The Brightest Shadow, page 34
The cloaked figure touched the Hero's face and he froze solid. Melal felt as though his heart had frozen as well. He dropped his sword and sagged back against the wall behind him. He stared, but he couldn't understand what he was seeing.
"Is that all?" the armored Deathspawn asked. "Not very stylish. At least push him into the air, let me end this dramatically. Come on, Sepultus... for old times' sake?"
Instead of responding, the cloaked Deathspawn began to walk away.
"You're no fun anymore." After grumbling for a moment, the armored Deathspawn leapt into the air, spun his staff over his head, and smashed it down into the frozen Hero.
He shattered, the pieces not even bloody but completely frozen. The armored Deathspawn gave a more satisfied grunt and began to move away. Meanwhile, the cloaked one stopped briefly and gestured behind him. All the pieces began to flow across the ground, gathering together and then wrapped up in a cloth that tore from a nearby stall.
It floated near the two of them, then suddenly both of them shrank into a single point and vanished, leaving nothing but the symbol burned into the plaza. Overhead, the halo of light had vanished, leaving the sun a cold pinpoint of light.
Melal collapsed to the ground. Hope had died, and he wished that he had died with it.
~ ~ ~
A rush of air warned Tani that something was amiss, but when she sprinted toward the river, it was too late. All that remained was a huge symbol burned into the stones. It meant nothing to her, sending her eyes searching for more meaning.
People stood all around the square, still staring toward it. On the far side, near the river, she spotted Melal lying on the ground and Eraes standing beside him. Closer to her, Tani saw Celivia watching from a partially hidden position. Her entire body trembled, almost as if seinshock had begun. Tani hurried to her, speaking in a low voice.
"Celivia? Are you alright? Please, you can't go into shock now... Celivia..."
The other woman's trembling became more and more violent until suddenly Celivia's hand snapped out, latching onto Tani's shoulder so hard her grip was painful. Celivia stared toward her, murky brown eyes filled with an intensity Tani didn't quite understand. But a moment later she let go, slapped herself across the face, and focused on her. "I'm sorry. Seinshock. What did you ask?"
"What happened here?"
"The Hero fought two of the Zeitai." Celivia stared down toward the plaza and bit her lip, her expression very strange. "They killed him and took the body."
"Then... is it over? It doesn't feel real, but maybe people will calm down..."
Celivia cast her a sharp look. "After half the city has been torn apart? No, it will spiral into further chaos. We need to get out of here."
"I see the others. Let's go get them and find a boat if we can." Tani moved with Celivia, glancing over her shoulder. While the area seemed mostly clear, dominated by a strange stillness, she could hear sounds of violence approaching. If the Deathspawn reached them, she didn't like their chances of staying alive.
Tani moved to Eraes and found her not in seinshock but muttering to herself in Lanthan. "Eraes? Are you okay? We need to find a boat..."
Eraes didn't respond to her question, but pointed toward the river. Tani looked and saw a boat floating adrift. It looked as though it carried supplies, but there was no one in it at the moment. Before Tani could look further, she heard Celivia from behind.
"Tani? Should we take him?" She nudged Melal with her boot.
"He's probably just in shock. Bring him with us."
Celivia sighed and reached down to heft his body over her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Tani started to make her way down toward the boat. From the corner of her vision, she saw several more people, then abruptly realized that she knew them.
Slaten sat against a wall, his eyes staring into nothing. The little Oken girl - Teren - was pulling on his shirt and crying, pleading with him in Okeni. Tani didn't understand the words, but the meaning was obvious. Laeri knelt behind her, frantically switching between trying to calm her and trying to do something for Slaten.
When Tani approached, Laeri looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. 'Tani... Slaten won't respond. It seemed like seinshock but its not that at all, there's some kind of foreign sein in him and he doesn't respond at all no matter what I do..." The little girl began to wail louder. Tani stood beside them, feeling useless and not sure what to do.
She heard footsteps approaching and almost hoped that it was Veron returning. But no, two Deathspawn warriors were making their way toward the river, blades drawn. They didn't even hesitate when they saw Teren sobbing, just raised their blades to kill.
Tani unleashed all of her fury on them. Two knives into the first, one deflected but the other sinking deep into his chest. The second Deathspawn rushed her, but she hooked his blade with her sickle knife and swept it aside. A throwing knife stabbed into his stomach before he could react, then she reversed her sickle knife through his throat. Both of them fell dead. It hadn't been difficult, and her technique had been flawless. She couldn't feel any pride.
A louder scream pulled her from her thoughts. While she had been focused on killing the two Deathspawn in front of her, another had approached the others. Laeri had pulled Teren away from Slaten, holding her staff defensively in front of her and retreating toward the water. The Deathspawn chuckled as he advanced. Tani tried to draw two more knives but fumbled at empty spaces, struggling to find her focus again.
As she did, Slaten's body rose to its feet. He moved mechanically, but swiftly. Too late the Deathspawn saw him and whirled to try to react. The sword had already cut downward, slicing through his arm and deep into his side, sending the body splashing back into the water.
Slaten stood there, sword dangling from his fingers. He was staring at Laeri and Teren, not seeming to see them, and Tani feared he might attack. But after a moment, he dropped his sword, sat back down, and continued staring at nothing.
"What..." Laeri let out an unsteady breath and hugged the girl tighter. "What's going on?"
"We need to leave. As soon as we can."
The others caught up to them in the boat: Eraes and Celivia each using an oar, Melal lying in the back. It was a tight fit, but Tani thought they could manage. Teren moved to Slaten's body again and refused to let go, so Tani nudged Slaten carefully until he shuffled to the boat.
They maneuvered the boat to try to head away, struggling with inexpert oar strokes. Tani could help with the rowing, but she wasted several long heartbeats unable to move, just standing on the side of the river.
She smelled fire and death. The sounds of battle had grown faint, but they still echoed in her mind. Corpses floated in the water and lay sprawled over the sides of the river. Stone and wooden fragments lay everywhere, several buildings and the nearest bridge completely destroyed. Smoke rose from the city and she wondered if this was the end for Bundlin.
"Tani!" Eraes hissed at her in a low voice and Tani jumped. But the other woman wasn't looking at her, instead her eyes darted nervously around the buildings near them.
When Tani followed her gaze, she saw the Deathspawn. Lots of them, approaching carefully instead of charging. There were more on the other side of the river, many injured but many more able to fight. Tani started to wearily draw her sickle knife again, but Eraes shook her head.
"We can't fight them and we aren't going to escape them by boat. If you want to get out, you have to run. Immediately."
"But..."
"Go, Tani." Eraes sounded more desperate now. "Better that one of us makes it out than none of us."
Part of her wanted to stay and fight, but the rest of her was so tired. Her mind had been shaken repeatedly that day and still ached. When she stared at the warriors emerging around her, she knew that there was no way she could win.
Choking back a strangled sound, Tani ran. One of them tried to lunge for her, but he wasn't fast enough. She broke past them, running alongside the steep wall beside the river. At first she just ran, tears in her eyes, but a sense of guilt overwhelmed her. Stumbling to a halt, she started to turn back.
To her surprise, she saw Kolanin standing beside the river. He raised his hands and spoke in a voice that rang clear but was weary beyond belief.
"It has to end. No more. Please."
She watched a little longer, long enough to see her friends get out of the boat and lay down their weapons. The Deathspawn moved toward them but didn't cut them down. All of them seemed weary as well, drained. As if the battle had consumed everything that all of them had, a fire that ate through everything and then burned itself out.
Tani nearly went back to join them. Even if she was a captive, she would have a place to sleep. She wouldn't be alone.
But there were more Deathspawn in the city, and some of them had started to notice her. Tani turned and fled, trying to forget.
- End of Part 2 -
Interlude
While Bundlin went to hell, Bhufel stayed home. Kept all the doors locked and barred. Wouldn't do any good if some crazed fighter went smashing through, but Bundlin was a big place. He liked his odds better at home than out on the street where everyone was going insane.
When all the yelling stopped, he had a good night's rest just to be sure. In the morning he finally unbarred his door and stepped outside to see how bad everything was.
Pretty bad. People braver than him had cleared out the bodies, but there were signs of battle all over the city. Didn't seem like anyone had particularly won or lost, not that it mattered either way to someone like him. What mattered was that normal life had been interrupted. A man of Bhufel's talents could profit during times like that.
Normally he ran his business out of the back of an unassuming bread shop. Some of them were open - people needed to eat, after all - but he doubted that he would get too many clandestine visits. Just to be sure, Bhufel stopped by the usual place.
Along the way, he saw that the Deathspawn kept to themselves even more than usual. There'd be some looting, no doubt, but most people were coming together and getting on with their lives. Not that they had much of a choice about it.
The shop he used as a cover was still closed. Unsurprising. Bhufel stepped into a nearby alley and found Gornoyo open for business, stirring a large pot of bread. He looked up and gave a friendly nod.
"Morning, Bhufel. Looking for a bite to eat?"
"Too much to do. You went right back to business, huh?"
Gornoyo nodded pleasantly. "I checked on the whole extended family last night, but we didn't lose anyone except cousin Canayo. Always fooling around with sein, that boy, even though he didn't have a clue what he was doing. But the rest of us got through just fine."
"That's how it usually goes. Warriors just kill each other - it's soldiers you've got to worry about." Bhufel was about to say more when he noticed movement near the back of his shop. A woman with a large hat covering her face, carrying a suspicious sack. Oh, that definitely looked like business. "I'll be back for some of that bread after I've put in a good day's work, okay, Gornoyo?"
"You know where to find me!"
Bhufel moved across the street to approach the woman. She jumped in surprise even though he'd tried to make his movement obvious. Clutching her sack tighter, she stared at him with darting eyes. "I... I heard you can buy and sell things."
"That's what I do. What do you have?"
"I have something, but..." She spent a while fumbling with the folds of the sack. "I can't explain where I got it."
"Asking questions like that isn't my job. Let me see."
She eventually managed to pull the object out of her sack... and Bhufel let out a low whistle. He moved to block the view from the street with his body and picked up the mangled golden helm.
Heavy, probably a lot more gold in it than he had expected. When he tried to scratch it with his thumbnail, however, it didn't leave a mark. He didn't like to think about the kind of force that could have crumpled the helm, so he didn't. The nice woman had washed it off for him, so what he had was a solid chunk of gold alloy.
"Our street was... d-damaged in the fighting," the woman said. Her hands moved out as if to take the helm back from him, but stopped short. "And my husband wants to move out of Bundlin. Either way, we need money. I'd take it to the moneylenders, but they're squeezing everyone for their last bit. I heard that you can help with this sort of thing."
Bhufel let out a low groan. If he'd been a smarter, harder man, he should have taken the woman for everything she had. Not hire thugs to take it from her - thugs would be getting ideas in times like this. But she had no idea the value of such a thing, so it would be easy to cheat her and come out rich. Unfortunately, Bhufel had always had a stupid streak.
"Listen carefully. You put this right back in your sack and you bury it under your house. You don't want anything to do with anyone who can afford to buy this much gold right now."
She looked up at him in surprise. "You mean you can't sell it?"
"That isn't how it works, even during normal times. I don't know where this came from, and I don't want to know. But you need to keep it quiet. Wait until this blows over. Break it into pieces before selling it, just in case somebody recognizes it. But whatever you do, keep your mouth shut."
"We... I understand. Thank you." Though she seemed more fearful as she moved away, that was good. Hell, selling something like that would have been risky during normal times, much less now.
Cursing himself for his stupidity, Bhufel headed down toward the markets. There'd be a lot of merchants who needed things done. With some of the usual systems disrupted, they'd be willing to pay a premium for such services.
As Bhufel walked, he saw that more people were out and about. Without Deathspawn patrols, they had the confidence to move again. Some idiots would probably try to attack across the river, but that was to be expected. Things were more like normal.
Bhufel walked up a hill near the market and stood for a while. Maybe not normal just yet.
How the hell had an entire ship ended up out of the river, smashed through a house? He stared at it for a while, confirming that he really didn't want to know. Hell of a mess.
There was profit to be made, though. No doubt any contents of the ship had already been looted, but the salvage rights to the wood had considerable value. Not the sort of thing he traded in himself, but arranging to give those rights to someone else... that he could do. Bhufel hummed to himself and kept moving.
As expected, the merchants were back. They liked making money even more than he did, after all. Most of them had a bunch of armed guards, no doubt extended family who could carry a weapon and look tough. Probably good enough for now. Bundlin had gotten its fill of bloodshed for a while, at least.
Something had sure done a number on the fish market, though. He didn't see a single surviving stand or box - everything there looked as though it had been brought recently, and more people were carrying in new supplies. How had so much been destroyed? Usually it was bandits they needed to worry about - warriors didn't destroy anything important.
Well, that didn't matter much now. Bhufel realized that he'd been too cautious this time and missed most of the good opportunities here. He'd talk to someone about salvaging the ship - oh, and he should see about dredging the river. Nobody ever thought about the desperate men and women who tried to pull up valuables, but it was a safe bet they'd find more than usual. Profit to be made there.
But the big money... that would take some bolder thinking. Bhufel stood still for a while, then headed for one of the bridges.
No guard on this side, which might be good or bad for the political situation. Didn't matter much to him personally, but he'd want to get a hand on the pulse of it. That said, his only plan was to head over the bridge and see if a little craziness would pay off.
Midway up the steep bridge, he had to stop to catch his breath. Damn things were far too large. Oh, sure, it helped that ships could move underneath them, but they were hell to cross. He was glad the Deathspawn had taken over the other side of the river, because it reduced how often he had to make the trip. Maybe he ought to invest in more runners. Wasn't as young as he used to be, after all.
Near the top of the bridge, he took the chance to look around at Bundlin. Still some smoke in a few areas, but all the fires were out, human side or Deathspawn side. Everybody knew fire was bad news. As much damage as had been done, if all the fires were under control, then things were turning around.
As he started down the other side, he swallowed at the sight of all the armed Deathspawn at the base. Risky business, dealing with them. All the favors and information in the world didn't mean anything if some idiot stabbed you. He figured Deathspawn couldn't be fighters down to the last man, but they must keep their thinking types elsewhere.
"Morning, friends!" Bhufel raised his arms non-threateningly and began walking down toward them. "Bit of a mess we have here, isn't it?"
"No further, human!" One of the Deathspawn aimed a spear at him, so Bhufel dutifully stopped.
"I'm not here to hurt any of you strapping young lads. Couldn't if I tried. No, I was just wondering if you might want a bite to eat."
They glanced at one another but didn't move to attack him. Bhufel took another few steps forward.
"Seems to me like your army is going to be facing a choice soon. You can try to take the whole city to seize food, or you can starve. I don't know about the fancy types over you, but I'm betting they'll be weighing a lot of different things. Probably not weighing how hungry all of you are getting, huh?"
More uncertainty on their faces, good. One of the Deathspawn even nodded. Regardless of power, all men were stomachs in the end.
"Now, there's a lot of folks on this side angry with you, but not all. I'm a man who happens to know some people who would be happy to sell you what you need, before your officers get off their asses and figure things out. I'm guessing you boys have coin you can't really use on that side, huh?"
