The Last Winter (The Circle War Book 2)

by Matt King

  They were already halfway out of the room by the time Cerenus handed him over to the assistant. “Sure,” Bear nodded in reply. “That’s fine.”

  “Excellent. We can get rid of those pesky restraints as soon as you and your companions are safe and secure in your rooms. Until tomorrow!” he called after him.

  Bear walked back into the lobby feeling the weight of the metal bar binding his hands. He wondered if he could even look the Horsemen in the eye.

  It didn’t matter. The brothers’ attention was already focused on the new arrivals.

  Four men with skin the color of red wine stood opposite the Horsemen. Three of them wore an open face helmet that kept their faces in shadow. The biggest of the men, the one that stood at the head of the group with his helmet in the crook of his arm, looked down at the restraints on Bear’s hands. His grin showed a mouth full of copper teeth.

  “Cerenus will see you now,” the woman said.

  A pair of guards came over to stand by Bear, separating him from the other group. They pointed to the doorway.

  “Let’s go,” Bear said to the Horsemen. He locked eyes with the man one last time before heading towards the exit. Hints of lime green blood showed through the veins standing out on the stranger’s hands, hands that weren’t bound with restraints. When the man turned to follow the assistant into Cerenus’s throne room, a pair of translucent wings flexed on his back.

  There may be others like you. Meryn’s words prickled his senses. Something about the hungry look on the man’s face confirmed Bear’s suspicions. A wash of anxiety tensed his stomach.

  He was in the presence of another champion, a champion who looked ready to walk away with the prize that Bear had lost.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  With an ocean of white lights hovering over the streets, the city was nearly as bright after dusk as it was when the sun sparkled through the crystal walls. Bear saw the cityscape in glimpses as he paced around the room. He passed by a set of five rectangular beds placed side by side. They had no mattresses. Instead, they were filled with a clear jelly that was dry to the touch. Not that he felt much like sleeping. His mind couldn’t stay quiet.

  The Horsemen divided themselves into two-man teams, one group looking out at the city, surveying the lay of the land only a few levels below, and the other by the door, sharpening and tuning their weapons. None of them paid any attention to Bear, nor had they tried to communicate anything since the meeting with Cerenus. One of the most frustrating things about them was their unwillingness to do anything beyond hide behind their blank masks. They refused to show one way or the other how they felt about his telling of the Cerenus meeting, leaving him to judge his performance himself.

  He started another lap across the room, absently rubbing the spot where the restraints had been.

  When he got to the window, he stopped and looked down at the people milling through the street. Most looked happy, carrying drinks in hand and laughing with their friends. Some had food, and it dawned on him that the Horsemen were probably hungry after going nearly a day since their last meal. Seeing as how they were his responsibility, he guessed a field trip was in order. Besides, he’d done enough walking back and forth to wear a rut in the floor. It wouldn’t hurt to take his gloom and doom out for a change in scenery.

  “You boys ready for dinner?” He didn’t wait for a response, knowing full well that none was coming. Instead, he walked to the panel next to the door and picked one of the buttons at random.

  A clicking noise signaled that the guards outside could hear him.

  “We want to get some food, if that’s okay.”

  The brothers filed in behind him as he waited for the door to slide open. When it did, he walked outside and gave a curt nod to the guards standing by the door.

  “Enjoy your evening,” one of them said. “Compliments of the Exalted.”

  Exalted. Cerenus had turned out to be nothing like August. He was everything that Bear loathed in a man—arrogant, self-absorbed, and too smart for his own good. Still, Meryn had tasked him with recruiting Cerenus to their side. It didn’t matter what he thought of the god, it only mattered that he did what he was trusted to do, and so far, he was failing.

  Tomorrow, he told himself. I can fix this tomorrow.

  Exactly how he planned on doing that, he hadn’t a clue. Maybe there was a drink in one of the city’s bars strong enough to make him the brilliant ambassador Meryn wanted. He would have to take up drinking first, but he was getting used to making himself do things that were out of character.

  With their arms full of food and spirits, the tide of people clogging the streets outside the apartment building was too busy to pay Bear and the brothers much attention. He guided the Horsemen toward a section of the city where the crowd was most dense, hoping it would lead to food. A large group of people huddled around the entrance to a building that looked like a blue diamond half buried in the center of a public square. There were street vendors everywhere, serving drinks to the overflow that filtered out of the building’s entrance.

  He led the Horsemen inside. An open elevator platform lifted them to the main levels, coming to a stop on the middle, widest floor. Bear stepped out, suddenly aware of the fact that he was still in his armor while most of the people were dressed in what he guessed passed as dress clothes on their world, complete with elaborate artistic designs painted on their skin. The moving tattoos flowed through curving shapes, changing color to the beat of the music overhead.

  Food and drink hovered on tables that moved through the standing crowd, coming to a stop whenever someone took an item from its tray. The Horsemen followed as he walked toward one in a relatively quiet section of the room. He let them pick over the offerings while he poured a glass of something that looked like water. After a few cautious sniffs, he took a sip and waited. Other than a slight burn going down, he didn’t feel any worse for wear. They found a curved couch near the windows to sit. The Horsemen only took their masks off long enough to scarf down bowls of stringy brown meat. With the lights dimming overhead, they looked like a huddle of shadows.

  Shadow. Just thinking her name made him miss the connection they shared, however strange it was. It had been a long time since he’d felt her push forward. He wondered what she was doing now that August wasn’t around. Outside of his one attempt during his training session with the Horsemen, he’d left her alone, not wanting to tease her forward. Now he had half a mind to pull on the mental chain between them, if only to feel something familiar on a world that made him feel so homesick.

  Better not. She might be the one thing in the universe who would fit in here worse than me.

  He took a final swig of his drink. At the table next to him, three couples took turns moving a triangular crystal around a board dotted with different colored circles. One of them looked over at the entrance and pointed. Bear followed her stare.

  The champion he’d seen that morning walked in and immediately grabbed a jug from a passing service table. He drank from it deeply before motioning for the three men with him to take some for themselves.

  “We should go,” Bear said.

  The Horsemen were already eyeing the newcomers. They replaced their masks, but made no move for the exit.

  As soon as Bear stood, the other champion locked eyes with him. He finished off his drink and set the empty jug down. The four of them started making their way across the room.

  Bear tried to ignore them. He made for an empty path toward the exit before the champion set himself in the middle of the aisle.

  “Were you leaving so quickly?” he asked.

  His yellow, eagle-like eyes looked greedily between Bear and the Horsemen.

  He’s looking for a fight. Don’t give it to him.

  “We’ve had our fill,” Bear replied.

  “You are without your shackles, I see.”

  Bear didn’t answer. He looked at the faces of the three men standing behind the champion. Their eyes were cloudy, their jaws tensed,
showing the sharp bones of their cheeks.

  “I am Icomedes,” the man said. “Lord of the Ysir and leader of the Herengei. And you are the Law-son man?” He said the last name like it was two words.

  Bear nodded.

  “You and I, we are here for the same thing, I believe?”

  “We were just stopping by.”

  Icomedes grabbed another tankard of drink. “To your departure, then.” He raised the jug in a toast and then drank. He passed it around to the rest of the Herengei. When the cup came back to him, he tossed it at Bear. “There,” he said. “Since you’re of no more use, you can start a new trade. Bring us another one of those.”

  Yellow froth ran down the front of Bear’s armor. He wiped it away as Icomedes and his men pushed by.

  Just let them go, he told himself again.

  The last of the Herengei brushed shoulders with a Horseman. The brother stuck out a foot to trip him.

  When the body hit the floor, everyone who had been ignoring them suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned around to watch.

  The Herengei pulled out dueling short swords from their belts. The Horsemen responded in kind.

  Icomedes grabbed the Horseman’s arm. “You dare,” he growled.

  “Hey!” Bear said. He stuck an arm between them. “Put the weapons down. We’re not here to fight.”

  The champion swatted his hand away. “You don’t strike me as the kind that ever would.”

  Bear looked around at the expectant stares of the bar’s patrons. A few seemed fearful. Most looked like they relished how close they were to the coming fight. He lowered his voice as he came back to Icomedes. “Get your hand off my friend here and we can walk away before anyone gets hurt.”

  Icomedes glanced over to the Horseman in his grip. He let the arm go. “As you wish.”

  Bear saw the wings separate from the man’s shoulder, but he didn’t react fast enough to dodge the waxy-looking wing as it came swiping across his jaw, slashing through his skin. Blood flowed down his cheek. His raw skin throbbed.

  The Horsemen watched his recovery, looking ready to join the fray—or start it. Bear shook his head at them. He wiped his armored hand across the wound to clear away the blood. The healing had already dulled the pain.

  He stood tall, squaring his shoulders to the champion. Bear was taller by a foot, but the Herengei leader looked every bit as powerful.

  Some part of him wanted to reach for Meryn’s mark glowing on his chest. He clenched his fists, ashamed that he would think to run so quickly. This is who I am now. I’m a fighter.

  Then fight, he told himself.

  He swung a fist heavily toward Icomedes’s gut. The blow missed, sending him off balance. Icomedes grabbed him by the chin and brought Bear’s face to his. He looked like he was barely straining.

  “It is too early to kill you,” he said. “That comes later, during the hunt. But no one said I couldn’t leave a mark for you to remember this day.”

  Bear couldn’t break his grip. Icomedes reached out his hand. One of the Ysir unsheathed their blade to put it in his palm.

  The Horsemen moved in, one knocking away the weapon while another sent the Herengei to his knees with a punch to his throat.

  The bar exploded into panic as guests ran for the exits.

  Indecision kept Bear paralyzed, trapping him in memories of sparring with the Horsemen as Icomedes held him. In a rush of desperation, he reached inside for Shadow, hoping he could force her out if she wouldn’t come willingly. Just like his attempt in the cave, he felt nothing on the other end of their connection. She’s gone, he thought, and for the first time, he realized she wasn’t lying dormant. She was gone for good.

  The champion loosened his grip, but Bear didn’t have time to catch his breath before he was fighting off a flurry of crushing blows aimed at his midsection. He tried to move in close, using his weight to push Icomedes back. Just get your hands on him. Icomedes tilted to the side, then sent Bear face-first into the floating tray of drinks.

  As he slowly got to his feet, his hands deep in a puddle of water mixed with blood, he slipped his finger over the trigger to his mask. There was a rush of wind as his visor formed over his face. He turned to find Icomedes.

  Behind the champion, the Horsemen were all still standing, taking on the three Herengei, moving like a machine. Their movements were quick and precise, countering their larger foes while at the same time breaking them down with shots of their own. One of the Horsemen used two empty tankards like they were brass knuckles, repeatedly slamming his fists into the Herengei until he stumbled back into a dividing wall.

  Icomedes extended his wings. With a single motion, he was off the ground and rocketing forward to grab Bear. His hands felt like claws digging into the metal of Bear’s suit. They careened through a nearby window, sending a spray of broken glass down into the square below.

  Bear tried to wriggle free. Icomedes flew toward a nearby building and then turned Bear around, first dropping him and then re-gripping him by the ankles. The overhead lights streaked across Bear’s vision as Icomedes whipped him into the side of one building, then another, finally sending him hurtling toward the ground.

  The stone floor of the square cracked beneath him as his shoulder buried in the rubble. It took a second for him to see straight again. When his eyes came into focus, he saw Icomedes swooping down.

  Bear launched himself off the ground. For a moment, he thought he was going to grab the champion around the waist, but Icomedes flew backwards just enough to avoid Bear’s grip. He drove his knee into the bottom of Bear’s chin. Bear had the sensation of falling, even though he felt the ground beneath his feet. His eyesight dimmed.

  A little girl clung to her parents a few feet away. The couple had a horrified look on their face. The girl looked at him. Her expression was blank, but there was something in her eyes. Maybe it was pity. Her light brown skin reminded him of Meryn. When he thought of her that way, the expression felt more like disappointment.

  More screaming rose behind him. The Horsemen and Herengei came tumbling through the entrance to the building. The Horsemen were still in control, even if they were starting to look winded. They took a couple of punches that most of the time would never have landed. When one brother went down, another swooped in to take his place in the fight, giving them a rotation that kept the Herengei constantly on defense.

  Icomedes barked out an order in a language Bear didn’t understand. The Herengei looked his way before pressing their hands to the metal straps crisscrossing their chest. One by one they faded away, each seemingly dissolving into the air. It was only when he noticed the building behind them warp and move slightly that he realized they’d gone invisible.

  The Horsemen stopped in place, holding their weapons out. They looked around, turning as they searched.

  With a sudden jerk of his head, one of the brothers went down. His legs shot up immediately as though he’d been kicked. Another fell forward, catching himself before he hit the stone floor. The cloaked Herengei lifted him off the ground and slammed him backwards through a crystal wall.

  Bear lunged to try to make it over in time to save them. Icomedes swooped in and constricted his arm around Bear’s neck.

  “Leave them alone,” Bear said in a hoarse voice, fighting through the pressure on his throat. The harder he tried to break free, the tighter Icomedes’s hold became.

  A shrill horn pulsed nearby. The gathered crowds started to shout, giving directions to their fight.

  “You see what awaits,” the champion said. His voice vibrated the side of Bear’s mask. “Our hunt will begin soon, Law-son, and when it does, the Ysir will have your heads to remember their victory.”

  A dozen of Cerenus’s men carrying spears came running through the square. “Put him down!” a guard yelled.

  Icomedes tightened his grip on Bear’s throat. “I will see you again soon, human.”

  He pushed Bear to the ground. A rush of wind kicked up a cloud of dust
as Icomedes took flight, leaving Bear and the Horsemen alone at the center of the square surrounded by a crowd of gawking onlookers.

  Bear coughed, trying to catch his breath. As soon as he got to his feet, Cerenus’s men were on him. They grabbed his hands and turned him around. He felt the snapping grip of the restraints against his wrists.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  The guards didn’t speak. They snatched the Horsemen off the ground and fitted them with restraints. The brothers could barely stand in place.

  “Move,” a voice behind him ordered.

  “We didn’t do anything. They’re the ones who attacked.”

  “Move.”

  The guards guided them through the crowds, pushing them ahead roughly. Bear’s eyes fell into a stare. He tried to reason where they were going. They were already long past the apartments. It wasn’t until they passed by the portal to Cerenus’s throne room that he understood what was happening.

  They were being walked to the gate.

  When they got to the entrance to the city, the restraints fell away. The Horsemen limped to his side, none of them raising their masked faces to him.

  “You can’t do this,” Bear said to the guards. “I’m a guest of Cerenus.”

  “You have been ordered to leave,” the guard replied.

  “That’s crazy,” he said. “This is just a misunderstanding.”

  “The Exalted has ordered you removed from the city.”

  “But…I wasn’t done,” Bear said weakly. He looked up to the lights of the helix and the throne room crowning the building.

  The guards stood silent.

  He kept looking at the helix, praying for a miracle. Nothing happened. He turned back to the road, coming face-to-face with the Horsemen. The brothers walked away from him.

  He fell in behind. When they were clear of the lights of the city, he held his fingers to the mark on his chest and waited for Meryn’s portal to form.