Black Knight

by Christopher Pike

  Viper. She must be in the area.

  She must have attacked him.

  Perhaps another reason he’s not attacking us. Yet.

  “Stay where you are!” I call, and watch as Nordra hears and obeys. He pauses fifty yards above, staying to our left, which makes me worry he might be sending someone to flank our right. My eyesight is returning to normal and I scan in that direction but see no one.

  I turn to Chad. “How long was I out?”

  “Two seconds.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “That was it. How long did it feel?”

  “We’ll discuss it later.” I grab him by the shoulders. “I’m going to tell you something you’re going to hate but you have to listen. You need to sit this one out.”

  He stiffens. “I can’t do that.”

  “Please, you can’t help. You can only distract me.”

  Chad remains firm. “You fight, I fight. I’m not a coward.”

  I can see he’s determined. Perhaps a compromise will satisfy his male need for glory. “All right, here’s what you can do. Head to the right and lay down three spears pointed at Nordra, spread equidistant apart, the last one at his present altitude. Do it casually, try to drop them when he’s focused on us.”

  “Jessie . . .”

  I shove the spears into his hands, holding on to my machete. “Go! Hurry!” I snap.

  Chad nods, takes the weapons, and moves toward our right. In reality I’m not hopeful I can repeat the same trick twice. It only worked the first time because I caught Nordra off guard. It’s why I didn’t set the spears on the ground when we arrived at the wall. Nordra will be wary of flying objects and with his reflexes he’ll have no trouble swatting the spears aside. Still, I might be able to use them to distract him at a critical moment.

  I hike to Kyle’s side.

  “Took your bloody time,” he grumbles.

  “He looks wounded.”

  “Probably an act.”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem so cocky.”

  “Give him time,” Kyle says, gripping his machete tightly. He’s scared; I can smell the sweat on his palms. Nevertheless, he’s brave; I can’t imagine him running from a fight.

  “Jessica Ralle!” Nordra calls. “I’m here to make you an offer!”

  “It’d better be a new one!” I call back. The wind has suddenly picked up, the ash whirls around us like snowflakes. It annoys us both because the ash keeps getting in our eyes. Adding to the distraction, the molten crown behind Nordra sends forth the largest shower of sparks yet, for a short time making him look like a red demon fresh out of hell.

  That damn volcano, I swear to myself.

  It’s not on my side, I can feel it.

  “Let us create a temporary alliance!” Nordra calls. “You and your people help me destroy Viper and the ghosts! Then, when they are dead, we end the alliance and fight to the death!”

  “Let me talk it over with my partner!” I turn to Kyle. “What do you think?”

  “No way. We drop our guard and he’ll chop us to pieces.”

  “He sounds sincere. And there’s something else in his voice. I think he’s hurting.”

  Kyle is adamant. “He’s still a barbarian. Think about how it would feel to turn your back on him in the middle of a fight. We can’t do it, I won’t do it,” he adds. “Besides, if he really is hurt, now’s the time to take him down.”

  I nod reluctantly. “You’re playing the odds.”

  “That’s all I’ve been doing since I got here.”

  I hesitate. “Is that a warning?”

  Kyle smiles. “Maybe.”

  I think of Russ then. Is Kyle telling me he has a hole card he has yet to show? And if he does have one, why warn me about it?

  My emotions of trust and fear embrace and somersault.

  Not a good state of mind to enter battle with.

  “No deal!” I call to Nordra.

  He doesn’t look surprised or disappointed. From behind, he draws two machetes, larger and sharper weapons than we’ve seen before.

  “Then we fight!” he yells.

  I hastily whisper marching orders to Kyle. “First thing we do is go for the high ground. I’ll approach on our right, you on our left. We trade a few blows then we quickly circle around until we’re above him. He’ll try to get the high ground back and we’ll let him—but slowly. Then, when we’re opposite each other, keep fighting until I say ‘bastard.’ Follow my lead, but roughly three seconds after I yell out that word, I’m going to leap over him and go for his head. You do the same. We have to decapitate him. But remember to veer to your right when you leap so we don’t smash into each other in midair.”

  “Got it. What if that fails?” Kyle asks.

  “I’ll launch Chad’s spears. Be sure to drop down when I yell ‘shit.’”

  Kyle nods his approval. “One last point. I’m taller than you. Better I swing at his top while you concentrate on his legs.”

  “Agreed. Let’s kill this asshole,” I say.

  Our fighting surface couldn’t be worse. Not only do we have the steep angle to contend with, the ash is so damn thick. It’s like we’ve been ordered to fight in a Colosseum that’s been flooded with three feet of water. The same old gladiator analogy keeps coming back to me. Everyone must fight to the death and there can be only one winner. Damn the Romans for inventing the idea.

  Our approach to Nordra is defensive. We’re hoping to take him out with our leaps in the air. Unfortunately, Nordra doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word “defense.” His first shots are brutal—“killer blows.” He goes for our necks with synchronous swings and it takes all my strength to repel his machete. He’s a hundred percent ambidextrous. He strikes at Kyle with equal strength and our plan to gain the high ground has to be put on hold for the moment.

  Each time Nordra strikes, he takes a huge step back, but he’s not technically retreating. Fighting us from above adds to his natural height. I soon see that the only way to get around him is to hurt him.

  I’ve been going for his left knee, hacking at it after every blow he takes at my head or heart. It’s his most vulnerable target, especially with Kyle doing a great job of swinging at his head. But now I decide to take a risk and alter my strategy.

  Nordra swings at my neck, his blade slicing toward my throat like a horizontal guillotine. Rather than block his blade with my own, I duck. My trick almost backfires—I feel the tip of his machete take off the hairs at the back of my head. I luck out but don’t take time to celebrate. His wild miss causes him to momentarily lose his balance, and for an instant his left side is wide open.

  I swing at his ankle.

  It’s the last place he expects me to strike. He recovers fast from his wild swing and manages to position his machete to protect his knee. Yet when I strike at his ankle, I know it’s one of the few open shots I’ll get so I put everything I have into the blow.

  I hear a loud cracking noise as Nordra’s ankle breaks and he staggers forward, down the slope. I rush around him, securing my half of the high ground. To my dismay I see that Kyle believes he has a chance to end the fight once and for all and swings at the top of Nordra’s skull.

  It’s a mistake. Kyle doesn’t know Nordra as well as I do; plus he’s disobeyed my instructions. Nordra’s an experienced fighter. Wherever home is, he must practice hours a day, probably with live targets. Even when off balance he knows how to protect himself. I can’t really blame Kyle—he saw an opening and took it. But Nordra has his machete up to cover his head even before Kyle finishes his windup.

  Kyle’s killer shot bounces harmlessly off Nordra’s blade.

  “Move!” I yell at Kyle. He’s still below Nordra, still hoping to take him out while Nordra’s injured. What he doesn’t realize is that Nordra may have already healed. “Hurry!” I
scream.

  Finally, Kyle tries circling around to where I’m standing but Nordra will have none of it. First blocking Kyle’s path, Nordra suddenly turns and comes after me, both his machetes swinging. I have the high ground and I’m not hurt—those are my advantages. But I have only one blade to repel his two and he’s swinging like a madman.

  For a moment I feel doomed.

  It’s only then I notice that Nordra’s blows are not quite as fast and accurate as the first time we met. He’s still formidable, he’s still stronger than Kyle and me put together, but something’s wrong with him. Again, I note the bloodstains on his blue uniform, how wet they are. At first it makes no sense. Any wound he might have gotten earlier should have healed by now.

  Then I realize the obvious.

  Viper not only attacked him.

  Viper poisoned him the same way she poisoned Marc!

  That’s why Nordra wanted the alliance and that’s why his balance is off. After being stabbed at the hot springs, the first thing Marc complained about besides feeling feverish was dizziness. Does Nordra feel dizzy? For sure, the bastard is going to trip and fall if he keeps swinging at me the way he is.

  “I’ll take his head!” I shout to Kyle. Calling out the change in our strategy will give nothing away. Nordra will see in a second that we’ve switched roles. Because I have the high ground, I think, it’s only natural that I focus on his upper body.

  Knowing Nordra isn’t at full strength gives me confidence. It helps that Kyle is chasing after Nordra from below. Even though he failed to gain the high ground with me, Kyle keeps poking at Nordra enough that our foe is forced to quit chasing me with two blades and reverts to keeping Kyle at bay.

  Slowly, I can feel the tide turning.

  We’re going to win this battle.

  Yet Kendor’s words come back to warn me.

  “Overconfidence is usually a warrior’s greatest weakness. I’ve killed far more cocky men than fearful ones.”

  I still want to employ our planned “knockout blow.” Catching Kyle’s eye, I slowly begin to move back down the incline, all the while swinging at Nordra’s arms and throat. Nordra is glad to see me giving up the high ground—so glad, he doesn’t notice that Kyle is creeping up the incline on his side.

  It doesn’t take long until Kyle and I are directly opposite each other, with Nordra in the middle. More and more, it’s obvious he is not himself. Nordra is gasping for air; his skin is tinged blue, and I can’t imagine how he could fake that.

  No, I reassure myself, he’s ripe for a fall. We’ve just got to time everything perfectly. Again I catch Kyle’s eye and nod.

  “Bastard!” I shout at Nordra. Counting to three and bending my knees, I prepare to use the full strength of my legs to leap over his head. Kyle does likewise and my heart pounds with excitement. Time for the giant to drop!

  We leap together, Kyle and I, in perfect rhythm. On the way up I feel a rush of adrenaline as I see Kyle lift up across from me. He has his machete raised high, ready to strike. Mine is also above my head. I visualize splitting Nordra’s head open like a coconut. It’s obvious we’ve caught him off guard. Why, he’s looking around stupidly.

  “Obvious.” A favorite word of the overconfident.

  We haven’t caught Nordra off guard at all. He must have noticed us both bending our knees. To an experienced fighter that would be a sure sign that we were planning a simultaneous leap. And what would we aim for with our leap but his head?

  Nordra slashes at the space above his skull with both machetes. Crossing in midair, just when Kyle and I should be reaching down to slice off Nordra’s head, we’re forced to snap our legs back at the knees so we don’t lose a foot. Unfortunately, my leg bangs into Kyle’s and he doesn’t get his foot up in time.

  Nordra’s machete strikes home. It’s a brutal blow. It slices through Kyle’s boot, his flesh, his bone, everything. His severed left foot flies sadly through the air, landing somewhere down the incline. Stunned, Kyle lands awkwardly and rolls through the ash.

  Nordra swoops in for the kill.

  “No!” I scream, chasing after him, drawing my machete all the way back so I can chop him in half. I should have kept my mouth shut. Again Nordra anticipates my move and whirls and stabs me in the belly just while I’m cocking my arm. I feel an explosion of agony; I feel like I’ve been gutted.

  Yet in reality I’m almost out of Nordra’s reach and it’s only the tip of his machete that penetrates, an inch or two, no more. It hurts, though; I stagger back and plop down on my butt. Seeing a chance to kill me instead of Kyle, Nordra reverses direction and rushes toward me.

  “Shit!” I call out, and mentally lock on all three spears Chad’s laid out for me. I know exactly where they are; I don’t need my eyes to get a fix on them. And I know Kyle’s lost his foot; I know he’s down for the count. I’m not worried about hitting him. All I care about is ramming all three spears into Nordra’s chest.

  Yet I don’t know why I reach for all three. In practice with Kendor, I’ve never lifted more than one object at a time. I have no experience with telekinetic multitasking. I think I just grab all the spears with my mind because I’m pissed off and I want to make a pincushion out of Nordra.

  I don’t have to look, I feel the spears fly toward us.

  But Nordra is looking and he ducks. Even poisoned, wounded, he’s still fast. He crouches down and manages to dodge two of the spears. The third one catches him hard inside the right shoulder. It’s not a fatal wound but it’s not going to heal anytime soon—not with the tip sticking out his back. He staggers to the side and drops the machete in his right hand.

  It’s only then I see what’s going on behind him.

  Kyle is standing on one foot. I can only surmise he jumped up to protect me when Nordra stabbed me. What with his missing foot and a selfless desire to protect me, I can understand why he forgot about my warning to duck when I said the word “shit.”

  It’s a pity, really, it’s a fucking shame.

  One of the third spears hit Kyle.

  Stuck him right in the center of his gut.

  The spear also protrudes from his back.

  Seeing Kyle totally helpless, Nordra takes a quick look at me still sitting on my ass and veers toward what he figures will be easy pickings. He probably thinks he can kill Kyle and take care of me afterward. I did, after all, just get stabbed in the stomach. It’s doubtful Nordra knows how deep he struck.

  Furious, I rise to my feet. I don’t recall standing, I’m just up. Before Nordra can reach Kyle, I let fly with my machete, repeating the same trick I used on Viper. The tip of my weapon sinks into Nordra’s right hip and he staggers and I pounce. He falls to his knees and I’m on him in an instant, grabbing the two sides of his skull near his ears.

  “Now you die,” I swear, ready to rip off his head.

  From behind me, Chad screams.

  I turn and freeze.

  Viper has suddenly appeared.

  She has ahold of Chad, a black blade at his throat.

  Her tactics have not changed. She’s timed her attack to the second. Let our fight with Nordra distract us, wait for it to reach its climax, then slip in and kill the helpless.

  Viper’s smart. Even if I had been told ahead of time what she had planned, I couldn’t have stopped her. On the other hand, for a witch-bitch with such a badass rep, she sure fights like a coward.

  Of course she’s handicapped now.

  I see a stump where her left hand used to be.

  “Well?” she says.

  She’s waiting for me to kill Nordra. He’s waiting for me to kill him. He knows I’ve got him; he’s doesn’t move an inch. He knows if he does, I’ll break every bone in his neck.

  “What do you want?” I ask Viper.

  “Kill him and we’ll talk.”

  “Let my friend go and I’ll kill
him.”

  Viper nicks Chad’s throat. A red line trickles onto his collar. Viper grins. “No,” she says.

  Frantically, I try to think of a way to use Nordra’s life as a bargaining chip to save Chad. I find it difficult to think with all the blood that’s been spilled. Glancing toward Kyle, I see him kneeling in the ash, his hands wrapped around the pole I drove through his guts, a red circle growing across his shirt. The amount of blood he’s losing from his severed foot is worse. The light brown ash at the end of his stump is black. His eyes are closed; he’s in terrible pain.

  My own wound is healing rapidly. I’ve stopped bleeding and feel only tenderness where Nordra stabbed me.

  I turn back to Viper and make an offer.

  “You don’t let Chad go and I’ll release Nordra,” I say. “You know he’s wanted to form an alliance with me from the start. Well, I’ll form one with him right now.” I shake Nordra. “Want to help me kill this bitch?”

  He grunts. “It would be my pleasure.”

  “You’re bluffing,” Viper says. “The instant you let go of him I slit your friend’s throat. Then he’s dead and you still have Nordra and me to deal with. But you kill him now and it’s down to you and me.”

  I don’t like how she’s not worried about Sam.

  Has she already been to the cave?

  Are Marc and Li dead?

  “Jessie,” Chad says calmly. “You have to let me go.”

  “Shut up!” I snap at him before speaking to Viper. “All right, say I kill Nordra. How do I get my friend back?”

  Viper speaks. “Simple. Kill him and back away from your weapons. That’s all you need to do.”

  “What guarantee do I have you’ll let Chad go?”

  She nicks his throat again. “None.”

  Viper reeks of deception. I doubt she’s going to release Chad. She just wants Nordra dead. And the truth is, Nordra’s bad for both us. Killing him is the logical thing to do.

  However, there could be a danger in walking away from my weapons. Viper has practiced telekinesis for years. Her skill has to be superior to my own. If it came to a psychic tug-of-war over the machetes, I’d lose.