She just had to keep at it long enough.
And hope that Cathala didn’t notice. Because if Cathala commanded her to stop, the spells of dark magic on the collar would compel Tamara to obey. Fortunately, Cathala seemed distracted, her head bowed as she walked, her brow furrowed without thought. Tamara had the impression that Cathala was trying to decide what to do next.
Then Cathala looked at her.
“Stop glaring at me,” snapped Cathala. “I am trying to think.”
Tamara kept glaring at her.
“You’re going to thank me for this someday,” said Cathala. “It’s for your own good.”
Tamara made her lip curl in contempt. What she wanted to do was scream, because she was directing magical ice into the collar and it hurt like blazes. But she kept the pain from her expression.
“For God’s sake!” said Cathala. “Why does no one ever understand? I am doing what is necessary to save the world from the New God. That means sacrifice.” She gave a vicious shake of her head. “If that idiot Justin hadn’t found me, I would have done it right. I would have made sure that Tysia was raised properly, that she became a woman who focused on her duty and nothing else.” She glared back at Tamara as she walked. “Instead, you became entangled with my idiot of a son.”
This time Tamara did not need to feign rage.
Cathala scoffed and shook her head. “How I wish I had departed the monastery with Tysia and left my useless burden of a son behind. Perhaps that was where it all went wrong, when I became pregnant with him. Then he grew up, became another idiot warrior, and you fell in love with him.” Her lip twisted. “Just like my mother. Is that what you want? To become the useless ornament and plaything of some fool, a fool who will rut with other women the moment your back is turned. No. I will train you out of that. I will make you into what you need to become, the woman who will save Owyllain and stop the New God.” She drew herself up as she walked, the conviction blazing from her eyes. “I will guide you, and together we will save humanity.”
Tamara kept the contempt fixed on her face, sending another wave of fire and ice into the collar.
That only seemed to make Cathala angrier.
“You should be grateful,” said Cathala. “Everything I did, everything I sacrificed, I did for you. Hmm? Don’t you understand that?” Her stride became faster, her motions agitated. “Maybe I should have killed Tamlin when we fled. Maybe that would teach you to be grateful, and it would free you of any useless distractions at the same time…”
Tamara spat at her. She could not have stopped herself. Her aim was bad, and the spittle hit Cathala on the arm rather than in the face. But Cathala came to a sudden stop and whirled, her eyes furious. She slapped Tamara hard, and then again, so hard that Tamara overbalanced and fell hard to the road with a grunt.
“How dare you,” hissed Cathala. Calem came to a stop next to her, face impassive. “How dare you! Well, what have you to say for yourself?”
Tamara sent another wave of fire and a wave of ice into the collar. Cathala didn’t notice.
“Well?” said Cathala, her voice rising to a scream. “Answer me!” She slapped Tamara a third time, and then seemed to remember that she had commanded Tamara not to speak. “I give you permission to talk.” Some of the fiery thorns in Tamara’s mind lessened. “Answer me!”
“I am grateful,” said Tamara in a quiet voice.
Cathala bobbed her head in a jerky nod. “Good. Yes. You should be. At least someone is. Even Talitha never appreciated me the way that she should have, and…”
“I am grateful to God,” said Tamara, “that for all that Tysia and Tamlin suffered in Urd Maelwyn, they were delivered from your grasp. I am grateful that they grew up free from the clutches of an arrogant, cruel, selfish, and stupid woman like you.” Cathala’s face went white. “And most of all, I am grateful that I grew up in Kalimnos far away from you.”
She expected an explosion of fury, but Cathala shook her head.
“I’m disappointed,” said Cathala, her voice a quiet snarl. “I had thought more of you. But you’re no different than my mother. You want to be Tamlin’s little whore, his…”
“I want to be his wife,” said Tamara, “because I love him, and he loves me, and I would do anything for him, and he would do anything for me. But I don’t think someone like you can understand that. I don’t think you’ve ever understood that. So here is something you understand. When I get this collar off, I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done.”
The rage blazed in Cathala’s green eyes, but her face went hard.
“All right,” said Cathala, straightening up and turning away. “Get up.”
Tamara rose, sending another wave of fire and ice into the collar, ignoring the pain as she did so. She felt the dark metal shiver. It was starting to give way. Just a little more, and she could shatter it.
“I suppose this is going to be even harder than I had thought,” said Cathala. “It is going to take a lot of pain to make you into the woman Master Talitha should have been. But you’re going to endure it. You could have made this so much easier. Instead, you had to…”
“Someone approaches,” said Calem.
Cathala broke off her diatribe and turned, fire crackling around her free hand.
Tamara looked around, squinting through the agony in her head. Between the pain from the enslavement spells and the pain from her efforts to break the collar, she had such a ferocious headache that seeing anything in the gloom was difficult. Yet Tamara could still tell that they were in a small valley, one of the valleys they had traversed on the way to the monastery. She couldn’t see anything moving in the dim light provided by the two moons overhead, but Calem’s night vision was probably better than hers.
Then she saw a flickering shadow to the west.
“For God’s sake,” said Cathala with exasperation, and she cast a spell.
She flung a sphere of fire to the east, and in the flare of light, Tamara saw a dozen small, lizard-like forms prowling towards them, bows and weighted nets in hand. Gray scales covered their spindly bodies, and each creature had a crest of brightly colored crimson and gold scales on the back of their heads and necks. Their chests had been branded with the glyph of Great House Tzanar of Khaldurmar.
The sphere of fire exploded in their midst, and the kobolds reeled back, rasping at each other in their own tongue.
“For God’s sake!” repeated Cathala, and she started casting spells, throwing blasts of fire and bolts of lightning at the kobolds. The kobolds shrieked as the elemental fire consumed them, and Cathala’s lightning bolts killed several more with booms of thunder. Tamara took the opportunity to cast more spells of fire and ice, throwing the power into the collar. She pulled in as much power as she could without the pain overwhelming her, and even so, the agony was so blinding that she almost collapsed sobbing to the ground.
But she stayed upright because collapsing would give away the game.
“Useless vermin,” said Cathala.
“Don’t let any of them get away,” said Tamara.
“What?” said Cathala “Why bother? The kobolds are like rats. They’re brave enough when they have the advantage of numbers, but with a little resistance, they flee like the vermin they are.”
“But those kobolds belonged to Great House Tzanar,” said Tamara. “The dvargir slavers. They attacked us on the way to the monastery.”
Cathala sniffed. “Ridiculous. The dvargir slavers do not employ kobolds as soldiers.”
“No, they do,” said Tamara. “They attacked us on the way here. If we’re alone, they’ll try to attack us when we sleep. They…”
Cathala laughed, and she turned her condescending smile towards Tamara. “I’m sure growing up in a pigsty like Kalimnos gave you a deep understanding of both kobolds and the dvargir. But if the kobolds attack again, my magic and the Sword of Air will prove more than equal to dealing with them.” Something unpleasant glittered in her eyes. “And once I have bonded the Sword
of Death, perhaps the slain kobolds will join my new army.”
“That’s insane,” said Tamara. “Look at what happened to Taerdyn. The Swords bring ruin to people who try to use them, who…”
“Be silent,” said Cathala, and Tamara’s jaw clamped shut. “Let that be your first lesson in obedience. You will learn to heed me, you foolish child, or…”
“Mother!”
The voice roared over the valley.
Tamara’s head turned to the side, fresh hope and fresh fear surging through her.
Three figures came into the sight down the far side of the valley, following the line of the road. Tamlin walked at their head, his golden armor glimmering in the pale moonlight, the Sword of Earth ready in his hands. Kalussa came on the left, the Staff of Blades before her, and Krastikon on the right.
Tamara forced another wave of fire and ice through the collar, trying not to wince as the agony rolled through her mind.
“Let her go, now,” said Tamlin, his voice hard and cold as he stopped a dozen yards away.
“Release Sir Calem as well,” said Kalussa.
Cathala sneered at them. “How good and pleasant it is to see half-brothers working in harmony. And what do you want with Sir Calem, Lady Kalussa? A pet? A slave? I’m afraid I have rather more need of him than you do.”
“Let them both go,” said Kalussa, pointing the Staff of Blades at her, “or I will kill you where you stand.”
Cathala let out a mocking laugh. “And you would kill me in cold blood?”
“It would not disturb my sleep in the least,” said Kalussa.
“A pity,” said Cathala. “Run back to the Shield Knight and his pet sorceress, Tamlin. Else you’re not going to see the next sunrise.”
Tamlin’s eyes narrowed behind his helmet. “And you would murder your own son?”
“Tamlin,” said Cathala, her voice gentle. “I never wanted you. I tried to get rid of you. And if you stand between me and my destiny, then I’ll cut you down along with everyone else who sets themselves against me.”
Tamara looked at her husband, wondering how he would take that cruel rejection, but he only nodded.
“Kalussa,” he said.
The Staff of Blades shivered, and the weapon spat one of its thumb-sized spheres of crystal at Cathala’s head. Had it struck, it would have punched through her forehead and burst out the back of her skull. But Cathala had made a twisting gesture with her right hand, and purple light flared around her. The sphere struck an invisible barrier a few inches away from her head and exploded into a spray of glittering dust.
“Idiot child,” said Cathala. “I was at Urd Maelwyn. I saw Kothlaric and Talitha fight the Sovereign while he carried the Staff of Blades. Don’t you think I would remember how to protect myself against it? And your impudence will have a price.” She looked at Calem. “Kill her.”
A fresh wave of anger went through Tamara. Calem loved Kalussa, that was obvious. And Cathala would force him to kill her? In a night filled with Cathala’s crimes, that was the most monstrous one of all.
Yet Calem did not move.
He jerked and twitched, a spasm going over his face.
“I told you to kill her!” snarled Cathala.
Still, Calem did not move, though he shuddered.
“Fine,” said Cathala. “I’ll kill the girl myself. Kill the knights!”
A flicker of despair went over Calem’s face, and then the emotionless mask returned. He lifted the Sword of Air and strode towards Tamlin and Krastikon, while Cathala started casting a spell. Kalussa hurled another crystalline sphere at Cathala, only for it to shatter against the ward of purple light.
Cathala had forgotten Tamara. She stood with the heavy chain hanging against her chest and legs. With Cathala’s attention turned to Kalussa, Tamara threw aside caution and started throwing spell after spell into the collar, summoning as much power as she could manage. The pain was blinding. Her legs turned to water, and despite Cathala’s command to stay there, Tamara dropped to one knee, which increased the pain in her skull.
But she forced herself on, throwing alternate bursts of fire and ice into the dvargir collar. She could not let her husband and her friends face this enemy alone. She could not!
Tamara drove more power through her reeling mind, and it was all she could do not to scream.
###
Tamlin fought for his life against Calem and the Sword of Air.
He and Krastikon had only one advantage against Calem. They were both Swordborn so Calem could not use any of the Sword’s tremendous magical powers against them. But their Swordborn heritage did not protect them from the Sword of Air’s deadly edge, and nor did it stop Calem from using the Sword to make himself faster. He moved with a lethal quicksilver fluidity, the Sword of Air seeming to stab and dart in all directions.
It was all Tamlin could do to keep up with him. Only the fact that he carried the Sword of Earth saved his life. He had to parry a dozen times in as many heartbeats and had he been carrying a normal sword, Calem would have sliced through both the weapon and Tamlin himself in the space of an eyeblink.
Krastikon circled them, launching blows with his heavy hammer when the opportunity presented itself. Yet he could do little against Calem. He could not close because the Sword of Air would slice through the thick bronze hammer with ease, and so he dared not let his weapon become locked in a parry with the Sword of Air. His attacks forced Calem to step back, and Tamlin took the opportunity to attack.
But Calem wasn’t his enemy. Calem was his friend. His mother was the true foe, and she had kidnapped Tamara and forced Calem to attack them. If Tamlin could force his way past Calem and cut down Cathala, that ought to break Cathala’s control over Calem, and then they could get that hideous collar off Tamara.
And then…Tamlin didn’t know what they would do then. Krastikon thought that both Calliande and Third and Magatai might be dead, that Ridmark had been wounded in the fight against Calem.
But Tamlin could not think about that now. His entire world had narrowed to getting that collar off Tamara’s neck.
Also, his attention could not depart from Calem, not for an instant. If it did, Calem would kill him.
Behind them, magic snarled and snapped back and forth across the valley as Kalussa dueled Cathala. Kalussa had the magic of the Well, and she sheathed herself in a glowing ward of white light. She hurled bursts of white fire at Cathala to break her wards, and then followed with spheres of elemental fire. But Cathala was stronger and more skilled. She recast her wards with ease, summoning shields of ice and water to dispel Kalussa’s spheres. Then she followed with attacks of lightning. Kalussa’s ward of white light absorbed most of the force of those deadly bolts, but some of the attack forced its way through her defenses. Again and again, Kalussa stumbled, fighting off the stunning effect of the lightning.
With a sinking feeling, Tamlin realized that Cathala was going to overpower Kalussa and then turn her magic against him and Krastikon. And if that happened, they were going to lose the fight.
Unless he got to Cathala right now.
And the only way he could get to Cathala was by killing Calem.
Damn his mother for this! Damn her for making him choose between Tamara’s life and Calem’s! Because he would choose Tamara over Calem. He could not do otherwise.
Tamlin fell back, trying to parry a furious series of slashes and stabs, the Sword of Air a silvery blur before his eyes.
He might choose Tamara’s life over that of Calem…but then again, Calem might kill him before he had to make that awful decision.
###
Tamara felt blood dripping from her nose, the agony in her head redoubling. The pain was as bad as anything she could remember, and that included the nightmares of her other selves’ various deaths. The rest of the world had faded away, and all she knew was pain.
But it didn’t matter. Cathala was going to kill her husband and her friends. The pain was nothing compared to what she would suffer if Tamli
n fell. Tamara threw as much fire and as much ice into the collar as she could, ignoring the agony, ignoring the blood dripping from her nose and into her mouth…
Then, all at once, the collar shattered.
Tamara stumbled and fell to the ground. Pain stabbed through her throat, and for an awful instant, she was sure a shard of the collar had driven itself into her windpipe. But, no…the heated metal had burned the skin of her neck, but she was otherwise uninjured.
The sudden lack of agony in her head felt like a benediction from God, and Tamara wanted to sprawl on the ground and sob with relief.
Instead, she heaved herself to her feet, calling elemental magic.
Kalussa had fallen to one knee, her face tight with strain and exhaustion. Calem had driven Tamlin and Krastikon back. Cathala stalked towards Kalussa, fire blazing to life between her hooked fingers. It was clear that Cathala intended to murder Kalussa and then distract Tamlin and Krastikon long enough for Calem to kill them.
Tamara struck first. A ripple went through the ground and surged beneath Cathala. Her eyes went wide with surprise, and Cathala fell hard to the earth. Kalussa staggered back up with a yell and threw a sphere of fire. Cathala snarled, rolled to one knee, and got a ward up in time to deflect the sphere.
“What?” said Cathala. “I command you to stay where you are! I…”
Her voice trailed off as she saw the pieces of the collar lying scattered on the ground.
“No,” said Cathala. “Impossible!”
She beckoned, and Calem leaped backward, putting himself between Cathala and the others.
“Cathala, it’s over,” said Tamara. “You can’t fight all four of us and win.”
She sneered. “Are you so sure? You…”
Her voice trailed off in surprise, her gaze moving to the side.
Tamara looked up just in time to see a dozen small objects arcing overhead. They were small clay spheres, each one about the size of her fist. Had Cathala conjured them somehow? No, they had been thrown from the other side of the valley, to judge from their arc.
Sevenfold Sword: Sorceress Page 31
