Way Beneath Kingdoms, Book 3

Prologue He had not known pain until now; that sensation had been the preserve of mortal flesh and he had not thought to experience it. Nor had he anticipated a second defeat, yet that had come and with it such exquisite pain his preternatural senses exploded in disorder. Vision was gone; taste, smell, hearing lost; touch became an abstract, consumed beneath the raw wash of agony. His universe, his very being, was suffering, the pain overriding all save the one remaining sensation: fear. Fear was a permanent thing for all who served Ashar; more so for him, who was created of and by the god, who was so wholly Ashar's creature. And fear possessed him now. He felt it in the deepest channels of his unnatural being, gripping him with a strength that slowly overcame the pain, relegating that anguish to a secondary status in his returning awareness. He had failed his master again. The once at the Lozin Gate, where the might of the Horde he had raised to bring Ashar's will to the Three Kingdoms broke against the determination of a single manling, and now again when that same weak creation of flesh and blood had stood against him, aided by no more than a weaker woman. And the talisman, said a voice that was not a voice but a crescendo of agony within him. He opened his eyes and saw only fire. Ashar's fire, that had sustained him and now seared him. He screamed, knowing the fury of his master, and the fire abated a fraction, enough that he could assess his situation, order his memories, sense the emptiness inside him. "The talisman?" he asked in a voice that quavered, no longer confident. Kyrie's talisman! The god spat the words as if even mention of the Lady's name was distasteful. "She gave them power?" He saw a fragment of hope, a faint glimmer of optimism that glinted dimly through the threatening flames. Estrevan gave them the stones; the two halves of the talisman. With those they defeated you. He shuddered afresh. Had his eyes been capable of producing tears he would have wept, but they could not and instead he said, "Kedryn was blind." Kedryn regained his sight, the god responded, he entered the netherworld with the woman and found the one you used to take his eyes. Borsus gave him back his sight. "Borsus?" Disbelief was in his reply. "Borsus was my man. How might he aid Kedryn Caitin?" Did I create so feeble a creature? The utter contempt stung him with a fiery lash. Do you know that all is a balance? That for each move of mine there is a countermove sheagain the single word was spat outmay take? It is decreed so by a power greater even than mine, and that allowed the one they call the Chosen to gain back his lost sight. I had thought to outmaneuver her; thought that your suborning of the one called Hattim Sethiyan must win me the game, but it did not. You failed me, Taws. He felt resentment then, and the god's knowledge of it brought pain afresh to the embodiment of his creation. He screamed, knowing the ululation was as music to his master and might thus placate the god. After what was either a little while or an eternity the anguish eased and he spoke again, fearfully, knowing that he pleaded for his very existence. "I did not know he penetrated the netherworld. I did not know he had regained his sight. I did not know he possessed the half of the talisman, the woman the other." And I could not warn you, said the god. She is strong in the Kingdomsstronger now for your defeatand I could only trust in you to do my will there. "As I did," Taws moaned, cringing as the flames that surrounded him burned brighter. "Had I but known of the talismans I could have taken measures against their power." You had knowledge of the ones whose souls you drank, countered Ashar. YouWells, Angus is the author of 'Way Beneath Kingdoms, Book 3', published 1995 under ISBN 9780553762938 and ISBN 0553762931.