Heart of Defiance

by Ryan Kirk

  “When we get to Galan, we need to find a place for you to hide,” Delun said.

  “I’m not going to hide.” Hien’s response was filled with icy determination.

  “Then you’re going to die, and I still need you to get me to Lei, to get him to believe me.”

  Hien didn’t have any quick retort to that.

  Delun didn’t have a plan. He knew Hien needed to stay alive. He knew he needed to stay alive, and to stay free. Ideally, both could be accomplished without violence, but Delun had no idea how. The monks would keep following him. His strength prevented him from hiding.

  He finally gave in to fate. Guanyu’s actions couldn’t be tolerated and were the more immediate threat. That logic had led him this far. He needed to follow it. He would fight, but he didn’t need to kill. That was a line he still refused to cross.

  “If you stay hidden, then I can fight them freely.”

  “Can you take on six?” Hien eyed him warily. She knew the argument raging inside him.

  Had they been average monks, trained anywhere besides Kulat, Delun might have said yes. But here, he was less certain. Thanks to Hien’s refusal of assistance, he wasn’t as exhausted as he might have been. Against any one of the powers following him, he was clearly superior, but against six, and especially six who would work together, he was less certain.

  Delun pushed his worries aside. His decision was made. In answer to Hien’s question, he replied, “I’m not sure, but I’ll have a better chance if I don’t have to defend you.”

  She growled at him. “I don’t need your protection, monk.”

  “You can barely walk.”

  “But I can still fight.”

  Delun shook his head. There was no point arguing with Hien. The woman was as strong and stubborn as any warrior he’d ever met, and to tell the truth, he appreciated the attitude.

  They made it to the outskirts of Galan before the monks came into view. Delun figured they didn’t have more than a minute or two before the fighting began. Unceremoniously, he dumped Hien into a dark corner between two small huts. “Find a place to fight if you can, but don’t get too close to me. They’ll be able to track me no matter where I am.”

  She looked as though she was about to tell him she knew that, but held her tongue. Delun nodded, wishing there was something more he could say to her. After a heartbeat of silence, he disappeared into the night.

  He kept to the outskirts of town, using the houses as cover. After a few moments, though, he realized how foolish that was. The houses all had people in them, and if a fight did break out between the monks, the people inside would be the first ones to suffer. He thought of Kang’s attack within Kulat.

  Delun wondered if it was too late to reason with the monks. Though the likelihood was low, he wasn’t sure that he would rest easy unless he tried. He stepped out from the cover of the houses, approaching the monks.

  He didn’t even have time to wave a hand in greeting before an attack shot his way.

  Surprised, Delun didn’t have time to even sign a shield. He dove to the side, the invisible wave of energy crashing against the wall of the house he’d just stepped out from. The wall, made only of wood, cracked and collapsed. Terrified screams rose from inside the house, peaceful slumbers destroyed by sudden devastation.

  Delun rolled to his feet, distracted by the screams. His first instinct was to help.

  His compassion almost killed him.

  Another blast flew from the hands of a second monk, this one catching Delun squarely. He tumbled and crashed backward, feeling fortunate the attack wasn’t as strong as the first. Still, he struggled to draw breath as the monks dismounted, a bruise already forming against his ribs.

  He pushed himself to his feet, half-rolling, half-falling as another blast took his feet from under him. All he needed was a moment, but the monks didn’t plan on gifting him one.

  Desperate, he released an unfocused blast in their direction. If nothing else, perhaps it would throw them off balance for a precious second. His effort was wasted, though. One of the monks had already thrown up a shield in front of the others, protecting them from Delun’s weak attack.

  Delun made it to his knees when he knew he was going to die. He felt several attacks gathering, any one of them strong enough to finish him. His fingers made the gesture for a shield, but he knew it would be too little, too late. His heart plummeted as he realized he was about to be killed by his brothers, the very people he had spent his entire life defending. None of them possessed the hesitation about fighting Delun he felt about fighting them.

  Before the first attack was released, an arrow suddenly appeared through the neck of one of the monks. The remaining monks pivoted to face the new threat, leaving them exposed to Delun.

  Hien had given him the moment he needed. In one hand he finished his shield while his other danced through the signs of the attack. He stopped on the third.

  One monk sent an attack in the direction the arrow had come from. The blast blew through the walls of a house, and all Delun could do was hope that the people had had enough time to get away, and that Hien had been able to stumble away. She was smart enough to move after shooting, but was she able enough?

  Another monk felt Delun’s growing energy and turned to meet the threat. Delun held his attack, wanting to get in close and make his energy count. Against five, he couldn’t afford to waste any of his strength. The monk attacked and Delun released the shield.

  He’d underestimated the strength of the monk’s attack. His shield held, but Delun almost lost his balance. The monk saw the opportunity and formed another hasty attack.

  Delun got his feet under him in time to sidestep the next attack. For the moment, the monk had left himself defenseless. Delun reached out his hand and released his own attack, sending the monk cartwheeling through the air. He hoped he hadn’t killed the man.

  Only four remained, but they weren’t fazed by the losses they’d suffered. One of the monks cast a shield that surrounded the rest. Just in time, too, as an arrow bounced harmlessly off the reformed shield. Hien had survived the first attack, then. He had no idea how she was pulling a bowstring with the injuries she’d suffered.

  He had his own problems to worry about, though. The momentum shifted back in the direction of the monks. Delun needed to focus an impressive attack to break the shield, and he didn’t think he had the time. Two attacks reached out for him, crashing into his shield. A third brought down yet another house. Either they were fine with wantonly destroying the properties, or they actually knew where Hien was.

  Delun wasn’t sure how best to react. He sent an attack at one of the monks, but the shield intercepted it without problem. Two attacks responded, forcing Delun to run once again. Unless he took cover behind the houses, there wasn’t much more he could do. He simply couldn’t match the coordinated power of the remaining monks.

  Several events happened at once. The first was Hien. Delun finally spotted her, stumbling from cover to cover between the houses. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one to notice her. One of the other monks did as well, hitting her with a prepared attack before Delun had a chance to react. She went tumbling into the street.

  Delun measured the distance between them, then decided it didn’t much matter. He formed the signs for a shield, sprinting toward Hien.

  As he did, Delun felt a surge of power behind him, stronger than anything he’d ever felt. He glanced back, his legs still churning toward Hien, just in time to see a face he’d never forget.

  Lei stood outside the village, his sword drawn and alive with energy. Delun’s eyes went wide as the sword snapped down, opening a sharp slice in the ground as a tremendous crescent of energy sliced at the four monks. The attack shattered the shield, the force of the attack sending the monk whose shield it had been to the ground.

  Lei followed it up with another attack, this one from his hand. It blasted a monk backward with tremendous force.

  Delun turned back to the task at hand.
The monk aiming at Hien had been distracted, but from the look in his eyes, Delun knew he meant to finish the weakest of targets before he turned to fight Lei.

  The delay gave Delun enough time to get between the monk and Hien. He threw up his shield just as the monk released an attack, the blast powerful enough to send him crashing backward on his side. Delun landed with enough speed to roll twice before coming to a stop.

  Delun looked at the monks. The other three were completely focused on Lei, and the fourth could tell he’d been abandoned by the group. Groaning, Delun formed the signs for a shield to surround both him and Hien. Before the monk could attack again, Delun crawled next to Hien and released the shield.

  Despite the beating he had taken, Delun still felt as though he had plenty of energy to draw from. He hadn’t done nearly as much fighting as he’d like. His shield was strong enough to handle the monk’s next attack. Through the confluence of their energies, Delun could feel the monk’s hesitation.

  The monk wanted to fight Lei. After a moment, he turned his attention to the new intruder, leaving Delun alone.

  Delun couldn’t have hoped for more. Lei could handle the monks, and Delun could sit here, protect Hien, and not have to fight against his brothers. If any of the monks turned toward him, he’d be ready, but from the glimpses of battle that he saw and felt, Lei had their full attention.

  He knelt down over Hien, who had fallen unconscious. Although he could feel her breath, she looked as pale as a ghost.

  He looked back at the battle. If she died from this, his brothers would pay.

  29

  Bai had never felt a battle between monks before. Such battles were rare in these times. The only one she knew about was the Battle of Jihan, over twenty years ago. But Galan, the town she’d once called home, now crackled with energy. A group of monks was attacking another. To her recently developed senses, it felt as though six mice had attacked a large cat. Individually, none of the mice stood a chance, but together, they might just beat it.

  If Lei hadn’t intervened.

  She’d become more used to his strength over the last few weeks. But she’d never realized how much his strength dwarfed that of the other monks. Her sense of him almost blinded her to the others.

  Attacks whipped from his blade, driving the other monks away like dead leaves before a howling wind. She caught a glimpse of his face and saw a new side to him. The gentle peace he radiated up in the mountains faded and she saw the steel of the man underneath. For all his power, each of his cuts was precise and exacting, control almost beyond imagination.

  She’d been changed by Lei, too. Part of her screamed in fear, shouted at her to hide from the tempest of power raging in front of her. Her own body hummed with the ambient energy.

  But the old Bai was dying, if she wasn’t already dead. She felt the energy from Lei’s attacks and the monks’ defenses filling her limbs with fire. Her body absorbed the power like a sponge, and she thought she could take on the whole world if she wanted.

  Bai stepped forward, her fists clenching in anticipation. Yang had called her a monk killer. She’d feared them her entire life.

  No more.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two figures. One was prone and the other crouched over the first. Her eyes narrowed as she made the two of them out.

  She didn’t recognize the man kneeling over the prone figure, but the sight of the second person stopped her in her tracks.

  Hien.

  Bai sensed the energy radiating off the kneeling man. He was the strong one, the one who had fought the other monks.

  But he was also a monk, too close to Hien to be safe.

  Her only thought was to save Hien. She darted toward the pair, the power in her legs allowing her to cross the distance in only a couple of seconds. The monk sensed her coming, but wasn’t prepared for her speed. He started to stand, twisting out of the way as she drove her knee at him. Thanks to his twist, the blow was only a glancing one, but it lifted him off the ground and sent him tumbling away.

  The monk came to his feet quickly, confusion writ large on his face. “Who are you?”

  Bai felt power concentrating behind the man’s back, where he hid one of his hands. She fought down the grin on her face. She stood tall and walked toward him.

  When she was about ten paces away, he swung his hand in front of him, the focused power aimed directly at her chest. Bai funneled strength into her legs, jumping as he released the attack.

  The power passed harmlessly beneath her. Moving some of her strength into her hand, she swung as she fell toward him.

  The wide-eyed look of shock on his face almost made up for the fact that he fell away from her punch before she could connect. The monk stumbled backward, but Bai couldn’t take advantage of his lack of balance. Her missed punch threw her off, causing her to crash to the ground as she landed.

  The monk recovered before Bai did. In a moment, he was on top of her, hands wrapped around her throat, his weight bearing down on her. She couldn’t force air through her throat and panic took over. She kicked uselessly, her legs unable to reach the monk sitting high on her chest.

  Then she felt the power flowing through the monk’s hands, his sweet, life-giving energy. She didn’t think, but pulled, some deep instinct in her taking over. The man’s strength poured into her.

  His grip around her throat loosened, his eyes widening as he slowly pulled his hands away and stared at them in disbelief.

  Bai took a deep, heaving breath, the air tasting sweet.

  Now she had strength to spare. The monk’s wide-eyed gaze traveled from his hands to her, just in time for her to shove him with all her might.

  Again, the monk was lifted off the ground, then tossed backward like a rag doll, tumbling end over end. He came to a rest and stood up, more quickly than Bai had hoped. She came to her feet as well. She’d surprised him, several times, but she hadn’t done much damage.

  She glanced back at Hien. The woman still lay prone where Bai had first seen her. Bai didn’t need to defeat the monk, she just needed to give herself enough time to get Hien away from the battle.

  A particularly strong surge of power outside of town distracted the monk for a moment. Bai sprinted forward, pulling in as much power as she could. Here, it was almost too easy. The monk made a sign and a shield grew between them. Bai hit it at nearly full speed. She felt the power as she ran into it, but it did nothing but slow her for a moment. She pushed through the shield, absorbing most of its strength. With a throaty cry she punched at the monk.

  The monk’s other hand came up, releasing an attack right in front of her strike. The attack met her fist, two tremendous powers colliding. Bai thought she saw the air bend and warp between them before it snapped like a string pulled too tight. She flew backward, spinning slowly through the air. The world twisted around her, but she breathed deeply, feeling the energy still within her. She landed on one foot and skipped backward until she found her balance.

  The monk didn’t fare so well. He’d been slammed into a wall and was slow to get up. When he did, his eyes focused on Bai. They stood there, facing one another. Bai breathed deeply, feeling the power building within her again. She was surrounded by it, embraced by it.

  The monk turned and ran deeper into Galan.

  Bai was caught flat-footed, fully expecting their fight to continue. Hien was safe.

  But Bai wasn’t done. She didn’t know what the monk would attempt, but Bai didn’t want him running free through her town. More than that, she felt the strength flowing through her limbs. She was fighting a monk, and she wasn’t scared.

  The freedom intoxicated her, made her head spin. She wouldn’t hide in corners, or quietly suffer the abuse of others.

  They couldn’t hurt her anymore. They wouldn’t hurt anyone.

  She took off after the monk. She could feel his energy moving away from her, but after running into corner after corner, Bai gave up simple pursuit. She looked up and smiled, that feeling of freedom
infusing her very thoughts.

  Bai leaped onto the rooftops, landing as gently as a bird. Then she took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, every motion somehow instinctual.

  In only a few seconds she had caught up to the other monk. A vicious grin painted on her face, she jumped down at him.

  She didn’t think he was surprised anymore. Now she saw only fear in his eyes, the same fear she imagined so many had seen in her over the years. She saw the terror of someone who knew that their safety was nothing more than an illusion. All the monk’s power and training meant nothing.

  Bai didn’t come down swinging, as she had before. Lei taught her that control was the essence of strength, and she had calmed down enough to remember her lessons. She landed softly in front of the monk, stopping him cold.

  He attacked with his monastic techniques, but being this close to him, she could draw on his strength. His moves seemed lethargic, and she dodged around them with ease, landing what felt like three light punches in return.

  The blows rocked the monk back. He kept his feet, but barely.

  Staggering, the monk formed another attack. Bai stepped forward, extending her left hand. She wrapped her hand around the monk’s as he unleashed his energy, feeling the wave of strength fill her limbs. She punched him in the face. Not hard, but his eyes rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the ground.

  Bai looked down at the fallen monk. He had been strong. She had sensed his strength relative to the others, relative to Lei. And he lay at her feet. She held her hand in front of her, turning it back and forth and staring at it in fascination. She made a fist and studied her knuckles. The skin was unbroken and smooth. She felt no pain.

  The meeting of powers outside the town snapped her from her reverie. She left the monk behind, leaping up to the rooftops again. This time, her feet moved easily, her footing more certain with experience. She crossed the distance in a few seconds, dropping down to the battleground and throwing herself into the fight.