The monster emitted a bellowing moan and clutched at himself. Staggering, it launched a much larger globe of energy. Hanging in space between the two combatants, the glaive shattered the fireball almost as soon as it left the Beast's grasp. Eyes damp with the sweat of concentration, Colwyn moved his hand through air. The glaive responded by swooping in a wide arc around the Beast's head.
Trying to dodge, the monster lurched to one side, crashing into the hexagon. At the same time, Colwyn's arm dropped. So did the glaive, burying itself so deeply in the creature's chest that only two blades remained visible above the skin. The Beast staggered and fell against the sanctuary, his great weight caving in the standing wall as he toppled. He lay motionless amidst the rubble, the flashes from the great body sparse and barely visible.
Colwyn extended a commanding hand, but try as he might, the glaive refused to return to its master's grasp. Lyssa stepped hesitantly clear of the corridor wall that had shielded her.
"Is it dying?"
"I don't know. I don't know how any living thing could survive a blow like that from the glaive. But it won't return to me. I think it must be too deeply buried to pull free." Cautiously, he approached the huge, immobile body.
Whereupon a hand moved; a massive, taloned hand, rising to cover the still embedded glaive. Colwyn backed away as the monster rose. It stood before them as though the blades buried in its chest troubled it no more than the pile of debris it contemptuously shoved aside.
Another fireball flew toward Colwyn, the largest the Beast had yet conjured, a swirling green planetoid that blinded both Colwyn and Lyssa with its power.
Somehow they managed to avoid it, running wildly down the corridor. It exploded behind them, tearing away a huge chunk of ceiling. Debris rained down about them as they raced for the shelter of a side tunnel.
The faked death had failed to dispose of Colwyn. For the first time he thought he could sense something like anger .emanating from the monster. It was on its feet again, coming after them, the flashes from its body bright enough to light the dim chamber like midday.
Behind them a voice reached out, full of strength and the promise of unnatural death. "She will be my queen now!" the voice promised.
"The glaive is lost," Colwyn told her, panting hard as they ran. They entered a different kind of chamber, full of sharp projections rising from the floor and descending from the ceiling and walls. Anxiously they ran through the unsettling cavern, frantically searching side passages for a hiding place. "I have no weapons against him." Another fireball raced after them, exploding contemptuously against the ceiling. He could feel the heat of it as fiery splinters rairied down around them. He turned into a branching passage.
"Colwyn… Colwyn, there's no peace for us in flight!"
He slowed, gasping for breath. She leaned against him, holding him tightly to her, trying to regain her own wind. There were no telltale flashes in the dark passage behind them.
For a second he thought they'd gained a respite… until he turned to see the pulsating glow ahead of them. Hopeless. It was hopeless. The Beast was content now to toy with them, to prolong the game.
Lyssa was shaking him, trying to gain his attention. He stared dully at her. "I've failed, my love. I'm sorry."
"Don't talk like that. Think! Those last two fireballs did not touch us, did not harm you."
"He doesn't want to damage you, so he is careful."
"Not that careful. Colwyn, I watched the fight. He directs his energies as you directed the glaive. He should have struck you twice."
"He'll kill me soon enough."
She shook her head violently. "No! Remember the first fireballs you dodged before you began to fight with the glaive?"
"I was fast and fortunate."
"More than that. It has to be more than that! It wasn't the glaive. It was you. The glaive was only a tool, a lens that enabled you to focus your energies. Consider, husband, the requirements of the marriage ceremony. The ability to bring a torch to life."
"A trick, nothing more."
"A trick how many could duplicate? None!"
"Ynyr," Colwyn muttered, his mind working furiously. "He told me that the Beast needed to keep us apart. I didn't understand. He tried to explain to me but the explanations went away with his life. And it's not me." He was suddenly excited.
"Half-right, you are half-right, Lyssa! It's not me the Beast fears. It's us. It's what we might do together."
She shook her head, frowning, confused. "No.. .I have no power, Colwyn."
"I take fire from water'… another 'trick'? He fears us, Lyssa." He leaned away from the wall as a fireball exploded close by his head.
"That's why he had to take you away from me. He needs to keep us apart."
"He spoke of sharing power with me." Her eyes shone even in the dim light. "What power could he want to share with me? I didn't think—''
"There is more to our union than an alliance between kingdoms, Lyssa. Between man and woman. Much more. Everything has felt so right. Ynyr… he was trying to tell me why. Our marriage … it was ordained, I think. Before either of us were born."
"You mean the spirits.. . ?"
"No, nothing supernatural. As we were conceived, so was a definite plan. I wish I could talk to my father! He would have clues to give me, if not explanations. I can sense it now."
"As can I, Colwyn."
"But I don't know what to do," he said helplessly. The flashing lights that signified imminent death were very close.
She took his hands in hers, drew him near. "Look at me. Concentrate. Think that the glaive still exists for you to fight with it. Fight with it, Colwyn. Fight with what matters."
He lost himself in her penetrating, intense stare. As he did so he experienced a resurgence of that strange inner trembling he'd felt many days ago when they'd stood together in the bowels of the White Castle, repeating the ancient vows. Something surged within him. He felt all that was Lyssa flowing out toward him, merging, melding, growing strong and bright.
Much of it was love . . . but there was more.
"It will not return to me except from the hand of the woman I choose as my wife," he found himself repeating.
Lyssa was replying but he hardly heard her: "I give it only to the man I choose as my husband." She held out a clenched fist, opened the fingers to reveal the fire dancing on her palm. It had lain dormant there and elsewhere ever since her abduction from the castle. Now it burned furiously in her hand.
"Take the fire from my hand. In so doing may it become at last one with your own."
Smiling, his expression distant and serene, he reached out and touched her hand. The flame shot up his arm like a live thing, a fragmented and intensely powerful manifestation of something deep within them both.
He turned to confront the Beast, his arm and being alive with energy. A fireball came straight for him and he waved at it. It split to flow harmlessly around them as a wave crashes around a rock jutting out into the sea. Lyssa at his side, Golwyn started forward.
Uncertain and suddenly afraid, the Beast retreated. As he did so he flung a gigantic wall of writhing green flame at the advancing humans, taking no care this time to spare Lyssa. Colwyn gave it the back of his hand, blasting the green wall aside and sending it curling back on itself to strike the Beast's side.
The monster turned to flee. Colwyn struck at, its legs, bringing it crashing to the ground. There was light in his own eyes now, not red but starlight-brilliant. As the Beast went down, Colwyn lavished fire upon it. Smoke rose from the body. It did not burn like human flesh, but was consumed with great speed and fury. The corpse contorted violently as it vanished. A great scream of pain and rage echoed throughout the Fortress.
Then it was gone. There were no more flashing lights, no more peculiar moans or confident threats. No more Beast.