by Jim Galford
“Do you know where you are?” asked Estin, realizing that without On’esquin they had no way to communicate with Turess if he did not speak the common tongue. He had died centuries earlier…On’esquin had been quite clear that the language back then had been different.
Sure enough, the man stared at Estin with confusion.
“We’re all dead,” moaned Estin, leaning hard on On’esquin’s armor. “Dalania, we need to join the others. They need our help. This man’s likely as broken as Feanne was and he has no idea why he’s here. We don’t have weeks to teach him…we have to go.”
Estin started to get up even as Turess finished adjusting his white under-robes and tied off a coatlike black mantle with a long belt. He started to walk away, to follow Dalania toward the entrance, but Turess caught him by the arm.
“Ki’hante miresh On’esquin,” the man told Estin, pointing toward On’esquin’s remains and then the coffin. “Sindoth.”
Sighing, Estin went back to On’esquin’s feet and Turess went to his head. Together they lifted the large orc and placed him as gently as they could in the casket. Once they had finished, Turess knelt at the side of the coffin and closed his eyes, offering up a short prayer or eulogy.
“I’m sorry, but we have to go,” Estin said, knowing his words were pointless. The man would not understand. Touching Turess’s shoulder in sympathy, Estin followed Dalania out into the tunnels, leaving Turess behind to mourn his friend’s death.
They soon passed the gate that had so frightened Feanne and continued on up the dark hall until the sounds of battle became louder.
Soon Estin could see Yoska fighting for his life at the entrance, covered head to toe in gore. Before him, piled bodies of undead had created a low wall, slowing the approach of a dozen more that tried to reach for him. Expertly, the gypsy sliced at them, severing tendons and crippling the zombies with every swing. They would not die, but they could also not reach for him with arms that hung limply. From the look of Yoska, though, Estin was willing to bet he would not last much longer.
Estin drew his swords and Dalania let him pass. Running ahead, he shoved himself in alongside Yoska as the undead pushed again, slicing away the fingers of a zombie that nearly caught Yoska’s arm. Thrusting, he tore a hole in the midsection of another, knocking it backward.
“Is good timing, no?” Yoska said breathlessly, slashing into the thigh muscles of another zombie and knocking it down as its leg gave out. “Get big green man up here and we might push to get to Raeln and Feanne.”
“He’s dead,” replied Estin bluntly, ducking around a zombie’s clumsy attempt to grab him. Using the pommel of his sword, he bashed the corpse’s face, though it did not even slow.
“Dead?” Yoska asked, stepping back out of the battle, forcing Estin to take the middle of the hall to keep three undead from pushing in. “Then we cannot delay. Tree lady…we need to get out there. You have trick for this, yes?”
Estin glanced over his shoulder and saw Dalania had her eyes closed and was concentrating. She looked nearly ready to fall over, with sweat running freely down her brow as she strained to help. Apparently helping On’esquin had taken more out of her than Estin had thought. Guessing she would not be any appreciable help, Estin kept his attention on the undead, trying to minimize his movement to keep from tiring his arms too quickly. It would be a long battle and he had no desire to exhaust himself at the start.
Suddenly, vines burst from the floor of the tunnel, wrapping around the undead with enough force that Estin heard rotted flesh tear and bones pop. He hopped backward as the vines threw all of the undead to the ground, preventing them from doing anything more than squirm and groan.
“Go!” Dalania called out, and Estin watched her waver and collapse, caught by Yoska before she hit the ground. She looked deeply offended at having the gore-covered man touching her, but did not argue, instead glaring at Estin and shouting, “I said, go!”
Knowing he only had seconds before a spell like the one Dalania had used would weaken and fail, especially in her current state, Estin took off at a run, hopping over the piles of disabled corpses. He soon reached the opening into the ravine and came to a dead stop, trying to grasp what he was looking at.
The Turessians—eight in total, not counting Liris—were scattered around the flat bottom of the ravine, fighting as hard as they could to keep both Feanne and enormous wolves off of themselves. Feanne was fighting the way Estin remembered, viciously tearing at her foes while darting through combat more quickly than they could counter. Her cloak was covered with blood and he saw streams fly each time she drew her claws across another Turessian. Using similar tactics, the wolves darted back and forth, ripping away chunks of the Turessians’ flesh and then running off. If any of the Turessians tried to cast a spell, two or more wolves would strike, accompanied by Feanne, her billowing cloak giving the impression of her being far larger than she was.
Liris was separated from the others, though she seemed to be faring only slightly better. The woman had been backed into a rocky part of the ravine, where footing was difficult and she had nowhere to run. Facing her down were Raeln and two more of the giant wolves. Though the Turessian appeared unhurt, Raeln was badly bloodied and limping, and Estin could see that one of the wolves was trying to keep from putting any weight on one of its front legs. The other wolf had burns across its shoulder.
Before Estin could get more than a few steps past the entrance to the tunnels, Liris dodged a wolf’s leap, forcing the animal to recover its balance on the broken stones while she brought her hand up. Ice formed midair and came crashing down on the other wolf, killing it instantly in a spray of blood. Raeln came in a second later, knocking the woman’s arm aside in a belated attempt to interrupt her spell, before sweeping her legs out from under her.
Estin reached Liris by hopping over the broken remains of the wolf that had been killed by her magic. Swinging as hard as he could, he nearly severed her arm, connecting with her wrist as she tried to grab for Raeln’s throat. She recoiled and stumbled away, clutching her bleeding wrist.
“Thanks,” Raeln said, picking up his own sword from the ground, though Estin noticed the last few inches of the blade had been broken off. “Getting slow in my old age.”
Already Liris was flexing her arm, the gash from Estin’s sword healed completely. Even her robes mended themselves as he watched. “Ready to join your parents?” the woman asked, grinning as she moved away from the wall. With an almost offhand flick of her wrist, the other dire wolf choked and collapsed, coughing up blood. “Him, I wanted to fight. You I could care less about, Estin. Give me the chance and I’ll show you what your family went through. Run for the woods…run and save yourself, wildling.”
Estin’s hands ached with how tightly he held his swords. He wanted to attack the woman recklessly, to let go of all reason and fight the way Feanne had taught him years before. He knew better though. This woman wanted him to make a mistake, to dive in and give her the chance to kill him, getting her one step closer to wiping them all out.
The three of them held their positions, all tensed and ready to act. As close as they were, all it would take was one of them trying to cast a spell or strike at another, and someone would be exposed to attack. Even with two on one, the Turessian had the advantage of knowing she could not die and would have no trouble recovering from the wounds they might inflict on her.
“Do you know how many of you are left out there, Estin?” she went on, tensing suddenly and then grinning as Raeln made as if to attack, ready to fend off an attack that did not come. “There were so few like you to begin with. From what I hear, there were only three or four families of your breed in the known world. I’ve killed two of them myself and Arturis killed off another. Your wolven friend here might still have a few hundred kin left in the world—though that won’t last, either—but you are alone, Estin. Do you really think you can stop us, where all the rest failed? Even the armies of the great cities fell before us. What hope do y
ou have?”
“Ignore her, Estin,” warned Raeln, shifting off toward one side of Liris to separate himself from Estin so they would not both be in range if the woman attacked. “She tried much the same with me. It’s a game to her.”
“No. Killing your families was a game.” Liris laughed, shaking her head. “Killing both of you is a mercy. Besides…Estin here will taste marvelous with some spices and fresh fruit. It’s been too long since I had something exotic for dinner. How long has it been, Estin? Eight years? Nine? I honestly can’t remember when it was that I butchered your parents.”
Estin’s muscles trembled with the effort of waiting for the right time to strike. Flashes of memories came to him of his parents’ deaths when he was barely old enough to walk. He had dreamed of their deaths for years, plaguing him with guilt for running away right up until he had a family of his own to worry about. The realization that he had far more important concerns even than his own parents’ murder helped ease his tension somewhat.
Shouts and rumbles of magic going off mingled with the growls of animals—possibly including Feanne—behind Estin, where he could just barely see Yoska and Dalania joining the wolves and Feanne in the fight. He kept his attention on Liris, slowly inching forward, cutting her off from the rest of the Turessians. From the edge of his vision, he could see Raeln readying himself to strike. Only a few more seconds and Raeln would be in position, and between the two of them, they might be able to cripple her enough that they could flee the ravine.
A sudden shriek of pain from the other group snapped Estin’s attention in that direction, terrified Feanne had finally gotten caught by the Turessians. Instead, he saw one of the Turessians, a middle-aged woman, was being mauled by one of the dire wolves, her face nearly torn off. Feanne, Yoska, and Dalania were still safe and moving through the group, doing plenty of damage while letting the wolves take the brunt of the Turessians’ attempts to defend themselves. Dalania’s focus seemed to be on keeping those wolves alive and staying close to Yoska.
That brief glance was too long, Estin realized, as Liris’s hands clamped down on his wrists. With a twist she forced him to drop both of his weapons, screaming in agony as he struggled to move with Liris and thereby keep his wrists from breaking. Her grip was like iron, her fingers tearing into his skin easily, wetting his hands with blood.
“Now, now,” Liris warned Raeln, darting behind Estin and putting one hand on his throat. With the other arm, she hugged him to her, her fingers resting over his heart. “You touch me and I tear him in half. Don’t think that I can’t do it. Call off the dogs right this instant and drop your weapon.”
Turning to put her lips near Estin’s ear, Liris added quietly, “If that tail of yours comes near me, I will rip it off. Behave and you might make it through this with all your parts.”
Giving Raeln what he hoped came across as an apologetic look, Estin struggled to grab for anything that might help him. His weapons were much too far away, his magic was all but useless, and even if he had anything in his pouches that might help, his fingers were nearly numb from the wounds to his lower arms. He was entirely helpless as Liris literally picked him up and moved him with her as a living shield.
Watching Liris more than Estin, Raeln shifted to block Liris from moving out of the corner of the ravine. His sword did not waver or lower in the slightest. If anything Estin thought he looked more ready to fight.
“Are you an idiot?” demanded Liris, tightening her grip on Estin’s throat until he choked and gasped, his head pounding. “I will gladly kill him.”
Raeln glanced back at the wolves, which had been whittled down to four by the other Turessians, before looking back at Estin. He actually raised his weapon, telling Liris, “You already intend to kill us. There’s not much leverage in saying you’ll kill him now versus later.”
Estin felt the anger in the woman’s grip, her fingers digging into his chest until he thought his ribs would break under the pressure. He could barely choke down enough air to stay conscious and already his vision was blurring. Knowing this might actually be the end, he strained to turn his head enough to see Feanne. She was all right as far as he could tell, still fighting hard, but with Yoska and Dalania working with her. They had made progress and two of the Turessians were lying on the ground under wolves, cowering. The others were gradually being pushed back to the path out of the ravine.
Feanne might get away, he realized, smiling despite his pain. He just needed to get Raeln to Liris. So long as she held him, he knew Raeln would avoid attacking, no matter what he might say. The man’s willingness to sacrifice others was nearly nonexistent, and if he was to stop Liris, he needed to get over that. That gave Estin very little in the way of options.
He had to let himself die or Raeln would never attack.
Estin slid off his gloves, ready to use his claws. As he moved, he saw Raeln’s eyes narrow angrily and he gave a very subtle shake of his head, trying to tell Estin not to act.
“Those useless gits are more trouble than they’re worth,” Liris groused, shaking her head sadly as she watched the other six Turessians back away from three people and two wolves. The remaining two had practically curled into fetal positions near the wall. “They are like guiding children to overtake a castle. I suppose little more can be expected of those who are less than two years into their powers with no real challenges, but I am dearly disappointed. You’ve done far better than they have, Estin. Be happy with that much.”
Silently saying good-bye to Feanne, Estin closed his eyes and reached back, raking his claws across Liris’s stomach, easily tearing through her robe and flesh. Even though he knew she would heal in seconds, the pain for her was very real, and Liris screamed mostly out of surprise and recoiled as she stumbled. Before her hands left Estin though, her fingers tore across his throat, ripping away much of the skin, but leaving his throat mostly intact. The other hand tensed and cracked his ribs, ripping open his flesh.
Falling to the ground more slowly than he had expected, choking and gasping, Estin tried to slow his blood loss through pressure to the wounds. He could already see Raeln rushing at Liris, but all he could focus on as his head spun from the pain and blood loss was Feanne, so far off. He saw her turn and look right at him. The intense anger in Feanne’s eyes startled even Estin, and he wondered if she was mad at him.
Struggling to breathe, Estin tried to pull around his cloak to press against his chest wound. He had barely gotten his hand onto the edge of the cloth before the buzzing in his head grew too intense to stay awake and he felt himself slipping.
Chapter Nineteen
“The Man of Black and White”
Raeln readied himself to attack, trying to keep his eyes on Liris’s face as she held Estin in what she thought was a foolproof angle. He could not break her grip on his throat and chest without Estin dying, but Raeln could see one point he could strike at. With luck he could drive his sword around Estin and into Liris’s shoulder muscles. Severing those—even temporarily—would numb one of her arms, giving Estin the opportunity to slip free of the other while she had no good way of holding him still. It was risky, as he could easily slip and stab Estin in the side, but Raeln saw no other way.
To Raeln’s dismay as he was shifting into position, he saw Estin pull off his gloves. The man’s eyes told Raeln everything he needed to know. He was considering sacrificing himself to ensure the others could fight back without fear. It was stupid and noble at the same time, but it also absolutely infuriated Raeln. He gave a very slight shake of his head, praying Estin saw it and not Liris.
Liris whispered something to Estin, but Raeln’s attention was only on movements, not words. He had to be careful if he was going to strike before Estin got himself killed. Honestly, Raeln was unsure which he was more afraid of, having Estin die on his watch or Feanne’s reaction to it. Facing Liris was probably less risky in the long run.
Seeing his opportunity as Liris tilted her head to check on the other Turessians, Raeln lunged. A
t that same moment, he saw Estin reach back and drive his claws into the woman’s sides. Estin’s actions forced Raeln to change tactic midstride, instead twisting his sword as he rushed in and driving it hard into Liris’s upper chest near her shoulder, weakening the arm that held Estin’s throat.
Raeln brought his sword back down as fast as he could, cutting deeply into Liris’s other arm as she tightened her grip on Estin’s chest. With both arms hurt, she lost her grip on Estin, though not before doing plenty of damage that covered Estin’s clothing with blood. She screamed, stumbling backward as Estin fell.
Catching Estin with his free hand and lowering him to the ground as he spun, Raeln kicked out and took Liris off her feet when she tried to leap onto him. That gave him the second he needed to make sure Estin was still breathing and set him down before righting himself and turning to face Liris alone.
“So we pick up where we left off?” the woman asked, scratching at the thin pink line where her robe hung open, which was all that remained of the sword wound Raeln had dealt her.
“Unless you’re too tired,” Raeln countered, lowering himself into a ready stance, his sword held high.
Liris smiled and raised one hand. As she did, a pale blue sword formed from nothing, burning as though it was made of condensed flames. The weapon appeared as solid as his own, though it flickered and glowed, making Raeln wonder what would happen if he was struck with it. “We should make this fair, after all,” said Liris, easing herself into a stance of her own. “After our last encounter, I searched through my brethren for someone trained to fight the way you do. Let us see who is better trained, you or five Turessians in my head.”
Things had certainly changed from the clumsy way Liris had handled herself in melee. Now the way she held her weapon was not one he was familiar with. Having studied nearly every land’s styles that he could find information on in his youth, seeing something entirely new concerned him, especially knowing Estin might need attention quickly.