Chapter 155 Pride before fall

Chapter 155 Pride before fall
Irin hid her smile as the giant skeleton spoke. It spoke in the common tongue, but had an accent that was hard to place.
"He is telling the truth. The book clearly said the warlock was caught and burned," Irin insisted.
"Lies!" The skeletons around them shivered and paused, as if hesitating for a moment before continuing their assault. This gave Irin new hope that their plan would work, and she laughed.
"If you say that we are liars, then why don't you tell us what happened?" she demanded.
"A woman like you holds no authority over a man like myself," Vexirin stated.
"Fine. I'm happy with everyone believing my version of events," Irin said.
"I will not let you taint my legacy!" the skeleton roared. "I wasn't caught. I completed the transformation. I became immortal. My studies had been correct; when I shed my mortal body, my powers grew." As he talked, the skeletons stopped moving; they stood frozen as if they had forgotten why they were there. After a long moment when everyone just looked at them, Meghart and Nenhir moved. They started destroying skeleton by skeleton as fast and quietly as they could. The others understood and followed suit.
"And yet, no one knows your name, no one talks about your great power. You must have failed," Koth egged him on.
"I did not fail! I was betrayed!" Vexirin shouted. "The crowned prince was my benefactor; he supported me. One of his brothers grew jealous and sent spies. When he learned about my plans, he told the priests. Traitor! If not for him, I would have had the time to settle into my new existence and I would have been unstoppable. Instead, the priests came while I was still getting used to my new state of being. I didn't have full control yet, and they used it. They placed my vessel into a sealed box; nothing I did could affect the outside of it. They threw me into an eternal prison and locked me in a room full of treasures. For a millennium, I sat on a shelf, aware, awake, and able to know what happened around me but not able to communicate," he continued. If he hadn't been insane going into the box, that would have driven anyone to insanity, Irin thought. Isolated for a thousand years. Then her mother had taken the box and released his madness into the world.
"And then you became a puppet to a small chief in a city you probably never heard of," Koth taunted him.
"Obeying the owner of my vessel was an unfortunate side effect of the method used to bind myself to it. You could have controlled my power as well, if you had had the bravery to do so instead of lugging me around for a year," Vexirin told him.
"No, thank you. I wouldn't dirty myself like that," Koth told him.
"I am not dirty! I am powerful and strong. And thanks to you, I no longer need to obey a master. My vessel was destroyed; I think I like this one better anyway."
"I don't know, it has already started falling apart. You are missing a club and a leg," Irin pointed out.
"She is right. I would ask for a full refund. You have had it for less than a couple of hours," Koth agreed.
"I will kill the both of you! I have been itching to do it since you took me. At first, I had hopes of you using me, so that I could manipulate you like I did the others. With your powers combined with mine, we could have ruled the world. But then you stuffed me away, binding me again. I will kill you, and now that I have a new vessel, I don't need anyone. I will conquer the world on my own," Vexirin told them.
"That's what everyone says. We are still alive," Irin said with a shrug. Her confidence was high as their friends had finished destroying the last skeleton and were now forming a circle around Vexirin. The skeleton huffed a hoarse laugh.
"You think you can stop me?" he asked. "And you say I am arrogant!"
"We just have a lot of good, talented friends," Koth told him. The skeleton froze, and for the first time, he took stock of what was happening around him.
"You tricked me!" He was furious. Libero and his priests didn't wait; they started praying, and at the feet of the skeleton, a swirling disc of purple and white light appeared. It was a bigger copy of the ones they had used to get rid of the black smoke. This time, they all focused their power into one disc. "No!" Irin could see black smoke start to seep out from the skeleton.
"He is trying to escape," she called out. Koth drew a scroll from his robe and held it up. She could feel the familiar wave of his magic flowing into it. It created one of his shields. This time, it wasn't to protect them, but to contain the black smoke. The giant skeleton collapsed as the soul left it. Irin heard Jacob whisper a prayer, and the lush grass on the hill grew inside the shield. It wrapped around the skeleton and crushed it, making sure it would be of no use to Vexirin. The black smoke tried to stay as high above the ground as it could inside the shield.
"Give up and join the other souls," Libero told it.
"No!" The scream echoed across the area.
"You know a soul without a vessel will wither and disappear," Libero said.
"I am immortal! My power is enough to conquer every country. I am not going to die!"
"Death is a natural part of life," Jacob told it.
"No! I won't!" Libero gave the order to raise the spinning disc. As he did, Koth shrank the shield. They were forcing the smoke into the disc. A guttural scream rang from the smoke as it first made contact with the disc. It struggled against the power, not giving up until it had been completely devoured. Koth removed the shield, and the spinning disc was gone. The night became eerily quiet. There were no sounds of battle, no screams or orders being called. Everyone stood still and took it all in.
"We did it!" Melir suddenly exclaimed. Irin nearly had a heart attack at the sudden, loud sound. Judging by how people reacted around her, she wasn't the only one.
"Don't go around shouting like that, boy!" Meghart scolded him.
"Sorry," Melir said, not looking the least bit sorry.
"We really did do it, it's over," Koth said. The night filled with cheers and calls of happiness and victory. Irin laughed and threw herself at Koth. He caught her, held her in his arms and swirled her around before stopping and kissing her. It really was over, and both Koth and she were alive, Irin thought. When Koth let her down, their friends came over. Irin gave all three of them a hug, while Koth settled for handshakes and some slaps to the back. He almost sent Melir flying when he included him.
"Thank you for joining us; it would have been difficult without you," Irin told them.
"Oh, I don't know. You handled that sword pretty great," Nenhir said, squinting, trying to see the sword on her back.
"Thank you. I will show it to you when we get home," she promised. The heads of the temples came walking over.
"We need to treat the wounded and clean this place up. We can't leave it like this," Jacob told them. Irin looked around, seeing the site with eyes not judging a battle, but its remains. The thirteen stones were still standing in a circle, some of them tilted a different way than they had when the group arrived. Most probably because of the shaking of the ground. The sides of the hill were littered with pits and mounds of soil from where the skeletons had dug their way out. The top and one of the sides were covered in bone. Big bones, small ones, crushed ones. There was some blood as well, but thankfully not much. The place was a mess, and Jacob had been right that they couldn't leave it like this.
"I can help to heal the wounded," Irin offered.
"Thank you," Jacob said.
"We will help with the clean-up," Nenhir told the heads of the temple.
"It will be good practice for the boy," Meghart agreed.
"I'll help Irin," Koth said. Everyone looked at him with doubt. They all knew his talent for healing was almost non-existent.
"You do that," Senaya said with a grin.
The horizon showed the first sign of sunrise when they were all done.
"I say we sleep until lunch, eat, and then start the journey back home," Almot told everyone. They all agreed as they felt the consequences of staying awake through the night, using more energy than any of them usually needed to use in the span of a couple of hours. They headed back to where the horses were and rolled out their blankets. Irin felt restless. She was tired, but something wouldn't settle.
"Want to go for a walk and relax before bed?" Koth asked. As usual, he knew what she needed before she could tell him.
"Yes, please," she said.
"Don't go too far," Meghart told them. Nenhir slapped the back of his friend's head.
"Don't listen to him. Go far, preferably out of hearing range," Nenhir said.
"Idiots," Koth grumbled as Irin giggled. They walked along the tree line of the forest, looking out over the plain with all the ruins that were coloured pink and peach by the rising sun.
"Congratulations are in order," someone said.