The Brightest Shadow, page 73
Before he could decide on his next line of attack, Celivia lunged at him, stabbing repeatedly. Every feint could have turned into a deadly thrust, so he had no choice but to throw his full attention to defending.
Abruptly both of her knives left her hands, spinning toward his face. They were nowhere near as dangerous as one of Tani's throws, so Slaten knocked them aside. Too late he realized that she hadn't meant the attack to hit him, only to draw his focus away from her.
Celivia jumped past him, hand reaching for the handle of her whip. Slaten thrust out, trying to stab her before she could reach it.
Too late. When her hand grasped the handle, the blades of her whip lurched into the air, becoming a deadly blur that knocked aside his sword. It would be suicide to try to attack through that. Slaten dodged back, but not fast enough. While his attention was on the flashing blades of her whip, Celivia's free hand lunged out, striking him on the chest.
He flew backward and hit the ground hard, barely managing to roll to a position he could rise from. Celivia stood some distance away, having retrieved one of her knives and holding her whip ready in her other hand. That didn't bode well.
Though his chest hurt and he was sure that it would be bruised, Slaten didn't feel any bleeding. They stood across from one another, the branches and dappled sunlight the only thing moving in the valley. Since she wasn't attacking, he took a moment to look at her hand more carefully.
"Your fingernails aren't claws."
"I'm not back to normal yet," Celivia said. Despite the circumstances, she answered normally, as if they were just talking. "I needed more than a few mixtures to become convincingly human. This was just to purge the poison from my body, and to make sure Aryabaus's army doesn't kill me by mistake."
"Then... what do you really look like?"
"Like this, mostly. I have a tail."
Slaten blinked. A tail? But Celivia's gaze was hard and she tightened her grip on her weapons.
"I'm not going to let you stall me by talking. This is your last chance. Just surrender and we can talk through all of this once we're safe."
"Can you actually promise that? What if Aryabaus decides differently?"
"It won't matter. I can promise safety for you and a few others. Answer, Slaten!"
He was tempted. After surviving so many battles where he wasn't sure if he was fighting on the wrong side, it would be good to just stop. Take Celivia's promise at face value and escape. If he had enough time to think, to reconsider everything, away from all this...
Yet Walernel and Destrela's corpses still lay on one side of the valley. He realized that Tani was right, that he didn't truly know who Celivia was. Maybe her promise was honest, but he couldn't assume that. For now, he wasn't willing to risk his life and potentially the lives of many others on such a chance. Slaten raised his sword again.
"I'm sorry, Celivia. But you don't need to hate someone to kill them."
"I thought it might come to this." She smiled bitterly and raised her knife. "You're tough enough that I don't have to hold back. I'll take you by force if I have to."
Her whip lashed out a second later. If he hadn't seen her use the same technique against Destrela, he wouldn't have had any hope of dodging it. As it was, the second strike that made the blades curve unnaturally back in his direction still nearly caught him. The blades lashed around his sword, but he was able to pull it out easily enough.
Celivia kept him at a distance with strikes from her whip, most of them ordinary, only occasionally throwing in a twisting strike to keep him off balance. Though he didn't think he could win, he realized that his best strategy would be to force her to keep using that skill - it clearly required a significant investment of sein, so she couldn't do it forever.
Once he successfully knocked her whip to the ground, stomping on it as he lunged in and slashing for her neck. She deflected his blow with her knife and stabbed back with a different prong of the duusha horn, exchanging several blows before she managed to jerk her whip from beneath his feet. He had no choice but to leap back to put distance between them.
As they continued fighting, Slaten became certain that though Celivia had lied with her words, she had not lied while they were sparring. She had her whip trick and probably a few other hidden skills, but she had been fighting him earnestly. There was something honest and pure about the fight, clearing his head of the confusion of before.
Though Celivia was not his friend, she was also not truly his enemy. They wouldn't end this fight with a truce, but it didn't have to end with them dead. Even if he successfully held her off and the others were able to capture her, it would be better to keep her alive and learn more of the truth of everything.
Then the bladed whip jerked off the ground, cutting the side of his leg, and Slaten realized that he had lost his edge. It hadn't cut deep, but he stifled a cry and dropped down to one knee. Celivia pulled her whip back and straightened.
"Surrender, Slaten. You can't keep up your footwork with that injury."
In response he grimaced and forced himself back to his feet. His body ached, but if he let the rest of his sein flow through him strongly, he could keep fighting until it ran out. Celivia sighed and braced herself again, whip coiling into position.
He lunged at her with everything he could muster. Saw her whip sweeping in from the side and raised his sword as if to block, then ducked underneath instead. This time he felt her sein shifting into the whip, sending it down toward him. If he had been trying to dodge, he wouldn't have had enough time.
But he wasn't planning to dodge. Slaten took one hand off the hilt of his sword and released a bolt of sein directly into Celivia's face.
She rocked backward, losing her hold on her whip and staggering back several steps. Slaten lunged after her, trying to thrust while she was off-guard, but she managed to deflect the blow. His only true advantage was that she'd never been able to practice against this skill, so he needed to press the narrow window of opportunity and try to win before it closed.
Again he thrust and again she swept his sword aside with her knife, but her positioning was weak this time. He could draw back and slash if-
Her boot hit his injured leg and he stumbled, started to fall. Before he could land, her knee hit him in the chin and knocked him sprawling.
He landed painfully, barely keeping a grip on his sword. Celivia was already rushing over him, knife stabbing down.
Slaten sent his remaining burst of sein up at her, only to see her entire body twist into the air, spinning and letting the burst pass by her. She hadn't been trying to finish him off, she had been baiting him to use the technique again.
Celivia came down hard, her boot smashing into his chest. If she'd used her full force she could have shattered his ribs, but she pulled the blow. It still stunned him, but he fought through it, slashing at her to force her to step off his chest.
Just because he could have died there didn't mean he needed to give up. Slaten slashed again and jumped back to a crouching position, ignoring the pain shooting through his leg. He had a little strength left, he could put it into a leaping thrust that had a chance of hitting her.
Except she closed on him too fast, her knife pushing aside his blade and her elbow hitting his jaw. The blow knocked his head back against the ground and for a moment he saw only flashing light.
When he came to, he realized that his sword had been kicked out of his hand. Celivia had one foot pressing on his upper chest, close to his neck but not applying any force to it. Her foot felt surprisingly heavy, though he realized a moment later that she wasn't human and it might be foolish to assume that she was built the same. In any case, he'd exhausted his sein and so his options for struggling were limited.
"Finally." Celivia took a deep breath, then smiled down at him. "This is for the best, Slaten. The question now is if I can save Tani, too, or if that's too much of a risk."
She reached into her robe and he caught a glimpse of something that glinted silver, but there was nothing he could do.
~ ~ ~
Tani saw a torch appear from around a corner, took only the briefest moment to confirm it was being carried by a mansthein, and struck. Her sickle knife cut through his neck and dropped him quickly, close to soundlessly in the chaos. She checked for nearby allies and then moved on.
The longer she remained in the tunnels, the riskier it became. Individual soldiers looking for easy targets were little threat to her, and even against warriors with some sein training, she trusted her senses and reaction time to finish things quickly. But if she stumbled on a Catai in the dark tunnels, she could go from safe to dead just as quickly. She'd spotted larger groups of mansthein moving more methodically as well and couldn't afford to get anywhere near their search.
So far, all she'd accomplished was finding Hanfel. Given his injuries, she'd urged him to go straight to the exit. At least he'd been able to tell her where the healers had gone. Tani wanted to at least rescue all of them. She desperately hoped Teren was with them, because if not, she wasn't sure if she could finish the task Slaten had entrusted to her.
It was easier not to think about Celivia or the fact that she must be fighting Slaten now. Tani needed every bit of focus she had to keep moving through the tunnels safely.
At last she reached the dead end where the healers were supposedly hiding, thankfully long before the main army reached it. Yet as Tani approached, she saw several bodies lying on the ground. They were so shriveled that she wasn't sure if they were human or mansthein.
Then she entered the last chamber, lit only by a fading sein sphere, and she understood. Elima sat up against a wall, two more corpses beside her. Their blades were embedded in her chest and stomach. Though the amount of blood covering the front of her tunic indicated the wounds were clearly mortal, Tani couldn't tell if she was dead without getting closer.
When she stepped into the room, a staff whistled toward her head. Not very quickly. Tani dodged aside and caught the staff in one hand, then saw that Laeri stood on the other end of it.
"Tani!" Her terrified expression dissolved into relief and she rushed forward, hugging Tani fiercely. Tani extricated her arms so that Laeri didn't accidentally stab herself and otherwise endured it.
"What happened?"
"A few of them f-followed us here. They argued about whether or not to capture us or kill us, and that was when Elima started doing something to them. She killed some but they... they s-stabbed her..." Laeri's voice cracked and she dissolved into tears again.
"Hush, it's okay. Who's left?"
"Most of the others ran away, but I was too afraid. I tried to heal Elima, but she wouldn't let me. And Teren is hiding here too."
Tani looked over the chamber more carefully and saw a dark head peek up from behind a box. Teren's eyes were very wide as she watched and Tani extended a hand to her. The girl immediately ran to embrace her as well, but Tani only stayed with the two a moment before she pulled herself away.
"You two need to escape, as soon as possible. There's a secret exit not far from here, but you have to run." Both of them seemed terrified, so Tani turned to Laeri and lightly slapped her. "Laeri. You're the adult here. Take care of Teren and get her to safety, okay?"
"O-okay..."
"And Teren, you need to be brave and be quiet, okay? Go with Laeri and she'll take you to Slaten." The girl nodded seriously, eyes still wide. But now Laeri was shaking her head in disbelief.
"You... you're not coming with us?"
"I'll help you on the way out, but I need to go back for others. And I want to talk to Elima."
Stepping away from the other two, Tani knelt down on one knee beside the old healer. Yes, her chest was moving with slow breaths. When Tani got close, Elima opened her eyes and looked up at her.
"I'm still kicking for a bit longer. Just... didn't want the girl to waste her sein on me."
"Are you sure?" Even though it seemed obvious the wounds were mortal, Tani reached down and took Elima's hand, holding it gently. She felt it squeeze back softly, nothing like the woman's normal grip.
"There are some wounds you don't want to come back from. I've been around long enough. Better to... leave it to you young folks..." Elima raised her hand and brushed it against Tani's cheek. But to her surprise, her touch wasn't weak, it burned like fire.
Mint. Spices. Weight. Tani's sense of all three was overwhelmed as sein surged into her. Not her own, yet the flow moved alongside hers. She had no idea how such a thing could be done, as her master had never even hinted at such a technique. Yet she could feel new strength flowing within her.
Elima was dead. Her hand fell and her eyes stared at nothing, as if she had imparted the last of her life. Tani closed her eyes, grateful that she had been able to go without much pain.
"Let's go." She pushed to her feet, surprised at how little fatigue she felt. Laeri had at least gathered Teren up in her arms and looked ready to run.
Tani sprinted away from them, making sure the corridor was clear. In the next tunnel she spotted a torch around the corner. She crept behind the mansthein carrying it, then rose and cut through his throat from behind.
It felt so easy, but she forced herself not to get overconfident. Elima's final gift supported and rejuvenated her, but the healer's sein didn't make her faster or stronger. She could also feel it diminishing over time. Of course the sein of a dead person couldn't last forever. Tani took a moment to thank Elima's memory again, then returned her focus to the escape.
She took Laeri and Teren to the major crossroads without further incident, then hesitated. Sending them out there would only give Celivia options for hostages. Part of Tani wanted to go out and fight her, yet she knew how long it would take her to reach the secret exit. By the time she did that, going back in would be suicide. But if she took a shorter path first... she'd have to hope Slaten could hold on.
"You two hide here." Tani showed them the entrance to one of the smaller rooms, then pointed down the corridor. "The secret exit is supposed to be down the long tunnel, not any of the side rooms. Run that way if you need to, alright?"
They both nodded, Laeri seeming closer to tears than Teren. Tani took a deep breath, then sprinted back in.
There had been no sign of Veron or the other strong warriors and Tani would have to hope that they had survived, because there was little she could do for them. But she knew where one person was, or at least had been: Narenel. If he had gone where he said, then no doubt he would have seen the army as it approached. Where would he have gone from there?
As Tani raced toward that entrance, all she could do was hope that she wasn't making a mistake. Most likely he would either try to fight them at a strategic location, or return to assist others. If he had stayed in the caverns, she felt certain that she would have run across him in one of the central chambers.
When she reached the upper cavern she found it empty - no, there were corpses of several guards. Yet she hadn't encountered any mansthein nearby. Tani nervously advanced, prepared for an attack, but found nothing until she emerged outside.
From her vantage point above, she could see that the battle was hopeless. A large portion of Aryabaus's army remained stationed around the entrance. So long as they stayed there, that was fine. The real threat would be if he'd sent more soldiers around to the back, since Celivia had apparently known about that exit as well. No sign of it, but all the figures looked very small to her from atop the bluff.
Then a beam of reflected sunlight glimmered in the trees below. Tani looked closer and realized that it was him: even from so far away, Narenel's armor was distinctive. She wasn't sure what path had led him down there - perhaps he had been fighting mansthein who attempted to enter the upper exit and been drawn down below. At that moment, he was cutting down several of them. He wasn't surrounded, but he was dangerously close to the main group.
As he finished the battle, he looked up... and Tani would have sworn that he saw her. Yet as they stared at each other, she realized that it didn't matter. There were too many soldiers in between them, not to mention stronger warriors with the army who would pursue them.
Maybe he could survive. But not if she joined him. His only hope was if she let him fight alone.
Tani raised her hand in a simple farewell. After a moment, she saw his arm raise as well. Then he moved into the trees, vanishing from her sight.
She wanted to stay there for longer, but knew time was slipping away. Tani turned and ran back into the tunnels, pressing herself to go faster. While rushing around a corner she collided with a mansthein soldier, but fortunately he was even more startled than she was and she managed to take him down before he could strike.
Though she had landed poorly, she didn't feel any pain. Tani pressed onward, back toward Laeri and Teren, hoping that they were both still okay. She hadn't seen any sign of the main group of mansthein, but there were so many moving out ahead of the main ranks, there was always a risk.
When she saw a moving sein sphere, Tani froze in surprise. Fortunately, it was being carried by Graenin. Veron ran just behind him, supporting Hanfel as they moved, and Melal wandered behind them with a blank expression. They saw her and moved in her direction before they met. Tani started to open her mouth but Veron cut her off.
"Don't even think about trying for anyone else. Anybody who's still here is as good as dead. We need to get out."
"Slaten is outside. Laeri and Teren are hiding near the exit. We should move."
"The little Oken girl? Whatever, let's just go."
They hurried on, Tani unexpectedly leading them since she still felt so fresh. She had meant to say something about Celivia, but nothing had come out. Most likely it wouldn't matter, since they'd know what to do when they saw her. Or would they hesitate? Tani realized that she might be making a mistake not warning them, but all words clotted in her throat.
When they reached Laeri and Teren, they found them unharmed. Veron just waved for them to follow and they obeyed immediately. Soon they had only one corridor left. It seemed that no more mansthein would stand in their way, except Celivia. Tani wanted more time to think, but the remaining moments disappeared so quickly and then they were out in the sunlight. Graenin and Veron took the lead, charging forward before she could say anything, forcing her to struggle just to keep up.
