by J. K. Barber
Jared turned towards the others, just in time to see Olivia’s body fall to the ground next to Talas’ lost shield. As she fell to the rugs beneath her, Roane pulled her rapier from the scout’s chest, blood flowing thickly out of the wound directly over the older woman’s heart. Olivia did not move. Before Jared could react, Roane, who had Talas’ right arm trapped underneath hers and pinned to her body, lurched her inhuman head forward, sinking her yellowed teeth into the priest’s neck. Talas jerked and then fell backwards as Roane pulled away quickly, yanking out the old man’s throat. Salamasca’s chitinous chancellor spit out the bloody mass of flesh, as the priest hit the ground next to his wife. Roane grinned wickedly at Jared, pulling Olivia’s dagger from her side and tossing it contemptuously onto the woman’s corpse.
Jared’s world went red.
Sasha had always known that Jared had a savage side. She had seen his temper flare before. She had seen how he had acted when they were prisoners of the ice orcs’ in the Frozen March. Katya had told her how Jared had acted when the orcs had put Sasha over the fire, how he had become almost feral in his anger.
None of these incidents had prepared Sasha for how Jared now reacted. While the swordswoman was stunned at the scene before her, Talas and Olivia lying dead at the feet of their reanimated adversary, Sasha heard a low rumbling noise rise in the chest of her companion. As the thought to turn and look at him entered her mind, he leapt past her, a snarling blur, launching himself at the inhuman creature that stood grinning at them.
Roane reacted with blinding speed with her uninjured arm, raising her rapier against Jared’s headlong charge. The hunter was just able to bring his own sword up in time to barely knock the woman’s blade aside. The thrust that was meant for the hunter’s heart instead struck him in the shoulder. Sasha saw the point of Roane’s rapier come out of Jared’s back, just to the side of his shoulder blade. The preternatural strength of the insectoid woman combined with the force of Jared’s rush caused the blade to pierce his body entirely. Roane stepped back, yanking her sword out of the woodsman’s body, a triumphant look on her alien face.
So lost was the hunter in his rage that the wound did not slow him down. In fact, except for an initial spasm of pain, Jared did not seem to notice the wound at all. Instead, he yelled incoherently at her and stepped forward, slashing at Roane with his own curved blade. The inhuman woman parried the attack with her thinner sword, looking shocked as she did so. However, Roane was not given enough time to mull over her incredulity, as Jared launched into a series of savage, mindless attacks; animal-like growls accompanying each wild slash of his sword. Though none of Roane’s attacks were as devastating as the shoulder wound she had initially inflicted on Jared, she managed to cut the hunter with the tip of her blade several times.
Sasha stepped forward to join the hunter in his attack. The part of her mind that was worried over the disappearance of her sister was set aside as years of swordplay and discipline took over. She moved to Jared’s side, instinctively putting the perfect distance between his shoulder and hers; close enough to cover his right side with her shield but far enough away that she did not hinder his wild swings.
“Jared,” she hissed, thrusting forward with her sword. Roane danced to the side, barely dodging Sasha’s longsword. “You need to calm down,” the redhead implored of the hunter. “There’s two of us and one of her. If we work together, we can defeat her.”
Roane chucked maliciously. “Little girl,” she said tauntingly. “That’s what the two old dead people thought too. I seriously doubt if you…,” the black-skinned woman’s words were cut off, as she ducked under a swing of Jared’s sword. The hunter had been trying to take Roane’s head off; instead, his attack had left his midsection open. Sasha was barely able to get her shield into position in time to turn aside the other woman’s darting blade. Despite the dark viscous fluid that pulsed forth from the wounds in her shoulder and abdomen, Roane was incredibly fast.
“Jared!” Sasha cried into the hunter’s ear. “Snap out of it! We’re not going to beat her like this.” The woodsman was too caught up in his rage to hear her. He had given himself over to the wolf that lurked inside him, and her words were falling on deaf ears. She needed to do something, say something, which would snap him out of his haze of anger. “If we both die here,” she yelled at last, trying to get through to Jared, “then Gabriel will grow up without parents! Is that what you want for your son? To grow up alone like you did?”
It was a low blow. Sasha knew it, but her tactic had its desired effect. The hunter paused for a moment and looked at her. The swordswoman saw the red mist clear from Jared’s eyes, as his pupils focused on her once again.
“How touching,” Roane mocked. “After I kill the two of you, I’ll have to find this boy. I’m sure my Queen will have something special in mind just for him.”
It was the wrong thing for Salamasca’s regent to have said.
Sasha slashed viciously at Roane with her longsword, as Jared thrust his curved blade towards the other woman’s stomach. The black leather-clad woman skipped backwards, dodging the hunter’s attack and barely parrying Sasha’s cut. The swordswoman spared a glance to Jared, whose lips curved upwards in a wolfish grin. The hunter nodded to Sasha, and the pair sprang forward launching into a series of coordinated attacks.
Despite the circumstances, Sasha felt a familiar feeling wash over her. In years past, the swordswoman had always fought at her sister’s side and it had felt comfortable, easy. There was a rhythm and rightness to their moves, born from long hours of practice and battle side by side, twin fighting alongside twin. Together they were far more potent than either could have ever been alone.
Sasha had felt the same sensation grow as she fought alongside Jared over the past two years. As she entered the fray, the swordswoman simply began reacting to the hunter’s attacks, at first. Sasha tried to strike at Roane while the reborn regent’s rapier was occupied, defending against Jared’s assault. But then, Sasha began anticipating the woodsman’s assaults, bringing her blade into line with his to harry Roane further or slipping her shield up to protect Jared’s exposed side or shoulder when he lunged forward, trying to skewer their opponent with his sword. Soon, the pair were working in such perfect concert that Roane was pushed further and further back, hard pressed to defend herself from Sasha and Jared’s torrent of steel. It was like no feeling that the redhead had ever felt before. It was similar to fighting alongside Katya, but somehow more right, more fitting. She was reminded of the first time she had met Jared, when she and the hunter had mistakenly tried to kill each other in the woods near his campfire. An instant connection was made that night and tonight that bond was brought into to crystal clarity. Sasha was fighting with the man she loved against one of the foulest evils that Aronshae had ever known to make sure that their son would know the love of at least one of his parents. Circumstances notwithstanding, Sasha was invigorated and elated at the same time.
If only Katya could be here to share in this, Sasha thought. The memory of her sister’s second abduction caused the redhead to falter. Following quickly on the heels of the recollection, Sasha felt the bond to her sister fade completely. “Katya’s gone,” she whispered to herself. The swordswoman’s blade dropped for just a moment, as the severing of the tie between the twins hit the swordswoman like a blow to the gut.
It was all the opening that Roane needed. The chitin-skinned woman’s rapier darted towards Sasha’s neck. Jared barely deflected the thrust in time, the point of Roane’s sword passing just over the swordswoman’s shoulder and slashing a lock of Sasha’s red tresses instead. Strands of copper-colored hair hung limply from her otherwise tight braid.
Jared’s deflection of Roane’s blade left him exposed, and Salamasca’s minion now took advantage of the hunter’s vulnerability.
Roane lunged forward trying to thrust her blade through the hunter’s midsection. At the last moment, Jared twisted his body sideways, and the chancellor’s blade only scra
ped his ribs. Sasha involuntarily winced in sympathetic pain, but the hunter showed no sign of registering the wound. Instead, he continued the twisting of his body, bringing his sword around with both hands in a wide arc and burying it deeply into Roane’s uninjured shoulder. The hunter’s curved blade bit deeply, cutting bone and muscle, so that the limb was almost completely severed. Roane’s rapier fell from her hand. With one arm barely attached, hanging by a small band of muscle, and the other dripping foul black blood from a previous wound, Salamasca’s minion lurched at Jared’s throat with her razor-sharp teeth, her only remaining weapon. The hunter leaned back but still managed to drive his knee into her midsection. Roane growled in pain at the hit to her already injured abdomen, more dark fluid pouring from a pair of vicious punctures, apparently landed by Olivia before she died.
Shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts of her sudden loss, Sasha slammed her shield into other woman’s face. The monstrous woman staggered back. The force of Sasha’s blow and the pain of the wounds inflicted upon her by the other Illyanders had finally caught up with Roane. She began losing ground, swaying dizzily.
With a bestial growl, the hunter attacked even more savagely than before, slashing at the woman’s wounded arms, her bleeding midsection, and anything else he could reach with his blade. Each swing was accompanied by an animal-like grunt or snarl. Jared viciously dispatched Roane, scoring a dozen seemingly fatal wounds before the insectoid creature finally collapsed to the ground.
And still he kept attacking, hacking mercilessly at Roane’s body, inchoate sounds pouring from his mouth. For a moment Sasha just stood and watched the gruesome scene, shocked to silence by the actions of this man that she loved, and thought she fully knew.
“Jared!” Sasha finally yelled trying to break the hunter out of his murderous fugue. “Stop! She’s dead!” the swordswoman cried, her voice full of desperation. Jared stopped his assault of Roane’s corpse and looked up at her. There was no recognition in the hunter’s eyes, only a look of wariness. Sasha was reminded of a wounded animal, caught between fleeing and striking out at all those around it in one finally desperate attempt at survival. Please, Great Mother, she implored silently. Don’t let us come this far only to lose him to his own rage. The stories that Jared and Sirus had told Sasha about those with their gifts becoming mindless animals flooded into the swordswoman’s mind.
“No,” Sasha whispered to herself. “I will not come all this way with you only to lose you like this. Not like this.” Taking a deep breath, the redhead calmed herself, trying to project that feeling of tranquility to the hunter as she spoke. “Jared,” she said quietly, but with as much confidence as she could muster. She must have sounded better to him than to her own ears, because he narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. The expression was one of dawning recognition though, not one of menace. “She’s dead,” Sasha said. “You’ve beaten her.” Jared looked down at the mutilated body beneath him and then back up. “That’s right, you won. Now I need you to calm down. I need…,” Sasha’s voice broke as tears threatened. Fighting back the sadness at the hopelessness of their situation, she concentrated on Jared. She pushed down the fear for her absent twin, the sorrow she felt for her dead friends lying next to Roane’s body, and the sounds of the army outside the tent that were recovering from Tomas’ noble sacrifice. Right now she needed to bring Jared back to her. The rest she would deal with afterwards.
“I need,” she began again, “for you to calm down. I can’t do this by myself,” she said. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she made no motion to wipe them away. Instead, she sheathed her sword and spread her arms wide. “I need you,” she said desperately. “I need you to help me raise Gabriel. Our son needs his father.”
Jared’s eyes widened in recognition of his son’s name, and then his lids drooped heavily as his wounds finally registered. He staggered forward, letting his blade fall from his fingers. Sasha rushed forward to catch him, holding him up as she looked around.
Talas and Olivia were dead. Blood poured from Jared’s shoulder and a dozen other shallow cuts all over his body. Katya had been stabbed by Salamasca and pulled into the Void with one of her Shadow Walkers. Meanwhile, outside, the sounds of the Ice Queen’s army were beginning to calm, the shock of Tomas’ attack and death beginning to fade away. Soon, they would organize and investigate what was going on in the Ice Queen’s command tent.
The swordswoman and the hunter slumped to the ground, the weight of their situation coming crashing down on top of them. Sasha ripped a strip of cloth from her clothes and began wrapping Jared’s shoulder. The hunter looked confusedly at her, his expression asking why she was even bothering.
“I love you,” she said simply. The single phrase both a statement and explanation.
Outside the tent, the yells of the army grew louder.
They stood wearily. Jared picked up his blade and Sasha drew her sword once more. The pair stood waiting side by side for whatever came next. They would not have to wait for long.
Chapter 15
Being cut off from her magic was almost as shocking to Katya as the crystal protruding from her right side. Her breath was ragged. She was having a hard time drawing air into her chest. Coupled with the weightless feel of the Void, the sorceress thought she would retch. What happened? Where are my friends? Is the battle still going on? Katya thought. She tried to move but found her limbs paralyzed yet throbbing with pain, as if her veins were slowly being filled with liquid metal hot from the forge. Her mind wandered to memories of her father working at his smithy in Snowhaven. She longed to be there now, the ringing of steel a comfort in the dark winter nights. She could almost see the hammer striking a molten hot sword, glowing orange in the gloom. Sparks flew as he struck the metal. Or are those flecks of light just in my head? she thought, struggling to find purchase in what she concluded must be a dream. Branden turned his gaze toward her, his brow furrowed in confusion. She swore he was looking right at her. Daddy? Her head pounded.
The vision faded, evaporated as if a desert mirage and only the blackness of the Void remained. Her mind was wandering and her body was wounded. It would be so easy to just let go, she thought. The Void was strangely comforting to Katya this time. No great weight pressed her in this place as it did on Aronshae; the responsibility of being the Great Mother's Avatar was meaningless here. Only darkness and empty thought existed in the Void's cold reaches.
A familiar female voice brought Katya back to the present, but the words were garbled to her muted ears. The pounding in her head had doubled, not only affecting her hearing but also robbing her of any focused thought. The sorceress struggled to push past the pain and find some way out of her delirium. Drawing from years of practice, she reigned in her emotions, ignoring her aching body and focusing her mind. The effort was daunting; the young sorceress thought she would be sick again, bile rising in her throat. Her cheeks felt hot, and she was severely lightheaded from lack of air. Katya managed a controlled pant; it was the best she could do with the crystal still embedded in her side. Though she wanted to, she knew better than to pull it out. Her ears suddenly popped, and Salamasca's words finally became clear.
"So this is the best Tomas could produce from his insipid school after I was gone," Salamasca said, the contempt in her voice making the Void feel all the colder. With her eyes unadjusted to the pitch black, Katya could only hear the older sorceress and feel her piercing eyes looking her over. "Pretty, I'll give him that." Salamasca's hand was warm on Katya's chill throat and cheek, raising gooseflesh on the younger sorceress' skin. She took a handful of white-streaked black hair and pulled Katya's head back hard, exposing her neck fully. "So weak... I could kill you now," Salamasca said, her voice low and husky in Katya's ear. Beyond her belief, the younger woman's voice still worked despite the rest of her maladies.
"Then... do it," Katya gasped, her voice strained from lack of breath. "Why prolong... your victory?" Her eyes were finally adjusting to the dark, and Katya could see the outl
ine of the white-haired sorceress and the Shadow Walker behind her. One of the creature's arms was around Salamasca's waist, anchoring them in the Void, while the other loosely held the hilt of his obsidian dagger. They were still near the nexus point; its golden candle-like glow was somewhere behind Katya, illuminating her captors. Where is Sirus? Katya thought, suddenly remembering the dragon's part of their plan. He is supposed to be here!
She was unable to dwell on the thought long, her skin crawling as she watched Salamasca's staff slung on her back. The surface of the weapon was in constant movement as if were covered with insects.
"I could kill you now, but... I have a proposal for you instead," Salamasca smiled and leaned in, her bone-white teeth uncomfortably close to Katya's face.
"I am... not interested," Katya panted.
"Tsk, tsk! You must listen to all I have to say. Consider my words carefully; you don't have much time left," Salamasca spoke softly, her voice smooth as silk as she took Katya's jaw firmly in her hand. "You see, I know you have dabbled in the darker uses of your magic. In Ra'thet's report of the attempt on your life in Valshet, one of his assassins was suffocated, yet there was no mark on his throat," she paused and leaned even closer, her lips almost touching Katya's. "You did that." The memory was there in Katya's head as always. She knew what she had done. She had regretted it every day since.
"It... was... a mistake... I will... never repeat," Katya replied. The effort of speaking was taking too much air; she was suddenly lightheaded.
"Are you sure?" Salamasca continued without waiting for any further response. "Well, it doesn't matter really. You have a dark side to you, young one. I intend to use that," she said, her stained pink lips curling into a wicked smile. "What you feel in your veins," she said, the hand not in Katya's hair dropping down to twist the crystal in the younger sorceress' side just enough to cause her to cry out in pain, "is my crystal corrupting your body. Whether you wish it or not, you will be mine. When your body succumbs to your wound, you will be reborn."
