The Brightest Shadow, page 85
It looked like a place of rock to Veron, but the cry gave the army new strength. They pushed forward after him and seemed to have the situation under control. That meant if the shit was going to drop, it probably would happen inside.
Jumping up to the roof of one of the structures, Veron avoided the main battle and leapt over it to land beside Melal. He was kicking the door, his boot actually making the heavy double doors shake. The boy had a lot of strength in his legs. Downright troubling amounts of it, just like the Heroes before him. Looked like he was coming into his own and Veron wasn't sure how she felt about that.
"Let me cut through," Veron said. "They might have some kind of trap on the other side, so we need to be prepared to jump back or charge as necessary."
"We'll crush their cowardly trap!" But for all his bluster, Melal did step back.
That gave her enough space to raise her sword over her head, letting her sein focus. For a big reinforced door like this, she actually needed to think about it. Veron thought of fine whiskey until she could taste it, then brought her sword down between the two doors.
The wood resisted and she felt her blade bite into something thicker, but she broke through. If the door had been barred, it wasn't anymore. Of course, anyone waiting on the other side knew they were coming in. No choice but to charge ahead and hope for the best.
Melal could be trusted to do exactly that, of course. He kicked the doors again, this time sending them slamming into the hall. Veron raised her sword, getting ready for the army within.
Except there was just one old Deathspawn. Standing in the center of the hallway, slowly looking up at them wearily.
He freaked the fuck out of her. Without pausing to think, Veron charged, her sword flying for his head. Somehow she missed as he leaned aside and redirected her slash with one hand. Not bad, but she'd fought warriors like him before. She swung to keep him at bay and started to take a step back to properly use her range-
Too late she realized that he was reaching out. She felt him grab her arm and the next second she was tumbling through the air. Though she braced herself to slam into the ground, he hadn't thrown her down, but to the side. When she hit the ground she slid across the smooth marble, through an open doorway and down a long hallway.
Veron groaned and looked up from her position. At the other end of the hall, she could just see the old Deathspawn standing there calmly, waiting for Melal. Now that she wasn't attacking, Veron realized that she could guess his identity, had even seen him in that nameless little village. It was that Deathspawn the kids said was a strong fighter, Kolanin.
Fuck, there it was.
~ ~ ~
Though Tani no longer felt immediately threatened by the press of untrained soldiers, she remained constantly on her guard. She hadn't seen the warrior creeping up on them from the side, and if not for Veron, she could have been seriously injured. Even though she could cut her way into the melee, she didn't want to risk a lucky blow from behind.
Melal didn't have that problem, but she didn't think the same rules would apply to her.
Once Veron advanced on the door, however, Tani realized that they needed to move forward if they were going to do any good. She glanced at Slaten and they nodded to each other. They pulled Laeri along with them and fought their way along the edge of the courtyard to reach the door.
She had been too busy fighting to see what happened, but when Tani entered, she froze. Veron was nowhere to be seen. Melal was the only other person on their side who had entered, the mansthein managing a desperate defense in order to cut him off.
Kolanin stood in the center of the room.
He looked shorter and older than she remembered, dwarfed by the curving staircases that extended to a raised second level from either side of the room. Tani glanced over them, expecting another ambush, but there was no one else. Just Kolanin, alone.
"Prepare to face your death, minion of evil!" Melal raised his sword at Kolanin's chest, but the mansthein man didn't move to stop it, just looked up at him.
"You know me, Melal. What are you doing?"
"Silence! I shall slay you in the name of-"
Kolanin sighed, but remained focused on him. "Have you always hated me? Should I have let you stay with your family? I had thought I was giving you an opportunity by letting you come to Bundlin."
"Sh-shut up!" Though Melal's sword arm remained firm, he lowered his head and clutched it with one hand. Something unnatural in his tone and bearing changed, just slightly.
Tani's body urged her to move, yet her mind didn't know how to act. If Kolanin was going to let Melal kill him, she wanted to save Kolanin. Yet his words seemed to be having an effect, if a small one. She nervously looked behind her and saw that the battle had not yet entered the tower, but it was only a matter of time.
"This is some sort of trick..." Melal's sword began to waver slightly. "What are you scheming?"
"I never wanted this." Kolanin tilted his head back and stared up into the vaulted chamber.
"Enough! You cannot stop the Hero, Deathspawn!" Melal threw his body behind his sword. Tani tried to move, but it was too late - the blade hovering in front of Kolanin's heart would thrust before she arrived.
Kolanin's palms clapped around the blade. Melal grunted and pushed forward again, yet the sword remained firm. Even when he tried to pull his sword away to the sides, he couldn't escape Kolanin's grip. For a moment Melal looked completely baffled, more like the young man she had known before than the Hero.
Then he let out a cry and swung with a fist. Kolanin dodged back from the blow, the movement loosening his grip enough that Melal could pull away his sword. He began to attack wildly, swinging for Kolanin's body in a rage. Though Melal was filled with openings, Kolanin merely gave ground, avoiding his attacks without ever striking back.
Again Tani was left uncertain how to act. Kolanin moved surely and skillfully, but he couldn't dodge forever and it seemed that Melal's rage could not be quenched. Yet if she attacked Melal... even if it worked, the horde of bright-eyed warriors outside might descend on her.
Before Tani could come up with any solution, a silvery flash cracked out from the upper level. Melal staggered backward, clutching his bleeding shoulder, but Tani's gaze went to the source.
Celivia stood on the upper level of the room above the staircases, tugging her bladed whip back to her. This was her true form: inhuman red eyes, monstrous teeth, a tail lurking behind her. Tani couldn't read her gaze, but it didn't matter.
She bit back the words she wanted to cry and instead hurled one of her knives. Celivia knocked it to the floor with her duusha horn knife and for a long moment they stared at each other.
Though Celivia had the decency to look remorseful, her eyes soon went hard. She turned and rushed away, vanishing into the central hallway on the second floor.
Tani sprinted up the stairs after her and scooped up her knife at the top, still at a dead run. She just barely saw Celivia disappear into another hall and rushed after her, using all the speed she possessed. Midway down the hall, she realized that Celivia might be planning an attack from around one of the corners and slowed enough to be prepared.
No such attack occurred and she caught only a glimpse of Celivia heading up another flight of stairs. Fleeing to the top level for a specific reason? In the time Tani slowed, Slaten caught up to her. They didn't say anything, but she saw that his grim expression matched her own.
They rushed after Celivia, pounding up another flight of stone stairs to the next level of the tower. This one was completely unsuitable for an ambush, mostly an open corridor with large windows along the side. After confirming that Celivia wasn't hiding in any of the shadows, Tani advanced, looking for the next flight of stairs up and leaving Slaten behind.
Something crashed into her from the side and she only barely raised her sickle knife in time to deflect the attack. The force of it still smashed her through one of the windows, sending her rolling out onto the stone rooftop with glass crashing down around her.
Tani still hadn't seen who had struck, saw only a dark blur moving behind her. Again, the most she could do was raise her sickle knife in the way and block the blow. This one swept up from below, and even though she blocked it directly, the force of it knocked her into the air.
She realized in a moment of terror that she had been launched off one roof of the tower and was hurtling toward the wall of one of the other buildings leaning against it. Tani dropped the knife in her off-hand and used it to desperately grab the nearest edge.
That left her dangling off the side of one of the roofs, nothing but a long drop to the battle in the courtyard below. She thought there might be a way to pull herself onto the roof, but she had no time to think about that.
All she could do was look down at the roof below her, where she had been struck. Subenor swung his spear back into place and bared his teeth in a smile.
~ ~ ~
Leaving Kolanin behind felt wrong, but Slaten would have felt worse about letting Tani go alone. He helped Laeri get to a secure spot on the second level, then ran after Tani with only one more glance over his shoulder. Kolanin had again caught Melal's blade, though this time blood trickled from his hands.
Slaten hurried after Tani, hoping that he could do the right thing without being sure what that was. Though he wasn't good at judging emotions, he doubted Tani was thinking at her best. If she reached Celivia...
He preferred not to think about that. Tani would fight to kill and he wasn't certain what Celivia would do. If it came to that, he wasn't sure what he would do, or should do. Had he suspected that Celivia had any chance of being in the fortress, he would have discussed the matter with Tani in detail. But since he had said nothing, now the two of them would try to kill each other.
Tani moved ahead of him faster than he could follow, forcing him to strain to catch up. As Slaten reached the next floor, he heard a loud shattering sound.
He rushed up to find an empty hall, the only sign that anyone had been present the fact that one of the windows along the side had been destroyed. The windows opened onto a rooftop, where a tall Rhen man stood. Subenor. When he saw Slaten he gave a sneer and lifted a short spear standing beside him.
Before he threw it, Slaten dodged to the side, which was all that saved him. The spear shattered through the nearest window with explosive force, sending glass shards raining down over the space he had stood. Slaten kept his back to the stone of the wall between the windows, crept to the next, and peered around the side.
A moment later he had to jerk his head back as another throwing spear shattered that window as well. Subenor was keeping him pinned down. Though Slaten thought he could do better against the man than the last time, he knew that he couldn't win in a direct fight. He braced himself and ducked across the open window.
Subenor was gone. Slaten suspected a trick at first and waited, but nothing else came. He vaulted over the glass of the broken window and reached the roof, glancing around wildly and prepared for another spear.
It came, but from far further than he had expected. Subenor had already leapt to another roof a level above him. Slaten had enough time to dodge aside, but he had no way of reaching his opponent. He might be able to jump better than the average man, but he couldn't leap like Tani. While Subenor prepared another spear, Slaten desperately searched for her.
Since he didn't see Tani anywhere and he was an easy target on the roof, Slaten retreated back into the hallway. Trying to follow Subenor from the outside was useless, so he needed another way up.
The inside of the tower twisted more than he expected, but it grew narrower with each level, so there must be a way onto the roof where Subenor presumably fought Tani. Slaten hurried through the empty level, searching for the next staircase that would take him up. Eventually he stumbled upon a broad corridor lined with sconces.
Celivia stood in the center of the hallway, waiting for him.
This was the first time he had gotten a good look at her in her true form and it gave him pause as he noted changes. She held her familiar weapons with hands that ended in dark gray clawed fingernails. Though she was trying to hide it from him, he could see that she had a tail behind her legs with some kind of blade at the end.
But aside from the threats, it was her eyes that struck him: they were unusually round with irises far larger than a human's. Her pupils had constricted to a dark point, leaving a vast ring of pure crimson staring at him. They reminded him of Kolanin's eyes and looked strange in her face, even though they were naturally hers. With such a physical change, he had difficulty interpreting her expression.
"Hello, Slaten. I'm glad you came."
"Wait." He had his sword in defensive position - there was no alternative facing someone as dangerous as Celivia - but Slaten took one hand from it to point upward. "Do you know Subenor? I need to stop him."
"He's no friend of mine. If you agree to surrender to me and help me capture Tani, I'll fight with you. With the three of us, we might have a chance."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that will work."
In response, Celivia flashed her knife-like smile, even more striking now that all her teeth ended in sharp points. "You could have just agreed and then turned on me later, you know."
"I wouldn't do that." Slaten returned his off-hand to his sword and lowered it slightly. "I want to give you the same offer. You don't have to surrender, just don't work with Aryabaus. We'll keep you away from Melal and the others. We can go somewhere else and talk about this."
"I was afraid this wasn't going to work." Celivia looked at him sadly, but she didn't hesitate to unfurl the coil of metal in her hand into her bladed whip. "Back to the old plan, then."
Then her whip lunged straight for his eyes.
Chapter 64
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"There has been no progress regarding this crystallization process you insist upon. Again, we could be of more use to you if you would explain yourself fully."
-
Once more the shining blade thrust out for Kolanin's head. He turned it aside with the back of his hand, sending the thrust toward the ground. It delayed Melal for only a moment as the boy roared and swept his sword up again. Kolanin deflected the attack just as easily, but his arms grew heavier each time.
Though Melal had trained since they last met, the boy had only increased his strength, not changed himself. Compared to the previous Hero Kolanin had fought, his movements were clumsy and obvious. Yet the light he carried with him felt far greater, as if by force of will alone he could bend the fight to the result he wanted. Kolanin no longer blocked any attacks directly, unsure if he had the strength to defend directly against the boy's white-hot sein.
Several warriors rushed into the hall and started to surround him, but Melal snarled at them and waved a hand. "Go! I'll handle this one, you exterminate the rest!"
They obeyed, though Kolanin found himself doubting his first thought. Was there anything in them to obey? Though their eyes were bright and their faces filled with inspiration, all the warriors felt hollow to him. A few more filtered in from the battle outside, but they all avoided the space where Melal faced off with Kolanin.
"Melal, please listen to me. I only want to talk to you."
"I'll not talk to your vile kind, Deathspawn! Now we fight!"
He lunged out again, a simple thrust that was easy to sidestep. Yet Melal advanced another step and turned the movement into a slash, forcing Kolanin to dodge back. His eyes were beginning to ache from the blade's shimmering movements.
All around him, he could feel the rage and bloodlust filling the air. It had completely overwhelmed the warriors outside, breaking their usual discipline and sending them against the human soldiers as a savage mob. That same rage flowed through him, yet it drained from Kolanin's body without leaving a trace. He was too tired for such games.
The next time Melal attacked with an excessive overhand swing, Kolanin forced his heavy body to act. Instead of simply deflecting the thrust to the side, he took hold of the blade and stepped in. Melal's eyes widened, but it was too late. Kolanin grasped the base of the sword with his other hand and plucked the weapon from his fingers.
Stepping back neatly, Kolanin flipped the sword in his hands to grasp the hilt. Melal stared at him in fear, so Kolanin tossed the blade aside, leaving it embedded in the wood of the staircase railing.
"I told you that I wouldn't fight you, Melal."
"Stop playing around!" Melal stamped a foot against the ground. "This is a battle to the death!"
"No, it isn't." Kolanin stared back at him, refusing to attack. "I am not going to attack you, Melal, no matter how much you shout at me."
"Shut up! I am the Hero!"
"Whatever your name is, do you know what you're doing here? Why are you fighting?"
"To purge the land of you and your kind! And I'm not as defenseless as you think!" With that cry, Melal threw up a hand. His sein condensed in a way Kolanin hadn't seen before, but he could guess what it would be and he stepped aside.
A burst of pure white sein exploded from Melal. Kolanin had already stepped out of the way, but his eyes widened as it scorched past his face and exploded in the hallway behind him. The technique had been rough, but far more powerful than someone like Melal should have been able to perform. It seemed almost as if he had used the skill on a whim.
"Dammit! Useless fucking mystic skills!" Melal rushed away from him, back toward his sword. Kolanin knew that it would be wiser to stop him, either trip the boy or reach the sword first and take it. He was too tired to do either.
Instead he merely waited, gathering himself and reorganizing his sein flow as Melal grabbed his sword and turned on him. Kolanin thought of Bundlin: the city he had first entered, the one he had imagined, and the one he had left behind. He thought of Ith Ire and the brief dream that they could contain this phenomenon. All his efforts working under Aryabaus flowed through his mind, useless now except to support his last effort.
