The Warrior's Curse

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

  “Get his sword!” Joth demanded.

  I fought to keep hold of it but took plenty of hits on my body as a result. When I rolled to protect my ribs, someone’s hand went over mine on the hilt of the sword. I felt it being pulled away from me, and I was hit hard on the side of my head. Lights pulsed in my vision. With a second hit, I would be unconscious. But then the doors opened and a woman called out, “Stop this at once!”

  That was Loelle’s voice, and it was commanding enough that those around me lowered their fists, though no one released me.

  She marched forward, and although I couldn’t see her from my position on the floor, I felt her anger from here. “Joth, what have you done?”

  Joth had taken refuge from the fighting on the steps to the Scarlet Throne, and he held his place as he widened his arms. With the same arrogance as I’d heard from him before, he said, “I have taken the kingdom, Mother. We may have lost the throne when the Navan were exiled, but now I have a new throne, and a land far greater than what we left.”

  “This was never the plan!” she said. “And this is not my son speaking now.”

  His expresson grew colder. “I am your son, and I have improved upon your plan.”

  “Nothing that I see here is any improvement. Where is Kestra?”

  “Go and find her,” Joth said, I assumed to the half-lives. “If she is still alive, bring her to me now.”

  He paused, perhaps while his orders were carried out, and then looked down at his mother, who echoed, “If she is alive?” When he did not answer, she said, “After all she has done for us, you betrayed her?”

  Now Joth became angry. He stomped down the stairs and marched directly in front of his mother. “I finished what you started! You convinced Captain Tenger to give her magic, and the magic she acquired was better than any of us could have imagined. Through Kestra, we finally had the ability to raise an army that Endrick could not kill. You did that to her!”

  “Never to harm her.”

  Joth raised his voice further. “Is that so? You saw what was happening to her in the forest, and still you pushed her onward.”

  “But I was looking for a way to bring her back, Joth. I’m still looking!”

  “There is no way to bring her back. Before she killed Endrick, he did something to her. He corrupted her beyond redemption.”

  His words hit me harder than any of the half-lives could ever have done. I sucked in a breath but could not make myself release it. If what he said was true, and Endrick had gotten to her, then Joth might be right.

  Beyond redemption. Few words had ever been spoken of greater tragedy.

  Loelle wasn’t finished arguing. “And then what? You attacked her, I assume. Where can she go now, Joth? You have doomed her!”

  Joth dismissed his mother’s objections with a wave of his hand, then began walking a circle around her as he spoke. “Wasn’t it you who told me that Kestra was doomed from the moment of her birth? Didn’t you describe to me how any chance she might have had for a normal life vanished once she accepted the role of Infidante? How she belonged to all groups and to none. You told me of her powers, great in their potential, strong enough that they would certainly trap her within them. Didn’t you tell me that the closer she came to success, the more that success would destroy her?” Now Joth faced his mother directly. “The truth is that I did nothing to change her fate, nor did you; we only altered the route she took to get there.”

  By then, I had recovered enough to sit up, though my voice was weak when I said, “Where is Kestra now, Joth?”

  He closed his eyes to listen, then said, “The half-lives have found her, but she is not alone. You have accused me of terrible things, but I am not threatening her life. Someone else is.”

  Harlyn.

  “Kestra is in a weakened state,” Joth said. “She has no defense against her attacker. But even if she should happen to survive, if she returns to confront me, as she confronted Endrick, I will be ready for her.”

  “I will not let you harm her,” I said.

  “Nor I,” Loelle echoed.

  Joth laughed. “Mother, eventually you will come to see that I am right. And, Simon, before you offer Kestra any protection, you might study your reflection in the mirror and see what my army did to you in only a few minutes. I will be less kind in our duel tomorrow.”

  Loelle arched her neck. “We are leaving now, Simon and I.”

  “Not just us,” I said. “I invite all Halderians to come with us, and all those of you who refuse to be associated with Joth Tarquin, king of his own wilted mind and nothing more.”

  Loelle walked out first, then I, and when I glanced behind me, nearly the entire room of restored people was following us.

  Joth still held the throne, but I left the palace certain I had won that battle between us.

  I don’t know how long I ran through the tunnels, but the passages seemed to stretch out endlessly before me, a twisted maze that darkened and compressed with every step I took. Strength was slowly seeping back to me, so it should have been possible to pull enough magic together to find an escape, or to reach out for help, but my heart was drumming against my chest and my thoughts were flying in all directions. I was breathless and drenched in sweat, and through all of it, I knew only one thing: Harlyn was still behind me, still in pursuit. Still intending to kill me.

  And so I ran, until at one point I tripped and fell, yet there was nothing beneath my feet to have caused it. Pain shot from my foot up through my leg. I tried to stand, but something held me down.

  It had to be the half-lives, though I could not see them any longer. Not with my faded abilities. But they could certainly see me, and hear me, I hoped.

  “Harm me and who will heal you?” I asked. “Joth? Hasn’t he already proven he intends to keep you as you are, as his half-life army? I am your only hope to return to life again, but I will not restore another person until you first prove your loyalty to me.”

  The pressure on me yielded, but this time when I tried to stand, my foot collapsed beneath my weight. I wasn’t going anywhere. I stifled a cry just as Harlyn rounded the corner, her disk bow trained on me.

  “Enough running,” she said.

  “Prove your loyalty now,” I said, but not to her.

  Almost instantly, Harlyn was knocked against the wall by some unseen action. And even through the darkness, I saw a silver disk somehow reverse from its intended motion, flying backward and lodging in Harlyn’s arm. With a cry, she slid to the ground, out of my reach, but not out of theirs.

  Finish the job.

  That was what I intended to say to the half-lives next, but suddenly they were gone, as quickly as they had come, as if Joth had summoned them back to himself. Obviously, he had their true loyalty.

  Which left Harlyn on one end of this small tunnel room, and me on the other. Neither of us able to leave; both of us capable of killing the other.

  I could do it. Everything in me wanted to do it.

  Yet as I contemplated how to do it, she shifted her position and gasped with pain as she pulled the disk from her shoulder. I didn’t need to do anything after all. The bleeding would take care of everything, in time. Her own weapon would become the cause of her death. That was better justice than I could provide.

  “We have no cauterizing powder here,” I said. “How badly are you injured?”

  “Why?” she replied. “Trying to decide how much effort it will take to finish the job?”

  “Not half the effort as you expended in chasing me this far. I completed my task as Infidante. I had hoped you would choose a different way of thanking me.”

  “You must understand why I have to do this,” Harlyn said. “If a wolf kills a bear, as grateful as you are, that doesn’t mean you are safer with the wolf.”

  “That wolf spared your life—twice—in the throne room!”

  “And why did you?” Harlyn paused to draw in a deep, stilted breath.

  “Whatever my reasons, it was obviously a mista
ke.”

  “Why did you?” Harlyn asked again.

  Rather than answer, I reached for my injured ankle. It must have been swelling within the boot. If I were to drag myself closer to Harlyn, with a single touch, I could pull enough strength from her to heal myself. I could pull everything from her if I wanted to.

  And in that moment, I absolutely wanted to. The only reason I was even down here was because of her.

  “Come any closer and you’ll get a disk too.” Harlyn quickly loaded the pocket of her bow. “The one that got me is silver—I’ll recover from it. But this one is black. Get it and—”

  “You forget that I am immortal now, Harlyn.” Or mostly immortal. I wasn’t sure how the black disk would affect me, but it was enough to keep me at a distance. To make myself feel better, I added, “I can afford to be patient, but you cannot. I suspect you only have a couple of hours left to live.”

  “Will you still have your sanity by then?” Harlyn’s strike back at me was cruel. “In this small, dark passage, I imagine you feel like the walls are closing in on you.”

  “That’s enough.”

  “It’s almost like being buried alive,” she continued, then drew in a loud breath. “The air down here is already becoming thin. I’m sure that I’m taking more than my fair share.”

  “Enough, Harlyn!”

  She breathed loudly again, taunting me.

  In a greater panic, I flung out an arm, intending to frighten her, but the passageway shook, violently enough that the tunnel from where we had just come collapsed.

  My heart crashed against my chest in sudden terror. What had I done?

  If I had felt panic before, that was nothing compared to the surge that threatened me now. Exhausted by the force of magic I’d just created, I had nothing left to calm myself. It was no longer a perception that the walls were closing in. The only exit I knew had been destroyed, and I had no idea if there was any escape ahead.

  I tried standing. Even if it hurt, I had to move, I had to find a way out.

  Yet my ankle collapsed again.

  “Kestra—”

  “Don’t say another word, Harlyn! Or I’ll … I’ll …” My breath began to choke me. I could no longer speak.

  “Kestra, you need to stay calm. For both our sakes.”

  She didn’t understand. She didn’t know how bad it was for me, and if she did know, she’d only continue to use my fears against me.

  I tried a third time to stand and fell harder to the ground than before. I searched for a whisper of magic, anything to get me through the next few minutes.

  “Kestra! Kestra, can you hear me?”

  I heard her. I just didn’t care, or see how anything she wanted to discuss in the moment should mean a thing to me.

  “I’m coming over to you—unarmed. Please don’t attack me.”

  I vaguely heard dragging noises, but an hour seemed to pass as I tried to get control of my breathing, tried to slow my pulse, tried to convince myself that everything I believed was happening—everything I was certain was happening—was not real.

  Then a hand touched my shoulder, firm but not aggressive, and Harlyn said, “It’s all right, Kestra. It’s going to be all right.”

  I shook off her hand, but Harlyn wrapped her whole arm around me, the uninjured arm. Even then I heard a slight gasp as she did.

  “Just breathe,” she whispered. “It’ll be all right if you breathe.”

  Keeping my eyes closed tight, I listened to her words and concentrated on the air flowing in and out of my lungs. Soon the worst of the panicked feelings began to dissipate.

  Eventually, she removed her arm, but she remained close beside me. I was so weak, so exhausted. And there she was within easy reach of me. I could take everything from her.

  I stretched out a hand until I found the source of the wound, the fabric of her sleeve wet with blood.

  “Do you trust me?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, you left your weapons against that wall, so you have no choice.”

  I put my hand on her arm and pulled strength from her, absorbing it to myself like a thirsty sponge. She grimaced from my touch and tried to push me off, but as I became stronger and she weakened, her efforts did nothing to stop me.

  Then, as soon as I was certain I had enough, I used that strength to pull the wound from her body, taking the worst of it for myself. When the wound began to seal, I let her go and leaned against the tunnel wall, beyond exhausted.

  Minutes passed before either of us spoke. She broke the silence by saying, “Thank you.” I didn’t answer, and eventually she added, “So what now?”

  “I’m still the wolf,” I said, curling into a ball and huddling in the corner. “My strength will return soon. It’s better if you’re gone when that happens.”

  Harlyn sighed, and walked across the small tunnel room to collect her weapons, paused briefly as she passed by me, then left me alone.

  Rawk was waiting for me as I left the palace, and I invited Loelle to ride with me, an offer she accepted only when I pointed out the fighting still happening around the palace. Once we were in the air, she touched my shoulder. “Take us to Woodcourt.”

  “I need to counsel with my soldiers.”

  “You need to speak with Tenger. He begged me to come here to find you before it’s too late.”

  “Of course.” At my silent direction to Rawk, he returned us to Woodcourt, landing in the same spot in the courtyard as when we had first taken over the home.

  Loelle alighted first and led me into the room that must have once belonged to Kestra’s mother. Tenger lay in the wide canopied bed, heavily bandaged and sleeping. He looked peaceful, but maybe too peaceful. Tenger was dying. Loelle leaned over him, nudging his arm until he awoke. He eyed her first, then me, then mumbled, “Leave us, Loelle.”

  She obeyed, and I sat in a chair beside him. He managed a weak smile before mumbling, “Believe it or not, I almost defeated Joth, that little brat.”

  I smiled too. “How was that?”

  “I attacked from behind, but I needed one more strike to finish him. Before I could do it, he got a hand on me. His pull on my strength was so strong, I could not even breathe.”

  “I know the feeling. Kestra used that same trick on me once, though it was not as awful as what Joth did to you.”

  “He intended to kill me, and it seems he’ll still get his way.”

  “No, sir, you’ll recover—”

  “No, I won’t. We both know that, and I didn’t bring you here to discuss my funeral.” Tenger paused, closing his eyes and resting for a bit. When he opened them again, he said, “Kestra completed her task.”

  “Yes, Endrick is dead. The Dominion has fallen.”

  Tenger nodded. “I killed Sir Henry once, you know.”

  I tilted my head, unsure of whether I’d heard him correctly. I couldn’t have. While it was true that Sir Henry was dead, Tenger had not caused it. Harlyn had been responsible for the death.

  “There is no more threat from the Dominion,” I said. “But we need to figure out how to stop Joth.”

  “I have a theory about the corruption. We can stop it. I think I know …” His eyes rolled. “Sir Henry was dead.”

  I touched his arm, pulling him back to this room, if only for a moment longer. “Sir Henry is dead, Captain, but tell me about the corruption.”

  He barely mumbled the words, “Our plan is correct. Kestra cannot live.”

  I sighed. For all the hope I had felt, we were exactly where Tenger had been for months—that after completing her quest, Kestra would have to be killed for her magic.

  “Captain, do you know how to save her?”

  “Save her,” Tenger whispered. “Simon, you must save her.”

  “Tell me how.” I shook his arm as his eyes closed. “Captain, tell me how to save her!”

  His eyes fluttered, as if he was trying to wake himself up. I shook his arm again, desperate for those final words. But his arm went limp a
nd mouth sagged open slightly. He was gone.

  Even as I sat there beside him, I could not make myself believe it.

  Captain Tenger and I had fought alongside each other and, on a few recent occasions, against each other, but I had always considered him a great leader. Now that I was a leader myself, I realized how many decisions I made were because of something Tenger had taught me.

  I glanced outside and, with the breaking dawn, saw a softly falling snow, but I saw no beauty in it this time. Antora was a diminished land because of Tenger’s absence. Trina or Gabe, or maybe Huge, would take over as captain of the Coracks, but none of them would ever match his greatness.

  I stayed with him for several minutes, running through my mind everything he had said and finally concluding that he had been confused. He could not simultaneously order me to save Kestra and fulfill the Corack plan to kill her.

  I walked from the room and stared at Loelle, who had been sitting in a chair waiting for me, as if helpless to do anything more for Tenger. That pricked at my temper. “I thought if we brought someone to you, if they were still alive, that you could heal them. Why didn’t you heal him, Loelle?”

  Loelle’s head was hung low, and in the softest possible voice, she mumbled, “Joth attacked him personally, which introduced a poison to his body that he could not sustain without a presence of magic as well. I could not save him from that.” She stared up at me, her eyes hollow and tearful. “If that little bit of corruption killed Captain Tenger, I no longer believe it is possible to save Kestra, or to save my son.”

  “There must be something we’ve overlooked.”

  “Maybe. But I think we must also accept the possibility that all we have done is make things worse. And that nothing we can do will ever make them better.” She closed her eyes, shutting me out, mumbling to herself. “I believe we have lost.”

  At some point, I must have fallen asleep, though I couldn’t say whether ten minutes or several hours had passed. My last thought had been a promise that at all costs, I must not let down my guard. Then I’d closed my eyes and broken the promise. I was lucky to be alive.