The Rogue Knight (37 page)

Next to Morgassa, Honor looked almost as small as Minimus. Honor fought with grace and precision, blocking all attacks and keeping Morgassa on defense much of the time.

In the form of an eagle, Twitch swooped down at Morgassa, barely dodging her blade when she whipped it at him. He lost some feathers but appeared to have taken no serious damage.

“Surrender,” Honor urged as she fought. “Stop sending your people against the knights. You're killing them!”

“Submit,” Morgassa and her horde replied. “You slay your own, for you will soon join us, as all must join us.”

Cole watched as the wolf and the ram attacked Morgassa together from behind. “Watch out,” he called, worried for Jace and Mira.

As he feared, Morgassa whirled right before they arrived. She slashed the wolf across the chest, and it fell with a whine. Deflecting the ram's horns with her shield, she turned the attack toward Honor and danced away.

Morgassa had a few dents and scratches in her white armor, but as Cole watched, the blemishes disappeared, and the knight grew a little taller. “Join me or perish!” Morgassa and her horde cried, their voices frenzied. “No more warnings!”

The chanting hurt Cole's ears. After testing his claws against Morgassa's armor, Cole knew how tough it was. How were they supposed to defeat her if she could repair it at will?

The knights slowly gave ground, collapsing inward. They had all dismounted, and their horses fought at their sides, wildly stamping and kicking. Despite their tireless effort and great skill, the enemy force was too great. Weapons bashing, stabbing, and chopping, the knights fell back, shrinking the clearing and leaving behind drifts of bodies. Dalton charged around the inner edge of the clear area, using his remaining horn to punish the changelings who slipped past the knights.

The knights no longer fought to wound. They were battling for their lives. Cole noticed that the fallen changelings stopped smelling infected. At least death had freed them from Morgassa's control.

Morgassa closed on Honor, who was now using all her abilities to resist the enormous white knight. The Rogue Knight turned from the attacking horde and raced to Morgassa. Callista and Mira moved to take his place, brutalizing the changelings with horns and hooves.

Cole tried to rise, but pain seared down his leg and across his side, forcing him to fall flat. Not only had his wound torn open wider, but he could feel broken bones grinding inside.

For a moment, the Rogue Knight and Honor attacked Morgassa together. The white knight held off one of them with her shield and the other with her sword. Then she kicked Honor to the ground with one long leg, and turned her full attention to the Rogue Knight. Each swing he deflected looked capable of knocking him off his feet, but it was a sharp blow from her large shield that finally succeeded.

Jace was down. How badly was he hurt? Cole's heart raced. Okay, the wolf was still breathing. Skye shambled to her feet, hiding her damaged paw, and lumbered toward the white knight, looking more like a cub by comparison. Morgassa struck her down with a fierce slash, then turned to finish Honor.

Cole had to do something! Honor was going to die! His other friends and the knights were distracted by the mass of attacking changelings. Growling softly, Cole wrenched himself to his feet and charged, fireworks of pain exploding in his injured side. He lacked the power to jump, but he went for Morgassa's legs.

The sword hissed down, biting into his back, then Cole felt her metal boot crush his side. His vision edged in darkness, Cole stared in horror as Morgassa stepped away from him and raised her sword to finish Honor.

“Stop, fiend!” Callista shouted, her voice amplified. The buffalo was gone. The Grand Shaper now stood in her true form, arms raised.

Extending a hand, Morgassa conjured fifty blank figments and sent them to attack Callista. The Grand Shaper waved her arms in reply, and a pair of grim giants appeared, head and shoulders taller than the white knight, each gripping a long iron bar. Charging the figments, the trolls bashed the group into nothing with confident swipes. At first this surprised Cole, because figments were intangible, but then he decided that the giants must be figments as well.

Cole raised his head a little, and a surge of pain and nausea hit him so hard that he nearly blacked out. His insides felt full of broken glass that jabbed and sliced as he breathed. Not only was he out of the fight—he doubted whether he would live much longer. Helpless, hurting, he continued to watch with desperate interest.

Morgassa waved an arm, and two dozen shimmering spears sizzled through the air to impale the giant figments Callista had conjured. An invisible wave of power accompanied the spears. Cole felt it wash over him, never physically touching him, but present nonetheless.

Skye tore off her mask. No longer a bear, she stood, apparently uninjured. Though as a bear she had lost a paw, she now had both hands and both feet. Skye held out her hands toward Morgassa.

A wooden crate appeared around the white knight's helmet, resting on her armored shoulders. Morgassa tried to grab it with her free hand, but her metal glove passed right through it. Skye had blindfolded her with an illusion!

The Rogue Knight charged in. His sword clanged against the side of Morgassa's waist, making her stumble and leaving a dent. His return stroke smote the side of her knee, and Morgassa went down.

Cole sensed a surge of power from Morgassa as blank figments appeared all around her. Two of them ripped the illusionary crate from her helmet. The Rogue Knight dispelled the figments with Verity while the white knight rolled nimbly to her feet.

Another wave of power proceeded from Morgassa, and a crowd of figments materialized near Skye. One of them lunged into her, merging with her even as the Rogue Knight swung Verity to erase the others.

Her expression feral, Skye hunched and scowled, then dashed toward Callista. The Grand Shaper had created two new giant figments to protect her, but Skye ran through them as if they were made of smoke. Mira came to the rescue, shoving Skye to the ground with her curled horns, then sitting on her to pin her down. Though Skye thrashed and growled, she couldn't squirm out from beneath the large ram.

Back on her feet, Honor joined the Rogue Knight in another attack against Morgassa. As the white knight fought them off, Cole could feel power radiating from her as the gashes in her armor smoothed away. She inched a bit taller, and the blade of her sword extended an extra foot.

Morgassa landed a kick that sent the Rogue Knight soaring. He bounced and rolled down the slope, toward the edge of the clearing where his knights labored to hold back the changelings. Spurred on by his proximity, a few changelings lunged through to attack him.

Once again, Honor was entirely on the defensive. After a particularly harsh series of blows, Morgassa struck with her shield. Honor hacked at the bulky metal rectangle, and her blade shattered. Morgassa followed up with her sword. The powerful swipe sent Honor to the ground with a ragged tear across her breastplate.

Cole sensed shaping energy gathering off to one side. Turning his head slightly, he saw Callista transform into a huge knight in a full suit of black armor, armed with sword and shield. She grew to almost Morgassa's size and then charged.

Cole yearned to help. His instincts told him this was the end. The clearing continued to shrink as the knights and their mounts grudgingly retreated. Another knight was down, as were a few of the horses. Armor battered and scarred, the Rogue Knight was tangled up helping the knights hold the horde at bay, aided by the animals who could still function. Mira continued to pin down Skye. Honor remained on the ground.

The Rogue Knight and Honor were outmatched against Morgassa. If the white knight defeated Callista, they were going to lose. Cole tried to rise, and pain howled through him, crippling the attempt. Dizziness and darkness almost overtook him.

As Cole held still, his vision cleared, and he beheld the white knight and the black knight locked in combat. Sparks flew as blades chopped against shields and armor. They lunged and shoved and kicked, armor scraping and clanging.

Callista slashed Morgassa's sword from her grasp, then followed up with an overhand swipe. Morgassa caught the blade in her gauntleted hand, then jerked it from Callista's grasp, reversed it, and stabbed it through Callista's armor and into her belly.

For a moment, they stood together. Morgassa's hand squeezed Callista's shoulder, fingers denting the armor.

Then Callista stumbled back and dropped to her knees an instant before a blow from Morgassa's shield leveled her. Her own sword protruding from her breastplate, Callista lay on her side and did not stir.

Morgassa retrieved her sword and strode toward Honor, who staggered back to her feet, sidestepping unsteadily. With another burst of power, the dents and scrapes Morgassa had received from Callista disappeared.

In that moment, Cole realized he had been sensing their power. He had felt it surging as they gathered and used it. His awareness had felt so natural that he hadn't considered how new the perception was.

Turning his attention to himself, Cole sensed the power radiating through him from his face. All he sensed was the mask. His own power remained invisible.

Cole thought about how Skye had been healed from her injuries when she removed her mask. He wondered if it could be the same for him. His injuries felt too deep to be healed. He was the cougar. Its body was his. But what if that wasn't true? What if his body was somehow separate? What if removing the mask would let him rejoin the fight?

Raising his paw was agony. His shattered insides sawed against his nerves. His vision swam.

If he removed the mask, he would become vulnerable to the blank figments. How long before he became a deranged changeling like Skye? He had no desire to experience that fate. But all his instincts agreed that he was about to die from his injuries. And Morgassa was about to strike down Honor, who swayed as if the ground were heaving beneath her.

Part of Cole wanted to surrender to his injuries. His fatigue beckoned him to rest. What was he going to do? Get slashed again? It would be so easy to go limp and fade off to sleep. But the cost was too high. His friends needed him. He had to try!

Electric pain sizzled through his body as he dipped his head to his paw. Gripping tightly, he ripped off the mask.

The pain was gone. His mind was clear. He could still sense the power emanating from Morgassa. More important, he could now sense the power inside of himself. How had he missed it before? As he focused his attention on it, his power flared brighter. Cole drew the Jumping Sword and pushed his power into it. Ghostly flames engulfed the blade.

“Take your mask off!” Cole yelled at Jace, whose wolfish form lay still.

Morgassa swung at Honor, who blocked the blow with her sword but fell to the ground and lost hold of her weapon. As Morgassa prepared her finishing strike, Cole pointed his sword at her and shouted, “Away!”

He soared through the air, up toward the white helmet. It drew near before he had time to think, and his sword gonged against it. Kicking off her armored shoulder, Cole called the command again and landed some distance away.

Morgassa wheeled to face him, extending her sword in his direction. “How dare you!” she and her horde snarled together.

Blank figments streamed toward Cole. Before he could try to jump out of the way, they disappeared. The Rogue Knight was charging Morgassa, and he had just swung Verity.

“Cole!” Jace called.

Cole saw that his friend was no longer a wolf. The mask lay at his feet.

“Get your rope out,” Cole called, using his sword to jump over to Jace.

As Cole landed, Jace produced the golden strand. Cole touched it and forced his power into it. Lukewarm flames flickered along the rope.

The Rogue Knight met Morgassa fiercely, but she was faster and fresher. After their blades had connected several times, Morgassa dropped to one knee and slashed off both of his legs at the shins. The Rogue Knight fell heavily.

Honor had recovered her sword. Hobbling like a punch-drunk prizefighter, she stumbled into a brutal blow from Morgassa and collapsed beside the Rogue Knight.

Jace's golden rope snaked forward, caught Morgassa by the boot, jerked her high into the air, then slammed her down with a sound like a tank falling off a skyscraper. Again Morgassa went into the air, and again she crashed down. By the third impact, her armor looked crushed.

Golden rope flexing, Jace heaved Morgassa upward again, but her armor suddenly disappeared. Once more she looked like a floating schoolteacher, though her face was scraped and bleeding. The rope no longer held her.

“What devilry is this?” Morgassa shrieked along with her horde. “Such shaping has no place here!”

As the golden rope reached for Morgassa, a sword appeared in her hand, and she batted the rope away. With her free hand, Morgassa summoned a large group of blank figments and sent them at Jace.

“Away!” Cole shouted, jumping sideways to avoid the swarm of blank semblances.

Jace retracted his golden rope to coil it and spring. To his horror, Cole saw that Jace wouldn't get away in time.

And then Honor was on her feet, her armor gone, the knight mask discarded. With both hands, she clutched Verity. The sword seemed too large for her, but that didn't stop her from swinging it.

The blank figments evaporated.

Using his rope, Jace jumped, ending up on the far side of Morgassa. Morgassa whirled to confront Honor.

Cole pointed his Jumping Sword at Morgassa's head and shouted, “Away!”

As he rocketed into the air, Morgassa pivoted to face him, her sword ready. Cole knew there was no way to change his direction, so he tried to get ready to block her swing.

Two duplicates of Cole appeared, flying through the air toward Morgassa. Cole noticed that Dalton had set aside his bull mask. The power behind the seemings came from him.