Blades of the Old Empire (36 page)

Egey Bashi crouched on the side of the doorway, listening to the metal clanking coming from inside. The hallway behind was lined with bodies of the men they’d had to come through to reach the throne room. It didn’t seem like a big problem for Raishan and Mai to clear the way up to this point, but whatever waited on the inside was a different matter. Judging by the glimpse Egey Bashi got before retreating behind the safety of the doorway, Kara and Raishan were in over their heads. The Keeper wasn’t sure the two of them could actually deal with it.

The protrusion of the stone wall hid Haghos and Farros from view, allowing for a safe angle to peer into the room. From here Egey Bashi couldn’t quite see Raishan, only a trail of bodies collapsing in his wake, but he could see Kara, edging away from the two advancing Kaddim Brothers, orben in hand. Without her weapons, with a child in her arms, she looked so fragile that Egey Bashi’s heart wavered. She was moving fast, but Princess Aljbeda, draped over her, was a handicap not only for her left arm, which she had to use to clasp the child to her chest, but for the rest of her body, which had to balance the additional weight as well as protect her precious burden against the sabers. As a result she was forced to stay on the defensive, using the orben to maintain a safe radius and dodging blows coming at her from all sides. She was holding on, but it didn’t take an expert to see that it was only a matter of time before her attackers found a way through.

Egey Bashi threw a cautious glance at Kyth, standing still by the doorway. The boy was focused on his task, but it was clear he could also see Kara and realize the predicament she was in. Egey Bashi prayed he was sufficiently distracted not to realize exactly how bad Kara’s position was at the moment. The Keeper wasn’t sure that if things got ugly at the other end of the room, Kyth would still be able to continue protecting Raishan. And if he wavered, all would be lost. With the way things stood at the moment, Raishan’s ability to continue the fight was their only hope.

Nimos and Tolos weren’t a match for a Diamond, but their special strength was in the way they acted in perfect coordination, like a single being with four sabers. The thrusts came from all directions, and Kara had to use all her speed to get out of the way. Each time her orben connected with the blades there was a screech and a momentary hesitation as she twisted the weapon out of the lock, which left an opening for the other Kaddim to attack. They used this tactic to the full. Blades whizzed so close to her that more than once it seemed that one of them had found its way through. From where he stood, it seemed to Egey Bashi that Kara was still unscathed, but he couldn’t be certain. Either way, he knew it was coming soon.

Kyth’s face was pale, his eyes darting between the action close by and on the other side of the room. The Keeper’s heart went out to the boy. It was a terrible situation to face. There was nothing Kyth could do to make sure anyone, including himself, got to Kara on time, but standing there, watching her becoming overpowered, had to be unbearable. It took incredible strength for Kyth to continue protecting Raishan, knowing that the Diamond would never make it all the way across before Kara’s fate was decided.

The Keeper glanced around in search of possible help. There was no one in the hallway except him and Mai, who was crouching on the other side of the doorway, looking at the battlefield. His eyes were on Kara, his face calm and detached in a special way that warned against prying into his thoughts.

As Egey Bashi watched, Mai slowly straightened out and disengaged himself from the wall, stepping into the doorway.

The Keeper gasped. “What are you doing, Aghat?”

Mai kept his eyes on the battle. “I have to do
something
. Or they’ll kill her.”

He made another step forward. Egey Bashi could sense a flow of force directed his way as the Kaddim Brothers acquired a new target.

“If you try anything,” Egey Bashi warned, “they’ll kill you too.”

“With the way the battle is going, it won’t make much difference, will it?” Mai stepped into the room and the blast hit him, so strong that even Egey Bashi, behind the protrusion of the wall, felt a part of its force.

The Diamond shuddered, struggling against the flow. His face went very pale. A streak of blood ran down from his nostril.

Egey Bashi remembered the deadly blast the Kaddim used to hit Raishan back at the monastery. Back then they said that the blast could be used to kill, and this was exactly what they were doing now. They weren’t just trying to stop Mai from joining in the battle. This was an execution, and judging by the strength of it, it was meant to be a fast one. He tried to rush forward and pull Mai out of the force flow, but it was too strong. He fell back against the wall and stayed there, watching. There was nothing else he could do.

Nimos and Tolos paid no attention to the events on the other side of the room. Their blades became a blur as they advanced on Kara. She backed off, her orben whizzing in between the sabers in a desperate attempt to reach a target. She was fast, but outnumbered. With the line of enemies behind her, she also had nowhere else to go.

At Tolos’s signal the men at her back flung orbens in her direction, forcing her toward the Kaddim Brothers. She dodged, diving between them with a speed that seemed unbelievable for someone with a child in her arms, but the enemies were too numerous. As she straightened out to regain her footing after a particularly difficult twist, Tolos’s blades closed in on the orben in her hand. There was a loud snap, and the metal sphere at the end of the chain came off, spinning along the ground. Kara yanked the chain back, letting it out to its full length and swaying it in an arc around her head. A man behind her collapsed and the rest fell back, leaving a wider space around her. But the Kaddim Brothers didn’t slow their attack.

Kara turned to face them, shortening the chain’s leeway and using it as a full-range weapon. It looked deadly in her hand. There was a clank as it hit one of Nimos’s sabers, and a ripping sound as it tore through Tolos’s robe, leaving a mark on his skin. The chain moved so fast it was nearly invisible. Before Tolos could recover, she sent it forward in a sneaky spin, right between his blades. A length of metal penetrated his defense and wrapped around the Kaddim’s neck. She tugged, and Tolos went down on his knees dropping the sabers and grasping at the chain with both hands. His face turned red and a hoarse gasp escaped from his throat.

Nimos jumped forward. Kara tried to lean out of the way, but the Kaddim matched her move, thrusting with both sabers. He crossed them over Kara’s neck and paused, just short of piercing her skin.

“Easy, Aghat,” he said. “Let the chain go.”

She went still, looking at him. He stared back, his dark eyes liking what they saw. Egey Bashi held his breath. Raishan made a move toward Kara, but was hit with a new wall of orben-wielders.

Mai raised his head, his body tensing against the force blast, like a trapped fly struggling to break free.

Nimos didn’t flinch at the noise, keeping his eyes on his captive.

“I
said
, let go,” he said distinctly.

There was a pause. Princess Aljbeda whimpered in Kara’s arms. Egey Bashi bit his lip. He knew that as soon as Kara let go of the chain Nimos would kill her. Yet, she couldn’t gain much by holding on. She was about to die, and this knowledge reflected in her eyes as she met the dark gaze of her captor.

Mai slowly straightened out. There was a change in his pale, blood-stained face that made Egey Bashi stare. The Majat’s body was no longer stranded by the force flow. Holding his arms out to the sides he stepped right into it, like a swimmer stepping into a flow of cold water. His body acquired speed and strength as he moved, unfolding from stillness to action like a streak of black light.

Mai took a running leap over the heads of the enemies blocking his way. A small grappler hook shot out of his hand and wrapped around one of the pillars at the side of the room. The cord attached to it was so thin it was hard to see. Mai held on to it, using the momentum to carry him around the hall in a long sweep, its speed keeping his body nearly horizontal. He landed all the way on the other side, between Kara and her attackers, and drew his staff from the sheath at his back.

All around the room the battle was halting. The Kaddim Brothers lowered their hands, stunned at the sight of a man who had broken out of their bonds despite all possible effort on their side. Egey Bashi used the distraction to rush forward out of his hiding place, unfolding his
shektal
as he ran. He reached Raishan, lashing at the wall of his attackers. Their resistance was halfhearted as everyone’s attention was directed at the events unraveling on the other side.

Mai’s eyes shone with a ruthless glow, making it clear that anyone who stood up to him would see no mercy. The space around him quickly emptied as his enemies backed off, leaving Nimos and Mai facing each other. Kara was in between, her head pinned between two crossed sabers.

A smile ran across Nimos’s face, but Egey Bashi could see it was a bit forced.

“I can cut her throat,” he said, “before you have a chance to do anything, Aghat.”

Mai’s eyes narrowed.

“Stand back and lower your weapon, Aghat,” Nimos said. “Or she dies.” He tensed up, ready to strike.

Mai’s eyes darted to Kara. For a brief moment, their gazes locked. Then she pushed off and threw her weight backward, out of the grip of the blades. Nimos tried to catch her, but he wasn’t fast enough. She went straight down onto her back, but before she reached the floor, she put out a hand to cushion the fall, flinging her body sideways to roll over the ground. Holding the Princess against her, she flipped and came up to her feet a few paces away.

Mai stepped in front to shield her, his staff spinning so fast it became a blur in his hands. Nimos went very pale. He raised his sabers, backing off against the attack, but there was no escape. Mai’s staff whistled as it cut the air, clashing onto the Kaddim’s sabers with a force that sent the man stumbling along the floor. Even from across the room Egey Bashi was aware of the silence around the two fighters as everyone else edged away, leaving the space around them wide open.

Mai spun around, his staff landing in a powerful blow that knocked both of Nimos’s blades out of the way. The Kaddim swayed, fighting for balance, but Mai didn’t stop. He moved like a whirlwind as he completed the spin, hand sliding along the staff. Its black polished tip descended at high speed. A blade sprang out of its end and hit, going deep into the spot at the base of the neck, between the collarbones.

Nimos’s arms flew outward as he fell through the air in a wide arc that seemed impossibly slow to the entranced spectators. His dark cloak flapped and folded around him like the wings of a bird cut in mid-flight, and his lifeless body rolled to a standstill a few paces away. No blood came out of the gaping wound at the base of his neck. The black eyes without irises opened and went still.

Nobody was fighting anymore. Spellbound, Egey Bashi stared at the body of their arch enemy, the man whose scheming had brought about so much harm and almost ruined the kingdom. Sprawled on the floor at Mai’s feet, he didn’t look imposing or frightening anymore. He looked small and broken, like a rag doll.

“
That
,” Raishan said quietly, “was ‘viper’s sting’.”

The Keeper glanced at him with question, but no explanation followed. Raishan’s face held pride as he rested his eyes on his fellow in rank.

Mai withdrew his blade and retracted it back into the staff. He didn’t bother to look at the body as he turned and walked back to Kara.

She stood, wide-eyed, clutching Princess Aljbeda in her arms. Blood trickled from a cut on her neck, smearing the precious lilac silk. Mai stopped in front of her. A long private glance passed between them. Then he leaned forward and held out a hand.

“Give me the Princess,” he said.

Slowly, she released the embrace and handed over her precious burden. The child grabbed on to Mai and he put an arm around her, holding her close. Then he flicked the staff in his free hand to draw the blades.

“Now,” he said, “let’s clear them out, shall we?”

Kara bent down to pick up Nimos’s sabers and stood by Mai’s side. Her posture was tense and graceful. Egey Bashi hoped she wasn’t badly injured, but there was no time to wonder. The room sprang into action once again. The remaining enemies streamed over and regrouped around the three remaining Kaddim Brothers, who drew themselves up and stretched out their hands.

Blasts of deadly power shot out and hit everyone in sight with a force unlike anything Egey Bashi had ever felt before. As he collapsed under the pressure, he saw Raishan shudder and go down by his side, and the royals, in the center of the room, waver and cover their ears. He briefly had time to wonder how was it that the Kaddim Brothers’ blast didn’t harm any of the enemy’s own. Then the pressure became too much to bear.

The Kaddim Brothers weren’t playing games anymore. They were going for the kill.

Kyth felt so exhausted that he could barely move. Using his power while watching Kara almost get killed was too much. His recent exertions had taken everything he had. He simply couldn’t do it anymore.

If it hadn’t been for Mai.

She seemed fine now, as she and Mai advanced onto the protective ring around the Kaddim Brothers, hacking their way through the dense row of defenders. Whatever power was protecting them, it held steady, making both Diamonds immune to the blasts washing through the room and bouncing off the walls with oppressive waves. Everyone else was down. Egey Bashi lay flat on the ground, blood streaming out of his nose. Raishan was struggling to rise, his face so pale that it looked ghostly. Little Princess Aljbeda went limp in Mai’s arms as the Majat did his best to shield her with his body, standing his ground against the enemy line. The power the Kaddim were wielding was stronger than before. It seemed that if nothing was done about it, everyone in the room was going to die.

Kyth had to do something.

Fighting the waves of weakness that enfolded him, he steadied himself against the wall, opening up to the flow of force. He let it wash freely through his body, filling him with lightness, as if he was made of air. It wasn’t the same as using the water or wind. This power was darker, and it left an unpleasant taste somewhere in his subconscious, but it still worked. He could tap into it, focus it to wield a weapon that cut through the rows of his enemies like a scythe. Just like with the Elligar waters, when he managed to change their flow briefly to bring him and Mai back to camp, he could reverse the enemies’ power, directing it against the attackers.

He concentrated.

The force blast filling the room curved into a vortex, pouring into his body, filling him with incredible strength beyond control. He focused it, reversing the flow, sending it back toward the three figures that stood at the edge of the room with outstretched arms.

Through half-closed eyes he could see them shudder, their faces showing surprise as they stumbled backwards, hit by the amplified power of their own creation. They struggled for a long time, then lowered their arms.

The force flow subsided. The three Kaddim Brothers stood still, looking at Kyth with wonder. In the depths of their eyes he also saw fear.

“Retreat!” Tolos ordered.

Kyth wanted to press on, but with the power gone he couldn’t tap into anything anymore. The light breeze flowing through the chamber wasn’t enough to maintain his strength any longer. Spent, he watched the robed men regroup around their leaders and stream out of the room through the open doorway. Some of them rushed over to pick up Nimos’s lifeless body, taking it away with them.

As they neared the door, there was a loud popping sound. Smoke filled the hallway and dissipated in a few moments, as suddenly as it came. Kyth stared.

The hall outside was empty. The Kaddim Brothers, their men, and even the bodies left by Mai and Raishan during their rescue run to the throne room, were gone.

“Bloody hell,” Egey Bashi said by Kyth’s ear.

Kyth turned. Behind the Magister people were stirring, raising their heads and wiping blood off their faces.

“They’re gone,” Egey Bashi said.

“What do you mean,
gone
?” Mai demanded, approaching.

The Keeper stepped aside, letting them see the emptiness of the hallway.

“Blasted h–” Mai stopped, throwing a cautious glance at Princess Aljbeda in his arms. The child was coming around. Kyth was relieved to see that the Kaddim Brothers’ blast had done no permanent damage to her. She turned, holding on to Mai’s neck and surveying Kyth with bright-eyed curiosity.

Everyone else was now looking at him too. But he only had eyes for Kara. He stood still, peering into her face.

He saw it all, the strain and fear of her death fight, the calm concentration of a warrior trained to deal with it, and a special detachment behind, showing how hard it was for her to keep this incredible control. He was so glad to see her alive that he could just stand there forever, holding her gaze. He felt so weak he was barely able to stand upright, but he didn’t care. She was alive. She was all right. It was enough to know this, to realize he still had a reason to live.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Her smile was guarded as she looked at him. “Yes. And you?”

He nodded, too weak to talk. Raishan’s arm supported him.

“What did you just do?” Egey Bashi demanded.

“I’m not sure.”

“It was bloody stupid to let them go.”

Kyth threw another glance at Kara, her face drawn, her torn dress stained with blood. She looked calm, but he could see the emotion underneath. She’d almost died. If it hadn’t been for Mai.

He swallowed and looked back at the Keeper.

“I couldn’t hold them anymore,” he said quietly. “Not when they stopped using their power.” He swayed and Raishan’s arm grasped his elbow. He reached out and steadied himself against the Majat, finding the balance to stand on his own feet.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Egey Bashi asked.

“I’m fine,” Kyth heard himself saying. “Just fine.”