“We Torans speak of honor, but now I think few of us really know the meaning of it. Kian lives it, K’xarr. He cares little for glory or fame. Sometime I think he does not even care if anyone knows about the heroic things he has done. He protects the weak, when my instinct is to prey upon them. When he kills a man, his reasons are pure. Kian is a true warrior, K’xarr, and he will see Vinteytium. This I know.”
“If there is such a place, I’m sure Kian will go there. Now stop brooding on it. Rhys might save him yet. He has saved people close to death before, we both have seen that, and that half-breed is no normal man. I say he still might have a chance.”
Cromwell swung his ax up on his shoulder. “I will pray to Fane to aid Rhys,” Cromwell said as he trotted off to find Rufio.
K’xarr watched him go. Cromwell was right, he mused. Kian fought without thought of glory or personal gain, but without either of the two, K’xarr saw little point in fighting at all. He would not have stepped in front of those arrows. Not on instinct anyway.
Kian and Cromwell’s lofty ideas of honor and morality were for dreamers. In war, there were only those who lived and those who died, and the dead cared nothing about honor. If there was a silver city for fallen warriors like Cromwell said, victory was what would get a man through its gates, not honor. The grim Camiran tightened his sword belt and started for the gatehouse to see what Rhys had accomplished with Kian.
K’xarr brushed passed the queen, who was silently weeping in the doorway of the small stone gatehouse. He patted her on the back as he passed. She said nothing, but her red swollen eyes spoke of what her heart felt.
Endra sat by the cot where Kian lay. She squeezed his hand as the half-elf convulsed and shook. The cot he was laying on quivered violently when he thrashed about. He was covered in sweat and his teeth chattered between each convulsion. K’xarr watched as Kian’s muscles twisted beneath the skin when he seized. It was an unpleasant sight to witness.
The half-breed cried out, his back arching and arms flailing. Endra tried to hold him down, but it was a daunting task. Even in this condition, the swordsman possessed inhuman strength. K’xarr had seen few men in this kind of pain and the ones he had were not his friends. Endra looked at him as she tried to hold Kian still. K’xarr could see in her eyes that she craved his help. “He is dying,” she said, as if the actuality of it was inconceivable to her. The general said nothing; there was no comfort he could offer her.
Rhys motioned for K’xarr to step outside with him. The day had grown overcast and cool, but Rhys was sweating. He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. It was easy to see he was irritated and gravely concerned. “I don’t know what else I can do, K’xarr. If I knew what poison it was, maybe then I could do something. The truth is he should already be dead. Whatever is keeping him alive must have something to do with what his brother did to him.”
“Can’t you use your power? I have seen you heal wounds that should not be healed.”
Rhys hung his head. “I would if I could. Kian is not like other people, and poison is much different than sickness or injury. Besides, his body seems to try and resist my power. The truth is I don’t know how to use my skills to help him.”
“What you are saying? He’s going to die?”
Rhys took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “Yes, K’xarr. I’m afraid he is and he is suffering. It would be better if it was quick.” Rhys looked at K’xarr as if he were shocked by what he had just said. “I want to help him, but I just…” The surgeon slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.
K’xarr put his hand on the healer’s shoulder. “I know you have done what you can, everyone knows,” K’xarr said, looking back at the gatehouse. "Stay out here and get some air. I want to say my goodbyes alone.”
Rhys nodded. K’xarr went back into the gatehouse and bid Endra and the queen to give him a moment with Kian alone. Both reluctantly stepped out, leaving the two men alone.
The two women joined Rhys outside, both looked very tired to the healer. “What is K’xarr doing?” Raygan asked.
Rhys could not look either woman in the eye. He was afraid they would see the guilt on his face and guess what he had suggested to K’xarr. He would have given the half-elf peace himself if he could have. Killing was not in his nature, even if it was a mercy. K’xarr could do it, of that Rhys had no doubt.
“Rhys, I said, what is K’xarr doing?” the queen asked again.
“He’s going to help Kian. He is the only one who can now.”
K’xarr sat down in the chair Endra had occupied. Kian’s eyes rolled over to look at him. “We need to talk, my friend,” K’xarr said harshly.
Kian arched up off the cot again and K’xarr pushed him back down hard on to the little bed. “Stop it, damn you. Are you going to lay here like a weakling and let a little poison kill you?”
Kian looked at K’xarr. The Camiran could see the anger in the half-elf’s eyes. It was just what he wanted.
“Rhys thinks it would be better if I killed you quickly and ended your suffering. He said you should already be dead. Why aren’t you, Kian?
“Think about what that might mean.” Kian’s back arched as his muscles contorted again. K’xarr slammed his body back down on the cot, nearly breaking the legs off it.
“I will tell you what it means. It tells me you can survive the poison. Whatever is inside you is fighting it. Now, you inhuman bastard, grit your teeth and go to war. You can beat this. If you couldn’t, it would have already killed you. I need that sword arm of yours now more than ever. Are you going to let me down when everything we have fought for hangs in the balance?”
Kian’s lips quivered. He was trying to speak, but K’xarr didn’t wait. “Endra, Cromwell, Rhys, the queen, your children, they are all counting on you. This whole city is counting on you. It’s you who can make the difference between victory and defeat, just like at Braxton Bluff.
“Kian, you have carried us this far, I know that. Carry us the rest of the way. You can get up and help us, or you can lay here and die. It is up to you. I thought you were many things, but I never thought you were a coward.”
K’xarr watched as Kian tried to speak. The muscles in his jaws were just too tight to allow it. “Don’t fail us, Kian, not now.”
K’xarr turned and walked out. He hoped Cromwell was right about what kind of man Kian was, and he hoped he was right about the poison. It was a gamble.
Rhys said the poison had not killed him like it should have. Then maybe due to his enhanced constitution, he was just sick and the poison would pass through him without being fatal. If not, he had just been very cruel to a dying friend.
“Will he live, Mother?” The Mistress and Syann stood atop the gatehouse eavesdropping on K’xarr’s conversation. She had made herself and her daughter unseen to the humans.
“It is possible, I’m…unsure.”
Syann looked at her mother in surprise. “Unsure? Does he not belong to you?”
The Goddess of the Dead paced the rooftop. “Something has happened, the creature has transcended what is natural to this world. Perhaps between what his irksome brother has done and me allowing him to possess Malice for so long, we have caused something to exist in this world that should not exist. The Forever Sea flows in his veins. Inside him is a darkness he can never rid himself of.”
Syann shook her blonde head. “What does that even mean, Mother? I don’t understand.”
The Mistress smiled beneath her veil. “He is damned, my dear, his existence is unnatural and unprecedented. As to your question if he will live, I don’t know, for I no longer know what he is.”
Endra started to go back into the gatehouse, Rhys and the queen following her. K’xarr stopped them. He took Endra by the shoulders and looked the woman in the eyes. “Wait, give him a few moments alone.”
Endra pushed his arms off her shoulders and tried to walk past. K’xarr grabbed her around the waist and held her back.
“What are you doing?” Rhys sa
id.
“I said no one goes in there, just wait.”
Endra struggled to break free of the general’s grasp. “Let me go. He has little time left, you bastard.”
K’xarr refused to let go of the thrashing woman.
“Kian is dying, why are you doing this?” Endra said as she fought to break free.
“Let her go, K’xarr. What does it matter now, you did what you had to do,” Rhys sadly said.
“I didn’t do anything. Everyone needs to calm down and…” A crash from inside the gatehouse startled them. They all froze and looked at one another as Kian staggered out and leaned against the doorway of the gatehouse. His skin had the pallor of a corpse. He was dressed only in a pair of leggings and spittle dangled from his lips like a thirsty hound. He clutched his stomach and winced in pain. He seemed about to convulse again, but K’xarr saw his knuckles turn white as he clutched at the doorway. He let go of his stomach and stood up a little straighter, mouth quivering as he spoke. “Get me dressed.”
Rhys’s mouth opened and closed.
Endra shook her self loose of K’xarr and went to Kian. “You must lie down, the shadow of death is still on your face.”
“No, get my clothing and sword. I need water as well.” Kian’s speech was slurred and halted, but he was very clear on what he wanted.
Endra looked at Rhys for help. The healer could only stare at his patient. Kian’s startling improvement had confounded him. “It’s impossible, he should be dead. Maybe that unique body of his is fighting off the poison, I don’t know, just get him the water.” Rhys helped Kian sit down and lean back against the wall of the gatehouse as Endra fetched the water. “You’re very weak, you should rest even if the poison isn’t killing you.”
Kian looked at the healer, there was agony on his face. Rhys had never seen anyone endure this kind of pain before. The healer wondered what coping with it was doing to the warrior’s mind. After his brother and the vivisectionist had their way with him, Kian had been close to insanity. This misery could not be good for the half-elf’s fragile mind.
“There is no time to rest, Rhys. K’xarr said I’m needed. I will not fail him or any of you.”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that now. K’xarr and Sir Ivan have everything under control.”
“I will do my part, just get me on my feet.”
They gave him as much water as he could drink and he sat in the shade with his eyes closed. Endra put on his clothing and bracers. She handed Malice to him. Kian gazed at the blade and felt its edge. The sword seemed to bring him strength.
Late in the afternoon, he could stand on his own and he had stopped shaking. Rhys was not convinced he could walk, but K’xarr kept coaxing Kian on and telling him he was fine until Rhys could take no more of it.
“K’xarr, a word please,” Rhys said through gritted teeth.
“What is it?”
Rhys tried to contain his aggravation. “He can’t fight, he can barely stand. Somehow he his fighting off the poison, but he can’t go with you when the fighting starts, he will be killed. I don’t think he could even defend himself. I know you can see how weak he is, why do you keep egging him on?”
The general took Rhys by the arm and walked him far enough away from the gatehouse that he thought Kian couldn’t hear him. “I know what his condition is and it is unfortunate that he is weak and sick, but we must make Cain’s men think he is sound. He strikes fear in their hearts, it is an advantage and I need every one I can get.
“Cain’s men have heard what happened in the south with Havalon and the princes by now. I need that edge. We could still lose this war, Rhys, and the woman you love will die if that happens. Now you think about that and give Kian something that will keep him on his feet long enough to go out there. I will do my best to keep him away from any real fighting.”
Rhys looked away from the general. It was not in the healer’s nature, and it hurt his soul to help K’xarr use the sick man that way, but he loved Raygan more than his principles. K’xarr was harsh, but he was most likely right. If Cain took the city, he would kill his sister. Rhys knew he could never live with that. “I have something that will help a bit, but you have to promise that when the real fighting starts, you will keep him out of it. I will not have his death on my conscience. I mean it, K’xarr, keep him out of the battle.”
K’xarr clapped the surgeon on the shoulder. “I’ll do my best, you know that.”
Milara had told Cain and Duke Blackthorn that the assassination attempt had failed. Neither the prince nor the duke had taken news well, but both had kept their anger to themselves. It was the first time Zachariah had not completed a mission the lord justice had assigned him. The failure had a silver lining, though.
The assassin told him he had killed an old rival of his that had been guarding the queen. When Milara had asked for a description of the man, the lord justice realized his assassin had killed the creature. Zachariah had seemed confused when he had explained to the killer that he had mistaken the man’s identity. Milara didn’t care if the slow-witted Hand understood or not. As far as he was concerned, it was more of a victory than killing the queen. The half-breed was one of the reasons he had been sent here in the first place. The Church really had little interest in who ruled Bandara, though Cain was the only choice now. The queen’s friends were far too dangerous. They would have to die. The Church meant to eradicate anyone with the blood. The queen would need to be silenced as well, just for her knowledge of them. Some things must be kept secret, no matter what the cost.
He would wait and see the outcome of the impending battle, then choose his next move. He hoped Cain and his army would take care of the problem for him. If not, he would have to find a way to do it himself.
Cain sat on the Phoenix Throne, fuming about the failed attempt on Raygan’s life. “She is going to die, but first I will make her suffer. Duke Blackthorn, you and I will take half the men. Lord Bradford and Lord Fox will take the other half and begin the attack. While the little whore’s soldiers are busy with them, we will work our way behind their line and attack the southern gatehouse. Then I will kill my sister with my own hands. She will not escape me like she did that incompetent assassin.”
William Blackthorn didn’t like the plan. It was foolish to split their forces when they outnumbered the Asconans two to one, but Cain was obsessed with killing his sister now. “Are you sure that is what you want to do, Majesty? We outnumber them and we know the city far better, let them come to us. We can slaughter them as they try and work their way to us. We can have archers on every rooftop, barricade the streets, and funnel them right to us and destroy them when and where we choose.”
The prince slapped the arm of the throne. “They have taken your son prisoner. She had her monster slaughter our men and the Knights of Deliverance on the palace steps, and you want to wait?”
“Just an idea, Highness. An alternate plan, you might say.”
“No, Duke Blackthorn, you have your orders. Just tell Fox and Bradford to start the attack, but first I want a company of men to burn that damn garden to the ground. I want her to see it burn before she dies. I want her to know of its destruction. It is the thing that will hurt her the most. Tell them I don’t want so much as a blade of grass left standing.”
William knew there was no reasoning with the prince, that time was past. It was best to follow Cain’s plan and hope the prince was killed in battle. Then he could take charge of the army and drive Raygan out of the city. They still had the numbers and Milara had told them his man had killed the half-elf.
The death of the demonic swordsman would bolster the men’s courage. Things might just turn out yet, but he was starting to worry. All his deals had fallen though. Tavantis, the Illairians, none of it had gone as planned. Now he had to contend with an insane monarch. He thought he might have to hold off on his plan to seize Bandara for the Blackthorn family and make sure he came out of all this alive. After all, that was the most important thing.
Cain’s men began pouring barrels of pitch and oil throughout the palace grounds. The ground was saturated with it before a company of Asconans saw what they were up to. The knights charged Cain’s Bandarans and the battle for Turill began, inside the queen’s beloved gardens.
Night was quickly falling as K’xarr helped Kian to the front. The general had the half-elf’s arm around his neck as the two hurried along. “The fighting has started near the palace. Once we are up there, let them see you and then just drop back and find a place to hide until it’s over. Just knowing you still live should do the trick."
“I think you should let me walk on my own then.” K’xarr let go of the half-elf. Kian started to topple over, but the general grabbed him by the arm and let him get his balance.
The swordsman pushed K’xarr’s arm away. “I will be fine. Where is Endra?”
“I sent her to help Rufio, she wouldn’t be any good to us here being a nursemaid to you.”
Kian shook his head, trying to clear it. “You made the right decision. Endra lets her feelings rule her actions, not always a good thing.”
“You should have seen her, it was like try to give orders to a mule. I had to all but drag her up to Rufio’s position.”
“She will be safe with Rufio. I know he will do his best to see she comes to no harm.”
K’xarr poked his finger in Kian’s chest. “I have orders from Rhys and Endra to do the same for you. So no heroics tonight, understand?”
“I’m not feeling very heroic, K’xarr. You should have nothing to worry about.”
The sound of battle got louder as they turned toward the palace. Both warriors could tell that the fighting was beginning to spread throughout the city.
As they closed on the palace, K’xarr stopped. “I know I’m asking a great deal from you tonight, my friend. Just know that you have my respect and my thanks, no matter how this ends.” The general clapped Kian on the shoulder. “We have come a long way from Thieves Port, half-breed.”
DAWN OF THE PHOENIX Page 60