Sean Russell - The Shadow Roads

Elise leapt from the stream, running toward the two men. Sheraised her sword, and Tam thought that certainly Hafydd would fall now.

As Elise was about to strike a blow, Hafydd spun in acircle, fire spraying from his blade. He threw a circle of flame around thethree of them, and Tam was sure he heard the sorcerer shout in triumph. Theflames leapt up, and smoke billowed out, driving Tam down onto his haunches onthe stream’s far shore. He realized that the battle was still being fought,riders clashing furiously, knots of men hewing at each other, screaming in rageand pain. It all seemed so distant.

Elise was blinded by fire and smoke, holding up an arm to protecther face from the heat. Hafydd was lost in the fire, as was Alaan. She had beenhere before … long ago.

She remembered.

The walls had been thrown down, gates torn from theirhinges. He had dammed up the river … with a spell, until the streambed itself ran dry, and his armies came swarming over what had once been an impenetrablemoat - her great defense. Armies fell upon each other and were consumed infire and magic .

The memories came back to her, drifting back.

Smoke and flame everywhere, stone burning, exploding fromheat. And he had pursued her up into the ruin of a tower, where there was noescape but into the air. Sianon had backed up the broken stair, Caibre inpursuit, hobbling where she’d wounded him - wounded him at great price,for he’d run a sword through her left arm, which hung useless, blood oozingthrough the rag she’d tied around it .

His helmet was silver, reflecting the fire of his sword: she remembered that - and his face contorted in rage. She shrank away,toward the shattered wall, hardly a parapet .

Caibre stopped at the stair head, looking quickly around,realizing then that she was trapped. “Come, Sister, ” he said, his voicesoft and malevolent, “I will send you to join your beloved brother …”

“ A place I would go gladly,” she said. “But not alone.. ..”

Dim figures appeared in the smoke; Hafydd and Alaan, lockedin battle. She lurched forward to support Alaan, but they were gone, swept awayin the whirling smoke.

Caibre used his great sword two-handed, like Slighthand,but she had only one good arm and was forced to rely on quickness and guile.She leapt onto the wall and almost landed behind him, for he was hobbling andslow - if it wasn’t all an act. Caibre was ever cunning and duplicitous .

A horse and rider, entirely aflame, raced by, and Elisebarely jumped clear. The heat was unbearable and she choked and coughed, thesmoke burning her throat and lungs, searing her eyes. A black billowing cloudforced her to turn, driving her to her knees.

She had stumbled at last, despite her swiftness, andbarely rolled out of the way of Caibre’s stroke. His sword rang on the stonebeside her head.

The smoke clung to her, as though it had claws, but a smallbreeze tore it free, and Hafydd stood before her, sword raised. She was aboutto leap aside when she realized he was turned away from her, and there, barelyvisible, Alaan braced himself, sword high. Elise did not hesitate, but sprangforward, slashing at the back of Hafydd’s knee. But at the last second hemoved, and drove the pommel of his sword into her head.

The memories burned inside her …

He had trapped her in the tower, and no matter what shedid, kept himself between her and the stair. Several times their swords met,and even one-handed she did not falter. She kicked his good foot out from underhim, sending Caibre crashing down on the stone, but with only one good arm shecould not finish him. He turned her blows aside, rising slowly, finallyfinding his feet, still limping and slow, but formidable even so. She cut hisforearm, and saw him bleed, and he struck her good hand a glancing blow withthe flat of his blade, cracking a bone. The afternoon bore on to evening, thesorcerers in the tower locked in combat, burning stones tumbling down thewalls, where they bounced and rolled into the riverbed and lay hissing in thedamp earth.

Elise fell forward, dazed, but some shred of awareness toldher hand to hold on to the sword. The world seemed to draw away, the sounds offire and battle fading. She expected the final blow-the point driven into herheart or the blade slicing through her neck-but it did not come. And then thesounds of battle came drifting back, the blistering heat. She opened her eyes,and saw a hand, bleeding, holding a smoky blade. She forced herself up on oneknee, where coughing and nausea stopped her. For a moment she reeled, thenforced herself to stagger up. Alaan could not stand against Hafydd alone. Sheknew.

She tried to turn the blow aside, but it struck her swordfull force … shattering the blade, leaving her with a foot of steel. Sianonleapt back, looking desperately around. Caibre lumbered forward, driving herinto a corner with his flaming sword, too long to elude.

“Ah, Sister,” he said. “You disappoint me. Sainth put upalmost as good a fight … before I cut him down.” He raised his blade, a faintsmile appearing.

Elise stumbled forward, barely able to raise her swordtwo-handed. She felt the memories inside her, body memories of battles and individualcombat. Many lifetimes of warfare. A deep breath and she opened the gate, lettingthe memories surge to the surface of her consciousness. Without Sianon, EliseWills would not survive this day. A rage came over her, a bloodlust. She felther grip tighten on the hilt of her sword, though she had not willed it. Therage was beyond her understanding, like a poison coursing through her veins,like acid. It focused her mind as though she saw the world through the keyholeof this hatred. Everything else was cast aside. There was only the battle. Thechance for revenge.

The rage was molten in her veins, the world reduced toher brother, standing over her with a sword. But he savored the moment toolong. She drove the broken point of her blade into the stone, shivering therock. There was a cistern below them, unknown to Caibre. It exploded like dustignited in a granary. Caibre stumbled, his stroke falling wide. The towerlurched and crumbled, tumbling into ruin, bringing down the curtain wallbelow. Sianon fell among the battering stones. Darkness …

And then the ripple of water.

Tam circled to the right of the wall of fire, trying to seethrough the flames and smoke, all the while glancing over his shoulder whereriders would appear, and disappear, horses running wild. A dark silhouettematerialized out of the smoke-a black-robed guard. Without hesitation, Tam wentat him with all the fury he could muster-there was no place for half measuresin battle. The fight was brutal and surprisingly short, the guard going downafter Tam slashed his knee, then put his blade through a gap in the guard’smail and into his throat. He went back to circling the fire, trying to see whathappened beyond. Shadows and dark shapes would appear faintly in theflame-apparitions, Tam thought, only clouds of billowing dark smoke.

He kept hoping beyond hope that there would be a gap in theflames that would let him through.

Hafydd loomed out of the murk, standing over someone prostrateon the ground. The knight lifted his sword high, and Elise stepped forward anddrove the point of her blade into Hafydd’s shoulder, rending the iron rings.Hafydd stumbled, half-falling over Alaan.

Elise jerked her blade free, then just barely dodged a blow,as Hafydd spun and slashed at her face.

Alaan rolled to his feet, shaking his head. Without a word,Alaan began to circle away to Hafydd’s left, Elise to his right, staying as farapart as possible.

“You’ve stopped taunting, Brother,” Alaan said. “Can you notcatch your breath?” He feinted toward Hafydd’s head, and Elise cut toward hisleg. But Hafydd was equal to it, dodging aside, almost catching Elise with thetip of his flaming sword.