Leonidas smiled. Then he let out a growl of pain. Erras had buried a knife in his shoulder. If he’d had a longer reach, he might’ve got his neck or belly. Leonidas squeezed once, and I heard the old man’s neck crack. The withered mess of skin and bones that was Erras of the House of Mariadne fell to the ground in a heap.
“Your pardon, countess,” Leonidas said, pulling the knife out with a grunt. “What were you saying?”
Reichis leaped at Leonidas and got his teeth around the bare skin of his arm. Leonidas flung the squirrel cat off and I watched his little furry body fly through the air until it hit the outer wall of the keep. Reichis rose unsteadily, but he proudly displayed a piece of skin in his mouth.
Leonidas held up his arm. “Look, the little weasel did more damage than the old fool!”
His men cheered on cue.
Ancestors damn me for a fool and a coward a thousand times over. “You’re a dead man, Leonidas,” I said.
He laughed. “What? You’re going to challenge me now? At what? Cards?”
I didn’t reply. I didn’t need to.
Leonidas nodded. “Very well then, card player. I will return in the morning and you can fight on behalf of this shameful house.”
He motioned to his men to release me, and started towards the gate. Then he turned briefly and said, “It’s too bad you didn’t take the challenge earlier. You might’ve saved the old man from a meaningless death.”
The worst deception of all is when people forget who you are—when they tell themselves that maybe you’re not so bad. Maybe you’re just rough around the edges. Maybe you can acclimate to polite society. That changes awful quick the first time they see the blood on your hands.
And the gleam in your eye.
36
Oraxian Root
Hours later I found Countess Mariadne standing solitary vigil over the body of Erras in a small grey room beneath the keep, with cold stone walls and flickering candles.
“Thank you for coming,” she said. On a stone pallet lay her old retainer in the Daroman position of repose—arms on his chest with one hand on top of the other, a single red flower between them as greeting to his ancestors when he is reunited with them. “He was old when I was a child.” She reached out a hand and her fingertips brushed the dead man’s lips. “He seems no older now than he was then.” She turned to me. “Did you like Erras, Mister Kellen?”
I nodded. “What I knew of him. He was brave when the carriage was attacked, braver still when he went after Leonidas, and he seemed to love you above all things.”
Mariadne nodded.
We stood in silence for a moment then she handed me a small piece of paper. “I found this in his pocket.”
I took the note and unfolded it. There were only two brief lines on it: Sold to Kellen, Tutor of Cards of the Queen’s Court—One dead man’s tongue. Paid in full.
“Did you read this?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I do not care what it says. I know Erras well enough to know what his intent might be—to goad you into fighting Leonidas.” She turned to me. “I do not want you to fight.”
Yeah. Me neither. “Not much either of us can do about that now, your ladyship.”
She put her hand on my arm. “Run. You can run. I don’t want anyone else’s death on my conscience. I will wait for Tasia’s eventual release so that I can give her what she needs to get out of the country and start a new life. Then I will inform Major Leonidas that I will wed him at his convenience and begin mine.”
“You’d let him bully and threaten you into marriage?”
“I’ve been a bit of a bully too at times. I can stand up for myself when I need to. Perhaps Leonidas and I are better matched than either of us realises.”
“If you believe that, countess, then you’re out of your mind. I’ve known men like Leonidas. Once he gets you under a marriage contract, your life will be hell and you know it.”
“Perhaps, but as you’ve made clear on many occasions, this isn’t your fight.”
“Sure it is,” I said. “I liked the old man. I don’t like Leonidas. I don’t like the idea of him getting what he wants.”
“And what difference will it make if you are dead? For all his primping and posturing, Leonidas is a formidable warrior.”
“Leonidas is a bully,” I said. “And I’ve been beaten up, hunted and jailed more times than I can count. I know bullies. I know how they think, and I know how to beat them.” I sounded more confident than I felt. Truth was, I doubted Leonidas was stupid enough to let me use magic in the duel, and it would be his right to refuse it. I had the same choices—I could deny him the use of swords or knives, but then he’d just kill me with his bare hands. My confidence didn’t improve when Reichis ran into the room.
“We’ve got trouble, Kellen. I just came from Leonidas’s encampment. He’s got a skinbag mage, Kellen. A proper one.”
That didn’t make sense. Why would Leonidas have a Jan’Tep mage? The man was too arrogant to sit back and let someone else fight me. “What else did you see?”
“Not much. But I don’t think you want to fight this mage. He sent out men to find oraxian root.”
“What’s he saying?” Mariadne asked.
“Nothing important, your ladyship. I don’t suppose there’s much oraxian root nearby is there?”
She laughed. “Oraxian root? The hills around here are full of it. We could feed an army with it if it didn’t taste so foul.”
Damn. “I don’t think they’re planning to eat it. Some clans of Jan’Tep mages use it to augment shielding spells.”
Mariadne’s expression turned fearful. “Can you… I mean, with your spell, can you break through one of these shields?”
“I don’t know. Is Leonidas particularly low on coin?”
She shook her head. “Military officers aren’t highly paid, but Leonidas always seems to have as much money as he needs.”
“Then no, I won’t be able to break through his mage’s shield.”
“Can you cast your own one of these mystical shields then? To protect yourself from Leonidas’s sword?”
Reichis snorted. “He can cast a shield all right, if what you want to be protected from is a light breeze.”
Mariadne’s eyes went from the squirrel cat to mine. “What?”
“I’m not very powerful as a mage, countess.” I held out my right arm and rolled up my sleeve, showing her my tattooed bands. “Most shields are formed using iron or ember magic, neither of which I can summon.” I pushed my will into the breath band and managed a faint blue glimmer from it. “With breath magic, a bit of luck and a huge headache, I can cast a different kind of shield, but one far too weak to withstand a blade or a bolt of lightning.”
“And you believe this other Jan’Tep…”
I nodded. “Whoever Leonidas has hired will be someone more than powerful enough to do the job. He’ll get the mage to cast a shield around him during our fight. Not only will he kill me, but he’ll also show off to his troops that he isn’t afraid of magic. Hells, he’ll probably want me to hit him with a powder blast just so he can look like one of those invulnerable demigods from the old Daroman epics. That mage of his will put a shield around him so strong I doubt even…”
Oh, ancestors. Is it even the tiniest bit possible that this can work? Because this plan is so stupid even Ferius Parfax would balk at it.
“Kellen?” Mariadne asked.
Screw it. Deception, trickery and foul magic. Always stick with your strong suits. “Countess, you should go rest,” I said at last. “I’ll stay here with Erras until sunrise.”
Her eyes met mine. “It’s not too late to run. These concerns… my concerns, they are not yours. It was wrong of me to expect you to take them on. Leonidas is unmatched as a duellist and he has forty men at his back. There is no shame in—”
“I’m something of an expert in shame, countess. Now if you don’t mind, I need to prepare.”
Her mouth moved as if she might say
something more, but then she just nodded. “You must meditate, I understand.” She stood up on tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek and then turned and left. The simple gesture left me feeling strangely moved.
“Aw, ain’t that just the sweetest thing?” Reichis chittered.
“You’re pretty chipper considering I’m about to get killed and you’re going to end up as Leonidas’s pet weasel.”
“Maybe if we tell him just how sweet you are on the countess, he’ll forgive you.”
I tried kicking the squirrel cat but he hopped out of the way. “Get out of here,” I said. “Go up into the hills and get us some oraxian root.”
Reichis scrunched up his face. “Me? That stuff tastes awful and I’ll have to carry it in my mouth.”
“Just go, Reichis. Until Leonidas puts a sword in my belly I’m still your business partner and this is part of our deal.”
“Fine,” he said, ambling over to the door of the crypt. “What are you going to do?”
I took the note Erras had left for me and held it to the flame of one of the candles, letting it catch fire before dropping it to the ground. “The old man and I have business.”
37
The Coward’s Duel
We stood facing each other in the courtyard. Four blue slate walls, each roughly five feet high, surrounded us. The sun pierced the dull haze of a typical northern early morning. Twenty yards separated me from Leonidas, but the hatred between us was so palpable we might as well have been touching.
The major’s troops had arrayed themselves behind him, along with the mage he’d brought. I couldn’t tell from the man’s clothes how skilled he might be. Some mages like to cut the sleeves on their coats short, believing the sight of the Jan’Tep bands will fill those around them with awe. Others—the smarter ones—don’t. One thing I was positive about though was that Leonidas had no intention of following the rules set out by the marshals. Trust me: a cheat knows another cheat when he sees one.
On my side of the courtyard stood Mariadne and a few of her servants. The countess looked wan, as if it was only a matter of time before I got killed and she ended up married to this brute.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, lady.
Marshal Bracius, standing to the left of us, read out the duelling agreement. The Daroman people do love their contracts. “… And should either party desire respite, they—”
“Cut that part,” Leonidas said.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said, cut that part out. I won’t ask for respite, and I won’t grant it either. He dies or I die. Nothing else.”
Bracius looked uncomfortable. “I’m not sure that—”
“Oh, and when he’s dead, I keep the animal. I’ll use him to keep the rats out of my cellar. Or perhaps I’ll just use him for target practice.”
Reichis started stalking towards Leonidas. I kicked him aside. “Keep it together, partner.”
“Son of a bitch,” he growled.
Bracius was getting annoyed. “You want me to put a clause in the duelling contract that gives you ownership of a felidus arborica?”
Leonidas smiled. Bracius looked at me helplessly. “Agreed,” I said, ignoring Reichis’s snarls. “But if I win, the major’s personal guard will be transferred to the command of Countess Mariadne.”
That got me a reaction.
“You would compare the life of your animal to the sword service of forty Daroman soldiers?”
“Well, your guys don’t fight so good, but I don’t see as you have anything else worth trading.”
Leonidas’s guards looked ready to charge me, but he stopped them. “Very well,” he said. “Sergeant, come forward!”
One of the men took a step forward and saluted.
“Should all the gods abandon this world and that fool somehow kill me, do you swear on behalf of the men to follow the commands of Countess Mariadne?”
There wasn’t an instant of questioning or hesitation. “As you command, so I swear,” the sergeant said.
Leonidas nodded, and the other man stepped back.
I turned to Reichis. “All right, partner, do you swear by the nine squirrel cat gods in the sky to hunt all the rats in that guy’s cellar? Even the big ones?”
“You insult me!” Leonidas shouted. “You insult my men and you insult the empire of Darome!”
I showed him a gesture with two fingers I’d learned in the borderlands. “So kill me, you big, thick-brained ox. Come show me what you’ve got.”
Leonidas started towards me, but Bracius, bless her brave heart, stood in the way. “We haven’t agreed on the weapons,” she said, pointing to Leonidas’s sword.
“He can keep it,” I said helpfully, flipping open my powder holsters.
Leonidas smiled.
“Major,” Bracius interrupted. “With all due respect, you don’t seem to have considered your opponent. I assume you want to forbid magic.”
Leonidas spat. “Magic? No, marshal, I have no restrictions on magic.” Then he turned to his men and shouted, “This dog thinks he can best a Daroman military man with his parlour tricks. Is he right?”
“No, major!” the men shouted.
“Is there any man or woman, mage or warrior, who can beat me in single combat?”
“No, major!”
“Does anyone talk this much before a fight?” I shouted, hoping someone might reflexively shout “No, major!” Alas, they were too well trained.
Bracius glanced at both of us. “I’m going to assume you’re both ready and begin the count. So. Here we go. Seven…”
“Hey, you remember the last time we had to listen to a marshal count down from seven?” Reichis asked.
“Six!”
I looked down at him. “Yeah, why?”
“You know what I call that time?”
“Five!”
The squirrel cat’s tail twitched. “The good old days.”
“Four!”
I chewed on the oraxian root, trying to ignore the bitter taste. “Just remember your part.”
“Three!”
“What’s my part again?” the squirrel cat asked. His sincerity was deeply disturbing.
“Don’t screw with me, Reichis.”
“Two!”
“Kellen?” he asked.
“Yeah?”
“One!”
“I’m not guarding that guy’s cellar even if you do lose,” he said.
“Fight!”
Leonidas bridged half the distance between us in a few steps. “Come on, let’s show them how fast you fall, talam fezher,” he said. That was cute. I didn’t know Zhubanese hardly at all, but I was pretty sure he’d just called me “weasel boy”. His men laughed at the jibe. I supposed they must all pick up a few words being this close to the border.
Okay, here we go. I tossed powder into the air, made the somatic shapes and quietly said the words. They don’t need to be spoken loudly, so I chose to keep them barely above a whisper. Twin red and black flames burned the air between Leonidas and me, striking him before he could move.
He laughed, and held up both his arms. “You see? No magic can break the skin of a Daroman soldier!”
I pulled more powder and cast the spell again. Once again the fires licked at him. Once again he smiled. I looked over at his mage. The man was sweating as he poured energy into the shield. Projecting a shield is a lot harder than summoning one around yourself.
“Come on, spellslinger,” Leonidas jeered. “I can barely hear your little magic trick. Give it one more proper try before I slit your belly!”
I pulled out a lot of powder this time, probably more than was safe, but I needed to be sure. The mage saw what I was doing and his concentration deepened.
“Carath Toth,” I said.
A burst of red and black death that would’ve knocked down a house shattered the air between us. The blast was fierce, full of rage and viciousnesss as it tore at the shield. But it wasn’t enough. The air around Leonidas shimmered and shook, but the ma
jor himself was unharmed. He whooped the way a man does when his sweetheart first tells him she loves him.
“Right, Kellen Argos. Now I’ll show you my magic!”
He stepped forward, but I held up a hand one final time. “Leb’ethera dea’vetis,” I said.
Nothing happened.
Well. Nothing visible anyway.
Leonidas looked at me, confused. “That’s it? That was your secret plan? To cast a shield upon yourself? Fool. You think I walk into a duel without learning about my opponent first? I know everything about you, Kellen of the House of Ke. Exiled Jan’Tep. Wanderer. Spellslinger. I know you don’t have enough magic in that breath band of yours to cast a shield that could stop a butterfly, never mind my sword.”
“True,” I admitted quietly, so that only Leonidas would hear, “but I didn’t cast the shield on myself, major. I cast it on you.”
“What? Why would…? Why would you—” He started panting, struggling for breath.
“Shields are funny things,” I said, keeping my voice low so his mage wouldn’t hear. “They form a kind of barrier around you, protecting you from the outside world. They need to be awfully strong to withstand a powder blast. In fact, they need to be pretty darn impenetrable—otherwise the heat from the discharge could get through and the air could burn your lungs on the inside.”
“What’s happening?” one of his men mumbled.
“Problem is,” I continued, “you don’t want it too thick or else it blocks everything—even the air you need to breathe. Your mage over there did all the hard work, piling shield on top of shield to withstand the blasts. Me? All I had to do was add a tiny breath shield on top. Like you said, it wouldn’t even keep out a butterfly. But it is keeping out the air.”
Leonidas turned to the mage, who finally figured out what was happening. He tried to remove the spell, but that’s the moment when Reichis went after his face.
“Too bad,” I said to Leonidas. “He would’ve done great keeping your cellar clear of rats.”
Leonidas struggled towards me, falling to his knees as he clawed helplessly at the air around himself.
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