A Glimmer on the Blade

by Rachel E. Baddorf

  She smiled, thinking of the wedding. Corin would be there, in a very fine suit of clothes no doubt. He was a noble’s son, after all. She wondered if he had one of those flowing court coats. The garment was at once dramatic and enticing because it looked like a bathrobe about to gracefully fall off its owner. Her mind wandered distractingly down the path of partially clothed men, and she had to stop herself before Pelaki took advantage of her inattention.

  Since the battle, Corin seemed to be breathing deeper. He rode his mare only a few lengths away from her, talking to Yupendra about the weather. His interference in the commander’s tent had been welcome, but unexpected. He was brave, she would give him that. And he understood about the daggers, which was a rare thing among men. Her thoughts were interrupted by the smell of lamp oil and burning violating her nose. Anoni rapidly scanned her surroundings, looking for the cause. There was no smoke, no fire. The hills were clear, the wild grasses green; yet the smell grew in her mind, clogging and thick.

  ***

  Imperial Palace

  Horacio Franco

  Commander Horacio Franco sighed, lying back in the hot water of his bath. He was in one of the corps’s bathing rooms, with the big marble bathing tubs set in the floor. His clothes were piled on a chair beside the tub. Creaky old copper pipes tangled along the walls and ceiling, supplying the ready hot water to the baths. Steam clouded the air. He relaxed for the first time in days. He had heard from Anoni that the extra hostages had been freed, and his wife and children were on their way into hiding on the eastern border. The guard schedule seemed to have deterred any more clergy attacks. No more bodies had turned up with the marks of people looking for information on them. All was working.

  His relaxation was interrupted when a cold draft washed through the room, wafting the steam. A belated instinct had him reaching for his sword from the chair next to the tub. Several figures entered, coming close enough that he could recognize them. Markham Shaiso and his father, along with five imperial marines, appeared to be his uninvited visitors. Blinking, he wished he hadn’t given in to superstition and taken off the moonpearl necklace before bathing. He had envisioned embarrassing mental interruptions of his bath but now he was left without the ability to call for help.

  “Franco, I apologize for interrupting your bath, but I thought it might precipitate an easier discussion,” said Fadarin.

  “What do you want, Shaiso?” asked Commander Franco. Mind racing, he sized up the five marines. They were not imperial guards; there was no reason they should be in the palace. They might have an excuse to be in their barracks, but all the marine units were supposed to be on the fronts of the war. Franco had trained a lot of the commanders, but he didn’t recognize these men.

  “I am giving you a choice. You are a formidable fighter and teacher, and a man of honor. For these reasons, I offer you a place in my new court,” Highlord Shaiso said in a cold and careful voice.

  “What?” he growled.

  “You can sit here, finish your bath, and then get dressed and come to my office to discuss your duties under the new regime. Or you can try some futile attempt to save the prince.”

  “You bastard. You dirty—”

  “I understand if you feel your honor must be satisfied,” Fadarin Shaiso said mildly with just a hint of condescension. “Are you sure you want to throw your lot in with Corinado?”

  “Califf burn you, Fadarin!” Franco spat back.

  Fadarin nodded, coldly accepting. He turned to the marines and quietly commanded, “I want him alive. He has information we need.” Fadarin and Markham left the room. Franco took it as a perverse compliment that they thought they would be in danger of him if they stayed. The five marines fanned out to surround him.

  Franco stood up in the bath, breathing deep. Of the things he had taught his students, most fled from his mind. He was calm. There was one priority only. Kill them before they stopped him. He was not as young as he had once been. He spared only a second’s thought for the communion stone. He wanted to warn Anoni, and say goodbye to his wife, but no time was left for that.

  He braced himself, heart pounding, and vaulted out of the tub in one motion slamming his sword into the copper pipe above. An explosion of steam clouded the room, and scalding water splashed him, but he was silent, already launching himself at the marines. They screamed and bled, and he darted like a ghost among them, the fastest he had ever been. He managed to get to the door, and out into the hall before their backup men started to open fire with the crossbows. He took out another two marines before they had pumped his legs so full of bolts he couldn’t even stagger further. Then he fell, snapping bolt shafts as he went, cold and naked, the berserker rage that had kept the pain of his wounds at bay seeping out of him on the stone floor as the marines closed in.

  ***

  North Road, Safiro Wilds

  Anoni

  A cacophony of thoughts came down on Anoni’s mind like a waterfall, snapping her head back. Her horse shied, almost slamming her into a tree next to the trail. Anoni struggled to get the horse back on the trail.

  Get the children and the acolytes out! The temple’s on fire!

  Burning!

  And the novices, down the escape passage. Take the casters.

  Scrambling for the reins of her horse, Anoni tried to grab coherence. She pushed everyone out besides the first. The thoughts were not Stellys or Alcyenne, but they sounded familiar.

  Who is this? she asked into the racing mind.

  Ildiko, seventh of the temple. Is this the Scion? asked the priestess.

  Yes, where are Stellys and Alcyenne? What’s happening? Anoni asked frantically.

  They’re missing. The abandoned floors around the temple are burning, even the floors over the temple quarters. I don’t understand it. The quarters are in a whole different tower than the main chapel and the other parts...It makes no sense. The building is stone! replied Priestess Ildiko.

  Anoni rapidly ran through the possibilities. The building was stone; there was no reason for it to burn, nor for there to be flames in the abandoned levels that camouflaged the temple. Have you checked the Ordeal Chamber?

  There was a pause. and then the priestess thought, I don’t think it’s that serious. We have guards. I don’t think anyone...

  Send someone to check. Put the guards on alert at the north and south ramps, commanded Anoni.

  I don’t see why...The guards are helping fight the fire, protested the woman.

  I don’t have time to argue! Anoni was cut off as a burning pain shot through her, blossoming through her back. She spasmed and would have fallen off her horse if Corin hadn’t caught her.

  Blackness. Pain. Alcyenne’s voice. How could you betray the temple, Stellys? It was the first time Anoni had heard her desperate. She was dying.

  Stellys’s anger was so strong Anoni could feel it through the connection. I didn’t betray the temple, you bitch. I betrayed you. The young ones are safe. He just wants the prince. Then it will be all over. But the temple will survive. I will survive.

  Why? asked Alcyenne.

  You’ve been the Sybil of the Temple for longer than I’ve been alive. I didn’t come here to be your steward for all my life. Then I find out that you’re grooming that lowborn battle-brained exile to take my place as your successor. As if that stupid child would know what to do with the power of the Goddess! She still thinks the holy relics are no better than tools, no more powerful than butter knives. How could you?

  The hatred in Stellys’s voice was as hard as a slap on Anoni’s mind. She woke from the pain.

  I’ll leave you now. The Highlord will send some men to clean you up, but I think I better take this with me...Stellys’s thoughts trailed off.

  The contact shattered, leaving Anoni grasping for the mind connection and finding nothing. Her eyes opened to see the sky, and a ring of concerned faces. Corin had lowered her pain-wracked body to the ground. Stellys had taken the communion stone from Alcyenne.

  “Wh
at happened?” Yupendra asked.

  “Stellys betrayed the temple. It’s burning. She’s killed Alcyenne.” The horrible words chased each other out of her mouth. “Goddess, the prince is still in the Ordeal Chamber.”

  “What do we do?” Corin asked, face gone white.

  “Put me in the wagon. I’ll need to concentrate,” she said hurriedly. She didn’t know if she could move on her own. Yupendra picked her up in one smooth motion. He could have done it with one hand, she thought. Corin opened the back of the wagon, jumping in and gently waking Copelia. The girl gave Anoni one look and hurriedly lowered herself out of the wagon. Her Delkeran stallion waited for her to climb up on him. Yupendra handed Anoni up to Corin and he transferred her to the pallet made of several blanket rolls arranged on the sacks of flour and other supplies. Yupendra climbed in also and settled himself to sit beside her. He made a motion for Corin to leave, but Corin just shook his head.

  Anoni ignored them, sinking into a deep trance. She searched and found the thoughts she wanted. Ildiko? called Anoni.

  What is it? came the harried reply.

  Stellys betrayed the temple. The Highlord’s men are after the prince.

  You’re sure?

  Yes. She stabbed Alcyenne. How is the fire?

  Still going. I’ll round up the guards and the clergy. There aren’t many left.

  Hurry. Anoni could have contacted the guards herself, but the less she knew someone, the harder the connection. Many of the guards and clergy she had only met once, at Alcyenne’s behest, to give them the communion stones. Anoni had a hard time gathering more than one mind other than those of the Dragons. They were always easier to contact.

  What about the fire? It’s spread to the main chapel. The library! thought Priestess Ildiko.

  Let it burn. If they get the prince, the temple’s gone anyway, Anoni said harshly.

  Here, replied Ildiko, showing her the Ordeal Chamber. Anoni had never been inside it and neither had her guards. They had been confined to guarding the tops of the two long ramps. She caught a flash of pillars and shifting panels of cloth. The roof arched, some seven stories, to a dome with large skylight in it. There were no other doors or windows. Eight or nine soot-stained clergy milled in a group. Near them were thirteen guards, equally blackened and tired. The fire raged on both sides of this chamber. The guards had brought in a large pile of extra weapons. They were ready. The clergy were not.

  “Why are we here? The chapel is burning!” came the angry voice of a priestess.

  “I was told by the Scion that a Highlord is responsible for this. They are coming for the prince,” Ildiko said firmly.

  “That is absurd!” shouted the priestess. “The palace is on fire. They cannot get through the flames if we can’t. We should be fighting the fire, or getting out of here by the passage!”

  Anoni asked Ildiko quietly, What’s her name?

  Ersy.

  Anoni took a deep breath, ignoring Yupendra’s call for information. On the third breath, she stretched the connection. Ersy? she asked.

  Yes? came the startled reply.

  This is the Scion of the Temple. Why don’t you believe Ildiko when she tells you something, she suggested dryly. Anoni heard a chuckle from Ildiko as part of the link. Ildiko, tell the guards...no this is taking too long. Anoni stopped, thinking. Could she link with this many? She thought so.

  Anoni spared a glance with her real eyes. She could see Yupendra with a cup of tea. He saw her look and forced it down her throat. She almost choked on its acrid taste, but managed to get it down. She never knew what Yupendra’s herbs and potions were but he knew what he was doing. Anoni gave him and Corin a nod and closed her eyes. She took five slow breaths and pulled on the link. Her next breath hissed through her teeth. She had twenty-two clergy and guards in her mind. They clamored for a moment. They were angry, afraid, and in shock.

  Quiet down. I said QUIET DOWN, commanded Anoni.

  There were several gasps of surprise from the clergy, a muffled prayer, and many curses from the guards. They had not taken her seriously when she had said she could communicate with them through the stones.

  You, take five guards. Get up those ramps and guard the entrances. We need to know if they get through, she mentally tapped one of the guards. Ildiko, give the clergy weapons. They will be the last line of defense at the pillars. The clergy complained, and tried to bolt at the idea of picking up weapons. Angrily, Anoni shouted, Do you serve the Lady or not!? The Imperial Prince lays defenseless and they are coming for him.

  That quieted the clergy for a moment. Anoni thought she had probably yelled it aloud as well. The priestesses and priests gingerly began kilting up their robes and picking out weapons. They were less than battle-trained. They were pacifists. But Anoni didn’t believe in pacifists anymore. Stellys had cured her of that. If they refused to fight, she would keep shouting until they went mad from the noise in their skulls.

  She heard another chuckle. It seemed her thoughts had been conveyed to the jittery clergymen and women. Anoni turned her attention to the other guards. You, your name is Tariq, right? Set up a second line at the bottom of the ramps. You, Kemi, get the rest up the south ramp to guard the escape hatch. Ildiko, can you move the prince?

  I...I think so. He dreams deep of his Ordeal. As long as he touches moonlight once every couple of nights, he should be fine, replied Priestess Ildiko.

  We might have to move him, if the worst happens, Anoni thought calmly. They were going to be in trouble if the guards didn’t hold the line. The most tactically important thing was the south hatch. It led to the escape route.

  I’ll wrap him up, Ildiko said. Anoni could see her picking up some rope and crossing in between the pillars. The prince lay, covered completely in red cloth, on a stone platform. There was an explosion from the direction of the south ramp. Panicked, Anoni could feel a thousand cuts and tears from the men who had stood at the top of that ramp. Anoni tried to grab onto one of their pairs of eyes. She caught the sight of smoke and the sight of imperial marine uniforms before the man she was using for eyes died. Anoni screamed aloud as he and seven others slipped out of the link moments later. For a moment, the link stuttered. Then, as another guard died, it broke, leaving Anoni shuddering and alone in her skin.

  She fought off Yupendra’s hands and the cloth he was using to wipe her face with cool water. They were all going to die. The clergy, the last of the guards, the prince. They couldn’t hold them off for that long. The hatch was taken by the marines...They were the Lady’s people and they would die because they didn’t know how to fight. Where was the Lady’s magic now? A thought struck her. Shaking, she grabbed Yupendra’s hand. Looking him fiercely in the eyes, she whispered, “Get me a mallet.” She turned her focus on the other occupant of the wagon and said, “Corin, help me get this off.”

  “How is it going?” he asked as he helped her wrestle off her shirt. She noticed that at some point while she’d been mentally in Aquillion the Dragons had stopped the wagon. She took off the moonpearl shirt and shifted her linen shirt back on.

  Yupendra rifled the supply boxes, finding a mallet in one for wagon repair. “Bad. We’re down to four guards and nine clergy. The marines just took the last means of escape,” Anoni said hurriedly, her mind rushing through possible ways to help her people in Aquillion.

  Corin looked like he was going to throw up.

  “I have an idea,” she said. “Corin, my pack is on Pelaki. Get the bag with the rings in it.”

  Corin jumped out the back of the wagon. She took the mallet from Yupendra and laid the stone shirt down on a barrel next to her. Gently, she tapped the first stone with the head of the mallet. It cracked in two out of its setting. Corin clambered back into the wagon with a bag. She put the rings on and scooped up the broken stone and swallowed it before Yupendra could stop her. It went down wet and hard. “What are you doing?” Yupendra yelled, diving for her. Corin blocked him as best he could.

  “I need the power. I’m goi
ng to need it all if I’m going to save them,” she said, cracking three at a time and swallowing them.

  “You have no idea what powers you are messing with. The Sybil told me the base spells in those stones were set millennia ago!”

  “Yeah, it tastes like it.” She grimaced between gulps.

  “The reaction could kill you,” Yupendra said, trying to get by Corin. Corin blocked him with a move Wix had taught him. Yupendra finally stopped moving and tried to just stare him down.

  Corin didn’t blink. “If the marines take the Chamber, they will kill the prince. I say take the chance,” Corin said unflinchingly. “Trust me,” he said, eyes entreating Yupendra. “Trust her,” he said, indicating Anoni with a nod of his head.

  “Fine then,” Yupendra spat bitterly. “But I won’t watch you kill yourself.” Yupendra threw himself out of wagon. Anoni ignored him. She felt along the stones in the moonpearl shirt, getting a sense of each person it was connected to with each touch. She came to the stone that was Norsson’s.

  Norsson? called Anoni.

  Yes, boss, he replied.

  I’m calling down dragon fire, she thought grimly. The code phrase would trigger a series of back up plans. They were actions she could never take back. She closed her eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath. If anyone was going to burn in Califf’s Hell for this, it would be her and she would deserve it. She accepted that.