K'var swallowed and forced himself to look only at Badru. A small bead of sweat made its way down the side of his face, but he didn't stop it. "Your Excellency?"
"What did you promise my enemies if you helped overthrow me?"
K'var backed away, shaking his head. "Your Excellency…I would never…" He smiled, but the smile faltered as Badru took another step towards him.
"No?"
Pavel and the man next to him whispered intently back and forth, almost ignoring the conversation. Around the room, small pockets of conversation erupted as Badru continued to stare at K'var.
Badru raised his voice so all could hear him. "K'var of the Black Horse Tribe, I Badru Palero, Daliph of the Toreem Daliphate, say that you are guilty of conspiring with the other Daliphana and with my enemies to overthrow me."
The room buzzed with conversation. Badru held up a hand, demanding silence. The men around him fell silent, but the room pulsed with the words they wanted to speak.
"K'var of the Black Horse Tribe, I sentence you to death. Now." Badru held his hand out. "Someone bring me a sword."
The room erupted like a pot boiling over, men jumping to their feet and shouting as K'var turned and ran towards the back of the room.
Chapter 92
A man stood on the table at the far end of the room, next to the doors. "Oh, enough," he roared, his voice like rocks banging together.
He threw back his hood and the room collapsed into silence as everyone turned to stare at his squat toad-like face. He stepped forward a few steps, graceful and deadly as a giant sand serpent.
K'lrsa tried to breath, but she couldn't.
She knew this man. She'd seen his face on a coin once.
It was the former Daliph.
But he was dead. Lodie had poisoned him. She'd killed herself in order to kill him.
Except, Lodie wasn't dead. And, it seemed, neither was the former Daliph.
Badru trembled where he stood half-way down the dais stairs.
The man continued, "I am so tired of watching you play at Daliph, you foolish little boy. Step aside and let a real man run things."
Badru pointed his sword at the man. "We all saw you die you vile old man." He screamed, "He's a death walker. Kill him."
No one moved, too stunned to react.
The former Daliph laughed, the sound like rusted metal. "Kill me?" He spat to the side. "I'd like to see that."
He drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at Badru. "I want my throne back, boy. Now."
Chapter 93
No one moved for a breath of time and then the room erupted into chaos, men moving in all directions, turning on one another, fleeing, fighting, some moving toward Badru, some moving towards the former Daliph.
K'lrsa stood on the top of the dais and watched it all.
Badru dove into the crowd, intent on reaching his grandfather. K'lrsa screamed for him to come back, but her voice was lost in the tumult of sound as men fought and died all around the room.
K'var slit the throat of a guard too stunned to react and took his sword, turning back towards Badru. But he was too late to lead the charge. Two of Badru's own guards turned on him, one driving a sword into Badru's back as Pavel cut down the other.
K'lrsa cried out as she watched Badru fall. She lost sight of his body as two more guards turned towards her, weapons bared.
Sayel stepped in front of her, blocking their attack with his considerable bulk, flowing through the sword forms with such ease and grace she wondered how she could've ever thought him fat.
She tried to dodge around Sayel to reach Badru, but there wasn't room, so she had to stand back and watch, helpless as more and more men rushed to the position where she'd last seen him.
It was impossible to tell enemy from foe. She watched two guards fight side-by-side through the crowd, saving each other's lives at least a dozen times before they finally reached the dais and the first turned on the second, stabbing him through the heart.
Badru's grandfather stood across the room and watched the carnage. He laughed and clapped his hands in delight as yet another man died at his feet.
K'lrsa swore to herself in that moment that someday she'd make him pay for this.
Someday. But not today. Today she needed to save Badru.
Sayel grabbed her hand and started to drag her towards the back wall. "Come."
She pulled away. "No. I won't go without Badru."
He glanced back at the swirling mass of fighting men. "It's too late, my dorana. Badru is dead. Let me save you."
She grabbed his robe. "It's not too late. Herin can save him."
Sayel flinched backward. "No. No, my dorana…"
"We have to, Sayel. Or else evil wins. And what then? My people die and who knows who else. We have to save Badru, Sayel, no matter the cost."
Sayel glanced at the crowd and back at her. "It may cost us our lives."
"I don't care. Let's go."
K'lrsa charged past him, lashing out with a chop of her hand at the first man who tried to stop her.
Chapter 94
They made quick progress as they raced down from the top of the dais. Not only were they coming from above everyone else, so had the advantage of height, but the men, even those that should've known better, didn’t pay any attention to K'lrsa. She was past most of them before they could even think to react, leaving a trail of dead or broken fighters behind her.
Those she didn't get, Sayel did, slicing to each side like death himself.
They pushed, shoved, and fought their way to where K'lrsa had last seen Badru.
"Find him, Sayel," she screamed, fighting to look for Badru as she defended herself from a new attacker—this one an older man in brown robes with a red sash.
Sayel cut the man down and threw his body into a crowd of approaching men, clearing a small space for them.
"There!" K'lrsa dashed forward, shoving a pair of fighting men aside. Badru was on the floor, his clothes torn, his body covered in footprints from the men who fought and died above him.
Sayel pulled her back and shoved the sword into her hand. "Protect me."
As K'lrsa slashed to every side, trying to manage the heavy weapon, Sayel used a small knife to cut Badru's clothes from his body.
"What are you doing? We have to go." K'lrsa side-stepped a sword thrust from a former guard, kicking out at the man as he stepped past her and shattering his kneecap.
"The colors. He'd be too recognizable." He threw Badru's headpiece into the melee.
K'lrsa drove her elbow into another guard's face and turned away as his nose shattered.
Sayel flung Badru's body over his shoulder and shoved her towards the dais. "Go."
She tried to turn back towards the entrance, but he pushed her forward again. "We can't go that way. Go."
K'lrsa scrambled back up the stairs of the dais. She glanced backward. Sayel was right, a group of at least a dozen guards were fighting their way forward from the main doors in a tight, organized group, slowly but surely cutting their way through the intervening crowd.
And behind them, smiling in triumph, the former Daliph stood.
K'lrsa's heart sank. They had Badru, but they were trapped.
She slashed at a man in red robes who grabbed at Sayel.
"What are we going to do?"
Chapter 95
"Follow me." Sayel led her to the far end of the dais. Badru hung limp from his shoulder, the blood of his wound dripping onto the ground with each step.
"What are you doing, Sayel?"
They worked their way down a small flight of stairs hidden behind the dais. The roar of the fighting suddenly died, leaving her ears ringing with the memory of the sound.
"Those stones, there. Press them all at once." He pointed to three large black stones arranged in a triangle at eye-level.
K'lrsa pressed on the stones, putting all her strength into pushing them inward. Finally, they gave with a click and a section of the wall slid to the side, revealin
g a dark passageway.
"Go." Sayel shoved her through the opening.
K'lrsa stumbled, her hands fumbling for the wall on the other side of the passage. When she found it, she stepped to the side to make way for Sayel to follow, unsure what she'd find in the dark enclosed space.
Sayel pushed her farther into the passage, shoving her aside as he pulled a lever to close the panel once more and plunged them into a darkness so deep K'lrsa couldn't see her own hand.
She took deep breaths and struggled not to scream as she felt the walls pressing in on every side.
Sayel reached out and found her hand in the darkness. "Calm, my dorana. Calm."
She held onto him, desperate to know she wasn't alone. He gave her hand a final squeeze and reached past her to pull on another lever. A small section of the outer wall shifted downward. Not much, but enough for the daylight outside to illuminate the passageway in each direction.
It was just wide enough for two men abreast, but the ceiling was low, almost touching Sayel's head. Once more K'lrsa struggled against the feeling that the walls were closing in on her. She tried to find the hunter's version of the Core as Sayel turned back to the first lever and pulled it to the side, grunting as it twisted and bent under his hands. "There. That should slow them a bit."
He pushed her gently towards the right. "Move, my dorana. I'm not the only one who knows of these passages. They can't follow through this entrance, but they'll find another. Go."
K'lrsa obeyed, stumbling forward.
The passages were built into the outer wall of the palace, so there weren't many choices to make as they ran. It was either continue forward, exit into another room, or go down a level when the opportunity presented itself.
Sayel had her go down at every opportunity. They moved through darkness after they left that first section of passageway. K'lrsa desperately wanted light as she struggled with every step to keep from screaming as the walls pressed close around her, but Sayel said no.
"We do that, we might as well surrender. They'll know exactly where to find us."
So K'lrsa continued in the blackness, her fingers trailing along the rough stone of the passageway. She could smell the freshness of water and the occasional stench of rot and decay as they made their way down and down and down.
"Shouldn't we exit? Find somewhere to hide?" K'lrsa asked as they descended yet another level; Sayel's heavy breathing filled the space behind her.
She tried not to think about Badru, draped over Sayel's shoulder, limp, unmoving.
Dead.
"One more level, my dorana. We're almost at the servants' quarters. There we can change."
He directed her to exit into a storage room, the shelves stacked high with coarse servants' robes. K'lrsa quickly threw one over her Rider's clothing and turned to see Sayel donning one as well.
He'd dropped Badru at his feet in a tumbled pile.
K'lrsa knelt by Badru's side and took his hand in hers. It was cold, too cold, and slightly stiff. She'd known it would be, but still the feel of his slack, lifeless hand caught at her throat, choking her.
Badru was dead.
He was really dead.
She curled in on herself, unable to control her shaking.
"Come, my dorana. We must dress him."
She shook her head. "What's the point? He's dead, Sayel."
He pushed her gently to the side and propped Badru up against his knee, forcing a robe over his head, and moving his arms into each hole, struggling with his stiff limbs. "Yes, he's dead." He met her eyes. "But, as you told me, Herin may be able to save him. If we can find her in time."
K'lrsa fought back the tears, shaking her head at the hopelessness of it all. Sayel brushed his thumb along her cheekbone. "Later, my dorana. Now we must go."
"Where?"
"To Herin. We have to reach her before the Daliph's men do."
K'lrsa struggled to her feet as Sayel once more threw Badru's body over his shoulder. "Badru is the Daliph," she mumbled.
Sayel glanced at her and away again. "Not anymore, my dorana. Come. We must hurry."
He grabbed two more robes and led her out into the hallway, glancing in both directions as he dashed down the hall to her right.
Chapter 96
Sayel led her through a series of dusty hallways to another set of hidden passages—these ones ran along the other side of the palace. He'd grabbed a torch as they passed through the final hallway, so at least this time they didn't have to navigate the cramped spaces in the dark.
They went down two more levels and along a section slimy with mold before exiting into a dank, dark hallway with only one sputtering torch to light it.
"Where are we, Sayel?" K'lrsa whispered, scared to speak in such a dead space.
"Herin's rooms."
K'lrsa stared around her at the damp floor and shadows clustered in the corners of the hallway. "Really? Why would she choose to have rooms here?"
"Safety."
He led her around a corner and came to such an abrupt stop that she ran into his back. Two guards stood in front of a door halfway down the hall. At the sight of Sayel, they placed their hands on their swords and advanced forward.
"Move aside. I need to see the Omala. Now." Sayel's voice had a slight tremor to it as he shouted at the men.
K'lrsa peered past him, trying to decide if the men were Badru's or had already been replaced with the former Daliph's men.
"No visitors." The one on the left drew his sword and took another step forward, trying to see who Sayel had behind him.
"Herin," K'lrsa shouted.
The guard turned his attention from Sayel to her, squinting to see her in the gloom. Sayel shoved the end of his torch into the wall, stubbing it out so the man wouldn't be able to see her.
The second guard pulled his sword as the door to Herin's rooms opened and she stepped forward. She looked tired, her hair hung loose around her shoulders and stuck out in different directions. It was matted, like she hadn't bothered to brush it.
Garzel stood behind her.
"What?" she demanded. The two guards flinched away from her.
K'lrsa glanced at the two guards and Sayel. She didn't know what to say. How do you tell a woman that her grandson is dead and you're hoping she can resurrect him?
But she didn't have to say anything, because Herin's gaze focused on the body slung over Sayel's shoulder and she clutched at the doorframe, shaking. She turned back, her eyes meeting Garzel's as she choked out Badru's name.
The guard closest to Sayel finally came close enough to catch a glimpse of K'lrsa. His eyes darted to Sayel and he tightened his grip on the sword. Before he could attack, Garzel pushed past Herin, a long knife in his hand, and attacked the guard closest to him, slitting the man's throat without hesitation.
As the first guard turned to stare at Garzel, too surprised to understand what had happened, Herin threw a knife, striking him in the eye. The man dropped to the floor, dead.
"Get inside." Herin stepped aside to let Sayel past her.
K'lrsa didn't move. She stared back and forth between the two dead guards.
"Princess, care to get in here before someone else comes along?"
K'lrsa stumbled past the bodies into Herin's rooms. "You didn't have to kill them."
"No?" Herin turned to Sayel. "He's back isn't he? Aran? How much time do we have?
"You knew? You knew he was alive?" K'lrsa screeched, her voice spiraling out of control. She wanted to rip the woman into tiny pieces, and would have if she wasn't the only person capable of saving Badru.
Herin barely glanced at her. "I suspected." She moved around the room, pushing furniture aside and grabbing various boxes and bags she'd hidden which she handed to Garzel to pack.
"And you never told Badru?"
"And how was I supposed to do that? Tell him I was a death walker? That I'd learned from Aran so I thought maybe he too was still alive?" She shook her head. "Pzah, girl. You saw how he reacted when he finally found
out about me. The only reason he spared my life is because I'd saved you and he didn't know how to be grateful for that and still kill me."
Garzel moved a large wooden chest away from the wall while Herin bound her hair back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Sayel thrust the servants' robes at them and they both threw them on.
Herin looked around the dark, closed space one last time. "Can't say I'll miss it." She smiled at Garzel and he smiled back.
K'lrsa stared at them, horrified that they could smile at a time like this.
Herin saw the look and just laughed. "Wait until you've seen as much as we have, child." She walked to the wall and pressed four tiles set in a square pattern until the wall slid open to reveal another passageway.
She stepped into the darkness, not even bothering with a torch. "Follow me. We don't have much time."
Chapter 97
They raced down another series of passageways, Herin leading with K'lrsa right behind her followed by Sayel and Garzel behind him. K'lrsa focused on keeping Herin's back in sight and tried not to think about getting trapped in the passages, forever lost, doomed to stumble through the blackness until they finally collapsed and died.
Eventually, they came out in the room that Herin had used to heal K'lrsa. The secret entrance was located behind the table.
"Quick. Lay him down on the bed." Herin rushed to the cabinet while Sayel obeyed her orders.
Garzel opened the door to the hallway, but immediately shut it again. He barred the door shut and they all stood there in tense silence as they heard the sound of shouting voices and running feet. Someone tried the door but passed by when it wouldn't open.
Herin worked on Badru's body, her jaw clenched tight as she smoothed back the hair from his forehead and straightened his limbs. She started washing his wounds, slowly and methodically, ignoring everyone else as they heard yet another set of men race by outside the door.
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