Chapter 48

Eros stood in the centre of a large hall. It had pillars, like a cathedral, on either side supporting the high roof above him. Banners hung down, and moved gently in the drafts of air. The whole scene had a supernatural feel to him. Thanatos himself appeared bewildered by what Arethusa had apparently done. Only the two sorceresses seemed to understand what had happened.

"You mean to stop Priya from giving you the drink," Astraea said.

Arethusa was looking around her - seemingly trying to discern which room of her Arcadian castle she was in. Her resonant voice said, "I never had enough time. I will thwart my sister, and save my parents."

"We can't let you, a time travelling sorceress, go throughout history changing it as she pleases," Eros said. "And what you just did at the chateau--"

Eros stood with Astraea at his side; before him stood Thanatos and Arethusa. His immediate thoughts were of despair because Thanatos was the actual devil, and possessed a power that he himself couldn't match, and Arethusa was the most powerful sorceress of all time. He wished Typhon and the others were with him, but they were not.

Thanatos came forward, and struck at Eros. The knight struggled against that nefarious hand, but the adept swordsman managed to keep the devil at bay. The clash of swords rang through the hall.

Arethusa meanwhile had stepped to the side of the duelling swordsman, wishing for some space for her own duel with Astraea. She knew it would be the young sorceress's first duel. Arethusa perceived Astraea's timidity and reluctance - fear. Arethusa prepared her spells while Astraea began to take steps backward, edging away from one that had conquered the world. The young sorceress looked to Eros for help, but he was pressed hard by Thanatos.

The potency of Arethusa's magic was a force of nature. She cast dark lightning bolts, ice shards, and fireballs. Barrage after barrage flew at Astraea, who, never before encountering such strength, reeled to evade them. She conjured spells of her own, but Arethusa, instead of stepping aside, strode to meet them, crushing them in her hands.

The old sorceress looked askance at the windows on the side of the room; splintered glass exploded upon Astraea's flank. She hastened to bring up a barrier, which shone, though it was penetrated by a shard that skated across her cheek. Astraea fingered the cut lightly. In her anger she cast an energy ball at Arethusa, which was parried and countered. Astraea was struck in the torso by a spell that sent her hurtling across the room. The table she landed upon crushed beneath her weight.

While Arethusa pounded Astraea with sorcery, Eros had established an advantage over Thanatos as remarkable as it is to say. In his former duels he'd fought as he would any other - bold and enterprising. However, he now took a more measured approach understanding that he would spend much of the fight on the defensive. It was the approach adopted by Odin. He knew Thanatos would grow arrogant and take too many chances, and so, when he over extended, Eros countered and frightened Thanatos by how close he came to killing him. In a spectacular flurry, Eros parried Thanatos's blade, and smashed him against a pillar.

Arethusa stood several paces from Astraea's semi-conscious figure, black fire raced from her fingers to engulf the young woman; but Eros's sword absorbed the inferno. Arethusa's serene form moved like a snake; she held her arm forward - Eros clutched his throat. She raised him from the floor; his legs kicked out while poison raced to his heart. It was the same sorcery that had killed Nala. Arethusa was about to conjure the ice shards when the poison receded. She lost her vice like grip upon Eros's throat.

The knight collapsed in a heap on the floor. He touched his neck, which moment ago was crushed. Not understanding, and still in a panic, he looked at the old sorceress in front of him. Then he turned at a touch on his shoulder. Astraea stood there.

More violence.

Sorceress thrashed sorceress, and amidst the spells, the clash of swords still sounded.

Arethusa's waxen skin glistened with sweat; her chest heaved. She stared at the woman whose cheek bled. Between her teeth, she said, "Yield."

Astraea said, "I won't."

"They will turn on you as they did me." Arethusa paced before her. "They fear us. They will hunt you wherever you go."

Astraea looked at Eros, "He will protect me."

"Ha!" Arethusa execrated, "He will die."

The exchanges began gradually, but the ferocity of magic soon built to terrifying proportions. As sonic booms they shot from one to the other. Fire for fire, ice for ice. One sorceress smashed the other. All around them, the room crumbled, but in the middle they yet hammered one another.

Astraea had azure lightning still resonating at her fingertips. She looked across at her adversary, and saw that the spell had ripped through her shoulder. A profusion of blood gushed from the wound, and amidst clashing swords Arethusa's wail was audible. Astraea brought her daggers to bear. Arethusa conjured a sword, and became an apparition: disappearing and reappearing all around Astraea. Dagger met steel before Arethusa vanished, and manifested suddenly at Astraea's back.

Astraea was adroit and elegant. The leonine lady acrobatically evaded, blocked and countered. She read Arethusa's patterns, and in the middle of a flurry she anticipated where Arethusa would appear. She waited with a dagger that sliced the stone sorceress's throat. Arethusa fell down, clawing Astraea's boot. For the first time, she met with defeat.

Thanatos had seen Arethusa fall. He was momentarily stunned, unable to believe that she had been defeated. He looked at Eros and Astraea. Then came the sound of magic in the next chamber. Thanatos's mind was quick to make the connections. He knew the history from Astraea, and he knew her well enough to manipulate her.

"You can save Priya."

"She's meant to die," Eros enjoined.

"Think of the child growing up without her mother. You of all daughters ought to understand."

Thanatos knew Astraea's heart better than any. He knew he couldn't prevail upon the two together, not when one had defeated Arethusa, but if she were lured away, he would stand much better.

Astraea edged backwards. "I have to save her." Eros shouted after Astraea, but she was already gone. She ran down the corridors while the sound of swords clashing sounded behind. Then, as she turned, she saw a beautiful woman pass nearby. Tall and elegant, she bore the mark. Her child was in her arms. Hastily, she followed her outside.

Priya broke across the plain with the vita obscura close behind her. It was precisely how Nebuchadnezaar had described it. Astraea was close enough to see the fear on the child's face. She realised Priya wouldn't make the river, owing to the secret society - the boat that rocked on the river would not be saving anyone.

Before Arethusa's corpse Eros and Thanatos were engrossed in a deadly game. The density of attacks intensified. Thanatos grew ever more frustrated that he hadn't yet beaten Eros, and again and again his adversary gave him a scare by almost destroying him. Indeed Eros's counter strikes had Thanatos rattled, he was in his head, and had the devil questioning himself. Eventually it happened, Thanatos pressed too hard, tried to recover in time, but Eros had lunged, plunging his sword deep into Thanatos's breast. Thanatos clutched his chest as he fell.

Then Eros heard it. The noise upon the plain outside. It was by the river. He heard men scream - the zest of magic. He recounted the playwright's tale, and he knew Astraea had gone outside to save Priya. Grasping his sword, he gave chase, stopping only to look at Thanatos one final time.

When he arrived on the plain, the vapour of his breath swirled. He saw in the darkness flashes of magic. Scores of men ran across the field; they were cut down in frightful numbers. A woman bearing a child had stopped by the bank of the river. He knew it was Priya, the men the vita obscura. He marvelled at an unknown upon the field, holding the aggressors back. Under the flash of a spell, he saw that this was actually Astraea, though something was wrong. She'd turned to track Priya's progress, and fired a bolt past her shoulder to encourage her to fly. Zeus Ordain ran his sword through her. He heard Astraea scream as she fell.

Hastening to her; he held her fallen body. He looked up and saw the arrows pierce Priya's back, the vita obscura fell upon her, the child sailed down the river.

Astraea's wound bled; the men would be back soon. He took her in his arms and hastened to the castle, crying out all the while for a mage in the empty corridors. No mage was to be found while Astraea died in his arms. He cried out again, and this time, at last, someone responded. The empress's personal physician froze at the sight of her dead body; Eros seized him by his tunic. The man looked upon Astraea, her pallor was pale, she lay in a bath of her own blood. Eros urged him to help her, but the physician knew it was no use. The woman was dead.

He leant over her, white magic coursed through her body. To his utter astonishment, he saw life kindle. Her lips met Eros's in a passionate kiss. She gasped for air afterwards, and thanked the mage for saving her life.

Then the shouts of wild men sounded in the castle's corridors. Their footsteps grew louder. They appeared in the room. Gazing at the woman who bore the mark, they cried out, "Death to the sorceress!" And they charged.