Mask of Dragons by Jonathan Moeller

give you my gift,” said Marazadra. “Unfortunately, you proved more resistant than even I anticipated. You rejected my gift and silenced my voice.”
    “I cut the heart spider out of my chest,” said Mazael.
    “I expect it made quite the mess,” said Marazadra. “But the blessing of my venom remains in your blood. Consequently, you can hear my voice, even if you would rather not.”
    “And you get another chance to persuade me,” said Mazael. 
    “Precisely,” said Marazadra. “You will see the wisdom of following me soon enough, Mazael Cravenlock. Or else you shall die.”
    Mazael stared at her, the flashes of purple light from the altar throwing crazed shadows across the courtyard. His first impulse was to threaten her, or to tell her just what she could do with her offer of persuasion. As a younger man he would have done exactly that. 
    Yet he knew that she was his ultimate enemy. The Prophetess and Rigoric, the Skuldari and the valgasts, the soliphages and Basracus…they were just her tools, just as Lucan and Corvad and Ragnachar and the others had been the Old Demon’s tools. If Mazael was to defeat her, he needed to know what she planned to do. 
    “All right,” said Mazael, meeting those red-lit eyes. “Persuade me. Why should I follow you?” 
    The red lips smiled again. “Ah. Perhaps I shall spell out my entire plan, allowing you to defeat me?”
    Mazael shrugged. “If you wish to do so, I shall not stop you.” 
    “Tell me, then, child of the Old Demon,” said Marazadra. “What do you know of the ancient world?” 
    Mazael frowned. “The ancient world? Old Dracaryl and the Roland kings of Knightcastle…”
    She let out a laugh. “You are young! No, more ancient than that, far more ancient. The Old Demon was three thousand years old when you slew him, but this world is much older than that. Tell me, Mazael Cravenlock. What do you know of the ancient world?” 
    “Little enough,” said Mazael. “The High Elderborn ruled the world, but were consumed when the Dark Elderborn created the first Demonsouled. When the Great Demon was destroyed, the Imperium of the Dark Elderborn conquered the world, but fell into ruin and decline, and the kingdoms of humans arose instead.” 
    “A crude summary, but mostly accurate,” said Marazadra. “The High Elderborn were but one of the ancient races and powers that strove for dominion of this world. The San-keth were another, as were my children.”
    “The soliphages,” said Mazael. 
    “For a time, the High Elderborn ruled unopposed,” said Marazadra. “Then some of them became the Dark Elderborn and created the Demonsouled, and they destroyed one another.” She took a deep breath, her eyes seeming to flare. “For a time, we did as we wished. We contested for the rule of this world...and then your father interfered.” 
    “He trapped you,” said Mazael.
    “Yes,” said Marazadra, her voice an icy hiss of hatred. “Many rules bound the Old Demon, and he could not harm another unless the other first harmed him. That never stopped him. He tricked and deceived and bound us, one by one. He convinced the San-keth to cripple their own god, and they never knew he had done it.” The red fire in her eyes flared brighter. “He bound me within a prison, and laid iron laws upon my worshippers that they could not break.” She laughed. “It is fitting that you fight dark powers, child of my greatest foe. Your father defeated and bound more dark powers than anyone else in the history of this world.”
    “He didn’t do it out of benevolence,” said Mazael. 
    “Of course not,” said Marazadra. “He wished to gather the scattered power of the Great Demon to himself, to rule this world as a tyrant god for epochs beyond count. The other powers that once contested this world were…competitors, and that was something the Old Demon would never tolerate. He could not destroy us, so instead he bound us, trapping us within our own power.” 
    “But