What is faith but delusion without the power to back it up?—VERSKLAVEN SCHWACHE, GEFAHRGEIST PHILOSOPHER
The sky broke and torrents of rain and hail hammered the earth. Slashing lightning lit the dark underbellies of sick and heavy clouds with flickering and unnatural hues. The heavens screamed in torment.
Anomie, deafened by Konig"s delusions, heard none of this. Even the stunning displays of color seemed little more than strobing shades of gray. The eyes of the dead, robbed of life and beauty, saw the world as a stain of monochromatic twilight.
Men and women, gaunt with hunger and covered in filth, hurled themselves in the path of the Schatten Mörder. Life meant nothing to Anomie. It rose before her and she cut it down. For those who could achieve the Afterdeath, annihilation was a gift. Anomie and her Schatten Mörder had many gifts to give. They climbed mountains of dead and more flocked to receive their alms.
They mobbed her, stabbing and cutting, punching and kicking. It meant nothing. She felt nothing.
She knew this to be the camp of a Slaver. Though they were never as large, she"d seen similar groups before. The boy will be here somewhere. She"d kill the Slaver at the heart of this mob and help Morgen Ascend, as was his destiny. Death will be my gift to the G.o.d-child.
A stabbing flash of lightning momentarily blinded the living but, to Anomie"s dead eyes, served only to better illuminate the h.e.l.lish scene.
Gehirn Schlechtes, Konig"s pet Ha.s.sebrand, stood waiting for her with a feral smile. Gehirn"s doglike canines glinted in the brief light. Anomie laughed. The dry hollows of her empty skull flickered with reflected light. The skulls of the dead, skin long cracked and peeled away, grin forever.
Gehirn gestured and burned clear a path between herself and the Schatten Mörder. Like rushing tidewaters, the Slaver"s followers poured in to fill the cleared area.
Anomie laughed again, an insane cackle dying as breath leaked from decaying lungs.
Fire meant nothing to the dead.
Gehirn, standing before the litter, waited impatiently. Erbrechen wailed terrified orders at those carrying his litter, but the crash of thunder and raging storm winds stole all sound.
The Schatten Mörder, Konig"s Cotardist a.s.sa.s.sins, could be here for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill Gehirn.
Her dream . . . it had been true. Gehirn"s heart broke and she choked back a sob. Konig hates me. It wasn"t enough to cast her aside; he sought her death.
Fire throbbed through her veins. Konig would get this message loud and clear.
Impatient, she burned the mob of Erbrechen"s followers, impeding Anomie"s progress. The a.s.sa.s.sin, backed by her cadre of rotting flesh, laughed at Gehirn.
"No one laughs at me!" she screamed in rage.
Anomie kept laughing, as if she hadn"t heard.
Betrayed.
Abandoned.
Mocked.
Gehirn lit the Schatten Mörder like candles.
Anomie burst into flames, and for a moment, the world disappeared in a torrent of fire. But her sight didn"t depend on eyes. She could still see. Flames licked around her body, igniting shreds of clothing. What dried flesh remained clinging to her body burned away. She felt nothing. No pain. No fear. Flesh was an impediment and the fire would burn her clean. Later, when Gehirn lay dead, they could smother these flames.
And if you misjudged the Ha.s.sebrand"s power?
At worst she"d be freed of her eternal h.e.l.l.
"You are a fool," she tried to scream at Gehirn but only a dry croak escaped. She"d forgotten to fill her lungs. It annoyed her. She tried to draw breath and failed. Fire had burned ragged holes in her papery lungs. This would make communication difficult in the future.
Anomie saw the fool"s mouth moving but heard nothing. The fat Ha.s.sebrand was comical, and she laughed. Her Schatten Mörder, each a walking bonfire, moved forward to flank her. The path between them and Gehirn cleared, they stalked toward the Ha.s.sebrand. Swords, cherry red with heat, hung ready in strong hands cremated of flesh and muscle.
Does Gehirn crave death as much as I? If so, the Ha.s.sebrand"s heart"s desire would soon be granted.
Gehirn watched the Cotardists approach. These dead did not shamble. Even aflame, the a.s.sa.s.sins crouched and moved with lethal grace. As walking fires they became beautiful, entrancing and mesmerizing. Sensuous even. Will they surround me, hug me tight in a fiery embrace? Would she die as she had lived, in the suffocating heat of need? Could there be anything more beautiful?
Gehirn lifted her arms, reaching toward the a.s.sa.s.sins. Bring me death—
"Burn them!" Erbrechen screamed from the litter. "They"re going to kill me!"
Gehirn could not ignore such commands; his need crushed hers, usurped all volition. She couldn"t let them hurt her love, even if Erbrechen sought only to use her.
Still, some small part of her craved punishment and held back the full force of her strength. Gehirn pointed and Anomie"s sword melted to slag and ran like blood to cover her skeletal hand in a sheen of molten metal.
Yet the corpse continued its advance, holding the molten fist in the air as if she planned to beat Gehirn to death with it.
"Burn them all!" screamed Erbrechen. "Now!"
Gehirn burned them to ash with a wave of her hand. All of them. Anomie. Her five Schatten Mörder. Then she burned Erbrechen"s friends. Thousands of tiny lives snuffed in a flash of heat. She burned them all. She stood in a small circle of mud surrounded by acres of ash.
The sky cracked and lightning lashed the heavens. Dark and pregnant clouds gave birth and fist-sized stones of hail hammered the earth.
Erbrechen, still cowering on the litter, wailed as hail struck him. Gehirn had to protect her love—and she only knew one way to do so.
She lit the sky afire.
She burned the sky clean of clouds and the encircling storm rushed to fill what had been its calm eye. Gehirn devoured the sky with loving flame and heat. After what seemed like an eternity of fire, the strength of the storm failed. The sun slammed through the shredding cloud like an avenging hammer.
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Gehirn stood, arms spread, gazing in adoration at the ultimate fire. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, occluding the sun with the smoke rising from her blackening body. Her eyes melted and ran like b.u.t.ter.
Gehirn ignited with concussive force.