The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

“What are you saying?” heasked.

“There are worse things than death,Peter, and I am one of them. Mal’goroth will be here soon, but youwon’t be. Wait twenty minutes after you have gone and then use yourdagger to crush the stone, any hard surface will do,” Iexplained.

“I don’t understand.”

“Mordecai is still here, trapped,” Ipointed at my chest. “Until the spellweave is broken, he will neverfind rest. Go with them, live. I will do what I can here, but Iwon’t win, and I can only imagine what Mal’goroth will do once hehas me completely in his grasp.”

“This will kill you?” hestammered.

I nodded.

“I can’t do that,” heprotested.

“You have to Peter. You’re the onlyone who can do it. You’re the only one who really deserves theright. After all these years if you can’t kill me for vengeance,then do it for the man you used to serve,” I told him.

“But you’ll die!”

“Brexus dies, Peter. You’ll be settingMordecai Illeniel free. You owe him that. Let him rest in peace.” Ihad waited long enough. My time was up. With a word I used a spellto bring up a wind, pushing him away as it began to liftme.

“I won’t do it!” he screamed into thetorrent.

“You will,” I said, making sure mywords cut through the roar. “If we meet again, I will kill you.”Thrusting downward with the air I shot skyward. Most of the peoplebelow were already running into the keep. I hoped they would makeit to safety, but I had done as much as I could.

Racing the wind I soughtmy opponent. Stupid never dies,said my inner companion. “It does today,” Ianswered, not caring if I was insane.

Chapter 41

Chel’strathek was waiting for me, justas he had promised. As I neared him, I felt a surge as thedefensive shield was activated around Castle Cameron.

“Don’t trust me?” asked the monstrousspider.

“Just making sure we don’tinadvertently damage anything,” I answered.

“You’re a fool. My master will be herewithin minutes,” two of his legs came up, and with them twowrithing lines of spellweaving rose toward me. “I only need keepyou here long enough to wait on his pleasure.”

I didn’t answer. Instead I opened myhand and used a simple spell to send the iron spheres it washolding hurtling toward him in a multitude of directions. The airwas lit with explosions, some of which tore through hisspellweavings, while others slipped past to irritate the beast Ifaced. Withdrawing my staff from its pouch, I channeled a blazingline of white fire. It sliced through his body and burned a redline across the ground beneath him.

The damage was insignificant, though.It would take far more to subdue him. His body renewed itselfalmost instantly. It was a fight I knew I could win given enoughtime, but time was a luxury I didn’t have.

Reaching into my pouches again, Iwithdrew still more of my iron bombs. The chest that the pouchconnected to was deep, and many years ago I had spent considerabletime storing them there until it was full. Compared to my presentpower they represented but a feeble flicker, but I used themanyway.

Chel’strathek was moving now, sendinghis power out in wide ribbons. He fought not to hurt but to bind.His strength was not great enough to give him victory, unless Imade some mistake, but he needed to be sure I couldn’t escape. Idodged them and sent more of my iron bombs flying toward him.Focusing my power, I danced around him like a mad bird, darting inand out to avoid his snares.

“Why do you keep using those patheticiron things?” he exclaimed at last. “Have you nodignity?”

“I don’t know,” I answered loudly. “Itmay be that I’m too stupid to know when to quit.”

“There is a method to your madness,”he shouted back. “I can see that.”

I flew directly at him, and heflinched backward. He could sense the change in my demeanor.Playtime was over. I came to a sudden stop ten feet away. “You’reright. There may be a pattern here.” Raising my hand I gave him aglimpse of what I held there.

Chel’strathek snarled at me, “Morebaubles?”

“I may be a fool,” I answered, “but Ican spot the difference between diamond and steel.” Speaking thecommand word, I channeled my power into the stasis enchantment asstrongly as I dared.

Aythar surged into the enchanteddiamond cubes. My darting flight and useless iron bombs had been asimple ploy to distract Chel’strathek while I set my trap. Myopponent might have noticed if he had paid better attention, buthis casual disregard for the ‘baubles’ had been hisundoing.

Even so, while the area I had arrangedthe cubes in was much smaller than the capital, the massive aytharconcentrated within that area, Chel’strathek’s aythar, resisted theenchantment. For that reason alone, I knew my trap wouldn’t work onMal’goroth. Using it against a creature as powerful asChel’strathek wasn’t really wise either, but in this case Ioutweighed him enough that I felt reasonably sure I could holdhim.

My power filled the cubes, and it tookfar more than I expected. With at least half of my strengthchanneled within the cubes, the Dark God still struggled. He couldno longer move freely, but he still moved, albeit at a slow crawl.Time within the stasis field had slowed but not yet completelystopped.

Standing in front of him, I worriedover the next part. The central cube negated the effect of thestasis in a small volume of space around it, in this case an arearoughly large enough to hold two or three people. With half of mypower in the enchantment, I was no longer stronger than my foe.Moving close enough to finish the battle would be risky.

Chel’strathek’s bulk wasgreat enough that only a small part of him would be released by theproximity of my null cube, or so I thought. No one’s ever done this before, so I don’t really have a damnclue.

Taking the plunge, I stepped close,reaching for him. His face registered surprise as I seemed toappear in front of him, moving, from his perspective, at animpossible speed. His time seemed to normalize as I drove my handthrough his hard carapace, but he was still disoriented anddazed.

I pulled, devouring him as I