The Core (The Demon Cycle, Book 5)

by Peter V. Brett

  Briar was only a step behind as they crept from the cover of one of several tunnels that converged at this cavern. Still the demon did not notice them.

  Swiftly now, Ashia’s fingers said to Briar. Then she broke into a sprint, weapons leading.

  Hasik sniffed, glancing up. ‘Master!’

  The demon caught sight of her just as Ashia struck with a double thrust of her spears. The creature twisted, and her speartips struck only air. It drew a ward in the air, flinging her away like backhanding a child. She nearly stumbled into Briar, but the boy was fast, quickstepping around, raising his waterskin.

  The demon, expecting another physical attack, was unprepared when Briar squirted hogroot tea at it. The creature shrieked and fell back, skin and eyes sizzling with chemical burn.

  The demon landed on its back, glaring at them, but then its eyes turned with surprise back toward Abban. Whatever connection they shared remained unbroken, and the khaffit was pressing the attack.

  Ashia leapt in the moment of distraction, but she was tackled before she could reach the demon by the old woman, faster than a Sharum’ting, stronger than a rock demon. They hit the ground in a roll, and the woman flung Ashia like a doll against the cavern wall.

  Briar got the woman’s attention with another spray from his waterskin. Her wrinkled flesh rippled, and the woman became a field demon, a sleek fast form well suited to the small underground chamber. The creature puffed, growing the armour plating of a rock demon, spiked and sharp. Its eyes and mouth glowed with flame.

  The mimic swiped at Briar, who dived aside just in time, rolling to avoid the spatter as the demon hawked a glob of burning firespit at him.

  The mimic’s face melted, becoming the long beak of a lightning demon that shrieked a bolt of electricity at Briar.

  Briar had his shield up in time, deflecting the worst of it, but Ashia saw pain jolt through his aura. He screamed, and Ashia snarled, charging the creature.

  She struck first with her voice, a vibrating shriek she could maintain indefinitely, amplified by the hora stones of her necklace. The sound cut through the chamber, and the mimic stumbled, crying out in pain. Even the mind demon put its thin, skeletal hands over its earholes.

  She snapped the ends of her short spears together, now six feet of spinning, razor-sharp warded glass. She battered and sliced at the mimic’s limbs, severing as much as she could before the creature regained its wits.

  But the stumps didn’t bleed, the mimic melting into a larger, even more menacing form.

  Ashia paid the form little mind, focusing on the magic in the creature’s aura. Healing and shape-shifting Drew heavily on that power. Their only chance was to wear it down quickly.

  The demon lashed out at her, a tentacle growing from nothing as quickly as a cracking whip. It would have had her, but Briar hit the creature from the side in a shield-rush, stunning it with the mimic wards etched into the steel.

  Ashia used the distraction to stab the creature in the heart, jolting it and causing another drain on its power to grow a new one.

  Briar stabbed next, piercing that new organ, and as one they let go of the weapons, leaving them to continue sending waves of killing magic through the creature.

  Ashia fell into the sharukin she had studied all her life, driving stiffened fingers into the convergence points in the demon’s aura. Her nails, painted with wards and lacquered hard, struck its armour like a hammer to a nutshell. Each blow sent feedback jolting through her, filling her with strength and speed as the demon’s aura waned. Even Kaji took a portion of it, the boy laughing gleefully, unaware of the danger they faced.

  Briar turned to bare hands as well, his pressure and impact wards strong as any spear and shield as he batted aside the demon’s blows, striking with short, fast, open-hand counters. An eyeblink could miss one, but Ashia could see the damage throb and build in the demon’s aura.

  They hammered at the weakened and stunned creature again and again until Ashia saw her opening. She tore her spear from its body and spun it in an arc, striking the demon’s head from its body.

  She completed the circuit with another spin, turning and hurling her spear at the mind demon. But before it could strike, a shield deflected the weapon, sending it clattering to the floor on the far end of the chamber. Hasik interposed himself.

  ‘Everam has granted me another day,’ Hasik said. ‘None will stand against me.’

  ‘You have left Everam’s sight, Uncle.’ Ashia took another of the supports from Kaji’s pack, warded glass laced with electrum by the Damajah herself. She snapped open the blade of a short scythe as she rolled her glass shield onto her arm. ‘There is nothing He would grant to one such as you.’

  ‘We shall see, little girl.’

  Hasik came in hard. Ashia caught his blows on her shield, or hooked them away with the scythe, but she was unprepared for his ferocity. For a moment, it was all she could do to block the rapid thrusts and spinning slashes of his spear. With Kaji on her back, she could not commit to moves that exposed the boy to a counter, so she gave ground, desperately seeking a weakness in the Eunuch’s defences.

  Briar saw her distress and charged at Hasik’s back. Ashia gave no sign, but Hasik dropped beneath the blow at the last instant, delivering a crushing kick that put Briar on his back.

  Ashia pressed, but Hasik was not distracted, never lowering his defence even as he all but crippled Briar. They clinched, and he bashed her in the face with his forehead, laughing wildly as she stumbled back.

  She dropped beneath his next blow, hurling her shield at him as she dived into a tumble, popping the weighted end off her scythe and drawing out the slender chain hidden in the shaft. She threw, catching Hasik’s ankle as he dodged the thrown shield.

  Ashia pulled, but Hasik was wise to the move, using the leverage and strength of her pull to throw himself at her, kicking her hard in the face. A snap of his armoured ankle yanked the scythe from her hand and sent it skittering away.

  Ashia hurled throwing glass at him as he rolled to regain balance, but Hasik’s shield was in place, catching all but one. This last struck his robes with a plink! and dropped, stopped short by his glass breastplate.

  With no time to ready another weapon, Ashia fell into a sharusahk pose to meet Hasik’s next charge.

  The move made the Eunuch stop short. He glanced at Briar, but the boy was still on his back groaning. She could see in his aura that Hasik had broken Briar’s hip. He was holding it in place as his magic knitted the bones, but he would not heal quickly enough for her to count on his aid.

  ‘Put down the child,’ Hasik offered. ‘Give me a real battle.’

  ‘Never,’ Ashia replied.

  Hasik pulled the scarf away from his throat. ‘Put down the child and I will put down my spear and shield.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’ Ashia asked.

  ‘Because I want to see what Enkido made of you,’ Hasik said. ‘What he made of my daughter.’

  ‘Your daughter was ashamed of you,’ Ashia said. ‘Even before the khaffit cut you, Sikvah said you brought shame upon your house daily, outspending even the pay of a Spear of the Deliverer to cover your gambling and heasah. Striking everyone from slaves to your Jiwah Ka.’

  Hasik threw down his spear. ‘Show me what Enkido made of you before I kill you with my bare hands.’

  ‘And my son?’ Ashia asked.

  Hasik smiled. ‘If you fail, I will do the same to him and your foul-smelling friend.’

  ‘Then I will not fail.’ Ashia stepped slowly around to where her shield had rolled against the chamber wall. She flipped it over with her foot and slipped off Kaji’s pack, laying it in the protective circle. She was loath to take him from her, but there was no denying the advantage Hasik offered. She could not afford to refuse the opportunity.

  ‘Do not thrash, my son,’ she whispered. ‘Let my shield protect you until I return. I love you always.’

  A tear slipped free to land on his cheek before Ashia realized she was wee
ping. She squinted and the drops fell like rain on the boy’s face.

  Kaji only smiled. ‘Mommy fight.’

  Ashia nodded, using the motion as she brushed away the tears to slip the last support from Kaji’s pack into her sleeve. ‘Yes, my love. Be brave.’

  ‘Mommy brave,’ Kaji agreed.

  As she stepped away from her son, Hasik kicked his spear and shield aside, assuming a sharusahk stance. Behind him, Abban and the demon stared at each other, locked in some unholy battle. The aura between them was alive in a way Ashia had never seen before. There was no way to make sense of it, or to guess how much longer the khaffit could hold the creature at bay.

  She assumed a stance of her own, skittering in to face him.

  Hasik bared his gap tooth, blowing out a whistle. ‘Begin.’

  Briar wanted to scream as he watched Ashia stalk in to face Hasik, but he knew what happened if you let a bone heal wrong. He had to keep still, putting pressure on his hip until it knitted straight.

  When the fighting began, it was almost too fast to follow. They looked like dancers with a practised routine. Many of their moves were identical in form and execution – economical and precise.

  Hasik had the advantage in height, weight, and reach. Ashia had greater speed, balance, and flexibility, but it was not enough to make a telling difference. She was holding her own, but Hasik was landing more blows than her. Most were just bashes against the armour plates in her robes, but such strikes still hurt, stunned, and bruised. In time, they would wear her down.

  There was a growl, and Briar turned to see a sand demon stick its head from one of the tunnels leading into the caverns below. Letting go of his hip with one hand, he snatched his spear and threw it, taking it in its thinly armoured belly. The demon yelped and fell, letting out a cry that was echoed farther down the tunnels.

  He crawled on three limbs to keep the injured hip straight, untying the strings on small pouches of hogroot powder. These he flung into the tunnel entrances, putting up a cloud the demons would find noxious and difficult to pass. The effect would lessen over time, and from the sound of the howling in the tunnel, the sheer press from behind might force them through. ‘Ent got a lot of time, Ashia!’

  Caught up in battle with Hasik, Ashia made no reply. By the time Briar dragged himself to his spear, he was feeling stronger. He gripped the shaft, point still embedded in the dying sand demon, and felt a jolt of power through the ward tattooed on his hand.

  He lifted the spear, driving the point in deeper and out of the demon’s other side, hastening its death as he used the spear as a cane to pull himself upright. He tested his weight on his broken hip and found it would hold.

  He looked from Ashia’s battle to the khaffit and the mind demon, then pulled the spear free and drew back for a throw.

  Something struck his arm as it came forward. When he tried to loose, Briar found the spear stuck to his hand with what looked like spider-silk. He glanced up just as the cave demon dropped on him from above.

  Ashia caught a punch on her forearms, turning her thigh to block a kick without costing her balance. The move left her unable to guard against Hasik’s second punch, a powerful hook to the ribs.

  The glass plates in Ashia’s robe took the brunt of the blow, but it knocked the breath out of her, bruising muscle and cracking bone. This was not the first time Hasik had struck that precise spot.

  Still, she left another opening a moment later. When Hasik struck, she caught the blow, twisting under his wrist and keeping the hold as she ran up his thigh and scissored her legs around his throat.

  It was a perfectly executed takedown, but Hasik was heavy, and strong as a rock demon. He danced about, keeping his feet and hooking punches into her. Ashia landed a few blows to his head, but was forced to relinquish the hold when she could not get full control.

  ‘I never met the legendary Enkido,’ Hasik said. ‘At least not before he cut off his own cock and tongue. But even then his name was honoured, and feared.’ He spat blood on the chamber floor. ‘He would be ashamed of you.’

  Ashia growled and came back at him, but she was beginning to fear he was right. She glanced about for Briar, and found him fighting for his life against an eight-legged demon shaped like a giant, armoured spider.

  She and Hasik traded blows again. Hasik’s breastplate was impenetrable glass, and did not absorb blows like her own armour plates. Punching it was like punching a wall while Hasik laughed on the other side.

  But there were seams, and gaps in the joints, to allow freedom of movement. She struck at these, weakening his lines of power, but it was a slow attrition compared with the teeth-chattering, breath-stealing blows he dealt in return, looking – as she was – for opportunities to deliver a crippling move.

  At last one came. Hasik snaked an arm around hers, locking her elbow and pulling tight as he pivoted into a throw. Ashia felt her shoulder snap from its socket and she struck the ground hard, stunned.

  Hasik would have had her then, but there were sudden cries and sounds of battle on the far side of the door to the keep. Ashia heard her grandfather’s voice shouting above the din.

  In that moment of distraction, Ashia flicked the scythe from the sleeve of her good arm. Snapping the blade open, she slashed it along the narrow seam at the waist of Hasik’s armour.

  Hasik’s grip weakened as she opened his intestines, and Ashia twisted free, turning a full circuit into another slash, this one meant for his throat.

  ‘Don’t!’ a familiar voice commanded. Ashia looked to see Kaji standing just a few feet from her, holding her other scythe to his own throat.

  Ashia gasped and stumbled back from Hasik without a killing blow. One arm hung limp, shoulder snapped like a twig, but she kept hold of her weapon.

  ‘Drop it, Mommy,’ Kaji said. ‘Or I drop.’

  ‘Put the blade down, my love.’ She choked out the words.

  ‘No.’ It was Kaji’s favourite word. The most powerful one in his vocabulary.

  ‘Kaji asu Asome am’Jardir am’Kaji,’ Ashia sharpened her tone. ‘Put that blade down this instant.’

  The boy hesitated, and Ashia took a tentative step forward.

  ‘No.’ Kaji lifted the scythe higher, pressing the razor edge against his skin.

  Ashia pulled up short, close enough to see her tears still streaking the boy’s face, but too far to stop him before he could cut his own throat. She lowered her own blade, even as Hasik, holding his intestines in with one arm, pushed himself to his feet.

  ‘Please, my son,’ she begged. ‘Be brave.’

  She watched his aura, saw his pure glow and the darkness that had infected it. The demon had a hold on him that she could not break with words.

  But then the lines on Kaji’s face began to glow, Ashia’s tears binding the ambient magic to her wish to keep him safe. The glow spread, driving away the demon’s shadow.

  Even the palm weeps, when the storm washes over it, Enkido once told her. The tears of Everam’s spear sisters are all the more precious for how seldom they fall.

  Kaji turned to look at the mind demon, scythe dropping from his tiny hand. ‘No.’

  The word seemed to have a physical effect on the demon. It shook with effort, ichor running from its nostrils and ears, much as blood ran from Abban’s as they locked stares.

  Hasik lunged, a long knife in his hand, but Ashia was ready, hooking his wrist aside with her scythe as she delivered a kick to his wounded midsection. Still he bore into her, taking her down to the ground where they both struggled for control.

  Briar rolled this way and that, contorting himself to avoid the rapid strikes of the cave demon’s legs, covered with sharp spikes to grip and hold in sheer stone walls. It reared back, legs beating a drum rhythm on the floor as it struck.

  Briar managed to get his shield on his arm. He caught the demon’s blows more easily now, but the corie had greater reach, and his return strikes at its bulbous abdomen fell short.

  Across the chamber, he saw Ka
ji lift the blade to his throat. Briar froze, and the demon nearly had him. He barely managed to scramble away from its next series of blows. Sensing the advantage, the demon began snapping at him with the thick pincers around its maw, dripping venom that sizzled against the wards on his shield.

  ‘No,’ Kaji said, dropping the scythe as he turned to look at the mind demon. Briar followed his gaze for an instant, and saw the demon shaken.

  With his shield hand, Briar pulled the waterskin from his belt, hurling it at the cave demon’s maw. The corie caught the skin in its pincers, popping it in a spray of hogroot tea. It fell back shrieking, and Briar rushed in, knocking the demon back with his shield’s forbidding.

  Then he turned and hurled his spear as hard as he could at the mind demon’s head.

  He didn’t wait to see if it struck, darting forward in the weapon’s wake. It blasted through the mind’s thick cranium, and Briar was there an instant later, slamming the impact ward on his palm against the demon’s throat. He pinned the corie with a knee as he fell atop it, taking hold of the spear on either side of the demon’s head. With a mighty flex, he turned it like a capstan and heard the demon’s neck snap.

  The mind demon gave a last shriek, cranium throbbing as its body bucked and thrashed. The cave demon gave a shrill cry and collapsed on its back, legs curling.

  Hasik, too, gave a shout, going limp long enough for Ashia to establish a controlling hold. Abban groaned, putting a hand to his face.

  Moments later, Khevat and Icha burst through the doors, robes wet with blood.

  Hasik shook his head to clear it, even as Khevat, Icha, and their men surrounded him. He was on his knees, propped on one hand while the other tried to hold in his intestines, but he was still dangerous and everyone knew it.

  Ashia moved to collect her spears. Her arm was still numb, hanging limp at her side. Kaji stumbled to her, wrapping his arms around her leg, oblivious to the blood soaking the silk. ‘Mama.’

  ‘You were very brave, my son,’ Ashia said.

  ‘Bave like Mama,’ Kaji agreed.