Death Flag

  Madison shoved his way into the main building, pushing his way through two men as he walked through the door.

  “Hey!” one shouted.

  “Watch it, jerk!” the other warned.

  Madison stopped in his tracks and turned to look at them. They were both young, probably nothing more than teenagers, and their arrogance fled as soon as he looked at them.

  “N-never mind,” one stammered. “You go on.”

  “Yeah. Just . . . Just get out of here,” the other agreed.

  Madison glared at them for a moment and turned and walked on.

  She didn’t really expect me to die, did she? She has to know that there is healing magic here. She has to know about the medicines and potions that we have on hand. This is an academy designed to train assassins and warriors. Of course we would have that on hand. Wait. If her brother died here, why didn’t the medicine save him? Why didn’t someone just use magic to heal him? Is there a point you cross where magic can no longer save someone? Or restore them? If not . . . then . . . that means someone let her brother die on purpose . . . Either no one told their family about the magic or no one offered to save her brother’s life. That’s the only explanation. She told me she was going to give me the same chance that her brother had, but that doesn’t even make sense if she had known about healing magic.

  But that doesn’t change the fact that she manipulated me. It doesn’t change the fact that she used me for her own warped sense of vengeance.

  How could I have been that careless?

  Madison shoved the door open to Ryder’s private training room. As he expected, the entire place was empty. This room would probably be packed on a normal day with people training, but if what Rae said was correct, they were likely at some banquet or reception that had been planned for Lord Fox and his party. Whatever they were doing, it was working to his advantage.

  No, there’s no way I could pull this off on a normal day.

  He grabbed a long, two-handed sword from the weapons rack and tested it by swinging it back and forth a few times. It was a decent weapon, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. It was off balance and slightly clunky to wield as a result. It was barely more than a fashioned hunk of junk that had been created so that someone could swing it around recklessly without having to worry about breaking it. In short, it was exactly what it was meant to be: a training weapon. He swung at a wooden practice dummy to test it out and neatly sliced through one of its appendages.

  How could I have been that careless?

  The kicked the door open so hard on his way out that he thought he heard it crack, and he strode down the hallways with a singular purpose.

  Alyanna doesn’t realize it, but she actually gave me two huge clues. She said those slavers had been looking for me for about a month. I’ve been here just over a week altogether, so that means time is passing at a minimum of a four-to-one ratio outside this valley. A week spent here is a little over a month out there at that rate. She also said they had been traveling south for about a week, right? That means I have a chance of escaping if I go north. I already know that south leads to the ocean after a few days, but that wouldn’t do me any good. Unless there’s a boat waiting and ready to sail, I’d be stuck following the shore until I found something else. But if I head north? Maybe there’s a chance.

  “Hey,” he said gruffly, grabbing ahold of the first person he came across by the collar of his shirt and shoving him up against the wall.

  “What the hell?” the guy asked in shock, his eyes growing wide in fright until he realized who held him. Then, his mouth twisted into a conceited sneer. “Screw off, new guy. Haven’t you had your ass kicked enough already?”

  Madison punched the guy in the gut with the hand holding the sword. Spittle flew from the man’s mouth, and his eyes bugged out as the blow connected.

  “Why you little—”

  Madison slammed his forehead into the other man’s nose without waiting for him to finish his sentence. The young man’s head rocked back and bounced off of the stone wall as blood began pouring down his face, but Madison held him firmly in place.

  Madison felt a tiny trickle of blood run down his own forehead and past his eye, but he ignored it. “Where is she?” he asked brusquely.

  “Wh-Who?” the man asked, terror finally entering his voice.

  Madison turned and spit when the blood ran into the corner of his mouth. “The diplomat. The envoy. The new girl. Alyanna.”

  “What the hell is your problem?” someone protested from behind just as Madison felt a pair of hands grab onto his shoulders.

  Madison released his grasp on the man he was holding and swung back with his elbow. He twisted his body around violently, adding extra emphasis to the strike, and felt the blow connect with someone’s face. He fully turned around just in time to see a curly-haired man grab at his jaw where he had been struck.

  “What the . . .?”

  “Go screw yourself,” the guy taunted. “Haven’t you heard? She’s nothing more than Randall’s now. Just wait until he gets ahold of you and your little trashy girlfriend. He’ll teach you one way and her another—the way only a real man can!”

  Madison slashed out with his foot, kicking the man in the gut before he could recover enough to do something more serious. “Where is she?” he demanded.

  “Crap, man! I don’t know!” the first guy cried from a heap on the ground. “Everyone went to the dining hall for the announcement! We laid out so we could get some extra sleep! That’s all I know! Honest!”

  Madison spat again, sending bright-red blood flying everywhere, and then he turned and stalked toward the apartment where he had found them before. He was almost positive that the announcement had something to do with Lord Fox and his retinue, but he could only guess what. Based on what he had heard from bits of conversation and from what she had told him, they were likely going to be leaving as soon as possible to head back to Stargrave. If they had already made a public announcement while he was in the infirmary trying to patch himself up, odds were it would be sooner rather than later.

  Madison hurried down the halls, one corridor blurring into the next. It only took a handful of turns before he was back at the doorway to the apartment. He took a deep breath to steel his resolve and then kicked the door open. It snapped back as if it had been hit with a battering ram, slamming into the wall behind it with a loud crash.

  “What in the blazes?!” Lord Fox shouted. He was seated at the head of the wooden table on the far side of the room. Both of the two large men seated on either side of him instantly jumped to their feet, and their chairs were practically thrown out from under them as they stood. “You!” he shouted, his face aghast at the sight of Madison.

  “Where is she?” he demanded, taking several large strides into the room. “Where is your daughter, Lord Fox?”

  “You should be dead!” the man cried, horror-struck. “She told me she left you with a dagger in your gut!”

  “Why do you think I’m here?” he asked brusquely.

  “Royce, Burton!” Lord Fox cried, and the two men stepped toward Madison menacingly.

  Madison held up his sword in front of him, leveling it between the two men. “Be certain that you know what you’re doing,” he warned.

  The one on the left faltered, but the other smacked his fist into the palm of his hand. “It isn’t polite to barge into someone’s quarters unannounced, boy. Let ol’ Royce teach you some manners, eh?”

  Royce edge forward, his eyes constantly watching Madison’s sword. He started turning around to Madison’s right, and the other man, apparently named Burton, began circling around to his left. It was obvious what they intended to do: one was going to keep him occupied while the other grabbed him from behind. It was a simple plan, and given the fact that he had a sword, and they didn’t, it was probably the best they could have come up with on the spot.

  The only problem was that it relied on Madison to stand there and let them—and he wasn’t in
the mood for standing around and waiting at the moment. He lunged forward at Royce, stabbing at the man’s chest. The large man jumped back out of the way before the sword could catch him, knocking over a small end table as he landed and catching the wall for support.

  Knowing what was coming, Madison immediately turned and kicked out behind him, lashing out just in time to catch Burton rushing him. The brute tried to stop in his tracks and avoid the kick, but all he succeeded in doing was toppling over backward. His momentum carried him forward in a feet-first slide, and Madison’s kick caught him awkwardly in the chest as he slid down. Madison danced away from the large man. Even if he was on the ground and Madison was standing, he was still dangerous. All it would take to bring him down was a single good grasp on his ankles, and Madison would be done for.

  Once he had taken several steps away, Madison struck forward again, stabbing down at Burton where he lay on the ground. The large man rolled out of the way at the last second, and Madison’s blade bounced off the carpet-covered stone with a hollow thud. A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Madison immediately swung his sword back in Royce’s direction. The blade bit into the large man’s arm, eliciting a howl of rage and a flurry of curses. Madison jerked his sword back and then thrust it forward, forcing Royce to stumble back into the wall again to avoid being speared.

  “Last warning,” he said threateningly. He glanced behind to find out where Burton was and watched as the man slowly pushed his large frame up from the floor. Burton glanced at Lord Fox questioningly, and Madison turned his attention back to Royce to find him looking in the same direction. They might have been loyal, and they were clearly willing to risk their lives, but they weren’t going to just throw them away.

  “I’ve just lost a son, and you’re already here trying to take my daughter from me as well?” Lord Fox asked, and Madison watched as he rose from his seat. “What type of man are you? How barbaric can you be?”

  “Spare me,” Madison spat. “By your own admission, she stuffed a dagger in me and then left me for dead. Why shouldn’t I come here seeking her life in return? It’s only the way.” His face twisted into a snarky half-smile at that last comment. That had been what she said when she had stabbed him. She was seeking revenge for her fallen brother, and she wrote it off as simply being ‘the way’—whatever the hell that meant.

  Fox’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Do not seek to blaspheme our beliefs, boy. They have existed for far longer than you, and they will still be around after you’re gone.”

  “Hah!” Madison barked the laugh and glanced behind him again to check on Burton. “I don’t give two shits about whatever your beliefs are. I’m here for your daughter. Your beliefs may live on; your lineage will die here.”

  Lord Fox took a step out from around the table, and Burton grunted from behind Madison at the same time. Madison spun around on his heel, blindly lashing out with his sword. He brought it down across his body in a diagonal arc as he turned, and the blade buried into Burton’s shoulder. Blood frothed forth from the wound, and the large man’s eyes bugged out in disbelief. Madison quickly jerked the sword free and jumped to the side. Royce rushed through the spot he had only just occupied, tripped over the carpet, and crashed down on top of his comrade.

  Madison quickly spun around to face Lord Fox, hefting the blade in front of him once again. The old man looked at him calmly. If the stories Alyanna had told him were true, this was a man who had stared death in the face and walked away once already. He had put on a few years since then, but Madison had no doubt that he was still just as deadly now with a weapon in his hands as he had been in his youth.

  The door behind Lord Fox was flung open, and Madison saw her silvery-white hair emerge. “Father?” she asked. “What’s—”

  Lord Fox threw up his hand to silence her without ever taking his eyes off of Madison. “Go back into your quarters and wait for me, daughter. I’ll be with you shortly. There’s just something I need to take care of first.”

  “What is going on out here?” she demanded. “I was trying to sleep, and I heard—” Her voice choked off as she peered around Lord Fox’s back.

  Madison could only imagine what she saw. He was drenched in blood, holding a massive sword, and standing over two people whom she had probably known for most of her life. He probably presented a rather grim image, to say the least. “Oh, there you are, Alyanna!” he called cheerfully. “I was just looking for you!”

  “Wh . . . How . . .?” She stared at him, utter confusion written across her face. “I saw you . . . I left you . . . but you . . .”

  “I’m a hard one to kill,” Madison responded flippantly. “People keep trying—every day in fact—but no one seems to have quite managed it yet. But . . . that’s not why I’m here, is it?”

  She stared at him, her eyes widening by the second as she deciphered this meaning. He knew that the best she could do was jump to conclusions, and he was counting on the fact that her imagination would probably dive right off the deep end and sink straight to the bottom. “I don’t understand . . . You’ve come for revenge? You wish to take my life for attempting to take yours. But . . . I . . .”

  “That’s right,” Madison agreed, his voice suddenly turning much colder. “I’m here for you, and you alone. Why don’t you just come along quietly? I did my best not to hurt these two buffoons too badly, but if this keeps up, I can’t promise that someone else isn’t going to get seriously hurt.”

  “How dare you?!” Lord Fox cried indignantly, puffing his chest out and taking a step forward. “You think that I will allow you to just carry off my only daughter? The heir to my throne? On a whim?”

  Madison smiled snidely. “That’s your way, isn’t it? An eye for an eye, and all that? Revenge for revenge, blood for blood? She saw me yesterday and assumed I was somehow responsible for your son’s death. There was no one else for either of you to lash out at, so it had to be me. Am I right? That’s the way?”

  “I will warn you for the last time, boy: Do not mock our traditions,” Lord Fox growled threateningly.

  “Oho!” Madison exclaimed. “It seems you’re more offended by the fact that I’ve threatened your crazy religion—or whatever you call it—than the fact that I announced I was here for your daughter. You should be careful! How do you think that makes her feel? You really should be more attentive to her feelings. After all, you could up and lose her at any moment!”

  “Why you . . .” he growled.

  “Stop!” Alyanna shouted. “Please, just stop. It is one thing to insult me and threaten my life, but to intentionally goad my father and disrespect him? I guess I shouldn’t expect any different from one who wears the mark of the Legion—even if you do try to hide it.”

  Madison shrugged. He knew that her words were meant to be an insult, but they might as well have been in a different language altogether for all it mattered to him. They just didn’t have any meaning to them. “So, whatta you say, princess? Are you going to come quietly? Or do we get to keep having fun?”

  She studied him for a moment, clearly deliberating what she should do. Madison knew as well that she did that she wasn’t going to go quietly. Nothing about her said she was a pushover. She might have been a lady of the manor and daughter to the ruling lord of her region, but she didn’t come from a sheltered life. Nothing about her conveyed a dainty princess who couldn’t take care of herself. The most interesting part was that she had rattled around inside of his head with her magic. Her magic had joined them together, if only for a brief moment, but it left a lingering connection behind. Even now, despite the fact that she had stabbed him and left him for dead, he still felt that link to her. And he was counting on the fact that she felt it as well. He was hoping that it would cloud her judgment.

  He finally got his answer when she produced a small dagger from out of nowhere and flicked it at him before he even realized it was in her hand. He only barely caught sight of the blade as a flash of light reflected f
rom the metal and instinctively turned his body to the side. The weapon whirled the air at stomach-height, narrowly missing him. If he hadn’t reacted so quickly, he would have ended up with a second dagger in his gut that day. She grabbed at something that was leaned up against the table where Lord Fox had been sitting, and before he even had time to swing his body back into position, she had already jumped up onto the table. Kicking the cups and plates out of the way, she charged across its length and jumped off, swinging her one-handed sword down at him.

  Madison threw his own sword up to block her attack and then stepped back, allowing her momentum to carry her to the floor. She might not have weighed much, but he knew better than to try and take a swing like that head-on and try to stop it. The best he could hope for was being bowled over by the combination of her weight and momentum, and then it would be a wrestling match on the ground after that with weapons up for grabs.

  He took a step backward and felt something snag around his ankle as he did. He looked down just in time to see that one of the two men had grabbed him, likely hoping to trip him up. He blocked her next attack, a horizontal slash aimed at his abdomen and stabbed downward with the point of his sword. The hand was hastily withdrawn before the sword point stabbed into it, and Madison was free to dance back yet again.

  Should have known better than to think they’d stay out of this. Whatever system of honor they have, it clearly doesn’t extend itself to privacy in duels. Madison grinned, holding the sword up in front of him with both hands. Actually, it might make this more interesting if they would get involved. He eyed Lord Fox for a moment and realized that the older man didn’t seem willing to get involved. What does honor have to do with it anyway? Well, that, or he just isn’t willing to risk his own skin.

  Madison blocked another over-handed attack and stepped forward, lashing out with his foot. She jumped back much quicker than he would have anticipated, just in time to avoid being kicked in the stomach, and then stepped forward, aiming another slash at his side. He turned this one away and to the side using a wide two-handed arc, and then stepped forward and drove the pommel of his sword into her stomach. He heard her make a small noise as the air left her lungs, and she doubled over, falling to her knees and clutching her stomach where he had struck her.