The Hour of the Crow

Chapter 40: One's End, Another's Beginning

"I DON'T CARE!" Inna bellowed. The first tears dribbled down her heated cheeks. A loud, heart-wrenching sob racked her body. She sank down to the floor, burying her face in her hands.

"The Amulet," she heard Rabyatt hiss to one of the other cultists. "Quickly, grab it!"

He was cut off with a choked sound. She blinked the tears from her eyes and stared at the black, solid hand wrapped around Rabyatt's throat. His feet dangled several inches from the ground. While he thrashed in Onshra's grip, his soldiers shrunk back even further, trying to fuse with the wall.

Onshra brought his fiery gaze close to the prince's frightened face. "YOU WILL MAKE A MEAGER MEAL FOR THE HOUND OF CINDERS, BUT YOU ARE ONLY A FORETASTE FOR WHEN THE REST OF YOUR DESPICABLE CULT LANDS ON HIS PLATE."

Rabyatt shrieked. The remaining cultists bolted into the closed-off garden, but since debris blocked the only exit, they were trapped when Onshra's power washed over them. As soon as the dark smoke touched them, their skin melted away until a smoldering skeleton was all that was left of them. The darkness rose over the garden's walls and spread out to the rest of the palace, shrouding the moon and stars. At the speed of a sinister sandstorm, it trekked toward the city.

With Onshra taking up every inch of space within her line of sight, it was difficult to make out any details, but Inna could have sworn she caught a glimpse of dark hair and a face that vaguely resembled a female version of Arran's before the tapestry behind the throne slid back in place. Zazi slithered past and her tail gave a gentle tug at Inna's wrist, guiding her hand to Arran's motionless chest. A thrill jolted up her arm when her fingers brushed the Amulet. Tenderly, she slipped the necklace from Arran's neck and lifted it over her own head.

A strong gust swept through the room. She let out a shuddering breath as a new Haala bond settled in her aura and joined the one she already had with Ezahar. It was done. She had become Onshra's new master.

All around her, the black mist cleared. Bones and ashes littered the marble floor, but the spot where Rabyatt had stood only moments before was clean and empty. Nothing remained of him. Nothing indicated that he had even existed at all. Nylah and Kasmir knelt in front of the throne, shielding their heads with their arms, and they looked up when Inna strode past them. She held her head high, her gaze fixed on the djinn at the center of the room as she descended the dais.

Onshra stayed silent for as long as it took her to approach him. His eyes followed her with a non-offending kind of disinterest that could only exist within a being as old as time itself. She clasped the Amulet so tightly that the sharp points of the triangle left bruised imprints in her flesh.

"I want to make a bargain with you," she declared.

He didn't even blink. "GO ON."

She sucked in a breath of courage. "I will release you from the Amulet if you bring Arran back from the dead."

Now he did blink. Then he closed his eyes, so that the red orbs vanished completely and only shadows remained. "I CANNOT DO THAT."

"Yes, you can." Her voice had an unpleasant, shrill note to it. "You are the god of death. What good are you if you cannot even revive a person whose blood is still warm in his veins?"

The crimson eyes reappeared. "DEATH IS NOT A DOOR THROUGH WHICH YOU CAN WALK IN AND OUT OF MY REALM," he said. "IT IS ANOTHER DIMENSION THAT REQUIRES AN IRREVOCABLE CHANGE IN THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO ENTER IT. I AM BUT THE GUARDIAN OF THAT DIMENSION. NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS."

She refused to believe him. "If Death can truly not give, then why does the Amulet force you to grant its owner's wishes? Is that not a form of giving too?"