Assassin's End

by D. K. Holmberg

  “What did you see?” Alison asked.

  “Someone was here. They Slid away.”

  She stalked forward, her swords ready, but nothing moved to attack. She lifted something off one of the beds and held it out to me. “What does this look like?”

  It was a bloody length of sheet. “A bandage.” I nodded to the instruments hanging on the wall. “These are surgical tools. From what I’ve seen of the Hjan, this is a place where they would create more of them.”

  I didn’t really understand what they did, only that they used some sort of implant to augment their abilities. I hadn’t realized they could do it so easily.

  “They haven’t done it outside of Thyr before,” Alison said. “They’ve always been protected by the tower.”

  “They’re moving faster,” I suggested. “It was the Hjan who captured you?”

  “I didn’t know at first. Maybe they had not been the Hjan. They had some of their abilities, but not all. They were skilled, but not nearly as skilled as the Hjan I’ve faced before. Much like those we faced back there.”

  “Because they’re new?”

  Alison frowned as she examined a few of the instruments on the wall. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s all there was to it. Most were like you.”

  “Like me? Assassins?”

  She shook her head. “The true Hjan are assassins. These were men and women of Elaeavn.”

  This was what Carth suspected, but I needed to know if I could trust Dolan. “Do you trust Nyelle?”

  “She is trustworthy. A skilled woman. Why do you ask?”

  I shook my head. “A concern.” I surveyed the room, noting the empty cots. Over a dozen, and implements enough to use to perform surgery. “When have the Hjan ever hired others to work with them?”

  “What are you getting at?”

  My mind raced through the possibilities. The man abducted to create forgings. The woman who had attempted to kill Carth. This place and the other Forgotten. All of it was linked, I suspected. “What if these weren’t the real Hjan you faced?”

  “What else would they be?”

  The Hjan had fallen too easily, hadn’t they? When I’d faced the Hjan before, even one of them had been almost too much for me. I had grown more skilled, but not so much that I should be able to defeat one of the Hjan that easily.

  “I…”

  There was a flicker of movement.

  Colors swirled.

  Over a dozen Hjan—or whatever they were—appeared.

  Alison glanced at me, already starting forward, swinging her swords as she did.

  I checked my darts, ensured that I had enough—and that they were all terad tipped—and joined her in the attack.

  35

  The room wasn’t a good place to defend. The surgical instruments nearby ended up more as weapons, forcing me to duck as they flew past my head. I had the sword, but I wasn’t skilled enough to use it, not the way Alison whipped around with it.

  I had my darts.

  As much as she might have thought them useless, I didn’t have to get close to my attacker to use them. That might be the only advantage they provided when faced with an attack like this.

  Staying low, I flipped darts each time I noted a swirl of color indicating someone Sliding. The first few times, I wasn’t certain the darts connected, but I popped my head up periodically and noted that more than a few of the false-Hjan had fallen.

  Alison was near one of the cots. Gashes bled profusely, and I wondered how many times she’d been hit and how many of the blades were poisoned. She wouldn’t last much longer, not under that type of onslaught.

  I crawled toward her, tossing darts as I went, becoming careless, something Isander had always coached me to avoid. When a man got careless was when he died.

  I noted a sword arcing toward me almost at the last second.

  Rolling beneath the cot, I kicked against it, sending the Hjan who had Slid near it flying across the room, where he collided with two others. Using three darts, they all fell to terad.

  How was it that so many remained?

  There had been a dozen to start with, and it seemed there were still a dozen.

  As I watched, it seemed others appeared.

  I backed toward Alison and stayed low, trying to help her as much as I could.

  “Darts aren’t always so useless,” I said.

  She forced a smile as she slashed at two attackers, missing as they Slid away before her sword could connect. “I didn’t say always. Most of the time.”

  “I’m sorry we’ll die this way,” I said.

  “What makes you think we’ll die?”

  I flicked a pair of darts as I ducked beneath one of the cots to avoid a sword. Alison caught the blade and stabbed the man holding it.

  “There are more of them than us,” I said. “Every time we kill one, another appears. That sort of makes it seem like we won’t survive this.”

  “That’s a possibility,” she said. Two Hjan appeared in a swirl of shimmery light, and she surged toward them, somehow catching both of them.

  “What’s another?” I asked.

  She offered a grim smile. “Watch.”

  Heat began to build.

  It came on suddenly, and with such power and force that it exploded away from her. The Hjan in the room were caught in her blast and most fell, not able to get up. Those who tried to get up became targets for my darts. I caught them before they could fully rise.

  And it was over.

  I stood, my legs shaky, waiting for others of the Hjan to appear, but none did.

  “That couldn’t be it, could it? Why make this the last stand?”

  “I don’t think that was it,” Alison said. She closed her eyes, and the heat continued to radiate from her. When her eyes snapped open, she pointed toward the door. “We need to move.”

  I could only nod.

  When we reached the door, the heat still coming off her gave rise to a question. “Why didn’t you do that before?” I asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Your flame magic.”

  Alison took a deep breath, flicking her gaze around the room we still occupied. “It must be used carefully. I will not be able to summon nearly as much power the next time.”

  “Then we had better finish this up.”

  She bowed her head in a nod.

  The next door had another hallway. While Alison started down the hall, I checked the third door, only to find it locked. Using my knife, I pried it open. It was a closet of some sort. Inside, there was a huge blast furnace, and I could feel the heat still coming off it.

  Not a closet. A smithy.

  Was this where the Hjan placed their implants?

  I kicked the door closed behind me and raced down the hall, catching Alison at the end.

  Like so many of the other halls here, there were no lanterns, nothing to guide our way. Alison didn’t seem to mind any more than I did, though with my Sight I had an advantage. The floor consisted of dark stones, each scored every few feet, making me wonder if they had been brought here or if this was stone natural to the tunnel.

  No doors lined the hall. That should have concerned me.

  There was nothing but a blank wall at the end of the tunnel.

  Alison ran her hand along it. “There is something here,” she said.

  “There’s the wall.”

  “Beyond the wall.”

  We wouldn’t be able to reach beyond the wall. “Unless you can find a way past…”

  I hesitated. What if I could find a way past?

  Not with a door, but with someone who could Slide us past. Lorst had proven he could carry others with him when he brought both Cael and I to Asador, but could Dolan?

  And where were they?

  “What have you come up with?” Alison asked.

  “An idea. We need to go back.”

  “You go back. I will stay and see if I can get through here.”

  I nodded and raced down the tunnel, past the open ar
ea, and up the stairs.

  At the top, I froze.

  The hall was littered with bodies.

  I saw A’ras lying broken, bodies torn apart. A few still moved, but most would never again.

  The Hjan must have come through here first.

  Nyelle stared with glazed eyes at the door to the courtyard.

  It was a waste. Too many had died. And the Hjan were to blame.

  There would be time to mourn later. There would have to be.

  In the courtyard, I raced up to the roof. The sky had started to brighten, a haze of faint orange now streaking across the horizon. We didn’t have much time remaining.

  Scrambling across the roof, I dropped into the street.

  The destruction here matched that of the hall. Nearly a dozen bodies lay in various positions along the ground. Those with eyes still open showed green irises. All Forgotten.

  I didn’t see Dolan.

  Kicking the door open, I carefully stepped inside.

  It was an open room, one that gave the appearance of a home, hiding the fact that there was something darker on the other side. A small wooden table had been shoved against the wall. Shelves held a few books and pots. The scent of spice hung in the air. A well-maintained hearth had two logs resting within.

  Nothing moved.

  That couldn’t be right; there had to be something here.

  I was missing something.

  I slowed down and studied the room. As I did, I noted the scratches on the floor near the table. There was something there.

  Throwing it out of the way, I found a small rung along the wall and realized that a section of the floor would move. Pulling this up, there was a dark space beneath.

  Knowing I shouldn’t, I jumped in anyway.

  I dropped into darkness.

  My Sight adjusted quickly. As it did, I found… nothing.

  The room was empty. Wooden walls had scratches on them much like the floor overhead, but I couldn’t tell what made them.

  I climbed back out of the hole and stood in the main room, thinking about what must be on the other side of the wall. There would be the hall, and the row of cells, and the doors.

  There had to be something else.

  As I scanned it, I found what I sought in the back of the hearth. The stone was too clean. As I stood on the hearth, I searched for signs of some way through it. This had to connect to the other side.

  Then I found what I needed. The grate holding the logs was uneven. When I pressed it, the wall shifted to the side and opened to the carnage that I’d seen on the other side.

  Dolan stood in the midst of it.

  “Where have you been?” he demanded. “How could you let this happen?”

  “I…” I didn’t know how to answer. How could I have let this happen? “We were attacked. I need your help.”

  He stared at Nyelle, and a tear dripped down his cheek. “So many lost. The others joined, but they weren’t enough. Not nearly enough…”

  “I saw.”

  He looked up. “You saw.”

  “How many can you Slide?”

  “Myself. Maybe one more. That’s all I can take.”

  I grabbed his elbow and started him down the stairs. When he saw the bodies of the Hjan, he gasped.

  “This was you?”

  “Not only me. Come on.”

  We made our way down the darkened hall and found it empty. The stone was hot, and I wondered if Alison had done something to it, but where was she?

  “What is this, Galen?” he asked.

  I doubted we had time to spend trying to figure out what had happened to her. “Can you Slide me behind the wall?”

  “I can’t Slide anywhere I’ve never been!”

  “Imagine you’re going ten steps forward.”

  “You don’t understand. We could get stuck in the stone, or we could end up in the sea, or we could—”

  “I understand that the Hjan—or whoever they were—were concerned enough about us reaching this place that they threw everything they had at us. We need to get to the other side of the wall. Can you try this?”

  Dolan took a breath and nodded.

  He grabbed my arm, and I braced myself. Then we Slid.

  36

  The sensation of Sliding was that of flashing colors mixed with a bitter scent. When Lorst had Slid me, he had always managed to make it seem easy, a simple step forward. With Dolan, it was slow, as if we were dragged through mud before we emerged.

  A steady blue glow appeared in the center of a wide, paneled room. The air had the same bitterness that I’d known when I had been sentenced to Ilphaesn. In the light of the crystal, everything else faded into shadows. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I missed something.

  Dolan gasped. “It’s here!”

  I ignored the crystal. It wouldn’t be alone.

  Shapes moved at us as soon as we appeared.

  I dropped, dragging Dolan with me, but was too late.

  A knife appeared in the middle of his chest. Blood bloomed around it.

  He dropped with a gasp.

  I started to roll away from him, but he grabbed my wrist.

  “Get it to safety, Galen,” he said in a whisper.

  I could only nod.

  The crystal pulled my attention, pulsing slightly.

  I had been around the crystal from Eban to Elaeavn, and it had never done that before.

  Lunging toward the crystal, I closed my hand around it. The pulsing stopped.

  Light exploded, illuminating everything around me. I saw two dozen Hjan, each outlined by the blue light. They moved as if through water, as if the magic of the crystal made them slow.

  For a moment, I had an image of some massive shadow behind me, but it faded.

  I spun, taking stock of each of the Hjan. I didn’t have enough darts left to stop them, and I wasn’t skilled enough with the sword to do anything more than slow them before they reached me.

  Stuffing the crystal into my pocket, I prepared for my death. Again.

  Raising the sword, I hoped I had enough skill to take down a few before I died.

  The nearest Hjan Slid. Colors swirled, brighter than I had seen before, and he moved in a blur of color, never completely disappearing. When he emerged from his Slide, I slashed at him with the sword, catching him along his chest, and he staggered.

  Two others Slid, and both appeared the same as the last, a steady blur of color that never completely disappeared. I could track them, and when they emerged again, I was ready, slicing through both with the poisoned sword.

  Had the crystal changed my Sight?

  I didn’t have time to consider.

  The rest started attacking.

  There were too many for me to follow and too many for me to stop.

  With the change in the way they Slid, I managed to follow them as best as I could, but I was outnumbered.

  I fought, swinging the sword as I ducked, catching one Hjan and then another, but more kept Sliding toward me.

  With each Slide, I was pressed back toward the wall. Without Dolan to Slide me from here, I would be stuck.

  Another two fell.

  Then I felt sharpness against my arm. Pain shot through it.

  I dropped the sword.

  Five Hjan stood around me, and I was defenseless.

  I took a deep breath and reached into my pouch for all the darts I had remaining. Four. Not enough.

  I would take as many with me as I could.

  They started to Slide, and I flicked the darts toward them.

  Three connected. One sailed wide. Two Hjan still stood, though others remained in the room.

  Heat suddenly exploded, coming from above.

  The Hjan turned, ignoring me.

  I lunged for the sword and grabbed it with my good hand. I didn’t dare focus on the source of the heat and didn’t dare let myself think that it might be Alison. She had said she used too much of her ability and wouldn’t have enough for another attack.

  I s
tabbed the two nearest Hjan before they could turn.

  Then the ceiling shattered.

  Hot stone flew everywhere, some catching me in the face and arms. I fell to the side and rolled, trying not to get trapped by debris.

  When I managed to look up, there was Alison, swords slashing through the Hjan. She was not alone. Talia was with her, and Carth, and so many others, each dropping into the room.

  The Hjan scrambled to face them, but they fell. They were no match for Carth and those with her. I backed against the wall, knowing that I could do nothing more than watch. Every so often, one of the Hjan would attempt to Slide away, but I could somehow see it and stabbed at them before they did.

  The fighting died off.

  Carth stepped toward me, hand outstretched. “The crystal, Galen of Elaeavn.”

  I shook my head. “It belongs to Elaeavn. I intend to bring it there.”

  “The way you did the last time? No, I think it is time I ensure its safety.”

  I stared at Carth, but I knew what I would do. There was only one thing I could do.

  And how could I argue that it wasn’t the right thing? If anyone could protect it, she could.

  Not the Forgotten. Not me. Not even Lorst.

  I trusted Carth.

  I pulled the crystal from my pocket and handed it to her.

  She slipped it into a pouch and nodded to the others with her. Almost as one, they jumped from the room. Alison lingered, watching me with an interested expression before she leaped away.

  Only Carth remained.

  “They weren’t really Hjan, were they?” I asked.

  “They were… trainees of a sort. Exiles.”

  “Like me.”

  She fixed him with a hard stare. “They were nothing like you, Galen of Elaeavn. They wanted power, and they were willing to risk the unknown for the opportunity.”

  “What opportunity?”

  Carth waved her hand. “These are Hjan experiments.”

  “Experiments?”

  “They’re needed with what the Hjan plan. They need numbers, and there are only so many they can recruit. The earliest of their kind came from Elaeavn. They use their knowledge to augment their abilities. Now they come from every land. It is a dangerous transition. They intended to trade the crystal for this knowledge.”