A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 27
Then she threw back her head and let out a louder moan. "Oh, yes! Just like that!"
Even while mimicking pleasure, she began a ruthless counter-attack that pushed his preparations to the limit. Somehow he managed to hold on to his advantage and won the game with only a few pieces remaining, yet he only cared about that moment of surprise and, he thought, actual pleasure.
That night when they went to sleep, she climbed under the same blanket without touching him. For once, he didn't consider whether it might be another subtle manipulation and simply drifted into deep slumber. Natala fell asleep first.
Chapter 21
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"The Council of Wahleen thanks the Scholars of the Blue Mask but publicly and unequivocally rejects any proposed alliance. It is absurd to speak of three nations sharing the burden of Deathspawn armies when they occupy only one. If the raiders in the east are defeated, it will be by the strength of our steel alone."
- Wahleenese response to the Scholars of the Blue Mask
-
As Tani waited beneath the earth, she wondered how confidently she could use the spear in her hands. Yes, she would fight. She had made that decision when she agreed to the Steelbone plan, and made it again every day she remained with them. When the time came, she would fulfill her role as best she could. But the spear didn't feel right under her fingers the way her knives did.
The fact that she held the spear, and that they'd used this plan at all, was entirely based on her participation. Sitting in the hole in the rock with a canvas over her, she could hear little and see nothing. However, she kept her eyes closed and her sein still, trying to expand her senses as far as she could from the village.
Her perception might still be limited, but if everything went as Mohuno expected, it wouldn't be difficult to find her target.
Tani's fingers slipped on the shaft of the spear and she carefully wiped off her sweat. She was well aware that she fought one group of raiders in the service of another group. All that kept her on her path was the fact that the villagers had been supportive of the plan. This was their home, after all, modest as it was. Cabari had affirmed that they didn't want to relocate, so Tani was glad that she had stepped forward.
Being glad to take this role was another thing, and she yet again readjusted her hands on the poisoned spear. The Steelbones refused to tell her anything about the fresh coat of poison on the tip of the spear, though she suspected that they had not been the ones to create it. Whatever its origins, the poison was clearly very valuable, designed for use against powerful warriors.
She had coated one of her own knives in the remnants of it, when the Steelbones had turned aside.
Overhead she heard shouts of alarm and Tani stiffened, casting aside all unnecessary thoughts. More important than the shouting and the first cry of pain, she heard the sound of a cockatrice. A perfectly ordinary sound, and less telling than the cry of a hawk... but the village kept no cockatrices. That signal meant that their opponent was strong, or at least close enough to what they expected that she should execute the plan.
Despite the urge to open her eyes, Tani closed them more firmly and focused her senses. A small number of sein motes sped toward the village at the speed of trained warriors. She could smell scorched mint and knew that some of the Steelbones had tried and failed to stop them. All she could do was sit and wait as they fell until the perfect moment came.
Combat peeled away most of the others and Tani completely lost track of those fights. One heavy point of sein plunged onward, toward her hiding spot. That would be one of the Hardbloods' stronger warriors, and her only target.
When the heavy point neared her, Tani burst through the canvas overhead and thrust with all the sein she could muster.
Her senses only caught up after the spear tip had penetrated flesh. Had she gauged wrong or struck an ally, they would already be dead. Instead Tani found that her spear dug into the shoulder of an unfamiliar raider. Even taken off guard by her carefully practiced ambush, he had managed to turn aside, so her spear only caught him in the arm.
But it had bitten deep, and she saw blood staining his clothes.
"You cowardly bitch!" The warrior roared at her, staring at his shoulder in shock.
"I onl-" Her attempt to stall him by speaking failed when he attacked, a vicious assault with an axe in each hand.
Tani abandoned the spear immediately, retreating at full speed, and it still nearly wasn't enough. Without time for the poison to spread through his body, he was a monstrously powerful warrior. She hadn't even bought time for herself to draw any throwing knives. The very most she could manage was raising her sickle knife, but it defended her for only one strike before it was knocked from her hands.
At that moment the others struck, Steelbone raiders launching spears from all sides. The warrior managed to spin aside from all but one, which dealt only a glancing blow, but it earned her time to retreat to a safe distance. When the Hardblood warrior tried to pursue, they descended on him from all sides.
Though she didn't want to take her eyes away from him, Tani tried to sneak a glimpse at the rest of the battle. It seemed that the strongest had been traveling with a few lesser warriors. Some lay dead outside the village, while Mohuno fought another on the path leading up to it. But as they had hoped, they could turn their united strength against a single powerful scout.
It might not be enough. Tani saw one of the Steelbones go down and the enemy raider immediately lunged down to finish him. A throwing knife flew from her hand automatically. He bashed it aside contemptuously, stalled for only a moment, which was just long enough for the other Steelbones to surround him again.
She found herself wondering about that automatic throw. Tactically, it had been a good decision, yet she questioned if more Steelbones in the world was actually a good thing. In the end, simple survival won out: unless she gave everything she had, the Hardblood warrior might fight his way through all of them to reach her.
He did seem to be slowing slightly, perhaps from the poison or perhaps from the collection of injuries. But though the Steelbones had scored his body in several places, he still fought fiercely, while three of them were down. Tani saw that Mohuno wouldn't arrive in time and realized that she was their only chance to change the momentum of the fight.
Tani cupped her poisoned knife between her hands and exhaled onto it. She had wanted to save the poison for a later time, but there might be no later. Instead she breathed her will into the knife, then held it in one hand while she drew three knives in the other.
With a loud cry, the Hardblood warrior pushed aside his opponents. His gaze fixed on her and he crossed the distance between them with terrifying speed. Tani hurled all three of her knives in swift succession and he knocked each one aside with his spinning axes.
Her fourth knife flew out with everything she had. She saw his eyes widen, and his axe nearly rose in time, but the knife slipped past him and into his neck.
The warrior stumbled backward, choking curses that came out as blood. He tugged her knife from his neck and it fell in a red shower, but when he clamped his hand over the injury, he staunched the wound. Slowly he straightened, glaring at her in pure hatred. Surely he couldn't survive such an injury?
Though he advanced on her and she fumbled for her remaining knives, at that moment two Steelbones struck from behind. The Hardblood warrior managed to knock one aside, but the other got an axe into his shoulder. He tried to fight back, but his movements had clearly slowed as the poison coursed through his body from two different wounds.
Eventually he collapsed in a pool of his own blood as the Steelbones continued to strike at him. Tani only stared until her sickle knife abruptly appeared in her vision, handle-first.
"That was well done." Mohuno gave her a serious nod as she accepted her weapon. "If we had ambushed him alone, we would likely have died."
"So we..." Her throat was painfully dry, forcing her to swallow. "We killed one of their best?"
"Yes, and without losing any of our strongest. But they won't know that until too late, and with each loss, this fight becomes worth less and less to them." Mohuno seemed entirely pleased by the results, and she had to admit that it had gone well. From what she could see, only one Steelbone raider had been killed, and no villagers.
"It worked thanks to me. You promised..."
"Yes, if you insist." Mohuno rolled his eyes and turned to the other raiders, beginning to give the orders to evacuate the villagers.
He had been absolutely insistent that they and their animals remain as normal, to help lure in one of the Hardblood clan's powerful scouts. With this victory, however, the same trick would never work again. Tani felt a slight sense of satisfaction as she saw the villagers slowly make their way from their houses to safer caverns. They took their animals with them, the bicorns on leashes and the ombos in cages. Though those might seem unimportant compared to human lives, Tani knew that their livelihoods depended on their flocks.
Tani's reflections were interrupted when another of the raiders approached. She saw the steel in his hands before she realized that he had collected her throwing knives. It took her a moment to clear her throat and then accept them. "Ah, thank you."
"He would have killed us," the young raider said as he moved away. It was likely the only thanks that she would receive from them, but she would accept it.
"Tani, thank you!" Cabari rushed up to her and gave her a relieved hug. "You moved so quickly, I could barely see you! I was afraid you might die at any moment..."
"We survived, but they'll send more." Tani tried to gently pull Cabari away. "You need to get to safety as soon as possible. We don't know how long it will be before they arrive."
Cabari nodded her understanding and moved away to join the others. That should have left Tani in a positive mood, but instead she realized that Mohuno stood nearby with a smirk on his face. When she glared at him, he simply raised his eyebrows.
"Now do you see why the women of these villages are happy to throw themselves at us? They're only too glad to be with their savior... and believe me, I never leave them disappointed. Every woman who has ever been with me has found her own pleasure before I took mine."
Tani snorted. "Sure of that, are you?"
"Of course. I was in quite a good position to hear their cries, after all."
"You're too smart to believe everything you hear, Mohuno." She knew that it would probably be easiest to let him boast and simply focus on the battle, yet he always brought out such strong feelings in her. So instead she turned to him and caught his gaze. "They know that you will not leave them alone until you've heard what you want, so they put on an act."
Infuriatingly, he just grinned. "With all of my experience, you think I cannot tell the difference?"
"If you've only heard false cries, how would you know?"
Mohuno took a step toward her, that quick anger flashing on his face again. But all at once, he relaxed and only gave her a lazy smile. "With all your fire, when you finally come to my furs, I will be sure that you came willingly."
Tani only scowled at him. The most frustrating aspect was that some piece of her could imagine it, and his constant advances kept the subject on her mind instead of letting her be only a warrior. Had he been a less arrogant man, she might have accepted. As it was, she knew he would be far too smug for her to gain any satisfaction from the act.
Or so she told herself. Whenever she saw a flash of anger on his face, a knife dug deeper in her gut...
All the villagers were safely hidden in their caves by the time the outer scouts reported seeing Hardblood warriors... but not for long. Mohuno had hoped that they would have most of a day to recover, but now they faced the next force with fewer warriors. Many refused to retreat, but some who were heavily injured went to join the villagers.
As soon as they confirmed the direction, the entire force moved to hide themselves in the hills to the south, almost out of sight of the village. It seemed that Mohuno had predicted their tactics accurately: the Hardbloods rushed from the south, intending to deal a devastating blow to the territory and retreat before anyone could retaliate. With luck, they would not be able to destroy even a single village and lose so many in their assault that they abandoned the attack.
When they hid, however, they faced north and waited. The Hardbloods approached, letting out earsplitting war cries, yet the Steelbones remained silent in their hiding places. Whatever his other failings, Mohuno had done a good job at transforming his raiders into a disciplined force. Even when the Hardbloods began rushing past them, they made not a sound.
Until the enemy was finally past, and then they struck from behind.
The strongest of the Hardblood warriors noticed the attack and turned, but none of the spears had been aimed at them. In the reverse of the expected strategy, Mohuno had ordered his warriors to strike for the weakest of the enemy. Tani let fly with a knife and saw it dig deep into the eye of one turning warrior, dropping him to the ground.
Only a smaller number of Hardbloods remained. They would be the most powerful, perhaps more than the Steelbones could manage, but at least they would be outnumbered. Keeping them on the defensive was the only way they could defeat a superior force.
Unfortunately, Tani did not know the Hardbloods and in the chaos of the battle it was difficult to determine how many of them were truly strong. At least two, which made the battle difficult indeed. If there were three, then their only chance was if one fell and the others chose to retreat.
While the warriors rushed down from the hills to clash with one another, Tani remained in the heights. From there, she could more easily choose her targets. Since she had only a few throwing knives and retrieving them would be dangerous, she needed to make each throw count.
One stuck in a thigh, allowing a Steelbone to dispatch his opponent.
One took a Hardblood in the throat, sending him down clutching the wound.
One sped for a warrior's head, yet the raider dodged aside.
One... Tani looked for a new target and saw that the village was beginning to burn.
She began to run before she had completely understood what had happened. Instead of fighting in a group, the Hardbloods had scattered after they were struck, strategy devolving into several brawls. By focusing on targets, she had failed to realize that some of them had decided to retreat to the village.
Maybe they thought it would be a more defensible position, or maybe they only wanted to make their enemy pay. Either way, they had already reached the village. Tani ran as quickly as she could, ducking beneath the swiping blade of one Hardblood who followed the others, and hoped that she could arrive in time.
Ahead of her, she saw two houses ablaze. Two Hardblood raiders carried torches, apparently prepared just for this purpose, and now advanced on the barn.
Where Rubako stood in their way, brandishing his spear.
Tani desperately flooded more sein to her legs, hoping to arrive in time, but she saw them from a great distance. Rubako managed to fend them off for a few heartbeats, but he was outnumbered. One of the Hardbloods managed to knock his spear aside and the other struck him in the chest before he could recover.
Still too far away. She saw Rubako fall, bleeding profusely. He might live, but in moments they would strike again...
Mohuno thundered past her. Tani stumbled as she watched him arrive and dispatch one of the raiders in a single blow, then fend off the second.
As she caught up, Tani realized that she had underestimated his strength. He was as tough as many of the raiders, yes, but he was incredibly fast, perhaps as fast as Veron. His swordplay might not be as practiced as Slaten's, but that didn't matter when he had so much brute speed. Though Tani didn't think his understanding of his own sein was deep, and it certainly wasn't sophisticated, his strength was undeniable.
She arced behind the remaining raider and jabbed her sickle knife into the man's side. He grunted and clawed at her blade instinctively, but Mohuno decapitated him the next moment and his body slumped to the ground, fingers losing their grip.
Though Tani wanted to check on Rubako, she could feel that other raiders approached and on some level knew they were not Steelbones. She stepped close enough to see Rubako grimacing in pain as he held his injury. Hopefully he would live, because she had no more attention to spare.
"This is a distraction they cannot afford." Mohuno grabbed her arm, the first time he'd laid hands on her, yet his grip contained only the urgency of combat. "Those they send after us bleed the strongest fighters from the main battle, but only if we can hold them off."
Grimly acknowledging that he was right, Tani stepped away from Rubako. They shifted to the center of the village, watching carefully as more raiders arrived. Normally that would open them to being surrounded, but more homes had caught fire and the raiders shied away from the flames. Tani desperately wished that she could save the village huts, yet the most she could do was finish the battle.
One of the raiders rushed toward them, but Tani and Mohuno struck at the same time. Their simultaneous strikes wasted effort, but the way the attacker fell to the ground immediately made the others hesitate. Instead of rushing together, they foolishly stayed in their circle, looking for an advantage.
When another dared to rush in, the dam broke and the raiders struck from all sides. Tani ducked beneath the swing of the first, digging her sickle knife into the man's stomach. Mohuno struck him the next moment, sending his headless body backwards, but then the others took their chance to attack.
With Slaten or Veron, Tani might have been able to fight back to back and break their mad charge. Instead with Mohuno, the two of them danced away from each other, constantly moving to prevent their opponents from completely surrounding them. Against untrained soldiers Tani might have attempted to take some out quickly, yet many of the Hardbloods held considerable strength. The risk of one of them binding her was too great, since one mistake would be fatal.
And yet, she and Mohuno managed to fight together. Their strategy didn't develop smoothly, and she rarely understood what he meant when he shot glances her way, yet somehow it worked. She dealt a weakening blow to one Hardblood and sent him stumbling into Mohuno's range. He bashed an opponent to the ground and left him for Tani to finish.
