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

what you need. Help them, andforewarn them about my otherallies.” I leaned in to whisper additionalinformation in his ear.

He stared at me for a moment, mildlysurprised. “Yet, even if you succeed here, you will almostcertainly fail against him at the end.”

I grimaced. “If nothing else, I’llmake certain that he has not one remaining ally or servant beforehe defeats me. In that case you must take my family andhide.”

“While he commits genocide?”questioned the god of justice.

“If only a few can be saved, make surethat they are mine,” I answered with brutal honesty. “One way oranother, even if he destroys my people, the She’Har will eventuallyeither yoke him or unmake him.”

“Such cold words,” observedMillicenth. “You sound less like a mortal and more like a god thanI would have expected.”

“Just make sure none of you attempt toface him directly. Retreat rather than allow him to gain even morepower,” I cautioned. “Now… go!”

Chapter 32

I stared at the city inthe waning afternoon light. The sunset bathed it in a deep orangethat the rose granite walls transformed into a shade reminiscent ofred. My imagination took it a step further, showing me a citybathed in blood. As it will be.

I was no longer within the walls. Ihad moved outside to meet my new allies as well as to prepare theenchantment I would use. Several were hiding close to my currentposition, I could feel them through the links that tied them to myenchantment. The others were gathered in various spots around thecity, hiding in fields and forests. Some of them had lain quietlyfor days, while others had just arrived. They werepatient.

One things I had failed to understandabout the shiggreth previously, was their abiding patience. Myformer belief had been that they required aythar from living beingsto maintain their bodies and while that was technically true, itwas far simpler to acquire aythar than I had realized. Most of theshiggreth were nothing more than dead people, animated by magic.They moved and acted according to the orders of their master—me.Some of them retained their memories, those were the ones mostsimilar to me, but all of them were soulless, essentiallyautomatons of dead flesh.

None of them possessed any strongdesires, not even to feed. Left to their own devices, most of themwould simply lie in one place, subsisting on the aythar obtainedfrom the tiny things that tried to consume them. Those that hadarrived earliest had done just that, they lay down to wait, anddrew energy only from whatever touched them.

Before my transformation, I hadthought most of them destroyed. Dorian’s forays had been highlysuccessful, and near the end we had found fewer and fewer of them.The truth had been simpler; Thillmarius had become preoccupied withme. While he spent his days and evenings quietly stalking me, theyhad become dormant—but they numbered in the tens ofthousands.

Most were too far to reach the capitalin the amount of time I had given them. Those I had left to theirdevices. My belief was that they would find true death after I haddestroyed myself, but for now I had things to do. There were atleast three thousand gathered around Albamarl now. Another threethousand had gathered in the forested foothills of the southernElentirs, around the fortress known as Castle Tremont.

Extending my will I tookdirect control of nine of the closest and called them to me. Iwatched them approach across a farmer’s field with my magesight,while my hands drew out the enchanted diamond cubes.Tonight will be the true test. My previous useswere a proof of principle, but if things go badly tonight… Garethis right to think me mad.

The dragon had warned me that if thecubes failed, the resulting feedback might precipitate a disasterworse than the one that had created the Gulf of Garulon. I haddrawn roughly half of Millicenth and Doron’s power into myself, andcombined with what I had already taken from Karenth, and theportion I had taken from the God-Stone, I was charged with roughlytwo and a half Celiors worth of aythar.

It was still nowhere near enough tochallenge Mal’goroth, but if my plan worked, he would never receiveany word of my work here until I was already finished. If my planfailed…

The Gulf of Garulon willbe a lot bigger, I thought tomyself.

My new ‘friends’ arrived, and I beganhanding out cubes along with mental descriptions of where they wereto take them. Eight of them would be placed around Albamarl in asquare formation, one at each corner and one midway between those.The ninth would be hidden in the center of the city, close to wherethe palace was located. Those would demarcate the bottom face of agiant cube. Nine more would delineate the upper face, but I wouldhave to place those myself, since the shiggreth couldn’t fly. Ofthe remaining nine, eight would mark the middle and corners of thecube while the ninth would remain with me. That stone was the onethat would have been placed in the exact center, but it had aspecial purpose.

Once the sun was below the horizon,and the light was dim enough, I placed the upper stones in theirpositions. Each one would lock into its place once I put it closeto the spot where it belonged. It took nearly an hour, but it was alabor of love—or something.

My preparations finished,I issued my final orders. My first commands went to those who hadgathered around Castle Tremont. Enter,take the castle. Leave none alive. Somewhere deep down I felt a rebellious cry, begging for thelives of the innocent, but I pushed it away with an internal snarlat my weaker side. They killed James,Ginny, and so many others. They killed Dorian! Let themdie!

Dorian would not seekvengeance upon children. He would not prosecute war against theunwitting servants of even one so wicked as AndrewTremont.

The devil’s advocatewithin me had gotten surprisingly eloquent. I don’t give a rotten damn! Myresponse wasn’t as witty, but I didn’t care.

My next orders were forthose near Albamarl. Clear the World Road,those guarding it are our enemies. Once you have slain those there,kill no more. Leave and return to your hiding places.I designated a smaller group of five hundred toguard the boundaries of my