“By all means, show me,” Lita said. He was already moving by the time she was halfway through her sentence, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised. As he thrust his knife out in a straight shot for her throat, Lita sidestepped, grabbed his forearm with her right hand, and plunged her knife into his armpit with her left.
Cleric dropped his knife and let out a loud bellow of pain, but as Lita moved to retrieve her knife, she found he had grasped her hand tight, squeezing it painfully around the handle of her blade. She tried to pull away, but as soon as she did, he moved with her and yanked the knife from himself with a grunt, then abruptly twisted her arm downward. She felt a tearing flash of pain in her wrist, but it was immediately dwarfed as Cleric forced her to bury her own knife hilt-deep in her inner thigh, just below her crotch.
V
True to his word, Michael was proving himself to be an expert swordsman. Rain’s speed and experience were to his advantage, but Michael’s form was nearly flawless, and his weapon was far better designed for the contest. Though Rain could block most any attack with the long staff, only the end of it could easily deal a lethal blow. Michael had over three feet of blade to work with.
But when Rain heard Lita’s scream of agony and looked over to see her collapse to the ground and Cleric stumbling away, he tried to break away from Michael and rush to her aid. The young man was quick, and he sidestepped in front of Rain, intent on finishing the contest.
“I don’t have time for this,” Rain snarled, and as Michael thrust forward, Rain actually moved into the attack, allowing the length of the blade to penetrate straight through his shoulder, all the way to the hand guard.
Michael just blinked. “That’s cheating…” he said quietly. Confused, he released his sword, leaving it embedded in Rain’s shoulder as he stumbled backwards. Doing so, he felt Rain’s own blade slide out of his chest. He looked down and touched his wound, utterly perplexed by the sight of his own blood. In that moment, Rain thought how Michael looked like little more than a child and realized that he must have never once thought it could possibly come to this. Michael dropped to his knees and said wistfully, “…I was supposed…supposed to be…” and then he fell to his side, the life already gone from his eyes before his head hit the ground.
Rain yanked the sword from his shoulder with a grunt as he ran across the arena towards Lita. Dropping both weapons, he knelt down next to her. She was crying, grasping for the knife, but he grabbed her hands to stop her. “Do not pull it out, it might be keeping you alive. Just put pressure on it and stay put.” He pulled off his coat as he glanced over to see Cleric moving towards the center of the altar, stumbling like a drunk. “I’ll deal with him.”
“Yes, please kill that motherfucker!” Lita groaned through gritted teeth.
“I intend to,” Rain said, already on his feet and headed that way.
VI
Thinking that Cleric was heading for Alex, Rain swung wide in his approach so as to put himself between the two. By the time he realized his mistake, it was already too late. Cleric had Michael’s wooden box under his arm and was breaking it open with Rain’s own knife. Rain started towards him, but froze in his tracks as Cleric pulled the gauntlet from the box and tugged it on.
“Oh, God,” Cleric gasped as the runes on the glove began to glow bright white. He shoved Rain’s throwing knife into his belt and marveled at the sensations flowing through his body. Suddenly, all of his wounds had stopped hurting. Standing up straight, he glared at Rain and backed a few steps away. “That kid wasn’t kidding when he said this thing gave you power.”
Rain said nothing, only held his ground. He was acutely aware that they had reached dawn, and while there was still some time until he was in any real danger of direct exposure, he could already feel the ambient light beginning to slow his body and dull his senses. That was the last thing he needed right now.
“I no longer have any reason to fight any of you,” Cleric said. “Allow me to walk out of here and this ends now.”
Rain gave him a short nod. “I’d advise against ever crossing paths with us again.”
Cleric chuckled and continued backing away, unwilling to turn his back on his opponents even until the last. However, about halfway to the coliseum door, he stopped in his tracks and suddenly took on a thoughtful look. He glanced up at the lightening sky where the red veil had just begun to recede from the moon’s pale face. “Lita…”
“What?” She said in a strained voice from her place on the ground.
“Tell me, what did I always teach you about loose ends?”
Her eyes widened. “Cleric don’t!”
Even as she said it, Cleric was already raising his arm. Michael had told him that using the gauntlet was purely instinctual once you put it on, and he was surprised at how true that really was. Suddenly, its runes flared up almost blinding white and a burst of energy erupted forth from its palm—and headed straight for Alex.
Alex saw the deadly energy coming towards him. He felt his heart lurch in his chest and his stomach turn into a terrified knot, despite everything his brother had taught him about fearlessness in the face of danger. He was still, after all, only a boy. In that final instant, he could only close his eyes and wait for what was coming.
A moment later, through his closed eyelids, Alex saw a burst of white light. But he felt nothing. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was Rain’s face, so close to his own. Time seemed to stand still as he took in his brother’s pale skin, perfect but for the deep red scar he had earned killing the man who had tormented them both. He saw in the sea of Rain’s blue eyes, filled with centuries of knowledge, an endless swell of brotherly love…and incredible, unbearable pain. Barely above a whisper, Rain said, “I love you, big brother.”
And then he fell to the ground.
“No!” Alex screamed, but there was nothing he could do. The gauntlet’s energy was already starting to take over Rain’s body. An ember appeared on his chest, burning through from his back, and began to spread in an expanding ring, leaving nothing behind but ash. No words could describe his pain. All he could do was turn his head to gaze at Lita, so near, yet just out of his reach.
Lita’s eyes filled with fresh tears as she realized what Rain had done for his brother. Everything made her want to curl into a ball, to close her eyes, to pretend this wasn’t happening. She wanted to awaken in Moonshadow Manor to the smell of cooking breakfast. She wanted to open the door knowing he was standing just outside in the hallway. She wanted to let him finish what he had to say on the bluffs over the Blacklands.
But she couldn’t go back, she couldn’t go to sleep. She could only stare into his eyes from the closest she would ever get to him again and softly say, “I see what kind of man you are.”
Even through all the pain that was blocking out everything else, Rain heard her. He heard her, and his lips turned up into a smile that didn’t disappear until his body burned up completely and everything he was fell away.
And Rain was gone.
VII
Halfway across the arena, Amelie, who had been forced to helplessly watch all of this play out, sat bound to that post, tears streaming down her face.
Lita’s mind was blank except for a swelling rage telling her to get her hands on a weapon, any weapon. She was about ten seconds from pulling this knife from her own leg and going after Cleric with it.
Cleric, meanwhile, looked down at the gauntlet to find that all the light had gone out of it. His brow furrowing, he shook it, but nothing happened. “I guess I’ll have to finish the rest of you the old-fashioned way.” He scanned his eyes about until they landed on his shotgun, and he started that way.
But he stopped after only two steps and blinked at what was suddenly happening all around him.
There was a low noise coming from seemingly everywhere at once, so deep that it was just barely audible. It was as though something was slowly stirring the very air inside the arena. Loose stones that littered the ground here and there began to
tremble. Just a little at first, then more noticeably. Then, some of the smallest rocks actually began to levitate a few inches off the ground. The air grew dry, ionized. Cleric looked down and saw the fine hairs on his forearm begin standing on end.
Then, the very light around them seemed to somehow dim, as if the low morning sun had slipped behind a fog bank. But as Cleric turned around he saw that there, in the middle of it all, Alex had begun to glow. A radiant violet aura appeared all around him, and in it he was hanging there, eyes clenched shut, chest heaving wildly.
As the others looked on in frozen awe, Alex opened his eyes. They burned such a brilliant violet that his whole face was illuminated, making him appear otherworldly—and completely out of his mind. Then he took in a single deep breath, and with an enraged scream, let loose all of that building energy.
The shockwave crossed the arena in less than a second, creating a deafening explosion. Dust and rocks flew up in every direction. Lita rolled to her side, throwing her arms up to shield her face. Cleric stumbled and fell to the ground. The post Amelie was tied to actually ripped free of the ground and came back down on its side, splintering. She smacked her head on the ground, but she also felt her hands come loose of their bonds.
The Construct took the brunt of the blast. Two of its pillars cracked, collapsing. Two others fell over with booms like giant dominos, one of them mere feet from Lita. And there in the center, the cuffs around Alex’s wrists suddenly shattered, and he dropped to his feet, fiery eyes set on Cleric.
Lita uncovered her eyes in time to see Alex sprint across the arena. She had never seen a human being move so fast. When Alex reached him, Cleric was trying to get back to his feet, but he had no time to do anything other than throw up his hands in a weak defense.
Alex grabbed the gauntlet with one hand and crushed it with ease, the metal crumpling and shattering nearly every bone in Cleric’s hand. He screamed, but the sound was cut off by Alex’s fist barreling into his mouth, knocking out four of his teeth and sending him sprawling in the dirt. Alex pulled the destroyed gauntlet free from Cleric’s hand as he fell and threw it aside.
But he didn’t stop there. Still fueled by incomprehensible rage, he advanced on Cleric again. Grabbing him by the collar of his coat, Alex began pummeling him, punching him in the face over and over. Cleric coughed, beginning to choke on his own blood.
Finally, Alex yanked the man who was better than twice his size off his feet like he was nothing and glared up at him with eyes that seemed to have traded in all traces of sanity for pure, unbridled fury. Drawing back his fist, he prepared to deliver a final blow. But before he could, Cleric pulled Rain’s knife from his belt and swung it at Alex’s side.
Alex had seen that move before. He had thought about it dozens of times while falling asleep at night, asking himself what he could have done differently. It had become so ingrained that when the opportunity came once more, he acted completely on instinct. Dropping his arm, he moved it into the path of the dagger. The blade sank deep into his forearm, stopping it before it hit his side.
Oblivious to the pain in his cloud of anger, Alex dropped Cleric, yanked the knife free from his own arm, and buried it in the man’s stomach.
Cleric gasped, his jaw opening and closing twice. He fell to his knees, clutching at his abdomen. Alex took a step back then, and, as quickly as it had come on, the rage and all its energy fell away from him. His world began to spin.
Amelie, finally having wriggled loose from her bonds, was running across the arena towards Lita. When she arrived, Lita pointed to Cleric’s shotgun some ten feet away. She knew it wasn’t over until Cleric was dead. “Go. Get the gun,” she ordered.
Though Cleric had dropped to his knees, he hadn’t fallen completely. He was doubled over, his back rising and falling heavily. Alex stumbled backwards and his feet caught each other, bringing him down hard on his rear. He stared at Cleric, waiting for the large man to topple over.
But like some nightmare beast that could not be vanquished, Cleric refused to stop. Turning bloodshot eyes up towards Alex, he grabbed the knife protruding from his stomach, yanked it out with a grunt, and began crawling towards the young man.
Alex gasped, trying to push himself away. But his limbs were so shaky he could barely move. He tried to scoot himself backwards, but his head was spinning so bad that he could hardly keep his eyes on Cleric, let alone regain a sense of direction. And the man was getting closer. From behind the long strands of silver hair partially obscuring his face, Alex saw his mouth turn up into a wide, murderous grin. Blood poured over what remained of his teeth and soaked the handkerchief under his chin. He was getting closer and closer, his eyes wide and utterly mad, knife grasped tightly in his hand. He was nearly at Alex’s feet now. In a raspy voice, he croaked, “I can…still…kill…you…”
Amelie had just reached the shotgun and snatched it up. When she turned around, her eyes darted between Lita and Alex.
Lita was waiting with outstretched hand and yelled, “Amelie!”
Gripping the gun tightly, Amelie prepared to throw it. Just before she let it fly, something inside her told her what to do. She screamed, “Alex!” and tossed the gun straight at him.
Somehow in spite of his dizziness, Alex reached up on instinct and caught the shotgun just as Cleric was raising the dagger over his stomach. Without thinking, he shoved the barrel of the gun in Cleric’s face and pulled the trigger.
The blast rang in Alex’s ears and he felt a shock of pain in his shoulder followed by a crushing weight as Cleric’s headless corpse fell on top of him. He groaned and struggled to slide out from under the large body. It took him a moment, but when he finally wriggled free he shakily climbed to his feet and stumbled over to where Amelie had knelt down next to Lita.
“We did it,” Amelie said quietly.
“Yeah, we did,” Lita said. “Nice shooting, kid.” It was all she could think to say.
“Huh?” Alex said, then looked dazedly to the shotgun still in his hand. “Oh…yeah.” He held it out to Lita, but she waved dismissively.
“It’s yours now,” she said.
“I…I’ve never shot a gun before,” Alex said.
“It’s the easiest thing in the world,” Lita replied.
Alex nodded, then blinked and looked around slowly, as if waking up from a dream. His eyes began to fill with tears, and they trembled as he looked over to the spot where his brother had disappeared. His whole body began to shake. He dropped the shotgun and whispered, “Rain…” before collapsing in a heap next to Lita.
TWENTY-NINE
“Alex!” Amelie gasped worriedly, rushing to his side.
“He’ll be alright,” Lita said hoarsely. “He’s just taken a beating. We need to get the hell out of here so we can get patched up.”
“Let me see what I can do to help first,” Amelie said. “Lie back.”
Lita eyed her warily.
“I’ll leave your scars, just let me keep you from bleeding to death, okay?” Amelie said. “I don’t want all of my friends dying tonight.”
Lita blinked, then nodded and obeyed. “Friends?”
“Well, what else should I call you?” Amelie asked as she moved over by Lita’s legs and untied the last remnants of rope from her own wrists.
“I dunno,” Lita replied, “I’ve just never had much in the way of friends, especially not royal ones.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll have its perks. I’ll see that you two receive the best possible care at the Chicane Hospital. Now be quiet for a moment, I need to concentrate.” As she spoke, Amelie tore open the fabric on Lita’s pants, exposing the knife still buried in her leg. Gingerly placing one hand around the spot that the blade was penetrating, she grabbed the hilt of the knife with the other, and then closed her eyes.
Turning her head to the side, Lita looked over to the empty spot where Rain had departed. As she did, her vision began to shimmer at the edges. There was nothing left. Nothing to bury, nothing to mourn. She was just…<
br />
“…alone,” Lita whispered.
“What?” Amelie said absently as she opened her eyes and watched the white glow begin to flow from her hand and around the blade of the knife. Very slowly, she started to pull the knife out as she closed the wound around it.
“He left me alone,” Lita said in a cracked voice.
Amelie’s brow furrowed as she forced herself to go deeper and push harder than she ever had. She’d never attempted to heal a wound this severe. Finally, she was able to pull the knife free, eliciting a gasp from Lita. She quickly tossed it aside and covered the wound with both hands. Beneath them, the ragged flesh started to slowly close. Lita sighed as the pain gradually began to subside.
Then, suddenly, the energy disappeared back inside Amelie’s hands and she fell backwards, her chest heaving, her eyes wide. “Oh God…” she whispered.
Sitting up, Lita said, “What? Oh God what?” She looked down. Though her leg was not completely healed, it was far better off than it had been two minutes ago. It would still need some serious medical attention, but she would probably be able to stand. She looked back to Amelie, confused. “What is it?”
“You…” Amelie gasped, “You’re not alone.”
Lita gave her a perplexed look. “What are you talking ab—”
Then Alex coughed and moaned, rolling onto his side and curling into a ball, cradling his heavily bleeding arm against his chest. They both looked at him worriedly.
“You got anything left in you for him?” Lita asked.
“I think so, yes,” Amelie replied.
“Good, go to it,” Lita said, then groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. She limped over to Rain’s staff a few feet away and picked it up, collapsed it, and slid it into her belt. She then looked around, searching for something.
There it was, a dozen feet away. It had blown away in Alex’s outburst and nearly been covered by dirt. Moving as quickly as her aching leg would allow, she walked over to Rain’s coat and picked it up. She brushed the dirt off it as best she could, then brought its collar to her face and inhaled deeply. She felt her chest tighten, and fresh tears sprung up in her eyes. With a sigh, she turned around and headed back towards Alex and Amelie.
The Crimes of Orphans Page 34
