Behind Khored, Janel could see explosions over Atrine. She had to assume Tyentso still fought to keep the dragon from smashing Atrine, and Morios still played.
The God of Destruction said, “Of course nothing is working. My brother is the personification of war, battle’s avatar. Combat makes him stronger. Relos Var should have told you.”
“Brother!”
“That’s my cue,” Khored said, looking over his shoulder. “I’ll distract him for as long as I can. We can’t kill each other. Believe me, we’ve both tried. Evacuate everyone from Atrine and find safe ground.” He waved a hand at Janel.
And the world shifted. She now stood inside Atrine. It was a horror of fallen buildings and crumbling masonry. Far too many bodies were visible in the streets.
Janel had no eyes for such disasters as she stood there, stunned and furious. Relos Var should have told them? Relos Var had known? Known combat would make the dragon more powerful, known Morios couldn’t be killed by violence?
But of course. Senera never would have betrayed Janel without her master’s approval, would she? This had been planned from the start.
Above Janel’s head, she saw Morios, now fighting two opponents. He was having a great time, despite the huge chunks of his scales that had been ripped away from where he’d freed himself of Tyentso’s magnetic caskets.
Wait. Why hasn’t he healed that damage?
“Don’t fight him,” she said aloud. The Name of All Things had said the only way to kill Morios was not to fight him.
Why in all the cold depths of hell had she assumed that the Cornerstone gave any answer but the literal truth? Senera could lie, but the Name of All Things never would. Morios couldn’t regenerate the injuries he’d inflicted on himself.
Janel turned around and began running toward what was left of the Temple of Khored.
61: UNDER THE WATERS
Atrine, Jorat Dominion, Quuros Empire. Three days since Kihrin made his way to the Culling Fields invisibly
As soon as Kihrin smashed the crystal, he knew he’d fucked up.
For one thing, the crystal hadn’t been solid. Rather than being a single piece of rock, the way every other Cornerstone he’d ever seen had been, this crystal formed a thin, hollow shell surrounding gems, talismans, and objects whose purpose he couldn’t fathom. Under Urthaenriel’s touch61, the crystal had shattered like glass.
For a second thing, as soon as he broke the crystal, the ground began to shake. Violently. Water began to splash onto the three of them, as their cube of air buckled and twisted.
And finally, he felt like he had been stabbed. Not physically stabbed. Kihrin felt like someone had just shoved a sword through his soul.
“Thurvishar—” Kihrin grabbed the throne for support. “Something’s wrong.”
He glanced at Thurvishar just as the wizard’s eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the ground.
“What just happened?” Brother Qown asked, running to Thurvishar’s side.
“I don’t know—” Kihrin didn’t finish the thought. He brandished Urthaenriel as she screamed a warning to him.
The water curtain parted.
And Relos Var walked into the throne room.
* * *
Morios had all but leveled the duke’s palace but had left Khored’s temple—nearly as tall—alone. As if destroying that would be rude.
Janel wasn’t the only person who’d noticed the dragon’s reluctance to demolish Khored’s cathedral either. As soon as Janel ran inside, she found Ninavis, along with Dorna, Star, and most of Ninavis’s people. Vidan looked like he’d taken some sort of head wound, while Kay Hará and Jem Nakijan both sported some ugly-looking injuries that Dorna was in the process of treating.
Talaras tossed his head back in greeting as Sir Baramon rose from where he’d been seated on the cold stone floor. “Count!”
Janel looked around. The inside of the temple was packed, but she shuddered to think that this might be the largest group of survivors.
“Oh, I’m so happy to see all of you,” she said, “but I can’t stay. Does anyone know if there are stairs to reach the upper levels?”
“Through those doors, foal,” Dorna said. “And it’s not quite as bad as it looks. We’ve stashed quite a few people down in the caves.”
Janel grinned as she ran. “Good!”
She climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the temple. When Janel had reached the highest point she could find, without scaling the outside of the building, she began shouting for Tyentso.
Morios was now exchanging blows with Khored, but Janel saw no sign of the Quuros emperor.
“Tyentso!”
A portal appeared next to Janel, and Tyentso stepped through. “Did you know, a week ago, I couldn’t open a gate at all? This crown is amazing.”
Janel laughed. The situation was horrible, the odds grim, and she was laughing.
“Tyentso, could you help me trick Morios into swallowing me whole?”
The emperor stared at her.
Janel tilted her head.
“You’re serious?”
“I think I’ve figured out how to kill him.” Janel grimaced. “At least, how to kill him temporarily. If I’m right, I will have bought two days for you and the Academy wizards to devise some solution, melt him down, transport his body out to sea … something.” Janel paused. “And if I’m wrong, the worst that happens is that I die.”
“Right. Because that’s the worst that could happen.” Tyentso shook her head. “It’s your funeral, kid, but sure, I think I can help you out.”
* * *
“Did Morios even hurt you?” Kihrin scowled at the wizard.
Relos Var laughed. “Morios doesn’t believe in ‘pretending’ to hurt someone. The injuries were real. Quite painful.”
“Good.”
“Don’t feel bad; I spent centuries setting up all the pieces to this con. Quite a few very smart people fell for it.”
With his free hand, Kihrin gestured over his shoulder, back toward the throne. “And I assume that wasn’t Morios’s Cornerstone?”
“Not in the least. You just destroyed an ancient device created a long time ago by a people now extinct. But if it makes you feel better, it would have cracked on its own in fifty years, give or take. I didn’t feel like waiting for nature to run her course.”
“You aren’t leaving here alive.” Kihrin descended the steps.
“You think I’ve never fought someone carrying Urthaenriel before?” Relos Var smiled as he circled the young man. “Please. You’re ill-equipped to deal with me.”
Kihrin suspected that was true. That trick Relos Var had pulled with the portal gates back in the tavern, for example. That could work far too well, even against someone holding Urthaenriel. But what choice did he have? Running wasn’t an option. “I think you talk a good game, Var, but you weren’t prepared for me to be the one who found Godslayer. And this time, I’m going to kill you, not the other way around.”
Relos Var stopped smiling. “Let’s find out.”
Which was when Brother Qown hit Kihrin in the head with a mud-soaked branch.