Suddenly Regan’s arms were around her. Conflicting impulses to pull away and to lean in sprang up inside her chest.
Letting out a breath, she laid her head on his shoulder and placed a hand around his waist.
“You will beat her. I’ll be here to help you along the way.”
Regan’s hand was in her hair.
By tradition, the trial began at noon, in the day’s fullest light where all could gather and witness the Judis Marr. They held it in the castle’s main courtyard, behind the fountain, and a crowd soon packed into the streets and onto the nearby rooftops. Vendors walked among them selling refreshments. The atmosphere was almost festive.
Jin looked out over the crowd. She could feel their energy. In hindsight, it was not how she would have preferred to meet her people.
My people. Are they truly?
Many likely hoped for Koren to win—for a return to the familiar ways of the past. Jin wanted to sway these to her cause somehow, to convince them of the righteousness of peace. Not that it truly mattered. After Koren fell there would be no one else for them to rally to but her.
Jin still wasn’t sure how she felt about her own role in all of this. A large part of her still wanted to find a fast horse and bolt for home, leaving this foolishness behind. She knew nothing of being a queen. According to Alpere, just by agreeing to this match she’d made her first mistake. It would have been better, safer, he’d claimed, to give Koren a life sentence in one of the dungeons. She could not have claimed Judis Marr for any punishment short of death.
It all makes sense now, Jin thought bitterly. Koren had planned all of this. Jin’s claim to the throne was stronger so Koren had provoked her, and then used her anger to manipulate her into this match. Under her breath, Jin scolded herself. Above all else, she could not let her emotions get the better of her today.
Gashan and Dain had both warned her multiple times that Koren was a skilled opponent. Dain had told her a few things to watch for. He’d offered again to fight her himself—the rules did allow for Jin to choose a champion if she so desired—but he was still weak from his injuries. Besides, despite her fear, Jin was looking forward to kicking her aunt squarely in the teeth.
Jin gazed out into the crowd once more.
All but a scant few of the elves of mixed blood were gone now. With word of Koren’s presence they’d returned to their hiding places in the surrounding lands, abandoning the city. Only a few were visible in the crowd, most keeping their cloak hoods up. She thought she saw Kray among them. She was relieved that the annoying mage hadn’t spoken to her since they’d returned from the tower.
It is for them I fight. If I fail, they will all suffer.
Koren stood opposite her, General Brisson at her side. It seemed he at least wanted to return to the old days. Several of his troops were in attendance, Jin knew. Alpere had pointed them out. Many of them wore armor and swords. Gashan had assured her they would not intervene. As a precaution, he’d positioned his own men near each of Brisson’s soldiers, disguised in plain clothes and heavy hoods.
Terveen, the chief magistrate, rose and took his place atop a central dais. The slight breeze ruffled the tall, slim elf’s purple robes. A young man, Jin had met Terveen the day before when he’d explained the proceedings.
“Citizens of Mirr,” Terveen began in his rich baritone. “We are gathered here today to witness the time-honored tradition of Judis Marr, the right to determine guilt by combat. As the throne is contested, this duel will also determine the right to rule among our people.”
The crowd was silent.
“The challenge was offered by Princess Koren, daughter of King Elam. It was accepted by Jin Gladstone, daughter of Crown Prince Gallad, heir to King Elam. The rules have been explained to each participant. No magic of any kind or form, no armor, no poisons. This battle is to the death.” He paused, measuring both fighters for a response. “Are both parties ready to begin?”
Terveen looked first to Jin and then to Koren. They nodded to him in turn.
“Let the true ruler be victorious,” he said, and he raised a hand, signaling the start of the match.
Jin wanted to press the offensive, but Koren struck first. She moved like lightning, daggers flashing in the midday sun.
Rapier in one hand, short sword in the other, Jin blocked Koren’s slashes. She tried to counter but Koren had already darted away.
By the Light, she’s fast. Dain had warned her Koren was quick, but this was something else entirely.
Jin stalked forward. She brought her rapier around and Koren blocked it. Then Koren pivoted and brought her second dagger toward Jin’s exposed chest. Jin stopped the dagger with her short sword; Koren slammed her knee into Jin’s stomach and retreated again.
Surging forward, Jin slashed with both weapons. Koren ducked and rolled behind her, and only Jin’s forward momentum saved her; Koren’s blades whistled through the space where she’d just stood. Jin spun on her heel and raised her own weapons defensively.
Koren laughed.
Jin ground her teeth. She squeezed the hilts of her weapons tight enough that her hands ached. Laugh at me, will she? I will show her how to laugh.
She started to advance, and then stopped herself. No, this isn’t the way. Dain had warned her Koren might try this. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm, and almost drew on the Light. Terveen had cautioned her that even drawing on magic for strength would violate the rules. The mages would sense it, and she would lose automatically. She pushed the power away. There had to be another way to win.
“She’s quick, not strong,” Dain had said. “You can beat her through brute force.”
Koren struck again. She lunged for Jin, blades whirling. Jin stepped back and spun on one foot. Instead of using her sword’s edge this time, she hammered the heavy hilt into Koren’s side. Wasting no time, she brought her rapier up and slashed it across the golden elf’s. The slash laid open a long swath of Koren’s shirt, but drew no blood.
Striking almost blindly, Koren’s dagger scored along Jin’s arm. Jin felt the arm grow cold with shock at the force of the blow. She hesitated, and Koren’s dagger stabbed at her throat.
Jin deflected it with her rapier and punched Koren in the ribs a second time.
Koren roared and exploded with a flurry of blades, and Jin was hard pressed to fend them off. She struck back a half-dozen times, scoring hits on a few, but Koren just shrugged them off and kept coming.
Finally, Jin managed to trap one of Koren’s arms beneath her own. Grunting with the effort, she drove the pommel of her short sword into Koren’s chest, expecting to double the golden elf over. Instead, Koren ignored the blow and smiled.
Koren’s own dagger took Jin just below the ribs, and a crippling pain punched through her side. Her knees weakened, buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.
Jin tried to will herself to rise, but it was useless. Her legs refused to cooperate and her lungs screamed for air. She reached out, fumbling for her rapier. If she could only get her hands back on a weapon…this wasn’t right. It couldn’t end like this.
She can’t win. Hope rose as she felt the narrow hilt of her rapier with her fingertips. When she leans down to finish me, I’ll drive it into her.
Koren stood over her, daggers ready, laughter in her eyes. As Koren raised her blades for the killing blow, Jin felt the Light surge into her unbidden like a geyser. It gathered in her rapier and exploded outward in a blinding blast as she stabbed at Koren’s chest.
The golden elf flew back and slammed into a tower across the courtyard. Dust and debris billowed in thick clouds from the impact.
Exhausted, Jin fell to her back, her ears ringing and her vision narrowing down to a pin’s point.
“It’s over,” Brisson shouted. The general was on his feet, face red and fi
st raised. “The usurper violated the rules. Koren has won. She is our true queen. By the tenets of Judis Marr, let the defeated be slain.”
A group of his soldiers surrounded Brisson protectively.
“Koren has won. If she lives, she rules Mirr and the Golden,” Magistrate Terveen agreed with a deep scowl.
Gashan and Regan were suddenly at Jin’s side. They helped her rise, and a group of Gashan’s men surrounded them.
“We have to get you out of the city,” Gashan said.
“What happened?” Jin asked.
“You lost. She had you down and you drew on your abilities to beat her. Terveen had no choice but to declare her the victor. By rights you should now be detained and executed.”
“I don’t know what happened. The Light reacted on its own, like at the tower. I don’t know…”
The crowd suddenly grew silent. It was as if their cries were a raging flame suddenly doused by water. Jin looked back, and from the corner of her eye she saw a figure rising from the rolling dust where Koren had landed. The crowd gasped as one.
“Merciful Creator,” Terveen whispered. “What…?”
“What’s happening?” Jin said.
Gashan and Regan paused and helped to turn Jin so she faced behind them.
The Light had burned away Koren’s shirt down to her waist. Instead of pale skin beneath the cloth, a weave of flat, grey scales covered her from the abdomen up. Brisson’s men closed about her then, shielding her from view.
“You heard the magistrate. Hail your queen,” Brisson barked at the crowd. The ring of steel surrounding Koren tightened as more soldiers and guardsmen flooded the courtyard.
Jin couldn’t be sure who made the first move, but soon the sound of steel clashing with steel echoed off the surrounding buildings, and the air was thick with shouts and dust.
“We have to go,” Gashan said. He scooped Jin up and carried her to a nearby carriage. “The manor, now!” he yelled to the driver.
“Jin, I’ll ride ahead and gather our party,” Regan said. He reached out and squeezed her hand once, hard. She nodded groggily, letting her head fall back against the carriage’s padded seat.
The wheels spun over the cobbled road as panic gripped the city. Jin heard more shouts and the clash of swords behind her. Smoke rose in three thick columns of black behind them. Jin studied the plumes, trying to ignore the searing pain in her side as Gashan cut open her shirt.
What have I done? How could I have made such a mistake? I should have never agreed to fight her.
“Here, bite down on this,” Gashan said as he handed her a strip of leather.
Jin placed it between her teeth.
The guardsman poured a cold, clear liquid over her side. Jin took a breath as the cold met her skin, then bit down hard as the liquid started working and the world went white-hot with fire.
“Sorry,” Gashan apologized. “But that will clean the wound and help seal it a bit. I’ll still need to bandage you up, but it won’t get infected and you won’t bleed to death.” He rolled a cloth and placed it over the wound. He wrapped a second, longer cloth around her ribs, binding the first against her side.
“Can you still breathe?”
“Yes,” Jin said, nodding weakly. “What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know, but Alpere will have an idea.”
“Good, because I don’t,” Jin said. Everything I’ve done here has achieved nothing. Still lying on her side, Jin’s eyes returned to the passing city outside.
The horses raced through the mostly empty streets, each bump jarring the wound. They passed little knots of men fighting, some in armor and some without. After what seemed like both and eternity and no time at all, they stopped outside the manor.
With Gashan’s help, Jin eased herself out. Even here she heard fighting not far away. Smoke still rose from the city’s center. She noticed several of the guardsmen protecting the manor carried wounds to their faces, arms, and even torsos.
“What happened?” Gashan asked.
“A squad of Brisson’s soldiers tried storming the house. Would have taken it too, but the Baron’s men rallied to help us drive them back.”
“Any dead?”
“Two of ours. Eight of theirs.” The guard nodded to a row of bodies laid out on the manor’s lawn. “They broke and fled after that.”
“This is all my fault,” Jin said, her insides twisting up. “If my anger hadn’t gotten the better of me, or if I had defeated Koren, then…” Jin stared at the bodies. Perthe lay among them, a boy she’d grown up with, gone now because of her pride and impulsiveness. If only I hadn’t been so blind.
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Gashan said. “Things were primed to explode the minute Koren returned. They didn’t send the soldiers here after knowing the outcome. There wasn’t time. They were here before the Judis Marr ended. Win or lose, Brisson planned to have you assassinated.”
Regan, Neive, and Alpere stood in the open doorway. Regan ran down the steps and came to her side.
“The horses are saddled and ready. One of my men is bringing them around. The Baron says he’s able to ride,” he said.
“I will be going with you, my queen,” Gashan said. “I’ve chosen my side. My duty is to you now.”
“And I will be staying,” Alpere said. “Brisson’s troops may carry the day, but there will be many who will not recognize Koren’s authority and resist. I will organize them as needed.”
“There’s something wrong with her. I don’t know what I saw, I can’t describe it, but she was different,” Gashan said, his expression dark.
“She’s no longer elven. She has corrupted herself with a demon,” Jin said. She’d thought about it on the ride here, about why Koren had seemed impervious to her blows and why the Light had flared up during their fight. “I sensed it, and that’s why the Light reacted as it did—I see that now. And most of the people in the courtyard saw the grey scales that now cover her chest.”
“All the more reason to stay, then,” Alpere said with a faint smile. “Word will spread and, as the truth comes out, Brisson will lose supporters.”
“Will he accept her himself?” Jin asked. “Surely he won’t bend the knee to a demon.”
Alpere’s expression turned cold.
“I fear the general has gone too far. He is a prideful man, and he has his own designs for the throne.”
“None of you are going anywhere,” Kray said.
Until then, Jin hadn’t noticed the hooded elf. He stood behind the carriage, a red-stained dagger in his hand. The driver was slumped forward, dead in his seat.
“Kray, what have you done?” Alpere said, horror writ clear across his face.
“She isn’t leaving. Koren promised her to me, and I will have her.”
Drawing their swords, Regan and Gashan moved between Jin and the hooded elf.
“Mount up,” Regan said. “We’ll hold him off.”
“So brave, so quick to reach for steel. It will take far more than swords to stop me.”
Kray raised his hands and a gout of fire leapt from them. It splashed harmlessly over Jin’s spellshield, which she’d thrown up the instant Kray had moved to attack.
“Damn you and your pathetic shields,” Kray hissed. He launched himself off the carriage like a coiled spring. His thrown dagger spun, catching the light before burying itself in Gashan’s leg. He covered the distance between the carriage and the group in a bolt of speed, his fist striking Regan’s face and slamming him into the ground.
Gashan’s sword took Kray on the arm, and though it didn’t slice clean, Jin heard the crack of breaking bone. When Kray turned his attention to Gashan again, Regan kicked out at him and sent him tumbling away.
Draped in his loose robes, Kray knelt a fe
w paces back. His broken arm hung at an odd angle. He started to laugh, and then his voice rose in pitch, twisting the laugh into a wailing, inhuman sound, one Jin remembered from the tower. In the distance, other wails rose up to join his. Then Kray’s suddenly cut off.
“I’d hoped to have all of you to myself,” he said. “But it seems I must share with my pack.”
“What are you, beast?” Regan said, forming up with a limping Gashan and Jin and placing Alpere and Neive at their backs.
“I am more. More than elven, more than human, more than mortal,” Kray said. “Look upon me and know fear.”
Kray sagged to his knees. He howled again and arched back, arms spread wide. A series of snaps and crackles like that of a huge, sputtering fire came from his robes, followed by a long, wet, ripping sound. He stood then, robes and skin alike falling to bloody shreds around him.
Jin recognized his true self immediately. Though he was larger than the demon at the tower, Kray had the same brown, leathery appearance. At the sight of him, Light flooded unbidden into Jin’s body. She felt its hatred for the demon pulsing under her skin, alive.
Kray moved suddenly as one of the guardsmen rushed forward. Before the elf could strike, claws slashed and the demon held a handful of the guard’s bleeding guts.
Regan closed in. He hacked at Kray’s leg and his sword bit into the tough flesh. Eventually steel will kill it, Jin knew, but before he falls Kray will kill most or all of us.
Jin called on the Light and felt it condense in her chest. The Light was willing—eager, even—but her body still felt weak; the wound in her side ached and throbbed. Holding a portion of the Light in her chest, she focused the power of it into her rapier until it glowed white and began to shimmer.
Paladin's Fall: Kingdom's Forge Book 2 Page 20