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I’d barely managed to hold it back for this long, and I still wasn’t sure how I’d pulled it off at all. My heart was pounding, my skull ached from the pressure, and I’d even dug my nails deep enough into my fists to cut the leather of my gloves. The sheer, primal rage was boiling over, clawing at my mind, begging to be let out… well, now it would be; I wasn’t gonna hold back anymore. No more, now that I’d made it through that absolute farce of an “ascendancy,” withstood the scrutiny of several gods at once and hadn’t cracked under the pressure, hadn’t let loose and just punched that… that accursed, wretched, complete bastard’s smarmy face in right then and there…
Well, now there wasn’t a Dragonkin around or Death being at risk, and nothing would stand in my way. It would be just the two of us—and I didn’t care how, I was going to make him pay!
With all my might, I flung the large doors to the citadel throne room open with such a force that the thunderous bang echoed throughout the chamber, the floor seeming to vibrate beneath my feet. The echo ringing in my ears, I drew a deep breath and strode purposely towards the throne, my fists clenching tightly as I went.
As if on cue, the blasted Mahjarrat appeared in a flurry of shadows just as I reached the throne. If looks could kill, I was sure he’d be dead eighty times over, but he merely smirked—gods, what I wouldn’t give to wipe that bloody grin off his face—and sat casually on the throne, draping his legs over one side of it like he was relaxing at a tavern with some beer.
“Ah, Finley, couldn’t get enough of my company? I must say, you made quite the impressive grand entrance there!”
“Sliske…” My voice came out as a low hiss, and I brushed a thick sandy lock out of my eyes so I could meet his gaze squarely. “Ye…”
“Glad to see you too,” Sliske said blithely, his infuriating smirk still plastered to his face. “Now, now, what has your jimmies so rustled?”
“Ye know full well what!” I shouted, the first tears welling up in my burning eyes—no, I couldn’t cry, not yet, not in front of him. “I canna believe ye… why… Adrius…”
“Oh, that,” Sliske scoffed, shaking his head. “I’d actually forgotten about him! No wonder I did; he was hardly Barrows brother caliber. Still, he’s been making himself useful—someone has to do the grunt work, after all.”
The absolute nerve of that damned snake! The way he was acting so flippant about Adrius, the love of my life, my other half… how he’d been reduced to a… a dead-eyed, mindless, empty shell… how he hadn’t even seemed aware that I was there…
“That was me husband, ya bloody rotten arse!” I roared, my fist flying towards his face at breakneck speed—only for something to suddenly constrict sharply around my wrist and nearly jerk my arm out of my shoulder socket. I couldn’t help but yelp and nearly stumble forward, and as I quickly staggered back to my feet, I saw that he had deftly grabbed my wrist just inches away from his face.
He turned to face me and sat up straight on the throne, his iron grip tightening around my wrist. “A fact of which I am well aware, Finley. Tell me, were you planning to beat me into submission in the hopes that it might return your beloved to you somehow? That’s mighty kinky of you, but it’ll hardly return him to life!”
“Ye… ye think I dinna know that?” I gritted my teeth, trying to tough out the crushing ache. “Of course I want him back! Ye’ve gone too far this time, Sliske!”
“Why blame me, dear?” Slightly loosening his grip, Sliske ran his thumb slowly over my knuckles, and even with the leather layer of my gloves there, I could feel the skin of my hand crawling at his touch. “It wasn’t me who killed him; I just gave him a job and a purpose instead of leaving him to rot. Would you have preferred he be left on the Ritual plateau to keep Lucien company?”
“Ye made him a… a puppet! An… empty…” The words caught in my throat as the image of that blank, dead look in Adrius’ eyes filled my mind. The white-hot tears started to boil up again, stronger this time, and my nose was filling up too. “At least the Barrows brothers got to keep their minds, keep what made them who they were! What ye did to him, it’s… it’s worse…”
“I can’t offer luxury accommodations for everyone,” Sliske said casually, sliding his thumb a little bit beneath my glove. I jerked my arm away immediately, but he simply took my hand in his. “Even a Mahjarrat can only do so much! Do you have any idea how much work it took to make room in the Barrows for Akrisae?”
“Ye weren’t even intendin’ to take Akrisae and ye know it!” Wait… Akrisae! He’d taken the hit for me… My breath hitched in my throat, and my spine went rigid. Could I… could I do the same sort of thing… for Adrius? It wasn’t like I’d been fixing more problems than I’d caused lately anyway… and if it meant I could free him, give him a second chance…
My watery eyes narrowed sharply as I locked my gaze with the bastard’s golden stare, and the words fell from my lips almost the moment they entered my mind. “Take me instead!”
“Hm?” Sliske quirked an eyeridge and let go of my hand. “What’s that? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”
“I. Said. Take. Me. Instead!” I spat, clenching my sore hand into a fist. The tears were flowing in full force now, and my nose was starting to run, but I didn’t care anymore—I had to keep up my resolve, hope that this could save him, that I could make up for not being able to save him before.
That insufferable bloody grin I hated so much spread across his face, and he threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, Finley, that could mean all sorts of things!” he snickered, standing up so that he towered over me. “Do be more specific, unless, of course, you do indeed want me to take you on an outing where we can enjoy one another’s company? I’m assuming that’s what you mean by that, and I would be quite happy to oblige—the Shadow Realm has many wonders we can sightsee!”
“Ye know damn well what I mean!” I realized my whole body was shaking. “It was me ye wanted fer yer bloody collection all along, and it’s me ye’ll get! Let Adrius go free, and I’ll let ye have me!”
Sliske just stared straight at me silently, the smirk gone from his face. His expression was blank, unreadable, but his golden eyes pierced right through me. I could only stare back, trembling in my boots, the sound of my pounding heart positively deafening, my face sticky from the hot dripping tears and the slime from my nose. Was he going to double-cross me? Would he kill me on the spot and refuse to free Adrius once I was under his control? Was this going to be another one of my stinking blunders, my last ever?
When he spoke again, I could’ve sworn that the jolt up my spine had just made my entire thick mass of hair stand on end. “Finley, Finley, Finley… you’re a fool indeed. Let’s pretend for the moment that I were going to take you up on your offer. What makes you think I would let your beloved go free once you were under my control and couldn’t protest? What makes you think it wouldn’t be so much more… romantic to let you two be together forever?”
“Ye… ye wouldna dare!” I didn’t believe my own words for a moment.
“Oh, but I could, and I would,” he pointed out, his tone all too cheerful. “Fortunately for you, I shall have to decline your generous offer. Things have gotten interesting enough that it would simply be too boring to collect you anymore!”
My stomach twisted itself into a tightly clenching knot. Sliske, refusing the chance to make me the Barrows sister, refusing my willing offer for exactly what he’d been after? Because it was somehow too boring? Was this another one of his dirty tricks? Was he simply lying? Why wouldn’t he jump at the chance to have me, be at least willing to let Adrius go if I could take his place?
“What d’ye mean, too borin’?” I stared at him in disbelief. “Is everythin’ all just a bleedin’ game to ye?”
“You can say that’s true to a degree, yes.” Sliske nodded. “I could, of course, have easily fixated on nothing but collecting you, but that’d be far too predictable—and you interest me far more alive than dead! Your husband simply had the misfortune of not being a very interesting individual.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but he kept right on talking. “When I said you were the guest of honor earlier, I wasn’t just flattering you! Even the gods know how important you’ll be to coming events, even they have an interest in you. By all means, do not hesitate to join in my contest! You don’t want the gods around anyway, yes? Well, if you manage to slay enough of them to win, one Stone of Jas will be all yours! And you can even use it to bring your husband back to life right away! That trick worked for Saradomin, after all.”
“I dinna wanna play yer stinkin’ games, ya connivin’ bastard,” I snapped, but a part of me was just a little bit curious if that suggestion would actually work. I didn’t think I could take on a god directly and win, not yet, but if I could save Adrius and all of Gielinor all at once, if we could be together once more and the world safe around us… No, Finley, ye mustn’t fall for his dirty tricks…
“Do you really mean that?” Sliske raised an eyeridge sharply and slid his hand under my chin, tilting my head upwards so I was looking up at him. “You were willing to trade your soul to me just to get your husband back. You’re clearly willing to go far to get him back—so why not go that distance? Consider that I could make you face a fate worse than death—or worse than undeath—in exchange for his freedom, should I feel so inclined to do so.”
His strangely serious expression gave way to that enraging smug grin as he let go of my chin. “Well, Finley, as much as I enjoy your company, I really must be going now! You’re going to need to do a good deal of training if you hope to stand a chance at getting the Stone! We’ll be seeing each other again soon enough.”
With that he vanished into the shadows the way he’d come, and I was alone in the throne room once more, my skin crawling all over from just the thought of how he’d held my face. I couldn’t cry anymore, but my nose was still all swollen and stuffed up, so I made use of my sleeve as I turned back towards the chamber doors.
The wind whistled through my thick sandy braids as I stepped outside, and I closed my eyes and let myself just feel the fresh breeze as I walked. I couldn’t help but picture Adrius by my side, the wind ruffling his tousled copper curls, that special smile on his face that always just made me want to pinch his cheeks…
“The view up here’s amazing, huh, Finley… well, it doesn’t beat the view from Zanaris, that’s for sure!”
“Aye, ‘tis incredible indeed,” I murmured aloud, “but the most beautiful view of all is right in front of me…”
Sighing, I sat down at the base of a tree to rest my aching joints, staring down at my knees. What a fool I’d been, letting my rage consume me again like that… how could I have been so stupid? How could I have hoped to atone for my past mistakes? World Guardian? What was that, other than some fancy-pants title to make me sound more important, even? My bumbling had caused so many deaths… Turael, Duradel, Hazelmere, Ghommal, Sloane, Cyrisius, Mother, Athrhan, Akrisae, even Guthix now… I couldn’t even save the one I loved most, give him a second chance after failing him so greatly.
What could I do now, though? Do exactly as Sliske had asked? That would be foolish; the slimy twit couldn’t even be trusted to agree to let me go with him in Adrius’ place. I’d have to be an even bigger bumbling idiot than I already was to actually believe he’d really give me the Stone, or that using it and ticking off the Dragonkin would really be enough to free Adrius from his control.
As I buried my face in my knees, I couldn’t help but imagine a hand on my shoulder, a hand that belonged to my beloved sitting beside me underneath the tree. I could picture his brow furrowing as he looked me over, a shaky frown crossing his handsome face.
“Hey, Finley, is something eating you?”
I nodded, even though I knew full well it was just my imagination running away with me. “Ye think? Aye, ye know me too well, love…”
“Well, I hoped I could cheer you up a little! Finley, you shouldn’t forget what I’ve always admired in you the most—it’s your spirit, your determination. You’ve lost so much, struggled so much… but you’ve kept your hope alive, never faltered in your resolve to go forward, still sought to see the best in everyone. That kind of strength—it’s what I strive for, what keeps me going, what serves as my beacon in life. When I look at your smiling face, I… why, I feel like I can take on the world.”
Determination… yes, that was it. That was what I had to hold fast to! I might have failed him this time, but I couldn’t give up hope—there had to be a way to help him somehow, a way that didn’t involve making deals with a treacherous, shady Mahjarrat and ending up undead. I wasn’t quite sure why my thoughts had taken me there—maybe enough of Adrius had rubbed off on me that I sort of carried a part of him within me, a part I resolved to always remember and hold fast to.
“I won’t ever let that spirit and resolve go, beloved,” I murmured to the wind. “I’ll find a way to save ye, to grant ye freedom from that dreadful fate—and that’s a promise!”