by Matthew Ward
"Your words are without merit. Your deception obvious."
"Really?" Arianwyn asked sweetly. "They don't seem to think so."
It was true. The other serathi had halted. Arianwyn didn't have to be completely convincing, I realised, just convincing enough to give the serathi a reason to disobey. It seemed she'd done precisely that.
Adanika stepped forward. "I ask again Azyra: do you accept my challenge, or do you yield?"
With a strangled cry of frustration, the serathiel threw herself forward, her sword hacking at Adanika's neck.
Her speed was incredible. I'd have been dead at her feet, but Adanika was not so easily defeated. The Speaker of Truth's own sword came up. She swept the blow aside, then thrust in a riposte meant to spear Azyra in the chest. The serathiel twisted aside. Adanika's sword struck empty air.
The two were well-matched in terms of speed and skill, for it was a truly lucky blow that landed against flesh, rather than steel. Nonetheless, as the duel ground on and the combatants tired, several blows crept through the web of parries and evasions. Before long, both Adanika and Azyra were bleeding light wounds across their arms and shoulders. The serathiel had also suffered a deep cut to her left cheek. That blow would have taken her eye had she not thrown herself backwards, and I'd taken it as the first clear proof that Adanika could actually triumph.
For all the unforgiving brutality of the duel, I realised there were rules to it nonetheless. Neither made move to fight with any weapon other than the sword. At several points, the timely application of a fist, foot or outswept wing could have altered the outcome, but no such attempt was made. Those same rules clearly prevented the other serathi from interfering, for I could think of no other reason why they would not otherwise aid one duellist over the other. Likewise, my companions and I attempted no intercession – all our hopes were on Adanika winning this fairly.
Those hopes received a dolorous blow when Azyra struck Adanika's blade aside and sliced the Speaker of Truth's arm open to the bone. Arianwyn cried out in alarm, then bit down on her tongue for fear of distracting Adanika.
Adanika's attacks and parries grew slower. Azyra redoubled her own efforts, driving her opponent back across the Farsight pool. Their feet scattered the waters, fracturing the image of Tregard.
Azyra swept forward again. Adanika's clumsy parry barely caught the blade in time. With a cry of triumph, Azyra knocked the other's sword aside and lunged for the Speaker of Truth's heart.
But all was not as it seemed. Adanika had feigned weakness, hoping to lure Azyra into a mistake. Now she had done so. Before the serathiel's blow landed, Adanika's sword struck Azyra's blade a hand's breadth from the hilt. She'd judged the blow perfectly. With a ringing sound sweeter than any music I'd ever heard, the serathiel's sword was swept from her grasp.
The point of Adanika's blade was at Azyra's throat before she could take a step.
"You are beaten," Adanika decreed breathlessly. "Yield."
Azyra's face twisted in hatred. It seemed impossible she would not attempt to fight on, hopeless though it would have been.
"I do not want to kill you, sister." Adanika spoke so quietly that I had to strain to hear the words. "But I shall, if you make it necessary."
Azyra regarded her vanquisher with a look of pure poison. Then, with stiff grace, she went low on one knee. At once, a change came over both serathi. Azyra seemed somehow diminished, as if some inexpressible part of her being faded with concession. Adanika grew in stature, her presence dominating the Farsight in a way it had not before.
"Bind her," Adanika ordered the other serathi, her eyes never once moving from Azyra's face, the point of her sword unwavering at the deposed serathiel's throat.
"But we have nothing that will hold her," one objected.
"How about this?" Stepping forward, Elspeth unwrapped the silver cord that served as her belt.
Adanika ignored the mischief in her voice. "Thank you, cousin."
"Believe me, it gives me the greatest of pleasure."
Taking the cord in both hands, the Daughter of the Moon crossed to Azyra's side, and bound her wrists. There wasn't enough rope to secure Azyra's wings as well, but Adanika seemed satisfied all the same.
"You are all witnesses to this outcome," Adanika proclaimed.
The serathi bowed low at her words.
"We are," one agreed. "What is your will, serathiel?"
"We abandon all designs against Ashana's mortal children," said Adanika. "We will stop warring amongst ourselves. Zorya and her followers are our sisters, and we will treat them as such."
The first decree evinced no reaction from the trio of serathi, but the second provoked worried looks.
"We have been too long divided," Adanika told them firmly. "If the Reckoning is upon us, we cannot afford to be sundered any longer." She pointed at the nearest serathi. "Inri will come with me, and we will end the fighting. You will guard Azyra until I return. It is my hope that, in time, she will redeem herself." She closed her eyes briefly. "I found a way. I can offer her no less."
After a slight hesitation, the serathi bowed. One walked to Adanika's side. The others seized Azyra's arms.
"I will return as soon as I can," Adanika promised Arianwyn. "We will find a way to undo what Azyra has done to you."
Then, with a beating of wings, she and Inri sped away.
I exhaled deeply. I couldn't believe it was over. Arianwyn was safe, the serathiel dethroned. Perhaps Jamar and Koschai would reach the Light of the Radiant, but it hardly mattered. "Will the others heed Adanika?"
Azyra glowered, but one of her guards was quick to answer. "They will know she is the serathiel now. Those who survive will obey."
"You have both betrayed me," screamed Azyra. "Let me go, and I will forgive you. Refuse me, and you will die."
The two serathi exchanged an awkward glance. "We cannot," one said. "Adanika is serathiel now. We obey her, as we obeyed you."
"Then your fate is of your own making." Azyra raised her voice. "Kill them, and free me. I command it."
"We will not. Please accept your fate with dignity."
But Azyra had not addressed her final order to the serathi, but to the drudges. Though Azyra was no longer the serathiel, the drudges plainly believed she outranked the other serathi. Without hesitation, they came forward to do her bidding.
"Look out!" Arianwyn called.
One of the serathi died before she knew her danger. A drudge's stone hands clamped around her head and all but twisted it off. Without a backwards look, the drudge abandoned the corpse and trudged on.
The second serathi dived clear of the other drudge's grasping hands. Scooping up Azyra's abandoned sword, she hacked at him.
Arianwyn, Elspeth and I were left to face not one, but two drudges. Arianwyn sent waves of magic hammering at the nearest, but the creature barely slowed. He didn't even stagger. We went back before him, but quickly ran out of Farsight. The edge of the platform and its thin railing loomed close behind us.
I hacked at the nearest drudge, but all I achieved for my efforts was a dinted blade. Recognising Arianwyn as the greater threat, he ground remorselessly towards her.
"Not her!" Azyra called. "Kill the others."
The drudge paused, confused by the change in orders. Elspeth darted in to press her fingers against its temples. "Dream," she commanded softly. At once, the drudge's shoulders slumped.
The second drudge bore quickly down on us. His hand lashed out. Elspeth flew backwards over the railing, thin fingers reaching for mine. They didn't meet. With an indignant squeal, she was gone.
"No!" I ran to the edge and peered down.
Elspeth clung to the rocks below. Beneath her, Skyhaven's river boiled into vapour. Below that, clouds drifted lazily through the skies.
"Are you alright?" A stupid question, but all I could think to ask.
"What do you think?" Elspeth called back. "Don't worry about me."
A scream made me spin around. The serathi had lost
her battle with the third drudge. As the broken body fell, the living statue moved to Azyra's side and wrestled with her bonds. The second drudge, propelled by Arianwyn's magic, staggered past me and over the railing. He vanished over the side without a sound, his plummeting body narrowly missing Elspeth.
"At last!" Azyra threw off her bonds and swooped towards us, the drudge stalking after her.
Before Arianwyn could move, the serathi seized her by the throat.
"I am not yet finished with you," she hissed.
Azyra brought forth the silver cord that had bound her. She lashed one end around Arianwyn's wrists, securing the other to the railings.
Stay distracted a moment longer, I begged silently. I couldn't possibly beat her in a fair fight, but if I struck before she noticed me...
At the last moment, she turned.
Azyra's first blow struck my sword from my hand. I'd the vague sense of it landing near the Farsight pool, but then the second blow landed, and I'd no attention for anything else.
Azyra's fist slammed into my chest with a crunch of splintering bone. I felt several ribs shatter, and the force of the blow drove me backwards. I didn't scream. I couldn't. The impact had driven all the breath from me.
"Edric Saran, ever the thorn in my side!" Azyra hoisted me high. My broken ribs shifted, and I gasped with the renewed pain. "You have come so far, struggled against so much, and yet you have achieved nothing except your own fall from grace."
She dragged me across the platform, and held me high over the waters of the Farsight, forcing my head down so I could see my own pallid reflection amidst the image of Tregard.
"Look at you! A mockery of a man, believing he can defeat prophecy. The Radiant will arise. She will restore me to my proper place."
Calda had thought the serathi demons. Azyra certainly looked the part now, her dishevelled hair twisting like snakes with her every anxious motion, her eyes dark with a promise of death.
I pried uselessly at her hands. "You're insane."
"That is how the weak always term the strong," Azyra countered. She flung me backwards into the drudge's waiting arms. "Hold him! Make him watch."
I didn't hear the drudge's response over my desperate. I knew what Azyra intended. There was nothing I could do. I struggled and twisted in the drudge's embrace, the pain in my chest driven out by an overwhelming need to escape, not prevent the inevitable from occurring. It did no good.
As Azyra paced calmly to the Farsight's throne, Arianwyn recognised what was in her mind. "Don't do this!" she begged. "I'll do whatever you want. I'll help you bring the Radiant back!"
Azyra shot an amused glance in her direction. "I know you will, my dear. You attempt to bargain with that which I already have. Don't you see? It is prophecy. It is destiny."
"Then I'll kill myself, and her alongside!"
"And you think the Radiant would allow that? She will fight to survive, even if you do not. No, my dear, your threats are no more meaningful than your promises."
Offering me one last mocking look, Azyra sat on the throne. My eyes scanned the skies frantically, hoping beyond hope that Adanika had realised something was amiss. But there was no sign. There was nothing. And then it was too late.
"Elendrioth erekan!" Azyra shouted. "Elendrioth askit Astarra!"
Skyhaven shuddered. For a moment, nothing happened and I dared believe that Jamar and Koschai had succeeded in their mission to disable the Light of the Radiant.
Then the waters of the Farsight flashed brilliant white.
When my eyes cleared, the heart of Tregard was a blazing ruin. The Emperor's palace was a collection of blackened stones, as were all the buildings for a dozen streets in all directions. Of the people, there was no sign, just ash and fire. Thousands had died in one flash of light.
I thrashed madly against the arms that held me, tears of wrath and sorrow running down my face. I swore. I shouted. I raged. I called Azyra every foul name I could conjure, brought down upon her head every threat and half-remembered curse. Had I laid hands on the serathi at that moment, I'd have torn her apart with my bare hands, or died trying. Yet I couldn't get free, and my rage served only to amuse my tormentor.
"You're no agent of prophecy." Arianwyn shook with emotion. "You're an abomination, and I'll see you dead for this.”
Azyra strode to Arianwyn's side, unimpressed. "You should be pleased. I've ended centuries of war. With their Emperor and his court dead, the Hadari will splinter. The Tressians can make an end of things. Not that I care. The Reckoning will take them too, soon enough."
With two quick jerks, Azyra undid the knots binding Arianwyn to the railing. As the bonds came loose, Arianwyn made to flee. Azyra twisted long fingers through her hair, and dragged her away towards the gate. My beloved fought at every step, but physically she was no match, and the silver rope about her wrists stopped her from drawing upon her magic. She couldn't save herself, and I couldn't reach her.
Suddenly Elspeth stood between Azyra and the gate. No longer did she look the part of a goddess, now she was nothing but a slender woman attempting to face down a wild-eyed tyrant. She shook with the exhaustion of her recent climb, and her limbs were scuffed and bloody. But there was no mistaking the determination on her face, and the dagger was steady in her hand. How far she had come from the proud creature who'd chafed at her destiny being shackled to mine.
"I won't let you do this." Even now, Elspeth spoke to Azyra not as a supplicant, but as an equal.
Azyra laughed. "And how will you stop me? Perhaps, at the height of your powers, you might have been a challenge, but compassion has made you weak. You have given of yourself too freely, Daughter of Ashana. Now you will die as one of them."
The serathi advanced. Elspeth retreated before her, defiant but clearly afraid. This wasn't her fight, it was mine. I renewed my struggle against the drudge's unyielding grip, but the attempt was useless as ever. All I could do was watch.
As Azyra swung her sword, Arianwyn twisted in her grip and aimed a savage kick at her right knee. The serathi staggered. Elspeth darted under the blade and thrust her dagger between Azyra's ribs.
The serathi screamed. Releasing her grip on Arianwyn, she struck Elspeth a brutal backhand blow. The Daughter of the Moon crashed headlong to the ground. There was a rotten snap as she landed, her left leg bent awkwardly beneath her body.
Arianwyn momentarily forgotten, Azyra closed in on Elspeth. As the she advanced, she plucked the dagger from her chest, hissing as the blade slid against her flesh.
"Silver." Azyra hurled the weapon away. "You thought to poison me."
Elspeth didn't reply. My sword lay only a few paces away from where she'd fallen. On hands and elbows, a broken leg trailing behind, she dragged herself towards it.
Azyra advanced upon the Elspeth, hefting her sword.
I twisted and struggled. The drudge held me fast. "Leave her alone! She can't harm you!"
"But she tried to." Azyra's cold eyes gleamed. "That her reach exceeded her grasp is unimportant."
"You're a monster!" I'd seen something that Azyra had not, and if I could just keep her distracted for a moment...
The serathi paused, and looked almost confused at what I'd said. "I'm creating a better world," she said beatifically, and then her voice hardened. "If that makes me a monster in your eyes, then so be it."
"You'll not be fit to live in it."
"And who will stop me?" she planted a foot firmly on Elspeth's back.
Elspeth gasped, but still tried to crawl forward.
"Stop your squirming, moonling." Azyra raised her sword high above her head. "Pass beyond with dignity."
The serathi froze, her limbs locked in place by a halo of white light. As Azyra had advanced on Elspeth, Arianwyn had reclaimed the discarded dagger and slit the cords binding her wrists. Now she sent the magic forth to bind the serathi. Azyra closed her eyes.
"Can you hold her?" I asked Arianwyn urgently.
"I think so!" Her voice trembled with effo
rt. "No... She's too strong!"
The light faded with a sound like breaking glass.
Azyra's eyes flickered open again. "I have your measure. You may command a portion of the Radiant's power, but you are not the Radiant."
With a frustrated scream, Arianwyn sent forth wisps of magic once more. They dispersed upon reaching the serathi's body. Azyra stretched out a lazy hand, and white light suffused Arianwyn, locking her in place.
"You tried, my dear," said Azyra.
The serathi drove her sword downward, straight through Elspeth's back and deep into the stone beyond.
Elspeth's body jerked as the sword struck home. Her mouth gaped open in a silent scream. Thick blood oozed out from the wound, staining the cream dress and pooling on the flagstones. Her eyes pinched shut against the pain, hands clasping and unclasping.
"No!" I pulled uselessly against the drudge's unyielding grasp.
Azyra stepped clear, leaving the sword pinning Elspeth to the ground.
"I'm so sorry." I uttered the words from dry lips, not knowing if Elspeth heard me, but knowing I had to speak them. If I'd not insisted she save Emmeline, she'd have been strong enough to face Azyra, maybe even defeat her. If. How I hated that word. Through my actions I'd sacrificed one friend to save another.
"Don't mourn." Elspeth's words came hesitantly and broken, summoned with the fast-fading dregs of her strength. "The door is open... She's smiling upon me... She's smiling upon us. You will prevail."
Azyra laughed. "Deluded to the end. Adanika will fall soon, you are dying and the Radiant will arise. He is alone, and I have won."
"He's never alone," Elspeth breathed, "not while there's a moon in the sky."
At that moment Azyra knew something was amiss. Like me, she knew not what it was, but her conviction was total and instantaneous.
"Then I shall remove him from this world," she spat. "Let him find comradeship in oblivion."
Elspeth screamed as Azyra ripped the sword from her back. As the tip touched my throat, she checked her thrust, and watched me with expectant eyes – searching for some sign of fear, I supposed. I stared down at the sword, its steel still stained with Elspeth's blood.