Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition

by P. T. Hylton

  As if on cue, seven more ferox poured into the room. Zane heard Lily curse as Big and Ugly were joined by two others.

  This wasn’t working. They were going to be swarmed if they didn’t change things. Zane feigned to the right and went left. Thankfully, Rayble bit, and Zane met empty air rather than the ferox’s blade. Zane moved to Lily’s side. It was the only chance they had.

  Lily glanced at him. “Twin viper?”

  “Yes,” he said, and they began to move.

  Twin viper was the form for two swords they’d been working on the past several weeks. Though they were new to using it, it had come easily to both of them. It used existing forms they already knew, interlocking them in a sort of pattern that allowed each person to block the other’s weak spots while allowing both to strike at unexpected and varied angles. And it was designed for situations such as this.

  There was another scream as Gabel put a dagger into the throat of one ferox. That elf was fast. Ewrkind dispatched another one, too, stabbing him straight through with his hefty sword.

  And Zane and Lily, they danced. They moved as one force, a single creature with two stingers. In all the years Zane had been fighting, he’d never felt quite so in sync with an ally. He somehow knew where she’d strike, and she seemed to know where he would. Their five opponents, Rayble, Big, Ugly, and two of the new arrivals, were all skilled sword fighters, yet somehow Zane and Lily were able to hold them at bay. Neither side was making much headway. But against these odds and these opponents, it was a miracle Zane and Lily were even still alive.

  The world had transformed for Zane. There was nothing but the clang of steel on steel and the flash of light off blades. The fight was everything and everything was the fight. He lost all sense of time as he parried thrust after thrust from his many opponents. But somewhere deep inside, beyond the animal mind that had taken over, he knew they couldn’t keep this up much longer.

  He felt the sharp sting of a sword piercing his side. He knocked the sword away and tried not to think about the fact that he’d just been stabbed.

  Suddenly there was a cracking sound and someone yelled, “I found it!”

  The fighters all turned toward the noise.

  A ferox had broken the door off the cabinet at the end of the room. And inside were a dozen objects, all bearing the stylized F of Irving Farns. “Which one is it?” he asked.

  “Who cares?” Rayble shouted. “Just take them all.”

  The ferox reached into cabinet, but before his hand touched the closest object, Ewrkind’s broadsword sank into his neck, cutting halfway through. The man fell to the ground.

  Ewrkind reached into the cabinet and brought out an object that looked a bit like a fire poker. He clutched it in his hand and raised it up.

  The moment he touched it, Zane felt a charge in the air, like the one he felt on a hot summer day just before a thunderstorm.

  “This is what you seek,” Ewrkind said. “If you wish to learn of its power, so be it.”

  Suddenly Zane felt a wind whipping through his hair. Everyone had stopped fighting now and all eyes were on Ewrkind.

  Zane noticed Ewrkind’s hair wasn’t moving in the breeze. Neither was Gabel’s.

  Ewrkind looked at the nearest ferox, a short man with black hair, and smiled.

  A flash of bright light filled the room as lightning leapt from the device in his hand. Zane was momentarily blinded, and a crisp smell filled the air. And beneath it, something else: the smell of burnt flesh. He blinked a few times and waited for his vision to clear. When it did, he saw the raven-haired ferox lying dead on the ground, a black charred spot on his chest.

  “Now you understand,” Ewrkind said, “the very basic power of this device. You shall never have it.”

  Rayble made a sudden, whistling sound, and, as one, the ferox all charged.

  Even as he moved to assist the elf, Zane had one thought: Ewrkind had made the classic mistake made by so many before him. He’d underestimated the ferox.

  Ewrkind had just enough time to send a bolt of lightning at one of the ferox, the one Lily called Ugly. He went down, but momentum kept the rest of them moving forward, even though they were temporarily blinded by the flash. They tackled Ewrkind en masse, ripping the Farns device from his hand. When one of them had it, another strange whistle split the air and the ferox sprinted for the door.

  Gabel ran after them. Zane tried to move, but he found the strength had gone out of his legs. That was when he felt the blood wetting his pant leg. He suddenly felt light-headed. He looked down and saw blood gushing out of the wound in his side.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lily held tight to the cut on her shoulder. She felt hot blood seeping from between her fingers. Still, she clutched her sword in her other hand and did her best to hold it aloft. This fight was not over. The opponents had just changed.

  Zane crouched next to her, his sword at his feet, blood running out of the wound in his side and down his leg.

  Ewrkind stood tall, breathing heavy and black blood seeping from a dozen cuts. The wounds appeared to be superficial; he held his broadsword high.

  Zane grabbed the hilt of his sword, but, before he could raise it, Ewrkind batted it away with his own sword, sending it spinning out of Zane’s reach.

  Ewrkind put the tip of his sword against Zane’s neck. “You’re ferox,” the elf growled.

  Zane made no reply.

  Without turning away from Zane, Ewrkind said, “Young woman, unless you would like to see your friend’s blood adorn my blade, please drop your sword.”

  Lily let the sword slip through her fingers to the ground.

  Ewrkind guided Zane with his sword until Zane and Lily stood shoulder to shoulder.

  “So you’re real name is Zane Halloway,” Ewrkind said.

  Lily’s heart leapt a little at that. If he knew Zane’s reputation, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? “If you know about Zane Halloway, you know what he did to the pirate Longstrain. You know how dangerous it is to anger him.”

  Ewrkind chuckled. “I have no idea who Zane Halloway is. Or the pirate Longstrain for that matter. I simply heard our attackers use his surname.”

  Lily felt her face redden. Some ferox she was. How the hell had she passed her placement exam, anyway?

  “What I don’t know,” Ewrkind said, “is who you are. Is Lily your real name?”

  “She’s a servant,” Zane said quickly. “She’s of no consequence.”

  The elf clucked his tongue. “I just saw her fight. I know better than that. It seems you two are reluctant to tell the truth. That won’t be a problem. I am skilled in retrieving truths.”

  Maybe it was because of the adrenaline or the blood loss, but Lily’s head swam as the elf spoke. It was the same way she’d felt with the elf in the Oasis. His words seemed to have power over her mind, and she wasn’t even looking him in the eye.

  “You know, we have stories about ferox,” Ewrkind said. “In the tales, they are always the hired thugs who assist the villain. They are killers and thieves, willing to flip sides based on who is offering the most thrones at any given moment. What I’ve seen today does nothing to make me think those tales are false.”

  “Says the elf who stole all the Irving Farns-made magical devices he could get his hands on.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Zane didn’t look at her, but she could see by the way his eyes crinkled that he wasn’t pleased.

  Ewrkind nodded slowly. “That’s a fair assessment. I told you before I don’t believe in secrets. So I’m going to tell you the biggest secret of all. The one the magistrates would hang me for sharing with any human. But I think the secret should be told.”

  He looked back and forth between Zane and Lily. “Magic is a natural force. It’s all around us.”

  Lily remembered something Jacob Von Ridden had told her. “It’s nature’s beggar, right?”

  Ewrkind looked taken aback. “Quite the opposite. It’s the energy that fuels the very s
tars. The fact that you think that proves how little humans understand about magic. We elves have been using it for millennia. For us, it’s like a conversation. A song. We can take this power and shape it in our hands. It’s always been that way, and it’s a skill that was taught to an elf before he could walk and an education that lasted until his dying day.”

  Lily noticed the was in his statement. “So it’s true what they say?” she asked. “Elves used to be able to wield magic with their bare hands? Without the aid of any devices?”

  The elf smiled. “We still can. It’s just that we don’t.” He waved toward the tangles in the broken cabinet. “About five hundred years ago, you humans started making these. Objects that can guide magic in very specific ways. They are clumsy things, and from the start elvish kind loathed them. We can twist and bend and weave magic in a fluid way that makes it dance. Each spell is unique. But these devices are like using magic as a hammer. They each perform one simple task, and they force the magic into doing that task.”

  Zane said, “I’ve seen some elegant thorns and tangles in my day. Especially the ones made by Farns.”

  The elf paused. “I’ll admit I do respect Farns. He understood how clumsy magical devices are, and he worked to change that. But his devices are still crude things when compared to elvish magic. About fifty years ago, the war started, and the elves were…overly confident. We’d send only a fraction of our troops into battle and still emerge victorious. Then something changed. Many of my people got ill. Some died. You have to understand that death from illness among the young and middle-aged was so uncommon it shocked elvish kind to the core. The illness was resistant to magical healing, which was unheard of except among the very old. And it was spreading. More and more were getting sick each day. Then, we made a discovery.”

  He turned away from Zane and Lily, as if this part was difficult to talk about. “The ones who were getting sick were the heaviest magic users. The warriors on the front lines. The doctors trying to find a magical cure. The mages who built our very society.”

  “It was the magic making them sick?” Lily asked.

  Ewrkind turned and looked at them, fire in his eyes. “No. It was you who were making the magic sick. During the war, your Abditus Society increased its numbers tenfold, and the number of magical devices in use increased perhaps a hundredfold. Your devices began to taint magic itself.”

  Zane tilted his head. “How is that possible?”

  “Think of a rusty pipe,” Ewrkind answered. “It directs the water where you would like it to go, but the water coming out the other end is brown and bitter. So it is with magic that passes through your devices.”

  “So you just stopped using magic?” Lily asked.

  Ewrkind nodded slowly. “Elves are an empathetic people. We can’t read each other’s thoughts like some of your old stories imply, but we can sense each other’s feelings. And we sensed the pain and suffering of those who became ill. It was enough. We stopped using magic. The elvish magistrates even outlawed its use. Elves can feel the elvish use of magic just as they can feel each other’s emotions. Any elf caught using elvish magic will be put to death.”

  “So you gave up?” Lily asked. “Even without magic, I would think you could have held your own in battle.”

  “Perhaps. But our spirits were broken. And, there was a plan.”

  The wound in Lily’s shoulder was beginning to throb as the shock wore off. How much blood had she lost?

  Ewrkind continued, “Because of our empathy and our lifespan, elves are able to take a longer view than humans. It was decided that we should surrender and allow humans to do with us as they wished. We knew that humans weren’t meant to use magic, and that they would surely use it on their enemies in more destructive ways than elvish kind could conceive. We decided to take ourselves out of the equation, so that instead of using it on us, you would use it on each other. And that prediction seems to be accurate thus far. If my sources outside the Blue Wall are correct, Opel is on the verge of war with Tavel at this very moment, no?”

  Neither Zane nor Lily responded. What were they supposed to say? They were getting information humans had wondered about ever since the war. King Edward himself probably didn’t have this information. And here Ewrkind was, giving it freely to his assumed enemies.

  “Then, a few hundred years down the line, when you’ve weakened yourselves by infighting, when you’ve discounted elves as any kind of threat, we will strike. Then we will crush you, rid the world of your devices, and allow magic to cleanse itself. Over time, we can begin using it again.”

  Lily shook her head. It was difficult to imagine. An entire species allowing themselves to be subjugated for the possible benefit of future generations. It was an alien concept to her human way of thinking.

  “But you don’t like that plan?” Zane asked.

  Ewrkind shrugged. “I don’t think it’s necessary. I think the older generation’s spirit was broken when so many died of the sickness, and they didn’t think clearly about their options. Perhaps we can’t use magic the way we used to, but we can use it the way humans do.”

  Zane asked, “And what of the Farns device you were using? It seemed like it could control the weather.”

  Ewrkind’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Farns device. “Ah! Irving Farns’ greatest creation. The one he created after moving here and talking to the old elves about what it was like to wield elvish magic. I’ve never used magic in the elvish way; it was outlawed before I was born. But it seems he succeeded. It doesn’t just do one thing, like shoot lightning or create wind. It controls all forces of weather. And using it…I can actually feel what the device wants to do. It is like a song.”

  Lily could feel his excitement, but she had to ask. “If it’s so great, why didn’t Farns make more of them?”

  Now the elf’s face fell. “The corruption of magic by human devices can’t normally be felt on an individual level. It may even be safe to use elvish magic now, if it weren’t outlawed. But using this device…I can feel the after effects. It affects magic much more powerfully than thorns or tangles or glides. When Irving realized that, he began to consider that he might be doing real, lasting damage to the universe, and he knew he had to stop. He went back to creating his thorns and tangles.”

  Zane said, “It seems you know quite a lot about Farns.”

  Ewrkind nodded. “My mother worked for him while he lived here. I was just a boy, but he took a liking to me. I spent many hours playing with his daughter.” His face darkened, as if the memory were painful. “I’ve told enough truths for one day. Now it’s your turn.”

  He walked to the cabinet, opened it, and pulled something out.

  Lily looked at Zane, and she was concerned to see his face was a few shades paler than normal. There was a growing pool of blood on the ground around his feet. As badly as Lily was hurt, Zane was hurt much worse.

  Ewrkind walked back to them. He was holding something that looked like a small knife. “Of all the magical devices Irving Farns left here when he crossed back through the Blue Wall, this might be my favorite. It’s a thorn. Watch what it does.”

  He spun toward Lily and stabbed her in the stomach.

  Her eyes went wide and she let out a gasp. The blade felt freezing cold inside her. She looked down and was surprised to see no blood. The blade was glowing a light blue.

  Ewrkind pulled out the blade and held it up. It was no longer glowing.

  Lily felt no pain. Her fingers went to the spot where the knife went in.

  Zane was struggling to get to his feet, trying to defend her.

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right! I’m not hurt. Stay there.”

  Ewrkind smiled. “But that’s not the real trick. Observe.”

  He stabbed her again, and again she felt a freezing sensation as the blade entered her. Although she knew it wasn’t really hurting her, she couldn’t suppress the animalistic panic.

  “What is your name?” Ewrkind asked her.

/>   She wasn’t going to answer, not when he had this strange knife stuck in her.

  “Lily Rhodes,” she heard herself say.

  What the hell?

  “Are you a ferox?” the elf asked.

  She opened her mouth, intending to stick with Zane’s story and say she was a servant. Instead, she heard herself say, “I was Zane’s apprentice. I just passed my placement exam. While I am qualified to be a ferox, I have not yet said my vows and officially become one.”

  Zane was looking up at her like she was crazy, signaling with a bloody hand for her to be quiet.

  Ewrkind must have seen the motion, too, because he said, “Oh, she can’t help it. This thorn makes people speak truth. Farns once told me if this got out in human society, it could destroy the world. I think he was only half joking.” He turned back to Lily. “Why did you come through the Blue Wall?”

  Lily tried to think fast. She couldn’t lie. She couldn’t not answer. But maybe she could decide which truth to tell. “I came because Zane asked me to accompany him.”

  Ewrkind smiled a wolfish smile. “Ah, you’re fighting it, I see. Let me restate my question. What task were you and Ferox Halloway hired to do here behind the Blue Wall?”

  She felt herself speak before she could think of an alternative truth. “We were hired to find the device Irving Farns made while he was here and to bring it back out.”

  Ewrkind grimaced. “And who hired you?”

  This time, Lily didn’t even try to stop herself from answering. “Beth Farns.”

  The elf’s mouth dropped open. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that.

  Suddenly the door opened. Ewrkind snarled and spun, leaving the knife sticking out of Lily’s stomach. He grabbed his broadsword off the table.

  Gabel dashed into the room. He held up both hands when he saw Ewrkind’s sword. “Easy. It’s me.”

  The elf lowered the sword but kept it gripped tightly in his hands. “What happened?”

  Gabel sighed. Lily noticed his left leg was soaked with blood from the knee down. “I followed them across the rooftops for about five houses. At that point, they must have realized they weren’t going to lose me. One of them turned and fought me while the others escaped.”