Diamond Stained

by J M D Reid

  Ōbhin didn’t think it would be enough.

  *

  She could hear the shouts drifting through the foggy night.

  “Avena, don’t,” Miguil hissed as she grabbed the heavy brass handle, her finger on the latch.

  “I have to know.” Her binder clutched in her right hand, her digit poised to activate it, she wrenched open the door.

  Fog swirled before her. Footsteps thudded. Men shouted in the fog. Ōbhin, Smiles, Fingers, Bran, and the new guards were fighting out there. Her stomach twisted. That helpless pit swelled inside of her. Purple flared in the fog, a binder activating.

  Someone screamed in pain.

  They were fighting, and she was just standing here. Again!

  She took a step onto the porch when Miguil seized her from behind and hauled her back inside. She gasped and struggled against his strength. She whirled around to face him as Pharon slammed shut the door, his backsword drawn and held low.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded of her former promised. She stared up at him, her brow scrunching in annoyance. “They’re fighting out there! I need to help!”

  “You’re supposed to be in here,” Miguil said. “You’re in charge of us.”

  “Doesn’t feel like it,” she muttered, her back itching. A boyish scream of pain echoed through the night. Footsteps rustled from the second-floor landing. Jilly with her candlestick stood up there beside Joayne, Bran’s mother. Both women’s faces were ashen.

  None of the women or the children up there knew how to fight. Neither did the gardeners or Miguil. They could swing sticks, but they hadn’t been trained. Pharon, on the other hand, held his sword with a sure grip. She didn’t know about the older man’s past, but she felt heartened to have him here.

  “Right,” she said. She wasn’t helpless. She had a purpose. Those fighting out there weren’t her sister. They were men trained by Ōbhin risking everything to keep them safe. She’d promised to be the final line.

  Elohm, shine your Colours on them all, she prayed as she turned to the door. She activated her binder.

  *

  Purple flashed to Ōbhin’s left. Aduan’s binder struck Anbrian, wrapping him up in purple energy. Aduan followed up with a brutal punch with his non-dominant hand, knocking the bandit to the ground. He twitched, arms pinned to his side, sword spilled from his grasp.

  Heavy footsteps drew Aduan’s attention. Out of the fog, Stone appeared with his maul raised. He should still be bound. Had he broken the energy through brute force? Ōbhin had no idea if Fingers still lived, if he still fought Whiner Creg in the fog. Smiles lay dead against the wall, his head smashed by Ust’s brutal punch.

  Aduan turned to face Stone. The former bouncer raised his rod to strike the larger man. The maul hurtled down in a blur and struck Aduan in the side of the head. The wet smack of a melon bursting echoed through the air. The impact bulged the opposite side of Aduan’s face. Skin ripped. Blood flowed. He hit the ground, his head caved in.

  “Pus-filled roach!” shouted Cerdyn. He slammed into Stone. The two men fell to the wet grass in a thrash of chainmail.

  Ust continued dragging Ōbhin at a leisurely stroll.

  Ōbhin snarled his rage as he slid past Aduan’s corpse. Fury thrashed through him. He spasmed and kicked and battled to escape. The tip of his boot slammed into the back of Ust’s hand again and again. He screamed against the pain in his chest and wrist.

  Ust looked behind him. “Always unpleasant, isn’t it? Being helpless. Seeing the bastard who so easily beat you standing over you with contempt. Not even bothering to kill you. Because you’re not worth killing. You’re beneath him.”

  “You better kill me!” Ōbhin snarled. “By Niszeh’s Black Tone, I’ll ram my hand into your chest and rip out your still-beating heart.”

  Ust chuckled. “Like listening to the angry buzz of a grasshopper.”

  Cerdyn and Stone thrashed, the two men pummeling each other. From the right, Bran and Dajouth rushed out of the dark. Jamis and Laynet darted to intercept them. Dajouth slowed to a stop and did an expert parry and retort with his binder, the youthful Onderian slamming his rod into Laynet’s left arm. Purple engulfed the bandit, slamming his sword arm into his side. The edge of the blade bit into his own calf. Screaming in pain, he collapsed.

  Bran met Jamis. Sparks flared as they traded blows, binder rod striking backsword. Bran saw an opening and lunged in. His foot slipped on the wet grass. Fog swirled about him as he stumbled, arms wheeling to catch his balance.

  Jamis’s blade punched hard into Bran’s chest. The chainmail jangled. Loops snapped. The blow drove the slipping Bran onto his back. He gasped as Jamis bore down on the blade, twisting the slender tip. The hardened steel point chiseled at the chainmail. Another link popped. The blade shifted a half-inch.

  Bran screamed in boyish pain, blood welling up around the sword.

  Ōbhin thrashed, reaching, helpless to defend the youth. Jamis’s shoulders twisted. His feet spread wide as he pressed down on the sword with his weight, struggling to cut through the last few links and drive the entire length of his blade home into Bran.

  Dajouth appeared, holding Laynet’s backsword. A hard swipe took Jamis in the neck. The blade caught on the bandit’s spine. Blood spurted. Jamis gurgled and stumbled to the side. He landed twitching beside Bran.

  “Bran!” Dajouth shouted, kneeling down and wrenching Jamis’s sword from Bran’s belly. Dark blood stained the last two fingers’ width of the blade. Not deep. Not fatal. Yet.

  A loud bellow shouted through the night then a gurgling sigh. Stone spasmed beneath Cerdyn. The hulking guard snarled as he rose, ripping a sword out of Stone’s throat, blood spilling over the strongman’s gullet. Stone drowned in his blood. Ōbhin recognized the weapon’s clover crossguard. Anbrian’s blade. Cerdyn whirled, his eyes locked on Ust.

  He charged, blade raised to deliver a hacking blow. Chainmail jangling and boots thudding gave warning. Ust whirled, sliding Ōbhin across the grass. Cerdyn gasped in shock as Ust grabbed the descending blade in his left hand.

  “What?” gaped Cerdyn. At that speed of the blow and with Cerdyn’s strength, it should have cut through Ust’s hand. Blood boiled out of his clenched fist and spilled down his wrist.

  Between Ust’s legs, orange glowed beneath his skin. He jerked hard and wrenched the blade from Cerdyn’s grip. Ust chuckled as he turned the sword in his hand, holding the blade still. With a blur of motion, he slammed the crossguard into Cerdyn’s head.

  Blood spurted from the deep indent furrowed in Cerdyn’s brow. The hilt scraped away skin and muscle away to reveal the white, dented skull beneath. His eyes rolled back. He dropped limp to the ground. Ust laughed louder and dropped the sword at his feet.

  He marched on to the manor house, dragging Ōbhin with him. The Qothian stared at that discarded sword coming closer and closer with Ust’s every step. He snagged it up with his left hand and stabbed it at Ust’s wrist again.

  Ust didn’t react in time. Ōbhin hadn’t wasted this opportunity like he had by hacking Hook’s legs. The chiseled tip of Anbrian’s sword struck Ust’s inner wrist. It cut through the skin and into the tendons beneath.

  Ust snarled as his fingers went limp, releasing Ōbhin’s ankle. He rolled away and gained his feet as the naked monster spun around. Orange glowed through Ust’s crotch, illuminating his flesh from the inside. His limp fingers flexed as the sword wound regenerated.

  Ōbhin held the backsword in his left hand. He had trained to fight with both hands but preferred his right. He wasn’t as good with his left, but what choice did he have? He faced Ust, every breath grinding pain. He had to figure out a way to harm him.

  Dajouth appeared from the right, holding the blade that had stabbed Bran. The youth still sobbed on the ground, clutching his belly. Footsteps thudded behind Ōbhin. Chainmail rattled. To Ōbhin’s amazement, Smiles appeared. He held a sword instead of a binder. He slowed as he reached Ōbhin, facing Ust.

  The bandit leade
r snorted in amusement.

  Smiles had a grim look on his face. He must have seen his friend Aduan’s corpse. Ōbhin had questions for Smiles. He could have sworn Ust’s fist had cracked open the man’s head, but the Qothian saw no injury. No blood or swollen forehead.

  Did he hit lower? Ōbhin wondered. He pushed those thoughts away. He had to focus.

  “What are we doing?” Smiles snarled, anger burning in his eyes. “How are we killing this Black-pitted bastard?”

  Ust turned his back on them and continued his march towards the manor house. Dajouth gave a shout and lunged, sword stabbing. Ust backhanded the thrust to the side and then kicked out with his foot. Bone snapped. The young man’s knee bent the wrong way. Dajouth collapsed in a gasp of pain.

  “You can’t do anything to hurt me,” Ust said.

  Smiles and Ōbhin both rushed in. A blurring fist punched at them. Smiles dove to the ground. Ōbhin slashed his blade and struck the incoming blow. He blunted the attack. He stumbled back from the force, a line of blood spurting from where his blade bit into the hulk’s knuckles. Ust’s flesh healed, leaving behind only a crimson streak. Ōbhin panted, his entire body aching.

  The manor house appeared as the fog eddied. Ust was almost there.

  Desperation filled Ōbhin. He needed something. Anything. How could he hurt a bastard who healed instantly and possessed the strength of a dozen men? He threw a look over his shoulder. He could hear his resonance blade buzzing. He wanted to go get it. Was there time? It lay back across the entire yard. Ust would be in the house in moments.

  The humming grew louder and louder.

  A figure lumbered out of the fog, panting and holding Ōbhin’s tulwar.

  “Got that skinny one bound up,” Fingers panted as he lurched to a stop. “He don’t have the strength to break free like that big bastard.” He held out the weapon to Ōbhin. “You dropped this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ōbhin’s left hand tightened about his resonance blade, the hum familiar. He felt heartened. He had a weapon he could use. If he could find a way past Ust’s shield, if he could get an opening and inflict some real damage, they might have a chance.

  Will the charge hold out? he wondered, glancing at the emerald and wishing he could judge its reservoir.

  “Come on,” Ōbhin said and rushed forward, his ribs aching. He gripped his tulwar in his off-hand, a handicap, but he couldn’t run away now. Ust would butcher everyone in the house but Dualayn. Ōbhin could feel it in his bones.

  Spite brimmed in Ust. He’d been humiliated. Ōbhin understood now the wound he had delivered to Ust had only festered into something cancerous and dark. It fed on Niszeh’s Tone, letting that disharmony consume him. Now he would unleash it. He would make everyone suffer to soothe his pride.

  Ust had had a chance to change his life. To make other decisions. Instead of polishing his soul clean, he dirtied it further.

  Ribs aching, Ōbhin rushed through the fog. A loud, shattering thud echoed through the mist. Light flooded before him, revealing a silhouette in a doorway. Ust had battered through the manor’s doors. Ōbhin’s boots thudded on the ground, Fingers and Smiles racing with him.

  “Jilly!” Smiles screamed in desperation, his legs stretching out. He pulled ahead, running with a speed Ōbhin had never witnessed. Smiles gripped his sword as he rushed at the manor house and its breached door.

  Ōbhin ran at his heels, agony burning across his broken ribs.

  *

  The front door burst apart into splintered chunks. The pieces slammed into Avena, Miguil, and Pharon. She gasped, reeling before the onslaught. Pain throbbed across the corner of her temple. A ragged gash bled near her hairline.

  Jilly screamed from the stairwell above as Avena fought for balance. A form strode in from the mist, eyes glowing like diamond light, his naked body covered in streaks of dried blood. She hardly recognized Ust. He possessed a power the bandit leader hadn’t had last time; an innate strength radiated from him.

  A brass candlestick hurtled down as Ust rushed to his right and threw a punch at Pharon. The butler threw himself back, only taking the blow on his upper shoulder. He spun through the air while the candlestick streaked down into the open doorway vacated by Ust. At the same moment, Smiles appeared in the shattered portal. His free hand snapped up and seized the candlestick hurtled by his wife. Jilly gasped from above as Smiles threw the candlestick in a smooth motion at the back of Ust’s head.

  It bounced off his skull, the brass bass deforming. Ust whirled around. Avena couldn’t believe how fast he moved. The speed was astonishing. Faster than Dje’awsa’s jackals. Soft glows shone from within his feet, a yellow hue that faded as he faced the doorway.

  “Thought I killed you,” Ust growled at Smiles. “Guess your head didn’t break. I’ll change that.”

  Smiles shrugged. “Like I told my ma, got a hard head.”

  Ōbhin rushed through the door next, his chainmail coat jingling. He clutched his right hand to his chest, cradling it. He held his tulwar in his left hand, raised in a guard position, high and threatening, the blade fuzzing from its vibrations.

  “What is he?” Avena asked.

  Ust’s head snapped to her. Those glowing eyes fixed on her. She shuddered and realized he had diamonds inserted where his eyes should be. He could see through them. A shiver ran through her body.

  “Pretty Avena,” Ust said as he grabbed his manhood. “I got a better rod for you to hold righ—”

  Ōbhin rushed in for the attack, his resonance blade slashing in a humming arc, emerald light spilling over the individual links of his armor. He cut for Ust’s hand manipulating himself. A vicious thrill shot through Avena.

  Cut that filthy thing off, cheered through her head.

  Purple flared. Something like a binding flashed before Ust, deflecting Ōbhin’s sword. The blade hit the energy, waves of mauve rippling across the surface. From the back of Ust’s hands, faint violet glowed through his skin.

  He’s got jewelchines inserted beneath the skin, she thought. Dualayn had tried something similar to save Carstin’s life with knowledge he’d learned from the Recorder. Avena realized that this was somehow Dje’awsa’s work. Jewels in the mouth could bring back the dead, animating its body, but Avena was understanding that in the living, they could have far, far more impressive effects.

  Faint green glowed from within Ust’s thighs, bleeding around corded muscles. When he moved to throw a blurring punch at Ōbhin, the yellow blossomed again. Emeralds could manipulate earth or strengthen things, just as Forgiveness strengthened and mended broken relationships. Heliodors made him swift; the color of Patience was often used in things involving air. Creating breezes to soothe and make the heat endurable. The diamonds shone with Honesty, lighting up the world.

  Ōbhin, Fingers, and Smiles hacked and stabbed at Ust. Ōbhin’s blade was most effective. Ust had to stop his attacks to throw up shields to keep from losing his hands. It allowed Fingers and Smiles to slash from the side, driving him across the large entrance hall. They drove him towards the stairs.

  Ōbhin slashed at Ust’s attack punching at Fingers’s head, a blurring fist that Ōbhin was just able to keep up with. The purple shield flared, amethysts glowing from the backs of Ust’s hands. Fingers stumbled out of danger. Then he rushed to the right, face flushed.

  Smiles’s blade slammed deep into Ust’s side.

  Ust roared as blood spurted around the wound. His fist blurred in. Smiles grunted and twisted back to avoid it while Ōbhin’s sword slashed in to deflect it. Both were too slow. The blow struck Smiles in the chest.

  Avena screeched as her friend flew across the room and struck the wall, cracking the plaster. His head cracked back into the masonry. A wave of pale white, like colorless and lumpy flesh, flowed over his face.

  She blinked at what she saw, confused. It had to be some trick of the light caused by Ust’s eyes shining pale beams around the room. Smiles lay collapsed in a heap, sprawled limp on the ground.
A smear of blood matted the wall where the plaster was cracked. She shuddered at the severity of the wound. Jilly screeched from above and raced down the stairs.

  Avena gripped her binder. She shouldn’t be standing here. She had to get in the fight. They needed her help. Ust was here for her as much as the others. She couldn’t just stand still while they died. The bucket of whitewash swam in her mind. The emptiness threatened to swallow her as Ōbhin whipped his sword before him to parry shielded blows thrown by the naked Ust.

  His back was to her now as he attacked Ōbhin, snarling in rage. The wound on his side knitted together. A soft orange glowed from between his thighs and then faded. Topaz in his groin?

  She rushed forward to join the fray.

  Ust’s fist crashed through a balustrade before slamming down at Ōbhin. He threw up his sword. Purple flared, the shield saving Ust’s hand while preventing his attack from striking Ōbhin.

  Avena slammed her binder down on Ust’s right elbow as he drew back to deliver another powerful blow. The purple binding sprang around his arm. The band of energy, the same hue as Ust’s shield, engulfed his body and pinned his arm to his side.

  He whirled around in a blur of movement. Fury crossed his face. “You think that will protect your quim from me!”

  Anger flared through her as she raised her binder to slam it into his legs and knock him down. Behind Ust, Ōbhin rushed in to deliver a powerful blow. His blade hummed. Ust’s free hand blurred and slammed into her chest. Not a punch but a shove that flung her back. She hit the floor and slid across the polished marble into the wall. Pain flared from the crown of her head. A shield erupted around his arm and clashed with her binding. In a flash of violet, the two energies canceled each other out.

  His arm free, he threw a barreling punch at Ōbhin, whose feet scrambled to stop his momentum. He leaned back to avoid Ust’s punch and fell onto his back in a clatter of chainmail. Not pausing, Ōbhin swept his blade out at Ust’s feet. The bandit leaped back in a blur of motion and landed a pace from Avena.

  Why didn’t he shield? she thought. Why leap back?