by Raymond Cain
Kylara glared at Lycia. “He was mine.”
“Just cleaning up your mess,” Lycia said, sneering. “As usual.”
A streak of blood traveled down the front of Lycia’s leather armor and more blood leaked out of her right sleeve, drenching her hand and covering her crimsonite ring. Flynn suspected she would not be able to use that arm, and therefore, fire magic, for the rest of the battle. The bloody dagger that stabbed her was on the ground and the wound was covered in ice. Evidently, she’d used magic to prevent further bleeding.
“Well, well, well,” Theoric said, staring hard at Flynn and the others. His pale skin was still bruised but he was not limping as badly as before. The man seemed to have recovered some of his strength. “We can finally settle this.”
Gideon crossed his arms, resting his hands on the hilts of his darksteel blades, and nodded at Theoric. Together, the assassin and the pirate marched forward, their hateful stares focused on Flynn and Kylara.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Gideon unsheathed one of his swords and Tasker shot a bolt at the assassin’s face. Gideon knocked it out of the air with the darksteel blade and unsheathed a throwing dagger from his swordbelt. The dagger flew toward Tasker’s throat but he lifted Stingray in time to block it. Flynn was relieved by the sound of the blade striking crystal instead of flesh, but there was a resounding crack followed by blue-tinged liquid leaking out of the weapon. Tasker’s only weapon was destroyed.
Lycia slouched forward slightly, cradling her right arm. She amassed a small but violent storm around her left hand and released a cloud of icy arrows at Gideon. The man ignored most of the ice arrows, allowing them to bounce harmlessly off his magekiller armor, and used a darksteel blade to sweep away the few that would have struck him in the face. He unsheathed his other sword and faced off against Kylara, his blades spinning in anticipation.
Kylara connected her staves and thrust her staff toward Gideon’s midsection. Gideon deflected the ice arrows with one sword and used the other to tap Kylara’s staff to the side, just enough to make it miss. She retreated the weapon and stepped back out of reach.
To Flynn’s surprise, Gideon held back and kept his arms at his sides. The assassin made no offensive moves but Flynn knew Gideon was sizing up his opponents and waiting for the right moment to strike. Considering how winded they all were, he was surprised the two men didn’t attack right away.
With jeweled cutlasses in hands, Theoric warily approached Flynn. The pirate winced as he walked and Flynn wanted to capitalize on the man’s weakness by wading in with powerful strikes, but he remembered Kylara’s warning and held back. Behind him, Tasker fumbled with Stingray in a futile attempt to repair it while Lycia used her magic to apply more cold to her wounded shoulder. Fresh blood oozed out of her sleeve, and her face was pale.
“After all these centuries, Kylara,” Gideon said, spinning his dark blades in a tight circle that resembled a circular shadow over his thighs and torso. “I finally get to repay you for betraying me.”
Kylara split her weapon into two staves and spun them in the same manner her former master did. She narrowed her eyes and sneered at him. “You can try.”
Kylara barely finished the sentence as Gideon stepped forward and launched a barrage of slashing attacks. She blocked them all but the onslaught put her back on her heels, forcing her to take two steps back.
Theoric thrust forward with both cutlasses but Flynn slapped them aside with his rapier. The pirate’s eyes widened in surprise after the attack was so quickly defeated, and the parry left the man’s side exposed. Grateful for the extra speed the crimsonite afforded him, Flynn kicked Theoric in the ribs, eliciting a groan.
The blow knocked Theoric back and nearly sent him to the ground. A bewildered look passed over the pirate’s face, but if the azuran was discouraged by Flynn’s newfound potency with a bonded weapon, he didn’t show it. The man leveled an icy glare at his foe and pressed forward, more warily that time.
Theoric launched a series of high and low attacks that were difficult for Flynn to parry with one blade. The attacks were weaker than the ones he remembered during his previous encounter with the pirate. At first, he attributed the weakness to the pirate’s injured state, but he soon realized the attacks were meant to tire him out, not wound him. If he became exhausted, he would have no chance against the better-skilled fighter. He backed away, giving himself a moment to catch his breath and plan a way to defeat the former gladiator.
Crouching low, Lycia released a wave of freezing mist along the floor, creating a sheet of ice beneath Gideon and Theoric’s feet. Gideon widened his stance and inched his way toward the dry ground but Kylara stood in his way, maintaining the advantage of dry footing. She launched a series of attacks that put the assassin on the defensive and Flynn waded in with a series of slashes that Theoric struggled to parry on unsure footing.
“Brilliant,” Flynn said, praising Lycia for finding a way to put both opponents at a disadvantage, despite the fact one of them wore magekiller armor.
Tasker gave up on Stingray and drew a handful of crystal dust from one of his pockets. He scattered it on a pool of water from the nearby room where the Searunners were stored. Ice formed on the pool’s surface and with a sweeping motion of his arm, five icy arrows emerged from it. The frozen arrows flew at Theoric and the pirate knocked two of them out of the air with his blades, but two others stabbed into his right leg and shoulder. The last one missed, flying over the pirate’s head and shattering in the distance.
Quick to seize the advantage over his newly-injured foe, Flynn increased the speed of his attacks. Memories of his parents’ deaths filled him with rage and he slashed feverishly at the azuran. The pirate’s right arm seemed weakened by the ice arrow, and Flynn’s blade pushed through one of the parries and sliced deep into the arm. Blood gushed from the wound, and Theoric dropped a sword.
Out the corner of his eye, Flynn witnessed the assassin making a daring thrust forward with both blades aimed at Kylara’s head. She stepped back out of reach, and that was all the opening Gideon needed to step off the ice and go on the offense. He pressed forward, forcing Kylara and the others to back up. His slashing attacks were unrelenting, like a wall of blades that sent the women and Tasker moving further and further away from their ships and the exit home.
Flynn dearly wanted to assist the others but he pressed his advantage over Theoric. He slashed relentlessly at the pirate, each swing more powerful than the last. The pirate backstepped from the barrage and Flynn stepped forward onto the ice to stay engaged with his enemy. He poured all his anger and hate into the attacks and Theoric blocked more than a dozen swings before one knocked the sword out of his hand and buried itself into his collarbone. The pirate fell to his knees, his arms hanging limply at his sides.
Exhilarated by his triumph over his parents’ murderer, Flynn grabbed Theoric by the back of the neck and shoved his father’s blade through the pirate’s belly. Life faded from the man’s purple eyes and tears of joy rolled down Flynn’s cheeks. The pirate crumpled to the floor and an exhilarating feeling of triumph washed over Flynn as the azuran lay bleeding at his feet.
Kylara’s words tore Flynn’s attention away from his fallen foe. “Flynn, help!”
The others were far up the hall and Flynn hurried to join them. A torrent of icy mist burst from Lycia’s hand, covering the flagstones at Gideon’s feet in a sheet of ice. One of the assassin’s feet slid, putting him off balance, and Kylara seized the opportunity to strike the man in the ribs with one of her staves. Gideon spun, deflecting most of the blow and delivering a vicious slashing attack of his own. With horror, Flynn realized the half-azuran’s loss of balance was merely a feint to draw Kylara out of position. She took the bait, and he accepted a minor hit in order to score a major one. His darksteel sword cut deep into Kylara’s chest and shoulder.
Blood rushed down Kylara’s left arm and dripped from her fingers. She managed to hold onto her stave but her arm lowered, as thou
gh she didn’t have the strength to wield the weapon effectively. She briefly met Flynn’s gaze as he hurried toward them and her brows were furrowed together, her expression apologetic.
When Flynn reached the edge of the icy floor, he leapt, hoping mightily to intercept the assassin before the man struck Kylara down. But Flynn he was too late. Gideon swept Kylara’s staves aside and smashed her in the face with one of his hilts. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fell backward, landing hard on the flagstones. Flynn thrust his wide-bladed rapier toward the base of Gideon’s spine but the man spun around and slapped it aside with one of his own blades.
As he parried Flynn’s sword, Gideon swung his other sword in the opposite direction and struck Flynn’s blade near the hilt. The wide-bladed rapier flew out of Flynn’s grasp, skittering down the hall and striking a wall so hard that the crimsonite crystal was knocked free from its hilt.
Gideon spun again, positioning himself behind Flynn and crossing his blades over the back of Flynn’s neck. A frozen storm raged around Lycia’s left hand and Tasker finished collecting a small handful of crystal dust, but neither of them could strike at Gideon in any meaningful way without harming Flynn.
“Just attack him,” Flynn said, desperately. “He’ll kill me anyway.”
“I won’t,” Gideon said, his razor-sharp blades touching the skin on the back of Flynn’s neck and spilling a thin trail of blood. “I’m only interested in Kylara. I could kill all of you now, but you fought bravely enough and I’m willing to let you go. She’s the only one I care about.”
Tasker’s fist clenched and Flynn hoped his brother would toss the crystal dust it contained and use it to attack Gideon. There was ice and water on the floor, but Flynn’s shoulders slumped when his brother held back.
“You expect us to let you kill our friend?” Tasker said.
“She’ll die regardless,” Gideon replied. “The only question is whether the three of you die with her.”
“He’s right,” Lycia said, and the cold energy around her left hand dissipated. “I’m not dying for that wench. Let him have her and let’s go home.”
Lycia’s words were not surprising but Flynn found them unsettling. Kylara did plenty to anger him and he resented her for it, but after everything they’d been through, he felt a certain kinship with her. “You’d give up Kylara and let Gideon live?’
“I’m merely choosing your life over hers,” Lycia said, shrugging. “And besides, what has she ever done for you, aside from giving you that crimsonite crystal?”
Lycia raised an eyebrow when she mentioned the crystal and Flynn felt like she was trying to tell him something. But the crystal wasn’t even in the sword anymore. He could feel its presence on the flagstones behind Gideon, far out of reach. But even if the crimsonite was still in the hilt, the weapon was too large for him to summon to his hand at that distance. The crystal was useless.
Or was it?
Flynn tucked a hand under his armpit, in front of Gideon’s chest, and focused his thoughts on the crimsonite. It was a few strides away but he felt it as clearly as though he were holding it. He used all his willpower to summon the crystal into his palm. Without a weapon to slow it down, the crystal flew faster than a crossbow bolt.
And the only thing standing between it and Flynn’s palm was Gideon’s body.
The crystal punched through the magekiller armor, tore through Gideon’s chest, and slammed into Flynn’s hand. Blood splattered over his hand and it buried itself in his palm when he caught it.
The blades at Flynn’s neck slipped away and clattered to the floor. He spun around and found Gideon clutching a hole in his chest. “A brilliant move,” the assassin said, slumping to his knees. “Perhaps you will be as good a student for her as she was for me.”
“Perhaps,” Flynn said, picking up Gideon’s darksteel blades. He locked gazes with the assassin, and watched as the man’s life faded behind those bluish-purple eyes. The assassin slumped to the floor, lifeless.
After removing the crimsonite crystal in his palm, Flynn removed his swordbelt and replaced it with Gideon’s. It was thick leather, sporting a sturdy clasp with two prongs, and the attached scabbards were just as dark as the blades themselves. He picked up Gideon’s swords and excitement swept through him as he regarded the magnificent weapons. They felt lighter than he anticipated, but more sturdy than ordinary metal. After all that fighting, there was not so much as a nick in their razor-sharp edges.
Flynn slid one of the blades into a scabbard and it slipped in without so much as a whisper. After removing Gideon’s crystal from the other blade and replacing it with his own, he immediately felt a powerful attachment to the weapon. It was a stronger bond than the one he felt with his previous sword, and he wondered if warriors formed stronger bonds with darksteel than regular steel.
“I think I hear soldiers coming,” Lycia said.
The words snapped Flynn out of his trance. The distant echo of armored men bounced off the walls, and the companions hurried to the room where the Searunners were kept. Flynn and Tasker picked up the first ship and carried it down the hall toward the ocean portal as the women walked ahead. Kylara was relying heavily on Lycia for support.
“Wait a minute,” Flynn said after setting the first ship down. “Where’s Theoric’s body?”
A blood trail led from where the pirate was wounded and it continued down the hall and through the intersection.
“We don’t have time,” Tasker said, mopping sweat from his brow. “We need to grab the other ship.”
Flynn’s teeth clenched together almost hard enough to shatter them, and he scowled at his brother. “NO! I’m finishing this. Lycia can help you with the other ship.”
“Wait,” Lycia said as she set Kylara down by the entrance. She was staring at something in the intersection. “They’re too far away.”
Flynn stormed into the intersection to see what she was staring at and found the black-robed priest they fought earlier half-carrying Theoric down the hall. The man must have returned to the halls during the golem attack and dragged Theoric away as Flynn and the others were battling Gideon. At that moment, Flynn hated the priest almost as much as he hated Theoric, and when the sound of marching footsteps grew louder, he ignored it. Both azurans needed to die.
A small army of azurans appeared in the distance, and they quickened their speed when they saw Flynn.
“GET BACK HERE, FLYNN,” Lycia yelled. “You can’t reach them now.”
His hands clenched in frustration, Flynn knew she was right. When he turned around, Kylara was leaning against the watery portal, Lycia was heading toward him with her left hand enshrouded in glowing blue mist, and Tasker was dragging the second Searunner down the hall.
“I’ll hold them off,” Lycia said in a deep tone, her eyes locked on the enemies down the hall. “Get the ships in the water.”
There was a seriousness to her tone and expression that he hadn’t seen before, and he stayed out of her way. Freezing wind whirled around the left side of her body and wisps of cold mist trailed behind her as she walked. When she focused all her energy into one ring, it was a force to reckon with.
Kylara reluctantly obeyed. She removed two breathing helms from the Searunner and pushed the ship into the water. She donned one of the helms as Flynn and Tasker ran down the hall to fetch the other ship.
An icy blizzard poured from Lycia’s outstretched hand and an icy pane blocked the hallway. The Deepstone soldiers did not halt their charge and they slammed into the ice at full speed. The collision cracked the ice, but didn’t shatter it. They hacked at the wall with swords and axes, cracking the ice further.
“Hurry,” Lycia said, her face pale and sweat dripping from her forehead. She gathered more energy and released another frozen storm, thickening the wall in front of the soldiers. They were smashing through the ice faster than Lycia could generate it.
Flynn and Tasker brought the second Searunner to the opening and shoved it into the water. T
asker donned a breathing helm and dove in, climbing into the first ship with Kylara.
“Here,” Flynn said, handing Lycia a breathing helm. “Let’s go.”
The azurans smashed through the ice wall as Flynn and Lycia dove into the ocean. Throwing daggers and crossbow bolts plunged into the water after them, but they all glanced off the ships’ hulls or missed completely. Lycia crammed herself into the back of their Seaunner and Flynn quickly plopped down onto the liquid pilot’s chair. With a pull of a lever and a spin of the steering globe, they were speeding their way out of The Abyss.
Chapter Thirty-Four
After returning to Seahaven, the four companions recuperated in their preferred ways. Flynn drank ale and received massages from water golems, Tasker tinkered in his laboratory, Lycia went to a herbalist to get her shoulder treated, and Kylara sparred in the training room.
Water golems spent days rubbing the ache out of Flynn’s muscles and the sewer smell from his armor. After a few days of pampering, he left the house to run an errand. He thought hard about whether to strap on his swordbelt—the darksteel blades were unnecessary where he was going—but he couldn’t bear to be apart from them. He unsheathed one and tingled with excitement as he traced a finger over the darksteel cage protecting his hand and ran it along the impossibly-sharp, indestructible blade.
After sheathing the weapon, Flynn strapped on the swordbelt and left. Some wealthy patrons stared at his swords on the way down the Lift and he pretended not to notice, but on the inside, he was beaming with pride. He headed into the Marketplace to pick up an item from the jeweler, and was about to head home when he saw a familiar face.
“Hello, Lycia. Where are you off to?”
Lycia wore a green dress, embroidered with diagonal lines of brown inkskin, and her wounded arm was supported in a sling. Her blonde hair was woven into a complex network of braids that trailed down her back, and Flynn wondered if she fashioned it by herself.
