“Find the Field Marshal, show him the baton, secure our passage, and report.” Phang’s words reflected Soen’s own boredom. “Aye, Master Inquisitor.”
The Codexia turned to make his way around the hollow. but Qinsei, standing behind Soen, called out. “One moment more, Phang.”
Soen turned a curious eye on his First. “Yes, Codexia Qinsei?”
“The road is long before us,” Qinsei said, her voice smooth and unusually deep, “and it is late. Our problems lie ahead of us, and wisdom might be found in resting mind and body to prepare for them when they are discovered. Might the Inquisitor consider camping here for the night?”
Soen considered for a moment. “You make an entire argument in a single breath, Codexia Qinsei.”
The Codexia only smiled back and bowed slightly.
“Still, few words often carry the greatest merit,” Soen continued. They had been traveling against the tide of warriors flowing through the gates since they left the capital. He was beginning to feel the weariness of the journey as well. “The question in my mind is whether to camp here or continue a few folds farther on. . wait!”
A scream cut once more across the herd from the fold portal on the far side of the hollow. A chimerian stood on the platform before the shimmering fold and howled such a terrible sound that the Myrdin-dai and others on the platform scattered at once, stumbling over each other as they tried to get as far away from the mad creature as possible.
The chimerian was a horrifying sight. His skin was streaked with blood, glistening in the light of the globe-torches hung around the fold platform. He had extended his body to its full height, and all four arms stretched out from its sides, each holding a different type of sword. The chain mail vest he wore was ragged and broken, pierced in several places where the creature’s own blood oozed out. But it was the eyes-fixed wide open and unblinking-that were windows into a torment without depth and a mind lost to its merciless ravages.
“Run!” the chimerian screamed. “Run from your lives!”
The mad creature lunged forward, leaping from the platform, its blades slicing with soft ringing sounds through the evening air. Heedless, the chimerian dashed forward into the herd, sword blades churning. The surprised warriors leaped back, several of them reacting instinctively to face their opponent, but the chimerian continued to dash across the base of the hollow, deftly slipping past one, slicing into the side of another, rolling around a third. The sound of the Impress Warriors rose to a thunderous roar, and still the chimerian continued its pell-mell charge across the field, its eyes fixed on one thing.
An exit portal. . and Soen’s Quorum alone stood in its path.
Soen stepped forward, spinning his Matei staff deftly in front of him, then gripping it in both hands. The headpiece suddenly flared with brilliant light, an incandescent blade forming outward from the top of the staff into the shape of a razor-edged scythe. At the bottom of the staff, a globe of crackling blue light was forming at the same time.
Soen kept his eyes on the mad chimerian, widened his stance and waited.
The chimerian plunged directly toward the Inquisitor, its mind fixed on reaching the exit portal beyond, its blades whirling so as to obliterate anyone or anything that stood between it and its next passage.
The young Assesia Wreth took a step forward, brandishing his own Matei. . but Qinsei held up a cautioning hand to restrain him.
“Run from the dreams!” it babbled as it charged. “They’re coming! They’re right behind! Run!”
The chimerian lunged at Soen.
The Inquisitor rolled backward, his Matei spinning in his hands. Soen planted the headpiece in the ground next to him just as the glowing ball at the bottom of the staff discharged.
The chimerian soared straight up into the air, its body bent double by the force of the Aether discharged into its abdomen. The mad creature screamed horribly, and its arms-still gripping the blades in its hands-twisted angrily in the air. Soen held firm to the staff, his arms shaking with the effort. The glowing blade at the head of the staff was now against the ground, Soen using its force for leverage against the chimerian as the creature continued to writhe, now suspended over the staff in the air.
Soen looked up, his black elven eyes fixed on the chimerian. “I am Iblisi; I am the Emperor’s Will. . you are commanded to obey!”
The chimerian fixed his hateful gaze on the Inquisitor and then, screaming, slashed at the air with all four of the blades in his hands. “Death to the Emperor! Death to his dreams!”