Death Flag

  “You see!” the blonde squealed, pointing a finger at Erin as if she had just given her all the proof she needed that what she had said was true. “She’s clearly under his control!”

  Erin glowered back at the other girl then ducked behind Madison’s arm without letting go of his hand exactly like a small child would. She was clearly embarrassed by her outburst and likely didn’t know how to react now that she had been turned into the object of everyone’s attention.

  “So, that’s it then,” Madison said flatly. “You’ve got it all figured out. Bravo.” He didn’t even bother trying to deny anything. He knew that it wouldn’t do any good at this point. They had come all the way out here on orders from a Guardian, and nothing he said or explained would do any good—not that it would have mattered anyway. This was the exact same group who had already been doing Ryder’s bidding back in K’yer Utane, and there was no reason for it to be any different now that they were away from the valley. They had taken Shayna and beaten her in front of everyone in order to prove a point to him and her, and they had blindsided Madison before that, blinded him, and beaten him senseless. These clearly weren’t the type of people who were bothered by something as mundane as a set of morals. They were following directions, plain and simple, and their guiding light, Ryder, had spoken. No further thought or discussion was even necessary at this point, only to act.

  Gregory chuckled snidely to himself as if he were keeping a secret that only he knew. He stared at Erin where she was hidden behind Madison and said, “That pompous hippie is no longer a problem for anyone. Burke was removed from his post as Guardian before we even left. But I guess you were so busy running away and kidnapping people, so you wouldn’t have heard such a thing, would you?”

  “How is that even possible?” Madison asked over the sound of a sharp intake of breath from behind him.

  “How? What’s it matter to you, kid? He hasn’t been around for ages. But since you must know, he failed his mission. He’s basically a traitor of the same magnitude as you. The old clod has apparently been working against the other Guardians for years, and they all got tired of it, so they gave him the boot. There’s a group of Sworn out looking for him now, so it’s only a matter of time before he’s put down like the worthless dog he is.” He threw his head back and laughed then, and he somehow made both of his chins shake in unison.

  Madison smiled to himself as he shifted to the side so that he could glance back at Erin, and what he found there when he searched her face actually startled him. She was easily offended, and he had seen her cry on at least two occasions over what he would have considered common, banal, harmless conversation. But now, her eyes were alight with a fire and an anger in a way he never would have imagined possible. She was seething with rage, her gaze filled with the fury of pure, unadulterated hate. Madison actually turned his body completely around, fully exposing his back to everyone there, and then reached up with his free hand and patted her hair the same way he had Shayna on rare occasions. She gazed up directly at him, and an understanding passed between them then as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand to attention. He knew that she was up to something. He didn’t know what it was, but based on the look in her eyes alone, he knew that he was going to like it. He squeezed her hands reassuringly where she was clasped onto his own and then turned around to face the crowd.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but the missing bandit suddenly chose that moment to come tearing out of the darkness and into the light of the fire.

  “They’re dead,” the bandit huffed out as he skidded to a halt in front of them. “All the sentries is dead. They’re all—” His words were suddenly choked off as an arrow sprouted from the side of his neck. A moment later, a second arrow popped through right beside it, punching through even farther than the first had. The man made a noise as he collapsed to the ground that sounded like something between a cough and a choke, and he vainly grasped at his throat. His eyes bugged out of his head, and he quickly turned bright red as he began asphyxiating on his own blood.

  Madison threw his head back and laughed then. It was loud and boisterous, and it was filled with all the pent-up energy he had been stifling down for half the night. The nervous energy, the anticipation,—every bit of it was expelled in that moment. “You’re so screwed,” he said, shaking his head. “You just don’t even know it yet.”

  “What is this?!” Gregory roared. It was like Madison’s laughter had broken the pall that settled over the gathered people as they watched the man choke and die. “Who did this?! Who else is out there! If this is that bitch of yours—”

  Madison felt the tension around him rise at that moment, and it became palpable enough for the others to feel it as well. They probably couldn’t pinpoint it the way he could, and they likely never would have guessed where it was coming from, but Madison knew. He shook his head again, his grin stretching from ear to ear. “You’re so screwed,” he repeated, holding out his free hand and materializing the great two-handed sword there. His body shimmered with a golden light a moment later, and the armor he was quickly becoming accustomed to replaced his clothing.

  “What is—?!”

  Gregory made it halfway through his demand and half a step forward before Erin finished her spell. The tension that had been building suddenly broke, and it was like having a bucket of water dumped over his head. The air around him exploded outward with a loud thump that sounded like someone hitting a really big bass drum, and then the bodies started dropping. Rae fell over first, her knees buckling and giving way underneath her, and she crumpled to the ground face first. The blonde girl next to her collapsed on top of Rae’s prone form, and then the men went next. One staggered around for a moment as if he were drunk and trying to find his balance, slumping over onto Gregory and grabbing ahold of his plump shoulders in a desperate attempt to hold himself up. Gregory, for his part, shook his head back and forth in quick, jerky movements as if trying to dispel a bad dream. His ruddy, bowl-cut locks swayed back and forth in time with the movement of his head, and then he collapsed backward, pulling the other man down with him.

  Madison laughed again as he watched it all happen. He had absolutely no idea what Erin had done other than the fact that she had cast a spell. The line of bandits looked as dumbfounded as he felt, glancing back and forth at one another as if one was going to have the answers that another didn’t.

  Warren seemed to have recovered from the shock of the spell as well. There had been a brief lull in his shots as the first man died, likely because he didn’t have a clear line of sight on anyone else, but now that the group from K’yer Utane was out of the way, he could safely shoot without fear of hitting them. No matter what they might have said or believed, they were still from the same academy as Warren. He likely knew more of them than Madison ever would, so it was understandable if he wouldn’t want to accidentally stick an arrow in one. Arrows whizzed out of the shadows, striking at the line of bandits, and then pandemonium broke out.

  The black-clad warrior sprang forward, easily hurdling the cluster of bodies, and struck out first with a quick, two-handed attack that brought his sword down in front of him, aimed Madison’s head. Madison automatically pushed Erin back into the tent with the hand that she had held onto the whole time and then brought his own sword up in front of him horizontally, stopping the warrior’s blade just before it struck home a deadly blow. The man dropped down in front of him, and Madison quickly lashed out with a kick aimed at the man’s midsection before the warrior even had time to drop his sword down. The man nimbly dodged Madison’s kick by twisting his body to the side and then jumping back away from him, once more clearing the cluster of bodies as if they weren’t even there. If nothing else, Madison knew the man was incredibly spry.

  Madison didn’t have time to think about the sudden burst of acrobatics, however, as two more men pressed in from his right. He pivoted to meet them, swinging his sword around as he came around and deflecting away the first man’s attack, a
low thrust that had been intended to hamstring him. The man was carried forward by his momentum despite his failed attack, and Madison automatically struck out with his left hand as the bandit brushed past. He planted his feet and pushed off against the man’s shoulder, shoving him into the tent.

  He instantly realized that he had just sent an armed assassin into the tent with Erin, and he turned to pull him back out, but the second man arrived just then, swinging his sword around in a slashing attack aimed at head level. Madison caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye and only barely managed to drop down into a crouch and avoid being decapitated. He pushed upward with all of his might as he stood up, lunging forward and stabbing upward with both hands. The point of his long sword pierced through the man’s thin armor from a downward angle, passed into his chest just below his sternum and continued through until it pierced out of his back.

  The man dropped his sword and went wide-eyed with shock, futilely clutching at Madison’s arms as if he could somehow stop what had already been done. Madison took another step forward, ramming his sword completely through the man until it was buried to the hilt, and then violently pushed forward while jerking back with his blade at the same time. His intention had been to push the man’s body back along the length of the blade so that he could jerk it free from the man’s gut, but it didn’t work exactly as he had planned. The awkward angle made it impossible to rip the blade free in such a manner, and it only slid out several inches before stopping. Madison shoved once again and simply let go of his sword. The last thing he wanted to do was be in the middle of a battle without a weapon, but he didn’t have much choice. The man’s body was thrown back with Madison’s sword still embedded in it, and Madison turned and dove into the tent blindly.

  He collided with the bandit just as he was about to exit, and the two went down into a heap. He caught sight of Erin out of the corner of his eye, backed into a corner at the end of the cot where he had found her originally, so he knew that she was safe. He wasn’t sure if the bandit wasn’t interested in her, or if he simply had orders not to harm her, but Madison was instantly grateful for the fact that he hadn’t been interested in the young woman. Madison had only spent moments killing the other man, but that would have been more than enough for the bandit to split Erin in half if he had wanted to.

  Madison ended up on his side with the bandit lying in front of him, and he instantly struck out with a punch, striking the other man in the nose. It was an off-handed blow and somewhat forced, so it didn’t do nearly as much as he would have liked, but he instantly followed it up with a second quick jab and began scrambling to his feet. The bandit responded by striking out blindly with his one fist, striking Madison in the side of his head several times. It was more annoying than anything, but it was enough to make Madison squeeze his eyes shut and turn his head away from the blows. He twisted his body around so his legs were behind him and then drove forward, throwing his weight behind an uppercut aimed at the man’s jaw. The bandit had only just started to get to his feet as well, and the awkward blow clumsily caught him across the corner of his jaw. The man’s head was rocked back and to the side, and Madison thrust out with both hands, trying to push the man to the ground again. The bandit was more or less crouched down, so unfortunately, he didn’t go down completely like Madison had hoped. He spun around to the side, twisting away from the force of the blow, and Madison figured that was good enough. He sprang forward, wrapped his arms around the man’s throat as he put him in a headlock, and then rocked back, applying pressure to his windpipe.

  The man collapsed to the ground on his side and then began struggling to turn himself over. He repeatedly jabbed an elbow back into Madison’s chest and stomach in an attempt to make Madison drop his hold, but the blows were almost completely absorbed by Madison’s armor since they were short and quick with little force behind them. Madison was starting to wonder if he’d actually be able to choke the man out when the tent flap was pulled back and the black-clad warrior stepped inside. He stabbed down at Madison’s head without any hesitation, and Madison was forced to drop his chokehold or risk being stabbed. He let go of the one man and pulled his head back and out of the way of the piercing blade. The sword narrowly missed him, striking into the ground instead, and Madison scrambled back away from the two bandits, pushing himself back into the corner next to Erin.

  He got his feet back underneath him as quickly as he could, and he pulled his knife free as he pushed himself up into a defensive crouch. He allowed himself a brief moment to glance over at Erin and make sure that she was alright. One bandit was in the center of the doorway, clutching his throat and sucking in massive breaths of air as he tried to recover from being strangled, and as long as he was there, the other couldn’t easily get through the entrance of the tent. His quick look told him everything that he needed to know about the young healer: she was safe. She might have been pushed back into the corner, but that didn’t mean that her spirit had been dimmed any at all. He hadn’t expected her to actually take part in the fight—he knew that she didn’t condone it—but the look in her eyes told him that she expected him to win.

  Madison pulled his arm back and then flicked the knife forward in a dramatic fashion, sending it spiraling forward. He wanted to make sure that the black-clad swordsman saw the motion and had time to react. The blade flew through the air and struck the gasping man on the floor of the tent, burying in his side, and the swordsman fell back into a defensive posture, spinning away and clearing the entrance of the tent as he retreated outside. The man cried out the moment the blade stuck into him, but Madison barely even heard it. He sprang forward, landing on his hands and knees and closing the distance between them in a second, and his hand was wrapped around the knife’s handle in the next. Madison ripped the knife out of the man’s body and then plunged it back in again and again. His stabs were wild and hurried, and he didn’t care what part of the man he struck, just so long as he did fatal damage. All he wanted was to make sure that the bandit was dead so that he wouldn’t stand up and decide to attack Erin. Seconds after his assault began, it was over.

  Without sparing the man another thought, Madison pushed himself back to his feet and dove out of the tent’s entrance. He landed on his side and rolled over before he could even catch a glimpse of what might be going on out there, and he was grateful for the fact that he had. He sprang up from his roll and then instantly jumped back, landing hard on his rear end. The long katana-like sword flashed down in front of the tent, and it had clearly been intended to catch him unaware as he exited. If he had come out head-first like he normally would have, he never would have seen the outside.

  “What are you doing?!” Shayna cried from right beside him. She was engaged with one of the bandits right nearby, quickly working to block his harried thrusts, and it was amazing that she could find the time or wherewithal to talk at all for how rapidly she moved between defensive and offensive strikes. “Stop lounging around and kill something! If anyone hurts Erin because you were being lazy, I’ll kill you!” As if to prove her point, Shayna deftly turned away her opponent’s sword by quickly striking out across her body with the dagger she held in her left hand. As soon as the two weapons made contact, she flipped her opposite dagger around so that the blade was pointed downward, stepped forward and stabbed it down into the man’s neck. She ripped the blade free a moment later, and it was accompanied by a spray of bright-red blood. She turned away from the dying man was already engaged with another before the first body even hit the ground.

  Not to be outdone, Madison rolled over and then turned and dove for his sword. The body he had left it buried in was lying on its side with the hilt facing toward him, so it was easy enough to get his hands on it. What wasn’t easy, however, was pulling the blade free. It was still stuck at that awkward angle, and it didn’t want to come loose. The black-clad warrior wasn’t going to let up either. Madison saw him coming, and he felt a surge of frustration well up inside of him. He scuttled back away from h
is sword, quickly casting a glance over his shoulder to make sure that no one was going to surprise him from behind. The swordsman moved forward warily, tentatively stabbing forward at Madison as if he wasn’t sure what move he was supposed to make next.

  Then, all at once, he brought the sword in front of him, clasped it with both hands, and launched himself up into the air for an overhanded attack. Madison couldn’t believe it. It was the exact same attack he had used at the onset of the battle, and it was so obviously telegraphed that Madison was convinced that it had to be a trick for the first split-second. That strange sixth sense he had that seemed to warn him during fights screamed at him, however, and his body was in motion before he had even made a conscious decision that he needed to move.

  Anticipating how the man was going to land, Madison drove up out of his crouch and stepped inside the man’s reach the same way he had just seen Shayna do. He landed a punch squarely in the man’s midsection before the bandit could even begin bringing his weapon down in an effective attack. He felt his fist make contact with the stiff leather armor that protected the man’s stomach and chest, but there was more than enough force behind the blow to drive the air out of the swordsman’s lungs and send his attack awry. Madison spun around and out of the way then, allowing the man to drop down to the ground, where he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

  Madison quickly bent down, grabbed his sword with both hands, and jerked up as hard as he could while standing up at the same time. His blade came free at last, practically cutting away part of the dead man’s chest cavity as it slid free. He turned and lunged for the black-clad warrior that had pestered him on the battlefield for so long, but his attack was turned away at the last second by another one of the goddess-worshiping bandits interjecting himself between Madison and his intended target. Madison’s deadly thrust was turned to the side, and he slammed into a heavy wooden object, his forward movement coming to a jarring stop almost all at once. There was a loud grunt, and the man behind the shield pushed Madison back, sending him reeling several steps before he was able to regain his balance.