Free Demon Lord V - God Realm by T C Southwell Page A

sapping
his will and energy, and he just wanted to lie down and die. His
stomach was a tight, empty knot, and at times his mind wandered in
feverish delusions.
    Someone took
hold of his arm and steered him back the way he had come, and he
realised that the group had stopped, but he had wandered on. Sarrin
smiled when he glanced at her, reminding him of Ellese. She guided
him to a rock and urged him to sit down and lean against it, which
he did. The group ate a frugal meal of charred meat, and then
settled down to sleep. Bane slid down the rock until his head was
propped against it and closed his eyes.
    A presence
close by roused him from his restless doze, and he opened his eyes.
Ethra squatted beside him, fingering her rusty dagger. He licked
his lips and smiled.
    "Go ahead.
Kill me. It will be a mercy... although..." He frowned, sorrow
filling his heart. "My wife will mourn me."
    "You have a
wife?"
    "Yes."
    Ethra studied
him. "Do you love her?"
    "More than
life itself. She saved me, loved me, and forgave me." His eyelids
drooped. "She will be sad. She wants children, but as a spirit god
I can give her none." He tugged at his shirt, trying to pull it
open. "Strike. End my misery."
     
    Ethra stared
at him. He seemed half asleep, his long black lashes shadowing
brilliant eyes. Their gaze was vacant, yet filled with sorrow. As
she watched, they closed, and he sighed.
    "I miss her,"
he whispered.
    Ethra
swallowed a lump, cursing her stupidity. He was a dark god, a
consummate liar, so why did she find him so believable? For just
that reason, she told herself. Yet he seemed so forlorn. His jet
hair fell in glossy wings, stark against his alabaster skin. His
striking face was almost too perfect, but not quite, for he bore
the marks of his suffering. Lines furrowed the skin between his
sharply angled brows, and shadows of weariness lurked under his
eyes. He looked gaunt and sick, and she found that she wanted to
help him more than she wanted to kill him. Was he casting some sort
of spell on her? His eyes opened and flicked up to her face, filled
with misery and suffering.
    "I am dying
anyway, and it hurts. I have suffered enough."
    She frowned.
"What are you?"
    "I am a god
who loves a mortal, and time will take her away. The day we were
wed she wore wild flowers in her hair, and the sun turned it to
spun gold... Her goddess came, and our friends." A faint smile
curled his lips, and his eyes became distant. "She looked like an
angel, so young, so lovely. I spoke the words that bound us, and I
made a rainbow shine in the sky. She told me that it was beautiful,
and that... she loved me."
    Ethra gulped,
fighting the tears that threatened to overflow her eyes. He was
rambling, she realised, his mind fogged by pain.
    "We were wed
in the forest," he went on, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"The beasts came too. We drank wine and feasted on sweet fruit and
nectar. I gave her ambrosia, and she said it tasted like
sunshine... We were happy." He sighed, his eyes drifting closed.
"She is my life... and... my saviour..."
    Ethra jumped
up and marched away.

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Fall
     
    When the group
broke camp, Sarrin spent several minutes trying to rouse Bane
before his eyes opened. She coaxed him to his feet, and he stood
swaying, gazing into the distance. His hands were black now, and
streaks of red ran up the sides of his neck. Ethra watched him from
the other side of the camp, biting her lip. She jumped when Artan
spoke beside her.
    "What, aren't
you going to tell me to kill him?"
    "No."
    "I suppose
there's no point. He isn't going to live much longer. A normal man
would have been dead long ago. Sad that we cannot help him, after
all he did for us. And he knew we couldn't." He shook his head.
"But it's not for the likes of me to kill a god."
    The ground
shivered, and Ethra glanced at Artan in alarm. He frowned at the
dull orange dust at his feet, then muttered an oath and ran towards
Sarrin and Bane. Ethra set off after him as