Night guild 3, p.30
Night Guild 3, page 30
What was most surprising was to find that these people — these gods, whom he had always thought of as remote and somewhat infallible — turned out, in reality, to be almost as human as he and his friends, their politics as human and fallible as the politics of the Twelve Isles.
He returned his attention to the drama on the assembly room floor.
Ronan saw now that the tall, red-robed figure of Mala, on the opposite side of the hall, had risen to his feet, surrounded by his smaller, red-robed acolytes. This was the tribe of Mala here in the Realm of the Gods. Even here, Mala had been able to extend his influence and bring the people under his spell. The smaller folk around him backed away now from his huge presence as he stood, reached up, and threw back his deep red hood.
All the assembly gasped in horror at what was revealed beneath the hood. There was no noble face of a god there. Instead, the face revealed was none other than that of a golden skull. It reminded Ronan of Kaishog, the High Priest of the Silent Brotherhood who had died at his hand in the kingdom of Ghennet.
This figure, however, was much more terrifying even than Kaishog had been. Kaishog had been horrible to look at, of course, and he had radiated power, but this figure was even more dreadful. Could this be Mala, a deity worshiped in the human world?
His eyes were blazed in the sockets of the golden skull, staring with maddened malevolence at the surrounding gods.
The gods who sat in the assembled chairs stood up from their pews, speaking to each other in shocked voices.
“It is not Mala,” the Night God whispered in horror. “It is not even really him. We have been tricked!”
Valandrus was the only person in the hall who did not seem overly thrown by the revelation. He turned to face the monstrosity and pointed at him with one accusing finger as he advanced toward him.
“Who are you?” he demanded. “What are you? Where is Mala?”
The Night God glanced at Ronan and spoke to him. “Come with me,“ he said, then turned away from them and set off down toward the assembly floor.
Ronan, Diana, Eric, and the guards behind them all filed down the stairs after the Night God.
The other gods were drawing back from the spectacle of the gold-skulled monstrosity who was now lumbering his way down toward the floor to meet the approach of Valandrus. All of those around the gold skull were rallying around behind him, calling out in support of him and shouting invective towards Valandrus and the Night God.
Suddenly, the great gold-skulled figure boomed out in a terrible voice, “So, now all is revealed, just as I planned. I no longer have to conceal myself. This pitiful assembly of foolish gods will bow to me from now on. You are from now on the dutiful servants of me, the Lord of Red Darkness, from now on the supreme ruler of the realm of the gods and the world of the humans. You will not stop me. In mere moments, my work will be complete.“
“What does he mean by that?” Diana asked, glancing around as if she anticipated some new threat.
“He almost seems to be gloating,” Eric replied. “There is something more going on here that I do not understand.”
Valandrus gave an angry cry, and the team of blacksmithing gods Ronan and his friends had observed when they had first come into the hall all jumped up out of their seats and leapt over the tiers of seating below them to reach the floor.
The white-bearded moderator was shouting in protest at the sudden chaos that had taken over his hall, but there was nothing he could do to stem the tide.
Chaos had overtaken the assembly hall of the gods. Some gods were running to the floor in support of Valandrus and of the Night God. Meanwhile, the red-robed figure of the gold skull imposter continued to lumber its way down towards the floor.
The red-robed acolytes of the monster ran down with him. Other gods, including the less robust-looking ones, were making their way out of the chamber, some of them by the main door and others by smaller exits that were set around the upper chamber wall.
The officer of the Seraph soldiers approached Ronan. “I am very sorry to say, sir, that I fear we have all been tricked. My soldiers and I are at your disposal from now on.”
Ronan looked in his eyes, remembering what Decius had said about these Seraphs. They looked like men, but they were not. They had no souls, and they felt very little.
The officer did look like a man, but when Ronan looked in his eyes, the illusion broke down. There was nothing there of feeling or emotion, though they clearly could think about things and make judgements. The Seraph truly was a living statue, an immensely sophisticated, biological automaton.
An involuntary shudder ran over Ronan’s body, but he mastered himself and spoke with authority to the Seraph. “You are ready to fight for our side?”
“We are sworn to protect the realm of the gods. That includes protecting it from treachery. I do not know who this demon is, but he is not Mala. We were under the impression that he was Mala. Now that we know that we were wrong, we will do our best to make amends.”
“Send a runner for more reinforcements, then,” Ronan said. “We will need all the help we can get, I think.”
The Seraph nodded and hurried off to obey.
To the Night God, Ronan said, “What kind of powers do you think the demon has?”
The Night God shook his head. “I do not know. But right now, I am more concerned about him saying that his plan was about to be fulfilled. He and his followers are making a great show, but they do not seem to be keen to actually engage in a fight.”
At that very moment, a terrible rumbling shook the entire building. Underneath their feet, they felt the marble floor shake. The great golden chandeliers that hung over the assembly floor rattled and swung from side to side. It felt to Ronan like an earthquake. He had not often felt earthquakes, though they did sometimes happen in the Twelve Isles. Even then, however, they were very mild, with just a slight shaking in the depths of the earth, and the worst that they caused was some cracking in the walls of buildings.
He had never felt anything like this.
“What is this you have done, you foul imposter?” Valandrus demanded of the gold-skulled monstrosity. The gold skull — the Lord of Red Darkness as he had called himself — threw back his hideous head and laughed. His laughter rattled around the chamber like stones inside a kettle.
“Fools!” he cried. “You will all be destroyed, and this arrogant assembly chamber, too. This foolish collection of so-called gods will be no more. It shall be I, the Lord of Red Darkness, who shall rule as the only god, forever more.”
Valandrus slept forward, obviously intent on attacking and destroying the gold-skulled imposter, but at that very moment, there was a thunderous crash from the left, and something smashed through the wall of the chamber.
It was huge, so large that it blotted out the sunlight from outside.
The gods who were still in the chamber and who were not actively engaged in the dispute on the floor screamed and leapt back, clambering over each other and up the stairs to try to get away as a creature of monstrous aspect smashed through the wall.
The monster that came through the wall was enormous. It had great swirling red eyes and black skin that was lumped and pitted like a weathered cliff face.
A huge muzzle like that of a gigantic dog, with enormous ravening teeth, was forced through the gap.
Moments later, with another thunderous crash, the neck, the great shoulders, and the body of the huge creature followed. Two great clawed feet smashed onto the ground, and then the rest of the enormous body came through the hole after it.
And that was when Ronan recognized the monster.
“The black ice dragon,” he cried, “but where is Fury?”
“The gold skull must have gained the support of the Dragons somehow,” Diana said in horror. “What chance will we have now?”
“We do still have a chance,” Ronan said. “I cannot believe that this creature will do us harm. He will remember us. We went to such trouble to hatch him. And even if he does not remember us, Fury will.”
With that, Ronan dodged away from his friends, who reached out and tried to hold him back. “No, Ronan!“ Diana cried. “It will kill you!”
But it was the only thing he could think to do.
He dashed through the panicked crowd, leaping from bench to bench up the tiers of seats towards the dragon.
“Ice dragon!” he bellowed. “Ice dragon, you remember me! I hatched you. I carried your egg across the continent of Lithia to get you to the glacier. You know me. Where is Fury, the dragon of secret fire?“
The ice dragon swung his enormous head toward Ronan.
He was indeed a terrifying prospect. Ronan had never seen anything so frightening. The dragon’s head alone was the size of a warhorse, and his shoulders and the rest of his body were built on the scale of a castle.
His huge feet alone would have crushed Ronan with a single blow.
But Ronan, the assassin, stood his ground against the enormous creature. He had caught the dragon’s attention.
“Little human,“ the dragon rumbled. “What is this you are telling me? Who do you say you are?”
Well, Ronan thought, at least he has not killed me out of hand. I will take that as progress for the moment.
“I say that I am the one who hatched you. My friends and I traveled many hundreds of miles and went through many adventures to see that your egg was hatched. We gathered soul and blood spilled in battle and used both to activate your egg in the depths of the northern glacier before you went to the realm of the gods with Fury, the dragon of sacred fire. Where is he? What has this person with the golden skull promised you in return for doing his bidding?”
The ice dragon swung his head toward the gold skull, who had now retreated a little from the wrath of the gods and was staring up at Ronan where he stood with the dragon.
“Ice dragon!“ the gold skull roared. “Do as I order you! Destroy this place, and everyone in it, except my followers and me!”
In a flash, Ronan suddenly saw the entirety of this demonic being’s plan. There was nothing else in the world that could face down an entire pantheon of gods such as was represented in this chamber. Only a dragon — or ideally more than one — could be relied upon to win that fight.
That was what the Lord of Red Darkness had been doing all along. His only goal was to get the dragons on side, to make allies of them by whatever means possible so that he could use them to destroy the realm of the gods.
“He is lying to you,” Ronan said to the ice dragon. “What has he promised you in return? Ask him here and now if he intends to keep his promise, for in this chamber he cannot lie. No being can lie in this chamber.”
The ice dragon looked from the gold skull to Ronan and back at the gold skull.
“Hmmm,” he murmured, the sound of his voice rumbling like the distant boom of an avalanche. “You are right, little human. I do remember you. Even when I was in the egg, I remember hearing the sound of your voice. I will listen to you. I will do as you suggest. I will test the truth of this man who has called himself the Lord of Red Darkness. Then we will find out the true state of affairs, once and for all.”
Chapter 20
Without a moment’s hesitation, the dragon swung his great head around and looked at the so-called Lord of Red Darkness.
Is it possible for a featureless skull to look horrified? Ronan might have said no if he had been asked the question a year before. Now, he knew it was indeed possible. The huge figure of the Lord of Red Darkness took a step away from the dragon, and even his minions moved away from the lord. There was no suggestion of the minions stepping up to fight the dragon on their lord’s behalf.
They had, at least, that much sense.
The dragon did not hesitate. “Did you lie to me?” he asked, fixing the Lord of Red Darkness with a piercing gaze. Ronan knew that nobody could lie here in the assembly hall of the gods. The Lord of Red Darkness would not be able to get out of this.
The gold skull glared with concentrated malevolence at the dragon and then at Ronan. He was unable to answer. He took another step back.
The dragon growled low in its throat, sounding like an enormous dog. The Lord of Red Darkness stopped.
“I ask you again, did you lie to me?” the dragon repeated.
The red-robed figure held up his hands as if in supplication. “I… I cannot…” he stammered.
“What can you not do?” the dragon said, softly. “It is a perfectly simple question.”
“I cannot answer,” the gold skull replied. “I cannot answer.”
He glanced around, then suddenly burst out, “I did lie to you. I am so sorry. I lied to you the whole time.”
“Did you have any intention of holding up your end of the bargain?”
The gold skull stood quivering where he was, and then he shook his massive head.
“No,” he said. “I intended that you should be trapped by magic and your blood drained to provide eternal life for my followers and me. That was my intention.”
Everything in the hall was completely silent. None of the other gods were moving. Everybody had their eyes on the dragon and on the Lord of Red Darkness. Ronan stood as still as everyone else.
There was a long, tense moment, and then the dragon leaned forward and asked one more question. “Where is Mala?”
“He is in the dungeon here in the Pantheon Palace.” The Lord of Red Darkness sounded utterly miserable. He had managed to avoid answering direct questions so far, but now he was completely on the spot. He had no option but to reveal his plans.
The dragon looked at Ronan, then back at the Lord of Red Darkness. “Do you hold the key?”
“Yes, I have it on my person.”
There was a sudden hissing sound in the chamber.
Ronan looked around for the source of the noise until he realized that it was coming from the dragon. A moment later, the dragon surged forward and open his mouth wide.
From his gaping maw, a jet of freezing ice-cold vapor erupted. The focused blast fired from the dragon’s mouth and enveloped the red-robed form of the Lord of Red Darkness, covering him in white ice crystals in a moment.
Though it was focused on the lord, it also encompassed several of the minions who had not moved far enough away. Still, the gold-skulled figure at the center took the full brunt of the blast and died instantly.
After a moment, the dragon closed his mouth and stopped the attack. Dead silence filled the hall, then the dragon turned to Ronan. “You may approach him safely now, I think,” he said.
For all the things that he had seen in his travels, this blast of icy vapor from the dragon was one of the most terrifying. The sheer power of these monstrous creatures was incredible. But the dragon was right, of course. He had saved them from the Lord of Red Darkness and all his scheming, and now Ronan could approach.
Ronan stepped forward as the gods in the hall all spoke at once. They all stepped forward and approached the dragon. Once they got close to him, they began to greet him and bow respectfully. This seemed completely to the liking of the dragon, who bowed his head to them and accepted their greetings and praise graciously. He spoke to them, and the braver ones reached up to touch his great head.
Ronan smiled and walked away from the happy scene. He was joined by Eric, Diana, and by the Night God himself as they walked toward the frozen remains of the Lord of Red Darkness.
“I wonder who and what he actually was,” Eric said.
“I have heard of such beings,” Diana said. “There are many things in the universe even beyond the realm of the gods. He is some kind of trickster demon that has come into this world to try to wreak havoc.”
“He almost succeeded,“ Naxos said. “If it had not been for your presence, that dragon would have certainly destroyed everything here. It is one of the reasons why many of the gods had reasonable concerns about the return of the dragons. They are the only creatures that can destroy us.”
“But you lived in peace together with the dragons for many years before, did you not?” Ronan asked,
“Oh, yes,” the Night God replied. “We certainly did live in peace for a long time, but it has been many generations since those days, and people forget. People — even gods — become too secure in their safety. They become complacent and too easily frightened by external threats. This demon, whatever he was, exploited that fear to his own ends. He was very patient and worked for a long time on his plan.”
“Well, now we have brought an end to his little game,” Ronan said.
“And just in time,” Eric added.
Ronan stepped up to where the frozen body of the enemy lay on the ground. The intense blast of cold had killed him immediately, and he now lay motionless on the ground, surrounded by the bodies of several of his minions. The other red-cloaked acolytes had retreated, and some had tried to discreetly leave by the back door, but the other gods in the room, particularly Valandrus and the blacksmith gods, had detained them.
Ronan knelt beside the body of his enemy and laid a hand on the dark red robes. The Lord of Red Darkness had plenty of pouches and pockets in his robes, but in one fold, Ronan found a big, heavy iron key. It was the only key that he could find on the red lord’s person, so he assumed that it must be the one to the prison where the real Mala was held.
“So, he managed to imprison Mala and impersonate him,” Ronan said. “I wonder when the switch was made.”
“Once we have freed Mala, he will be able to tell us that himself,” the Night God said.
Ronan stood up and looked around. “Where is Decius?” he said.
Immediately, the little man who had been his prisoner, but who was now his loyal follower, hurriedly approached.
“You heard what this person said?” Ronan asked.
Decius nodded. “Yes, I heard him well,” he said. “I am pretty sure I know exactly what dungeon he is talking about. There is an old wing of dungeons deep under the palace that is almost never used. This imposter had a suite of rooms down there that he was known to go to. Nobody bothered him when he went down there, but I imagine he must have been using the place to keep his prisoner.”
