Heart of Defiance

by Ryan Kirk

  Delun had never seen such cold-blooded butchery. The monks advanced forward one step at a time, their coordination ensuring no single monk ever had to bear much strain. They would tire eventually, but given the intensity of the training Delun had seen in Kulat, he didn’t think exhaustion would be a factor for some time. At the rate they were advancing, the empire’s army would fall long before the monks.

  Delun knew the two of them couldn’t take on thirty monks. He and Bai were good, but not that good. He also didn’t know how far he trusted Bai. She told him she felt fine, but her body had to be nearing a limit of some kind. Delun couldn’t imagine otherwise.

  Inspiration struck. They didn’t need to take on all the monks. They just needed to bring those shields down. Then the army could help.

  He was about to ready a blast when he realized his mistake. He could bring down the shields given enough time, but Bai could dart through those shields without problem. He turned to her. “Can you sense the monks casting shields?”

  “Yes.”

  “Attack them!”

  Delun kicked the horse to one last burst of speed. The poor animal had been ridden nearly to death, but too many lives hung in the balance for Delun to feel ashamed of his treatment of the creature. It would rest soon enough.

  This close to Bai, Delun thought he could feel her bringing in energy from all around her. Mercifully, she left his own alone. He would need it soon enough.

  A few monks noticed them as Delun’s charge carried them the last few hundred paces toward the battle. He reined the horse in as Bai leaped into the fray.

  She moved with impossible grace. The monks looked at her with bemused grins, not knowing the storm was about to break on them as well. Bai fell through the shield, her aura increasing in intensity as she did. She passed the monks, looking astounded, not wasting even the second it would have taken to strike them. Before they could react, before they could overcome their shock, she had driven fists and feet into the monks holding the shields.

  The shields collapsed and the infantry at the front of the line pushed forward. From his mount, Delun could see the look of fear on their faces. They had seen what happened to those in their position before.

  But the shields had fallen, thanks to Bai. The monks hadn’t finished preparing their next round of attacks. Confidence led to its own sort of weakness. One or two waves of energy crashed into the soldiers, but the attacks didn’t prevent the soldiers from reaching the monks, swords slicing through flesh not even wet from the rain yet.

  Delun dropped from the horse and joined the fray.

  The monks’ attack had been well-planned and well-executed. But it hinged on an assumption that Bai destroyed when she penetrated the shields without problem. The order that had once defined the monastic advance was gone, replaced by chaos.

  That didn’t mean the battle was over. Even though they were grossly outnumbered, the monks were strong. No matter how well-trained Xun’s troops were, they still didn’t train as much as the monks did. Combined with the monks’ powers, the conclusion of the battle was still far from certain.

  Arrows started falling around Delun, and he ducked into the heat of the battle. In the confusion, many of the monks didn’t attack him. He wore the white robes. It allowed him to get close.

  He made his attacks count, but he still held back. He didn’t want to kill monks if he could prevent it.

  Within a moment, the currents of the battle brought him next to Bai. As she raised a fist against him, he realized he possibly blended in a little too well. The army would think him an enemy also.

  Bai saw who he was a moment before she brought her fist crashing down. He cast a small shield over them to give her a short rest. “How are you?”

  She didn’t respond, leaping from his shield toward an exposed monk. Delun cursed and dropped the defense before she could take more energy from him. An arrow grazed his shoulder and he had to dodge a sword pointed at his heart. The monks were still fighting, but they were losing ground. A few feet away, Delun saw Kang step forward against the press of soldiers. He sensed the attack a moment before Kang released it.

  Soldiers went flying backward like rag dolls, crushing their companions behind them.

  The attack had been wide, pushing the army back, if only for a moment. Again, the narrow road helped the monks, as the army commanders found it nearly impossible to flank them. Guanyu had chosen his location well.

  The moment was all the monks needed. Shields slammed down once more, and the soldiers quickly realized they couldn’t reach the monks again. Bai had provided an opening, but Kang had slammed the door shut. Would Kulat have enough monks to continue the assault, or would they retreat?

  Delun only had eyes for Kang. He prepared an attack and thrust it out, launching a narrow weave of power at the enormous man. The attack was aimed at Kang’s head, a killing blow.

  But Kang leaned back, allowing the attack to drill into the trees on the far side of the road. He glanced over at Delun, a malicious grin on his face. “Hold the shields! Kill the false monk!”

  Delun had hoped the man would at least be willing to duel him. His hands danced the signs for two separate shields as he felt a number of attacks being prepared around him. He didn’t think he’d last long.

  Then one of the shields protecting everyone fell. Delun glanced over and saw Bai standing over the body of a monk.

  He cursed his temper. He’d thought only of fighting Kang. Bai had kept her vision focused on the larger goal: giving the army a chance against the monks.

  The monks were better prepared this time. They had attacks ready, and the initial rush of the soldiers proved disastrous. Another shield appeared, further protecting the monks. Bai fought against the shield casters, but the monks were learning to protect their own.

  He felt Kang preparing another attack, ready to drive the army back even further. Delun cast a shield to protect himself and dashed after Kang. He needed to stop the man before even more damage was done.

  A heartbeat later, Delun ran into a solid wall of energy. His shield absorbed the blow, but his advance toward Kang halted completely. His eyes widened when he felt the reserve of strength behind the attack.

  Kang was stronger than Delun had thought.

  The large monk saw the look on Delun’s face and laughed. “Did you really think I would reveal my true strength?”

  With a dismissive gesture, Kang sent another attack toward Delun. Delun cast his second shield, but the strength of Kang’s attack shattered it as though it was a toy. The blast knocked Delun onto his back.

  Then the shields dropped again, just in time for a wave of arrows to barrage the monks.

  Bai.

  She was doing more to save the empire than Delun.

  Many monks got shields up in time, but some did not, arrows killing several.

  Without the shield protecting him, rain poured onto Delun’s face. He coughed and sputtered, unable to breathe. He forced himself to sit up.

  Chaos reigned everywhere. The monks, forced to contend with both Bai and an army, weren’t sure to how fight, and every moment of indecision whittled their numbers down. Delun saw plenty of white robes around him, motionless in the mud.

  He heard Kang’s deep, booming voice. “Retreat!”

  All around him, monks ran into the trees, retreating toward Kulat. Within moments, only Bai and Delun were left in the road, the only obstacles between the army and the city that had already seen so much suffering.

  The next thing he knew, Bai was at his side. “Are you hurt?”

  He shook his head. His breath was coming easier now and he was fairly certain he hadn’t broken any ribs. He’d made a mistake in underestimating Kang.

  Delun looked into the trees, trying to see how many monks ran for safety. Bai followed his gaze. “I don’t think there were more than ten.”

  “It’s still too many. Holed up in the monastery, they could cause tremendous damage.”

  Delun tried to stand up but his
legs failed him.

  Bai put her hand firmly on his shoulder. “You should rest.”

  She looked around them, and Delun joined her in noticing that Xun’s army had surrounded them, arrows nocked and aimed. She whispered to Delun. “Although perhaps you could cast a shield.”

  Delun did, casting a small bubble of protection around them. It felt thin against the numbers they faced.

  A man stepped to the edge of the circle. From the way he stood, Delun guessed he was Lord Xun. Delun was surprised and impressed. He hadn’t expected the lord himself to accompany the mission. The lord saw Delun’s white robes and made a dismissive gesture. “Kill them.”

  Before Delun could protest, the archers released. Arrows ricocheted off the shield. Delun grimaced; he could protect them for a few minutes, but then his strength would give out.

  “Lord Xun!” he called.

  The man turned around.

  “We are not your enemies. We were the ones who brought the shields down so you could fight the monks.”

  The lord looked doubtful, but as he considered, the questioner joined him. Delun never thought he’d be so happy to see one of the men of shadows. “He speaks the truth, my lord. These are the two who urged me to warn you.”

  Lord Xun stopped and considered them more carefully. Delun saw the cold calculation in his eyes, but also the hate that resided there. This was a man who hated the monasteries. No wonder the Golden Leaf had found such fertile ground here.

  “Kill them anyway.” The order was issued without a hint of compassion.

  Delun fought his way to his feet, bracing himself against Bai to stand. “We can save the lives of your men.”

  Lord Xun held up a hand to halt the archers.

  Delun plowed forward before Xun could change his mind. He felt their lives hanging by a thread. “The monks will retreat to the monastery. With them behind those thick walls, you’ll have little choice but to besiege. Perhaps you can starve them out, but by that time, other monks will have discovered you’re attacking a monastery, leading to complete war. So you will need to attack, and that will cost hundreds of men their lives. We can fight them instead.”

  Xun didn’t look convinced. “You two?”

  “What have you got to lose? If we fail, you can continue on.”

  Xun looked around at his men. Delun was betting the lord didn’t want to waste his army if he didn’t have to. “I’ll give you one day.”

  “Two,” Delun replied. “We’ve been fighting them for days now. Give us one day to rest and one day to fight.”

  Xun nodded. “Very well. You have two days to bring down the monastery in Kulat. I’ll be waiting outside the city.”

  Delun dropped his shield, utterly spent.

  He glanced over at Bai. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas for taking down a monastery in two days?”

  “We could ask the Golden Leaf.”

  Delun laughed, his mission coming full circle. “You’ll have to find them first.”

  Bai gave him a knowing smile.

  “I know one of their leaders.”

  37

  Bai looked between Delun and Yang, fighting to keep the smile off her face. At first, she had worried that one of them would try to kill the other, but that moment of concern had passed. The two monks glared at each other, uncertain who should speak first.

  Delun hated Yang. Even if Bai hadn’t heard Delun state as much on their way to this meeting, she would have known. The anger radiating off him almost took physical form.

  It didn’t require a stretch of the imagination to understand. Delun recognized Guanyu was a threat to the monasteries, but the rogue abbot’s beliefs weren’t that far removed from Delun’s own. The fact that Delun fought against Guanyu was why Bai trusted him as she did.

  But Delun viewed Yang as a traitor, a man working from the inside to bring down the monasteries. Bai had little doubt that Delun viewed Yang as an evil that needed to be destroyed.

  Delun sat on the edge of his seat, across the table from Yang, his fists clenching and then unclenching when he realized what he was doing. A few moments later they would clench again.

  Yang leaned back as far as his chair would allow. He looked to be a moment away from sprinting out the door.

  Rebellions certainly made for strange allies.

  Bai broke the tension, making the request Delun never could. “Yang, we need your help.”

  With an effort, Yang shifted his gaze from Delun to her. “I’m not sure how much I can help. The Golden Leaf organizes. We can’t fight against the monks, not the way you intend.”

  Delun shook his head. “We don’t want you to fight. We just need a way into the monastery. We’ll do the rest.”

  Yang leaned back, looking off into the distance. “There’s a cistern running under one part of the wall. But it’s sealed almost as tightly as the front door. The thick iron bars are nearly impossible to break.”

  “Do you have any more black powder?” Bai asked. She’d heard of the ambush when Delun had ranted about the Golden Leaf earlier.

  Yang looked uneasy. Bai felt her heart race a little. She’d heard rumors of black powder and what it could do, but had never come near any. Finally, Yang nodded, confirming what she had guessed. “There’s not much left. Maybe a small barrel.”

  Bai had no idea how powerful the black powder was. “Would that bring down the wall?”

  Yang laughed. “Not even close.”

  They sat in silence.

  Delun would be noticed the moment he got anywhere close to the walls. The same would be true of Yang. Bai and Delun were willing to fight, but they needed a way in.

  Delun suddenly looked up, his gaze focused on Bai. “Did Lei train you to use a weapon?”

  Bai shook her head. They’d never trained in anything but empty-handed combat.

  Delun reached into a pocket and pulled out a small knife. It wasn’t long enough to be an effective weapon; instead, it was the type of knife carried for daily tasks. He handed the blade over to her. “I can’t move energy into the weapon. Can you?”

  Bai held the weapon gingerly, narrowing her eyes in concentration. She pulled in energy from the room around her, borrowing just a little from each person. She channeled the power into her hand, then into the blade. The blade felt as though it was beginning to vibrate in her hand. Both Yang and Delun looked at her with concern etched on their faces. For once, it appeared they agreed on something. “Hand that over, Bai.”

  She looked between the two of them, unsure why they were so worried. It had been an easy matter to put energy into the weapon. Delun held the blade like it carried a disease. Yang paled. The two men looked at each other. “I think I can use this,” Delun said quietly.

  “That changes everything,” Yang replied. He looked at Bai. “Again.”

  “Would either of you care to tell me what’s happening?”

  They both looked at her as though she were a demon from legend. Delun answered her question. “Most monks can’t imbue weapons with energy. That’s good, because doing so is dangerous. If I use this, I could take down a house with a single cut.” He leaned back. “I think I know how to get into the monastery.”

  Bai was grateful Delun had a plan, but she didn’t miss the fear in his eyes. He was scared of her.

  The sun had fallen by the time the three of them finished discussing their plan. Delun and Yang had done most of the talking. Bai didn’t have the training they did, and most of her solutions were variations of the idea that they should charge in and see what happened. A brilliant war planner she was not, she decided.

  When they were done, Yang left to meet his contacts in the city. Of the three, he had the most to do in the least time. Delun had wanted to join the other monk, further evidence of his lack of trust. But Bai had reminded him that the next day would be a long one. They needed what rest they could get. Reluctantly, Delun agreed.

  The two of them went up to their room. They’d considered getting two rooms, but Delun wan
ted the two of them together at all times. He claimed it was so they could protect each other, but the truth was obvious enough.

  He was too frightened of her to let her out of his sight.

  She crawled into her bed while he climbed into another one. She waited for sleep to take her.

  An hour later, Bai yawned, exhausted but unable to sleep. Her mind kept racing, imagining tomorrow. On the other side of the room, Delun seemed to suffer from the same problem. Bai could hear him tossing and turning.

  Finally, she heard his voice, soft. “You awake?”

  She nodded before realizing he might not see the motion. “Yes.”

  “There’s one thing I can’t figure out. Why are you doing this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You discovered your gift just a few weeks ago. You have enough training now that you don’t need to worry about being attacked or threatened anymore. So, why are you here? Why are you risking your life when you don’t have to?”

  She felt her pulse quicken and blood raced to her head. “Why do you care?”

  “Because tomorrow, I’m going to put my life completely in your hands. And I don’t know why you’re here.”

  Even without seeing him, she knew that wasn’t the complete truth. Part, perhaps, but it wasn’t the real reason he asked.

  “I want revenge against the monks.”

  She imagined him frowning at that. “Why?”

  She tried to articulate her feelings. “Have you ever felt like you don’t matter?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “I have. Most of the days of my life. I have spent my entire life hiding in corners and in shadows and cowering, because if I fight I only make it worse. I grew up scared of everyone.” The anger in her voice surprised her. “The elders, powerful men, the wealthy. But you know who frightened me the most?”