by Evan Winter
Tau looked at the Indlovu running into the buildings, considering no doubt, that he had not only confirmed the location of Scale Jayyed's men, but had also abandoned his sword-brothers. Then, Tau saw Jabari Onai and his face changed. Kellan had been right to include Onai. Tau was shaken by the boy's presence and now Kellan needed to reassure Tau that his mistake, in coming out to fight, was worth it.
"I'm here, Tau Solarin," he said, "and this time your father won't save you."
When Kellan first heard the stories about the superhuman Ihashe warrior he didn't connect them to the man he fought in Citadel City. That came later, when he learned the Lesser fought with two swords. Even then, Kellan ignored the tall tales. He had too much to do to spend time thinking about one unusually talented Ihashe initiate.
Then, days before the Melee, his newly appointed Gifted, the most powerful initiate in the cycle, had ordered him to the Gifted Citadel and begun yelling at him. He'd recognized her. She was the same Gifted who had blasted him with enervation when he'd fought the strange Common and, in the Gifted Citadel, she accused him of murder.
She told him she would have nothing to do with him and that if, as was planned, he did become an Ingonyama, she would reject her duty as his Gifted, jeopardizing his status. She would not, Zuri had said, Enrage and empower a man like him.
Kellan had been lost. He'd murdered no one. He tried to calm her, begged her to justify her accusations. That was when the story had come out and the episode with the crazy Common began to make sense. Kellan had explained himself, soothed the Gifted initiate, and considered the matter closed, but the Goddess had not finished with him and the Common of Kerem.
The Queen's Melee had gone well. Kellan and the rest of his Scale had powered through days one and two. That was good and as expected. The Melee was supposed to be the crowning achievement in Kellan's Citadel life.
The Goddess had other plans and the stories, at the end of each day, were all about Scale Jayyed and the unbeatable Common. Kellan was still trying to work through how, in all of Uhmlaba, a Scale of Lessers had made the Queen's Melee in the first place.
And, things only became more odd. The night after the Common dueled and beat Mayumbu, Guardian Councillor Odili, Kellan's patron, had come to him to let him know that it had been arranged that Scale Osa would skirmish Scale Jayyed. Odili wanted Kellan to take care of the Common of Kerem. Odili, Kellan realized, did not even know that this Tau Solarin was the son of the man he had ordered Dejen to kill, earlier that same cycle.
Odili was at the Melee to attend the Queen and he, as well as many other Royal-Nobles, had had enough of Scale Jayyed and their unprecedented run. The defeat of a Greater-Noble by a Common had been the last breath. Odili wanted the Scale obliterated and Tau dead.
Kellan had been about to refuse. It was too much and, though Odili's patronage was all that kept his family from destitution, the things the chairman required threatened Kellan's honor, the only thing he had left. Kellan could not refuse. Though he was close to everything he needed to break free from Odili's grasp, he was not there yet.
Before he could afford to lose Odili's patronage, he needed to graduate the Citadel. He had to become an Ingonyama, remove the stain from his family's name, and earn enough through his position to restore a measure of their wealth. Then, if his meteoric rise continued, there was one dream left.
His uncle, the man who had refused to attend Kellan's father's funeral, his own brother's funeral, was champion to the Queen. It was a role he could not be expected to hold for much longer. The new Queen would need a new champion and Kellan dreamed of supplanting Abshir.
Kellan wanted to serve his people, protect them, but if he was honest, he was more eager to serve Queen Tsiora. He wanted to protect her, be by her side, always. He saw her at night, while he slept, and thought of her more often than a man should think of anything.
Kellan was so close and, though it burned him through, he told Abasi Odili that he would do this thing. He would besmirch his honor and, for the second time, harm a member of the Solarin family.
Kellan hated himself for using the information, given in trust by his Gifted, to call out to Tau. He had hated himself for calling a young man with so much heart, a coward. Kellan had played a part in the death of the Common's father. He couldn't deny it, wouldn't deny it, and he wanted to tell Tau he was sorry, but there was more at stake than a Lesser's loss.
Kellan grunted to himself and, emotions in check, he pulled his sword from its scabbard. He checked that his shield was well-positioned on his arm and shouted across the strides separating him from the Common of Kerem.
"It seems this day was fated," he said loud enough for those in the stands bordering the urban battlefield to hear. Kellan would give Odili his show. "Twice before we've met. The first time your father gave his life for yours. The second time a Gifted wanted you spared. Today, for the third and final time, it is just us, and I've spent my life training to kill men like you."
The Common said something very odd before he attacked. "You are wrong, Okar," he said. "There are no men like me."
Their blades met in a crash of bronze. Kellan was much larger, weighing near twice what the Common did. He planned to use his size, strength, and speed to overcome the much smaller fighter. He'd make a play of it for the watching Nobles, embarrassing the Lesser and, after a time, he'd fake a killing blow that would, with the Goddess' blessing, do no more than knock Tau unconscious. It was cruel, but it was the best he could do, since Odili wanted the Common dead. After, Kellan would tell Odili he thought he'd struck the man hard enough to kill him. He'd blame his dulled blade for the error.
Kellan slipped his sword away from the blade held in Tau's right hand, no doubt his strong-side, and thrust his shield to blind or strike him, while swinging a blow that would catch Tau in the arm or side. He didn't get the chance. The sword in the Common's left hand moved faster than Kellan would have thought possible, catching him on the right-side of his helmet, snapping his head sideways.
Kellan stumbled and was hit again. He brought his shield up and was struck below it. He whipped his sword at Tau's last position, slicing through empty air, and taking a bone-numbing hit to the leg that ripped through the leather there, cutting him. Kellan reeled, limped back and centered himself. The Common was walking towards him, eyes blazing.
Kellan felt a twinge of fear. He brushed it aside and attacked. His sword was turned away. He swung again, was blocked, and repelled. He stumbled back, heard the rumble of running feet, and the unit of Lessers he had not been able to finish showed up.
There were only eight, maybe nine of them, but they spotted him with the Common. Tau yelled, pointing them to the buildings in which Scale Jayyed hid. Kellan didn't think they'd obey. He expected them to come to the Common's aid, but they didn't help. They ran inside the building, rushing to their Scale's aid. It would be too late, Kellan thought. He had twenty-seven Indlovu in those buildings.
Truth told, his Scale's success was no longer what worried him. Kellan, third cycle Indlovu, Inkokeli of Scale Osa, and destined to be an Ingonyama in the Omehi Military, had fought his entire life. Fighting was his life and he hadn't lost a fair match since his uncle, the Queen's Champion, had manhandled him eight cycles ago. Back then, he had been a boy, still close to his uncle. Kellan remembered his father had laughed, clapped him on the back, and told him not to worry because Abshir was the best swordsman in the world.
Kellan, son of a shamed and treasonous father hung for crimes against the Queendom, should have been a pariah at the Citadel. Yet, through the power of little more than his sword arm and will, he had become one of its legends. His prowess threatened to shame the way his uncle had turned his back on the family and, to bring that day closer, Kellan had spent three cycles out on the Citadel sparring grounds long after his fellow Indlovu had gone to their drink, whoring, or beds.
Kellan's ability, so renowned, had garnered the patronage of his uncle's fiercest adversary on the Guardian Council. Odili's
money saved Kellan's mother and sisters from ruin and the Guardian Councillor expected Kellan to graduate the Citadel and keep taking his money. He expected Kellan to become one of his personal Ingonyama. In time, he expected Kellan to replace Dejen.
Kellan would do none of those things. When he graduated he would accept the significant but much smaller salary of a military Ingonyama. He would fight for his Queen. He would fight to be her next Champion.
In three cycles, Kellan had never doubted he could achieve his goals. He was a titan among titans and that was no idle boast. It was fact. Which was why it made the hair on his arms stand when he realized the Common was toying with him.
Returning Tau's glare and tamping down his worries, Kellan roared and launched a blistering attack. He was not a man to be trifled with and he would not be cowed. He moved his blade and shield in perfect concert, delivering a thrust for Tau's head that he corrected, when the strike was dodged, by swinging for Tau's neck. He hit air, re-balanced and spun low to the ground, his shield extended like a weapon to break Tau's shins. He hit nothing, re-balanced again, ready to strike and was clubbed to the ground by the flats of the Common's two swords.
"Get up, Nkosi Kellan," the Common said, his voice a rasp. "I'm not finished with you, yet."
Kellan spat out the dirt in his mouth and got to his feet. He feigned a wobble, dove for Tau, forgetting his desire to leave the Common unharmed and letting his sword fly for the Lesser's head. Tau sidestepped. At least Kellan believed he had. He had not seen him move and only knew that Tau was no longer where he had been. Kellan tripped past him and was returned to the dirt.
"Get up, Nkosi Kellan," the Common said. "A man should die on his feet."
It was then that Kellan Okar began to feel afraid. The Common wanted his life. Kellan breathed. His life would not come cheap.
He surged up, blade first. His thrust was blocked and the Common countered. Kellan threw his own block, and was hit. The Common swung, Kellan parried and was sliced across the cheek. The Common lunged, Kellan sought to intercept with his shield, missed, and took Tau's blade between two of his armor plates. A finger-span of bronze entered the muscle of his chest and Kellan fell back, gasping at the flash of pain.
The Common sent his other sword out. Kellan moved as fast as he could but took a hand-span of bronze above his left hip. The small man's blade pierced his side, cutting through him, and when it ripped free the sword took a flap of flesh and leather with it. Kellan screamed and collapsed. The wash of wet that he felt told him the wound was deep enough to scar him for life.
"Get up Kellan Okar," the impossibility standing over him said. "Time to die."
ASHES
Tau waited for Okar to rise. The Noble had dropped his sword and was sitting on his rear. He was panting, one hand pressed against the gash Tau had torn in his side.
"Wait!" Kellan said, his free hand up, palm out.
"Greater-Noble? That's what you're supposed to be?" Tau rasped, a fierce headache pounding in his head and thinning his vision down to slivers. "You're nothing, less than nothing, an insect to be crushed."
Tau felt tears coming and dashed them away with the back of his hand. He'd waited a long time for this moment. Here was a demon he could kill.
He heard the thunder of footsteps and looked over his shoulder. Several more demons had come out of the building. Tau snarled and blinked away the vision. It was the men from Scale Osa. That was it then. They had beaten Hadith and Yaw's unit. Scale Jayyed had been defeated and Tau was to blame.
"Strike him and you die, Lesser scum!" shouted the first man out the door to Tau.
Tau looked to Kellan. The Indlovu was back on his feet, sword in his blood-soaked hand.
"Get him!" Kellan ordered. "Get him, burn you!"
The men of Scale Osa ran for Tau, Tau made for Kellan, and Kellan fled, making enough space so he could circle round and head for the safety of his men. Tau couldn't get to Kellan in time and, with dulled swords, it would have been difficult to kill Okar before Scale Osa could stop him. To have the time he needed with Kellan, Tau would have to kill everyone.
He launched himself into the fray, swords whirling. The closest man took a dulled blade to the face. It shattered his eye socket. The second Indlovu was fortunate. He took a foot to the chest, as Tau pushed off of him, making room to careen his weak-side sword into the elbow of another. That man's arm made a sound like a thunderclap and then flapped loose, the bones connecting his upper and lower arm destroyed.
The rest of the men, there were thirteen, including Kellan and the one Tau had kicked, fanned out.
"Beg me!" shouted Kellan, who looked crazed and was still hunched over on the side where Tau had shaved his flesh. "Beg me for mercy!"
Tau attacked and, for a while, he was winning, his sword snapping at them like a Dragon's jaws. He cut four fingers away from the hands of one man, his blood spraying into the hot Xiddan air as he fell away. He smashed his fist and hilt into the throat of another and that one went down without protest. Eleven left. It was too many. Tau attacked.
Their blades sliced at him from every angle. One of them cut away Tau's left earlobe. Another missed his hamstring, but tore a string of flesh from Tau's calf.
As they harried him, Tau searched the ring of men for Kellan's face. If he was to die here, he would take that Cek with him, but Kellan had removed himself. He stood back from the circle and watched, his sword down and by his side.
"Okar, fight me!" Tau screamed. "Greater-Noble? Standing behind your men, feared of a Lesser, a Common?"
Tau was struck from behind. He rolled with the hit, lessening the blow's damage, and avoided being impaled on the point of another man's sword.
Tau was back on his feet. "You are not deserving," he snarled at them, blocking one attack, then a second, and taking a sword flat to the gut. He bent double and straightened, staggering and swinging about with his blade, discouraging the rest from following up.
"None of you are worthy to lead us!" He seethed, still waving his swords, keeping the Indlovu tentative.
"The Goddess judge you!" shrieked an overzealous Indlovu, diving after Tau. Tau spun off the man's killing line and brought his sword onto the back of the Noble's neck, breaking it. The Noble fell in the dirt, unnaturally still, whimpering, as Tau pretended to charge first one way and then the other.
"Hold the circle," yelled one of the Indlovu. "Hold here and we kill him."
Tau aimed his blades out to either side of his body, turning counter to the Indlovu's rotation around him. His teeth were bared and he was ready to break more men, draw more blood, when he saw Jabari.
"Jabari..." Tau said, not knowing what he thought to find there, and his old friend did not answer. Instead, the Petty-Noble tightened his lips and kept his eyes on Tau's sword, avoiding his face.
This was it then. Tau readied himself. He'd charge Jabari, see if he could break through. If Jabari and the men beside him held, he'd cut the one to the left and spin to stop those behind him from running him through. The rest of the plan would follow from the reactions of his enemies.
It was a simple plan. He liked those best. It was also a pathetic plan. Tau sneered at the Nobles around him and gathered his breath. Eleven stood against him. There would be fewer, before he died.
"In the name of Scale Jayyed, we surrender and submit to Scale Osa! We surrender and submit. Stand down! Stand down!" Jayyed, holding the gray on gray flag of the Ihashe was running onto the battleground.
"No! I do not surrender!" Tau said, swinging his sword at the men around him. "I do not surrender!"
Running with Jayyed were two skirmish officiants. The Umqondisi with Jayyed was hurrying, but the Isazi lagged behind. No doubt he would have preferred to wait and see how things played out.
"It is not that Lesser's choice," Jayyed told the Indlovu around Tau. "I am the Scale's Umqondisi and I surrender the skirmish. If anyone else is harmed it will be outside the protections of the Queen's Melee."
"Yes, yes,"
the Isazi muttered. "Back away, it's done. Scale Osa wins and progresses to the finals. Scale Jayyed is eliminated."
Swords held ready, the Indlovu backed away. Tau eyed them, still turning, expecting one of them to attack at any moment. The last man he turned towards was Jabari, who continued to avoid his eyes.
Kellan spoke, from a distance. "Well fought, Tau."
"To ash with you!" Tau spat.
"You may not believe me, but I am sorry for this. I am sorry for your father. I wished no part in either event." Kellan sheathed his sword and joined his men, who were already walking off the battleground.
"Don't you speak of him!" Tau yelled to Kellan's back. "I'll kill you, Okar. I could have killed you today! Guardian dagger? Future Ingonyama? Go to your funeral pyre knowing that I'm your better!"
"Be silent, Tau," Jayyed said next to his ear. "Be silent."
A ragged cheer was raised by the men of Scale Osa. They'd won. The crowd though, come to see violence, were as voiceless as the sun setting overhead.
The Nobles, in the stands, did not speak. Worry gripped them. The Lessers, in the stands, did not speak. Rage had them. Scale Jayyed was eliminated and the tournament day had ended, but the bloodshed was just beginning.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SECRETS
Tau was injured and, instead of taking him to the Lesser infirmary, Jayyed and Anan took Tau to one of the small tents that served as private quarters for Umqondisi in the Crags. Once there, they sent for a Sah priest to tend to Tau and bandage his wounds. Jayyed explained it was best to keep Tau out of sight until tempers in the Crags cooled. Already, several fights had broken out between Lessers and Nobles. Two Lessers, one from the Governor Caste, had been hung.
Tau thought to ask why. He didn't. He was weary beyond belief, his cut leg ached, his ear burned, and his back was a giant welt.