Enin's mind raced with conjecture over the body of Heteera. He knew she had passed on to the next existence. He was within her consciousness when she let go of the physical world. Her vacant stare, however, penetrated his memories. Was she possibly still alive?
"No," Enin stated with a shake of his head, but his tone lacked confidence.
"You don't sound too sure," the demon pressed. "There is one way to find out. Allow her to leave this mine. Let the magic flow through her once more and take the plague from her. If she's still alive, the magic will cure her. If not, you can show her body the proper respect you spoke of."
Enin knew he couldn't allow it. The price was too high. If the magic flowed through the sorceress, it would take the plague with it. With so many dead bodies in the streets of Huntston and people returning to the town, there would be no stopping it. No, he knew he couldn't allow the plagued corpse to leave his chamber of magic, but was she really just a corpse?
The wizard knew the demon was capable of not only twisting the truth but torturing it into appalling deceit, yet the circumstances extended beyond the draevol. Enin had spent so much time in the sorceress' tormented thoughts and then in the blankness of her isolation. He knew her weaknesses-her madness-intimately. Heteera had taken hold of the barrier spell, used the magic to hide from reality. What if she did more? What if she twisted reality? The power was so vast within her.
Too many questions poured from the sorceress' hollow expression and into the wizard's soul. Enin began to doubt his own perceptions. He wondered if maybe there was some way to bring Heteera back.
To his dismay, there was no way to find out. He couldn't risk entering her consciousness to search for an answer. He didn't fear the plague, for the magic that protected him was far too strong, but the magic inside Heteera's body was unstable. If he carelessly added his own power to the vessel of a plague, he might give the demon the very opportunity it craved… the chance to break free.
The draevol sensed the conflict within the wizard and took great satisfaction in creating the dilemma.
"I told you there were other options. Life is filled with difficult decisions. Which choice will you make?"
Enin's disgust for the demon grew. He had not yet determined what to do about Heteera, but his doubts about the demon dissolved. He closed both hands tightly into fists and brought them together at the knuckles. The white energy within him poured into a spell of sheer fury, and then two circles of magical force. They flew from his hands and wrapped around the demon. The draevol screeched, but only for an instant. The rings closed around the fiend and eventually strangled it completely out of existence.
"That wasn't difficult," Enin acknowledged with no sympathy for the demon or guilt over destroying it. It earned its fate. The difficult decision, however, still remained.
The annihilation of the draevol did not end its plague spell. The casting was complete and the powerful sickness rested entirely in the body of the sorceress, a woman he believed had already died.
Of that, he was certain. He had watched her break apart the barrier, and she allowed the magic to sweep her essence away. She had saved Jure in doing so. It was her choice. Enin still wasn't sure it was the right one. He had wanted to try and save them both, but she wouldn't let him. Still, it was a brave deed and it deserved respect. He wanted to accept it, but he just kept looking into that blank expression and wondering if he was being offered an opportunity.
Yes, it was a vacant stare, but a stare he recognized. That made it so much harder.
"Heteera?" he called.
No answer. Just a hollow gaze into nothingness.
The wizard looked down on the rocky ground. He wiped the empty expression from his mind. He locked his thoughts on the last moments of Heteera's life.
It's better than magic!
That was the message she left him before she died, and she had died. She found her way out of isolation, freed herself from the magic she saw as a curse. That was her choice, which meant it was already made. He would not attempt to use the magic to bring her back. He would honor her memory and make certain that no one was harmed.
Rather than cling to an empty memory of a woman who tried to escape, Enin decided to validate her final selfless decision with the certainty of unbridled magical force. He threw his hands together and cast another spell of pure power. It lacked the fury he used against the demon, but it carried the same efficiency. Two rings of magic took hold of Heteera's body and swept it entirely out of existence.
Enin sighed. He said nothing, not even a goodbye. He knew Heteera was already gone. He turned his attention to the space within the magical chamber he created. He inspected every iota of magical energy to ensure there was no sign of the plague. It was painstaking work, but he had to be absolutely certain. The magic in the tunnel was pure, the plague spell had been completely obliterated with Heteera's body.
He dissolved the magical chamber and exited the tunnel. Once out into the open air, he looked to the east. The sun had not yet risen, but the horizon was filled with the glow of dawn.
Chapter 29
Finding the inferns was easy. Deciding how to fight them was not.
The moment Ryson hit the streets he smelled the smoke from various fires and saw the flames burning across Ashlan. Thankfully, the bright orange and white glow didn't engulf the entire city, just select points. Still, the number of blazes brought despair to his delver heart. Fire as a weapon generated terror by stoking fears of helplessness and signaling belligerent, even wanton, destruction. It was a callous foe, as unfeeling as it was unrelenting. The unpredictable nature of the flames, the choking haze of smoke, the unimaginable pain of searing heat; all served to inspire dread and panic.
It didn't require great reasoning to determine the intent of the inferns. With numerous points of flaming devastation spread across the city, the creatures had decided to fan out to complete their task as efficiently as possible. Rather than cluster together and form one single wall of fire, they picked strategic points throughout the city and fueled numerous flashpoints. Over time, the individual blazes would unite into larger infernos and Ashlan would be consumed, not by a single rushing wave but by a convergence of multiple firestorms
Pressing the thoughts of devastation from his mind, Ryson grasped the only strategy that seemed remotely plausible. He couldn't stop all the inferns at once, so he focused on defeating them one by one. As for the existing blazes, he would worry about them after the sources had been eliminated. After all, what good did it do to put out a fire if another one was going to start a block away?
Before rushing to confront the first infern, he made one quick dash around the center of the city. He steered away from the nearest blaze, as he didn't wish to reveal his presence. He couldn't see each individual monster, but he counted over a dozen separate blazes lighting up the night. Drawing on his memories of the city streets, he set a path of attack.
Deciding to head east first, Ryson raced to the far edge of the city. He would start there and work his way inward. He spotted one infern at the edge of a main road that led out into the surrounding farmlands. He knew of the demon's quickness, its ability to fly, and its capacity to cast demon fire, but the spectacle before him revealed another quality of the half-demons.
Like a small dragon, the infern bent slightly forward and opened its mouth wide. It belched flames from its mouth in giant streaming waves. The fire latched onto anything it touched and immediately sparked infernos of intense magnitude. The creature focused on a single building, and though the structure caught fire in an instant, the half-demon continued to spit flames into the center of the blaze.