King of Dust

Chapter 31

The horned witch leapt from the stairs at Yra. She cackled and pulled barbed chains from her hips, swinging them at him. She hit him square on, and he was unready for her attack. She pulled him in and held him close to her chest. "Hello, sweet one," she cooed. "Ooh, aren't you pretty."

Yra punched her directly in the face and rolled away from her, escaping her grasp. "I'm not into chicks!"

He dashed back toward her, his hands glowing, and struck. Before he could celebrate, the dead-looking sister shrieked and pointed a finger, sending a bolt of light just like Astrid's at him. He flew across the mill and into the wall, crumbling the bricks on contact, and then onto the floor, unconscious.

In the chaos, I turned to the monster who had just hurt my friend. "End this, now!" I screamed. I cast the same spell I had on the hag on her daughter, but the magick just bounced off. I roared out in frustration. They needed to make up their minds. Were they dead, or weren't they?

Someone touched my cheek. I turned to look Clara directly in the eye, and she smirked at me. "Surprised your magick didn't work? You never were very clever, were you? Your brother was much smarter."

"Clara... are you... are you real?" I started to reach for her, but she grabbed my hand with blistering strength.

"You're nothing without vampirism. Why would you want to get rid of it? Beyond your undead immortality, you're... what? A sniveling boy who can't let things go? Old hat? Unwanted? The townspeople would put your head on a pike if you gave them the chance."

Looking at her gave me a scorching headache, and I covered my eyes to protect them. I couldn't let this witch's magick get me. She was not real, I had to tell myself. Just an illusion. But that illusion hurt.

"How does it feel?" the hag cackled. "How does it feel to not live up to anyone's expectations? We will not fail. You may have popped the bubble, your precious Clara saw to that, but you will not keep us from harvesting souls to maintain our youth."

Urien struck the horned witch with fury. She reeled under the weight of Reckoning. Urien looked to the window, got an idea, and then yelled, "Back up, Darius!"

Urien's blade flew over my head and into the horned witch. Astrid focused on Urien's target and set a bright bolt of light in the witch's direction. It struck, and the witch screamed out in fury. The spectral scythe followed. The witch threw one chain at Astrid and missed, but the second one landed. Astrid screamed as she was yanked across the room into the grip of the witch.

"I like girls too," she cooed in Astrid's ear.

A bolt of light struck me, though I didn't know from where. I returned my attention to the hag in the center of the mill and hit her with a spell. She stumbled backward, the death magick eating her alive, but it wasn't enough. Clara held my hands and kept me from casting any more.

"Stop it, Darius. Just give up. Witches created you to make a perfect dark prince, and a cult to worship you rose to follow. The cult may have died, but you remained undying." Clara pushed a stray hair out of my face. "And then what did you do with that power? Nothing."

Her voice echoed around in my head, and I dropped to my knees. "Stop it!"

"Fine," she said as she faded away. "Just remember you couldn't even get saving me right."

Something prickled my skin. The world slowed down and when I opened my eyes, the witch in front of me pulled her arm back to sling a spell. I jumped out of the way and a lightning bolt whizzed by my head, crackling into the stone structure behind me. The wood nearby splintered and caught fire. Some of the electricity jumped to the edge of my fingertips and rocketed through my body, throwing me to the ground.

With a final stroke, Urien felled the horned witch. Astrid cried out in relief as the witch turned to dust. Urien's spinning blade hit the corpse-like witch and knocked her from the stairs. Astrid held her hands out and the entire room glowed in light. I regained a little of my strength, and Yra dragged himself to his feet, holding his hand to his head.

Yra growled, attacking the younger witch with fury. She cried out and held a hand up, her arms trembling from the effort. The dust and dirt exploded from the window, casting sunlight onto the floor of the mill. From that sunlight a creature grew, large and armored in light.

"Back away from the guardian!" Urien called. "Focus on the other hag!"

I slung ice in the direction of the older hag, and a magick icicle hit her in the side of the face, tearing open her skin. She retaliated by shooting more magick darts at us. One tore open my clothes, and I looked down at my arm. All the damage that had been done to me remained. Blood stained the fabric. A dull pain crept up my arm, and that dullness turned to sharp, throbbing pain. My eyes watered at a sensation I had not felt for hundreds of years. Why was I not healing?

Reckoning exploded in light against the body of the undead witch. The guardian of light batted at Urien, which knocked him back a few feet. The guardian of light batted Urien and his circular blade away in two swats as though they were nothing but toys. Yra charged the older witch, bringing her to her knees. We were winning this fight.

The undead witch dashed across the room and reached desperately for Urien's arm, but I slung another icicle at her, and she dropped to the floor. I held my breath. It could not be that simple.

I conjured another icicle, and the old hag dropped to the floor. Alive... but barely. Now, for her daughter. Just as I turned to make another killing strike, she crossed her arms and scowled. "Pitiful. You're Darius Starbán? Honestly, I'm glad we made another one."

"Another one of what?" Urien demanded.

At that, the witch turned to dust, the tornado exploding through the top of the mill. A beam of sunlight shot through the roof, leaving a bright patch on the floor, and the guardian exploded into nothing more than glittering light on the wind.

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