Chronicles of Kings and Knights/10

Chapter 41
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But Hobenrûd had no time to feel glee or remorse, he went back to his companions, only eleven had survived, and together, they went to the king's chamber, at the sixth floor of the central tower of the keep, facing only little opposition. The room was big, but it had little furniture. This room was only supposed to be used by the king in case of assault, so most of his books and things were still in the palace. But there was no one in the room. The king had escaped.

"NO!" yelled Hobenrûd, punching the wall, his head hanged down. The king was not here. He and his Sardinian allies could come back and retake the throne after the war was over. It was all lost. Then, a brown-haired soldier beside him pointed to a metal ladder that went up to the roof, saying that the king could be there. And Hobenrûd, desperate, did not think twice before climbing.

From the roof, he could see the whole battle. The fields and buildings were burning from dragon-fire, many, many people, that looked like ants from up there, were fighting, and killing each other, and many buildings of the city were simply reduced to rubble. There was smoke and dust everywhere, and some twisters could be seen where Anita was presumably fighting. Marin was probably down there. Hobenrûd shook his head and refocused his thoughts.

On the roof, there was a strange metallic contraption, big, with pointy parts and round parts and reflective parts and a small transparent part with strange "metal threads" coming out of it. It was decidedly weird, and like nothing Hobenrûd had ever seen before. But he was forced out of his amazement as one of his companions flew high to the sky and came crashing down,screaming. All in less than two seconds. The king was there.

Two of them simply flew in opposite directions, as a man with a strange appearance appeared from behind the contraption, dressed in brown garb, wearing painted wooden armour, half of his face was hidden behind a red wooden mask, and the other half had tattoos, a thin and long moustache, like a snake, flowing down his right cheek. One of his hands was enclosed in a heavy metal glove, it was carrying a sceptre, and his right arm was made of what seemed to be an eerie blue light.

the king made a movement with his hand in the direction of another one of the soldiers, and his arms pulled themselves off, and those arms smashed the face of two others. Then his hand turned on Hobenrûd's direction. Nothing happened. He did more movements, with both hands, and nothing continued to happen. The visible half of his face smiled, "You are the one. Good. I won't need to go down there to take it. This will make matters easier."

He made new movements with his hands, but, even though three of them fell, they went much slower than before. Trying to move Hobenrûd made the king...weaker? Hobenrûd looked at his bracelet. The other two charged at the king, and one had his guts slashed, and the other was impaled by a quick attack from the sharp lower end of the king's sceptre. Attacks that were obviously made by someone with great skill. Hobenrûd was alone.

"Give up! Your magic is of no use against me! I will have mercy on your life if you give up!" Hobenrûd told the king, and, even to him, it sounded false.

"I don't need my magic," the king said, moving toward Hobenrûd.

"Your daughter may have died," Hobenrûd told him, "there in the fields. Stop resisting, no one else in your family has to die," he felt bad using Marin to get this monster to give up, but it was for the good of everyone. And to his surprise, the king did stop for a second, but only for a second.

"She betrayed me. I gave her all she could want, and she betrayed me...I guess no one will ever replace Mar-yo," Hobenrûd was going to ask who Mar-yo was, but instead he assumed a battle position, the king was closing in. And he was indeed skilled, Hobenrûd found. His sceptre was in fact a weapon, a spear of some sort, with a extensible cutting tip.

The king deflected his every strike with the golden ball on the upper side of the sceptre, and tried more than once than thrust the extensible tip in his arm. But Hobenrûd was also skilled, and even though he was tired from all the fighting, it wasn't easy for the king to finish him without resorting to magic. He sidestepped every thrust the king tried at him, parried every slashed, and only was hit twice by the ball.

Soon, a dragon-rider saw the commotion on the roof, and steered his giant beast to spew flames on the king. And as the huge animal breathed flames on the rooftops, the king made a movement with his hand, and, somehow, the flames couldn't reach him, as if there was an invisible shield around the rooftop. Then, the dragon's neck suddenly went on a perfect vertical line, and a loud cracking sound could be heard. The dragon, dead, fell into the fighting soldiers in front of the keep.

Hobenrûd and struck his mightiest blow at the king's wooden armour as he was distracted. But, though the king decidedly felt the blow, the armour didn't break, or crack, or shatter. It was if the runes inscribed on it made it indestructible. The king counter-attacked with a kick, that pushed Hobenrûd away. Then he jumped and quickly tried to slash Hobenrûd, but he was prepared and parried. Taking some distance. Both men were panting now.

They ran at each other, screaming madly, their weapons clashed, again, and again. Hobenrûd managed to avoid a parry and slash the king's leg, away from the armour, but it was only a small wound, hardly felt. The king, filled with rage, rotated the sceptre while yelling magical words, the sceptre glowed with an eerie blue light, that slowly went up until it enveloped the king's whole body.

They fought again, but this time, the king managed to get upper hand and the sceptre partly wounded Hobenrûd's left arm. The king kicked his right leg and punched his face, throwing him to the ground. He then went to Hobenrûd and took the bracelet off his arm with his metal glove. The light surrounding slowly faded, and his right arm seemed to be fading too.

Without the bracelet, Hobenrûd could do nothing as the king pushed him, trying to throw him out of the building, but with the bracelet in hand, his powers were highly diminished, so instead he simply kept Hobenrûd forcefully on the ground, as he went to the large artefact, press a small mound, opening a small transparent box, and put the red crystal there. "Ah, finally, the daemon stone," he said, "I was worried that you might not reach me. That those Sardinians were going to be too much for you. But I see you are good."

On the ground, Hobenrûd could barely speak "Why do you need that? It sucks your power."

"Tsk, tsk, Idiot. You cannot even begin to comprehend the power of this artefact, that all thought lost. Amplifying its power I can gather enough magical energy from around the world to open a portal big enough for Kiros to get in. Then, finally, I will be able to rule over this place and make a good future for mankind. I trusted too much the soldiers, but they are a savage and uncontrollable lot. Kiros, on the other hand, is just as savage, but much more controllable."

"The Bloody God?"

"Yes. It once roamed this world, until wizards banished him. It gave everyone so much of a impression that it was included in the ancient pantheon. But ultimately, he's just a monster," the king said, moving around and tinkering with his machinery, "Unfortunately, it is much easier for one to open a gate out of this world than one into this world. And they still needed the combined power of twenty wizards at the time. For some reason, I think I won't find fifty willing colleagues to help me in this, so I will have to do it alone."

"Are you insane!? Bringing the Bloody God back will be terrible! He destroyed the entire ancient civilization!" Hobenrûd struggled to stand on his feet, but the power binding him was much too strong.

The king didn't answer, he just pressed another elevation and the artefact started to move by itself, opening reflective wings, and the transparent box where the crystal was started to glow in red light. Hobenrûd could feel a strange convergence of power to the roof of the keep. The king rose his hands to the skies and started chanting.

Hobenrûd realized he could move, slowly, if he made enough effort. The king's power was waning, as the crystal concentrated all magical power in vicinity. He struggled to stand on his feet, but all he could do was to half-crouch, half-stand. His arm seemed ready to fall down as he stretched it to get the sword. The king didn't notice, as Hobenrûd was behind him, and he was far too focused on his ceremony.

Hobenrûd moved, inch by inch, as the king shouted strange magical words, "Vilionis, capahigs, Summ, Abaopis, Kiaugar, Havabe, he hu ytjd pred, YUTH MAKABAR! Istroboli, khulibv..." the chant was cut short as Hobenrûd's sword pierced his chest, shoving him on the artefact. The king tried to get up, but all he managed to do was to embed the sword even deeper within him, until he no longer moved.

But the artefact hadn't stopped glowing, noticing that the glow of the crystal seemed to be growing, and the very air around them felt warped. Hobenrûd realized that it was too late, the gate was opening. Instead of giving up, he tried tinkering with the artefact, but it was too complicated for his understanding. Looking at the transparent box that held the crystal, Hobenrûd decided that he had to do something, to save the world, to save Ruivoca, to save the people, to save Marin.

He punched the box, there was a flash of light, and then darkness.