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“The High Word of Zai. Zai as man,” Damon says.
Doroth Zain turns to Lyr and Damon. “You two will come with me,” he says.
Damon crouches forward and picks up the Amber Blade where Atticul dropped it on the cell floor.
They follow Doroth Zain back through the dungeons, through a maze of tunnels, until they reach a small chamber. There is a small bench against a stone wall and a single torch burning in a fixing on the wall. When they are inside, Doroth Zain bolts the door. Turning around, he says, “Please, sit. This room is part of my private quarters inside the underground temple. We are quite safe here.” He looks at Lyr and gives a slight smile. “I hope this is the last time I have to help you escape from these dungeons.”
“I hope so too,” Lyr says as he sits down.
Damon sits next to Lyr, close, their thighs touch. Damon lifts his chin. “Why are you here Doroth Zain? Why are you helping sinners like us?”
“There are things that are more important than trivial sins.”
“What does that mean?”
“I take it from what you said about killing Atticul that you are now aware that my brother Vindar would like to see his son on the throne. And that he wants you out of the way so that when he forces a succession crisis the people or the court do not look to a great hero with Darek blood, who has only been discounted due to a small accident of birth, rather than the rule of a young boy. Prince Atticul has proven himself to be vain and easily manipulated. Vindar’s hope was that one of you would kill the other and then he would be rid of you both.”
“And you want to stop him?”
Doroth Zain tips his head to one side. “Not particularly. Vindar’s plans mean nothing, except that they endanger you. I want you alive, Damon Darekul. You are important.”
“Me? For what? I have no interest in becoming the Emperor of Azuria.”
Doroth Zain nods. “Your purpose is far greater than that. Few people know that Atticus saw you alive on Sanvicta. Fewer still that your slave returned to Attar. If you leave now most will assume you died on your island, in exile. Let them. Leave Azuria. It is vital you go now.”
Damon shakes his head. “What are you talking about? Why are you so interested in me? Where do you want me to go?”
“I want you to go to Queen Jareleezi in Ismagaar.”
Damon can’t speak for a moment, then, when he does, his voice is a growl, “You are working for the Hevelikar?”
“Of course not. I work for Zai.”
“I think you have made it quite clear in the last few moments that you do not.”
Doroth Zain says, “Damon, you will have to trust me now. Come, before you leave, do your penance at the feet of the Immurite, one last time.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Lyr. He is not leaving my sight.”
“Take him with you. He is needed too.”
28
DAMON
Doroth Zain takes them from the small stone room to the Temple of the Immurite. They enter through the small hidden door Damon saw the Hare use, missing the usual point where visitors are given the white stone. It feels strange to Damon, to approach the small structure that holds the Immurite without that stone keeping his hands behind his back.
He kneels at the small door, Lyr kneels beside him. The last time he was here he was so strong, or he thought he was. He was ready to risk his life for Lyr. He did not die, but he became something else. His body is broken. He will never be a One Man Army again.
Twenty-two years fighting every bloody battle he was told to fight and he was barely touched, but love, love has ruined him.
The wooden door slides open revealing the metal grill. Behind it, the pale face of the Immurite.
“You are here for the last time Damon Darekul, and if not the last of all, the last for a long time.”
“If you are to lend your voice to Doroth Zain’s cause, know now we will not go to Ismagaar,” Damon responds, ignoring all the correct protocols. “I will not ask that of Lyr.”
“Your destiny awaits you there,” the Immurite says calmly. “Many plans have been carefully laid for you. Taking Lyr from Pellex changed your path. It is set now. You must go there. You can choose to go toward your destiny or you can choose to run from it, but you will end up there. Jareleezi’s Gods were not wrong.”
