Blades of Sorcery

by Terah Edun

  His nose was a messy pulp of burst vessels, mangled flesh, and snot.

  He looked up at her with red, angry eyes. But to her astonishment, he said not a word.

  So she set in again.

  This time, she slipped down his body a bit, until her haunches were aligned with his upper thighs.

  It was low enough that he could throw her off if he had the right balance, so she waved over two of Captain Barthis’s guards without waiting for approval from their master.

  He didn’t say a word when she did. The only reason Sara even knew Barthis was still present was the fact that she heard methodical chewing in the background.

  I guess that means he got his lunch, she thought as she wiped sweat from her brow and let her darkness keep riding her emotions. It was the only reason she felt she had lasted through the torture session this long.

  After telling the guards what she wanted done, she waited until they had gone to get the requested stakes and the others remained behind to hold the struggling Kade down by his shoulders.

  The only thing Sara was thinking the whole time was that at least it was more humane than what Davinis intended to do—which was scrape the man’s memories out piece by piece with magic. She wouldn’t wish that method of torture on anyone, being trapped inside your own mind as someone else mentally carved you up and discarded your precious thoughts as waste while doing so.

  At least here he had a choice.

  Or that was what she told herself.

  When the guards came back, this time they didn’t hesitate to do as she said. Two of them grabbed his right hand and pressed it flat on the ground, fingers out, as she instructed. Even though he struggled, they drove the stake in on her command with the powerful smashes of a hammer. His remaining hand followed, and then she nodded at them to leave the Kade to her.

  Sara settled atop his upper thighs in a crouch like a girl about to play a game of rabbit jumping, and then casually looked into the Kade’s eyes as she stripped away his shirt with her knife.

  He was breathing hard by then. So hard.

  “Last chance,” she said with casual ease as she drew forth a smaller stake. He didn’t say a word, just gulped, and she sighed then went to work.

  First, she pushed the stake up into his armpit and jabbed it in.

  With a rough jerk, she kept the wood aligned with the fleshy part of his skin. Not deep enough to tear apart muscle but sharp enough to pull apart skin. As her father’s quartermaster had taught her to do when skinning wolves after the rare hunts she went on, she kept the line even and smooth to preserve the skin.

  And inflict the most amount of pain.

  As she did so, she watched his reaction.

  First he bit into his tongue to keep from screaming.

  Then his fingers were fractured and his body rose to throw her off, but all he could manage was to dig his fingers in for grip. She was too heavy and strong for his lower half to do much of anything at all. When his face began to drain of color—from blood loss, not fear—and he tracked her hand as she moved the stake to his other side, she knew she had him.

  At first, he moved his lips, unspeaking.

  After he finally managed to spit out the glob of blood and phlegm that was lodged in his throat, the leader said in a voice raw from screaming, “What do you want to know?”

  Sara lifted the stake just a little. “Where is the Kade encampment?”

  He didn’t want to tell her. As she pressed the stake down again, he had no choice.

  Through gritted teeth, he said, “In the middle marches, to the west of the kingdom that borders Algardis on the far east. You’ll find them by going due north along the river and traveling up the dry riverbed to the forgotten falls.”

  His voice tremored toward the end, but honesty rang out in clarion tones.

  Sara almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a dismissive “She got lucky.”

  Recognizing Davinis’s voice, Sara gripped her stake hard, fighting the urge not to drive it into his eye after what he had done, and, indirectly, was forcing her to do.

  Then she realized Captain Barthis was standing right beside him and wouldn’t take well to her killing his pet torturer, so she relaxed her hand and kept her gaze on the Kade.

  “Why, Fairchild,” her captain said, “you have surprised me well and good. That is what I like to see in a commanding officer.”

  Sara looked up at her captain and said dispassionately, “His information makes sense, considering the landscape I saw when we were flying toward the Kade encampment.”

  Captain Barthis nodded, pleased. As he backed away, he said, “Find out more. Well done, Fairchild.”

  Ignoring his praise and letting it pass over her like the wind, Sara said to the dazed man beneath her, “You gave me what I asked for, and I’m thankful.”

  She watched his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

  “Now you need to give me just a little bit more,” she said softly.

  The captive’s gaze kept flicking back from the captain to her.

  “What do you want to know?” he asked with a whimper.

  “Just the specifications on troop movements, defense alignments, and mages on site,” she said. “We can’t go in blind.”

  He blinked. Then said hoarsely, “I’ll tell you everything, and I mean it—but I need something in return.”

  “And I told you—no more games.”

  “No, no more games. Just—a promise. I’m giving you everything. There’s nothing more I have. But…but that man from before. He’s a mage, isn’t he?”

  Sara sat back. “Who?”

  His eyes darkened as he spat out another round of blood and phlegm, turning his head so he didn’t land the mess on her.

  “Now who’s playing games?” he said. “The mage with your captain. I know what he is. I can’t fall into his hands.”

  The terror in his voice was real—unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about that.

  “That’s out of my hands,” Sara said.

  “It’s not.”

  As she palmed the stake, the captain saw her movement and shouted, “Keep going, Fairchild. I knew you had it in you.”

  Then, for the moment, the captain turned away to the group that had amassed around him. Planners, officers, and mages, Sara thought.

  The Kade seemed to take this as his chance to speak freely.

  Leaning forward, he said, “I’ll give you what you want, but I need mercy.”

  “What?”

  “We’ve heard of Captain Barthis’s legendary tactics,” he said. “He’ll keep me alive, but I’ve told you what I know. Just get your answers and then let me go in peace.”

  “Free you?” she said, her face practically on top of his and her hair shielding their conversation from view. With her hand over his nose, they probably thought she was crushing him again.

  “If you want to call it that,” he said.

  Sara sat back. “Kill you?”

  “There’s nothing else for me here. Nothing else to give you after this,” he said wearily, and she finally understood.

  Stumbling for the first time, Sara said, “Fine. I’ll-I’ll come back tonight.”

  “No—now, mercenary,” he said. “You honor your word directly after I honor mine.”

  26

  “Agreed,” Sara said as she wondered how the world had gone so wrong.

  Then he began whispering in her ear.

  As the captain shouted that he was coming over, Sara waved him off with a concentrated look. He could tell that she was getting somewhere with the Kade so he let her keep going.

  Leaning over tense, Sara looked back at the Kade who was staring up at her fiercely.

  “Are you sure the Kade encampment is located where you say?” she asked.

  He gave her a brittle smile. “It was when I left less than a week ago, but then again we move frequently enough that it may not matter. Small forces are mobile and have their advantages you know.”

  Sara ch
uckled. “So does having dragons on call. Now about those troop movements and defensive structures?”

  Flatly he continued to give the most comprehensive overview she’d heard of how they both shielded their camps and used a migratory strategy to make sure that it was impossible to overcome them all at once.

  Appreciatively Sara said, “Those creatures aren’t just tools are they?”

  He shook his head. “Well that is a matter of perspective.”

  “Do tell,” she murmured.

  He looked back at her with a sharp gaze. “Maybe in another lifetime Lietenant Commander, but for now…you need to keep your word. Your captain is itching to come over here and while your tactics were effectively gruesome, his will rip my brain apart from the inside out.”

  She leaned back over him and whispered, “But you have so many delicious secrets that he would be very pleased to have.”

  “But only one that matters right now,” he said solemnly. “The one I gave you. Besides…I never imagined you were a women who would break her bond.”

  Sara looked away briefly and back to him.

  “I’m not,” she promised.

  “Good,” he said tensely.

  Heart beating fast, Sara wondered how to go about it now or even if she should. She hesitated.

  Her captain and his coterie were already heading over. She could hear Davinis loudly speculating on what else he could get out of the Kade prisoner with his techniques.

  As if what Sara had done wasn’t enough.

  And the terror grew in the Kade invasion leader’s eyes.

  “Don’t let him touch me,” he said in a voice that cracked. “I fought you with honor. I surrendered with honor. The least you could do is give me an honorable death.”

  Sara stiffened and then nodded.

  “Give me a reason to hit you hard,” she said sharply. “And do it fast.”

  The Kade didn’t hesitate, instead he began fighting her tooth-and-nail with whatever movement he was capable of. And for a moment Sara was surprised at his quickness, then he shouted, “I will see your ancestors in purgatory!” and tried to bite her face off.

  It didn’t upset her as much as seeing the captain and Davinis, like an eager snapping dog, rushing not to aid her but to overpower the Kade and debase him just as they’d done to his other compatriot.

  It was as if her brain sparked with fury. Right on cue. To be honest, it wasn’t hard to be angry at him, even furious, because she couldn’t be mad at the captain…not if she wanted to survive. So she transferred that anger to the enemy bucking underneath her and she looked at him as he took on the manifestation of everything she hated about in this life, all the people they had killed, and all the things she had lost because of others greed and failures.

  So the Kade wasn’t just himself anymore.

  He was everything she’d been dreading and fighting since she’d mistakenly signed up for this war. He was evil incarnate.

  Knowing that and knowing that she was giving the man underneath her his freedom, as requested, that she was honoring their agreement, she let loose and didn’t hold anything back—the rage, the fury, the unchecked darkness. It all rose within her like an avenging demon ready to exact pain, and its only focus was the man who lay below her.

  Apparently the captain sensed something was amiss. “Fairchild, attend.”

  But she didn’t move.

  Just before Sara threw her first solid punch, she heard the captain say, “Don’t!”

  But it was already too late, and she had slipped back into her battle rage and this time she didn’t aim for something non-essential like his nose or the inside of his underarm.

  No, she let her fist fly, and they all heard the hard crack of the Kade’s soft skull.

  As a few guards jumped on her back to pull her off him, Sara sent them flying with harsh blows.

  After that, no one else interfered.

  She was a battle mage, after all. And even the captain knew that should he interrupt her in a rare rage, well, he’d better be prepared to fight to the death.

  And the Kade invasion leader wasn’t worth his life now that they had the information.

  Neither was him killing her for disobeying his orders. That left the Kade alone and vulnerable to her whims.

  But before she’d even really gotten into a rhythm, she had made sure to shove a sliver of bone straight through his ocular socket and into his brain, a blow guaranteeing a merciful death before she let rip.

  It was the least she could do.

  She didn’t have a chance to see peace pass into his eyes, but she felt it as his body went limp and she continued punching a sack of blood and bones for effect.

  After that, she beat him unchecked. No guilt and no sorrow in her hits. Just endorphins released.

  As blood, brain matter, and chunks of hair flew past her, the surrounding crowd was silent. They watched her dig into her strength and tap into her anger until she had pummeled the man until his face was unrecognizable.

  Then she dug in some more.

  She didn’t stop until she was ready. And when she did, his upper body was just a puddle of blood and goo, soaking into the packed dirt at her knees.

  There was no denying he was dead and no recognizing who he was.

  Not with what she’d done.

  Breathing hard, Sara just stared at her work.

  The only thing that snapped her out of her daze was Davinis’s disappointed voice.

  She had to secretly smile when she heard him say, “I just wanted his memories. Why’d she have to go and destroy his brain like that?”

  She had done what she’d set out to do, though she’d never tell him that.

  Sara got up and looked Davinis in the face. Then she stepped aside while flinging dripping blood off her bare knuckles.

  “He’s all yours,” she said, gesturing stiffly at the body.

  Even Captain Barthis flinched at the coldness in her words.

  “Lieutenant Commander, I want a debriefing in my tent on the hour,” the captain said sourly. “Go cool off.”

  As she walked away, leaving behind the rage and the fury as well as the man she had set at peace, Sara had one thought: I guess I’m not in control of the darkness as much as I thought.

  It amused her in a way that nothing else could, and she laughed as she walked away. If Davinis had any thoughts about calling her back and reprimanding her, he kept them to himself, and no one approached her.

  No one even dared.

  Not even the captain, who thought her a merciful failure.

  She walked away with her head held high and her sanity in tatters. But she had her answers. What the captain made of them was up to him.

  * * *

  She was halfway across camp when she almost walked directly into Ezekiel.

  She had her head down as she doggedly followed the magic in her disc to her newly assigned quarters. Sara just wanted some alone time with quiet, darkness, and solitude for company before she had to face the man she called leader and what he had turned her into again.

  She walked with her senses aware but her head mostly down, avoiding everyone and everything human in her path.

  So she hadn’t been actively looking for Ezekiel when he found her.

  And when she didn’t even look up, even though he knew that she knew he was there, he had to know something was wrong.

  Ezekiel was wise enough not to speak.

  After he backed up a few hasty steps and took in her carnage-strewn visage with the rapidly drying blood halfway up her sleeves, she knew she didn’t have to say anything.

  Still she stopped and looked him directly in eyes, daring him to ask what happened. He probably thought she’d gotten into another fight. He’d be wrong. For one thing, there wasn’t a scratch on her. But she was covered in a body’s worth of blood.

  Still he didn’t say anything.

  He flinched, yes, at whatever he found in her eyes. But after a moment of accidentally blocking her way while e
veryone else in the vicinity quickly found somewhere else to be, he fell to her side.

  Sara threw her head back and sighed.

  But she knew that trying to get rid of him when he was determined to stick to her like a burr was as futile as looking for him in a crowded area when he didn’t want to be found.

  She had quite a bit of experience in both of those scenarios, and she wasn’t in the mood for either. So she kept walking. When Ezekiel casually touched her sleeve as she was walking along and he pointed to a sign just a little out of the way, she relented and turned right.

  He didn’t speak.

  They just went up to the attendants.

  Neither smiled.

  The man blanched and waved them through while practically climbing behind a guard pole to get out of her way.

  It wasn’t long before she was in the hot springs bath Ezekiel had directed her to.

  He didn’t join her. Instead, she heard him furtively whispering at the garden entrance to her hot spring and directing everyone away. Even the bath attendants who split part of their time away from service and trainings, working these springs. Though Sara had the thought that after the aerial bombardments, maybe there weren’t any mercenaries left to spare for luxury positions like the person who fetched clean towels. Reben had certainly been recommissioned as soon as she’d been fit; Karn had told Sara that much.

  Deciding that it mattered little in the scheme of things, Sara dunked her entire body underwater until she was submerged and sitting cross-legged on the bottom of the spring’s floor. As the hot water bubbled around her, she just sat and soaked in serenity for a moment. And then serenity passed into perdition as she stayed under water. Thirty seconds. A minute. A minute and a half.

  She’d always been good at holding her breath, but soon her lungs were screaming for air.

  But she wouldn’t rise.

  Not yet.

  She let the heat scald her and wash away her sins.

  She let the fight for air soothe her as she thought of nothing else.

  Then, as she was beginning to feel the effects, she opened her eyes. Still underwater. Still sitting.

  She heard her name being called, even underwater, and this she chose to answer. Because she knew that Ezekiel was stupid enough to dive into the water to get her, and she honestly couldn’t say what her reaction would be if he did. Seeing as she didn’t want to accidentally drown her friend, she kicked off the bottom of the hot springs with her strong legs.