Chapter Twenty-Seven
Another Mend Flesh flowed into Halia. She groaned as the last of the pain from her father's attack vanished. Leo held out a weary hand to her. She took it and he hauled her to her feet, her blessed sword lying on the ground.
Leo groaned. He stood naked before her, his protective spells banished. Isatu paced the room. It was too small for her. The throne room was huge, but not big enough for a dragoness. Halia bent down and picked up her father's sword.
Tears stung her eyes.
"What did your father become?" asked Leo. "He said he was a saint? A returned hero? Is that a thing?"
Halia tried to speak, but emotion choked her voice.
"It is not," said Fara. The elf stepped into the throne room. She held her journal in one hand, her phoenix quill in the other. "I know not how he occurred. Spirits do not return. No such event has ever been recorded in the annals of the Great Library of Lyrialiasa. Further, he had been imbued with darkness. That blood that was spurting out of him was power being fed into him by the Lord and Lady of Darkness themselves. They have declared war on you."
"He wanted to kill me, too," Halia whispered, shaking.
Then Leo's arms were around her. She closed her eyes and melted into him. She hugged him back, her body trembling. It was all so much. She had wanted to walk in her father's footsteps. To be as mighty a hero as him. They had come from a long line of heroes who wielded her blessed blade. Men and women who had fought the dungeon builders.
And what had she done? Fallen in love with a dungeon builder.
A good man. I love a good man. Not a monster. Not
Fuegin
or one of the other foul things. Leo will change this world if he's given a chance. It can end. All this pain and suffering.
Her goddess agreed. Lady Sherida had blessed Halia.
But the Gods of Darkness had other ideas.
"Was that even your father?" Leo asked.
The words startled her. She pulled from his embrace to stare him in the eyes. "It had his appearance."
"And? What sort of man was your father?"
A smile spread on Halia's lips. "The greatest of men. A loving and patient father. A devoted husband. He hated leaving us, but he did it to protect us and the world. He was the best of men, Leo."
"So was that him?"
Halia considered his words. "No. Not the father I knew. That was... a shadow."
Leo held her tight again. She closed her eyes as she savored his strength about her. Her hands stroked his back. Her head rested on his shoulder. The dungeon felt so empty. All the monster girls were gone. Only four individuals stood in his dungeon.
Halia couldn't remember when so few had survived.
"We are going to have to find a way to hurt him," Leo said, pulling away from her. "He's fast and can take wounds."
"My mouth almost killed him, Lord Leo," growled Isatu. Despite how her voice rumbled at such deep registries, she still had a feminine cast to her words.
"Unless I find another Mana Vein, I won't get to use you again like this," Leo said. "We need something else.
"Death magic, maybe," Fara said.
"What?" Leo snapped his gaze to the elf.
"If he's been returned to life, then maybe death magic is more effective. And we have the Blessed Blade of Light. Anguin's own weapon. It is interesting that he was returned by the opposite of what he served."
"This is the Blessed Blade of Light?" gasped Halia. She touched the hilt of her sword.
The elf blinked her large, violet eyes. "You did not know? But you are Anguin's daughter. He was the wielder of that blade, and when he died, it appeared in your hands."
"Yes," Halia said. She swallowed. "I didn't know. My father died before he could train me."
"There were once twelve blessed blades," Fara said. "As far as I know, yours is the only one that remains. The others were lost when the heroes who wielded them perished and their bloodlines went extinct. The blades can only be recalled to the direct descendant of the last wielder. A son or daughter. A line of firstborn heirs stretching back to those first twelve gifted the blades to stand against the first dungeon builder."
"Okay," Leo said. "That's something. Any way we can keep him from being recalled when he gets his ass kicked?"
Fara frowned. "I don't know. But your Strobe spell definitely distracted him. He could parry your Dazzling Sword, but it did hurt him when you sacrificed Paanee."
Leo shifted his shoulders and looked down at his feet. Halia could feel the shame radiating off him.
"Didn't kill him."
"You failed to cut him in half." Fara glanced at Halia. "I suspect the Blessed Blade is the key. The weapon forged by the Lord and Lady of Light thrust against the soul returned from death by the Lord and Lady of Darkness."
"So I have to kill my own father?" Halia swallowed. She had a hard time fighting him. He disarmed her too easily. The disappointment on his face had so shaken her, he had nearly killed her. "I'm not sure I can."
Leo cupped her face. "I understand."
He kissed her. She closed her eyes. It was a comforting and loving kiss. He wasn't disappointed in her that she couldn't fight her father. He had been twisted into something repugnant. She had to find the courage to free him. There was no other way, was there? She had to be strong. She had to overcome her emotions and thrust her sword into his guts.
For Leo. For her family here.
She broke the kiss, not sure if she could find that strength.
Leo stroked her cheek for one more moment and then turned to Fara. "How do I get death magic? I'll have to kill a dungeon builder with it." Leo swallowed. "And we don't even know that it will help."
"My father had Death," Isatu said, her voice a deep rumble.
"Your father?" Leo asked. He turned to her. "Who is your father?"
"Meskalamdug." Isatu sat on her hunches. "He tamed my mother, Girru, a mighty fire dragoness. They made me before they died. Mother used to tell me all about Father while I was in my egg. How he had come to this world from another, how he had been given the power of Death by the Soul of the Word. And how he was looking for the Word. The one who had brought him here."
"Death was his original glyph," Leo said. "Explains his name. Meskalamdug the Flaming Devil. He got Fire from your mother and had Death from crossing over. But I don't see how that helps."
"His Void Crystal was never claimed," Fara said. She stepped up beside Leo. "No dungeon builder ever claimed it and the power it held. Nor have any adventurers seized it for the value it possesses to mages. Down beneath our feet, lies your access to the Death Glyph."
Isatu nodded. "When I first hatched, I would visit it between naps, but after a few rests, I was too big to fit down the tunnel. I was trapped in the large room. I dreamed so much of Mother and Father. I was so alone, but now I have you, my Lord."
Leo smiled at that. "We'll claim it after I set things to right. Anguin is not coming back right away. He will regroup. Make plans. We have to be ready.
Hope blossomed in Halia. They would find a way to redeem her father's soul and free him from whatever dark curse Lord Zuen and Lady Ninazu had put on him. By Lady Sherida, I will free you, Father!
* * / *
Fara and Halia followed me to the Vault.
As we passed through the empty living quarters, which rang in the silence of my missing family, I thought about what I had said. When I cast fire magic, I called upon the power of Lord Gibil and Lady Lamashtu, and yet those were not the names I had called upon. While I didn't know all the gods, I had three-quarters of the glyphs now. I lacked only Death, Thunder, and Wind.
"Fara, who are Lord Usumgallu and Lady Palil?" I asked. "Which gods are they? Death, maybe? Or Thunder? No, none of those feel right. Wind?"
"They are not gods. Lady Palil was the first dragoness. She hatched from an egg made up of all the elements. This was before the dungeon builders. She was a wild thing and caused much suffering to the cave-dwelling dwarves, the forest-dwelling elves, the plains-dwelling humans, and the coastal-dwelling halflings. But one man named Usumgallu tamed her. They had twenty-four hatchlings. A male and female of each of the twelve elements. You called on the progenitor of the dragon race."
"Ah," I said. "Interesting."
"Mmm, it is," said Fara. "I had known there were words to be spoken, but it was exciting hearing you say them. And the words to your spells. They are very formulaic. You call upon the very gods that war with you."
"They don't have a choice," I said. "No wonder they hate me."
I unlocked the door to the Vault with a touch. Only I could open the door. It creaked open to reveal the black gem on its plinth. Souleen perked up as she sat on it. Such relief flitted across her expression at the sight of me.
"Lord Leo," she said, standing up, her tan-brown body quivering. "I was so worried for you. It was horrible. All your servants are sleeping inside of me. They are all dreaming of you, worried for you. This was a massacre."
I nodded. "Yea, it was. You remember Fara."
"It is a pleasure to see you again, Lady Fauraliiithiliana," Souleen said, managing to say that trilling name with all its vowels. I don't know how she did it. "I am thankful that you are safe."
"It was..." Fara swallowed. "I have never been more scared in my life." The elf advanced on the crystal. "I am curious about you. I think... Would you mind answering some questions? I could use a distraction."
"Of course!"
"So you are the Soul of the Word. The embodiment of the power that Leo draws upon?"
"I am the Word given Shape," said Souleen. "The Word creates all things. I am its Soul."
"Or a piece of it," I said.
"One tailored for Lord Leo," Souleen said. She grabbed her boobs. "He is fond of what he calls 'MILFs.' Motherly, busty women with ample attributes for him to play with."
