by Amanda Fleet
“Aeron!” Faran yelled.
I slid to the ground, my hand clamped to my neck, blood pouring out between my fingers. Sharp pain bit deep, and my breath shuddered in my chest. I whimpered, panicky. I was going to die. I rested my back on the sanded floor, my bent legs trembling, then my heels skidded and my legs collapsed. Orian stood astride me, grinning nastily. He rested the point of his sword in the notch below my Adam’s Apple. I tried to scream, but all that came out was a bubbling sound through the blood at my throat.
Above me, Orian’s eyes widened with surprise. Then his head collapsed sideways, his neck open to the bone. His knees buckled and his blood sprayed me – hot, thick, metallic – as he landed on me. My stomach heaved. I tried to push him off me, but he was too heavy. His body convulsed twice, spewing more blood over me, and then he lay still.
Lord Eredan strode forward and dragged Orian’s body off me. Wet blood coated my face, and I gagged.
Faran stared at the body of his brother. He swallowed, stricken, and turned to his father. “He would have killed her.”
Lord Eredan was expressionless. “I know. You were protecting an invaluable asset.”
Faran’s gaze returned to Orian, his breathing ragged. He turned away briskly and emptied his stomach on to the floor. Lord Eredan crouched beside me, summoning a healer and pressing his hand hard into my neck. Colour leached from the world, and I struggled to keep my eyes open.
“Stay with me, Lady Aeron.” Lord Eredan applied a huge blob of salve to my neck. Pain stole my breath, ripping it from me in a scream. Lord Eredan murmured soothing sounds. At last, the bleeding stopped, and the agony receded. His hand moved from my neck to my shoulder keeping me pinned down as I sobbed. “You need a healer.”
I started shaking and tried to sit up, but Lord Eredan held me firm.
“I need to be sick,” I said, pushing at his hand.
He held my shoulders and turned me on to my side as I retched. Under my cheek, the floor was slick with my blood. Or maybe it was Orian’s. My guts heaved again, but nothing came up.
The healer arrived, squatting beside me and opening a large leather bag. He stared at my neck. “Who put salve on this wound?”
“I did,” growled Lord Eredan.
“The cut is far too deep for salve.”
“I had nothing else. She would have bled to death,” snapped Lord Eredan. “Do what you can.”
“She will be badly scarred. It will not heal correctly now.”
I didn’t care. It wouldn’t be my first scar; not by a long chalk. I was more worried about Faran who despite having nothing more to bring up was still heaving, his focus locked on his brother’s corpse.
The healer tutted and muttered, rolling me on to my back and dabbing other ointments on me. I swam in and out of full consciousness while he worked.
“Well, I’ve done what I can,” said the healer eventually. He snapped his bag shut and took his leave.
Faran finally straightened, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
“My lady?” His voice cracked.
I wanted to hold him close to me, soak up his anguish. Gratitude flooded me. Guilt followed hard on its heels. He’d killed his brother. To save me.
“I’ll be fine. Are you okay?” I sat up and leaned on my knees, washed out.
“He was going to kill you.” Faran’s voice shook and my heart cracked.
“I know. Come here.”
Faran sat on his haunches next to me, and I coiled my hand around the back of his neck. “Thank you. I would kiss you, but I’m covered in blood and sick.”
A ghost of a smile flitted across his face, so momentary it could have been missed.
He bowed his head, his shoulders sagging. “I should have captured him. When Aegyir’s destroyed…”
I stroked the back of his neck. “He might still have been a treacherous bastard. Shh. You can’t change what happened. Don’t torture yourself over it. The point of his sword was on my throat. He would have killed me.”
Faran lifted my chin to see my neck. He winced. “It’s very badly scarred.”
“Well, it’s an easy choice between bleeding to death or being left with a scar,” I said, trying to ease him.
Lord Eredan stood next to Orian’s body. “How did I manage to produce one son with so much integrity and loyalty, and another with such treachery?” He turned away. “I’ll tell your mother, Faran. You and Lady Aeron need to get your heads together. This fight is only just beginning.”
He strode towards the nearer group surrounding a demon, joining Lord Sondan. Faran stared after him, his face tight. “Mother will never forgive me. Orian was always her favourite.”
Part of me knew I should get up but my legs refused to obey any instructions. Faran shifted from his haunches to sit next to me, his head on his knees, his face shielded by his arms. I slid my arm around his shoulders, desperate to comfort him. He didn’t react.
I prayed we wouldn’t be needed for a few minutes. All I could do was watch as the end of the battle played out around us. Lord Sondan and Lord Eredan cuffed one demon. The other demon was still trapped in the far corner by a ring of Guardians, though without talismans, they couldn’t secure it. The first demon dealt with, Lord Sondan and Lord Eredan shouldered their way to the second, pinning it down and lashing its limbs tight against its body so that it couldn’t move. As soon as the Guardians no longer needed to surround the demon, they turned their ire on the remaining slaves. It wasn’t long before they were all brought down and restrained, leaving the Great Hall secured, though littered with bodies, the sanded wooden floors stained red.
I touched my face. It was tacky with blood. Faran’s head still rested on his arms and I squeezed his shoulders.
“You okay in there?” I murmured.
He grunted, finally raising his head. His eyes were red and he wiped his nose on the back of his hand. I ducked into his line of sight.
“I love you,” I whispered
His eyes welled, but he nodded. “I know. And that is the only thing holding me together.”
I kissed my fingers and pressed them to his lips, eliciting a fleeting smile.
In the corner of the hall, Lord Sondan straightened. “The patrol has returned.”
Lord Eredan dragged the demon they’d just captured over to the others. “Good. Let’s get these to the technicians’ quarters.”
My spirits crashed. Five demons to be destroyed in total. Only two stones had returned with the patrol. Lord Sondan, Faran and Lord Eredan would have to give up theirs to destroy the remaining three, leaving all of them unprotected and Aegyir still free.
There was only one way we could win, and even that wasn’t guaranteed. Time to broach the idea with Lord Eredan.
27
“Lord Eredan, you know as well as I do that the demons will be secure in the technicians’ quarters,” I said, trying not to sound as if I was telling him how to do his job. Even though I technically was. “Destroy two of them using the stones from the patrol. Keep you, Faran and Lord Sondan protected until we also have Aegyir.”
The four of us stood in the technicians’ quarters, waiting for the two stones from the patrol team to be ground up.
“I agree,” said Lord Sondan, who’d never been happy about giving up his talisman.
Faran said nothing, still ashen, his eyes unfocused.
“There’s no argument here, Lady Aeron,” said Lord Eredan. “I also agree with you, but the Council should make the final decision.”
The Council would follow his advice, but I needed to air something else that he probably wouldn’t agree about. “While we’re on this topic, I think all unprotected Guardians should stay in their quarters until Aegyir is trapped.”
Lord Eredan stared at me. “You think the Guardians should run and hide?”
“Phrase it however you want, but they should stay safe, rather than be unable to fight Aegyir and end up dying, making Aegyir invincible.”
“Perhaps the Council sho
uld discuss that too,” said Lord Sondan. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be helpful or not.
“Faran?” Lord Eredan turned to his son.
“I think Aeron has a point.” His voice was low, and he looked crushed. “It would be foolish to risk those Guardians who can’t tell if they’re being attacked by Aegyir or someone they know and trust.”
Lord Eredan paused for a moment, then said, “Call the Council. What remains of it.”
***
The Great Hall was currently half full of chained-up enslaved people wanting to kill everyone. Council numbers were depleted – there hadn’t been time to work out who would replace those who’d been killed – so the Council decamped to the library and gathered around two large tables. It wasn’t great, but it would do.
Once everyone had quietened, Lord Eredan outlined the issues.
“We have five demons in captivity. Two talisman stones are being ground to dust as we speak, to destroy two of the demons. Only Aegyir remains at large. I propose that Lord Sondan, Faran and myself should not remove our talismans to be ground before Aegyir is found and destroyed. If we remove our talismans, we are at risk of being killed and Aegyir gaining our strength. If that happens with even one of us, Aegyir may become invincible.”
Lord Elwen raised his hand. “Surely it’s better to destroy the demons, so there’s no risk of them being released by Aegyir. Why do you think that you or Lord Sondan would not be able to capture Aegyir without risk? Or Faran? Faran is the top Guardian.”
I was losing patience. “I’m happy to demonstrate. If it would help.”
“Demonstrate?” Lord Eredan tipped his chin up. “What do you mean?”
I held my hands up, offering peace. “Lord Eredan. Lord Sondan. Do either of you think Aegyir is stronger than you?”
“I don’t know. I would hope not,” said Lord Sondan. Lord Eredan made a non-committal sound in his throat.
“Do you think that I am stronger than you?” I directed my question to Lord Eredan.
“No. I believe that we’re relatively evenly matched,” he conceded.
“I’d agree. If anything, I’d happily accept that you’re stronger and a better warrior than me. I’ve sometimes beaten you because I’ve used tricks I’ve learned Outside. But what about if all I have to do to win, is place my hand over your chest? Clear a space? I’ll chalk my hands and pretend to be Aegyir, and Lord Eredan can see if he and Lord Sondan can pin me down with neither of them getting a hand print on their chests.”
I hoped like hell my plan would work. I wasn’t going to risk losing another man I loved to Aegyir, so the Council had to support Lord Eredan’s proposal. My legs were still wobbly and Lord Eredan had beaten me soundly in training before, though Lord Sondan hadn’t. The two together?
A space was cleared while one of the messenger boys was sent out to bring chalk. I crushed some of it and smeared it on my hands, then squared up against the two men.
“Remember, if I was Aegyir, I could also choose to look like anyone I wanted to. Including each of you,” I said. Lord Sondan looked unsure. “Come on then. Do your worst. I have salve in my pocket, and I trust the pair of you not to kill me.”
The fight was surprisingly short. And violent. A couple of blows left my head ringing, and Lord Sondan kicked me so hard in the back of my knee I suspected he was getting revenge for the training session of a few days ago. But soon enough, I’d planted a hand on each man’s chest, leaving a print right over their hearts.
“See?” I turned to face the Council, rubbing the back of my leg and flexing it with a grimace. “I don’t need to kill them with blows. I don’t need to disable them. I just need to get my hand against their chest. I don’t know how we can immobilise Aegyir enough to be able to destroy him unless there are the four of us fighting and all of us are protected.”
While the Council members muttered among themselves, Lord Eredan sponged the chalk off his jacket, a half smile on his lips, and I knew we’d won the argument. The vote went easily in favour of the three of them keeping their talismans, and the demons remaining corporeal and in a secured, heavily guarded room until we’d captured Aegyir.
“What happens when the demons weaken?” asked Lord Gaedan. “We can’t destroy them if they fade back to wraiths.”
“We feed them traitors,” said Lord Eredan.
A shudder ran through me, but I didn’t have the strength to argue. And anyway, this wasn’t a fight I could win. Maybe we would capture Aegyir before the others weakened that much.
Lord Eredan raised the issue of those Guardians without warning stones remaining safe until the four of us had destroyed Aegyir. Despite both Lord Eredan and Lord Sondan arguing vociferously that to run and hide was cowardice and not what Guardians were trained to do, the vote went overwhelmingly in favour of them all staying out of harm’s way until Aegyir had been destroyed. Messages to that effect were sent out. Picnic-style meals would be prepared for collection, with Guardians protecting the kitchen staff; outside of this, everyone not directly involved with hunting Aegyir would remain in their rooms with the doors locked.
Lord Eredan drew me to one side. “We’d better find Aegyir quickly. The people of the city will riot when they learn that Guardians are hiding in their rooms and not protecting them.”
“I know. And if there’d been another way, I’d have offered it. But if I can get a hand print on you, how many of the Guardians would manage to fend off Aegyir and avoid being killed? Especially if he’s shape-shifted to look like their husband or their wife or their son. If Lady Alix put her hand out to touch you, how long would it take you to realise it wasn’t her? You thought I’d slaughtered Faran once when Aegyir mimicked him, and to be honest, for a moment I thought I had.”
“It still does not sit well with me.”
“I know. It doesn’t sit well with me either. Let’s get two of the demons destroyed at least.”
***
Once the Council meeting finished, Lord Sondan, Lord Eredan, Faran and I made our way to the technicians’ quarter. Nessa met us when we arrived, wringing her hands.
“The two stones the patrol brought have been ground, Lord Eredan. Are you making the triad?”
“Yes. Me, Lady Aeron and Faran. We have a vessel, in case.”
“Did you find everything you needed in Hesta’s notes?” I asked.
“Yes. The daggers need to go in, in the same places as when the demon is being converted to smoke. The stone dust has to cover the whole of the body before it turns to smoke, in order to destroy it. Hesta made a shaker to help.”
She handed me what looked to all intents and purposes like a flour shaker from Outside. I rattled it, eliciting a gritty sound. “Are both stones in here or just one?”
“Just one.”
We headed to the room with the demons in it. One remained chained to the wall – the one captured at the training rooms. Two demons lay trussed up, their arms pinned to their bodies so that they couldn’t reach out and steal anyone’s life-force. Next to these were the other two taken in the Great Hall. All five muttered guttural sounds, red eyes blazing at us.
“Which two are the weakest?” asked Lord Eredan.
Nessa shuffled forward hesitantly. “The one chained to the wall and one of the two that are cuffed together.”
“How strong are the others?”
“Strong. From Hesta’s notes, it could take large talisman stones to destroy them.”
Lord Eredan’s head shot up. “Would it take more than one?”
Nessa chewed her lip, eyes wide. “I don’t know.”
“Okay. Let’s deal with the first two and decide what to do with these others later. If they look as if they’ll turn back to wraiths before we have Aegyir, they could always be fed.”
I choked down bile, close to being sick again.
Lord Eredan raised a brow. “Strategically, the safety of The Realm is more secure with four Guardians protected against Aegyir. The lives of some traitors – that’s a cost I
would bear if it assured The Realm’s safety.”
“And if it ends up days before we can find and destroy Aegyir? Will you keep feeding your people to these demons? How many is a bearable cost? Ten? Twenty? A hundred?”
My voice shook with emotion, and Faran caught my fingers, squeezing them.
“And if we cannot defeat Aegyir because we have too few protected Guardians, how many in The Realm would die?” Lord Eredan asked. “Would you rather your husband faced Aegyir unprotected? Would you value the life of a traitor more highly than you value Faran’s?”
“I…” I turned to Faran but he gave me the merest shake of his head.
Fight the battles you can win.
I backed down.
Lord Sondan and Faran set about separating off the weaker of the two demons cuffed together and securing the other so that it couldn’t use its arms. Lord Eredan and I approached the one chained to the wall. It either hadn’t the strength to shape-shift or couldn’t be bothered, and its red eyes glared balefully at us from a skull-like face. I uncuffed one wrist, Lord Eredan the other, and we forced the demon face down to the floor, clicking one set of cuffs back on, pinning its arms behind its back. Lord Eredan flipped it over, peering down at it, his lip curled with distaste.
“Let’s get this done. Faran.” He turned to his son, nodding towards the demon. “Stand by with the vessel, just in case. Sondan, be ready to take its head off. Lady Aeron? Daggers or stone dust?”