“That is the way of it many times, Pretty Kate,” Aurel said. “We run to be here and only sit and watch the Red hold the line. It is good when that happens, though boring.”
“There weren’t many demons this time,” Kate pointed out.
“It happens sometimes,” Jurdan said. “I think they try out different strategies, but honestly, it seems like they’re throwing their lives away. I guess there are plenty of them, though, so they don’t care. Shall we go?”
Kate nodded and the three went back to the city. It was past lunch time, so they went to eat, ending up back at the relaxation room again.
In the next week, they went to the gate three more times. The third time, Kate sensed that something different was going to happen.
“Watch the left over there,” Kate told Aurel. “They’re shifting, rotating some of the bigger demons. Something’s going to happen.”
“Perhaps,” Aurel said.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, one of the large demon commanders charged through the ranks with four of what looked like elite troops, larger and better outfitted than the normal grunt demons. They slammed into the shield wall and it started to break apart.
Kate watched in horror, then drew her gaze to the other two Black standing there.
“Aren’t we going to do something?” she asked.
“Yes,” Aurel said. “Would you like to do the honors?”
Kate’s heart immediately doubled its rate. Her? Why her? She thought for a moment that they were trying to get her killed, like her former squad had done, but she tore the thought from her head and stomped on it.
“We’ll be right behind you, if you think you need us,” Jurdan said.
Kate swallowed, lifted her chin, and looked Jurdan directly in his greenish-hazel eyes. “No need. Why don’t you rest here? I’ll be back in a moment.”
Jurdan chuckled as she put her death mask on, tightened her grip on her sword and shield handle, and sprinted toward the breach.
Kate charged through the break in the shield wall as it grew in size. A large demon—bigger than normal, but not a commander—swung its sharp claws at a Red whose shield had been torn from his arm. Kate had seen those claws rip a man open from neck to groin. This Red wouldn’t survive if that blow connected.
Just before the claws rent the man’s flesh, Kate got her shield in the way and deflected the demon’s arm. In the same motion, she swung her sword upward, using her legs to magnify the power behind the strike.
The demon’s arm spun off toward its fellows, separated cleanly from its body at the shoulder.
As it gaped at the blood spouting from its wound, Kate whirled and took its head off.
She noticed out of the corner of her eye the relief on the downed Red’s face as two of his squadmates dragged him back behind the other shields. Kate nodded.
Time to plug the hole.
She had been in this position before, alone against a mass of demons. The last time had earned her the Black’s attention to begin with.
This time, it was even easier.
As with most battles she had been in, sound wobbled and then twisted in her ears. It was like when someone was talking to her and she plunged underwater at the pool she used to swim in as a child. Then it faded completely as the battle high caught up to her.
The training she had been doing with the Black, though only for a few weeks, had made her even stronger, faster, and more efficient than she had ever been before. She wasn’t sure what the enchantments on her weapons added, but any additional advantage was welcome. She cut through the elite demon fighters before any of their claws or teeth touched her.
And then she was in front of the demon commander.
It was like the last one she killed, nearly twice her height and more human-like in its appearance than the battle-fodder demons. Unlike the grunts, this one wore armor: a breastplate, greaves, and a partial vambrace. Its skin was a pale red, and aside from the color, its size, and the thick, curving horns protruding from the side of its head, it probably could have been mistaken for a human.
Until the observer looked into its solid black eyes. Then, there would be no doubt that this thing had come straight from the bowels of Hell.
And Kate intended to send it back there. In pieces.
The demon raised a great sword, one bigger than Kate’s body, and lunged. Maybe Kate was comparing the fight to the last demon commander she fought, or maybe to the Black she’d been sparring with, but either way, it moved slowly. Too slow to hit her.
She shifted aside, just enough for the blade to miss her by an inch. She slammed her shield into the weapon, and it careened off the magically enhanced metal surface. Her own sword flicked out and traced a scratch along her adversary’s breastplate.
The monster recovered well, circling its great sword around to slash at Kate from the side. Though it was a commander, it apparently wasn’t too bright because it struck from its right—Kate’s left. The shield side. Kate threw her arm up and angled her shield so the sword deflected again and skipped over her head.
This time, Kate thrust with her sword, puncturing the thing’s arm. It howled in rage and backed up to wind up for another strike.
The creature lost its temper and slashed wildly at Kate. She dodged some of the blows, parried one with her own sword, and caught the rest on her shield. She kept track of the other demons in her peripheral vision. She had taken care of the other elites, and the normal demon troops seemed content with watching their commander fight.
After the demon hacked at her for more than a minute, Kate saw her chance. A wild, downward swing came at her, one the demon had put all of its strength behind. It was off-balance and totally committed.
Kate crouched and threw her shield up. The blow glanced off the perfectly angled surface and slammed into the ground. While she blocked, she had moved a half step to the side, shifting her body weight to evade most of the force of the blow.
As the demon stumbled past her, Kate sprang up with all the strength her legs possessed. She turned a quarter twist in the air to reorient herself, tucked into a ball to turn a flip, and came down with the full force of gravity, her rotation, and her considerable strength.
Her sword entered the demon at the top of its head, between the horns, and kept going. It finally ran out of energy just above the monster’s groin. The two halves of its face frowned at the unfamiliar feeling.
Kate slammed her shield downward onto the sword’s crossguard and it sank the rest of the way through the demon commander’s body. The two sides peeled away and fell to the ground on either side of Kate’s sword. She spat demon blood that had somehow gotten in through the small holes in her mask to her mouth and turned to the rest of the demons with hatred in the green eyes none of the creatures could meet.
The demon troops fled back to the gate.
Kate watched the massive gates swing shut, and then let out a breath.
A rush of sound made her jump and spin around, shield and sword at the ready.
In front of her, every single red-cloaked Order soldier was cheering and beating their swords on their shields. Jurdan and Aurel were off to the side, the bigger man nodding and smiling and the other raising his fist in the air in triumph.
Kate relaxed and smiled. The soldiers couldn’t see it, of course, because of her mask, but they didn’t need to. She put her fist to her heart, thumping her breastplate with the pommel of her sword, and walked calmly back to her Black brothers.
“Showoff,” Jurdan said, but he winked as he did it.
“So, that is the Courtenay Crush?” Aurel said. “I like it, Pretty Kate. I like it much.”
Kate’s face hurt from smiling so widely.
9
That evening, Jurdan lured Kate to one of the private meeting rooms in the Black compound. She glanced around nervously as they went. Was he going to try to force himself upon her? He’d never given her a sense of being such a man, but she had heard stories of men who tried to take advantage�
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She didn’t know what she was worried about. She could beat Jurdan in a fight. Easily. But what if someone else—or more than one—waited to ambush her? She bit her lower lip and darted her eyes even more frantically, looking for anything out of the ordinary. All the while, Jurdan kept up a constant stream of conversation. Well, it really wasn’t conversation because she couldn’t have crammed a word in even if she wanted to.
“So I told my brother,” he said, continuing his story, “that if I made it into the Order, he would have to give me the family sword. It’s an heirloom, really, and his by rights since he is the eldest.
“Of course, he didn’t think I had a chance. Still, he hedged his bet and said to me, he said, ‘Jurdan, there is no way you’ll make it into the Order to begin with, not with your attitude, and not with how you won’t ever listen for talking all the time. But I’ve heard tell of people bribing or extorting their way past the trials, so you can understand if I’m a little hesitant when it comes to our family’s greatest treasure.’
“Family’s greatest treasure. Bah. Our family’s greatest treasure is my little sister Aonica. Such a beauty she is, and the kindest, most wonderful girl in the world—no offense to you, Kate; you’re fantastic too—but compared to an old sword? She’s worth much more.
“Anyway, so I says to my brother, ‘You’re just looking for an excuse because you know I’ll make it,’ and he says, ‘I’ll tell you what, Jurdan. I’ll give you the sword if you make it to the Black.’
“Of course, he thought he was safe, even when I passed the trial, even when I graduated from basic training. Who ever personally knew someone who made it into the Black? Well, I tell you, when I got leave several years later and showed up at home, all in Black and with the papers containing my official orders, I thought my brother would pass out.
“To his credit, he made good on the bet. I now carry our family sword.” He lifted up on his scabbard to show it to Kate. “I had Molara put the magic on it like they do with all the weapons and shields for the Black. It has killed many a demon, let me tell you, though not as many as my arrows.”
Kate nodded whenever Jurdan looked at her, but she was alert, waiting for him to make a move. Or for someone else to show up. She judged that she could take any two of the Black, though she’d take some wounds doing it.
They got to the meeting room, and Jurdan opened the door and swept an arm out, offering the opportunity for her to go first.
“Thank you. After you,” she said, motioning toward the darkened room herself.
“Oh, why thank you,” Jurdan said, not missing a beat. He walked in while pulling flint and steel from his pocket. “Just let me light one of the braziers.”
Kate watched him warily. If there was a time to strike, this was it. She scanned the shadows for movement. Did something shift off to her right? She focused on her ears, trying to hear any little sound. She sensed…something. It was like when she had felt someone watching her as a child and found one of the servants quietly observing. She shivered and the fingers on her right hand twitched toward her sword.
Light suddenly bloomed up from three different areas of the large room. Kate had her sword out and was in a guard stance before she could even take a breath.
“Congratulations!” several people bellowed. She thought she heard Aurel’s deep voice among them.
A large group of black-clothed men were spread throughout the room. It looked like it might be the entire Black Command.
Kate froze, stunned. “What?”
Captain Achard stepped out from between two other men. “We are celebrating your first battle as one of us. Everyone in the city is talking about it. Your legend has begun.” He laughed and handed her a goblet of wine.
“It’s traditional,” Jurdan said, “to celebrate the first blooding as a Black, though of course, your case is even more spectacular than most. Showoff.” He winked at her and good-naturedly pushed two other men out of the way to get to the food table. “Come, Kate, have some food. This is all in your honor.”
Kate felt her face heat as she noticed the captain scrutinizing the sword in her hand.
“No need for that,” the captain said, laughing. “The food is already cut. Relax Kate. You’re with family.”
She chuckled nervously and scabbarded her sword. Maybe she was a little too tense after all. Kate downed the offered cup of wine and felt the warmth and relaxation wash over her.
She followed Jurdan toward the food table, her fellow Black patting her on the shoulder as she went.
The gathering was one of the best experiences of her short tenure in the Order. The wine may have had something to do with it, but it wasn’t long before she felt completely comfortable with the others. She could get used to this, the camaraderie and the belonging.
As the days passed, Kate looked forward to hearing the bell signifying the gates had opened. She felt a little uncomfortable with that notion, afraid it meant she reveled in combat, something Dante had always cautioned against. But the thrill of striding through the ranks to take care of a problem big enough to threaten the shield wall was too much of a temptation.
When problems developed, only one or two of the Black on duty would go and address it, leaving at least one to monitor other parts of the battlefield.
“The demons can be clever little buggers,” Jurdan told her. “In the past, they have used tactics to distract us and then sprung a trap. It hasn’t happened for years, since we changed our protocol for joining the fray. That’s why one or two of us wait while the others fight.”
It made sense. Kate took her turn at being the one to go into battle each time now, or to wait as another Black did. She wished sometimes they would give her priority like that first day, but it also made her feel like she was truly a part of the Black Command. They treated her exactly the same as everyone else, and that was comforting to her.
On one particularly chilly day, Kate was at her station, standing behind the troops and scanning the battlefield. Jurdan had joined the fight to plug a hole in the shield wall, and Kate and her other partner, a man named Visimar Torten, were on the lookout for traps.
A dark blur moved in the corner of her vision, and she thought it might have been one of the larger demons sneaking around to flank the troops. When she turned her attention fully to the area, she saw that it was actually one of the Black, his mask shaped like the top half of a skull with blue-colored inlays and swirling designs across the forehead. He crouched outside the view of most of the demons, hiding on one side of the frame for the gates.
Kate wondered why he was there, but the thought left her head when one of the demon commanders pointed to the Black brother. Several grunt demons peeled off from the main charge and bounded toward him. The commander itself, along with another commander, gathered more troops and headed there themselves at a fast walk.
Kate didn’t hesitate. She ran off to the left of the main troops, skirting the bulk of the battle, and sprinted straight toward the Black brother. Visimar cursed loudly but remained at his post.
The unknown Black brother showed no emotion, though his mouth was clearly visible beneath his half-mask. He exuded control and calmness. She wasn’t sure she could do so under similar circumstances. He straightened from the crouch he had been in and drew his weapons, two large crescents that Kate knew had to be as sharp as any sword.
By the time Kate got to him, he was already in the thick of battle. No less than twenty of the regular troops, three of the bigger, elite units, and the two demon commanders were swarming him.
He was a whirlwind of blades, but even his obvious skill couldn’t stand against such numbers for long. Kate didn’t recognize the death mask, so she wasn’t sure who he was, but it also didn’t matter. His black clothing made him her brother, and she would do everything she could to help him.
With a battle cry, she launched herself toward the nearest demon, one of the big elite types. In midair, she cut a deep gash in its back and bashed away one of the oth
er, normal demons with her shield. Before the big one turned fully, another strike from her sword took its head.
And then the battle was on.
Kate whirled, twisted, and generally positioned herself anywhere but where the demons thought she was. A few claws scraped off her armor, and more deflected from her shield, but she didn’t suffer any cuts. As far as she knew. She cut through the demon bodies like a master sculptor clears away unneeded stone, until she stood next to the man she had come to help.
“I thank you,” he said in an accent instantly recognizable as being from Salornum. “I am Peiros. It is an honor to fight with you, Kate Courtenay.” His accent slightly trilled his “r” sounds and his “o” sounds stretched longer than that of Brasean speakers of the common tongue.
“Uh, yeah,” she said as she battered a clawed arm away and then cut it off the demon’s body. “Likewise.”
They set to their task, clearing away the demon rabble, making way for the one elite and two commanders that were left.
Peiros cut down the one remaining bigger demon and spun to meet one of the commanders. Kate braced to meet the other commander, spotting two or three dozen other demons that had taken notice of their battle and were charging them.
“We need to do this quickly,” she said. “We have more company coming.” She jerked her head toward the charging troops, and Peiros grunted and gave a nod.
Kate lost sight of her partner when the commander came in with a huge sword. It looked like the one carried by the last demon commander she had killed. The weapon didn’t scare her then, and it didn’t scare her now. She shifted her weight, preparing for the incoming blow.
This opponent fought like the last one she had fought. It used brute strength and its huge weapon to bash through an enemy’s guard. Maybe that was what they taught at demon commander school. Kate knew how to deal with that tactic.
Kate deflected the overhead slice enough for the weapon to go wide and strike the ground. The demon stumbled slightly ahead, off-balance from missing its target. As it stepped forward, its body leaning in, Kate thrust her sword up.
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