He leant down and grabbed her by the shoulder, digging into her bone and flesh until blood poured from the punctures.
“Help her. Arim, move!” Yet Ellie’s body remained still. “Shit. Where the hell is Jonas?”
Like an answer to her silent prayers, Jonas appeared in the air next to the wraintu and ripped the head off of one of the Netharat. He disappeared when as the Nocumat inside the wraintu consumed the body and vanished. Like watching The Blob but in a much more condensed, ugly version, Ellie thought, wishing she didn’t have to see this. But she couldn’t stop herself from watching.
The remaining two wraintu screeched. ‘Sin Garu shot blue flame from his fingertips, an impressive arch of lightning that covered the sky.
Nothing happened to Lexa or Cadmus. ‘Sin Garu leant towards his sister. “So you thought to use your puppet Djinn to distract me? What do you take me for?” With a twist of his free hand, he clenched his will around Cadmus, squeezing blood from the many bite marks on her Earth Lord’s body.
Ellie took a step in Cadmus’ direction and wanted to sob with thanks. But the more she watched her lover writhe in pain, the angrier she grew.
Ellie, keep calm, Arim warned.
She couldn’t help it. Before she knew it, she could see black flame surrounding her arm bathed in light. And then Arim finally took charge.
Chapter Seventeen
“Let him go.” The voice was Ellie’s, but the words belonged to Arim.
‘Sin Garu didn’t seem to notice more than what he’d been primed to see. “Ah, the affai. So good of you to join us, Darkling. Ellie al il Ruethe, as I live and breathe.” He held a hand to his heart, and his mock sincerity tempted Arim to rip the smile off his face. “How are your parents? Safe in Foreia, I trust?”
“I won’t ask you again.” Arim raised a hand and pointed a finger at one of the wraintu. Jonas appeared and struck the one next to it, while Arim felled the wraintu with a blast of combined Light and Dark energy. He watched with satisfaction as he and Jonas decimated ‘Sin Garu’s small force. But just as Jonas moved to take Cadmus into his arms, ‘Sin Garu blasted him with a Nocumat.
Jonas fell several feet out of the sky to the castle. The Nocumat tangled in his energy, and he burst in truth as he fought for his life. Through Ellie’s eyes, Arim watched the display in a new spectrum, Dark and Light, clear and surprisingly beautiful by Djinn standards.
“Do you really think I’d trust Lexa to give me Arim, the great Killer of Shadow, without a price attached?” ‘Sin Garu shook his head. “Well, now, Sister. Who would you like to lose next, Arim or Ellie?”
“How about both?” she answered coolly as if her brother didn’t have his hand stuck in her flesh.
He squeezed her shoulder, and she flinched. Arim’s rage grew. The Dark around him drew ‘Sin Garu’s gaze, and the Dark Lord frowned.
“Elliara? What is that burning in your fist? Not--”
Arim flew into the bastard, thrusting Ellie’s hands into ‘Sin Garu’s chest as he physically pushed him from Lexa. Ellie’s energy drew ‘Sin Garu’s, and as it did, the Dark sorcerer’s eyes grew wide with understanding.
“Arim,” he snarled, his eyes turning black with hatred. “I should have known this was too easy.”
“You should have,” Lexa agreed and shot blue flame through her brother’s belly, knocking him out of Arim’s grasp.
‘Sin Garu howled and flew into the air, his stomach literally on fire as he hovered above the wall. “I’ll kill you both! But not before I kill your precious Storm Lord.”
Before he could touch Cadmus, Jonas pushed a hand through the Nocumat and pulled Cadmus to him with a burst of Dark energy. Lexa waved at Cadmus and he disappeared. Thankfully, one of them found safety.
“Fine.” ‘Sin Garu gasped as he fought to contain the fatal energy raging through him.
Blue flame, Dark energy and Arim’s Light had joined together to battle to own ‘Sin Garu’s body. Lexa, he and Ellie kept their focused power directed into their enemy. Arim could see ‘Sin Garu weakening. In just a few minutes more, the threat to Tanselm would be vanquished.
Eagerness surged through him, and he felt Ellie’s joy merge with his own as he kept his power on the Dark Lord. A sudden boom rent the very air, and Arim noted a great, gaping wound in the sky. Beyond the castle walls, a dimensional gateway through which hundreds of Netharat suddenly poured opened in Tanselm.
“They’re in each of the territories as we speak,” ‘Sin Garu sneered, his stark smile growing dimmer as he began to fade into the Next. Gray forms hovered near him, bits of energy from a life beyond that called to the evil in the sorcerer. “Oh, no, not yet.” He gritted his teeth and pointed at Arim’s lifeless body, his fingers lit with a strange, green fire.
Lexa’s eyes, wide and filled with fear, swallowed her face. “No. Even you couldn’t have been so stupid, so full of yourself to think to contain that.”
“To the Next, then Arim. Tell Faustus I send my regards.”
Lexa vanished, taking with her the blue flame that had weakened her brother. Her disappearance gave ‘Sin Garu the edge to put up a small shield against Arim’s and Ellie’s joint attack. Then the Dark Lord fired at Arim’s lifeless body. Arim had known this might be the end of him, but what happened next made no sense.
Lexa teleported in front of Arim’s body, taking the blast meant for him. ‘Sin Garu’s sickly green fire pierced Lexa and spread over her entire body like a creeping disease. She writhed and groaned, caught in an otherworldly blaze as Arim stared at her in shock.
He’d been prepared to send ‘Sin Garu to his death at the cost of his own life. Why had Lexa saved him? What the hell was her brother doing to her?
The Dark Lord smiled. “In just a few minutes, her flesh will collapse. She’ll rot from the inside out. Then the demons will come for her. Not mine, of course, but the Malinta vermin that dwell within the black rock.”
Arim couldn’t believe ‘Sin Garu would stoop to something so dangerous, so vile. Even for the Dark Lord, he’d hit an all new low. “You would commit your own sister, your own flesh and blood, to eternal damnation? For what? For Tanselm? The land rejects you even as reach out with your dying breath. It’s over for you, Dark Lord.” As long as he and Ellie continued to attack, they could weaken ‘Sin Garu enough to kill him. Arim hoped…
“I’m not fighting for Tanselm, you piece of fhel. It’s always been about right and what’s mine. I won’t let you have it any longer.” ‘Sin Garu’s eyes began to glaze over, and he jerked his head at Lexa a short distance away. “Is my death worth hers, Killer of Shadow? She never did kill that whore, Muri, you know. But what does it matter, hmm? One Dark Lord’s death is the same as any other.”
Arim didn’t need Ellie screaming in his head to do what needed to be done. Without another thought, he released his hold on ‘Sin Garu and flew to Lexa’s side. Directing his and Ellie’s power at Lexa, he strove to separate her from the green fire burning her very soul.
Something inhuman, something more than a simple being, looked out at him through the flame. It laughed, and from within that sound came the shrieking of lost souls damned for all eternity. Several eyes glared at him as tongues lapped at the taste of his magic. As the flame suddenly died, he heard a warning of promise uttered, one he knew he would eventually have to face.