Croeli-Amaenel’s voice cut through the silence. “Stay on her! Chain her if you must! We need her in that pit!”
Shaken from their shock, Amaenel’s subordinates circled Faoii-Julianne cautiously. The broken Faoii stalked back and forth like a caged panther before throwing herself to one side again.
When she Blinked next, she was on them.
One Croeli screamed as she appeared, but the cry faded into a low gurgle as her blade sprouted from his throat. The others pounced on her even before their comrade’s body hit the ground, but she Blinked to the side, appearing behind them. Two more fell away from her outstretched fantoii, their heads rolling away from her booted feet as their bodies slumped to the ground. She Blinked again, this time forward, then immediately back.
Right into the arms of Croeli-Amaenel.
Faoii-Julianne struggled in his grip, cursing and biting, but he held her still. Enveloping her in a bone-crushing squeeze, the Croeli raised his boot and slammed it against Julianne’s leg with a resounding crack. Her scream hadn’t even begun to pass her lips when he swung the boot back to collide with her opposite knee. Its pop was somehow more disconcerting than the first strike had been.
Faoii-Julianne could not repress her cry as she fell to the ground, writhing in agony as she tried to drag herself toward her dropped fantoii. Croeli-Amaenel only looked down at her from beneath his scowling mask. “Blink now, witch,” he growled.
Julianne weakly reached for the dingy fantoii that lay just out of her reach, then crumpled limply as her adversary brought his booted heel down on her outstretched hand. Kaiya stared in horror as he kicked the motionless body into the pit.
Almost lazily, Amaenel turned back from the hole and nodded silently. It was then that Kaiya realized she had been still for far too long as she’d watched events unfold. Far too long, indeed.
A man seemingly materialized behind her, his breath hot and sudden against her neck. It reeked of hatred and fear. Instantly alert, Kaiya sidestepped to the left, hearing the cold scratching of metal against metal as his criukli scraped against the right side of her breastplate. Her eyes narrowed and she spun to the right, twisting around the blade. Then she snapped her arm toward the Croeli’s back, aiming for his lungs. Her short sword sliced through the dark leathers with a practiced ease.
But the blade caught.
So unlike her regular fantoii, this weapon was not weighted correctly. It did not release itself from her slain enemy’s ribcage with the smooth elegance she was accustomed to. Instead, it stuck between the man’s ribs with an infuriating tug. Kaiya wrenched it free with a violent jerk of her arm, but even those precious seconds were too much. She had not noticed the other Croeli lurking
beneath her adversary’s arm. She had not noticed the criukli posed to strike at her now.
She did, however, notice as the criukli rammed upward, sliding underneath the edge of her breastplate. She noticed as it lodged itself into the soft flesh of her belly, its blade breaking from the hilt with a twist of the Croeli’s wrist. She noticed a high-pitched scream but did not recognize it as her own.
There were shouts from everywhere. Someone caught her as her knees buckled, cradling her against a sudden chill. Someone was screaming at her to sing. She opened her mouth to try, but her tongue didn’t cooperate. Couldn’t move. Then, just as suddenly, the arms were gone and there was more yelling. A fight somewhere. I should be helping. She reached for her sword but couldn’t find it. There was only pain and fire. The world spun, and her flesh boiled. She felt the blisters explode from her belly even without seeing them.
Then the yelling increased and the ground was gone. The trees overhead were suddenly closer, fading in and out of her fiery existence. They spun and distorted, seeming to lengthen and spread apart as she struggled to breathe. Then she was falling. Pain exploded and the trees disappeared. There was only fire and darkness, tears and blood.
Then nothing.
*~*
Thinir could not repress his glee as he watched the minutes following his niece’s downfall. His traitorous nephew’s scream was unearthly as his former comrade plunged a criukli into Kaiya’s stomach. Thinir watched as Tendaji frantically cut down two more Croeli in a rush to get to Kaiya, trying in vain to stop the bleeding from her abdomen. His body shook as he yelled at her, trying to raise his voice above her pained cries.
“Kaiya! Start singing! You’ve gotten through this before! You can do it again! Sing, Kai! Sing!” Kaiya tried to open her mouth, but her tongue, red and slick with blood, only moved faintly. He tried again but two men yanked him to his feet and Kaiya fell limply to the ground, blood pooling beneath her prone form.
Tendaji fought against these newest adversaries, screaming brutally in rage and fear, but they held him. It did not take long for him to exhaust himself within their grasp, bruising his arms already in the effort. Defeated, he could only stare in cold rage as Amaenel exploded on the aggressor that had cut his sister down.
“You moron! We needed her alive!” With angry movements, Amaenel crouched down and freed Kaiya from her breastplate and leathers, using his hands to staunch the blood that seeped from her stomach. Even from this vantage point, Thinir could see horrendous blisters puckering Kaiya’s dark skin—boils that pulsed and oozed sickeningly with red and yellow puss. She screamed under Amaenel’s touch, and several of the blisters burst like overripe cherries.
Stripping off his horned helm, Amaenel twisted his face into a mask of vehemence as he yanked out the blade that had broken off beneath Kaiya’s skin. Blood sprayed, and she gasped, paling. Tendaji’s enraged shudder matched Amaenel’s as they watched the blood spread slowly over the forest floor. “You even poisoned the blade! Imbecile!”
The other man visibly paled, and Thinir smiled as he watched new rifts form in his enemies’ ranks. “Croeli-Amaenel, forgive me. She would have killed us all before stepping into that pit.” Amaenel leapt to his feet and backhanded the man with a resounding crack.
“Look at her! Who does she look like to you?” Amaenel continued before the other man could respond. “We had other uses for her! Two left in the world, and you kill one! What good is she to us now?” The man licked his lips before speaking.
“At least Thinir can’t use her now, right? And she can test the new batch. The Faoii in the pit might be able to use her poisoned blood to strengthen the Hag’s bond. Maybe—” Amaenel cut him off with an outraged scream and buried the broken blade in his subordinate’s chest.
“You want to test it? Fine.” He spat on the man as agonized screams filled the air. “Die knowing that you have been our downfall.” He turned away and barked at two more of his men nearby. “Throw her in. He’s right about one thing. The other one might find a use for her.”
Amaenel spit toward the pit with an angry growl. “Damn it all anyway. Hide this place. We won’t be coming back.”
Two of the men picked Kaiya up by her arms and legs. She didn’t struggle at their touch this time. Tendaji renewed his fight, screaming her name, but Kaiya didn’t move as the two men threw her into the gaping pit. He tried to lunge for her, but Amaenel blocked his path, smiling down at him as he settled his helm again.
“Well, that didn’t go as I had hoped, but we’ve survived worse. Now that you are free of distractions, I am sure you can be convinced to focus on more important matters, Tendaji.” He nodded to the two Croeli that were still restraining their newest captive. “Bring him with us. We only have one chance now. Let’s make sure it isn’t wasted.”
Kaiya’s discarded breastplate lay abandoned in the clearing as the men lifted Tendaji by his arms, bound him, and led him away.
The vision faded, and Thinir cackled gleefully as he ordered a nearby slave to remove the chalice. Kaiya was no threat to him now. Without her leadership, her army would fracture and crumble. Tendaji would become useless to the Faoii whores, maddened by grief. And, more importantly, he knew where all his woes were stemming from. Everything was falling into place.
Nothing could stop him now.
27
Tendaji glared at Amaenel from his position on the ground. He had long since given up trying to struggle out of his bonds, though other than this indecency, he had not been mistreated. While he could not see what Amaenel was doing from this angle, he was acutely aware that his former subordinate was making preparations. Tendaji growled.
“That poison is not what I created, Amaenel. What did you do?” Amaenel shrugged but did not turn away from the table he was working at.
“The old stuff took too long. As Thinir grew more powerful, he could refurbish his victims more quickly, and from farther away. So we had to make it louder. Make it faster.”
“What did you add to it?”
“Tonicloran.”
Tendaji jumped, his muscles tensing painfully against the ropes. “What?!”
Amaenel sighed, and his shoulders slackened a little. He turned back to the table resignedly. “All the gods have abandoned us, Tendaji. We can’t anger them any more than we have already. So why not use any tool we can to bring down this tyrant? What else could he do to us in retaliation?”
“Illindria would not like it, Amaenel.”
Amaenel released a barking laugh. “You still worship the Hag? Poor Tendaji. Look at your Faoii pet. At her armies. How could that witch possibly be worth the breath it takes to even whisper a prayer?”
Tendaji scowled but did not reply. The silence lengthened, and Amaenel glanced over his shoulder again. He snorted at Tendaji’s belligerent stare. “What? Nothing to say to that?” The sound of metal instruments clicking together filled the void left in his laughter’s wake.
“Where did you get it?” Tendaji finally asked. “The tonicloran, I mean.”
“Why, we brought it with us, of course. Thinir had one of the original sprigs from the temple back home. He started growing it at the encampment even before he slew Croeli-Tendir.” Tendaji’s eyebrows lifted in surprise despite the sudden pain at the mention of his father. Amaenel caught the look. “God’s axe, Tendaji, you really were never around to see any of this, were you? Bells, it’s surprising you found your way back at all.” Tendaji curled one thin lip, but Amaenel continued, “You should have seen the garden he created. Dark and brutal, but filled with such power. His horned god would be proud.”
“My father knew of it?”
“Of course.”
“How?” The sound was angrier than Tendaji had intended, and after a moment, he tried again. “How did Thinir convince Father that tonicloran could be useful? Was he planning to use it to kill the Faoii if they refused us?”
“What? No, of course not. Broken blade, Tendaji, think about it. If Thinir was planning on doing that, don’t you think he would have used it when he tore down their temples?” Amaenel took a few measured steps toward Tendaji and squatted on his haunches in front of him, resting his forearms on his knees. “I think he convinced your father that he was looking for an antidote, something that could be used as a peace offering for when we contacted the Faoii. The truth is much more believable, of course. I’m surprised your father fell for that story, knowing how much Thinir despised the witches.
“Thinir was sure there was a way to use tonicloran to reach the home of the witch goddess. Crazy bastard wanted to strike Her in the heart and enslave Her followers. Show them what it’s like to go without.” He chuckled. “Your entire family gets these weird ideas in their heads, don’t they?” He laughed out loud at Tendaji’s seething glare. “Never did quite master it, though—lucky for us. He had to expend all his forces on bringing down the Faoii temples, and it gave us time to twist the plant to our own use. Blessed tonicloran might end up being his downfall despite how much hope he put into it.”
Tendaji spat at Amaenel’s feet. “There is nothing blessed about tonicloran. You’ve seen what it does to people. And you’re spreading it around the world for anyone to stumble over.”
Amaenel shrugged. “Better for them to die that way than to become Thinir’s unwilling slave.” Amaenel straightened again and loomed over Tendaji. “You’re right about one thing, though: there’s nothing blessed about this plant. Thinir did find a way to use some part of it for that weird Blinking of his. Almost a dozen men died while he was experimenting with it, but eventually he must have done something right. I don’t know how he made it work, but between that and his mind control, he’s nearly destroyed us.” Deep furrows creased Amaenel’s face as he frowned.
“You came back right around that time, didn’t you? That last time. You must remember. There was always something wrong about those boys that came back afterward. Something gone from their eyes. And they always spoke of a world that wasn’t ours.” He sighed deeply, shivering from a nonexistent chill. “When you killed Croeli-Vilikir-Thinir, we all realized how bad it’d gotten. Most of us who deserted left then. We scattered. Until you found us.” He looked down at Tendaji and inhaled deeply, as though considering what to say. “Despite all of this, Tendaji, I’m glad that you freed us from that before we were all lost to whatever’s on the other side of the void.”
“If you’re so grateful, why keep me here? We both want to stop Thinir. One of our tactics might work. Why not have a contingency plan?” His voice was icy. “Why imprison me?”
Amaenel turned back again, this time holding a copper vial in one hand. He cocked his head at Tendaji, eyeing him with wry amusement.
“Come now, Tendaji. You’re not stupid. Isn’t it obvious?” He smiled as he stuck a cork into the vial’s top. “You’re the key to finding Thinir.”
Tendaji’s eyes narrowed as he tried to follow Amaenel’s logic and failed. “Explain.”
Amaenel chuckled. “Haven’t you realized? Thinir uses the blood of his victims to control them. Thaumaturgy. He keeps the blood of his lieutenants with him and uses it to control their actions, and in turn, they control others. A thousand dead and dying all connected by the same bloody web.” His eyes shone. “Blood has power. Control the blood and you control the man.”
Amaenel looked to the copper vial again before turning and placing it carefully back on the table. “Your father’s blood would have been better, of course, but it’s lost to us now. Thinir was smart. He destroyed his bloodline immediately so that we couldn’t use it. But he spared you.”
Tendaji frowned. “If what you say is true, he must have known that you could use me to find him. He wouldn’t have kept me alive.”
Amaenel shrugged. “I guess he thought you’d remain loyal. Thought he could still use you. He must have had dreams of you taking his place eventually because he kept your mind intact. Untarnished. You were the only general he did not refurbish after your father’s fall.”
“And what about Kai?”
“I don’t pretend to know why he spared your sister. Maybe he had plans to use her too. Not that he has a chance now.” Turning his attention to someone that Tendaji couldn’t see, Amaenel headed for the door. “Prepare him. The full moon is rising. We only have one chance at this.”
*~*
Meanwhile, far to the west, Lyn paced back and forth, gouging a deep rut in the snow. Asanali, sitting on one of the lower branches of a nearby pine, watched her movements silently. Eili, on the other hand, scowled through her ice-blue eye and webs of scarring.
“Stop that, girl. You ain’t helpin’ nothin’.”
“They should be back by now!” Lyn snarled in reply. “The troops are getting restless, and we’re sitting ducks here.” She swept one arm to encompass the valley and surrounding woodland. Tents and campfires dotted the area. Women and not a few men spoke in hushed tones, their voices carrying on a wind that was not as biting as it should have been. Asanali’s feet stopped twirling and changed direction.
“The pale-eyed messengers said they would not return until the night sun has shown all of her faces. It has not been so long yet.”
“Goddess’s girdle, Asan
ali, I wish you would speak like a normal person!” Lyn kicked a clump of snow at the tree that the Danhaid leader was sitting in. The bronze woman moved one foot out of its line of fire.
“If I did, you would still only hear the words you ask for, not the one I speak.” There was most assuredly no hint of contempt in Asanali’s voice, but her soft smile was maddening, regardless.
“You are so infuriating!”
“Faoii! Enough!” Faoii-Eili’s voice was filled with power, and Lyn tensed at its sound. Still belligerent, however, she spun and redirected her attack.
“Don’t use that tone with me! I’ve earned my title, Eili. There are no superiors here.” Eili exhaled through her nose in a dark huff. Slowly, the fire in her ice-blue eye faded. When she spoke, it was still stern, but without the sharp edge of battle.
The Last Faoii Page 22
