“It’s over!” the redhead shouted, leaping into the air, jumping over the gap between the rear wall and the ring. He was right over the pit.
In an instant, it was over. Byshun reached his free arm back, creating a barrier weapon like a club, and smashed the redhead from above, slamming him into the pit.
The poor bastard never knew what happened.
Byshun whipped his violet mane back and chuckled. “How right you are.”
“What the hell just happened?” Reysha said.
“Mental trickery,” Tolu said. “To think...he’s so young.”
“What the hell?” Reysha said. “I thought you had to train for hundreds of processions to master that.”
“Looks like that was the focus of his training,” Sage said.
“Winner!” Padros shouted. “Byshun, Grandson of Elder Kanazh!”
Byshun bowed and eyed Reysha, grinning.
“It seems he’s marked you for his next victim,” Tolu said.
“Why am I getting all the ones with weird abilities?” Reysha said.
“Let’s see how the next fight goes,” Sage said. His aura had changed again. It no longer seemed like it was boiling... Reysha wasn’t sure if she liked the feeling coming off of him. He didn’t seem like the type to express fear.
Byshun sauntered down the steps of the ring, past Liyo and the girl with short onyx hair whose name she still didn’t know, and approached Reysha.
“Were you impressed?” he said, brushing his hair aside.
“You could say that,” Reysha said, crossing her arms.
“I hope so,” Byshun said, turning around. “I was impressed with your display in your match. Not many can get through Nelic’s auditory assault. I hope you’re not out of tricks.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Reysha said.
Byshun walked over to the other girl, standing next to her. They whispered to each other, giggling and gossiping like a clique of girls before the start of lessons.
Reysha’s eyebrows furrowed at them.
“Now who’s offended,” Sage said.
“Shut up,” Reysha said.
“The next match will begin!” Padros shouted. “Liyo, Son of Neros, versus Cyra, Granddaughter of Elder Makai, enter the ring and take your places.”
“Shit,” Reysha shouted. “That makes three for three. Now I’m sure of it.”
“Sure of what?” Sage asked.
“I came to see the Hall of Trials during my training to mentally prepare myself for the challenge,” Reysha said. Tolu’s eyes narrowed at her. “It’s forbidden to train inside the crusher or the false street of the third trial chamber, but I felt something inside the second chamber.”
“You’re saying you felt the Council’s grandchildren training?” Tolu asked.
Reysha nodded. “Yeah. I am.”
“I thought it was odd that those three tore ahead of everyone else in the crusher,” Sage said. “They stuck together and I’d bet they were the first to finish the trial.”
“Yeah, I noticed too,” Reysha said.
“This whole thing is rigged,” Sage said, baring his teeth and clenching his fists. His fear transformed to that familiar, boiling rage once again.
“So, what do you two intend to do about it?” Tolu asked, her expression like stone.
“What choice do we have?” Reysha asked.
“I’m going to defeat them,” Sage said, glaring at the ring.
Tolu chuckled. “Brave words, Son of Kyrties. You think, just because you defeated Commander Kiel’s weakest offspring, that makes you somehow qualified to defeat them?”
“Do me a favor and shut up,” Sage said. “You don’t know me, and you have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Tolu glared at him. “What’s the matter, afraid that you’re not as strong as you thought you were? Did you honestly think that someone like you had any chance of defeating your betters? Do you know why the Elders have worked so hard to pass their knowledge to their grandchildren?”
“Should I care?” Sage said.
“The grandsons and daughters of the Council are all that is left of their bloodlines after the uprising took their families,” Tolu said. “They live with the Elders. Of course they’d want to pass on their knowledge.”
“I never heard about that...” Reysha said.
“My grandparents never passed anything on to me,” Sage said, staring at his fists. “Everything I’ve learned, I’ve fought hard for.”
“Think about that carefully,” Tolu said. “There’s probably a good reason for that.”
Sage’s emerald eyes sparked with lightning. Tolu backed up, flinching.
“You don’t get it,” Reysha said. “He’s not saying that he’s better. He’s saying he’s not going to back down from the challenge. I know better than anyone not to underestimate him.”
Tolu grinned. “Like your judgment is any better.”
“What’s your problem?” Reysha asked.
“I’m done with this conversation,” Tolu said, walking away and joining the remaining grandchild of the Council.
“What the hell?” Reysha said.
“I certainly hope she can back up her words,” Sage said.
“What if she’s right?” Reysha asked. “What if we don’t stand a chance against them?”
What if I’m not worthy? she thought. What if I never get to find out what happened to father?
She wasn’t sure she could live with not knowing...
Her attention was drawn back to Sage. She could feel the temperature rising around his body. “I don’t give a damn how strong or skilled they are. I’m going to give this my all. Don’t you dare let them get in your head. Not after we’ve come this far.”
Reysha nodded; she smiled. “You got it.”
Somehow, through all their arguing, they’d missed the bell tolling. The match was already well under way. The granddaughter of Elder Makai and Liyo were trading barrier strikes, deftly evading each other like they were both liquid, flowing through each other. So far as she could tell, neither of them had landed a single blow. But, just as Liyo was about to strike at Cyra again, something hit him with a deafening crack.
Liyo’s eyes opened wide in shock. He stumbled backward and gripped his chest, putting up a barrier.
The girl chuckled, and then, it was like her hands became transparent. Her strikes were so fast that Reysha could hardly tell that her arms were moving at all. A great booming sound exploded through the chamber, causing cracks to form in the waiting platform.
Liyo’s barrier still held, though.
“She’s fast,” Reysha said.
Sage nodded. “I’d guess that’s her specialty.”
The girl rushed in and slammed Liyo’s barrier with a flurry of barrier strikes, then, when his focus seemed completely tuned to her frontal assault, she stomped her foot into the ring, shattering the stone around her foot and creating a blinding white light.
White light exploded from within Liyo’s spherical barrier; his screams echoed through the cavern.
The light dimmed, clearing like smoke from a fire that had just been snuffed out.
Was it over already?
“Holy shit,” Reysha said. “She attacked through the ring itself.”
“From now on, make sure you be mindful of your feet,” Sage said. “Even if you’re using a dome construct.”
Reysha nodded. “Yeah, no kidding.”
The girl waited patiently for the light to fade, only to find Liyo waiting there with what looked like a sword made of light emitting from his hand. He thrust it forward, and she tossed a forward-facing barrier up, only to have it sliced in half.
Liyo didn’t relent, stabbing and slicing. His other arm dangled useless at his side, a cauterized hole in his left shoulder. Her blast had stabbed right through him. Had she been intending to kill him?
“That’s a new one,” Sage said.
“If we can make barrier constructs into weapons and other shapes, it kind
of makes sense that we’d be able to make them from other types of Sulen,” Reysha said. “Liyo’s a lot more crafty than I gave him credit for. Especially if he came up with that on his own.”
“Still, he’s losing stamina fast,” Sage said.
Liyo came in fast, thrusting his Sulen blade at the girl. She dodged and stabbed her hand at the ground, creating white light that poured into the ring and morphed into stabbing, serpentine constructs that exploded from the ground at Liyo’s feet. He rolled to the side and leapt into the air, wrapping golden light around his foot as he brought it down on her barrier in a powerful heel strike. Flames exploded off the girl’s barrier and Liyo allowed his foot to glide down its surface, slicing his blade right through her barrier and cutting her shoulder.
There was a scream, and the air seemed to explode between them, forcing them apart.
Both fighters were breathing heavily now.
“Damn,” Reysha said. “That was impressive.”
“She can’t take advantage of his footwork if he’s in the air,” Sage said.
Liyo rushed forward; the girl thrust her palms at the ground again; Liyo evaded the serpentine beams of light once again and leapt into the air, and this time, when he brought his foot down on her barrier, he hit her with a lightning bolt.
From within her barrier, silver-skinned lips parted into a devious grin; and then the girl’s barrier construct shrank to a small circle, covering Liyo’s foot. There was a terrible crunching sound that sent powerful shock waves through the air.
Liyo was on the floor, facedown. It didn’t look like he was getting up again; his Sulen was practically gone.
The girl brushed herself off and dabbed her fingers at the cut he’d managed to make on her shoulder.
“Victory!” Padros shouted. “Cyra, Granddaughter of Elder Makai, wins.”
The silver-skinned girl stepped down from the ring, a smug look on her face.
“Congratulations to those who have successfully passed the first round of the fourth trial,” High Elder Geidra said. “We will now allow you a short rest before moving on to the next round. Gather your reserves, because your fight is just beginning.”
“No kidding,” Reysha said, eying Elder Kanazh’s grandson. “Those two are incredible.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LUKE
The handcuffs chafed his wrists. His head hurt like hell, and his stomach was rumbling like a beat-up engine. There was a heaviness in the pits of his eyes, a weariness that hadn’t been in him before. He couldn’t quite remember why that was.
His eyes drifted around the interrogation room. The familiar two-way mirror cast his reflection back at him. His bald head was bruised, and he was sporting a large black eye. So many times he’d been on the other side of that glass. Now he was on the wrong side.
What had happened last night?
You thought you could escape this, the voice had said. You were wrong.
He tugged at the handcuffs, rattling them. His voice was shallow; his throat felt as though someone had made him swallow hot coals.
No one came.
Had he broken the law somehow? A frog crept its way up into his throat. If that was what had happened, would he lose his job? What would happen to his wife and unborn—
His eyes widened. He saw her facedown on the lawn, blood pooling out around her, broken glass glistening in the red-and-blue flashing light from the patrol cars.
Adrienne was dead.
His wife and unborn child were dead.
The doorknob twisted and swung open with a creak so loud that it drove a wedge through his temples. Chief Asher came in. The door closed behind him and he took a seat in front of Luke. In his chubby, callused hands, the chief held a manila folder that had his name on it.
“Luke, how’re ya feelin’?” the chief asked.
Luke said nothing. Everything was still coming back to him.
“That well, eh?” Chief Asher gave a heavy sigh. “Luke, there’s no easy way to say this—”
“My wife and unborn child are dead.” The words rang out in a whisper that made the room spin.
Asher nodded only once. “It’s a tragedy. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”
Luke rattled the handcuffs. Chief Asher recoiled, then settled down.
“We had to cuff you,” Asher said. “You were rabid last night. Swung at anyone who tried to hold you down.”
“Did I hurt anyone?”
“Just scrapes and bruises. I think everyone understands that you’re going through a lot right now.” The Chief produced a key from his left breast pocket. “I can free you if you’re feelin’ lucid.”
Luke nodded. Asher undid his cuffs and Luke rubbed at his wrists.
“You gotta take it easy for a while, Luke,” the Chief said. “Mike can handle things while you recover. Something like this, well, hell, some people never get over it. It’s the kind of thing that only happens on the teevee.” He shook his fat head. “There’s gonna be a media circus down here, ya understand, the vans are gonna start rollin’ up and there’s gonna be a lot of hungry, eager vultures wantin’ to hear your side of things.”
“To hell with them.”
The Chief nodded. “That’s right. To hell with ’em all. You’re gonna find it hard to avoid ’em if you stay in town all the same, I’m afraid.”
“Maybe I’ll go away for a little while...”
“That’s a fine idea, I think. Get out of the house, away from...”
Luke went quiet. He stared at his bruised hands. Adrienne’s blood still stained his right hand brown. He squeezed his fingers into fists. Tears formed and threatened to carve their way down his cheeks.
“Don’t go thinkin’ about work now, Luke,” Asher said. “I see the look in your eyes, and you don’t want to go down that road.”
“How did she die?” His voice felt hollow as the words came out. Part of him didn’t want to know. Part of him wanted to climb to the top of the Empire State Building and walk off the edge.
“Don’t do that to yourself.”
“Tell me.”
“Just get out of town, Luke. Don’t worry about none of this till—”
Luke slammed his fist into the interrogation room table. “Tell me, goddamn it!”
Asher almost fell out of his chair. He gripped at his chest for a moment, his eyes bugging out of his head. It took him a few moments to get his breath under control. “Jesus Christ, Luke.” He shook his head. “Fine, if you want to know so damn bad, I guess it ain’t so bad comin’ from a friend.”
“Just tell me.”
Asher nodded. “Near as we can figure, she jumped out the window of her bedroom. Belly-flopped onto the grass.”
Luke covered his mouth. The tears broke from his ducts, carving their way down his cheeks like razor blades. He wanted to throw up.
“Suicide, Luke. That’s what it looks like.”
“No.” Luke shook his head. “There was someone else there.”
Asher shook his head and regarded Luke with a suspicious leer. “There was no evidence of another person there, no DNA—”
“No one human. Talk to Ilene down at the morgue, she’ll tell you about the burn victim she found, she’ll—”
“That’s quite enough, Luke.” The chief held up his hand. “Don’t worry about the case. You need to take care of yourself, do right by Adrienne.”
“She wanted to be cremated. Didn’t have much family.”
“Well, I imagine we’ll all come down for the service.”
Luke nodded. “Can I go?”
Asher nodded. “Go clean yourself up.”
2
Luke dragged himself away from the interrogation room. His legs felt like rubber, and the chatter in the hallway was like a distant whisper in the night. People he considered friends waved at him, and he barely recognized their presence. He found himself outside the precinct, watching the occasional car pass by.
The thought crossed his mind, I coul
d just walk right in front of one of those cars. But he knew he didn’t have the nerve to go through with it.
Mike gave him a ride home.
When Luke returned home, he tried sitting in his living room, tried to ignore the caution tape in the upstairs bedroom around the window his wife had jumped through. He grabbed a suitcase and packed a few mismatched sets of shirts and pants, toiletries, and his razor. He told Mike to give him a ride down to the motel.
“You can stay with us, you know that, right?” Mike said as they pulled up next to the motel.
“I think I need to be alone right now,” Luke said.
“Come off that shit, man. No one should be alone with what you’re going through.”
Luke opened the door and stepped out of the patrol car. “I’ll let you know when the funeral is.”
Mike yelled after him, but his words fell on deaf ears.
The clerk at the front desk didn’t ask any questions, even though she clearly recognized Luke. He paid for his room in advance.
He spent the first hour sitting on the bed, staring out the window at the empty road.
His mind was blank. That was the worst part of it. Where there had once been a drive, a yearning to help people, a need to serve...now there was nothing. Adrienne had been his life, his family. She was his high school sweetheart. Even though everyone told him nobody should marry their high school sweetheart, he hadn’t listened.
He remembered her smile, the first time he saw her in woodshop class. She was trying to glue a birdhouse together, when Six Toes Billy—the class clown—knocked it over and shattered it into a million pieces. It was Luke who had helped her pick up the pieces.
It was always Luke who had picked up the pieces.
He remembered their first date at a McDonald’s. She hadn’t minded that he could only afford items off the dollar menu. He remembered how sweet her lips looked after chewing on a handful of salty fries.
Two knocks came from behind him, shocking him out of his stroll down memory lane.
When he opened the door, there was no one there. He was just about to close the door when something caught his eye. A book lay in front of the door, strange characters that he didn’t recognize etched on the cover.
The Man Without Hands Page 23