James West - Shadow and Steel

Coming to the edge of the forest, Leitos spied the road he had taken up the mountain the night he crept from Armala. The city slumbered nearby. On its wall, no movement attracted any eye. If not for the lights brightening the palace, Armala might have been a bone-town.

“How will we attack?” Leitos whispered to Damoc.

“There,” the elder said after a time, pointing at a section of wall that projected in sharp angles around a cluster of buildings with tall, pointed roofs. “We have watched Armala for a season, and the Fauthians never post a proper guard along that part of the wall. Our archers will cover two or three climbers who, once they reach the battlements, can make it safe for the rest to follow.”

“If the Mahk’lar have gone to Adu’lin, then he will know we are coming.”

“There is nothing for it. We must attack.”

“I need weapons,” Leitos said, glancing at Nola, who crouched next to Belina. “Unless Nola wishes to lend me her sword again.” He meant it as a jest, but the girl scowled, much the same as she had just before she tried to murder him. It seemed her gratitude for hauling her out of harm’s way had diminished. Belina, however, flashed him a shy smile, which he found disconcerting. Yatoans, he decided, were a strange lot.

From the leafy darkness, a familiar voice said, “There is no need to borrow a blade, when yours is at hand.”

“Ulmek?” Leitos gasped. Around him, the Yatoan company moved into aggressive postures, and Leitos flung up a restraining hand. The Yatoans froze, poised to attack.

The hard-faced Brother emerged from a nearby cluster of brush. Behind him came Sumahan and Daris. All three were burdened with haversacks and as many swords, daggers, and bows as they could carry.

“I believe this is yours,” Ulmek said, pushing a bundle into Leitos’s hands.

Leitos pulled the haversack’s straps over his shoulders, then accepted the sword Ba’Sel had presented to him the dawn after his testing. A dagger with a spike-like blade came next, and finally, Ulmek supplied Leitos with the short, double-curved bow Adham had helped him fashion, along with a leather quiver stuffed with arrows.

While Leitos secured his weapons, Ulmek’s eyes widened at the sight of Belina. When his gaze shifted to Nola, his mouth fell open, and he danced back with a curse. “How can this be?”

His sword seemed to spring into his hand, and the Yatoans surged forward in response. By the thinnest of margins, Leitos managed to convince them to hold fast.

“She is not who you think,” he said in a rush.

Ulmek went still, as Sumahn and Daris spread around him in a protective fan. He thrust his face forward. “She could be Zera, as I first knew her.”

Nola and Belina went rigid, and Damoc looked as if he had swallowed a stone. “How do you know that name?” the elder demanded.

“My brethren and I took Zera in. We trained her. At one time, she was one of us.” His dark eyes cut toward Leitos. “Then she betrayed us.”

“She is alive?” Belina breathed.

Still looking at Leitos, Ulmek shook his head. “No, she is not.”

“How did my sister die? When?” Belina asked. If not for Damoc’s arm blocking her path, she might have leaped at Ulmek.

My mother and eldest sister were the last in our clan to be returned. Icy sweat sprang from Leitos’s pores at the memory of Belina’s words. Twice, now, he had witnessed that volatile reaction to Zera’s name. He glanced at Nola. Eldest sister … my sister.… Sisters. He should have guessed it before now. He swallowed, dryly, wondering how they would react if they knew he killed Zera?

Ulmek looked between Belina and Nola, to Leitos, and finally Damoc. “We can speak of that matter at another time.”

Leitos let out a slow breath.

“Agreed,” Damoc said stiffly, as if that were the last thing he ever wanted to discuss. “For now, we must concentrate on destroying the Fauthians. This night, our oppressors will pay for their crimes against us.”

Ulmek grinned darkly. “I must say, Leitos, I grow rather fond of your new friends. As such,” he said, looking to Damoc, “I warn you that attacking this city will not be so easy as you think-but then, what joy ever comes from a simple task?”

“Bring him,” Adu’lin called from the chamber.

“I am ready,” Ba’Sel said agreeably, by now caught fully in the throes of his madness.

Within the first few moments after they had taken Halan away, the big man’s screams ended. So it had been for all the Brothers. Adham could not guess what horrors they had faced, or if they yet drew breath, but he did not intend to become one of them.

The guard came forward. There was no fear in his posture, no caution whatsoever. He smirked when he glanced at Adham. For show, Adham cringed away. The guard turned to haul Ba’Sel to his feet.

Adham leaped up, wrapped an arm around the guard’s neck, and rammed a knee against his spine, driving him forward. They crashed to the stone floor, and Adham reared back until the Fauthian’s spine crackled. Adham pulled harder, tightening his grip, and the guard died with a shudder.

“Bring him!” Adu’lin shouted, now sounding impatient.

Adham drew the guard’s sword. Preparing to free Ba’Sel, he heard Adu’lin’s approaching footsteps.

“Spring is such a beautiful time, don’t you think?” Ba’Sel asked.

Adham did not waste breath answering the senseless question, but instead slashed the man’s bindings, and then tore off his blindfold. “Can you stand?”

Ba’Sel blinked owlishly. “This is not my village, not Salgo.… What is this place?” His black eyes grew wide, and he flinched when he looked to Adham. “Where am I, and … who are you?”

“You are in danger, and I am a friend,” Adham snarled, unable to hide his frustration. “If you want to live, we must flee.”

“Orest, what is taking so long?” Adu’lin sounded one step beyond the threshold, and coming closer.

Adham caught Ba’Sel’s shoulder, and began pulling him to the door Ulmek and the others had used to escape.

Ba’Sel gave a terrified squawk and jerked free. “I do not know you!” he shrieked. “Do not touch me!”

At a sharp curse, Adham spun to find Adu’lin glaring at him.

“I grow weary of your mischief, Izutarian,” the Fauthian said. He made no attempt to produce a weapon. “So weary, in truth, that I can no longer see the benefit of keeping you alive.”

“So be it,” Adham growled, and charged.

Adu’lin’s assuredness broke under Adham’s battle cry. He wheeled and disappeared into the gloom beyond the doorway. Adham followed.

Two paces into the next chamber, Adham slid to a halt. In the darkness beyond the doorway, many pairs of silvery eyes glimmered from the silhouetted heads of men, telling him they were men no more.

The Brothers, men he counted as friends, had been forcibly possessed by Mahk’lar. Those unblinking gazes turned his way. More shapes, malformed and hideous, flitted behind the Brothers, seeking living bodies to take for their own, if only for a short time before their presence destroyed or changed that flesh.

“Kill him,” Adu’lin cried. “Kill them both!”

The shadowed Mahk’lar host and the possessed Brothers moved as one. Adham whirled and ran.

When he returned to the hall, he discovered that Ba’Sel had fled. Cursing, he debated only half a moment before deciding that Ba’Sel, in all his demented madness, would have to fend for himself. Leitos was lost, and when the choice lay between his son and a madman, Adham saw no choice.

He sprinted from the hall, the Fauthian long sword in his hand ready to cleave the spirit from any enemy who came between him and escape.