by K. F. Breene
“Mhm.” Shanti focused on her blank mind, since she had no idea what he was talking about.
“You have extraordinary abilities. Ones that go beyond fighting and mental warfare.”
“You’re talking about my personality, aren’t you? Yes, I’m a real charmer. Everyone says so.”
“I wonder. Why wasn’t I informed last night? A grudge, perhaps. You were left to do the job some in my faction have previously attempted and failed.” He turned to the master executioner. An Inner Circle member closed in, making the master executioner glance behind him, suddenly wary. “I’ve warned you…”
“Me?” Shanti asked, confused. She didn’t know what was happening.
The Graygual moved, his arm swinging forward. A bloody sword tip poked out of the Inkna’s middle. Surprise lit his face. He reached around his back as his legs became unsteady.
“The Inkna breed deceit and lies,” Xandre said, watching the man sink to the ground. The Graygual put his foot on the Inkna’s shoulder and pushed while pulling his sword free. The Inkna writhed on the ground as the Graygual wiped his blade.
“Am I the only one who didn’t see that coming?” Shanti asked, looking at One.
His lips were a thin line, but he showed no surprise. Although that kind of thing probably happened all the time around Xandre. He’d surely stopped being shocked some time ago.
“One less Inkna for Sanders to kill. He won’t thank you for that.” Shanti tsked, her stomach fluttering. The sun was overhead now. Cayan was so close. In range of arrows. It was about to kick off, whatever it was.
She hoped it wasn’t her death.
“Mental power is an unfair advantage. Unpredictable.” Xandre stood in front of Shanti. The hairs rose on her arms with how he was looking at her. Expectant. “That was always the part of you that disgusted me. Ever since I heard about what you’d done to my warrior. Unhappily, I’ve armed myself with the same power. I had to, didn’t I? To confront you and yours. But it never sat right. Useful, but despicable.”
“Big words for someone who not only has a Gift of his own, but who also employs the Inkna power to subdue an entire land.”
His smile was childlike. “Cheat to win, as they say.”
“You’re a walking contradiction. I bet you have no friends.”
A bead of sweat dripped down her back. The desire to surge up and snap his neck was so strong that she could barely think straight. One sat loose and still beside her, though. He’d expect it, and he’d be ready. She had to stall and see what came next, to let Xandre keep the lead until a better situation presented itself.
“I would’ve let you keep your mate,” he said sadly. “Would’ve let you try to breed.”
“Ew. That’s not how people talk.”
“Alas.” His words trailed away and he waited.
“I’m not going to try and kill you,” she said.
“Suddenly you show restraint. I won’t tell One…” Xandre’s gaze dipped to her chest, finishing his statement with the look. He wouldn’t tell One about the knives hidden in her binding. He’d surely seen the possibility that she’d try to kill him with them.
“What a guy, huh? Real magnanimous.” Shanti folded her hands in her lap.
Xandre glanced at One before walking to the stairs. Tac stood, book still in hand, and followed.
“You’re going to go hide?” Shanti called after Xandre.
He laughed. “Of course not. There is a possibility, however minuscule, that you will live. You’d then find and kill me. I am going to escape.”
Panic swept through her. She couldn’t let him get away again. She couldn’t come so close, again, and lose him. This had to end. All of this.
Without thinking, she was up, chasing after him. One was there in an instant, grabbing at her arm. Two other Inner Circle closed off her way, swords drawn.
Along the wall, men in black ran to take up their bows, the force of the Inner Circle bigger than she’d expected. Where had they come from? She hadn’t sensed them last night, hadn’t seen them around the castle or coming and going from their rooms.
She dug in her binding and snatched out the knives. Whirling, she threw one. It lodged in the side of one of their necks. He lurched forward anyway, his sword strike wild. It sliced across One’s side, who had been wrestling with her and hadn’t seen it coming. He staggered away.
The other Graygual slashed at her and then struck, precise and powerful. She dodged and moved before flinging another knife. The one in front batted at it with his sword. Down the wall, a Graygual loosed his arrow downward, toward the swamp. Another followed.
“You are beaten,” the Graygual said. He slashed at her, but she expected it and was already moving. He slashed again, just missing.
“And you are careless.” She reached down and scooped up the knife lodged in the other Graygual’s neck as One checked his side.
Another sword strike. It cut the fabric on her side, glancing her skin. Pain welled up, easily ignored. She dodged another as One straightened up. He’d engage at any moment. Her time was coming to an end.
She glanced up, seeing the archers loose more arrows. There was no help coming. The Honor Guard hadn’t made it.
Desperate, she readied for another knife throw, her last, probably, when someone dodged out from the side. A knife struck and the Graygual jumped and spun, swinging his sword. Leilius flung his arms up and hopped back, bowing his body. The tip of the sword sliced through his stomach. He cried out but lunged forward again, pain and desperation on his face. His body slammed into the Graygual, taking him to the ground. Leilius jabbed his knife repeatedly, stabbing the Graygual in the side.
Choking back fear for Leilius, Shanti kicked the Graygual in the side of the head. Leilius continued to pummel, but was slowing. Hurt.
“Elders, please see him safe.” Knowing she couldn’t check on him yet or they’d both die, she snatched up the dying Graygual’s sword and spun. A sword fell toward her head. She dove out of the way and rolled, hopping up a moment later. One braced and surged forward, his sword work perfect.
It was time for him to meet an equal, maybe for the first time.
She blocked a thrust and started on the attack, knowing his training and offsetting it with her experience fighting it. He kicked out and she met the impact, shin to shin. She lunged and then pulled back. Metal rang as their swords clashed. His sword sliced through the air but met nothingness as she moved away. She kicked, hitting him in the thigh, and quickly dodged his thrust.
A knife flowered in his other hand. She threw her own knife but he jerked away, evading, his following throw going wide too. A grin tickled his lips, then a full smile.
She feigned a sword strike, and he feigned blocking it. Her next thrust was met with a hard counter, his power and strength wobbling her wrist. She couldn’t get the blade up in time to block his next strike, so she crumpled and rolled out from under it.
In the past she would’ve surged up and continued on, it becoming a game of endurance, of which she had plenty. That was before she trained with Sanders.
This time, she surged forward, hitting his knees with her shoulder. He undoubtedly thought of stabbing downward, aiming for the center of her back, but that would make him sacrifice ever walking again. His body reacted as any fighter’s would.
He twisted and angled himself, going with her momentum in a way that allowed his knees to bend. It knocked him off kilter, and he crashed to the ground with her on top of him. She barely glimpsed the wall during her fall. A Graygual lay on the ground with a knife in his back. Rachie was running toward her, bow in hand. She hoped he’d seen to the other Graygual first so Cayan could get through.
A fist slammed into her ribs. She grunted and crawled up One’s body, pure rock beneath her. She couldn’t let him unleash that strength, a strategy she had to employ with Cayan every time they fought. She was well versed.
She brought her knee up, hitting the sweet spot. His balls crunched and the wind pushed out of hi
s mouth. He’d have a few seconds before his brain registered the pain, but the shock made even the hardest man pause—she’d tested the theory many times. With the dead time, she snatched the sword and rolled, raking it across his body and scrambling to her feet. She gripped the blade and stabbed down, but he was already moving. The blade sparked as it scraped against stone. One hopped up, his teeth gritted.
“Ouch, huh?” Shanti said with a grin as Rachie stopped and nocked an arrow. “By the way, I brought friends.”
“I know,” he said. The effort to straighten and ignore the pain was obvious. A little awe-inspiring, too, if she was being honest. “They were in my room last night. In the hallway, I am certain. They killed staff. It was sloppy—I knew it wasn’t you. They were in your room, yes?”
Shanti gaped for a moment. One quickly stepped to the side, shielding himself with her. An arrow zipped by. Rachie’s curse reached them.
“Xandre…” She was having trouble finding words to make sense of this.
“I was curious if he would figure it out. You stump him. It is a nice change. He’s human, after all. Being in his presence, seeing what I’ve seen—his planning always comes to fruition. He always narrowly misses death. Part of me wondered if he was a god. I will admit, this has…changed my perspective on some things.”
He dodged again, never close enough for her to engage, but unexpected enough to enrage Rachie. “Stop moving so fast! S’am, get out of the way!”
“I thought you were supposed to be a good shot,” Leilius said, his voice weak.
A wave of relief flowed through Shanti. Getting her mind back in the moment, she said, “Let me guess—you’re going to join with me and take him down.” She lifted her eyebrows.
His lopsided smile was genuine and clearly a foreign expression. “And be killed when I turn my back? No. My people have wronged yours. I had a hand in that, though distantly. We will always be at war, you and I, regardless of our opinions of each other.”
Shanti dodged to the side, leaving an opening for Rachie. Which Rachie clearly wasn’t expecting, and missed entirely as One shadowed her.
“I will avoid killing such a piece of art as you, if it can be helped,” One said. He offered her a slight bow, then he was running, his arm over his side and his gait uneven. It seemed his side hurt as much as his groin.
Rachie loosed an arrow. It grazed One’s leg, making him stagger. He ran on before taking the next set of stairs and disappearing.
No time to think about that strange exchange, Shanti dashed to Leilius, parting the fabric on his shirt and looking at a nasty gash that was bleeding profusely. “Rachie, get something to put on this. His blood loss might be life-threatening.”
“I’ll be okay,” Leilius said, though he made no move to get up.
Shanti stepped to the wall and looked over. Cayan was climbing the small hill toward a broken part of the wall. His group trailed behind him, hurrying. One person was being carried over another’s shoulder, with arms dangling down. She couldn’t see who it was.
“Let’s go,” she yelled to Rachie with a last look along the wall. Black-clad bodies lay on the ground. Down the way someone was running toward her—it looked like a woman.
An explosion sounded in the distance. Shanti snatched up a looking glass and stared out. Near the beginning of the swamp a horde of people gathered, many she recognized, some she didn’t. It was the rest of her camp and what looked like city people, all there to help.
Another explosion sounded, but not in the swamp. It was behind the horde.
She jerked her glass up in time to see a wall of Graygual running at them from the rear. That damn Xandre had planned for even this.
“Burson might have the same Gift,” she said through clenched teeth. “But he doesn’t have the handle on it that Xandre does.”
“What do we do, S’am?” Rachie asked, kneeling by Leilius.
“Nothing. Our camp have both fighters and the Gift. They’ll be fine. We, however…” It was Ruisa running toward them. “Carry Leilius down. He can’t stay here.”
“I can probably walk, S’am—”
“S’am,” Ruisa said as she drew up, out of breath. “There are more of them, pulling in from the west. Xandre is marching in an army, it seems like. Xavier is over that way with Alexa. He wants to know what to do.”
“Xandre must’ve gone out that way. Flak!” Shanti waited for Rachie to hoist up a wincing Leilius. “Let’s connect with Cayan before we move on. Go tell Xavier and Alexa to pull it in.”
“He knew about us being in his room,” Leilius said as Ruisa turned. “Told you.”
She hesitated for one moment, irritation crossing her face, before she was running again.
“Not the time, idiot,” Rachie said.
They made it down the stairs and hurried toward where Cayan was crawling onto the walkway. When he straightened, his face was grim and eyes sorrowful. She swallowed down a lump in her throat, feeling the support radiate around him.
“Who?” she asked, cold overcoming her for a moment as she looked at the others bringing through a limp body. “Who?”
19
“Sayas and Pahona,” Cayan said as Rohnan crawled up behind him, his face bleak. “Portolmous has an arrow in his stomach. He needs help, but he’s hanging on.”
The breath exited Shanti’s body in a whoosh. Pain laced through her. She nodded mutely. There would be time to grieve later. There was still surviving to do.
One of the cats gracefully jumped onto the walkway. He sought Shanti, rubbing his head and neck on her legs.
“Anyone bring extra clothes?” she asked, doing a quick survey of those in front of her while still forcing down the pain inside her.
No one said anything. Sanders crawled through next with a grim Kallon.
“Let’s kill these bastards, once and for all,” Sanders barked. “Where is he?”
“Did you know,” Burson said conversationally, “that two Seer Gifts can cancel each other out if the wielder knows how? We can smother each other. Of course, this then starts a mental fight, leaving you vulnerable at times…”
“Which Gift, the Sight or the other one?” Shanti asked. “Because if it’s the Sight, you’ll be out of your league with Xandre.”
“Where’d he go?” Cayan asked.
“That answer might surprise you.” Burson smiled at the sky.
“I’m going to throw you over the cliff if you keep it up,” Sanders growled. “Would that surprise you?”
“Not really.”
An explosion made Shanti duck. Another and then two more went off in rapid fire. They were huge, deep blasts, out toward the sea. A moment later they caught sight of Marc sprinting along the walkway. “Help! Help!”
“What’s happening?” Shanti asked, rushing toward him.
“Shall I cut out the other Gift?” Burson asked amid the panic.
“They’re coming. They’re coming!” Marc dodged to the side as Kallon ran his way. Sanders was beside him a moment later, blocking Shanti’s attempt.
Two Graygual ran around the bend, swords in hand. Their hard eyes widened when they came in sight of the blocked entryway. They staggered to a stop and about-faced.
Kallon was on them immediately, slicing through one of their middles. Sanders tackled the other, his sword dropped, a knife in hand. He grabbed hold of the Graygual’s hair and ripped his blade across the man’s throat. Blood sprayed everywhere. Sanders wiped his blade as Kallon finished the other.
“Way better than our attempts,” Marc said, out of breath.
Another series of blasts ripped through the air. The sound of something hitting the castle around the bend had them all ducking. Stone flew out to the side. The ground shook.
“Ships. I told you.” Marc braced his hands on his knees and panted. “Ships came. They are firing on Xandre’s vessel.”
“Xandre’s vessel?” Shanti ran that way, heart in her throat. “How?”
Around the bend, where the sea was visibl
e, another series of blasts had her rethinking her plan of taking a shortcut through the castle.
She kept going around, and as soon as she could, she got to the cliff and looked over. She recognized the ship immediately. Jooston the seafarer. He’d taken them to the Shadow Lands. Around him were three other ships, all pointed at the cliffs and castle with cannons extended.
“How did he know to come?” she said, half in a daze.
“I told your Wanderer Network to embrace freedom. I told them where we were going. They are answering.” Cayan got on his belly and stuck his head farther over the side.
Another series of blasts erupted from the black barrels, many angled upward, some not so much. Cannonballs slapped the cliff face, breaking away chunks and shaking the ground. Others made it over, pounding into the castle.
“There is a rope and pulley system down the side,” Cayan said, pushing back to his hands and knees, then standing. “I can’t see it, but there is surely a platform and waiting ship down there somewhere. He must have a way for getting around the surging tide.”
“Of course he does. He had plenty of time to stare at it and analyze all the ways to go about it.” Shanti clenched her fists as a large chunk of the ground broke away. She looked up at the castle and the walkway. Stone toppled up ahead. “We can’t go that way. Stone will rain down on us.”
“If Xandre gets back up, he’ll go out the west, under cover from his troops. That’s our play.” Cayan started jogging. “Time to take on an army.”
“Like you weren’t expecting that?” Sanders asked, quickly following.
“I was asking about whether I should attempt to cut out the power blocking you from using your Gifts?” Burson said patiently. He jogged with the rest of them, no weapons at his disposal. “It will unleash the Inkna, however. There will be no protection.”
“Do it,” Shanti said. “We can fight and use our Gifts at the same time. That is, if you are sure you can outmatch him.”
“Odds are slightly in your favor.”
“That’s confidence inspiring,” Sanders growled.
“Do it,” Shanti repeated.