by Andrew Rowe
The other woman stepped closer, but she was still a good thirty feet away. It was a large rooftop, and a precarious one, due to the building’s awkward design. An obvious doorway leading to a stairwell was visible on the opposite end of the roof, near where the other Silk was standing.
“You’re looking at her.” She rested her staff against the ground. Velas couldn’t see through her veils; they seemed to have the same one-way obscuring enchantments that her own veils did, or at least similar ones.
If I can get close enough to tear them off...
“I’m afraid that’s my title at the moment, unless you haven’t heard.” Velas inched closer warily, searching for any signs of other possible attackers.
Sharpsight.
She couldn’t quite manage a full invisibility detection spell yet, but Jonan’s lessons had given her enough of a foundation to enhance her vision somewhat. The basic spell would help her catch the telltale distortion waves in the air that often signified the presence of an invisible opponent.
The other woman remained still, at least for the moment. “That’s where you’re wrong, little pet. I’ve had that title for a long time. Someone else just keeps trying to give it away.”
Velas paused, frowning. “You’re not intended to replace me, then?”
“Oh, gods forgive me, no. No, that isn’t it at all.” The other woman broke into hysterical laughter, bending double at the waist. “...Is that what you thought? You poor child. She hasn’t told you anything, has she?”
Velas wrinkled her nose, understanding reaching her. “You’re a previous Silk, not a new one.”
“Is this truly news to you?” The other Silk lowered her staff, then began to walk closer. “She didn’t send you for me?”
“No. Not directly, at least. I’m not here for you...or maybe I am.” Velas frowned. “Are you also the Shrouded One?”
The other Silk kept walking, pausing just about ten feet away. “Oh, yes. That’s one of my newer titles. It was just ‘Shroud’ at first.”
“Why Shroud?”
“Well, I’d very nearly died, you see. Terrible fire, I won’t bore you with the details. After I recovered, I discovered that our mutual master had replaced me with a new Silk. Rather than going back to Aayara immediately, I spent some time trying to discover who had masterminded the attempt to kill me. As I’m sure you know, returning to Symphony in failure would not have endeared her to me.”
Velas nodded curtly.
“Imagine my surprise when I learned that my dear mentor was the one who had orchestrated my demise. And so,” the other Silk tugged at her veils, “I allowed her to believe that she’d succeeded. And this became my burial shroud.”
“Poetic. I like it. But what was her motive?”
“Paranoia, I presume. She doesn’t like it when her dear ‘children’, as she calls us, begin to get close enough to her skill level to threaten her. Jealousy, maybe. Her lover’s eyes wandered toward me from time to time. Or perhaps just sheer boredom.” She sighed. “I wish I knew. But it’s far too late for justifications at this point. She betrayed me, and now I’m repaying her for it.”
Velas shifted the grip on her spear. “With this...can I say ‘cult’? I feel like that’s rude, but you have a cult.”
The Shrouded One laughed. “Now, now. We’re not a cult. We have a book. Several, in fact. I’d inform you of the details, but alas, we’re running short on time.”
“Time?” Velas tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“There are places I need to be. And, sadly, I can’t have you interfering with things.” Silk lifted her quarterstaff. “I’d say there’s nothing personal, but that would be a lie. You’re wearing my old outfit and name.”
“I could change outfits, if it’d get you to share more of your plan.” Velas grinned.
“I’d like that, but I’m afraid not. I’m probably going to kill you here, but I won’t make the same mistake my mentor did. If you happen to escape, or if those glimmering earrings of yours are actively sending a message...”
They were, in fact, active and sending the sounds of their conversation to Jonan.
“...I can’t allow whoever is on the other end to know any more details.”
Velas took a step back. “No comradery for another Silk, then? Not going to offer me a chance to join you?”
“Distrust is the first and the last lesson that Aayara ever taught me. Perhaps if I’d reached you sooner, we could have come to some arrangement. But things are too delicate now to allow you to interfere. I can’t have more variables in play.”
“You’re presuming an awful lot about how easily you’re going to beat me.”
The Shrouded One raised a hand. “Let me explain one more thing, then, just so you understand. I’m not just a previous Silk. I’m the very first to bear the title, aside from Aayara herself. You won’t be the first Silk I’ve killed.”
Black flames formed around the Shrouded One’s outstretched hand. “You won’t even be the first Velas Jaldin that I’ve killed.”
Velas had always prided herself on her speed. Even when fighting against Sterling, she’d managed to follow his movements — it was his strength and impervious body that had been the main problem.
When the Shrouded One moved, she couldn’t see it. Not because the Shrouded One had gone invisible; her enhanced vision would have noted the blur.
No, her opponent was simply so fast that she didn’t process the movement, even when she’d been looking straight at her.
Something cracked in her chest, and then she was flying backward from the force of the impact.
Her veils were on fire.
She screamed, even as she flew backward to near the edge of the roof. With one hand, she drove the Heartlance into the stone, arresting her movement. With the other, she tore the burning veils off her face.
She’d never liked them, anyway.
The Shrouded One appeared right in front of her, putting a finger under Velas’ chin. “Sorry to end it so quickly. I know you—”
Velas slammed her forehead toward the Shrouded One’s face. She couldn’t see exactly where she was aiming, but she hoped to break the woman’s nose.
The Shrouded One moved again, appearing twenty feet away. She was still far too fast to follow. “My, my. Still have some fight in you?” The Shrouded One discarded her staff, which was now broken in the center. “No matter. It’ll be over soon enough.”
Velas coughed, clutching at her chest. She’d been hit hard, but the armor spell from her dominion mark had absorbed some of the force of the blow. Without it, she suspected a blow with that amount of power would have caved her ribcage.
Even with the protection, she was hurting bad. She mentally thanked whatever gods that were listening that her opponent was, apparently, the monologuing type.
Then she flipped the Heartlance over and tapped the bottom of it against the ground. Golden lines began to flow up the surface of the spear, then onto her hands.
Her mind and body quickened.
When the Shrouded One moved again, this time she could see it. But she still wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way.
Not without sorcery, at least.
Surge.
A blast of force carried her out of the trajectory of the Shrouded One’s strike. As she landed, she thrust at the Shrouded One’s side. Her opponent batted the jab out of the way with ease.
“I’ve always wanted one of those.” The Shrouded One stepped in, grabbing the shaft of the spear with her right hand. “I think I’ll keep it.”
Velas yanked on the weapon. It didn’t move.
The Shrouded One raised her other hand, this one still swirling with black fire. Then she pointed her palm at Velas’ chest.
Jump.
Velas shot into the air, still gripping the Heartlance, and narrowly avoided the jet of black flame that shot into the space where she’d been standing.
She didn’t let go of her weapon. Neither did the Shrouded One. A moment
later, Velas felt herself torn from the sky as the Shrouded One pulled with absurd force.
Velas directed her fall.
Surge. She blasted herself feet first into the Shrouded One’s chest.
The Shrouded One took a step back at the impact, but otherwise barely reacted. Velas braced against her opponent with both legs, pushing, but she still couldn’t wrench the spear free.
She’s as strong as Sterling or Taelien. Maybe stronger.
Velas kicked upward with one foot, but the Shrouded One grabbed her ankle.
The Shrouded One’s hand was, of course, still on fire.
Velas screamed again, then shifted tactics.
She released her grip on the Heartlance, still screaming in agony, and moved her hand in front of the Shrouded One’s face.
Burst.
A blast of kinetic energy rippled out of her hand with enough strength to shatter stone.
The grip on her ankle released.
Velas dropped to the ground, rolled, and concentrated on the black fire that was spreading up her pant leg.
Push.
The flames separated from her clothing and body, then dissipated in the air.
When she grabbed for the Heartlance, however, she found it missing.
She looked up just in time to find the Shrouded One looming over her. “Now, that’s interesting. I rarely see motion sorcery powerful enough to move other spells these days. You have quite a talent.”
Velas began to push herself to her feet, only to find the tip of the Heartlance at her throat.
“Ah, no. Don’t think my curiosity is going to permit you to leave.”
Sound. Form. Behind.
“I won’t be permitting you to leave either, my dear. Your long years of running are at an end.” Aayara’s voice echoed behind the Shrouded One. It was, in Velas’ opinion, one of the best impressions she’d ever managed.
“Sorry, little Silk. I can sense sound sorcery — Aayara teaches all her apprentices that. You don’t have any friends here. And, if you’re anything like me, you probably never had any true friends at all.”
The Heartlance moved — but not toward her.
It vanished entirely.
The Shrouded One did spin, then, but not toward the sound of Aayara. She growled and hurled a blast of black fire toward someone or something that Velas couldn’t see, save for a distant blur.
Jonan?
Velas heart pounded in her chest as she searched the area. Had her rescuer just been obliterated? She couldn’t see them in the wake of the blast.
So, she did what came naturally and threw a punch at her now-unarmed opponent.
Burst.
She enhanced her punch with motion sorcery, adding to the force of the impact. It hit the Shrouded One hard enough to knock her back a step, but otherwise didn’t seem to cause any damage.
Except to her fist. Her knuckles cracked and bled from the force of the impact...and that was with her armor spell still active.
The distraction of the punch was all she needed, though.
The Shrouded One had stopped commanding the black fire and turned back toward her.
Velas made a rude gesture with her right hand and smiled. “Bye, now.”
Surge.
She carried herself backward with a blast of force and off the edge of the building. As she flew backward, she pulled a knife off her belt and hurled it.
The Shrouded One flew after her, hesitating only a moment to deflect the thrown knife. That moment was just long enough for a wall of ice to appear in the Shrouded One’s path.
Ice? That means...
Velas made it off the roof and began to fall.
The Shrouded One blasted through the wall of ice and jumped off the building to follow her.
There were no further taunts, then. The Shrouded One blasted herself in front of Velas with a surge of motion sorcery of her own, then threw a mid-air punch.
Velas didn’t have the Heartlance, but she did still have the enhanced speed it provided. That allowed her to follow the swing and grab her opponent’s arm.
“Now!” Velas yelled. The Shrouded One began to slip away almost immediately, but Velas held tight as long as she could.
A blast of ice hit the Shrouded One from behind, just as Velas had hoped. The ice began to spread rapidly, encasing her opponent’s arms around the shoulders.
Got her.
Velas used her free hand grab for a knife, then jammed it into her opponent’s chest.
The knife didn’t break her opponent’s skin.
Then the Shrouded One snapped the ice around one arm and touched a hand to it. “Useless. You still haven’t figured out what you’re up against, have you?”
The ice vanished. Not burned by flame, not teleported away...it vanished as it was absorbed by the Shrouded One’s touch, serving to further fuel her strength.
And then Velas understood, too late, the nature of her foe.
Surge.
Velas tried to blast herself away, but the Shrouded One grabbed her with her left hand, arresting her movement.
Another blast of ice hit her from behind, but the Shrouded One absorbed it again, and faster this time.
Velas still couldn’t see her ally, but she knew who was trying to help her. “Shiver! No more ice! She’s a vae’kes!”
“Shiver, hm?” The Shrouded One pulled her close. “I’ll remember that.”
A moment later, their arms still intertwined, they hit the ground.
Surge.
Velas used motion sorcery to slow their descent just before the impact, but she still hit the ground hard. Her already injured leg buckled, and she fell backward, the Shrouded One on top of her.
“That motion sorcery of yours is quite useful. I suppose I shouldn’t let it go to waste.” The Shrouded One put her hand around her throat, pinning her to the ground. “Mine now.”
The Shrouded One’s hand flickered, and Velas felt something spread into her, reaching into her essence...
No! I won’t let you!
There was a crack in the air as the foreign essence met something inside Velas’ body, the same power that she’d always used to expel poison and sorcery. The dominion within her that she’d never understood.
The Shrouded One pulled her hand back suddenly, then let out a scream of agony.
Huh.
Well, that changes things.
Then Velas punched the Shrouded One again.
Expulse.
She’d never been able to push that strange dominion out of her body without a medium. Fortunately, her knuckles were bleeding, and that was enough. Essence flowed through the injuries as her fist crunched into the Shrouded One’s face.
The Shrouded One screamed again, falling backward, and Velas rolled on top of her.
Expulse! Expulse! Expulse!
Velas slammed her bleeding fist into the Shrouded One as fast as she could. On the last punch, though, her enemy managed to grab her wrist. The Shrouded One twisted hard.
Then Velas was screaming again as bones shattered and her strength faltered.
A hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.
“Teleport.”
Velas found herself on the ground several feet away, with Rialla standing where she’d been a moment before. As she’d expected, Rialla was holding the Heartlance in her other hand. She’d teleported it out of the Shrouded One’s grip earlier.
Rialla turned toward her and yelled, “Run!”
Without another moment of hesitation, Velas turned and started to flee.
...And fell immediately, as her injured leg failed her.
Rialla appeared next to her, then raised a wall of ice behind them. “I’m still awful at teleporting, sorry! I only think I have enough essence left to get one of us out of here.”
“The spear.” Velas gestured at the Heartlance, which Rialla was still carrying. “Please.”
Rialla handed it to her. “You can’t beat her.”
“No, you’re right.” Velas tap
ped the spear against the ground, once again activating the Heartlance’s speed-enhancing effect. “But I can make her bleed. Get going. Warn the others.”
“No.” Rialla shook her head. “You’re too injured. I’m sorry. You need to go. I can hold her off and teleport when I’m recovered.”
The ice vanished, absorbed by the Shrouded One. Then a knife cut through the air — the same one that Velas had thrown at the Shrouded One earlier.
It hit Rialla right in the chest.
“Oh.” Rialla looked down at the weapon embedded in her chest. “Well...I guess that settles that.”
“Ri—”
Rialla’s hand settled on Velas’ shoulder. “Take care of my brother.”
And then the world blurred and Velas was gone.
Chapter XVII – Taelien V – Blighted Woods
Taelien absently rubbed at his left shoulder. There was little purpose to it; no amount of massaging the muscle and skin could restore the feeling that he’d lost.
A fraction of his spirit was gone.
It would regrow, true. Perhaps stronger than before. But for the moment, Taelien couldn’t help but feel the absence of something ephemeral, something beyond ordinary senses.
He’d felt it when she’d torn that piece from him, and she’d been honest. It had not been pleasant.
When he’d told her that he could see the piece she’d removed in the moments before she sealed it into her own body, she’s been only mildly surprised. “That’s a good sign. Seems you’ve developed a hint of spiritual awareness yourself.”
“Spiritual awareness?”
She nodded. “In my home back in Artinia, we strengthen the spirit throughout lifetimes of training. Our sorcery works somewhat differently there. The Seven-Branched Sword Deity and the Impervious Forest Goddess were quite talented at it. Perhaps you’ve inherited a hint of their spark.”
“The lantern, I think.” Taelien rubbed at his chin. “I’ve been noticing things more ever since I started testing it.”
“I suppose practicing with items can help, but most people can’t develop entirely new skills from it.” Wrynn gave him a skeptical look. “You must have already had some talent beforehand.”
