Chapter 22 #2
“I haven’t come to join you,” she said. “I have only come to kill the man responsible for Cassian’s death,” she said, and slung a spell at Elias.
Elias deftly dodged the spell with his Sunflame Spear. More of his reinforcements came, and now it was Mortandagh and Lesya alone in the Great Hall, fending off the Vanguard led by Elias.
“You fucking bitch. I should have killed you in this castle when I had the chance,” Elias said, throwing the death curse toward her. She matched it with a killing curse of her own. The two curses met in midair and canceled each other.
Then Lesya used her hand harness and pushed Elias against the wall, raising him up, bricks breaking as she pushed him deeper into the wall.
“You killed Cassian. You had no right!” she said. “No right!”
At that moment, when she rose to meet him, Elias broke himself free with the power of the Sunflame Spear, and pierced Lesya’s stomach. She fell, feeling the pain from the puncture the Spear had caused.
She healed herself from the magic that Trisha had taught her, and realized a different kind of lesson: that even in death, those who loved her stayed with her; that it was Trisha’s magic that healed her, and it was Cassian’s lessons that taught her how to be a great duelist.
With that recollected, she wrestled Elias before he had a chance to pounce on her.
She broke the Sunflame Spear free from his grip, feeling its power course through her momentarily.
She punched him. She pinned him to the ground and she punched him, breaking his teeth.
She punched him across the face, beating it to a pulp.
“You killed Cassian. You had no right! You had no right!”
To her surprise, Elias was laughing madly, and he did the same thing that she had a long time ago. He used his raw hand to conduct magic and threw her off himself, and then rose, his hand healing on its own as he picked up the Sunflame Spear.
“If you take a hundred lovers, I would kill each of them, you fucking bitch,” he said. “You’re a blot on this land, you raiser of the dead.”
“Do not talk to her like that,” said Mortandagh, and threw a series of spells, most of them stunning spells, at Elias. Since Elias was distracted, he could not defend himself, and each of the spells hit him in the chest.
“She did nothing wrong, except believe in what was true,” Mortandagh said, advancing toward Elias.
Around them, the Vanguard soldiers whom Mortandagh had been fighting had been taken care of.
They were raised as corpses, eyes vacant, skin pale, observing nothing, doing nothing except standing sentinel in the Great Hall.
“It is you who is to account for your crimes,” Mortandagh said, “and when I take my place as the rightful leader of this country, I shall make sure that your trial is public and just.”
“Fuck you, Mortandagh,” said Elias, breaking free from the stunning spells once more.
Mortandagh had closed the distance between them, and Elias made use of that by stabbing him.
Mortandagh tried to deflect the spear, but it apparently had a will of its own, and it resisted the deflection, piercing through his heart.
This time it was his own flesh that was pierced. Not that of a projection. The holy metal was in his flesh.
“No!” Lesya screamed. “No!”
She cast the killing curse at Elias. His face was contorted with shock and pain as he looked at Lesya, the person whom he had not expected to wield such power. He collapsed on the floor, lifeless, pale, unmoving.
Lesya went to Mortandagh and pulled the spear out of him. She began healing him.
“Please don’t,” Mortandagh said. “Please don’t. It has done something to me.”
He croaked. “I…I see. I see. I was misled. I was not who I thought I was.” His eyes were weeping. “I did not serve Aeterna in this life. I did not do right by her. Everything I did,” he gasped, “it was an answer to Chaos. I see it now. Please, don’t save me. I do not deserve to live.”
“Cassian,” she said. “What did you do to Cassian?”
“I would never come in the way of two lovers,” he said, weeping, his voice shallow, his hand going into his pocket.
He took out a key. “I would never scorn a woman, and certainly not you, Death Shepherd,” he said, handing her the key.
“He is preserved, waiting for you.” He gasped one final time. “I am sorry. I was blind.”
“You did not do the wrong thing,” Lesya said, giving him comfort as he died. “You have made Aladria a better place, and now those who follow you will ensure that it remains so. You have purged this world of what plagued it. You do not get to die as the villain, Mortandagh. Go. Be at peace.”
He closed his eyes and said, “I can see her now. I can see the Lady of Eternal Silence sitting there upon her throne in a graveyard. I can see that she smiles upon me at long last. I can see that she beckons me.” And then he said nothing.
His body growing colder. Skin turning even paler.
No more sound or breath coming out of him. His eyes unmoving.
Lesya closed his eyes and stood up. Around her, the war still waged. Moira and Elara Moore were engaged in a fight. Lesya stood still for a moment, witnessing the fight, watching as Moira struck a death blow upon Elara. She watched as Elara collapsed lifeless on the floor, and then she moved on.
Derleth was assisting the Deathless with what remained of the Vanguard. “Death shall hold no sway over the Deathless!” he yelled, and Lesya finally understood what that meant.
But Lesya was not concerned with any of that. Not now. Not after everything that had happened.
She had killed Elias and had witnessed the death of Mortandagh.
Now she needed to do one more thing. She teleported herself away from this battlefield of madness, the key held tight in her hand.
Behind her, the war waged on. Deathless murdered Vanguard soldiers by the dozens, but discovered that all the lifeless thralls that Mortandagh had raised were dead now.
It dawned on them that their leader was dead.
But by that time, the battle had gained too much momentum to stop.