The Gods Awaken

CHAPTER EIGHT

Oh, how he danced. Danced, danced, danced. Danced to the beat of the harvest drums…

Safar fought against the spell's fierce grip. He groaned with effort as the cosmic puppeteer manipulated the strings, forcing him through another performance on the doomed stage that was Hadin.

All around him his eternal companions pranced and sang, giving themselves over joyously to the harvest queen's song: "Lady, O Lady, surrender/ Surrender…"

Smoke once again columned up from the volcano that formed a backdrop for the dancing queen.

Showering sparks flitted through the black smoke in seeming time to the music.

Any moment now history would repeat its terrible cycle and Safar would once again experience the soul-searing death of flesh, bone and spirit.

But now there was a difference. And with that difference came hope. It seemed to him that he'd regained awareness more quickly than the other times he'd been resurrected in the eternal hell that was Hadinland.

And now he was armed not only with the words of Asper's spell, but also with the memory of Palimak charging out of the mist of some Spellworld on the muscular back of Khysmet.

Of course, it could all be merely another awful manifestation of the eternal damnation that he'd been flung into when he'd first cast the spell back in Esmir. In fact, he had no proof that the original spell had worked. He had only a vague feeling of success. For all he knew the poisons might still be pouring through the magical portal that linked Hadin with Esmir.

Another worry-what about Iraj? What had happened to him? Safar had a skin-crawling suspicion that his old enemy lurked nearby. Perhaps not exactly in the Spellworld of the doomed Hadin. But close.

Very close.

He tried to concentrate. Tried to push his magical senses into places where he thought Iraj might be hiding. But he was so caught up in the spelldance that he could only keep prancing like a naked clown.

"Lady, O Lady/ Surrender…"

Slapping his palms against his chest. Pounding time with his bare feet in the hot sand.

For a frightening second he nearly lost control-and with it his will to cast the spell that he prayed would free him.

Then he heard the distant thunder of the volcano building toward its fiery climax. The queen turned to observe the eruption and then shout her belated warning to her doomed flock. Just as she had hundreds of times before.

Grasping for all his strength, Safar quickly began to chant the words of Asper's spell:

"Hellsfire burns brightest

In Heaven's holy shadow.

What is near

Is soon forgotten;

What is far…

Iraj struggled higher onto the rock.

Or at least he imagined it as a rock. Just as he imagined the soul-burning sea behind him to be something that could be described as a "sea." Never one for deep reflection, Iraj had no sense of the metaphysical, much less words to describe it.

All he knew was that he could hear Safar's voice. And although that voice came from a place he couldn't see, he was certain it was quite close.

There it was now:

" … Embraced as brother;

Piercing our breast with poison,

Whispering news of our deaths…

Iraj knew instinctively that his enemy was preparing to escape.

And he was determined to escape with him.

Iraj flung himself higher, ignoring the pain as he flopped onto the rough surface. At the end of the rock was a blue-gold shimmer of light. He thought he could make out movement in that light. Gigantic shadows, dancing to a rhythm he couldn't hear.

Safar was one of those shadows.

He was sure of it.

Iraj reached … reached … reached…

The primitive creature that was Kalasariz saw Iraj moving and cried out to the others. "The king," he rasped. "Follow the king!"

Racked by pain, he heaved closer to Iraj.

Behind him the two wormlike things who were Fari and Luka heard his call.

Desperately they forced their bodies after him.

Lava was already rolling down the sides of the volcano when Safar chanted the last lines of the spell:

" … For she is the Viper of the Rose

Who dwells in far Hadinland!"

A great cloud of black smoke burst from the mouth of the volcano. The queen and the other dancers screamed in terror.

Safar braced for the mighty blast of hot breath that he knew would follow.

But just then he heard a shrill animal cry. With that cry came power over his own limbs and he sagged-nearly falling to the sand. It was as if the puppet strings had been suddenly cut.

There was another shrill trumpeting and he staggered to his feet. With difficulty, he turned on numb limbs and his blood thrilled when he saw an amazing creature charging across the beach.

It was Khysmet! White coat gleaming silver in the sun.

Safar didn't stop to think where he had come from, or how. Somehow he got the strength to move forward. Then to run on legs that felt like dead stumps as he staggered across the sand to meet the stallion.

When he reached him, he gathered all his strength and threw himself on Khysmet's broad back.

The horse swung around and sprinted for the shoreline where the waves crashed over a tumble of black rocks.

At that moment the volcano erupted.

An enormous blast of burning hot wind smashed against them.

But instead of dying, they were flung high into the air.

Safar had a sensation of soaring. Then he felt Khysmet plunge forward. It was as if the stallion had suddenly grown wings and they were hurtling across a flame-washed sky.

Behind him he heard someone shout: "Safar!"

It was Iraj's voice.

Safar bent around, but there was nothing to see except the smoking ruins of the island.

Then he felt something sear his chest and he cried out in surprise and pain. It seemed to burn through flesh and bone, then pierce his heart like a fire arrow.

And then the pain was gone as quickly as it had come.

Khysmet trumpeted joy, surging forward with even greater speed.

Safar was too weary to feel anything now. He collapsed on the horse's back, letting his friend carry him away to wherever he wanted to go.

Still, he couldn't help whispering, "Free, free." And then he thought he heard a faint echo: " Free, free."

Stupefied by exhaustion, he barely registered that echoing voice.

Then darkness seized him and he knew nothing more.