And when we get back to Frost Rim, what do you think the other lords will say after they hear how you betrayed the sanctity of negotiations? Almost half of our nobles’ forces did not join our venture this time. Do you think they’ll stay out of it after what you’ve done?” Edil asked.
“What makes you think I’d let a single Frost Rim soldier leave this valley?”
Edil laughed. “For the same reason you haven’t simply attacked us in the first place. It’s also why you would never give chase against a retreating army for days on end. Because it would cost you many lives. You don’t want this battle. It’s why you’re here, trying to negotiate instead of simply ambushing us from both flanks. You had hoped your intimidation would be enough to stop this war altogether, but now you’re realizing that you might have ensured this war lasts for years to come.”
Stryg’s mouth began to twist in a scowl, but he forced his expression to remain neutral.
“I can tell you’re new to this, young man. Your silence already speaks louder than anything else you’d say. So, I will offer you a counter proposal instead,” Edil said. “A duel. You win and my armies will retreat without a fight. I win and half of your city’s riches will be handed over to us, along with the prisoner, the Ebon Lady, Aurelia Veres.”
“That is absurd,” Gian said.
Stryg raised his hand and stopped Gian from saying anything more. “I will fight, but I’m not risking my mother’s life,” Stryg said.
“I have no intention of killing her. She is too valuable,” Edil said.
“The answer is no—”
“I agree to those conditions,” Aurelia spoke up.
Stryg did a double-take. “Mother, you can’t—”
“I said I agreed to those conditions.” The look in Aurelia’s eyes left no room for argument.
Stryg sighed. “Fine, but in that case, I will add my own conditions.”
“I’m listening,” Edil said.
“If I win, Frost Rim will submit to Hollow Shade’s rule. You will be independent on most matters, but you will not be allowed to act on your own in matters of war or expansion,” Stryg said.
“In that case, if I win, Hollow Shade will submit to Frost Rim rule. Your trade routes will be under our control and a certain percentage of your wealth will be taxed from all trades,” Edil said.
“As leader of Hollow Shade’s city council, I agree to these terms,” Stryg said.
“As War Master of Frost Rim, I agree to these terms.” Edil stood. “I will meet you outside for our duel.”
Stryg nodded. “Very well.”
Maud followed Edil out the tent.
“I will keep an eye on them,” Mylaril walked out.
“I’ll join you,” Calex said.
“Is this really a good idea?” Rhian asked.
“Edil has no reason to go back on his word. This duel favors him heavily,” Gale said. “He avoids a battle that he will surely lose and in return, he potentially wins the wealth of an entire city. That being said, Edil is an archmage of significant renown and power. Accepting his terms was foolish.”
“I agree,” Gian said. “Lord Stryg, Lady Aurelia, neither of you should have risked your own lives for such an endeavour. You should let me duel in your place.”
“If I do that, Edil would probably reject the due altogether. I promised to protect the soldiers and warriors of Undergrowth and the Valley Tribes. This is the only way to do that,” Stryg said.
“He is a powerful archmage, Stryg, and you’re a master mage. This isn’t a fight you should take lightly,” Gale said.
“Corvus Morrigan was an archmage and I defeated him,” Stryg said.
“Corvus was already wounded and tired after fighting Belle and the others, a fight which he had been holding back on because he did not wish to harm Belle. Edil will not hold back, he will try to kill you,” Gale said.
“I defeated a dragonbane, I can handle a vampire,” Stryg said.
“You stopped the dragonbane with the Astral Light. Are you saying you’re going to try and use that now?” Holo cocked an eyebrow.
“No, but I have more control of my other Aspect powers than I did back then. I can deal with Edil. I dealt with her, didn’t I?” Stryg tapped Sera’s head as the light in her eyes began to fade.
“You had help from your sister and it was a surprise attack. You will have neither against Edil,” Gale said.
“You weren’t there when I fought Corvus. Trust me, I will win,” Stryg said.
“I believe you,” Aurelia said. “If my son says he will win, then that is what he will do.”
“Exactly. Stryg won’t lose,” Rhian said.
Gale and Gian sighed in unison, but said nothing more on the matter.
Stryg checked on Sera. Sure enough, the light in her eyes had gone out. The last of her blood dripped slowly out of her neck. Stryg drew Nameless and held the broken sword—now makeshift dagger—over the vampire’s heart.
“What are you doing…?” Gale asked.
He clenched his hand tight over Nameless’ hilt, letting his claws dig into his palm until purple ichor dripped down the hilt and onto the blade. Stryg closed his eyes and let chaos flow through his second heart and into the dagger in his hands. Melantha had shown him what was possible when she had executed Marek. But it was his memory of Fear that had inspired him to attempt something similar to the titans of old.
Though his eyes were closed, Stryg could sense and practically see the soul of Sera Lilith beginning to break free from her corpse. Soon, it would dissipate and reform in the Soul Chasm. The room suddenly grew cold as Stryg channeled a massive amount of chaos. With a deep breath, he plunged the blade into Sera’s heart.
Her body jerked and stiffened from the strike. Tremors ran through her soul as it began to fall apart, but Stryg’s mana called to it. Slowly, the fragments of the soul began to be pulled back together and were drawn into the blade.
Carefully, Stryg withdrew the blade. It was coated in a mixture of red and purple blood, but there was something else. A thin line of black ran across the blade, etched into its steel. It swayed ever so slightly over the steel that one wouldn’t catch it if they were not looking closely.
“What have you done?” Holo whispered.
“The titan mastersmiths of old imbued parts of their own souls into orichalcum weapons. I don’t have their skill or talents, but I can imbue a mortal soul into a simple lump of iron,” Stryg said.
“There is a reason only mastersmiths ever attempted to create such a weapon,” Holo said. “There are consequences to making something like this. Only fragments of souls are used, because a soul cannot handle being imbued in steel, especially a mortal one. It is worse than death. They will go mad.”
“Good. Aunt Fear had the right idea,” Stryg held the dagger up to inspect it.
“You shouldn’t be taking any ideas from Fear,” Holo warned. “You haven’t created a weapon. It’s a mortal soul, it’s too weak to do anything.”
“What if I add more souls?”
“That— That could go terribly wrong.”
“But it could work?”
“Unlikely, very unlikely. Even if it did work, it’ll be nothing like an orichalcum weapon. Why would you want something like this?” Holo asked.
Stryg stared at Nameless and thought of Cly. “Because Fear and Father were right. Some people deserve worse than death.” He wiped Nameless clean and sheathed it. “Let’s see if Edil is one of them.”
Authors Note:
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