‘That’s arguable,’ said Losara.
‘– and still they seek to punish me with nightmares! I owe the gods nothing.’
‘You owe them your soul,’ said Losara quietly.
‘And you,’ continued Battu, ‘this is how you repay me? I took you in, saw to your education …’
‘You stole me from my rightful home, imprisoned me and sought to use me as your tool. You gave orders that resulted in my separation from my very self. And yet I harbour no resentment, for you did as you were told. As a result, I am here, where I was always meant to be. If you want repayment, I will offer it gladly. There will be a need for powerful mages in the days to come. There could still be a place for you in the new order.’
‘How magnanimous of you,’ said Battu. Then his features relaxed, and the laugh that followed sounded almost good-natured. ‘Ah, it is refreshing to speak so openly. I have held myself in check for too long. My dear boy, you speak as if the deed is already done. Are you really arrogant enough to believe that the Shadowdreamer in his own castle will offer no true resistance?’
Battu was right, Losara realised. The fact that he did not respect the dark lord did not mean Battu wasn’t dangerous.
‘Some thought occurring to you?’ said Battu. Lazily, he stretched out a hand and unstopped his power. Blue energy streamed across the table, knocking candelabra and sending ice flying. Losara melted to shadowform and fled to the edge of the room. Battu’s torrent of energy followed, and he was forced to zigzag across the walls and up to the ceiling.
‘Going to be like that, is it?’ said Battu. ‘Very well.’ He crossed his hands on his chest and sent out twin streams in either direction. Where they hit stone they broke like waves, spreading across the walls to encompass the entire room. As energy crashed towards Losara, he tried to back up even further, out of the room, but came up against an impenetrable barrier in the dark.
‘The shadows of Skygrip are mine to command ,’ said Battu. ‘And the room is sealed, Apprentice. ’
Energy crackled across every surface, spattering and burning food. As it hit Losara and coursed through him, for the first time he felt pain as his ethereal self. He gasped and fell from the shadows into physicality, to his knees on the floor. Managing to lift a smoking hand, he sent a tendril of shadow at Battu, hitting him in the arm with a thunderous crack. The dark lord stumbled backwards, his energy output faltering.
‘That’s more like it,’ said Battu, rubbing his arm. ‘You’re no mouse to skulk in corners. Let’s remove some of them, shall we?’
He made a grasping motion at the wall behind Losara, and chunks of rock cascaded loose. Losara twisted and caught them in his power, using their momentum to fling them over his head towards Battu. Battu swiped a hand through the air, shattering the rocks to dust. As he did so, Losara reached out invisibly to seize Battu’s hand. The fingers splayed wide, and there was the snap of bones breaking. Battu roared, coiled his own power around Losara’s unseen grip, and wrenched free. He then reached out with his mangled hand, grimaced as he grasped a piece of quivering fish from the table in limp fingers, and pushed it defiantly into his mouth.
‘That the best you’ve got?’ he asked, chewing fiercely.
‘Still hungry?’ replied Losara, and made a slight gesture. Pieces of poisoned sea anemone flew through the air at Battu’s mouth, pushing the fish aside as they plunged inside. Battu spluttered as he regurgitated them, spitting slimy shreds.
‘Enough of this!’ screamed Battu, and energy exploded outwards from him, filling the room with sizzling blue threads. He was summoning the enormity of Skygrip to his aid, all the power that ran though the walls, from the deep underground lake right up to the roof. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Losara was impressed. Pain rippled through him, and he fell to the floor in a heap. This was why shadow mages did not often fight – there was no natural defence, for shadow did not counter shadow. He tried to form a physical barrier at least, commanding debris to encircle him, but it lasted only moments before Battu tore it apart. Energy found him again, contracting his muscles tightly, destroying his flesh as it danced through. He convulsed, letting out a moan.
He had not expected the dark lord to be so strong.
Tyrellan waited on the other side of the door, his back to the wall, listening to the battle inside. He hadn’t believed it when Losara had offered Battu a chance to join him – join them – and was glad indeed that the dark lord had not taken him up on the offer.
The wall shook, and down the corridor rocks imploded into the dining hall. He left the wall – stupid to think mere stone would protect him – and moved towards the opening. From inside came a fierce crackling, and he heard Losara give a pained moan. Chancy as it was, he ducked his head around to see what was going on.
Smoking food was smeared across every surface. The table lay smashed against the far wall, ringed by pieces of candelabra. Losara lay on the floor, writhing in agony as blue strands played over him. Energy filled the entire room, a thrumming field that sprang from Battu. The dark lord himself looked ecstatic, grinning so hard it was a wonder his teeth did not break.
‘Ah, First Slave,’ he said. ‘Help me finish this squirming gnat!’
Tyrellan drew a dagger from his belt and held it up.
Battu nodded. ‘Just the thing to kiss him on into the next life. All he needs.’
Tyrellan stared hard at Losara as he raised the dagger, drew back his arm and, with all his might, hurled it at Battu. It began on a perfect course to the dark lord’s neck, but snagged on a pulse of energy and instead went flashing into his arm, sinking into flesh all the way to the hilt. Battu stumbled backwards, the energy field faltering.
Tyrellan knew he should flee immediately … yet so often he did what he knew was right, never allowing himself any small gratification. This was too much, even for him, to resist. For the first time in a long while, he allowed himself a moment of pleasure. He waited, past the point when he knew he should be away, watching for the dark lord’s realisation that it was Tyrellan who had betrayed him, Tyrellan who had found him unworthy. Battu’s eyes met his and, for one glorious moment, Tyrellan basked in the undisguised horror he found there. All those years of loyalty, all amounting to nothing. How quickly a single act could change everything.
‘Not you,’ whispered Battu. ‘There are enough against me without you.’
Perhaps there was one further way Tyrellan could help Losara?
‘Battu’s connection to Skygrip is tethered to Refectu,’ he announced, then darted out of view. He heard Battu’s spells come crashing after, ripping the hole where he’d stood seconds before even wider, but he was already away.
Feverishly, Battu spun back to Losara and found the boy gone. It seemed that in his shock at Tyrellan’s betrayal, he had let his barrier of shadows collapse, and Losara had slipped from the room.
‘Coward!’ he howled, though whether at Losara or Tyrellan, he wasn’t sure.
He grasped the dagger hilt and wrenched it free. Dropping it to the floor, he stalked from the room, setting healing spells over his wounds as he went. As multiple agonies began to dull, he came across a cleaning crew of Greys.
‘And you as well?’ he boomed at them. ‘If Tyrellan stands against me, anyone would!’
The Greys fell to their knees, clasping their claws in supplication. Battu spread his fingers and engulfed them with energy, so that they frothed and died together.
He strode on, taking the time to heal himself well. There was no rush – aside from the clamour in his heart urging him to destroy, to rip, to rend – for he knew where Losara had gone.