As we left the ceremony, Aysulu caught sight of Jin and his companions, and congratulated them on being named champions. I had purchased some of the Cerean spirits the night before, hoping to celebrate, but my plans had been thwarted by Reva calling the meeting. It was of no matter: we had much more to celebrate now, as both our teams would have a chance at the Sword of Heaven over the next two days. We extended an invitation to meet us at our safe house for drinks, and the disciples of the Dragon Temple gladly accepted.
Alas, it was not to be.
We walked in the darkness through the market and into the industrial quarter. The great back of the forge, still quiet and cold, stood against a background of stars. I was renewed in my purpose, my doubts set aside. With half the champion teams on the side of the miners’ rebellion, our chances of one of us winning the sword were looking quite good. The weight of my axe on my shoulder reassured me, and kept my thoughts from flying off to fears and memories of elsewhere. Perhaps if I had been afraid, I would have been better prepared.
A shadow darted from between the houses on our right side, followed by another to the left. Two men in gray, their faces covered by featureless masks, blocked our path, one carrying a sword in each hand, the other with a bow drawn and an arrow nocked. They were almost invisible in the dark of the evening, the gray of their clothing blending into the shadows.
“You have become quite the thorn in the side of the Ascended,” one of them growled.
I readied my axe, and Aysulu’s bow was strung and ready in a flash. I crossed the distance between us and the Serpents and swung.
His swords met the blade of my axe with a clash of metal on metal, and he staggered backward against the weight of my blow. I feinted a low strike under his guard, and when he moved to block it, I brought the iron-capped pommel at the end of the shaft around and struck him in the face.
His mask cracked and fell in two pieces, shattering on the ground in a shower of ceramic shards. He fell to the ground, stunned, and did not move.
I kicked the swords from his reach and turned my attention to the man with the bow.
An arrow flew past his head and he ducked, returning an arrow that clattered against a stone wall some distance away. Aysulu had ducked behind one of the houses, taking Khalim and Garvesh with her into relative safety. I saw her upper body appear from around the corner as she sent another arrow toward her opponent, catching him with a glancing blow to one thigh.
The Serpent stumbled and cried out in pain, but he regained his footing and readied another arrow. I aimed to split his bow in two, and with it the man himself.
Before I could strike, I heard a cry of alarm from my companions. Khalim staggered backward from cover into the street, a hand clutched to his shoulder. After him came Aysulu, reaching for her knife, and then a third Serpent, his poisoned knife bloody.
The assassins had not come here for Aysulu and me. I had been foolish to think that their head-on attack was all they had planned. Of course their true intention was to slay the one who could turn the people’s loyalty away from the Seven.
Cursing my shortsighted stupidity, I left the archer where he stood and in three long strides stepped between Khalim and his attacker.
Aysulu was quicker than I, and she loosed two arrows in rapid succession after the Serpent that I had ignored, taking him down before he could shoot at my exposed back.
The street lit up as Khalim tried to heal himself and draw out the poison, but the light was dim and unsteady. I had seen him cure Rhea in our previous encounter with the Serpents, and I hoped he could do it again. I felt rage build within me, tinting the world with red. How dare they break the tenets of the Cerean Tournament and attack us. How dare they harm Khalim, who had never raised a hand to anyone in all his life. He was under my protection, and I was a warrior of the Bear Clan. I swore they would not touch him again as long as I drew breath.
With a great cry of fury, I swung my axe. The Serpent’s masked head separated from his neck. Blood sprayed onto the cobblestones as he fell in two pieces.
I surveyed the scene. The archer was dead, and now the one with the poison dagger was as well. The swordsman whose mask I had shattered was gone. Had he fled, like the Serpent we had encountered earlier, believing his work to be done?
Garvesh and Aysulu were unharmed. I helped Khalim to his feet, and though he no longer bled from the wound at his shoulder, it was raw and open. He swayed as he stood.
He mumbled a thanks and set about attempting again to close the wound. I gently took my hand from his, and he did not fall, so I began searching for the last Serpent.
Aside from the shards of ceramic and the bodies of his companions, there was no sign that the Serpent had been here, much less where he had gone. It was as though he had vanished into the air.
“We should warn Jin and the others that the Serpents are about,” Aysulu said. “If they’re willing to attack us, surely they’ll attack others.”
I nodded. They had been after Khalim, but I could not say whether they would pursue other targets as well. “What should we do with the bodies?”
“Leave them?” said Aysulu with a shrug. “They aren’t supposed to exist. Let the people of Phyreios see the truth with their own eyes.”
It seemed callous to abandon them where they lay, but I did not want to waste any more time out of doors, where there could be more Serpents in each darkened alley. “We’re not far from the house,” I said. “We should go.”
I turned back to Khalim. He looked a little steadier, and his injury was no longer visible. His clothing was stained with blood.
Without warning, the Serpent materialized from the shadows, the darkness coalescing into a human form. Khalim’s eyes went wide and he turned, bringing his empty hands up to protect himself.
I hefted my axe and ran, and Aysulu drew another arrow.
Garvesh was closest, and he struck the Serpent with his walking stick. The wood connected with the man’s arm with a crack. The Serpent’s young face, now without a mask, cringed in pain, and he pushed Garvesh aside and stuck his dagger into Khalim’s side.
I was face to face with the Serpent in an instant, and I cut him down. I pulled my axe from his neck and let him fall to the bloodstained cobbles.
The knife had sliced into Khalim’s arm and glanced off his side, under his ribs. He was bleeding, but not heavily. His hands glowed again, but the light flickered and dimmed, and without a word, he collapsed beside his attacker.
His chest rose and fell with his breath, but he would not respond when I tried to rouse him. His limbs twitched and shivered. He made no sign that he heard me calling his name. I lifted him over one shoulder, and put my axe over the other, and I followed Garvesh back to the safe house as Aysulu brought up the rear.
Khalim still lived when I laid him on his narrow bed in the safe house, but he did not stir. The tremors in his arms and legs had ceased, and he was as motionless as death, eyes closed and darting back and forth beneath his lids. Was he dreaming again of the Ascended? Would the god who had brought him forth from his home to challenge them let him die here?
I sat on the floor with my back against the frame of his bed, my axe forgotten at my feet. Aysulu and Garvesh stood in the doorway, but I did not acknowledge them. It was I who had sworn to protect him, and my failure that had resulted in this. I did not know how much longer he would live. If he were to wake, I knew he could heal his wounds and draw out the poison, but he responded to nothing.
Without Khalim, Reva’s plans to save the city would fall apart. She had a number of the miners already on her side, but she could not gain a following of the citizens as large as he could, especially since the guards would slay her on sight. Our chances of winning the Sword of Heaven would disappear without a mage and a healer.
And as for me? Despite the shadows of my companions in the doorway, and the soft sound of Khalim breathing behind my head, I felt the madness of solitude encroaching on my awareness. In the darkened room, I thought that I heard the winter winds, and that I saw a shimmer of light in red and blue hovering at the rough joint between the interior wall and the thatched roof. The illusion disappeared with a shake of my head, and I was aware once more of my surroundings.
There was a knock at the door. Aysulu and Garvesh shared a glance before they went to answer it. I heard Jin’s greeting and Heishiro’s offer of a bottle of rice wine, and Aysulu explain what had happened to us on the road back from the arena. Our celebration would have to wait until Khalim woke, if indeed he ever did.
“What can we do to help?” Jin asked.
I had been left without answers, but Aysulu, as ever, was quicker-thinking than I. “Go back to the Flower of the Mountain,” she said. “Find whatever you can to counter poison, and tell everyone you meet that the Ascended’s agents have attacked Khalim.”
“Word will spread,” Jin replied. “Even if the people do not believe that the Ascended would do this, it is on them that a competitor was waylaid in their city. I will bring our other companions here, as well, in case another Serpent appears to finish the job.”
“I’ll go with you,” Garvesh said. “I have a book on medicine…” His voice trailed off as he went to his room to search for it.
The door opened and shut again, and I heard Aysulu moving around the common room, lighting the fire and clattering the iron pots. I stayed where I was, in the dark, feeling as helpless as I had on the winter shore after my shipwreck. I could fight ordinary men, and monsters, but I could no more do battle with the Ascended than I could the weather. Slaying the Serpents had not saved Khalim.
After some time—it must have been well after midnight, but my perception of time wasn’t to be trusted without any light—Garvesh returned with the Dragon Disciples. I heard only brief exchanges of conversation as they shared their drinks and brewed some kind of medicine that smelled of earth and burnt grass.
Some time later, Aysulu brought a light and two clay cups into the room where I kept vigil. “This is for him,” she said, handing me the first cup, “and this is for you.” The cup tucked under her elbow held a generous portion of Cerean spirits.
I took them both, and she set the light down on the floor and sat down beside me.
“Has there been any change?” she asked.
I shook my head. Stretching my cramped limbs, I stood and shook Khalim gently by the shoulder. Again, he made no response. I lifted his head and tipped the cup of medicine into his mouth. He swallowed most of it; a good sign, but one that did not much help my worries.
“He’ll wake up,” Aysulu said. “He’ll heal himself, and everything will be well. You should rest. I can sit with him.”
“No. It’s my fault he was hurt. I’ll stay here.” I downed most of the spirits in one draught and returned to my place beside the bed. The liquor burned down my throat and settled uneasily in my belly.
“You shouldn’t blame yourself. Have you ever seen a man turn invisible before?” She gave an exhausted sigh. “If there is blame to be taken, then we should share it, at the very least. I am as skilled a fighter as you,” she added with a half-smile.
Of course she was—in some ways, she was far better, but even as I knew it was true, it did not help me think any more clearly. “This has happened before,” I told her. “The error was mine then, too. The people I care about end up dead.”
Aysulu cocked her head and favored me with an appraising look. “You care about me, don’t you? How long have we known each other?” Before I could interrupt, she held up a hand. “I know, it’s different. He’ll wake up, Eske. If there was ever anyone the gods would favor with good fortune, it would be Khalim.”
I did not answer.
She stood then, leaving the candle on the floor beside me. “I’ll let you be. At least get some rest. Wake me if anything changes.”
I watched the flame dance, and listened to Khalim breathe. There were still many hours to wait before dawn.
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