by Julia Knight
Ilfayne wrestled him to the floor before Valguard could get a hand up. Regin’s sword dropped with a hollow gonging sound and Valguard tried to pry Ilfayne’s fingers loose with one hand while the other searched vainly for the hilt. In the end his strength won out. He flipped Ilfayne to the floor.
“Not tainted, oh no. Not me or Oku.” Still on his knees, Valguard grabbed the sword and thrust it towards Ilfayne’s neck.
Just as Nerinna brought the chair round onto his back.
***
Hilde kept her eyes on Ilfayne, on his crumpled face, the sword at his neck. Oh gods, that it should end like this. Something dark and terrible ran through the crowd, as it had since she got here, and something dark and terrible ran through her too. But she couldn’t have done anything else, could show no proof except herself, the blood in her that let her read men’s hearts. Right now she wished she couldn’t. Such a tide of hatred, blind righteousness and hot jealousy swirled around the square it made her head swim, but what ran underneath, what permeated every soul in the square squeezed her heart.
The rope loosened around her neck and her arms were free. She stumbled forward and a hand kept her from falling off the platform. She looked back up, tried to see Ilfayne, Valguard, Nerinna, anyone, but she could see no one behind the silk drapes that had been ripped away. All she could feel from them was abject terror and pain, and no notion of whose. But Valguard’s heart was full of murder.
She had to get up there; she couldn’t let Valguard take Ilfayne. At the last, she would turn to Ilfayne, who crowded all her thoughts. Who she would have live, no matter the cost.
The noose loosened around her neck, the bonds fell from her wrists, and she hadn’t taken the time to see how, or why. A wide space lay open before the gallows, all the blood-hungry driven off, or worse. But the burning pain inside wouldn’t let her move; even to stand was a dragging effort. A hand slid round her shoulders and helped her. Hunter.
“Ilfayne,” she said. “Valguard means to murder him, all of us. We have to—”
“I know. I’ve sent men up there.”
“Sod that! Find me something to hit people with. I’m not letting that bastard get away with it. Him or Oku.”
“I don’t—I’m not sure I understand.”
“Later,” Regin said from below them. “Right now you’ve got more important things to deal with. Your mace, young lady.” He handed it up to her and she grasped the smooth steel, glad to have something familiar to weight her in reality.
A murmur ran through the crowds, disbelieving at first then growing stronger. A few men shouted out Regin’s name. Hilde pulled at Hunter’s arm. “Please, come on. We have to—”
Sannir shouted a warning and Hilde turned in time to see Regin’s sword falling from the dais, turning end over end towards them. Regin reached out a casual hand and caught it.
He held it out to Hunter. “Take it. Use it.”
“I can’t.” Hunter lifted his bad arm as well as he could. “I can’t use it one-handed.”
“I think you’ll find you can. It’s up to you now.”
Hunter held out his hand for it and Hilde sank to the ground without his support. The fire in her stomach spread outwards, enveloped all of her in its heat. She was burning up from the inside, just like that poisoned mage. But she hadn’t drunk the wine Valguard had given her. How could the magic have gotten into her, poisoned her blood?
She used the scaffold to pull herself back to her feet and heard Hunter vaguely, as though he were shouting from a vast distance. A faint cry of “Hilde” from the dais. Then familiar arms were around her, cradling her as the fire began to consume her. She huddled into him, into his warmth, and wondered how she could have doubted him.
“Hilde, it’s all right. Nerinna has the antidote to Valguard’s poison. You’ll be all right.” Ilfayne sounded panicky, as though he was trying hard to convince himself as much as her, but trying to make sense of what was in his heart was beyond the little strength she had left.
Smoke dripped from her mouth as she answered. “It wasn’t Valguard who poisoned me. It was you.”
With Your God—Or Against Him
The feel of the sword thrilled up Hunter’s arm, made his heart thud and his breathing erratic, beat back the pain in his shoulder till it was nothing but a dim memory. He hefted it and found it lighter than it should be, almost easy to wield one-handed. Regin must have done something to it. He laughed at the sound of steel cutting the air, at the buzz of ecstasy that raced through him and turned all his thoughts to thunder.
Ilfayne’s voice cut through it all. “Stop playing with that thing and use it!”
Hunter looked down and the sword was forgotten. Hilde lay in Ilfayne’s arms and smoke drifted lazily from her mouth, her eyes and nose. Kyr’s mercy. “What—”
“Get Nerinna, she’s got the antidote. Hurry!”
Hunter didn’t stop to think, he just ran, through a gap in the wondering crowd that opened before him, up the steps to the dais three at a time. And came to a shuddering halt.
Aran and Jolnin stood battered and bleeding in amongst the bodies of four Disciples. Arashin glared in vain at Valguard. And Valguard held Nerinna, his sword at her throat. She stared at Hunter with wide eyes as Valguard yanked on her hair.
“Stay where you are.” Valguard looked past Hunter to the steps where Ilfayne was helping Hilde. Was it Hunter’s imagination or was smoke rising from her skin? And Ilfayne, Ilfayne looked old.
“And you two, you’re worse than Hunter in your reverence of Regin,” Valguard said. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. You three will die, this way or another. Oku will not suffer you all to live.”
With a violent yank that drew a scream from Nerinna, he pushed her to the rail and over it into the square. He jumped after her, pulled her up and dragged her with him as he ran for Oku’s temple. In moments the loudest of Oku’s supporters surrounded them and they were lost from view.
Hunter didn’t stop to think of Aran or Jolnin, or even Hilde, but with the life of the blade in him he leapt the rail and sprinted after Valguard. The crowd fell back before him as Valguard stopped at the doors of Oku’s temple, turned and thrust Nerinna to the flagstones behind him. He raised his sword towards Hunter.
Hunter tightened his grip on Regin’s sword and fear clutched him. He wasn’t sure he could beat Valguard, not even with Regin’s sword, not like this. In his prime he could have taken his head from his shoulders without thought. Even at the tourney Hunter was sure he could have taken him if only he could have borne the pain in his arm. Pain that Oku had twisted in him to make him fail. But wielding a two-handed weapon with only one arm, without any armour or even a shield?
It didn’t matter. Didn’t matter if Valguard struck through his heart at the first blow, only that he’d saved Nerinna and given her enough time to get the antidote into Hilde. That Ilfayne would come behind him, or Sannir, Jolnin, anyone, and Nerinna and Hilde would both live. He stepped forward and raised the sword, let everything rush through him till he might burst with the need for blood.
Disciples surged towards him, ready to defend their chief, but Ilfayne’s voice stopped them where they stood. “Anyone else moves, they get their arse fried. Or worse.”
“He’s bluffing,” Valguard said with a sneer, but the Disciples hesitated.
“Maybe I am. But maybe I’m not,” Ilfayne said with an evil grin. “One against one, seems fair to me. Unless you’re afraid, Valguard?”
Valguard laughed at him. “It doesn’t matter what you do, either of you. I have our god with me.”
Nerinna struggled up from the flagstones, blood dripping from a bite mark on her throat. Just like Amariah that last day. His hand shook. He could not let her down as he had let Amariah down. Could not let her die at the hands of a madman when he could prevent it, even if his own death came swifter because of it. Even if all he saw from that moment on was the Dark.
“I don’t see your god here.” Hunter raised the s
word. His sword now. “Let her go.”
***
Nerinna screamed as Valguard reached down and yanked at her hair again. She tried to twist in his grip, tried to kick him, bite him, but against mail her feet and teeth were useless. He slid the edge of his blade over her chest, up to her neck in a kind of caress.
Hunter stepped forward but he looked hesitant, unsure. The blade reached her throat and she stared at Hunter, panic and a desperate sadness inside her.
“I won’t let her die,” Hunter said. “Not by your hand.”
“She’s mine!” Valguard said by her ear. “Oku promised her to me. She offered herself, freely, all her many delights. And I intend to take her up on that offer. She is mine.”
Hunter’s face sagged and he looked at her with pleading eyes. Wanting her to say it wasn’t true. She said nothing, only cast her gaze down in unaccustomed shame and tried to hold on to her sobs.
“Still, I won’t have her die,” Hunter said and she looked up at him. “I’ll not let you take her, in any way. She’s betrothed to Aran, your king, and nothing you can do or say will prevent that marriage. Or will make me see an oath broken.”
Valguard laughed softly, his breath hot on the back of her neck. “Still you hold to that. Still. You hidebound idiot. Oku has given leave. That’s all I need.”
Then Valguard threw her to the stone behind him. Nerinna landed with a jarring crash that rendered all her limbs numb and scrambled her brain. She pushed herself up onto skinned knees, ignored the blood on her hands, her arms, from the rough stone. Valguard launched himself at Hunter with a wild yell and a flurry of steel.
Nerinna tried to get to her feet and, when her legs wouldn’t hold her, half-stumbled, half-crawled towards Ilfayne. Towards Hilde who stood shaking and twisted in pain by his side but was still holding her mace, still watching to see if she could help Hunter. She was still willing to fight, and so must Nerinna. If not fight then do what Hunter wanted, save Hilde. That was who Hunter was fighting for, Nerinna had no doubt. She had the antidote with her, could stop the poison that was burning Hilde from the inside, slowly but surely sizzling her skin. Even if she didn’t do it for Hilde, she must help her, for Hunter.
Valguard slashed at Hunter, caught him along his crippled arm and sliced upwards, drawing a freshet of blood. Hunter barely flinched, only gripped his sword, Regin’s sword, tighter. It seemed to give him strength, because he laughed and came for Valguard.
Valguard parried desperately, stepped back and blocked Nerinna’s path. Hunter pressed on, slashed and thrust at Valguard, never giving him a moment to recover. A wild light burned in Hunter’s eyes, as though something drove him, some desperate need not just to defend his own life but something deeper, darker. He raised the sword high and brought it down in a thundering stroke that threatened to cleave his opponent in two.
Valguard staggered back and frantically tried to ward off the blow with his shield. Nerinna saw her chance. From her place on her hands and knees she shoved forward, thrust her shoulder into the back of Valguard’s thighs and pushed him straight into the path of Hunter’s sword.
The blade struck through him, divided him from neck to stomach and only missed her by the width of her finger. Valguard was dead even as he fell backwards over her, his blood soaking her and his weight knocking her to the ground again before his body flopped to the stone.
Nerinna stared blindly at him, savagely glad he was dead even as a shriek of pure horror rose in her throat at the manner of it, and then someone was holding her, whispering soothing words as he helped her up.
She shuddered against Hunter’s chest and he laid an arm around her, still speaking those soft words. His heart thundered in her ear as she leant against him, grateful for his touch. He pulled away slightly and looked down at her with a smile. The same smile she’d been so jealous of when he had given it to Hilde. Gods, was that only yesterday? It seemed a lifetime ago.
She slid her arms around his waist and huddled close to him again, breathed in the scent of him. “Don’t let go. Please.”
His arm fell from her and he stepped back, that forbidding look on his face again. Damn it, could she say nothing that wouldn’t alienate him? His voice was husky when he spoke, as though he was restraining himself from saying something else. “You’ve the antidote?”
“I—yes, I have. But Hunter—”
“Then get some into Hilde, quickly.” He clamped his mouth shut and turned away.
Nerinna put out an arm to stop him, to tell him everything. That she loved him, that she wouldn’t marry Aran, that she would turn her back on what she’d once believed was the only way she could reign, but Ilfayne’s sob-soaked voice cut through all that.
“Nerinna! Quickly. Please, hurry.”
Ilfayne held Hilde, his arm all that kept her from falling, her skin flushed and leaking smoke.
“Hurry!”
***
A waft of air stirred against Hunter’s cheek and, strengthening, blew little eddies of dust at his feet. The wind picked up, snapped at pennants and whipped his hair across his face. Ilfayne swore violently behind him. The air became solid, shrank into tendrils of substance that gradually resolved into the shape of a man, but one huger than Hunter had ever imagined. The giant glared down with baleful red eyes, and blood dripped from his banner. Oku.
All Hunter’s courage bled out of him. To stand against a god… He held tight to the sword for the courage it gave him. Nerinna was safe, and that was almost all that mattered. Hilde would be safe too, once she got the antidote—and if Oku didn’t punish her for going against him. But if he tried, he would not be unopposed.
Ilfayne staggered to a halt a step behind Hunter as Nerinna scurried towards where Hilde slid down to hunch on the flagstones. “He lied, Hunter. Lied to kill us all. Poisoned me and Hilde! He broke his oath.”
Oku glared at Ilfayne. “And why not? You defy me at every turn, and now she has had the temerity to disobey me! I knew she would. Can I not see into every heart? Can I not see your hatred of me, her hatred? I did not poison her, mage. I gave her what she wanted. Your child. If she does not hang today, no matter. Your child will kill her for me.”
Oku wafted a hand towards Hilde as she huddled on the flags and she fell back with a scream and a flash of flame from her mouth.
Ilfayne turned, her name a moan on his lips. “You were never tainted, were you? This was all you.”
Oku grinned. “All me. All I wanted to do was see you squirm and die. You’ve been nothing but aggravation to me for too long.”
Ilfayne swallowed hard. “Fabulous.”
“It was always me. What delight when I let you think you could have what you wanted, her, and then take it from you. And when I have had the pleasure of you watching her die, knowing it was your seed that killed her, when I have watched your heart shrivel in you, then, and only then, will I kill you.”
Ilfayne’s face turned an ashen grey and his jaw trembled as though he would speak, would rail against Oku, would shout and scream against his whole, long life in Oku’s service. It was all a lie. But no sound came out. He slumped down heavily on the flagstones next to where Nerinna was forcing yinae leaves between Hilde’s unconscious lips.
Oku reached down and snatched the yinae from Nerinna’s dumbstruck hand. A huge gust of his breath and it spread over the square, a fine film of green powder that dusted the hair of everyone there.
Oku didn’t spare Ilfayne another glance. His eyes bored into Hunter, who had to summon every shred of courage he had to withstand that gaze. “Everything I did was for the balance of the gods, for all of us. That upstart Regin is not fit to grace us. Ilfayne and you—your reverence of him must end. The gods are above truth and lies.”
The words stung Hunter into speech. “Regin’s not fit to grace you? He wouldn’t lie for his own ends. Not lie to kill his servants, who sacrificed any life they might have for you.”
A murmur ran through the crowd behind him, but Oku appeared to ignore them. He
reached down, grasped Hunter’s shirt and lifted him up to his face. Hunter shuddered in his grip, and all his muscles seemed made of iced water. He couldn’t recall ever having felt fear like this. Not fear of his own death, that seemed assured, as was his place in the Dark. Fear that he would end up like Ilfayne and poor Hilde. Bound to do this mad god’s will for eternity, or until Oku tired of him and killed him.
Oku raised him till the cloth on his shirt ripped and they were nose to nose. His voice came very softly, so only Hunter could hear. “I will spare you if you do my bidding. If you kill him once she is dead, prove your devotion to me by giving me his worthless head, then I will allow you to live, provided you stop your pathetic worship of Regin.” He gave Hunter a shake. “I will not have that.”
Oku opened his fist and let him drop to the flagstones.
Hunter gathered himself up and stared at Oku. “Why is my life worth more than theirs? Why would I do as you ask? You have given me nothing but anguish. Them nothing but a life of servitude. Why should I serve you?”
Oku knocked him flying with a casual sweep of his hand. Pain flared through Hunter’s bad shoulder as he hit the ground, and he gritted his teeth against it. Let it feed his anger. Oku had set fire to his worst shame. Made it unbearable even though he done what was right in his heart. Only loved a woman from afar rather than betray his best friend, until he could neither keep his oath nor break it with honour.
Oathbreaker. That would always be his shame. It had been drummed into him at an early age that this was a man’s most sacred duty. Keep Oku’s law. Keep your word. Keep it or lose your manhood, your self-worth, your soul. His oath had demanded he do nothing. But he could not have let Amariah live through what she had with no comfort. He could not have let Nerinna suffer the same, could not have left her to that misery. But Oku did not care for comfort.