The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle

by H. O. Charles

  other two men did the same.

  “We’re coming to get you,” taunted Romarr in a very old form of Dekusuan. The three men ran at her then, and she responded with a charge of her own. The second gale sword came out in a fluid motion as she sprinted to the centre of the courtyard. At the final moment before she came to face her opponents, she dodged quickly to her left, spun and leapt toward their backs. But these were not ordinary lumpers. Each man turned rapidly and skimmed their blades along the edge of hers as she passed. Artemi landed neatly on the opposite side with a smile.

  The men turned against each other then, their blades and bodies twisting through a haze of their own rapid movements. She took hold of the Blaze fires, filled her body with them and launched a volley of blue fire, almost liquid in its appearance, directly at each of them. Tallyn reacted without looking, deconstructing two of the forms as he continued to battle Vestuna and Romarr, who dismantled the third of her weapons. She launched herselfback into the melee, releasing another volley of Mirelstyle ice at the men. She weaved and darted and met their blades as speedily as they unmade her Blaze forms. A Kusuru fight had once been described to her as a constant tumbling of feathers on an airstream. They poured over each other, between each other and their blades sang against each other. The force of each blow would have sent an ordinary fighter reeling, but Artemi’s blade would respond by pushing her to a new position of attack. She would not try to wield through her

  swords today; she had no desire to ruin the tools of her friends.

  She felt the air change around her, and the look of concentration on each man’s face deepened as she battled them. They were building something out of the expended Blaze, she realised, building something together. It hit her without warning, knocked her to the floor and held her there for an instant. The moment was long enough for Vestuna and Romarr to advance upon her, coming dangerously close with their blades. But Artemi fought back with her own wall of flame.

  She pushed at her invisible bonds with as much Blaze strength as she dared, and shattered them. Tallyn met her two-handed cross-swipe as she dodged Vestuna and Romarr. Soon they were back to their whirling, tumbling fighting, forming circles that became tighter and tighter. Before long, Artemi had cut Vestuna on the shoulder and he bowed out of the fight, counting himself defeated. Her fires raged around them in greater force, pressing them to disassemble each one at a higher rate. At some point they would become tired, she knew. And she would win.

  Tallyn hit her with another invisible wall of reclaimed Blaze, knocking her from her feet and sending her sprawling toward the courtyard wall. The pain from the hit was intense. But she stood and pushed her body’s complaints to a dark corner of her mind. They were coming for her again. Artemi readied herselfwith white, searing fires about her body, reconstructing them again and again as the approaching Kusurus dismantled them. Romarr attempted to land a powerful blow at her left arm. He missed, trapping his blade in the wall behind. Artemi touched him at the neck to signal his defeat, and then it was only she and Tallyn.

  He was one of the most proficient kanaala she had ever known - his sheer skill only surpassed by the magnitude of Morghiad’s ability. Without the other men to consider, Tallyn made even faster work of the forms she threw at him. Each one simply melted away as they neared his body. Artemi felt unexpectedly very weary as she struggled to meet each of his strikes. Her forms were starting to fill with errors, collapsing in on themselves. At last, the blow she’d been expecting came, and Tallyn slashed her deeply across the stomach. The queen buckled over, her knees hitting the floor as she struggled for air.

  “You are growing slow in your old age,” Tallyn said, helping her back to her feet.

  She raised her eyes to the figures standing at the portcullis gate. Morghiad was among them. How embarrassing for him to have seen her so easily defeated! Artemi left Tallyn to greet the king, and clutched at her rapidly healing abdomen. “My lord,” Artemi offered him as elegant a curtsey as she could muster in her current state.

  He bowed simultaneously, in that stupid way he had adopted lately. But he gave her no smiles. She missed his smiles. “My lady ought to take better care of herself.” He briefly raised his brilliant green eyes to the roof of the castle. “What happened up there?”

  She halfturned to the broken tower, but did not look at it directly. He was far more

  pleasurable to look at. “No one was hurt. It was an accident.”

  “An accident? What kind of accident destroys part of my castle?”

  Artemi could not hide her pleasure at hearing it described that way. Morghiad was still king whether he liked it or not. “My mistake.” She kept the part about his new duty to herself. The eyes of his guards were upon her, she realised. How much more awkward could the situation possibly become?

  “A mistake! My queen, I feared we were under attack! And nowI have broken my labour to investigate it.” He turned to his attendants, who seemed to be acting more as bodyguards than enforcers. “Let’s return.”

  “I’m coming with you. There’s something we must discuss.”

  He only nodded in acquiescence and started walking. His hands were covered in mud, she realised. And his boots... and most of his legs. Whatever he had been set to do was dirty work indeed. She found herselflost for words as they walked through the city with the close supervision of his guards and eager eyes of the citizens. Many of them whispered as they passed, no doubt creating some gossip or other about a relationship that no longer appeared to exist. Not so much as a smile! Had he decided to turn back into the stone she’d met all those years ago? Or perhaps he had grown tired of Kusuru women, tired of them smashing his castle to pieces. She started to feel guilt advance up her spine with its army of shame.

  After a very uncomfortable walk, they reached a dark corner of the city, buried

  beneath layers of roads and houses. No sunlight reached this area, and it was poorly lit by orange oil lamps. There was a rather conspicuous hole in the ground. “The sewers? Who in blazes set you to work down there?”

  “I did,” Morghiad said firmly.

  Artemi felt like wringing his blasted neck. Why did he feel the need to denigrate himself so? Idiot man! She looked into the dark abyss as Morghiad lit a safety lamp. She had been a sewer dweller in several of her less fortunate lives. She could deal with this... she knew she could. And then the smell hit her. “Blazes!”

  Morghiad only gave her a raised eyebrow as he clambered through the hole, his guards following quickly behind him. Artemi took a deep breath, and slid through too.

  Inside, the sewers looked curiously similar to the innards of the castle, except for the shallow river of foetid water that swam along the bottom.

  “Watch out!” Morghiad roughly pulled her to one side as something liquid poured past her ear. A delightful helping of slurry from above had very nearly hit her. “You must keep your wits about you for those,” he warned.

  “I shall,” she said with mild disgust. Had she really ever lived in places like this? Places so shadow-full, damp and infested? A soft blue light shone ahead of them - the heat of Blaze radiating out from it. It was a permalamp, she knew, a Blaze form that would stay bright for centuries. It illuminated the pile of rubble and... detritus that had accumulated at the centre of the tunnel, and the break in the wall

  that had caused it. Morghiad removed his shirt, unbuckled his sword and set to work without hesitation, hacking at the loose stone work with a mattock.

  “Will you allow me to speak with the king in private, sergeants?” The two men bowed and immediately trotted back the way they’d come.

  Morghiad only gave her a brief look of disapproval while he continued to cut away at the debris.

  “You have something of mine and I want it back.”

  He paused only briefly, frowning. “Oh?” He bent down to pick up a heavy stone brick. “You mean the box.”

  “Box?”

  He set the brick down on the reclaimed pile and went for the nex
t one. “The one from the Reduvian. I... sequestered it when the bank became state-owned.”

  “You have that? It’s safe – all of its contents?”

  He gave her a puzzled look. “I didn’t open it, so I cannot vouch for the contents. ThoughI admit I was tempted.”

  “Good thing you didn’t. Would have caused an explosion big enough to break three of your towers!”

  He did not seem to appreciate her joke. “It’s inthe cellar keep.”

  “Thank you. But that is not what I was asking after.”

  Morghiad reprised his mattock. “What is it then?”

  She caught the next swing by the haft

  and stepped closer. “That dagger. It’s my property and I want it back.”

  He looked down at the hilt protruding from his right boot. It was already somewhat dirtied from his exertions. “You accepted it?”

  “Of course.” Clearly his mind had been too confused for him to remember her explaining the first time. “It would still be in that raven-wood tree if I had not.”

  His eyes met hers then, glowing an odd sort of dark green in the Blaze light. “You would agree to that? After all thatI have done to you?”

  “Yes.” She examined his body appreciatively. The smells and horrors of the sewers seemed to have faded to nothing.

  “Blazes, Artemi! Are you insane?”

  The irony dug at her, but she

  suppressed a smile. “I want my dagger.”

  He compressed his lips briefly and spoke softly. “But... you cannot marry me.”

  “It is not proper for a country to have a king and a queen who are not married.”

  “I am no longer this country’s king.”

  Artemi laughed at that. “Of course you are.”

  His features did not loosen. If anything, they seemed to grow more severe. “The only things I am king of are these sewers. Even then, I think the rats are in charge down here. Artemi, I love you. I will never stop loving you for as long as I live, butI cannot marry you.”

  “What! Why?”

  “I do not deserve that. I do not deserve you. There are better men, more reliable men who love you and would not hurt you.”

  Artemi felt like hitting him. Or maybe destroying another piece of his precious castle! She tried to force her resurgent anger back into its box, but failed. She rabbit-punched him square in the chest. Not that he seemed to notice it, or the flames that shot through their skin on contact. “There. Now we are even. You are a selfish idiot if ever I met one! After everything we have faced, everythingI have given up for you, you would rather surrender an opportunity for happiness just because you don’t feel you deserve it? Because you’d rather wallow in your own guilt?”

  “I’m doing this for your happiness.”

  “I won’t be happy with anyone else!” She gave him a good shove for punctuation. Again, it seemed to have little effect. Some warrior she was.

  ...else....else....else echoed back at her from the depths of the tunnel. Perhaps she’d said that a little louder than she’d intended. “In all the years I’ve lived, I’ve only ever wanted you.”

  He raised a hand to her face, but thought better of it once he realised how dirty it was.

  Artemi caught it and placed it at her waist, before allowing him to pull her closer. He felt hot with perspiration and work. It was a good heat. She laid her head against his bare skin and savoured the feeling of his abilities as they echoed through her. It was a sensation of perfect calm with him - calm and security and strength. The world could stop turning, people could stop breathing and she would not know another ten-thousand years for all she cared.

  Those moments in his arms were perfect.

  “It wasn’t a dream, was it – when you came to me?”

  “No.”

  He moved back to see her face. “And you went back to that cell.”

  Artemi nodded. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told you the truth.”

  “I suppose I wouldn’t.” He drew her back into his embrace. “I should continue with my work. I’m not supposed to be enjoying myself.”

  “Just another minute.”

  “Down here? This place is almost as bad as the tavern we stayed at.”

  She laughed softly and pressed one leg tightly against his. “It doesn’t matter.”

  He nuzzled her hair briefly, then took

  hold of her arms firmly and stepped back. “You should go now. This is no place for my queen.”

  “Your queen?” She moved away to assess the work ahead of him. “You realise I could fix this for you in an instant?”

  “I think that would defeat the object of the exercise.”

  “There’s a tower at the castle that needs rebuilding...”

  His look of disapproval returned, but softened rapidly. He placed his hands on his hips and studied her. “Alright. If you’re sure it’s what you want, you can have the dagger.”

  “I am.”

  He looked down at his boot. It was empty.

  Artemi flipped the blade in her hand,

  revelling in the familiar feeling of its cool, worked metal. Her considerable experience in pick-pocketing was very nearly as valuable as her fighting skills. She smiled mischievously at her husband-to-be. “Thank you. I accept.” The dagger slipped easily into her belt. And there it would stay.

  He regarded her with a raised eyebrow. “You know it is not traditional for a woman to demand a marriage gift in this country.”

  “I am from all countries,” she said in Pre-Fordan, knowing he would understand it, “And it was already mine.”

  He shook his head. “I’m still not sure I fathom your reasoning, Artemi D’Avrohan.”

  She was not nearly so confusing as he! “Will you come to me tonight?”

  He blinked in apparent surprise. “Is that a good idea? I have another ten months of this to work through. And you would have to endure it with me.”

  Artemi moved closer to him again. “I will not demand it of you, but know that the invitation is there.” She brushed a clean hand over his excellently sculpted shoulder. “I’ll leave you to your duties, my heart.”

  “Wait.” He held her arm gently. “I’d like it if... would you stay close to your Kusuru friends over the next few days? I’ve heard whispers of an army headed this way.”

  “Silar and I have discussed that army. And we have made our preparations. But you know we cannot move out of this city with our own forces in their current state.”

  He nodded and drew his finger along

  the cut in her bodice. “Just... be careful.”

  “I shall.” She left then, reluctant to abandon him but eager to depart the smell. She dodged a couple of slurry falls before she met the guards again, and ordered them back to their king. Her bath beckoned; that and fresh clothing.

  Silar was waiting at the gate when she returned to the castle. Anxiousness played on his features. “You smell terrible, my lady.”

  “Thank you, I know. What’s made your face all twisted like that?”

  “Bad news, and even worse visions. The army that’s approaching... it’s much bigger than we thought. And it passed Torfens this morning.”

  “Then we have three days if they press hard, which is doubtful given their size. And a

  week if they make a moderate pace.”

  “I reckon so. But Artemi, ah- my queen, it is big. Current estimates are over thirty thousand.”

  She started walking through the courtyard with him. “We simply cannot meet them in the open with only six-thousand men until we know more. Even if their numbers are at the lower estimate, we’d still only be able to muster another thousand against them at the most. I take it you have already called all arms to the city?”

  “Of course.”

  The Hirrahans had timed this perfectly. They knew her position was weak, and that Morghiad was otherwise engaged. “Is there anywhere we can meet them, outside of the

  “Nowhere close enough that would guarantee us
a victory. Cadra is our best chance. This is what it was built for, after all.”

  “Have you warned the people yet? They should be given the chance to flee if they want.”

  He frowned. “Not yet. But I will as you command.”

  “No, you have enough to deal with. Ready the army as necessary. Draw up plans for double patrols, and check how our new weapons are coming along. We will hold a council meeting at sunrise tomorrow morning with every lieutenant present. Morghiad must be there. Engineer it however you can. I will see to the warning.”

  “My lady.” He nodded and ran rapidly from her side.

  “Temi!” Her father came running towards her in his travel-worn boots. He’d only returned to Cadra the week before. “What’s this I hear about an army?”

  “There is one coming. A large one. I need you to help me take the message through the city. We will soon be under siege, and any who wish to leave should do so tonight. I’ll need a hundred men to work through the hundred sectors of the city. Now.”

  Her father nodded quickly. “Si and Talia aren’t staying, that’s for sure. I’ll have the men do it right away.” He ran to his duty as Silar had, and Artemi was caught by the same sense of urgency. She sprinted to her rooms, bathed hastily and dressed herselfin the green assassin garb that had been left for her. When she exited her room a small crowd of guards

  had gathered.

  Morghiad would have been pleasantly surprised at Tallyn and Romarr’s presence. “We have a city to warn, gentlemen. Let’s get to it.”