The Tenets in the Tattoos (The King's Swordsman Book 1)

by Becky James

  I jabbed with the halberd. He tried to dart back, but I kept on him, pressing forward. We sparred all the time, and we knew each other’s weaknesses and strengths through and through. I was stronger, but Gavain was faster. He also had a bad trait of moving away to recover his strength and reassess the battlefield. I needed to press, press, press so as not to give him time to regroup and wear him down, and I had the endurance to do it. Meanwhile, I knew he would be avoiding my heavy hits and instead coming into my guard knowing I wasn’t fast enough to block, certainly not with an unwieldy halberd. We had been trained to fight with a variety of weapons, but I much preferred the sword.

  I managed to push him back with the haft across his chest until his back hit the wall. He ducked to one side and I raised my knee forcefully into his stomach to halt him. He lashed out with his blade, and I realised he had counted on that; lethal force just missed my windpipe as I pulled my head out of the way in time. That was another difference in our battle now; I was trying not to kill him. He wasn’t holding back.

  Shoving away from the wall, he hammered down with his sword. I turned the halberd crossways and blocked it on the downswing, the impact clanging and jarring through me.

  “How long is this going to take?” Aubin called.

  “Shut up!” I yelled.

  “Come on, Evyn, let’s go on ahead.”

  “No! Don’t you dare.” Flinging Gavain back, I panted. “Evyn, don’t trust Aubin. He wants your blood.”

  Aubin scowled, and Evyn took a step away from him. “You agreed!” he said.

  Gavain came crashing back. Blocking him, I heaved him away from me, spinning the halberd. “I never did any such thing. I never sealed any deal!” I grinned. I had won there.

  “You – argh.” Aubin snarled at being cheated.

  “You wanted my blood?” Evyn put a hand over her mouth. Then she asked, “How much?”

  “Evyn, no!” I pressed forward again and again, blocking Gavain from getting away and forcing him to engage with me. My arms shook. “You are not giving him any of your blood!”

  “Not a lot. Certainly not anything you would miss,” Aubin said.

  “His soul is a mage! Don’t trust him!”

  “Oh, it’s for her? What’s she going to do with it?”

  “Evyn! Stop being interested! We are not doing it, and that’s final!” I gasped for breath.

  Gavain hissed, “Focus on me!”

  “I have to… stop her from… concluding this… transaction!”

  “I’m not entirely sure yet,” replied Aubin. “I just know she would want to secure some Earthian blood if she could.”

  “Can I watch while she does it?” Evyn asked.

  “Evyn!” I howled.

  “I suppose you could.” Aubin nodded.

  “Sounds cool. Great.”

  “Evyn! You did not agree to that! Aubin! She did not!”

  Aubin smirked at me. “I think the lady can make up her own mind, thank you.”

  Growling, I smacked at Gavain some more. He had to fall into a guard stance as my hits grew heavier and heavier. Finally, they broke through, and his sword arm fell. Dropping the halberd, I landed some solid punches that he would need a medimancer to heal up.

  I grabbed his sword and flung it away from him. “Yield,” I gasped, sweating and trembling all over.

  “I can’t, Thorrn.” He curled over his stomach. “I’m dead if she leaves now.”

  I panted, wiping the sweat from my brow, and held out my hand. “Then come with us. We could use you.”

  He pushed himself against the wall to stand on trembling legs. “I can’t let you go. You’ll be caught and killed. We’re going to have to watch while you dangle from a noose, and I’ll probably have to take your head off as well.” He smacked his own face to wipe it free of sweat. “Your father cannot help you now, and you cannot fall back on him to protect you from the consequences of breaking the first tenet. You have to obey the king, we all do, even you.”

  I shook my head angrily. “Torgund will keep her locked up here! That’s not one of the tenets.”

  “Obedience to his every decree is,” Gavain hissed, gaining his feet and setting his stance. He had gotten his breath back and recovered enough for another round.

  “Then we’ll have to fight until someone dies.” I sank into a guard stance, pulling the calm of battle down and picking up my halberd. “Get your sword. I’m not fighting you unarmed,” I told my friend.

  “Or this is quicker,” Aubin drawled. A dart shot past me and lodged in Gavain’s throat.

  Gavain swiped it off with a growl. “You rat! You… You’re not—” His eyes rolled back into his skull.

  I ran to catch him just as he collapsed. “What was that?” I shouted at Aubin, laying Gavain flat on the floor.

  “Speeding up the process. We’re on a tight schedule here!”

  “That’s underhanded! It’s cheating!” I felt Gavain’s neck for a pulse.

  “You think I care about cheating at a time like this? He is hale and well; it’s just more somnus root. It’s a perfectly valid way to escape your enemies, or have you forgotten that’s what we’re doing? Start thinking, or are you a brute fighter? You’re a berserker—”

  “What of it? I can control it,” I snarled.

  “Please, guys, let’s go. Come on.” Evyn trotted toward the stairs.

  Following her, I swore at Aubin. He rolled his eyes. “My way is quicker and quieter,” he said. “Hurry up. The soul swappers will be here any heartbeat.”

  I looked over my shoulder at Gavain, slumped unconscious on the floor. Aubin moved in front of Evyn to take the stairs two at a time. Evyn darted a look back at me and I managed a smile for her, but my heart pounded painfully in my chest. We had to get to the ground floor quickly. Turning, I left my friend. I had to make sure Evyn escaped.

  We had gone down two more floors quickly, but not quick enough to draw attention, when Aubin came to a dead stop. Evyn ran into him, and he reared back. “Get back up the stairs, quickly!” he hissed, scrabbling to turn Evyn back around.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Soul searcher!”

  My insides turned to ice. Evyn asked, “What’s a soul searcher? Something really, really bad, I take it?”

  “They are a special type of magic user,” Aubin explained, his hurried steps on Evyn’s heels. “One touch and your soul companion is dead. They unleash a deadly magic through their skin and they can also sense and reshape the bond. I can’t believe Torgund called in a soul searcher. Get back!”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “Because this one is a Journey Mage like Tuniel! I’ve seen her at the MasterMage’s Palais – just run, both of you!”

  I propelled Evyn in front of me down the hall. Heartbeats later, a clatter of soldiers came up the stairs. “Can we hide among them?”

  “They are escorting the mage. We have to hide in one of the rooms in this corridor.” Aubin sprinted, trying doors. They were for visiting dignitaries, and I knew it was very unlikely one would be unlocked.

  “Move aside, I’ll smash one in,” I said.

  “Yes, because that will be inconspicuous!” Aubin snapped. I’d never seen his composure slip into genuine terror before. My own nerves sang with perceived threat, keeping Evyn within arm’s reach.

  “Hey, you there, soldiers, what are you doing here? Who are you?” a man called out to us as the group reached the landing.

  “Escorting this lady here to her rooms, sir,” Aubin said smoothly, his hands flexing.

  “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before… Wait, that’s her! That’s the girl! How did she escape? Mage Shadrow, that’s her!”

  There was no point in running up the corridor to a dead end. Assessing the group, the mage was in the centre of an honour guard of four Regular soldiers who kept a keen distance away from her. My skin crawled just thinking about being so close to a soul searcher.

  The mage was tall and willowy, with f
laxen blonde hair. She looked at Evyn and turned her eyes to me. “Ah. Her soul companion did not wish to part with her,” the mage said. “Probably best to kill him. He might get in the way.”

  Evyn’s hands clamped onto my arm as Aubin drew up beside me. “I’ll deal with the soldiers. Thorrn, you deal with the mage.”

  “Me? One touch and Evyn is dead!”

  “I know, it’s perfect.” Aubin scowled at us. “She won’t want to kill Evyn; that’s who she’s here for. Torgund will have her executed if she touches a hair on her head. You’re the only one she can’t attack, Thorrn. Get to it.”

  “It makes sense,” I allowed.

  “And Special Forces is trained to deal with mages. I’ll distract the soldiers.” Aubin put his hands underneath his armpits. I opened my mouth to speak but he snapped, “Yes, in a non-lethal way. Although I am out of somnus root. I suppose I’ll have to try something else.” Knives appeared in his hands. I looked again; Skienien Battlemistress blades curved over his forearms. I raised my eyebrows.

  “What will I do?” Evyn asked.

  “Stay out of the way,” both me and Aubin said. I added, “You can ping around if they get too close!”

  “Er… I’m not sure I can do it that fast, Thorrn.”

  “I believe in you! You can do it!”

  “It’s not a matter of belief, it’s physics—”

  Aubin rushed forward to engage the first of the two soldiers in front. Sweeping his blades around, he smashed the man’s halberd to the side, stepped into his guard, and uppercut his jaw. The hapless soldier fell to the ground. Aubin side-stepped the mage, giving her a wide berth and spun, sending a kick into the second man’s stomach before he’d even brought his halberd around. The man doubled up, and Aubin met his descending forehead with his knee. “Well? Are you dealing with the mage?”

  “Yeah, sure, I’m just…” Impressed, I wanted to say, but I also didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Rolling my shoulders, I stepped up to the now defenceless mage.

  She smiled, her smooth, pale face calm. “Are you really going to kill an unarmed woman?”

  “No, ma’am. I do need you out of the way, though. It’s up to you whether you want to do that in a civil way or not.” I raised my halberd.

  One of the rear guards stepped in front of the mage and thrust at me. I turned to the side before he could bring the edge of his halberd close to my head, but he used the opening to run toward Evyn. “No, don’t, come back here!” I ordered, but while he turned to face me, he kept retreating backwards towards my soul.

  “You know, soul searchers don’t have to kill with their touch,” the mage murmured behind me. “I can make her feel indescribable pain.” Leaping away as if scalded, I spun to face her. She laughed.

  “Now you’ve threatened my soul. I’m going to—”

  “Stop talking to her, Thorrn. Hurry up!” Evyn said, her voice high. “This man is getting close!”

  “Thorrn!” Aubin engaged with the other soldier. His fighting style was effective but energetic; he was tiring.

  “Evyn, ping away!” I grimaced. “Aubin, do you have anything I can use to take her out?”

  “A thrust to the heart generally works well!” he grunted.

  “Argh!” I was running out of time. The soldier had nearly reached Evyn; she scuttled backwards out of his range each time he took a step, but she wouldn’t be able to retreat indefinitely. “Evyn, just ping and—” She vanished.

  Blinking, the soldier looked around for her. “That’s interesting,” Shadrow murmured, tapping her lips. “I wonder where she’s… ah.” The mage looked down. “There she is.”

  “Where’d she go… Evyn?” Normally she zipped back immediately as if she had never left. A sound like a waterfall or the wind rose up.

  “Thorrn! Do something!” Aubin yelled.

  “Fine!” Spinning the halberd, I mouthed “‘sorry’” to the mage as I jabbed the butt of it into her jaw. She crumpled. Keeping a wide berth of her prone form just in case, I tripped Aubin’s soldier with the haft of my halberd and kicked him in the chest for good measure. He went limp. Then we jogged up to the last soldier. He stood frozen where Evyn had been.

  A portal floating in the air faced him. Through it, wispy clouds studded a blue sky. We crowded next to the soldier, looking out and down at the land far below. Wind rocked me back, cold air blowing in through the door. The soldier next to me fainted backwards. “Huh,” I said, peering down. Ten lengths below our feet, neatly packaged fields of green lay patchworked onto mounds of gentle hills. Houses and towns lined up along edges or sprawled in a heap; the distance made it seem like they were on a map before us.

  I startled. Two lengths down, Evyn swung in mid-air. She held on tight to the sides of another portal, this one showing a carpeted corridor in the castle. “Thorrn!” she screamed, the wind whipping her words to me.

  Bolting down the stairs ten at a time, I crashed into the next corridor down. Evyn’s head and shoulders arched out from nothingness, her arms sliding back along the carpet, struggling to hold on. Jumping, I skidded on my belly to reach her, my arms outstretched for hers. I clamped her wrists in an iron grip, and she grabbed on tight. Hauling backwards, I brought her to me, pulling her back into our world.

  Crushing her to my chest, I cried, “Is that what you do when you ping?”

  “Yeah. I open two doors one after the other and step through.” She let out a shaky breath. “They’re usually really close, so it’s like stepping across a little gap, but this time I was in a rush, so I had to make one and then I stepped through without really making the other one and had to sort of… do it really quickly.”

  “While you fell through the sky? And wait. You step across the sky?” I refused to let her go. “You’re not doing that again!”

  “It’s only up high on Earth because we’re up high here in the castle. I need to close these doors. Hang on.” She leant out of my arms but kept one hand touching my shoulder. Trembling, she peered up and waved at Aubin, then she shut the higher portal and closed the one next to us. My ears popped again. I stood slowly, my legs feeling uneven as Aubin jogged up to us.

  “Well. It’s a first,” Aubin said. “I’m lost for words.”

  “Could you see our house from up there?” Evyn asked me.

  “I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention because my soul was half in, half out of the world and falling into the sky!”

  “Let’s get going. Now I see why you need to be at ground level,” Aubin said, holding out his hand for Evyn. I pushed mine past his and eased her to her feet. Pulling my purloined uniform down, I picked up the halberd.

  We made it down several more levels before we encountered another group of soldiers going up. Evyn tucked herself behind me. Fortunately, at the lower levels it was common for soldiers to be moving around, so they merely nodded to us as we passed. My heart rate started to slow. We could actually make it through this.

  We had just reached the level of the baths when we heard the dreaded shout. “Stop! Stop at once!” I ran toward the main stairs, practically dragging Evyn along behind me. “Guards! Soldiers! Special Forces!” rang the cry, alarm bells singing out. All the castle was being mobilised.

  “Well, we got farther than I thought we would,” I said, dry-mouthed. The gallery below was full of soldiers, green everywhere at the foot of the main stairs. “Back!” I yelled.

  “This will have to do,” Aubin said to Evyn.

  “Let’s see what we’ve got to work with…” Opening a small portal, Evyn peered through. “Oh. Not good.” I looked over her shoulder. It was only two lengths to the fields below, but that seemed high enough. “Is there another way down that we can use? Just one more level would help.”

  Aubin began, “We can try – no, look, Special Forces is coming from that way.” I whirled around; men in red sprinted up the corridor behind us. We were cut off at the level of the Sun Room, a dead end. Gasping for air, I tried to think.

  Evyn bit he
r knuckle. “I… Oh! Right.” She counted something off.

  “What are you doing? Make it bigger and quick,” I said, raising my halberd at the men in red starting to fan out in the corridor. Aubin brandished his knives at the surge of green coming up the main stairs, back-to-back with me and squashing Evyn between us.

  “Hang on, hang on… Okay, let’s say twenty big paces that way!” She pointed to the conservatory.

  “Alright, let’s go!” Aubin grabbed Evyn’s hand and raced with her into the Sun Room. I jogged backwards, holding my halberd across my chest to block off the thinner corridor to the conservatory. Fighters loomed closer, weapons drawn and glinting in the bright light, advancing with a grim, inexorable pace.

  “Is that enough yet?” I called.

  “Let me look—”

  “No time. They’re here!” I engaged the first man who got in halberd range, shoving the soldier back into his fellows. “We have to jump!”

  Evyn held out her hands to me. “Come here!”

  I threw my halberd into the crowd. Whipping off my breastplate, I swung it at them to make them duck and then sprinted to Evyn. “Three, two, one!” she cried as I grabbed her, and we fell through silence.

  For a heart-stopping moment, I couldn’t tell which way was up. Then we smacked into water. I took a long time to lose momentum and float back up, suspended for a great deal of time in brown, murky depths, blinking slowly. Bubbles chased downwards, and I turned to follow them.

  My head burst into open air. Gasping, I looked for Evyn and Aubin. They had already surfaced, Evyn’s hair flat to her face, Aubin coughing, wide-eyed.

  I laughed. “We made it. We made it!”

  “Yeah.” Evyn grinned.

  “We made it!” I punched the water. “Yes! Yes!”

  “Hey! Where’d you lot come from?” A man and a woman frowned from the canal bank.

  “The sky,” Aubin said, deadpan. I found that so funny I laughed harder. He rolled his eyes and clumsily swum to the bank.

  “Teenagers,” the couple tutted. “You want to get out of there. There’s Legionnaires and all sorts.”