Page 105 of Dark Elves of Ardani

“Wait. I should go first. You can hide better than I can. Nero—”

He was already halfway up the slope. Zara cursed under her breath.

She climbed down from Changa, wondering if the behelgi would stay where she was told. “Please stay here,” she begged, patting her side. “I do not want you getting hurt, too.” Changa tossed her head a little, but stayed put.

Zara could no longer see Nero. She climbed the slope, wincing when her feet crunched in the snow. How in the world did Varai move through snow without making a sound?

She did not often pray to the Goddess these days, but today she did. If there was ever a time for it, this was it.

As she reached the top of the hill, she crouched low, ducking behind a rock. The little plateau was flat and traversable, but had jutting rocks scattered about that created many hiding spots. She still could not see Nero. He was invisible in the sea of shadows.

At the far end of the small plateau was Theron. Zara peered out at him through the branches of a juniper bush.

He’d stopped attacking the village and had set aside his bow to turn toward Nero and Zara’s side of the hill. Flames had crawled up his arm, covering it from his hand to his shoulder, but if it burned him, he gave no sign. He raised his hand experimentally and drew flame in the air. The flames followed his commands, as if he were a mage.

Theron looked into the darkness, eerily calm. “Come out,” he said. “Face your fate.”

Zara tightened her grip on her dagger. The blade felt small and fragile in the face of a demon-possessed Paladin in plate armor.

She was ashamed of the fear she felt when she looked at him.

Theron took a step forward, scanning the rocks. “I know you’re here, Zara. And you, half-elf. Come out.”

She thought she saw something move behind one of the rocks across from her. Theron saw it, too. Zara sucked in a breath and spoke before she could think better of it. “You must stop this, Theron. You are hurting people.”

His head jerked toward her, his eyes searching the darkness, and she ducked a little lower.

“Is this what you want?” she asked. “To hurt innocent people? To destroy the village?”

“Innocent? You think those people are innocent?” He slowly moved closer. A shadow moved somewhere behind him. “Anyone who would fight on the side of night elves has no right to call themselves Ardanian. This village is beyond saving.”

“You are being influenced by a demon, Theron. Look at yourself. Your arm is on fire.”

A flash of doubt passed over his face, just for an instant.

But the doubt was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with anger and disgust. “I can feel Paladius guiding me. Do you think I don’t recognize Him when He speaks to me? When He acts through me?”

In a burst of anger, he raised his arm and shot a jet of fire in the direction of her voice. She ducked as dark fire blasted through the branches of the juniper bush. Heat billowed above her, stinging her scalp and her shoulders. In a matter of seconds, the bush was reduced to a collection of blackened twigs, the wood glowing red with heat.

She looked up when she heard a strangled shout. Theron was stumbling, blood spraying from his throat. Nero had driven his sword through him from behind, and the blade had cut through the flesh between his neck and his shoulder. On anyone else, the amount of blood pouring from the wound would have indicated that they didn’t have long to live.

Theron pressed a hand to his neck as he struggled to hold Nero off. Nero was raining blows on him, trying to attack quickly while Theron was off balance, but Theron quickly recovered and struck back, pushing Nero back on his heels. The wound on his neck had already sealed over.

There was a flash of flame, and then Theron’s sword swung down, almost too fast to follow. Nero shouted in pain, falling backward. Zara saw blood on his chest. Theron lifted his sword for a final blow.

Zara jumped from her hiding place, raising her dagger as she ran toward them. Theron was still turned away when she drove her blade down.

It stabbed through the base of his skull with a satisfying crunch, and Theron jolted to a halt. Relief flooded her. There was no healing a wound like this. It was over.

She tried to pull the dagger back out, but it was stuck, trapped between pieces of bone.

And then Theron turned to look down at her, the dagger’s hilt still sticking out of him. He looked perfectly lucid and very alive.

Zara stumbled back, aghast. “Theron…”

He slowly reached behind himself to grasp the hilt and jerk it out of his head. He looked down at it thoughtfully, then tossed it aside as if it had been a mere splinter. Zara caught Nero’s eye over Theron’s shoulder. He was on the ground, bleeding heavily. He grimaced.

Theron dropped his sword, then grabbed the collar of her shirt in a large fist and dragged her along with him as he moved. She fumbled with his fingers, trying to tear his hand off her while her feet skimmed the ground. She craned her neck to look where he was headed, and her heart skipped several beats. He was moving toward the cliff.

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