Aleira Brightleaf's Arc

Chapter 18 of 18

The green fire led them into a wide stone chamber. Azrathoth Infernus climbed onto a low black chair and sat with its small legs swinging. It barely reached Aleira's waist, red-skinned and horned, but the necromancers around the walls dropped their eyes when it moved. Its purple gaze fixed on Aleira. "Now, throneless elf. My price." Aleira kept her knife low. "Name it." Azrathoth smiled. It pointed one small finger past her, at Morwenna. "The frightened girl stays. Not as your gift. As mine. She fled my kind. She owes me her power and her years. Leave her, and your road opens." It swung its legs, cheerful. "Simple." Aleira's stomach dropped. She had offered a thing worth more than Morwenna. The creature had turned it back on her and asked for the one thing she'd promised to protect. Behind her, Morwenna made a thin sound and gripped her dead staff. "No," Aleira said. "She's under my word. I keep my word." The swinging legs stilled. Azrathoth's smile stayed, but the warmth left it. "Then you all burn." It raised one hand. Around the chamber, a dozen necromancers lifted their staffs. Green fire swelled at the tips. Hazel yelped and stumbled back, her hat tipping over her eyes. Aleira had one card left. "Wait." She turned to Hazel and spoke fast and quiet. "The floor. Aim at the floor. Right where I point." She jabbed her finger at the stone beneath Azrathoth's chair. Hazel's hands shook. "I'll miss, I always miss—" "I know," Aleira said. "Miss." Hazel squeezed her eyes shut and flung her spell at the floor. It went wide, as it always did. The bolt struck the ceiling above the black chair. Stone cracked. A slab dropped and slammed down beside Azrathoth. The little ruler tumbled off its seat and rolled across the floor, robe over its horns, legs kicking in the air. The necromancers froze. Their master lay flipped on its back like an upturned beetle, tiny and helpless, gold thread in the dust. For one breath no one moved. Aleira crossed the room and pressed her knife to the creature's throat. "Call them off," she said. "Or your road ends here, in your own dark." Azrathoth stopped kicking. Its purple eyes found hers. Then it laughed, high and delighted. "Bold," it wheezed. "I said it breaks nicely. But you don't break, do you." It lifted one hand. The green fires died. "Take your girl. Take your road. Up that shaft, elf. It reaches the surface." Aleira did not lower the knife until Morwenna and Hazel had backed to the shaft. Then she stepped away. Azrathoth rolled upright and brushed off its robe. "Go build your chair," it called after her. "I'll want to see it. And you'll owe me for this road. I always collect." Aleira climbed toward the surface with Morwenna and Hazel above her, her word kept and a new debt on her back.