Grudgebearer (37 page)

“Caught flat-footed like a novice,” he hissed under his breath. He pivoted on his knee, swinging his sword in a swift deadly arc. “It's been so long since the last raid that I'd almost forgotten what it was like,” Mazik's blade found purchase in the Zaur's temple as it turned for another pass, “to fight you!” Blood sprayed along the blade as it cut horizontally, catching the top corner of one eye and slicing straight through the middle of the other. The dead Zaur fell to the ground scratching and kicking at random, its tail lashing up and down.

*

Kholster dodged a sweep from the disarmed woman only to find himself open to attack from the gnome with the daggers who'd slid around to his left side. Accepting the glancing hit to his mail, Kholster whipped the chain around, catching the gnome in the throat and then releasing his hold on one side so the chain wrapped around the gnome's neck.

An exultant roar came from the crowd as the gnome went down, daggers forgotten, clutching his throat. Kholster grabbed for the daggers, but too slow. The woman snatched them both up and scampered away from him before he could react. Kholster transferred the name he'd given the gnome to the woman . . . name following the wielder of the weapons.
I'll show her as Daggers now . . . 
not that Vander was generating a map in his field of vision upon which a correction would be made . . .

The jab I took
, Kholster thought at Vander,
did that count as a point?

You'd think they'd have the score posted somewhere.

*

As Roc and Hira dispatched the floor-rider Mazik had wounded, the four Zaur wall-riders charged in, running back up the walls as they reached an area not covered by the summoned ice and clashing with the second rank of Eldrennai knights: Bakt, Dodan, Frip, and Tomas. The two wall-riding Zaur on one side brought their Skria down at right angles, killing Bakt and his mount in one motion. The wounded Zaur leader caught Dodan in the neck with his Skria, decapitating him. His lifeless body fell from his horse and was trampled by the rock beast. Two of the Zaur mounts with dead riders angled straight for Frip's horse, sending the knight hurtling through the air.

Tomas leveled his lance at the opposing Zaur's mount, striking it in the shoulder and splintering the weapon, then bringing his sword up and across, killing the rider. “Dienox!” he bellowed as the enemy rider's Skria cut halfway through his torso, stuck, and sent him tumbling to floor beneath the feet of the enemy beast.

*

Kholster felt daggers slide along his mail, grunted hard when the woman danced out of reach, but he continued unwrapping the chain from the gnome's neck. He was still breathing, but so shallowly Kholster feared permanent damage if his breath remained restricted.
Why haven't the Long Arms floated him out?

Tell me when she goes for my back again
, Kholster sent to Vander.

I'll try, but there's a little delay . . .

Do what you can do.

Bending over the gnome as if he were checking him for signs of life, Kholster waited for the signal.

*

Blocked, Roc and Hira fought their way through Zaur mounts with dead riders. Four on three, the surviving Zaur charged toward the last rank of Eldrennai knights: Griv, Frindo, and Ponnod. Abruptly, the Zaur leader slowed. He shouted an order, and the three riders dropped their Skria, unlatched themselves, drew their Skreel blades, and leapt from the back of their mounts toward the mounted Eldrennai. One pulled Griv from his horse and landed on the ground atop his prone form. Frindo caught his attacker with the tip of his lance, steering clear of the mount and continuing toward Roc and Hira.

Ponnod's attacker missed his mark and succeeded only in sideswiping Ponnod's mount, severing the harness. The Zaur struck the ground beneath the horse's feet before rolling miraculously clear of the hooves.

*

Now.

Kholster spun, catching Daggers by the right wrist, snapping it, forced the dagger out of her hand and elicited a sharp yelp of pain as he came up twisting the woman's wrist, thumbs against the back of her hands. She doubled over, and he delivered a knee to the stomach for good measure, before following it up with a punch to the temple.

She went down hard. Perhaps too hard.

Kholster was moving in to check her pulse when he heard the splash.

Rae'en's in the water
, Vander thought at him.

*

More debris shook free of the roof, raining dust and dirt down on Wylant's bare head. The cacophonous roar of galloping beasts puzzled her. It was growing louder.

Wylant finally caught sight of the thing that had caused the tunnel to shake—a serpent larger than any she had ever seen—as it rounded a bend in the tunnel and bore down on her remaining Lancers. “Great . . .” she slurred, catching herself before swearing by Dienox, “Bloodmane!” The beast tore Frindo from the back of his horse, and Wylant watched as he vanished wordlessly into that tremendous maw.

“Withdraw!” Wylant yelled as clearly as she could manage. “Every knight, take flight; tell the king what you've seen!”

Ponnod's saddle slid sideways off of his horse, and, though the Eldrennai knight caught himself with a spell, the serpent snatched him out of the air.

*

Kholster locked eyes with Axe standing on the lip of the arena close to where Rae'en had been. He saw shock and surprise in Axe's eyes. If the man had been responsible he—

A shark has her
, Vander sent.
On Teru's side.

Where is Teru?!

But then he saw her, clutched in the middle by the shark's maw, trailing blood in the water. Why wasn't she thinking to him? A familiar warpick dropped past her, sinking like a stone.

She'd dropped Grudge.

*

Roc and Hira turned as one, Hira hardening the air beneath the hooves of their mounts with a spell. Passing as far from the remaining Zaur as they could, the two knights galloped down the tunnel, back toward the ruined watch town. “Mazik,” Roc shouted, gesturing vaguely toward Frindo's horse. “Grab the general.”

“Forget about the general and follow your orders!” Wylant bellowed. The Zaur leader and his one remaining mounted soldier slapped their tails down, urging their mounts down the tunnel after Roc and Hira. Wylant scrambled for Vax, relaxing slightly when the weapon's mottled blue hilt came within her grasp. Mazik helped her to her feet. “I ordered you out of here, Mazik.”

*

Do you want Teru to
—
Vander almost asked.

No, she can get out of there. She needs to stop panicking.

But, Kholster
— Vander thought back at him.

Would you jump in to save me?

Kholster watched Rae'en flail. He wanted more than anything to dive into that water, kill the sharks and . . . and it would teach her nothing.

If she is to be First, she must learn to control the panic
, he reminded himself.

Rae'en?
he thought at her.
Calm down. Kill the shark and eat it.

*

Mazik stepped forward, parrying a blow from the Skreel knife of the last remaining Zaur. Even through the mental haze that accompanied her head wound, Wylant could tell he was smiling beneath his faceplate; the sound of it was in his voice even through the metallic distortion of his foci. “I'm disobeying orders, sir,” he answered, slicing the Zaur almost in half diagonally with his blade. “If we live, you can have me flogged.”

*

You can do this
, Kholster thought at Rae'en. As he still held Testament, he knew she could hear him. He almost missed the two shadows sliding across the open ground.

So that's where the other two were
, Vander thought at him.
Shadowpaths.

“Followers of Kilke, if you attack me before my daughter is safe, I vow to kill and eat you both,” Kholster snapped at the shadows.

Ignore the pain. Ignore the fear.

One of the other sharks swam toward her.

Just kill the shark. Use your hands. Use your teeth. It's doesn't matter how. Just kill it.

*

“You just may get that flogging,” Wylant snarled at Mazik, who had stayed behind to, she supposed, rescue her. Her mind was clearing, but the head wound pulsed painfully in time with her heartbeat. “Try a lightning bolt.”

He chanted softly, drawing a circle in the air with his sword, invoking Dienox and the goddess Gromma. Sparks arced along his blade as the spell's power grew. It might not have any effect, but Wylant had to know. Frip's unconscious form vanished between the serpent's jaws, and Wylant wondered how much the thing could possibly eat. Its gullet looked big enough to swallow a horse.

“It's just an animal,” she whispered to herself. Mazik completed his spell and spat a bolt of blue lightning coursing along his blade to strike the giant serpent in the face. It hissed and shook its head from side to side, steam rising off its scaly hide, but it barely paused in its advance.

*

You won't drown. I still hold Testament. In the same way Bloodmane took the heat of Cadence's Long Fire, I can breathe for you. Kill the shark.

Kholster took in a deep breath of air, enough for two.

I can't see her
, Kholster thought at Vander.
What's happening?

*

“Any other ideas, General?” Mazik asked.

“You run while I go for the eyes.” Wylant managed enough of a flight spell to hurl herself at the serpent, losing sight of Mazik as she pierced the monster's eye. Vax struck home as a long knife and Wylant willed him to lengthen, to grow, like a spike toward the brain. Vax had been forged like an Aernese weapon, his abilities proof against the spell-disrupting capabilities of the Zaur. The blade functioned just as well against whatever magic resistance this giant serpent might possess.

“You're just an animal,” Wylant shouted. “Die already!”

*

Kholster spat a long stream of seawater out onto the floor of the arena, breathing in deep, breathing for two.

Do you need me to assist you?
Bloodmane's voice echoed in Kholster's mind.
I can breathe for you while you breathe for her . . .

*

The few remaining Zaur mounts scattered before the serpent as it hissed in pain, thrashing from floor to ceiling, desperate to rid itself of the stinging, stabbing elf who clung to its head. Wylant felt her shoulder blade crack, as well as a few ribs, pain lancing up her arm and across her chest, but she held on, willing Vax to grow longer, into a spear, a lance. Finally, Vax pierced the brain. Victory washed over her as she felt the serpent's throes go from a struggle for survival to a death rattle, and then she fell, striking the ground hard as consciousness gave way to darkness.

*

If you can't do it
, Kholster thought at his daughter,
any other way, use the Arvash'ae. Your body knows how to do this. Your mind is getting in the way.

Teru says it looks like she's fighting the Arvash'ae. She—

I'm sorry
, Kholster thought at Rae'en, then to all Aern, he thought:
All Recall.

As it did each time, the sharing of a memory stopped Aern in their tracks the world over. Those who were in danger, certainly one in the midst of a battle with a shark, gave over immediately to the Arvash'ae. He hoped Rae'en would come to forgive him for robbing her of such a hard-won victory.

The memory Kholster shared was a simple one, one that was very much on his mind . . . the one Vander had mentioned earlier, when the gods had sent storms against them. He, Vander, and the other Armored on the mission had drowned. The warsuits had walked them back to shore where the Bone Finders had stripped their bones, killed animals to fill the warsuits with enough blood to cover the bones, brought them back according to the agreement he'd made with Torgrimm so very long ago.

He hoped the Armored found the memory reassuring, but he also knew two Overwatches, three Bone Finders, and a certain young kholster knew the real reason he'd shared the memory at that very moment.

The crowd had gone wild when the first shark carcass had flown up onto the staging area. When Rae'en had followed it, still dragging a live shark behind her, they'd risen to their feet. Now that the memory was over, the Arvash'ae faded. She was safe.

Kholster ended the memory with perfunctory All Know words about the coming storm on the water, about how the fleet would make it through one way or another. Only when he was done did he finally turn to face his daughter. In her eyes he saw not the anger he'd expected, but gratitude and shame.

“Thank you,” she mouthed. The remaining opponents held up their hands, backing at least one step away, signaling their surrender. The announcer called an end to the match and declared them the victors, but victory was hollow.

Kholster watched the way Rae'en eyed the water warily and dropped into it himself to retrieve Grudge. As he emerged at the staging area and returned Testament, Vander told him what he already knew.