The Book of Terrus: A Land of Sunlight

Chapter 25 - The Breaking of Things

OoOoO

A deadly lull filled The Lair; a temporary pause in what had previously been fierce fighting between the Stargazers and the city guards. Now, with scarcely more than a dozen Stargazers left besides Kiiss's family, the odds were truly turned against Vinie and Gideo. They stood, skin blistering with burns, lungs filled with smoke, staring hopelessly out into the encircling mass of soldiers. Three hundred men at least, all in shining plate armour, their gleaming swords and shields as implacable as an executioner's mask.

Up in the royal viewing box, where the last of the Stargazers in the stands had just been killed, King Mahir straightened his ornate, blood-spattered breastplate. The royal crown insignia - embossed in steel over Mahir's heart - gleamed as red as the rubies in the actual crown upon his head. Behind Mahir, the surviving members of Goran's Magicol looked on, some with satisfaction, others with dread. Prince Hithon, trembling and pale, reached out a hand toward his father's turned back...and then slowly withdrew it. The king was speaking.

"This ends now...no more talk or theatrics. Guards!"

The ring of soldiers surrounding Vinie, Gideo, and the Stargazers acknowledged Mahir's unspoken command with a clang of swords against shields. The sound echoed like the toll of a death knell in the now-empty arena.

"Stay behind us," Ekene muttered to Ijireen, who stood empty-handed in their midst.

Ijireen's red eyes narrowed, staring down the advancing wall of soldiers. Then they flared bright with magic.

"No," she said, pushing forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the grown men and women around her.

To Vinie, the moment felt unreal, as if it were playing out in a dream. The pain of her burns...the scrape of armour as three hundred soldiers closed in...Anuli StarGazer lying dead nearby, her blood soaking red into the white sand.

A white-hot spike of pain up her arm brought Vinie back to herself. Looking down, she realized that Gideo was holding her hand, their reddened, swollen fingers scarcely able to fit together. The two of them gazed at one another, wordlessly sharing a lifetime's worth of regret, unrealized dreams, and love.

BOOOOOM

From the sky above, a clap of thunder so loud it could be felt in everyone's bones shook the stadium. With so much happening on the ground, no one had spared a moment to look up. If they had, they would have seen the sky over Amenthere curdling, filling with a swirling spiral of gray-green clouds as dark and angry as the fiercest sea.

BOOOOOM

Again, thunder shook The Lair, louder than any landslide in The Teeth. The commanding officers of the royal guard paused, many stopping in mid-advance to peer uncertainly up at the sky. In the royal box, even Mahir looked up, eyes narrowed fiercely against the first drops of falling rain.

"What is this?" Mahir glanced back over one shoulder at Arzai. "This is no natural storm."

And indeed it was not. Lighting illuminated the swirling maelstrom of clouds, for a split-second casting every face below in stark contrast of dark and light. Rain was beginning to fall faster now, clattering down as hard and cold as ice. Stargazers and soldiers alike stood transfixed, mouths hanging open as another bolt of lightning turned the sky an aquatic greenish-black. Moving like dream-walkers, the Obads came to stand beside Mahir at the balcony rail, staring. All were bathed in the angry glow of the heavens.

BOOOOOOM

Another crash of thunder, and this time lightning followed immediately after. Straight from the heart of the storm, the bolt struck one of the stone dragons perched atop the upper rim of The Lair directly at its base. Carven wings did nothing to keep the dragon aloft, and with an earsplitting crack it pitched forward. Directly beneath the falling behemoth, those in the royal box had nowhere to run.