by Anna Kashina
The Jade bowed, his eyes never leaving the Diamonds in Kyth’s wake.
“Master Oden Lan has been notified of your arrival, Your Highness,” Khall said. “He has ordered accommodations prepared for you. However, we have Guild business to attend to before we can let Your Highness into the Fortress. It won’t take long. If you can dismount and wait here, please.” He gestured toward the side area of the courtyard.
Kyth threw a quick glance at Egey Bashi, then at Kara. She nodded, trying to appear nonchalant despite the sinking feeling in her chest.
Mai and Raishan were dismounting and Kara hurried to follow, keeping a few paces behind as Khall led them through the gate into the courtyard ahead. Her eyes darted around the circular space about fifty yards across, surrounded by a tall wall with gates on all sides leading to other areas of the compound.
As soon as Mai, Raishan, and Khall passed through, two Jades guarding the entrance barred her way.
“Guild members only,” one of them said.
Kara looked past his shoulder. With a sinking feeling she realized that all the gates in the next courtyard were closed, leaving Raishan and Mai with nowhere to go.
Khall stopped by the far wall, two dozen Jades with crossbows fanning out behind him. He turned to Mai and held out a hand.
“You must surrender your weapon, Aghat Mai,” the Jade said.
Mai didn’t move as he calmly returned Khall’s gaze.
“I will surrender my weapon to the Guildmaster, Gahang Khall,” he said. “I believe he’s expecting me.”
The Jade’s piercing eyes lit up with a predatory glow. “He is expecting you, Aghat Mai. And he gave me explicit orders. You will surrender your weapon, or die.”
At his signal, the wall above the courtyard darkened with human shapes. A line of archers circled the courtyard from above and raised their bows, pointing them down at the group below.
Khall stepped back, leaving Mai and Raishan surrounded by two lines of ranged weapons, aimed and ready to fire.
“For the last time, Aghat Mai,” Khall said. “Surrender your weapon.”
Mai did not move.
Raishan pushed past, stepping between him and the Jade. “You are out of line, Gahang Khall. Aghat Mai is a standing member of the Guild and he outranks you. You have no authority to take away his weapon.”
The Jade’s eyes narrowed. “I have my orders, Aghat Raishan. I also have orders to kill anyone who stands in my way. Please step aside.”
Raishan raised his hand and drew a sword from the sheath at his back.
Khall backed off, signaling with his hand. The archers at the top of the wall took aim and released their arrows. Their dark cloud descended on Raishan at high speed. The Diamond spun around like a streak of lightning, his sword almost invisible as it whizzed through the air. As he cut down the arrows Khall signaled again, and the crossbowmen along the walls of the courtyard fired at short range.
Raishan swept his sword again, but he wasn’t fast enough this time, unprepared for the new attack. One of the bolts came through and hit him in the chest.
A gasp echoed through the courtyard. The Jades lowered their weapons, staring.
Raishan released his sword and stumbled, his legs twisting from underneath him as he folded down to the ground. He fell on his back, the tip of the bolt sticking out of his chest. Blood gushed out of the deep wound, soaking his shirt. His face went creamy white. His eyelids trembled and closed, and his head lifelessly rolled to the side.
Mai looked at Khall in shocked stillness.
“That wasn’t necessary, Gahang,” he said quietly.
Kara’s heart raced. In all the Guild’s history no Diamond had ever been harmed by their own. Diamonds were the spearhead of the Guild’s power, unique and priceless fighters that everyone cherished and awed. To have a Diamond shot down by the Jades on the Guildmaster’s orders…
Shaking off her stupor, Kara pushed forward between the two Jades blocking her way. They didn’t resist, their eyes fixed on Raishan’s still shape. She swept to his side and crouched beside him, reaching to feel the pulse on his neck. It was still there, but weak and uneven, showing that the Diamond was barely alive. With quick movements she drew her belt knife and cut off a flap of Raishan’s shirt, pressing it to the wound.
The Jades from the gate were slowly approaching, uncertainty written all over their faces. Their shock told her shooting Raishan hadn’t been part of the plan, which left some hope that the Guildmaster was not entirely out of his mind. Still, if Khall had orders that enabled him to open fire on a Diamond, things were bad indeed.
She could see the rest of their party gaping into the courtyard through the opening. She briefly met Egey Bashi’s gaze, then Kyth’s, his eyes wide with terror. She quickly looked away, afraid that he might see the hopelessness in her face and do something foolish. Guild business took precedence over everything else, and even the royal heir wouldn’t be spared if he tried to interfere.
“Get Aghat Raishan to the medical barracks,” she told the Jades. “Quickly!”
Their questioning eyes darted to Khall. The leader of the Jades nodded and signaled. More Jades rushed in from the entrance courtyard, lifting Raishan’s nearly lifeless body and carrying him out of sight.
Mai raised his face to Khall, steel glinting in his eyes. The Jade calmly stared back, and Kara imagined she saw a shade of smugness in the depth of his piercing gaze.
“It seems, Aghat Mai,” he said, “that you’re not taking our warning seriously. I will say this one last time. Surrender your weapon, or die.”
Mai drew his staff.
“Let’s see,” he said, “how good your archers are, Gahang.”
Khall looked at Mai in disbelief. “You will fight all of us by yourself, Aghat Mai? Would you rather die than surrender your weapon to me? That seems foolish.”
Mai smiled. “I already told you, Gahang. I will surrender my weapon to the Guildmaster – and only to him. If you’re talking of foolishness, it’s at least as foolish for you to risk your men when all you need to do is call Aghat Oden Lan. Things are already way out of hand. I’m sure under the circumstances he’ll understand.”
Khall threw a quick glance at the Guildmaster’s tower looming in the distance at the edge of the Inner Fortress. The tense set of his shoulders told Kara that, while the Jade did hesitate at Mai’s words, whatever lay up in that tower frightened him more than the threat of a direct attack on their Guild’s best Diamond. She used the moment of confusion and stepped up to Mai’s side. Mai acknowledged her with a brief glance.
“I wish you’d stayed out of this, Aghat,” he said quietly.
Kara didn’t respond, her eyes darting around the walls. She counted twenty-four archers and an equal amount of crossbowmen down on the ground. She knew that whatever their odds of deflecting the arrows, they stood much less chance against the crossbows.
Khall’s face contorted in anger as he noticed the new addition to the standoff.
“This is Guild business, Aghat Kara,” he said. “You have no place here.”
She drew her swords.
“As far as I understand, Gahang,” she said, “you’ve just thrown all the rules to the wind. However, my presence here might give you an additional excuse to call the Guildmaster. Whatever your orders are about Aghat Mai, I’m sure he will want to be informed as soon as possible that I’m here.”
Khall hesitated, then signaled. She saw a movement through the gate on the inner side, indicating a messenger dispatched to the Inner Fortress at a very fast run.
“Kara,” Mai said quietly. “Get out of here while you still have a chance.”
She glanced at him, surprised that he had used her name. He had never called her simply by name before, and now, in the face of deadly battle, it felt so intimate that her heart quivered. He wasn’t looking at her, his eyes darting along the circle of archers at the top of the wall.
“If I do,” she said, “they’ll kill you.”
“If you don’t, they’ll
kill us both. That would be a bloody waste.”
She smiled. Against reason, she felt excitement rising in her chest, her muscles warming in anticipation of the upcoming action.
“Aren’t you giving up too easily, Aghat Mai?”
He glanced at her again. His eyes gleamed with mischief, his excitement matching her own.
“You’re crazy,” he said. “But I guess you probably know that.”
“No crazier than you.”
He edged closer to her. They stood back to back, so that their shoulders almost touched.
“When I bare my blades,” he said quietly, “all hell will break loose.”
She nodded, checking her footing, toning up her muscles. She sensed him brace next to her.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Then,” he said, “let’s dance.”
She heard the click as he sprang the blades out of the ends of his staff, followed by the whizz of arrows and crossbow bolts descending at high speed. Excitement filled her as she whirled her swords, creating an impenetrable wall that stopped all arrows in midflight, sending them in a shower of splinters down to her feet. She could feel Mai on the other side creating a similar shield, rotating his staff with a force that made the air around it whistle.
She could see the surprise on the Jades’ faces turn to disbelief as they sent more and more arrows down on them. A bolt penetrated her defense, stinging as it grazed the skin of her forearm, but she ignored it, focusing on maintaining her speed. Their lives right now depended on their ability to hold on.
One by one, the Jades were lowering their weapons. The crossbowmen stood down first as they ran out of bolts. The archers were also stepping back, one by one.
Through the crackle and whizz around them, Kara heard distant orders, barked at high speed. The flow of arrows ceased.
She lowered her blades, sensing Mai by her side do the same. Both remained tense, ready to spring into action again at any moment.
A movement on the wall above them turned into major turmoil as a tall man in a black cloak ascended the narrow space and stopped, looking down at them.
The Guildmaster.
Kara’s heart quivered as she saw him. This ruthless man had always been the closest she had to a father, personally overseeing her training, encouraging her, urging her on. And then, this man had ordered her execution.
His eyes narrowed as they slid over her with an impenetrable look and fixed on Mai by her side.
“Aghat Mai,” he said, his voice ringing through the yard. “Gahang Khall tells me you are refusing to surrender your weapon.”
Mai kept his staff lowered, taking a barely perceptible side step that partially shielded Kara from the Guildmaster’s view.
“I had hoped I could do it in a personal audience, Aghat Oden Lan,” he said. “We have things to discuss.”
Oden Lan shook his head. “We have nothing to discuss, Aghat Mai. You have done wrong. Have the decency and courage to admit it and give up quietly.”
Mai lifted his chin. “I have done right. And in the depth of your heart you know it, Aghat Oden Lan.”
The Guildmaster’s eyes narrowed. “Surrender your weapon to Gahang Khall, Aghat.”
The Jade took a step forward, but Mai’s short glance stopped him.
“If I surrender my weapon now, I’m as good as dead.”
Oden Lan pursed his lips. “You sealed your death warrant when you made your choice to disobey your order, Aghat Mai. It was good of you to answer your summons and come here yourself, so that you could spare us the trouble of searching for you, but it doesn’t change a thing.”
“Yes, it does,” Mai said. “I came of my own will and walked freely into the Fortress.”
“So what?”
“By the Code, this leaves me the right to issue an Ultimate Challenge.”
A whisper ran through the rows around the Guildmaster as dozens of eyes clashed on Mai.
Khall stepped forward. “An Ultimate Challenge can only be issued against a Diamond, Aghat Mai. By the Code, you can’t challenge the Guildmaster. Who is it that you wish to challenge?”
Mai slid a quick glance over him and turned back to Oden Lan.
“I challenge the Guild,” he said.
Oden Lan looked at him in disbelief. “You wish to fight the entire Guild?”
“Yes.”
The Guildmaster shook his head. “If you had learned the basics of Majat history, Aghat Mai, you would realize how futile that is.”
Mai kept his gaze. “I know my history, Aghat Oden Lan.”
“Then, you must know how such a challenge has ended before.”
Many glances slid up the Guildmaster’s tower where the rusted iron rings were still sticking out of the weather-beaten stone. Kara had read the chronicles too, how the challenger had been chained up there and used for the Jades’ target practice, starting with the extremities. They said he had still been alive when the arrows finally severed his limbs two days later, sending him down to his death fall. She suppressed a shiver, doing her best to maintain her confident posture.
“I know,” Mai said.
“And you still insist on going through with this outrage?”
“Yes. Somebody in this Guild should have the courage to stand up for what’s right.”
Oden Lan leaned forward. “You will face the entire Guild alone?”
Kara stepped forward to Mai’s side. She saw Oden Lan’s face twitch as he finally looked her way. His lips quivered, as if suppressing a sting of pain.
She knew how he felt. It hurt her too, to see him like this. But there was no going back.
“Aghat Mai is not alone,” she said. “I join his challenge. You may pretend I don’t exist anymore, Aghat Oden Lan, but I am here, and I will stand by his side as long as I can hold a weapon.”
His eyes narrowed.
“By the Code–”
“–none of the Guild members can help him,” she finished. “But I am no longer a Guild member, am I? The Code never bothered to prohibit outsiders from participating in the Ultimate Challenge. So, here I am, an outsider, willing to stand up to whatever you choose to throw at us, Aghat.”
In the ensuing pause the courtyard went so still that even the gusts of the low breeze seemed too loud. Everyone held their breaths, looking at the Guildmaster.
“Very well,” Oden Lan said. “The challenge begins tomorrow. You may sleep in a cell in the east courtyard. Under lock. No aid will be given to you in your preparations. At sunrise, your lives are forfeit.”
A whizz of a lone arrow cut through the silence. Mai’s hand shot up, catching it in front of Kara’s face. They both spun around, searching for the source of the attack.
A man stood at the opposite side of the circle, on top of the wall. Streaming sunlight illuminated his freckled face, blue eyes opened in an expression of childlike wonder. He held a lowered bow with an arrow fitted in. Then, his face contorted in anger as he raised his bow again.
“Sharrim,” Mai said quietly.
Kara recognized him too. The Jade who had been sent with Mai on the assignment to kill her. She shivered at the memory. He was a superb archer, their Guild’s best. Back then, he had wounded her in the arm. And now, she felt the memory sting as he aimed his bow at her.
“Stand down, Gahang Sharrim!” Khall barked. “We’re in ceasefire!”
Mai’s shoulders stiffened as he brought the arrow to his face.
“What is it?” Kara asked quietly.
“Black Death. The arrow’s coated with it.”
Kara’s skin prickled. Were any other of the arrows the Jades shot at them earlier poisoned too? She had minor scratches, and her forearm burned where the crossbow bolt had grazed over it – a light wound, but if the bolt had been coated with Black Death...
A new arrow whizzed through the air, aimed at Kara’s face. She shot out her hand to catch it, but another, sneaky one followed right behind it.
As if in a
bad dream she saw Mai step into the way of the arrow, shielding her. His body shook as the arrow hit, piercing through his shoulder.
Blood rushed into Kara’s face. Supporting Mai with her left hand, she used her right one to draw two throwing knifes, balancing them in her palm. Stepping around Mai, she sent them forward in a sneaky spin, the force of the blow making the air whistle with a low hum that echoed clearly through the courtyard.
The daggers spiraled through the air in perfect unison, as if connected to each other. She knew it was nearly impossible for a man of any skill to deflect them, or even to see that it was two blades flying in place of one. Any disturbance to one of the daggers sent the other in an unpredictable direction. Only a few in the history of their Guild could master this shadow throw, and Kara had always prided herself on being good at it, even though she had never before used it on a live target.
Sharrim saw it coming, but he clearly did not realize the danger he was in. His hand darted to the sheath at his back, drawing a curved saber. It hit one dagger as it approached, sending the other off at an angle, straight into his chest.
Kara heard the thud as the Jade hit the floor, followed by shouting and running. She didn’t bother to look as she turned back to Mai. He swayed, his face ashen pale. Kara steadied him, fighting a sinking feeling in her heart.
He wasn’t supposed to get hit. Not after a ceasefire, after they deflected whatever their Guild’s best Jades were able to throw at them in an impossible standoff.
And now, there was no hope left. Even if the wound wasn’t deadly, it made it unthinkable for Mai to fight tomorrow. But if the arrow was also coated with Black Death...
It was a slow and potent poison that caused delirium, followed by violent agony and a painful death within a few hours. There was no known antidote. She could sense its bittersweet smell on the arrow point protruding from Mai’s shoulder.
“Would you like to withdraw your challenge, Aghat Mai?” Oden Lan asked. “Under the circumstances, I will let you do it and surrender instead, to face your punishment.”
Mai met Kara’s gaze. She slightly shook her head.
Mai steadied himself against her arm and stood straight, turning to face the Guildmaster. She knew what this show was costing him, but she kept it to herself, standing still by his side with a smile on her face.
