“You know what’s going to be the worst thing about killing you?” Ashni asked, rubbing her fingertips together and feeling sparks of the divine pop between them. You know, you really should find out how he knows about those books first, though. The gods might even approve of that and it could help you pass this test or get back in their good graces.
He rolled his eyes. “What?”
“I can’t even make a Bloody Orchard for the gods or for a warning. You’ve already killed everything here.” She would’ve made a glorious Orchard with his blood, earning back at least two gods’ support.
“You’ll be included in that.” He made a fist and more shadows shot toward her.
Drawing her sword, the Golden Feather, she sliced through his meager magic. Adira had better have my kitten somewhere safe by now. “You think you can control the Darkness? I fight against this every day. And, the Light always wins.” Well, that might have been an exaggeration, but she beat Layla, a master of Darkness, enough times to laugh in his face.
“You don’t know anything about Darkness.” Caligo drew his own sword, a double-sided straight blade. His body turned to smoke and he floated back and took a fighting stand in his solid form.
Ashni was done talking. She unsheathed the Ivory Claw. Outside, a thunderclap boomed and the wind howled, unleashed like the fury inside of her. She couldn’t help it. Caligo glanced behind her, eyeing the darkening outdoors.
“You don’t even know, do you?” Ashni asked. For all of his stolen knowledge, he had no clue who or what she was.
“Know what?” he asked, his voice oozing with arrogance.
“Do you know they call me the Sky Cutter?”
He twirled his sword. “A ridiculous name for even you.”
No, he had absolutely no clue. She’d enjoy letting him see what the name was for. It was more than an honor. Ashni shook her head. “These techniques you’ve stolen come from the Tariq tribe, not originally Roshan. They were conquered seven years ago. Masters of Darkness and yet they bow to me now. Think about that.”
She had seen the Tariq do some horrifying things with shadows and Darkness, terrors he’d never imagine. Bodies went into shadows and came out as ice or dust or nothing but bone or didn’t come out at all. Shadows used living people as puppets or could be used to make the poor souls explode. She had seen them walk through people and all breathing halted. The people turned blue as they convulsed and died in misery without being able to make a sound. The worst she had seen had come from a spritely eleven-year-old who taught her to embrace the Darkness, but she’d never forget her divine light. Dark magic wasn’t something she was talented with like Layla, but she knew many ways to fight against it thanks to Layla.
“I’m not afraid of you.” Caligo sank into the darkness, disappearing.
Ashni slid her swords against each other and sparks jumped from them, illuminating the hall, revealing him to her for a brief moment. He gasped as she leaped toward him, planning to cut his head off. He reacted just in time, turning to smoke as the Ivory Claw sailed through his neck. She snarled. He wouldn’t get away so easily. With a flick of her wrist, lightning danced through her hand into her sword and jumped into the smoke.
Caligo yelped, blasted back. He crashed to the ground with a thud, his body twitching.
“You better not be dead already.” She wanted to feel his blood on her fingertips.
He made a noise, probably trying to say something smart. She wouldn’t mind as long as he stood up. She’d punish him the way the gods wanted to punish her. At least his crimes were real. Did they punish you? Yes, they let him take Nakia from me.
“Get up, rotter. We have so much more to do.” Ashni stepped over to him.
Caligo leapt to his feet and came at her with his sword, which she stopped with the Ivory Claw. The clang echoed through the room and the force pinged down her arm, rattling her bones. There was some power in his hit and might have actually broken a weaker blade. She saw an easy opening in his defense and swiped at him with the Golden Feather. The sword floated through him. She brought the sword back, charged with her lightning this time, and he was blown back again. He landed with a cough.
“What the hell are you?” he demanded with a wince.
“Pissed off. Who the hell do you think you are to steal from me? Not just Nakia, but culture from my people. I am a fucking god!” He was nothing more than an insignificant flea, and he thought to challenge her. Hubris didn’t even begin to cover it. I am nothing like this tick.
“You’re nothing!” Caligo staggered to his feet. “I am Death itself and you’re a savage!” He stomped on the ground and hands erupted through the wooden floor, splinters flying through the air. Corpses clawed their way to the surface.
“It doesn’t surprise me your whole house is built on a graveyard,” Ashni said. “Killing people doesn’t make you Death, but taking me on makes you dead.”
Tentacles of darkness shot out of the wall for her, but she sliced through them with her blades, causing them to fade like black mist. The animated corpses charged and mobbed her. Pushing them back wasn’t a problem, but she needed to keep track of Caligo. Through the undead, he came at her as a waft of smoke. A glint of his blade caught her attention as she fought off the darkness and undead. She blocked his sword, but was yanked down to the ground by a shadow. Her chin smashed into the wood, clicking her teeth together, and making her head throb. A shadow sliced her across her face, cutting a thin sliver of pain across her cheek.
Shadows clutched her body, holding her to the floor. The bonds were so tight, the shadows sawed into her flesh and Ashni heard her bones crack. White-hot agony shot through her, bolting through her body as the shadows dug in deeper. His shadows clawed into her wounds. It was like having sand and salt ground into her flesh. But, she had felt this pain before. Felt the pain worse than this could ever be. She coughed, blood flying from her mouth.
She snickered. “You think you have me? You’re so weak.”
“I know after I let the Darkness suck the flesh from your bones, I’ll let it do something similar to my wife and then I have my way with her.” He chuckled.
Anger flashed through her and burned every single nerve in her system. She banged her sword hilts on the ground and lightning covered the whole hall, reducing the undead to dust. Small fires ignited the wood as she climbed to her feet, glaring at Caligo.
No more playing around. No more letting him think he had a chance. I’ve stalled long enough. He tried to send a shadow for her, but she rolled out of the way. She sheathed her swords and lightning shot through the hall again. Caligo thought turning to smoke would save him, but nothing would. With a snarl, she amped up the lightning and blew him out of his fancy boots. He hit the floor hard, but she hit him again, striking him with lightning. He crumbled, body smoking without his permission. She grabbed him by the collar.
“You are nothing.” She bashed his head into the floor. “Now, you face justice.”
***
Layla made a mad dash for the palace. The sun was up and both Hafiz and Naren had breached the walls. There was no word that Dorian had been captured, so it was up to her. She wouldn’t let her sister down. Beyond that, she wanted to see Dorian’s face when he realized he had been defeated by her, a little girl as far as he was concerned.
The palace was chaos. Servants, nobles, and warriors alike ran about, trying to evacuate or put out fires or save crumbling bits of the place. She ignored all of that, scanning for Dorian. Layla figured Dorian had to be in his not-so-secret tunnels. She had to give it to Adira’s spies. The intelligence they gathered on the palace made finding the tunnels easy, as well as discovering the tunnel Dorian was likely to use in his escape. It was the closest to his throne, from where he had been commanding the battle. Using a shadow, she entered the tunnel, finding the stone walls pristine, and even well lit. Her shadow was unaffected by the glow and she blocked Dorian’s way. He gasped, meeting her eyes with a wide gaze.
“Don’t run
,” she said, unsheathing her sword. His guards charged her, and she wasted no time clashing with them. While the narrow passage prevented them from overwhelming her, it meant she had a longer line to get through and Dorian had time to get away.
Layla cut down the men in front of her and used her other talents on instinct, like blinking, sucking others into the abyss of her shadows, drinking in their screams before the sound was swallowed by Darkness but keeping her eye on Dorian. She tried to reach out for him with her shadows, but more guards stepped in the way. Her muscles jumped as her shadows changed from holding cells to nothingness, just cold space. She didn’t want to have to deal with the guards again and she needed Dorian before he got to the mouth of the tunnel, which wasn’t too far. She’d lose him in the open space of the city.
“Get out of my way!” Layla shoved through several men, their bodies crunching against the walls on impact. How many of them are there? It felt like the more she took down, the more came. She sucked guards into the void, but she could see the light at the end of the corridor and feel the air of outside. “No!” she roared, throwing her free hand out.
But, Dorian was out of sight, swarmed by the rest of his guards. Layla made a fist, pulling anyone in the front of the tunnel into her abyss. She could see the purple of Dorian’s robes as his troops dropped out of sight, but then he was gone, through the opening of the tunnel.
“No!” Layla screamed, and the whole tunnel went black.
Chapter Eight
AS THE SUN TRIED to filter through the broken trees of Nex, the general led Nakia to a small camp. A handful of people stayed there, wounded or tending to the wounded. The general sucked her teeth.
“Gods-damned dragon teeth,” the general hissed. She shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of unwanted thoughts or memories.
Why does the general keep cursing dragon teeth? Nakia heard tales the teeth could be planted and grown into deadly zombie warriors. Before seeing more of the world and what people were like, she would’ve thought that was made up to scare children. It made sense for someone like Caligo, a master of death and destruction, to use undead soldiers. She couldn’t fathom where he got dragon teeth, though. How many dragon teeth did he need to badly injure at least the dozen people in this camp? How did he get those dragon teeth? Had he killed a dragon or more? How would Ashni defeat someone who defeated dragons?
The general glanced around. “I need two able bodies doing the least!”
Two youthful warriors clambered over. The general eyed them before nodding. She then turned to Nakia. “They’ll see to cleaning you up and making sure you’re properly fed. I have to go check on the remaining troops.”
“See to me? Where’s Ashni?” Nakia didn’t want servants. She wanted Ashni. She wanted to see Ashni, see her alive, and there.
The general looked over her, beyond her, to the citadel. Nakia still couldn’t believe they jumped from the top, but beyond that, she couldn’t believe Ashni was in there, especially since the place appeared to be on fire, thick smoke billowed from several areas.
The general put her hand on Nakia’s shoulder. “Don’t worry over her. She’ll be here soon. She needed to see to your husband.”
Fury cut through her, deeper than the cold dawn air. Nakia scowled. “Don’t call him that! I didn’t have a say in marrying him.”
The general didn’t even flinch at her outburst. “That’s understood. Now, I need to go make sure she doesn’t go overboard. She wasn’t happy about losing you.”
Nakia’s heart leaped. She didn’t get a chance to ask anything further as the general took off. The two young warriors—one with neat, braided, black hair and the other with wild, light brown curls in his face, both dressed in the Roshan armor—stepped beside her.
“How may we serve you?”
Nakia didn’t know what to tell them, but they didn’t wait for a response anyway, leading her away to what they promised would be a nice bath. She couldn’t pass that up. It had been far too long since she was clean. The bath wasn’t as nice as promised—the water, lukewarm and the tub, practically a bowl—but it felt good to be washed and dressed in Roshan garments again. The gentle teal against her skin brought her comfort, letting her know things would be all right. The pair walked her to a tent, identical to the many other tents.
“This is Queen Ashni’s tent. You should wait here. We’ll bring you some food. She should be along soon.”
Nakia nodded and stepped inside. It wasn’t the opulence Nakia had come to expect when she was with Ashni, drab and small, but it didn’t matter. She was safe and Ashni would be back. Or so she hoped. Caligo had to be a powerful enemy if he killed everyone in his country. He also had to be insane. She had seen Ashni overcome many opponents. But, can she beat someone so hell-bent on destruction?
“Have faith. You’ve made it this far and so has she,” Nakia told herself.
Nakia scouted a few pillows in the tent and could tell they were Ashni’s pillows by scent. She curled onto the pillow and inhaled, filling herself with the comfort of the queen, and fell asleep before food could make it to her.
***
Ashni wiped blood from her forehead as Adira rushed in, sword in hand. Ashni rolled her eyes. Does Adira really think I need help defeating this rotter?
“I didn’t know what to expect.” Adira curled her lip and sheathed her weapon.
“He’s not dead,” Ashni replied, kicking Caligo in the side. He was unconscious, though. Broken and pathetic, too, but Adira wouldn’t care about those. “He needs to be questioned. And this place needs to be searched for any stolen Roshan artifacts.”
Adira nodded. “She’s waiting for you.”
Ashni tried to control herself, but the best she did was to stay standing there for a few seconds longer. She trusted Adira to clean up after her. Even though camp was right outside the citadel, it felt like it was miles away, years away. Through the crooked trees and blackened earth, she rushed and rushed and rushed and still couldn’t get to her tent fast enough. As she burst in, wanting to do nothing but fill her hands with Nakia and inhale her perfect scent, she found Nakia buried her pillow, knocked out with a bowl of stew by her head. Ashni smiled and felt something inside of her melt and settle. She felt whole. With a sigh, she went to get cleaned up and check on the soldiers. She needed to do those things, anyway. When Nakia awoke, she’d give her kitten her full attention for as long as she could.
She got the scratches on her face cleaned and bandaged. Her wrists needed the same, along with a few stitches. Her limbs were covered in shallow cuts and bruises. She flexed her fingers and found everything still in working order. She had Darkness seep into her before and remembered how it felt like her veins had tried to crawl out of her skin. Caligo hadn’t done that, proving once again he wasn’t a master of anything, just a thief and a wannabe.
After the medical attention, she washed and changed her clothes, simple pants and shirt without her armor. She munched on an apple, happy to be able to stomach them once more, as she checked on her troops. Most of those who needed medical attention had already received it, resting or eating or relaxing after a grueling fight with the undead. They had done well, and she made sure they knew that.
When she knew everything was in order, she returned to her tent. Nakia was still asleep, but she couldn’t bear to be without her any longer. Settling down on the pillow, she collected Nakia in her arms and held her close. Nakia tucked in to her, still sleeping. Ashni kissed Nakia’s forehead, causing jade eyes to flutter open. A tiny moan escaped Nakia, and Ashni felt it shoot across every inch of her skin. Nakia was here, with her, solid. She could breathe easy, at least for a little while.
“Ashni?” Nakia asked, her voice low and groggy.
Ashni couldn’t help smiling. “Hey, kitten.”
Nakia gasped. “By the gods!” She threw her arms around Ashni and peppered her cheek with kisses.
Ashni held in a wince, as Nakia’s lips landed on several of her cuts. Nakia noticed, pu
lling back and putting her hand on one of the bandages. They stared at each other for a long time.
“He hurt you,” Nakia said.
“I was careless. What about you?” Ashni put her hand to Nakia’s cheek and stroked a soft spot with her thumb. “Did he…did he…?” Ashni couldn’t even get the question out. If that damned rotter hurt her in any manner, she’d slit his throat right now. She’d then cut his body into pieces and feed some to fish while others would go to birds and he’d never find any hope of peace, knowing his remains were scattered to the four winds.
Nakia shook her head. “I’m fine. Well, as fine as I can be for someone who’s been passed along from person to person in the past few months.”
Ashni pressed her forehead to Nakia’s, at ease for the first time in too long. Does my presence do the same for Nakia? “You never have to feel that way again.” She wasn’t sure what she meant, but she’d do everything in her power to get Nakia some semblance of autonomy.
Nakia leaned in closer, nuzzled Ashni’s neck and held onto her like a lifeline. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. Will you stay?”
“Where else would I go?”
Ashni scoffed at that answer. “Insult me a little more why don’t you? If you don’t want to stay with me, I’ll send you off to wherever you want with everything you could possibly need. Just say the word.” It would pain her, haunt her, but she couldn’t stand for Nakia to be unhappy.
Nakia blinked and pulled back a little, staring at her with wide eyes. “You would?” The skepticism in her voice cut Ashni to the bone.
“I want only for your happiness, kitten. You have to know that.” She caressed Nakia’s cheek with a softness she never would’ve guessed she possessed.
“Then, I can stay with you?” Nakia asked, eyes full of hope.
“If that’s your desire.” Ashni smiled. Her insides felt like they might float away. Nakia wanted to stay with her. “But, I’m sort of on a conquest right now.”
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