Free Demon Lord VII - Dark Domain by T C Southwell

me.” He scowled and struck
the lintel with his fists, making the chamber shudder. “Flee!”
    “No.”
    Tolrar swung
away, walked off a few steps and turned back to face them. “See, I
will even give you a chance to pass me. Come out, and we will have
a grand chase. Stay in there, and you are trapped. If you make me
come in there after you, I will not give you another chance to
flee.”
    Drevarin shook
his head again, and Tolrar’s face twisted with fury, his eyes
glittering. Raising his hands, he struck the lintel with twin bolts
of darkness, and the intense flash of blue light that accompanied
them forced Drevarin to squint.
    Sherinias gave
a soft shriek and cried, “Father, save me! Help me! Kayos!”
    Drevarin held
her, his gut clenched. Tolrar struck the lintel with bolt after
bolt of shadow, filling the chamber with blue brilliance as the
white power warred with the dark. Drevarin fought an overwhelming
urge to escape and clung to his resolve. Several runes on the walls
lighted as the chamber’s defences activated, but all they could do
now was strengthen it. The power to strike back had gone with the
deactivation of the inner wards, which could not be reactivated
while he and Sherinias remained within it.
    Drevarin sent
the doors swinging closed with a flick of his mind, and they sealed
with a pearly flash. They added only a little to the chamber’s
strength, but they blocked the blue light and the fearsome sight of
the dark god who hammered upon the base of the wards.
    Sherinias
looked up at him, her eyes filled with terror. “How long
before...?”
    “That depends
on how powerful he is. A day, at least.” He stroked her hair.
“Kayos is coming, do not fret.”

Chapter Four
     
    Beast God
     
    Kayos sat up
with a frown, his demeanour tense.
    Bane eyed him.
“What is it?”
    “Sherinias
calls me.”
    Bane raised his
brows. “How can she?”
    “She is a
child. Until she is mature, she has the ability to signal her
danger by calling the name of her parent.” He summoned an Eye, and
Bane rose and moved behind him to share it. Kayos frowned at the
black-clad stranger in the Eye, who looked up and grinned savagely
as he sensed it.
    “A dark god, of
course,” Kayos muttered.
    “I will
go.”
    “No. Wait, let
us consider this.”
    “She will be
terrified.”
    Kayos refocused
the Eye inside the chamber. “Drevarin is with her.”
    “Then they are
both in danger.”
    “But he will
comfort her.” Kayos looked thoughtful. “This is happening far
sooner than I hoped, but now we have an advantage they do not know
about; apart from you, of course: this ship. If he could be lured
into that shredder chamber, he would be defeated as easily as the
first.”
    “But how? If I
take hold of him and Move him in there, they will stun us both, and
kill me.”
    “I would not
let them.”
    “If you go in
there they will stun you too,” Bane said.
    “Not if I am
invisible, and I pick you up and Move straight away.”
    “No, probably
not, but I would be unconscious for many hours, and there would
still be a dark goddess on the loose.”
    “She is
probably not much of a threat, but you are right, I do not want you
harmed. I shall do it.”
    “You cannot
allow a dark god to take hold of you,” Bane said. “He might decide
to kill you.”
    “I will not
allow him to touch me. I will not have to. He will follow me. I
will Move out of the shredder room immediately, and he will arrive
a moment later. I will be in no danger from the mortals. They will
not see me and their weapons cannot harm me. You will be waiting
outside, instructing them, ensuring it is done right. If anything
goes wrong, you can protect me.”
    “I do not like
it.”
    “You do not
have to,” Kayos said. “I can defend myself, as you well know.”
    “It is too
dangerous. Dark gods are cunning. Do not imagine that he will fall
for it so easily. If it is Tolrar, he may summon his mate, who
could creep up on you invisible and take hold of you.