Creusus's Arc

Chapter 30 of 43

They rode south along a cart track at midday. Creusus led the horse now, Thane in the saddle, his coat still damp from last night's rain. The sun had burned off the mist. Fields opened on both sides. A small farming village sat in the shallow valley ahead, thatched roofs and stone watchtowers, hay stacked in tight rounds. Then the screaming started. A farmer ran up the track toward them, boots slapping mud, a child under one arm. Behind him more people came, dropping baskets, dropping tools. A woman fell and did not get up. Smoke lifted from one of the thatched roofs. "A man," the farmer gasped as he passed. "Black robe. He is killing everyone." Creusus dropped the reins. Thane slid down from the horse. "It is him," Creusus said. "It cannot be. He was north." "It is him." Creusus ran. Thane swore and ran after him. They cut across a hay field and came into the village square between two watchtowers. Bodies lay in the dirt. A dog stood barking at nothing. At the center of the square, in a black robe with a red hem, stood the demon in Malachai's body. His long hair moved though there was no wind. A silver earring caught the sun. A woman in a green hood stood between him and a fallen child. She had a short bow drawn. Creusus knew her face from nowhere and from everywhere: a huntress, a widow by the black band on her sleeve. She loosed her arrow. It stopped a hand's breadth from Diablo's chest and dropped. Diablo smiled and lifted one finger. The huntress's head snapped sideways. She fell. Creusus did not stop running. "Slow him," he said. Thane raised both hands. The air around Diablo thickened. Dust hung. A falling ember froze in place. Diablo turned his head through the drag like a man walking through shallow water. He looked at Thane and shrugged the spell off his shoulders. It broke apart like wet paper. Creusus was ten paces out. Diablo raised his hand toward him. "Now," Creusus said. Thane's face went white with effort. He snapped his fingers. The sound cracked across the square, high and sharp, and everything stopped. The dog stopped barking. The smoke hung in a still column. Diablo froze mid-gesture. Then Thane pushed his palms down and gravity slammed onto Diablo alone. The demon's knees buckled. His robe pressed flat to the ground. His head bowed.