"Can't he open another one?" Ryson wondered aloud.
"No, he can't, and he knows that. He could possibly convince others to do so, but I am not quite done."
Enin cast out even more energy, and once more magical waves flew out of the rift and throughout the dark realm.
"What did you do now?" Ryson asked.
"You worried about Baannat's influence over the dark creatures. I have just restricted that influence. I brought awareness to the creatures of the dark world. Limited awareness to be sure, but a new understanding nonetheless. Baannat didn't control any creatures with his magical energy. He confused them into believing he had something they greatly desired. I just cleared the shadows of their minds to give them this one revelation. The realm of Baannat will no longer hold any of their desires. In fact, every creature that is born to the dark realm or to Uton will inherently know of Baannat and the truth of his territory. Even monsters will shun this place. They will know the truth. This place is more painful than the dark realm. This is not a sanctuary. This is a place for the condemned."
Enin then turned his glare upon the slink ghoul.
"It is a suitable home for you, and so you shall remain here. We both know your power to leave here is limited, and now even the dark creatures know of your treachery. You will be cursed by all. Those who you will be able to influence will be the lowest of the low. That is your fate. I hope you can accept it."
"So you make me king of nothingness?" Baannat hissed. "What if I refuse?"
"You can't."
Enin then called for Ryson.
"It's time for us to leave."
As Ryson stepped to the portal, he heard Baannat scream in rage. He turned just fast enough to see the ghoul lashing out at him. He ducked under the strike and used Baannat's own momentum to redirect him deeper into the gray shadows.
When he followed Enin through the shadow rift and back into the dark realm, he could hear Baannat shouting curses, but the echoes of the shrieks simply faded into the emptiness.
Chapter 34
Linda rushed to Ryson's side, helped him from the ground, and then threw her arms around him. She pulled him to her as tight as she could. For all the agonizing moments she spent trapped-unable to move and unable to speak-in a plane of nonexistence, she found more comfort than she could imagine in that first embrace. She did not want to let go.
Enin stood on his own as the full power of near infinite magical energy refreshed him almost immediately. With his strength growing, he stepped with great purpose to the gateway of emptiness, and he used that power to correct one of his many mistakes. Two perfect circles of white energy formed around his hands. He released them at the shadow portal and allowed both rings to encircle it. With one immediate flash of bright light, the circles of magic tightened about the rift and forced it to close in on itself.
Carefully inspecting the space, he ensured all remnants of the portal to Baannat's realm were gone. Satisfied, he called for Linda and Ryson.
"We must not linger here. We have to go quickly."
"We should be okay," Ryson offered. "The path was cleared when I came in."
"It won't be for much longer," Enin warned. "Many of the creatures here will sense my power, some will seek to escape out the portal to Uton, others will attack."
"I thought you said Baannat wouldn't be able to control them any more."
"He can't, not all of them as an army anyway. They know his promise is nothing more than a lie. Even monsters will reject Baannat's realm. But it also means they are once more left to their own devices. They will attack me as a powerful invader hoping to feed on my energy. And they will see you two as a possible meal."
Ryson acknowledged and accepted the new threat and he put Linda's safety first.
"Can you transport her to the portal?"
"Yes," Enin nodded.
"Do it."
Linda refused, maintaining her hold on the delver.
"No, I don't want to leave you again!"
Ryson understood. He didn't want to leave Linda, either. He, however, had one more task to complete.
"No one is leaving anyone, but I have to move fast."
"Why can't we transport together?" Linda demanded.
"Because I have to get my sword. I'm not going to leave it here. It's part of elflore."
Linda shook her head. She didn't want to risk losing him over an object-a weapon-even if it was part of the legends.
Ryson placed his hand on her chin and pulled her face to his so he could look her in the eyes.
"I'm a delver. I'll be alright. I promise."
Linda let out a heavy sigh as she released her grip. Yes, he was a delver and she couldn't keep him from venturing into danger. That would always be part of their lives. She had accepted that simple fact long ago, and despite Baannat's lies, she would never hold that against him.
Ryson placed his attention on the wizard.
"Enin, get her out of here, now."
"And you must move at your best speed," the wizard declared as he guided Linda next to him.
"Don't worry. I will."
Ryson watched them for only a moment. That was all the time it took for Enin to cast the spell and transport himself and Linda to the portal between the dark lands and Uton.
Once they were gone, Ryson raced into the cave and followed the path back to where he destroyed the vessel… back to where Baannat relieved him of the Sword of Decree. He found it right where it had been left-on the ground, dark with no light for the blade to reflect.
He snatched it up in his hand. He did not sheath it over his back. Instead, he held tight to the weapon, waiting for some new insight. Nothing. There was no message from the sword-no task that needed to be completed and no direction for action.
Ryson wasn't surprised. He had made the right decisions. He had saved Linda and Enin, saved himself as well, but any doubt about Baannat's fate was now also removed. The ghoul was a prisoner of his own twisted sanctuary and that was where he would stay forever.
With the sword still in hand, the delver ran out of the cave and back toward the portal. As he did, the silence that existed when he entered the dark realm had dissolved into the raging shrieks of conflict. Crashing explosions and pounding concussions reverberated over the gloomy landscape. Shouts of both humans and goblins rang out in the distance. More alarming, he could hear the unmistakable buzzing of a caelifera swarm.
Bounding over the twisted landscape, he eventually caught glimpses of the giant locusts shifting about in dizzying patterns of mayhem. He knew they were flying over the portal and he pushed himself to run even faster.
Once he broke over the last bluff separating him from the portal, he could see the scene clearly. He watched Enin standing at the front of the rift, casting spell after spell at a vast collection of monsters. Linda was not with him-Ryson spotted her past the portal and standing in relative safety in the badlands of Uton-but neither Enin nor Linda stood alone.
Linda was surrounded by heavily armed guards from Burbon. Sy Fenden directed their attacks into the dark land. From the Uton side of the portal, they fired their long bows in coordinated patterns, forcing goblin war packs into retreat.
Enin stood upon the dark lands with Holli and another magic caster, the one who saved the algors from the thrastil. Obviously guarding the portal, Enin focused his crushing spells on the caelifera, wiping dozens from the sky with each incantation. Jure targeted creatures in the distance, keeping them at bay with floods of black water and driving rainstorms. Holli kept both spell casters protected with a shield of pure green energy. Not a single bolt from a goblin crossbow could penetrate the barrier.
On both sides of the portal, Ryson noted the presence of dozens of cliff behemoths. Those who stood upon the lands of Uton threw any monsters back into the rift that dared to crossover. The ones in the dark realm knocked away goblins, gremplings and bloat spiders. They cleared a path for Ryson, which he quickly crossed to reach Enin's side.