Darkness Ascending (The Paladin Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  DARKNESS ASCENDING

  Third and Final Novel of

  The Paladin Trilogy

  James A. Hillebrecht

  STORY MERCHANT BOOKS

  BEVERLY HILLS

  2012

  Copyright © 2012 by James A. Hillebrecht All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author.

  http://www.jamesahillebrecht.com

  Story Merchant Books

  9601 Wilshire Boulevard #1202

  Beverly Hills CA 90210

  http://www.storymerchant.com/books.html

  Cover Art Copyright © 2012 by John J. Blumen

  To Maggie

  For Being my Map

  A Mountain Endures. A Man Responds.

  Proverb of the Highlanders

  PROLOGUE

  Father Joshua reeled backwards amid the crowd on the Third Wall of Jalan’s Drift, eyes wide, heart thundering, unable to grasp all that had transpired in such little time.

  The entire city was in chaos. The great battle between champions had ended with the re-animation of the Juggernaut, and just as quickly, the horror had been blasted out of existence, taking the Paladin Darius with it. The Arch-Wizard Malcolm had appeared unexpectedly right in their midst, a guardian angel revealed to save them from the dread forces unleashed against the city, and the next moment, the man had been obliterated by the very powers he had come to challenge. The attending Median who had watched over the struggle between champions and was prepared to enforce the conclusion had declared victory for the city, only to have Duke Argus emerge with the green scepter called the Ohric and encapsulate Brillis, the Mayor of the Drift, in green fire, before claiming command of both the invading Silver Horde and the city itself.

  Joshua felt stone against his back, some kind of support, and he grabbed it blindly like a drowning man. He was one of the few who had truly believed that Darius would prevail against Regnar’s champions, despite the overwhelming odds, for he had seen Darius fight before and understood his strength came from the purity he carried within him. The destruction of Malcolm and the emergence of Argus with the Ohric seemed almost like secondary effects from the failure of Darius to prevail.

  Someone ran into him, and he staggered, losing his hold on the stone and not caring. Above, Argus was wielding the Ohric and one of the Dukes was addressing the stunned crowd, but none of it was registering on Joshua’s mind. There were other yellow cassocks around him, the uniform of priests of Mirna, but he didn’t even remember that he had been standing with a number of his brother priests to witness the combat. He felt a vague need to get off the rampart, to retreat, to…hide. Evil was laughing triumphantly, the city was lost, and the Paladin was gone.

  One other fragment of thought kept nagging at his consciousness, a combination of destiny, black irony, and guilt all rolled together. I brought Darius out of prison. I set him free. Only to bring him to this fate…

  Somebody grabbed his arm and pulled him hard off to the side, half-dragged him into the shadow of one of the guard towers on the wall. Joshua blinked and stared at his assailant, a priest only a few years older than him with burning eyes and a hard face.

  “Father Rathman?” he said, the man just one more piece of the madness.

  “We have to get out!” Rathman hissed at him. “We have to get out of the city!”

  Joshua shook his head slightly, more at the confusion than the suggestion. Rathman was far from being a friend. Indeed, his testimony against Darius had been one of the factors that contributed to the Paladin’s conviction for heresy.

  Rathman, however, was clearly not concerned with the past. He shook Joshua hard, making the young man’s teeth rattle, and snapped, “Get hold of yourself! We need to get word of this to the others as quickly as possible! We have to spread the alarm!”

  Joshua blinked as the thought went home. Of course. Even if Jalan’s Drift were lost, there were still all the Southlands that would resist. Warhaven. Gemsbrook. The Church itself. With a shock of anxiety, he thought of the Patriarch sitting in the Cathedral of Ascension, the very heart of the Church of Mirna, and he knew it was only a matter of time before this new tyrant marched against that holy site.

  That called his attention back to his companion. Rathman’s desperation went beyond the need to simply alert their superiors to the new danger, and another connection clicked into place. Rathman had made a personal enemy of Argus by accusing him of serving the black arts, and he would be one of the first victims of the Duke’s new power. Of course, that may mean he dies only a few minutes before the rest of the priests of Mirna, Joshua realized.

  “We need to get word to the Patriarch,” he said, but that seemed the limit of his capacity, a single thought with no sense of how to execute it.

  Rathman shook him again, even harder. “First we have to get out of the city! We have to get out!”

  The shaking helped to clear Joshua’s head a little, and he looked closer at the other priest’s wide eyes and locked teeth, the signs of intensity and terror. He could see Rathman was even more staggered by the turns of events than he was, the new reality shaking him to the very roots of his being. Of course. For years, Argus had been the center of the man’s fears and loathing, the ultimate threat to the Church and its people, and now to see him standing supreme over the city and all the Southlands must be rending his sanity apart. He needed an alternative, any alternative, to the nightmare leering down from the rooftop above them.

  That’s why he grabbed me, Joshua realized. He sees me as a last link to the Paladin. The last link to hope.

  “We have to get out!” Rathman snarled again. “We have to escape before Argus’ men come for us!”

  Joshua nodded, the immediate threat penetrating through the last of the numbness that held him. Thoughts broke loose, tumbling together, an avalanche that helped to form a plan.

  “There’s a stable just south of the city that is used by the forces of Norealm,” he said. “If we can get there, we should be able to get help, perhaps even horses.”

  Rathman nodded instantly and released one of Joshua’s arms. But he held the other as hard as ever as if unable to totally release him. As if desperate for the reassurance of human contact.

  “Come on!” Joshua said, heading towards the nearest stair. “There will soon be a flood of people making for the gates. And Argus won’t leave them open for long.”

  CHAPTER 1

  Darius’ Fall

  Darius Inglorion knew he was going to die.

  Trapped within the black tentacles of the deadliest entity he had ever encountered, the Juggernaut, both of them had been blasted through some portal by the awesome power of the evil scepter known as the Ohric. Now they were tumbling through a massive maelstrom that seemed half-air, half-liquid, caught in a swirling eddy that was dragging them down some unknown drain, and in this ethereal storm, they were being bombarded by a wild array of material, boulders, thorn trees, broken wood, pieces of metal, and even what appeared to be the torn parts of living creatures, as if the tornado had walked through a slaughterhouse and picked up the bloody carcasses of butchered and butchers alike. In the whirling madness were animals long extinct and people dressed in robes from kingdoms that had fallen centuries before, and his growing terror surged again as he realized this storm had passed through time itself and ripped pieces of history free from the past.

  Darius had lost his great sword Sarinian, he had lost all aid from his friends, a
nd with a tentacle wrapped around his mouth, he had lost even the ability to cry out to Mirna for help. With all the power of despair, he strained against the overwhelming strength of the tentacles around him, heedless of the vicious fury of the gale. A boulder the size of a horse smashed into them with enough force to kill a dozen men, but the Juggernaut merely bounced away, the tentacles showing no slacking of strength at all. Darius may have accepted death, but his opponent was refusing to let him die, as if determined to drag out the torment for as long as possible.

  Strangely, the tentacles themselves no longer seemed alive. They held him as fast as ever, but it seemed a death grip with no sense of animation remaining within them. It should have been a last spark of joy for him, the proof that when his daughter Shannon had thrust home Sarinian to avenge him and meet the hungry blade of Bloodseeker simultaneously driven into the thing’s back, they had killed the hated monster at last. But Darius sensed that something still lived within the broken husk of the Juggernaut, a new form that was in the process of being born when they had slain the monstrous parent.

  They were starting to fall, the watery winds of the storm growing faster, and Darius knew they were being pulled down into the bottom of the vortex, their speed increasing as some invisible walls narrowed around them. He was plunging now, the vortex accelerating his fall, throwing him down to his death, for even an impact on water would mean his certain end at this pace. His brain was numb with terror as he was cast down to his destruction.

  The end came with shocking suddenness. They were thrust down against something firm and yet yielding, some kind of net or membrane that gave beneath their weight and yet did not break. Their speed came to nearly a full stop, the winds no longer ripping them, no longer howling with the glee of devastation, when the membrane seemed to abruptly give, dropping them down from some unknown height to tumble along a rocky ground before skidding to a final, dizzying stop.

  The tentacles that held him seemed to spasm and jerk from the impact, and a tiny gap was created around his shoulders. Instantly, he squirmed and twisted within the black arms, widened the gap a little, then a little more, the additional room giving him the opportunity to bring his arm into play. He pushed hard, got his hand into position, and then he exerted all the strength of which he was capable, snarling with the effort as mind and body put every ounce of force into one single purpose. Slowly, the leviathan gave the smallest fraction, then another, and at last, it was dropping away and he was free.

  Gasping, he began to climb slowly out of the tangle of dead tentacles, his body battered and shaken, but before he could take stock of his surroundings, he realized that something was emerging from the other portion of the Juggernaut, something breaking out of the shattered body of the monster. Unarmed, Darius staggered backward, and he could see the thing was about the size of an ogre, with massive bat-wings extending out from a totally black humanoid body, and burning yellow eyes in a face that seemed almost…almost human. But he had no more taken that single look when he was struck by an overwhelming sense of evil, a physical force that seemed to burn into all his senses as if he were now in the middle of a flaming desert. He had to put a hand to his head to steady himself, his brain reeling from leaving a world of life and growth to a leering maliciousness that existed solely to kill and maim.

  To his shock, the evil had nothing to do with the Juggernaut or its off-spring.

  It was coming from the entire area in which he stood.

  Darius took a deep breath and fought down the surging desperation that threatened to master him, the mad desire to run blindly towards any place that was not here, and he forced himself to look around at this strange land to which he had been banished. The sky above was covered with dark red swirling clouds as if blood had been boiled into a concentrated gas, and he realized that was the bottom of the maelstrom through which they had fallen. There must be some invisible membrane holding back the turbulence, and it had been this barrier that had broken their fall. They were in a small clearing surrounded by warped and twisted thorn trees without a single leaf through the entire forest, the stunted trees looking dead except for the long dagger-like thorns that bristled from every branch. The woods were inundated by a thin white mist that was flowing slowly in a single direction even though there did not seem to be any breeze.

  The rock on which he stood stank of sulfur, the air was dead and stagnant, but it was the endless forest of stunted trees that seemed to be oozing an odor of decay, a decay which spoke of rot extending far beyond the grave. His skin crawled in revulsion at this place as if he had just stepped into a cesspool, and his throat tightened instinctively against the odors trying to enter his lungs. There was no sound as such from that ruined wood, no bird calls or rustling of wind through the branches, but there was a low constant moaning as if the trees themselves were in pain.

  Off to one side there was some sort of narrow ragged path through the trees that seemed surprisingly straight, and he recognized this trail had been caused by the body of the Juggernaut crashing down and clearing out an area of the thorny forest. But the path terminated at the edge of a blasted area where even the mutant thorn trees could not survive, a huge clearing that surrounded a gaping hole in the rocky ground, a hole from which slashes of red light showed a raging inferno not far below, and the white mist that passed through the trees was being pulled down into that pit. The mere sight of it made him feel as if fire ants were starting to feed on every part of his skin. All the pain, all the evil that had exploded upon his consciousness was coming from that noxious crater.

  There was movement from the sides of the pit, and two human-sized creatures with snarling fangs and gleaming red eyes emerged from that jagged rift. Twisted and deformed as if by some alien power, the sense of evil radiating from these monstrosities exceeded even the malignancy of the surroundings, and Darius knew them instantly. Devils! The creatures came bounding across the small clearing with alarming speed, their arms and legs thin and rubbery, yet showing a dangerous strength, and they ended in razor-like claws that left scratches on the stone as they passed. More were issuing out of the hole, following their brothers to join the slaughter, all of them headed directly for Darius as if sensing the presence of a living heart.

  There was a sheathed dagger attached to his lower leg, a pathetic weapon against such an endless onslaught of evil, but as Darius drew it, his teeth clenched in defiance and his eyes blazed forth with an anger that knew nothing of fear. Lost, battered, bereft of friends and allies, banished even from the sight of Mirna, he was left with nothing but the memory of hope. His only options now were battle and death, but they were two things he could still do extremely well.

  “Inglorium et Fiele!” he roared to the angels above and the devils below, a rage of white light exploding around him with the words, a Paladin declaring his faith at the very openings to Hell itself. Then he charged the horde closing in upon him.

  The first leaped at him, its face a mask of hate, and he brought the dagger slashing up into the chest of the thing, the devil dying from the knife thrust. Even as it died, the creature’s eyes bulged as the holy light that now surrounded Darius burned its skin, the flame of purity protecting the Paladin and searing any evil that dared to draw close. Two more were already upon him with more closing for the kill when a huge shape pounced from the side onto the bodies of two of the monsters, crushing them both to the ground. Darius could barely credit his eyes when he saw that it was the winged being that had emerged from the Juggernaut!

  He had no time to watch. The other devils were upon him, their savage faces leering, mouths filled with pointed fangs lunging for his throat. Darius blocked the first with his arm, the plate mail absorbing the damage from the demon’s teeth, and he swung around with all the power of his chiseled frame and brought his armored elbow crashing into the head of the second. The first was actually climbing on top of him, its claws ripping at his face, and he seized its throat and with one wild heave smashed it to the ground, breaking the thing’
s spine. Then he turned back to the other and struck upwards with the dagger, a blow that lifted the monster off its feet, followed by a hard downward thrust that ripped its’ abdomen open. It fell back, mortally wounded, but its constitution was such that it still lunged back to the attack, determined to inflict as much pain as possible before it was finished. More creatures were coming forward, another demon already lunging, and at the last possible moment, Darius yanked the mortally wounded creature into the path of the new assault. The fresh monster was clawing at anything it its path, even the head of its wounded brother, and its claws ripped into the exposed neck, instantly killing it. Darius managed only a slashing wound with the knife at this new assailant, the devil barring its teeth as if it welcomed the pain, and then it rushed in on his side. But Darius was tall and powerfully built, and he managed to bring a heavy arm up to drive into the monster’s body in mid-air, ruining its attack and moving it back in front of him. He knew the demon would charge again, and he swung the knife with perfect timing, catching it in the throat. The hate died on its face as it crumpled.

  He swung around to receive more attacks and was stunned to see the winged figure battling half a dozen devils. With astounding strength, it grabbed the throat of one demon and flung it like a weapon against a second, killing both instantly. The black titan then pounced on a third, rending it to pieces with its taloned claws, and the rest drew back in obvious fear from the overwhelming might of this intruder, respecting their one, true master: power. With a single flap of its huge wings, the creature lunged forward to grab another demon by the head then, with one vicious twist, tore the skull from the body. It was enough. The devils fled down into the pit from whence they had come.

  The being turned and stared at Darius, and the Paladin readied his dagger, a ridiculous weapon against such a behemoth. Rather than attacking, however, the creature simply continued to study him for an interminable period and then, slowly, sank down onto its haunches to rest. Darius’ eyebrows rose in surprise. The thing didn’t seem tired or wounded despite the plunge through the maelstrom and the battle with the devils, and yet there it sat in a half-squat as if waiting for Darius to strike up a conversation. It had no hair on a perfectly formed skull, its long cheeks came down to form a strong chin, and a heavy nose was positioned over a mouth than seemed…well…expressive. The eyes were a bright yellow, almost as if a candle were burning within the skull, and they were watchful and calm, hardly the baleful glare of a murdering marauder. It was the face of an intelligent being, and Darius found himself wondering uneasily if the creature were drawing the same conclusions about him.