Lioness Rampant (32 page)

In Thom's chambers, Alanna was suddenly weak, as if something
tugged
at her Gift, drawing it away from her. Steeling herself, she closed her mind to whatever
was trying to drain her. Forcing herself to move, she searched for her twin.

He was in the bedroom. Bad as the air in the parlor felt, this was worse: A weight pressed on her lungs. She checked Thom's vital signs. His pulse was shallow and fast. He was cool, alarmingly so after weeks of being too hot. When she grabbed the ember-stone, Alanna saw only a trace of his Gift, streaming away from him much as her own had tried to do. She reached past the barrier she'd set on her magic, determined to use it to save him, no matter what the consequences.

Thom's eyes flew open. He gripped her hands with the last of his strength. “Don't! I'm—bound to him. He'll drain you through me—”

“Roger?” she whispered. Thom nodded. She spotted her cat. “Faithful, go for—”

“No time!” Thom snapped. “Listen!” He didn't relax his bruising grip. “His Gift—attached to sorcerer resurrecting him.” She put her ear close to his lips to hear. “It got—stronger—as he did.” Thom smiled. “
Never
as strong as mine.”

She wiped away tears, growling, “Who
cares
if your Gift's bigger!”

“He can only—drain—one at a time. You—you're bound to me. You have some—my Gift—some of
his, too. He needs—more, to finish—what he began.
Don't let him get it.
Don't use—Gift. Leeching spells—” He gasped. “He'll take—
all.
Leave nothing.” Thom tried to laugh; the result sounded like hoarse barking. “He didn't—get—all mine.
You
have part—” Sinking back, he pulled her with him. His voice was barely audible, his hands cold. “Love you. Always have. Always will.”

“No,” she rasped, but he couldn't hear.

“Never—know how—he did it …”

He was gone.

Near the staircase leading to the ground floor, George found Coram. “I saw her go, and ye after her,” Alanna's oldest friend gasped, catching his wind. “I figured ye'd need help.”

George showed him the Jewel. “She forgot she had this. I'm to carry it to Jon.”

“What of her?”

“With Thom.”

Coram hesitated. “I'd best reach her. Unless—”

“I'll keep the Jewel safe,” George reassured him. “It's not that far to the Hall.”

“It's far enough.” Claw and five of his men materialized from the gallery behind George. “My friends
said you'd come this way.” He stretched out a hand and beckoned. “Give me the swag now, before I get your blood all over it.” He glanced at Coram. “This isn't your fight. Clear out.”

Coram hefted his broadsword, his face grim. “She'll never forgive me if I run out on ye now,” he told George.

George tucked the Jewel into his belt-purse as he unsheathed his daggers. “Rispah, or the lady knight?” he grinned. Claw's men fanned out, forming a half circle with George and Coram at its center with the stairs at their backs.

“Both,” replied Coram. He leaped forward to engage a ruffian, crying, “For the Lioness!”

Pandemonium ruled in the Hall of Crowns. Other men-at-arms tore off cloaks to reveal purple-and-black or green-and-white liveries. They were heavily armed and had specific targets: the men of the King's Own, any nobleman fighting back, Jonathan and his guards. Their opponents were high-born and wealthy men with flimsy dress swords, unarmed common-born men using anything that could serve as a weapon, even some ladies and children. Many others tried to flee, adding to the confusion.

Buri could see a knot of noblewomen, including the imperious Duchess of Naxen, imposing order in their vicinity. More men-at-arms poured in through the drapery-hidden entry behind the altar, taking the men around Jon by surprise. Raoul yelled a command and ran forward with the guards in the outer circle to engage the new attackers. Buri couldn't see Liam, Coram, or Alanna. Beside her, Rispah had palmed a large dagger and was advancing on an unsuspecting enemy archer.

The K'miri girl was torn. Her first duty was to protect Thayet, but she was also a warrior, trained to act in situations like this.

Thayet solved her problem. “Give me your sword. We have to do something.”

Buri glanced at Eleni as she obeyed Thayet. The older woman moved into a pillar's shadow, unraveling the intricate embroidery on her sleeve. She broke off a long thread and smiled at Buri and Thayet. “Don't worry about me.” Fixing her eyes on a group of archers near the altar, she began to tie knots in the thread, her lips moving silently.

Buri wrestled a long-bladed pike from a rack of weapons on the walls. Lowering it to an attack position, she launched herself at a clump of men in
Eldorne colors. The first one she engaged backed away from her charge: He stumbled. Buri lunged for the kill and lurched as the ground leaped and rolled in a third quake.

Three men in Tirragen colors raced up the stairs to aid Claw as George and Coram dispatched two enemies. Claw himself stayed back, screeching orders and awaiting his chance. George lost a dagger in a throw, killing a Tirragen guard; Coram killed a rogue and wounded another. The men around them shifted, seeking better positions, and George took the offered chance. He lunged at Claw.

The one-eyed man swore and lashed out with his knives, panicked at dealing with George himself. The thief rearmed his left hand with an extra blade, making Claw sweat: He didn't have the eye or the nerve to fight two-handed. Frantic, he slashed and cut wide-armed, leaving holes in his guard that George deliberately ignored. The bigger man toyed with Claw, spinning him around, raking his flailing arms, taunting. One of Claw's lucky cuts caught George on a cheekbone, another on his chest.

A Tirragen guard faltered. Coram slew him with a murderous slash and fell back, gasping for breath.
For the moment he was safe: The two remaining enemies—one Tirragen, one rogue—focused their attention on the Rogue and his rival.

When he saw no one else would interfere, George settled into a fighter's crouch. Beckoning to Claw, he said grimly, “It's us now. The succession must be settled. Fight, Ralon, or Claw—if you've the belly.”

His single eye rolling wildly, Claw looked for a way to escape; there was none. He'd always known he couldn't beat the Rogue on his terms. He tried to for several minutes, throwing his cunning into the battle. He kicked and hit, trying to be unpredictable, but George had been weaned on such tricks.

For a moment they locked knives, pressed together body-to-body. Then Claw dropped, George's blade hilt-deep in his chest.

Alanna didn't know how long she sat, holding Thom's cold hand. She was certain somehow this was all her fault. How was she supposed to live without her other half?

Faithful got her attention finally by latching onto her leg with claws and teeth, kicking ferociously until the pain roused her.

“What are you
doing
?” she screeched.

Wake up, King's Champion!
was the angry reply.
You have no time for this—he's going to rip the earth open!

Alanna knew she couldn't escape her responsibilities, although they'd never meant less to her. Gently the grieving knight kissed her twin. She walked out of the bedroom, drying her face on her handkerchief as fresh tears ran. “Where's Si-cham?”

As if in answer, the old man staggered in, clutching a bloody right arm. Alanna grabbed a towel and swiftly bandaged the priest before he lost more blood, fighting brief nausea. Si-cham's right hand was gone. Without the rough tourniquet he wore already, he would be dead.

“Don't use your Gift—” he warned as she worked. “Brandy.”

Alanna handed him a bottle and watched as he gulped its contents. Rage was replacing her grief. She wanted to act; nursing the old man was not the action she craved.

Si-cham put the bottle down. “I am a fool.” His voice was stronger. “Never challenged in all these years, thinking I could not be bested. It's not enough
I
pay for my folly. You will, too.” Gripping the table with his left hand, he met Alanna's cold eyes. “Open your mind.”

She stepped back. “Why?”

“There's no time to explain. You waste what time we have! If you don't know all, you risk disaster. Do you doubt me?” he whispered. “I made a mistake. Because I didn't make two we are alive.
You
cannot make even one.”

She closed her eyes and let him in. A hundred bits of knowledge struck her at once:
Gate of Idramm—a Gate for magic, to drain it into the Gate's master … My hand! He uses it to steal my Gift … Jonathan Gift-Bazhir/desert magic-Tortall/land crown Jewel! He alone can bind the earth … Follow the secret way. (Image of deserted stair to the ruined temple in the catacombs.) Not all Roger's power stored in Thom—some with Alanna … Stay out of Gate-trap (image of white whirls and loops) leeching spells … Give King all he needs—send King Alanna/Thom-Roger's power to hold the land!

He didn't ask: She never would have let him do it if he had. He sent Alanna's Gift to Jonathan, using it as a bridge to link minds with the new king. For an awful moment Alanna was three—herself, Si-cham, Jonathan. The blood-colored fire of Roger's Gift beat down on the priest's defenses, seeking a way to enter and take the magic forming around Jon. Suddenly
the last of Alanna's magic was gone, the link broken. Si-cham broke the link so fast that Alanna was thrown into a faint as the fourth earth shock began.