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Chapter Twenty-Four
"I know this area very well," Cory says. "I'll find us a way down off this mountain. We've no time to lose." As if to emphasize the importance of what he's saying, he grabs the back of my arm. "The kuanni will be on top of us at any moment; you need to trust me."
Before I can consider our options, Angelaria emerges from the lean-to slipping her right foot into her soft shoes. "Kian, for once stop arguing. Don't even pretend that your objections are out of concern for me. You're worried about your prisoner."
My eyes go to Talisac. Caught again I suppose.
"Worried for me?" Talisac asks, mildly straining against his bonds. "How cute. Some might say we're in love."
"Hardly," I scoff. I untie him from the ropes and shove him forward with the ball of my foot. "Make sure you don't twist an ankle or we'll leave you behind."
He makes to blow a kiss in my direction; then laughs.
Angelaria's eyes narrow but she doesn't say anything. I can tell she wants to though. Probably something akin to, "We'll see about that."
"It's settled then," Correldon states. Before I can say lickety-split he's prodding Pink Hair awake with his foot. Honestly, how on earth that gnome could sleep through our voices, Cory shooting the Ekthor by the river, and the horn blast from the approaching kuanni is beyond me. I go to gather my things; when I return Angelaria regards me carefully, both hands on her hips. It's a pose women assume when they're disgusted with their men.
"For your information, I WAS thinking of you."
"Really? Have I given you pause in my ability to walk downhill? Don't be absurd; I'm not made of eggshells. It'll be light soon. In the meantime, we've an elven guide...and...we've got you." This last bit takes me by surprise. She steps forward and puts her arms about my neck; my cheeks flush hot. "Yes, I said it. You...a warrior assassin trained to the highest caliber." She trails a single finger down between the molded pecs of my armored breastplate. "A man that can see in the dark using the visor of a divinely-forged suit and with an athleticism that defies human explanation." She pauses to kiss me on the lips. "I'm not worried at all, and YOU should have more faith in your powers."
"Powers?"
"You have something within you," she whispers. "Something strong and primal. It wants to be let out, but you keep it restrained. The whole world trembles when you unleash this thing that you try so hard to keep in check. How long did it take you to build such comfortable walls out of the bricks of insecurity?" Angelaria bites my lip, drawing a drop of blood. "Do us all a favor and unleash the beast inside you."
I blink and suck some of the blood into my own mouth.
Talen crouches, stifling a bit of a smirk. "Unleash the beast? Ha! Like he needs to be TOLD to do that."
I shake my head. "Oh, shut up."
He punches me in the leg playfully; then raises his left hand to his neck. "Damned rocks. I'll be glad once we get to a city with an inn. I'm going to relish a good bed. That...and taking a real bath."
"Well spoken," I say, clapping him on the shoulder.
The four of us set out within the hour and the world remains as black as coal. The moon is all but gone below the horizon leaving only a dim glow as a reminder of its passing. I keep the river bubbling on my right and move forward, eyeing everyone and the trees around us through the aid of my night vision. Thus far, we're alone. Let's hope it stays that way.
I point out changes in elevation, roots, and unsafe footing for the others while Talen takes the rear of the column, blades on his killsuit fully extended from his forearm. I begin to grow more relaxed with time as we descend the slope of the mountain.
At first break, the others rest while I take watch crouched on a huge boulder overlooking the path. Talen passes out some cheeses, bread, and a bit of the meat from two nights before. Talisac signals to me that I'm only to drink water. I do so surreptitiously. These last few days have left me feeling clean and vibrant. Maybe a bit of a fast was in order, because I feel more awake and alive than I've felt in quite some time.
The East turns a pale rose then blends with shades of blue and the stars vanish one by one as the first of Wynwrayth's suns mount the saddleback between the peaks, throwing golden sunshine down the slope from whence we came. The Firehole River bubbles and churns over rocks; I scramble down and Talisac grabs me by the wrist when the others aren't looking. He finishes swallowing a roll with some cheese stuffed in the loaves and then whispers, "tonight when we're alone, I'll check to see if the worm is descending. We'll need to have privacy. Make sure you arrange for that."
I nod and say nothing.
Our camp gets up to move. Like a gentleman, I pick up Angelaria's pack and shoulder it with my own. It looks like she's about to protest, but then decides against it. "Thank you," she says.
"You're welcome."
We walk, and my eyes follow a deer in the meadow. It's far out from us and grazing in waist- high grass.
An hour after first sunrise, my suit's filled with sweat. It's dripping from the joints on my gauntlets and soaking through every kink in my armor. I call a stop over the rushing noise my pounding heart makes in my head. Talen isn't nearly as drenched as I because he's got his visor up and is using the cooling feature built into the sealed armor. I'm not because Talisac forbids me to do so. When the others aren't looking, I raise my visor and wipe my face with a rag. By the time I'm done, it's damp...that's how sweaty I am. Then with his permission, I drink some more water and close the visor.
"You all right?" Talen asks.
Before he can see my face, I close the visor. "Yep."
He grins, "It's a hot day. Let me know if you want me to carry that."
"I can handle it," I tell him. Then I pick up her pack again. Damn thing's so heavy; I wonder what she's got packed away in it.
"Go and fill this," Angelaria says pushing a water bottle toward me.
Begrudgingly I take it, but she does flash me a smile. I guess that makes it worth it. So pack and all, I make my way down to the bank with the bottle.
That's when I see the kuanni for the first time. Across the Firehole River, five men appear from out of the reeds. They're taller than me, with bands of red and black paint running the length of their hides. Each holds a bow in his hand, is clothed in dark green mail that's interlaced with plates of wrought black metal., and wears a pair of boots made from fine black suede.
Fuck.
I drop to my haunches, settling into the grass, and hoping they don't see me. Then a large thing rises up behind them. And when I say large, I mean humongous. Its shoulders are too far apart to be a giant, and its skin is a glossy crimson color. Gods...I increase the magnification on this monster, and unless my eyes are deceiving me the thing is thirteen feet from the bottom of its ankles to the horns on its head! As if I had any doubt, it reaches up with one hand and rests its weight propped against the upper trunk of a towering aspen tree.
To make matters worse, this "giant" ripples with muscle; metal bands as thick as my waist circle its massive biceps. They look to be made from black metal, drilled on three sides by shiny polished studs. Its face is dominated by a flat nose, pierced through with an impressive brass ring; it has an overly large mouth not lacking for a double row of sharp teeth. From the top of its skull sweeps long elegant black hair drawn into a braid and knotted with jewels. It hangs to about the middle of his back and is finished off by a piece of jewelry fashioned from a human thigh bone. Around its neck depends three human skulls pierced through by a tanned leather strap.
One of the kuanni raises his bow and quickly notches an arrow.
Dammit.
I hear the twang of the string, and it soars over the river. I watch it through the visor, gauge its flight path, and dodge to one side. I snap my free hand about and seize it from the air. My speed and dexterity are stunning. Then I break it into pieces.
This gives them pause.
Before they can react, I duck into the reeds and return to the others.
"Kuanni!" I shout through my helmet; my voice is metallic.
"Where? At the river?" Correldon asks.
"On the other side actually. Five of them...and one giant red monster."
Cory scratches his chin.
"It's an ogre," Talisac says, clutching his belly. I stare for a moment at the slight bulge he keeps hidden behind his jacket.
"An ogre? Interesting," Cory says. "I sure hope that what you said about your fighting skill is true."
"I'm the best fighter in the world," I state with as much male bravado as I can muster. Even if it's a lie, it sure sounds good.
Talen rolls his eyes.
"You could use a dose of modesty. But now's not the time," Cory says.
"Let's split up," Angelaria says. "We stand a better chance that way than fighting in a group. Let's see if we can give them the illusion that there are more of us."
"I'll stay with the girl," Pink Hair declares.
"Uh," Angelaria stares at the gnome, "I need you to stay behind and guard the camp."
"Excellent," I tell the gnome, ignoring everything she's said. "Stay with her. If you get attacked, call out for help...understood?"
Angelaria's lips take a decided downturn.
"I'll do more than that," Pink Hair says. "I think you'll know if we get attacked." Then he pops his knuckles. "Trust me lady, you want THIS powerful wizard on your side."
Angelaria grabs my arm before I go. "I'll pay you back for this," she whispers to me.
With no time to waste, I take to the woods. Within a few seconds, I'm back at the river bank, only this time I make sure to stay hidden. I tuck and roll under a bunch of branches and crouch covered in fresh brown mud. That's when I spot the ogre wading in the shallows of the far side. I move a bit upstream to get into a better position when, to my amazement, he spreads his arms and flies across. When he lands, his heavy boots sink into the bank only a few feet north of my spot. The other kuanni cross by foot where the water is shallow further downstream.
One of Correldon's arrows takes to the air and sails elegantly across the face of the three suns. It explodes in flame right above the kuanni, and the concussion quakes the earth and the sky. All eyes turn south; three of the kuanni make it to safety. The other two stand frozen in place at midstream, shielding their eyes for just a moment. A second later, their bodies break apart as ash and collapse into the water. Steam leaps up and forms a cloud that moves over an entire acre of land like a miniature roving fog bank.
The survivors take to the grass and steam clouds and disappear. But I can still see them in my heat vision on the inside of my visor.
As swift as a lightning bolt across the sky, I lift my body up and jump onto an ancient log overgrown in moss. I duck under another fallen trunk strewn with squirrel droppings and mushrooms, at one point even pressing my visor to the mud. The ogre, sensing something, approaches my position cautiously, scowling and looking everywhere. He mutters something in an ancient language.
"Kian that's a spell!" Talen says inside my helmet.
Fuck.
A sword appears in the ogre's hand; red flames curl upward from the blade. "Come out!" he roars.
He walks forward, thrusting reeds and branches out of his way.
I leap up and feint, placing my toes athletically against a tree trunk only to propel myself toward the sky. He doesn't even have time to react before I kick him in the shoulder. My magical boots spring knives on the bottom, but they fail to cut him any more than chalk cuts glass. He swats at me with what seem ponderously slow motions; all he finds is empty air. Undaunted, he swings at me three more times. Each passes through a spot I occupied only a second before. The last one cleaves the ancient tree trunk in half. The air around us explodes with the scent of burnt moss and smoldering wood chunks.
"Impossible!" the ogre roars. "No one moves this fast."
I land and roll to my feet like a gymnast. "Gods do the impossible all the time."
"Are you a god then, little man?"
I don't answer. Instead, I kick him four more times. Sure, I may weigh only eleven stone sopping wet out of a ditch, but my kicks have power because they're backed by thighs honed to perfection and calves used to haul heavy rocks for the better part of a year. Needless to say, I knock the ogre onto his back, and he makes a noise that's similar to something I'd imagine a falling tree might make.
Is he finished?
I spring my wrist blades and cut him across his back in a single attempt to remove his head. But even my cibrian-forged knives bounce off his skin.
"What the fuck?"
Laboriously, he rises and laughs. "You're quicker than a cobra, teenaged boy," the ogre declares. "I'll enjoy breaking your spine with a single punch to your groin."
"You'll be the sloppiest kill I've ever had," I reply. "But die you must. I won't shed any tears for you."
Had I not been trained to dodge his next attack, he would have killed me even with the massive protection my armor provides. Here's how it went down:
First, dude opens his fist deceptively and lets loose with a blast of cold that streams out of his palm like shards of icy death. I leap straight up twenty feet and manage to catch a few low hanging branches of a second tree. THAT'S how much strength I've got in my legs...well and a little adrenaline to boot. I pull myself into them and look down. Below me now rests a path of white crystal and ice that's five feet wide on the near end. The ogre directs his palm and blazes a strip sixty feet long into the field of green that lies at my back. I blink twice and in that time everything touched by the ogre's magic withers and dies.
"Is that the best you can do?" I ask, but I don't think I've much courage in my voice when I speak. Honestly, I hope it's the best he can do. But from the look on his face, I'd say probably not; anyway he looks furious. Well at least I ruined his day.
"Please, Tethyr...if I get out of this...I'll donate to your church every day of my life..." I whisper in prayer. "I may even abstain from sex for a week." Now that's devotion!
This ogre who's clearly a sorcerer bellows and swings his left fist into the trunk of the tree below; to my surprise it crackles. In the next instant, timbers burst asunder and the thing drops from under me, crashing down onto the meadow almost too fast for me to jump to safety. I land all wrong and feel something give; then comes the pain.
Fuck.
The shadow of a sword appears in the grass around me and forces me to leap onto my good foot. I find purchase on a waist-high boulder, nursing my hurt leg, and watch the blade hit the earth. Dirt clods pepper my chest; I wipe mud from my visor just to see clearly.
"Little rat must die!" He shouts.
I guess he thinks me dead 'cause he stands there like an oaf looking at the earth with grim satisfaction. But that doesn't last long: he sees me standing ten feet to his left. Haughtily, he throws back his silky hair and says, "Whatever gods you worship favor you today."
"God has nothing to do with it," I mutter. Then I grab my codpiece. "Real men expect nothing from the universe but make their own destiny."
The ogre magus charges me, and I do a back leap but execute poorly and fall prone on my back. Almost at once he's there, swinging with sword and fist. Before his weapon arrives, I kick him twice in the jaw, then roll to either side of his attacks to avoid getting hurt. The earth erupts in flying clods, mud, bits of weed and chunks of wood, and steam from puddles he slashes with his burning blade. I kick and punch, but nothing is wearing him down at all. One of my punches lands so hard that I could have busted a rock open, but it does nothing but turn his face to one side. I'm so glad my killsuit gauntlets protect my hands. They'd be shattered into a million pieces by now.
But Tethyr's teeth I'm in trouble.
After a minute of dodging his attacks while prone, he lands a fist. It actually cracks my visor and makes my head spin. Then he follows with a kick and I soar into the river a full fifteen feet away. Water rushes over my face and floods into my suit. Choking, I pop the visor and push myself to my feet, wrist blades moving in and out uncontrollably on the arm sheath.
Dammit! He's shorted out the controls.
I grab hold of the grass at the bank and manage to stand.
"Talen," I croak into my helmet. "I could use a little help...."
My boyfriend disengages from one of the kuanni and appears, armor dripping blood. A moment later, that kuanni drops dead into the muck. Talen's been busy. The ogre magus hefts his sword oblivious to Talen. It's a mistake I'm sure he'll regret.
Talen's runs and jumps; his momentum carries him through the air about fourteen feet. When he lands, it's in front of me, and he breaks the huge man's angry charge. The brute skids to a stop, sweeps his sword left, but Talen parries him with cibrian blades. When the two weapons clash, to my surprise the fiery ensorcelled blade cleaves through Talen's and then sunders through his armor.
"Talen!" I scream.
Fortunately he seems unfazed, even when a portion of his killsuit drops away. That's a little shocking, and it takes me a moment to realize exactly what's going on. There in the gaps and shattered pieces of his breastplate is the strange undergarment that Talen found long ago in the keep. It shimmers in the same way that our boots gleam and looks purple in the morning sunlight.
As mystified as I, the ogre mage punches Talen; a deafening thunderclap follows. To my surprise, the ogre howls in pain, gripping his hand, and glaring at Talen painfully. Meanwhile, my boyfriend just stands there like a wall with his arms folded calmly across his chest.
"How is this possible?!" the red monster bellows.
How indeed? I think to myself. I know I should have grabbed for that shirt! Talen always finds the best things.
Correldon appears, a glowing black arrow notched on his bow. "Stop!" he commands of the monster. "Know that this is a heart-seeker," the silver-haired elf says. "It'll pierce the magical protection you've placed on your skin and kill you instantly."
The ogre freezes in place, albeit still nursing his broken hand.
"Your kuanni allies are dead. You'll soon be joining them if you don't flee."
"Flee? I, Havrok, do NOT flee!"
"Then you choose to die," Correldon spits. "I don't miss with this weapon. And by the corpses of your fellow kuanni, I think you know by now you picked a fight with the wrong people."
The ogre frowns, turns, and leaps...rather...he flies across the river. I wish I could do that. Correldon lowers his bow once the evil red-skinned monster disappears into the wilderness on the far side of the Firehole.
"You should've killed him!" I yell. "Now, he'll come after us."
"You think so, human?" Correldon asks. "Is that what you would do? Knowing full well that all of your comrades are now pushing up daisies? I'd think you'd be wise and realize that a warrior of the Symardiearre is more than a match for you. That's exactly what I believe is going through Havrok's mind right now!"
"Well I don't! I think he's planning on coming after us again. And then he's going to kill us. You left a loose end and now we're going to have to pay for that loose end for the rest of our journey together."
"Harsh words coming from a teenaged boy," Correldon says with smugness dripping from his lips. "How many of the kuanni did you kill? Or maybe you were too busy taking a dip in the river."
I clench my fist and hobble over to him, favoring one leg. But that doesn't matter. Even with one leg I can beat this guy.
Correldon sets down his bow. "This'll be fun," he says. "I'm a master of koljutsu-pan. I'll gladly instruct you on the way elves deal with riff raff, and how humans who think themselves superior to the highborn are properly punished."
He whirls gracefully, I'll give him that. But I'm no ordinary human. I step past him quickly, ignoring the pain in my sprained ankle, and take full advantage of his "dance" to swing at him with my open palm. He narrowly avoids my punch and grabs a hold of my wrist, attempting to put me in a standard arm lock. But I know this maneuver. I fall forward and kick him in the face with the bottom of my muddy boot; no spikes this time. Correldon lets loose my arm, obviously a little angered.
"Nice trick," he says.
He feints and makes a kick at my good leg. I block, pain searing up through my body. Then I kick his guard aside so I can ram my knee into his pelvis. He chokes and falls to the earth. I stumble back to let him catch his breath. His face is flushed. Lightning quick he makes three rabbit punches all under a second. As fast as that is though, I'm quicker. I block his blows and return those punches four times over: once in the chest above the heart, once as an elbow to the face (which breaks his nose), and then twice to the kidneys. My suit may be non-functional, but my gauntlets hurt like a son of a bitch.
Bloody but still unbroken, he rolls away. However, he's much slower now; less sure of himself. But I'm not. I rush him but this time it's my turn to feint. He makes an attempt to throw me but his fingers close on air as I drop to the ground. I lift myself up on one hand and twist my body into a cyclone kick. Of course, I land it perfectly with one boot striking his left hip and the other smacking him across the face. Sure, it's painful, but I'm mostly using upper body strength here. To finish, I tilt into a pinwheel kick and snap my good foot about in a circle and strike him so hard that it whips him about 360 degrees and slams him straight into the river.
"Stop, Kian!" Talen yells. "You'll kill him."
I limp over to the edge and fish his body out. There in my arms is Correldon the mighty highborn elf. He's bleeding from the nose, ears, and mouth, but he's alive. If I wanted to kill him I could have. His eyes are so glazed that I don't think he even knows where he is. Talen sloshes into the river beside me and helps to hoist him onto the bank. Then, we carry him into camp to lay him sopping wet near the fire pit. I return to grab his bow and sword; when I get back, Angelaria's there and she doesn't look happy.
"You did this to him. Why?"
"He asked for it," I say. "I got tired of him always coming down on me like I was some kind of street rat. This way, he'll know to give Talen and I some respect."
"You're a bully, Kian Lightfoot." Then she shoves me with both hands.
I'm not a fucking bully. But I keep silent. This isn't an argument I can win.
"I've never known anyone that could do this," Pink Hair states with a very sober expression. He washes the caked blood off Correldon's face. "I've traveled with the elf for years and in the court of the elves, he was their best pugilist. I've seen him break bones with a single hit and cripple men for life. But you...to do this while lame? I've never seen such speed and power. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were the devil incarnate. You terrify me, stranger."
"He IS the devil," Angelaria says. "Even when he loves you he hurts you."
I just roll my eyes. "Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down," she says. "You're dangerous and your temper is out of control."
Angelaria falls silent when Correldon opens his eyes. The first thing he does though is stare at me. The blood rushes his cheeks. Is that shame? That would've been my first reaction. But I'm not elvish, I don't have some "larger than life" disposition to overcome. But why wouldn't he be ashamed? He has every reason to be: sopping wet and muddy with a blood streak smeared at the base of his shattered nose. Because of me, it'll sit crooked on his face for the rest of his life. If someone messed up my looks like that, I'd be fucking pissed.
Cory swats Pink Hair's hand away as the gnome tries to clean his cuts with a damp washcloth. Talisac sits quietly, never taking his eyes off me. When I look in his direction he blows me a kiss. Gods how I want to punch his face in.
I settle down on the grass.
Correldon touches his wounds gingerly. One of his eyes is starting to blacken. It'll probably swell shut by nightfall. And of course, no one seems to notice how in pain I am. Even Talen's too busy soothing Angelaria to notice. Just the same (and maybe to keep the peace somewhat) I try to apologize.
"I'm sorry I was so rough on you. It's just that I got upset."
Cory brushes the silver hair out of his eyes and sighs. Sunlight plays on the tree limbs above us and showers golden through the leaves. "I'm at fault. To tell you the truth, I never expected a teenaged boy to fight so well. You're as ferocious as you are beautiful, with agility that surpasses our best elven warriors. I think you're the fastest and most physically stunning human I've ever seen in all my life, and I'm over three hundred and ninety years old. Were you always this gifted?"
"Yes."
"At least you're humble," he says with much sarcasm.
I swallow my spit, thinking of the experiences one could have in three hundred and ninety years. The elves, it seems, are immortal and stay young physically while most humans deteriorate with age, probably in the blink of an eye from their perspective.
"At least share with me how you learned your deadly techniques?"
I lean my back against an aspen tree and keep my ankle elevated on a stone; it eases the pain and stiffness that I feel at least for a moment. But my whole body is sore, so comfort comes in degrees of "what hurts less?"
"I studied with a master assassin named Constantine in the city of Clothol. He taught me for several years. My training included hand-to-hand combat and weapons expertise. As you've picked up, I've a lot of natural ability. But on top of that, I'm an apt learner."
"Ah. Then that explains it. Constantine...that one I've heard of...the most dangerous nightshade in the world."
"You mean 'was'," I say. "I killed him in the city of Soulwarden. I'M the most dangerous nightshade in the world now. I'm part of a new order called the Black Dragon Assassins. You may have heard of me, but in case you haven't we're WAY deadlier than nightshades. I'm the Black Dragon Assassin of the Silver Rose." I don't mention Talen. He gets enough time in the spotlight.
"I've never heard of it."
I snort derisively. "Well you shall. Remember the name 'Hunter.' It'll mean something someday."
"So you killed Constantine? Was it a difficult fight?"
I think back and remembered how Constantine lay trapped under the rocks and how he'd called to me for aid when I slit his throat. "No," I say, "Actually not difficult at all."
Talen looks up from his resting spot with a broad smirk on his face. I nudge him with the tip of my toe but he doesn't say anything. Some things are best left unsaid, I think to myself.
I may post Chapter Twenty-Five next week. However, with Thanksgiving break, I may simply not have enough time. Have a great holiday my friends, and I hope you're all slavering for the next chapter!