Chapter 35

It wouldn’t have been hard to find Bora Bora’s location, even if it hadn’t been for Samuel’s tracking magic to find him. Once they’d taken to the skies on the backs of Stravians and flown a few minutes outside the city, Eric could clearly make out the columns of smoke along the road. It was still a good distance away, perhaps a mile or two, but there was no mistaking who had passed through the small settlement.

The destruction hadn’t stopped within the settlement either, they saw but continued on past it. There were dozens of bodies littered on the side of the main road that ran between the buildings. When they touched down to identify them, Eric noticed that, except for one, they were all dressed in a similar fashion, and had leather armor stamped with the same crest, a skull that appeared to have its jaw open in a laugh.

“The Laughing Lich,” he muttered. “It’s that tavern I found.”

“The one that had the other Infernal?” Megan asked. “What could the tavern owner and Umbric have to do with this?”

They looked to Samuel for the answer, who pursed his lips. “I’m not sure. I never got the chance to investigate him properly. But judging by the fact that all of his direct children are dead and many more of his descendants have been killed by these events, it’s not hard to imagine why Bora Bora is so insistent on killing him.”

“You think that one Infernal killed two gods and the Queen of a major country?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, it was Averin who killed the Queen,” Samuel corrected him. “But as for the two Infernals, it is a reasonable assumption.”

“So Bora Bora is taking revenge,” Eric said, crossing his arms. “He’s hunting one of the biggest causes of this catastrophe. Should we really be stopping him?”

“Considering that he will not stop at killing that one enemy, yes,” Samuel replied. He pulled the head of his Stravian around to face the rest of the path they were following. “He may have just enough control that he’s limiting it to his enemies, but once his goal is accomplished, he’ll lose himself completely.”

“How can you be sure?” Megan asked though she showed every sign of being prepared to follow him. “It is possible to control chaos, to a degree. You do it all the time, and even I know some ways to divert or mitigate it.”

“It is different when it has seeped into your mind,” Samuel said shortly. “There is no hope of recovery.”

With one powerful leap and a beat of its leathery wings, his Stravian shot back into the air. Eric and Megan hurriedly followed, urging their own Stravians to take to the sky as well. They flashed over the rest of the settlement, following the road as it led away. Eric had expected to find a literal trail of devastation and destruction to follow, but outside of the settlement’s walls, the road and surrounding areas seemed relatively untouched. The smoke stood as a beacon to each site of wreckage, so there was a trail of some kind to follow, at least.

He had to be going straight for the tavern, Eric thought. It was the quickest way to destroy his enemies and settle the score. As to how he’d find the tavern without any clues to go on, he had no clue. But based on the direction of his movements, he seemed to be heading more or less in a direct line, so it worked in their benefit, letting them see exactly which way they needed to go.

“There!” Samuel called, raising his voice above the wind. “Do you see him?”

Eric and Megan both strained their eyes, trying to see what Samuel could. Sure, there was a copse of trees along the road, with what looked like a small outcrop of buildings that hinted at a population, but they couldn’t make out any more details than that. Samuel noticed their hesitation and shook his head. “Remind me to teach you how to accent your sight one of these days. He’s there.”

It was only once they began to descend, diving steeply to avoid detection, that Eric caught a glimpse of what Samuel had seen. There was more smoke here, but it was less apparent, as the damage had only just been inflicted on the buildings that would create the plumes. There was also a flurry of movement by the edge of the settlement, where a crowd of figures was grouped around a lone individual. Eric would have felt very bad for the one in the center if he hadn’t had an inkling for exactly who it was.

“Megan, you’ll suppress him with magic,” Samuel said. “Eric, stay close to my back and cover for my gaps. You’ll have to be fast.”

“That’s what I do best,” Eric said. The Stravians slid for a long while on the ground as they landed at a reckless speed. Samuel, obviously more accustomed to the movement, dismounted quickly, leaping off his steed’s back before it came to a stop. For Megan and Eric, the process was a little slower, as they had to first remove the straps on their legs that had kept them in the saddle. Eric didn’t bother fiddling with the knot, and just quickly slashed the leather straps, freeing his legs and jumping off.

He rushed forward with Samuel, drawing his swords. The crowd that surrounded Bora Bora had been thinned considerably, and more than a dozen people were lying in a bloody circle or else crawling away from the terrifying image. Again, Eric noticed the matching uniforms, as well as the skull stamped onto the leather breastplates.

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“More Laughing Lich!” He shouted, pointing the fact out to Samuel. The Archmage scoffed.

“Yep, he’s definitely determined to kill them all. As much as I don’t want to protect criminals like them, we have to put him down!”

Eric felt that was an odd choice of words. Having already given into his anger once today, wouldn’t it have been wiser for Samuel to take this next fight with a more level attitude? But Samuel didn’t look angry as he ran forward. If anything, he looked deeply saddened by the task he faced. Perhaps he was doing this out of a sense of duty, he reasoned. He didn’t want to do this, but he had to.

In spite of how absorbed he was in fighting the dozen or so men still facing him, Bora Bora’s battle sense and reflexes were razor-sharp. He sensed Samuel’s approach, as well as his first attack, and the large scythe spun around just in time to hook around the crystalline blue blade, and with a powerful jerk, he flicked the smaller weapon up and out of Samuel’s hand. He followed the move with a seamless switch to a wide horizontal slash, but Samuel ducked the blade easily.

Samuel came back up when he was less than a foot away from Bora Bora, and, without a weapon to swing, he used his hands and feet, and sometimes his knees, entering into a wild display of martial power. He struck with the speed and power of a panther, forcing Bora Bora onto the defensive, driving him away from the men he’d been fighting by sheer pressure. They gave shouts of surprise as the dueling pair slipped through their circle, but showed no interest in pursuing.

Eric followed Samuel as he rushed his opponent, watching the fight critically to see what he could do, but stayed out of the reach of that nasty scythe. The aura of chaos was almost stifling at this close range. Cover his weaknesses? How could Samuel have asked that of him when he couldn’t even get close? One misstep, and the large curved blade on that scythe would cleave him in two.

The God of Dragons had been overwhelmed and distracted by Samuel’s flurry of blows at first, but he was recovering now and began to match his pace. He struck out nearly as often as he blocked or parried Samuel’s fists, and the wide-eyed expression of surprise was hurriedly changing into one of fierce determination, and then to triumph.

“No choice now,” Eric muttered, gripping his swords tightly. “Get me in there, Hunter!”

The wolf responded at once, leaping forward. He hesitated right at the edge of the weapon’s range, and predictably, Bora Bora took a swing at the beast. But Hunter leaped over the weapon easily, landing well within its range. With a powerful tug behind his gut that he associated with traveling beyond the physical plane, Eric felt himself yanked forward and found himself nearly face-to-face with the deranged God.

Instantly, his mind flashed back to the time that he’d faced Attos on the battlefield. The same sense of overwhelming power was present in Bora Bora, but stronger, and combined with the chaos raging inside and around him, it created the instinct in Eric’s mind to flee. Get far away from this creature, that primitive part of his mind said. Get far away, and don’t look back. But he pushed the instinct down, relying instead on his battle instinct, carefully honed over years of hard training with his mentor, and attacked with his swords.

The staff of Bora Bora’s weapon was rumored to be formed out of the bone of a tarrasque he’d killed, and that rumor held true now as he held it up like a quarterstaff, intercepting the two blades that Eric had slashed down at him. Next second, the blunt end whipped around, aiming for his head. Eric parried the blow, grunting with surprise at the effort it took. Samuel took a half step to the side while their opponent was distracted, and landed two powerful punches into Bora Bora’s ribs, staggering him.

Eric knew that his momentum from the original charge had been spent, but he attacked again nonetheless, applying as much pressure as he could to assist Samuel. His attacks had far less force in them without the ability to parry and spin, but he substituted speed for power and was pleased to see that he was having a noticeable effect. As he feinted a high upward slash and switched to a thrust at the last second, his blade actually slipped through Bora Bora’s guard and opened a light wound across his stomach. Blood began running down his armor in small rivulets, and he gritted his teeth in pain.

“Enough!” He bellowed, then slammed the staff of his scythe down. Samuel sensed the attack coming and managed to teleport back to a safe distance, but Eric wasn’t as lucky. An invisible wall of force slammed into him, knocking the wind out of him and throwing his stunned body back several feet. He crashed to the ground mere inches from one of the fallen criminals, and couldn’t move for a few moments as his body tried to recover.

Bora Bora was above him in an instant, his red eyes gleaming brightly even against the bright sun shining down on them. He raised his scythe for a lethal blow, but before he could bring it down, vines appeared out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around his arms and yanking him back out of sight. Eric scrambled to his feet, scooping up the one sword that was near him, and looked up.

A small figure had appeared at the very edge of the trees, and his arms were moving in a blur as he directed dozens, possibly hundreds of vines to burst out of the ground and detain Bora Bora. Many of them wrapped around his wrists and forearms, pulling them to the sides, while more seized him by the neck and forced him down onto his knees.

“Strike him now, Samuel!” The new arrival called, and Eric recognized the voice of Grimr. “We may be able to kill him if we’re quick!”

Samuel didn’t have to be told twice. In the blink of an eye, the crystalline blade was back in his hand, and he darted forward, his sword slashing for the same lethal swipe with which he’d finished Averin. But the blade was stopped a mere millimeter from his neck. Unbothered, Samuel changed direction and attacked again, then again, then again. Each time, his sword failed to find its mark. Finally, he was forced to back off, looking both perplexed and concerned.

“Pity that you’re the one my new toy is fighting, Samuel,” Bora Bora said. But Eric could tell at once that, in spite of it being his mouth that moved, it was not him speaking. “I had hoped that you would not get involved. You’re such a fine specimen of my power, after all.”

“Chaos,” Samuel breathed. “I thought you’d turn up.”