SWNOVELS Fireblade: Chapter 13
I FACE THE BLADE’S anger as defiantly as I can, exasperated at the way he can follow our actions with that damnable scrying mirror of his, only holding back his interference when our plans happen to fit with what he wants.
“Shadow, I did not commit to working alongside you all the time. I said I would help you by killing the Usurper so that you could kill your enemy Nagal. I still intend to do that. It may make this coming battle easier for us to win. So be satisfied.”
His anger quietens like brittle ice that has lain frozen too long. “And how will you achieve that without my help? You will take the Guardian of Rahimar with you so that he can burn your precious capital and all its citizens to blackened ashes?”
I know the real cause of his anger is the thought that the Eldrin might come through all this with their reputation intact, denying him the chance to reclaim the source of his power. Even so, I have to admit he has a point when it comes to Zandar’s unpredictable fiery nature and the danger he would present to any Samarian city. I search for a way to postpone the argument about working with the dragon. For a while at least.
“Fine. I’ll go with you to Corinium and fight alongside you until Nagal is dead. But you will be wrecking your chances of seeing the Rapathians defeated if you try to stop me bringing Zandar to this final battle. So think about it.”
He doesn’t answer. I watch his pale features, tight with concentration, no doubt working on yet another strategy to get what he wants from me without conceding too much in return. Marin sees his chance and grabs my arm, steering me away, deeper into the maze, keeping his voice to a whisper.
“Do you know how far we need to go to be sure he can’t overhear us?”
“He isn’t using his mirror so we have a better chance of privacy than before. At least for a few minutes. Why?”
“Don’t kill Purmut. Beat him unconscious if you have to, but the invaders are weaker if he remains alive.”
“What? After all those weeks training for exactly that task?” I catch Marin’s twitch of impatience and force myself to consider the idea. “All right. It doesn’t look like it will prevent this battle in any case––but it would help if I knew why.”
“Kashia’s spy network picked up on new developments with the Rapathian hierarchy in the capital. The ongoing fight between House Raksan and House Kandil has seriously weakened both of those Rapathian clans.”
“That’s what we wanted isn’t it? What Trengar gave his life to achieve?” I still feel pangs of guilt rather than victory over my part in that particular operation.
“It’s not as simple as that. It upset the balance of power and influence among the Rapathian aristocrats. After you killed Akadian in the Northlands his second in command, Dragar, took over as commander of the entire Rapathian army.”
“So?”
“Now that House Kandil and House Raksan are weakened, Dragar’s House Sagan has emerged as the dominant Great House in the Rapathian hierarchy.”
I still find this kind of political gaming hard to follow.
“You’ll have to explain why this is a problem.”
“The Emperor maintains control by setting factions against each other. He has never allowed the head of a powerful House to also become head of the army. As soon as it became evident that Dragar’s clan, House Sagan, was becoming the dominant force, Purmut has been trying to oust him––and would have succeeded if he had been stationed in the capital instead of raiding villages and towns across the country.”
The logic of this is finally sinking in. “So with Purmut out of the way, the Rapathians could unite under Dragar, a powerful general who actually knows how to fight a battle?”
“Exactly. Conflict between the Emperor and his commander in chief splits the loyalties of the other Great Houses. Even more so with Nagal dead. If the Emperor loses Nagal he would lose his ability to lie so convincingly.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I try to think through what that will involve. “But I don’t really know why Shadow needs me there to help him in the first place. Maybe because of the weird curse that Valara laid on him all those centuries ago.”
Marin squeezes my hand. “If it comes down to a choice between you and the Emperor, make sure it’s you who survives.”
“Of course.” I can see how worried he looks. “Give my sister a hug from me. Maybe I can talk to her when I get back?”
“I’ll try to work something out.”
I feel the cold rush of air from dark wings and hastily push Marin away before the old enmity between the two deadly foes intensifies and causes more problems than we already have.
EVENING IS FADING INTO night when Shadow sets me down outside the city walls of Corinium. I can tell something is wrong by the way he simply waits in silence. This is a marked contrast to his usual arrogant way of issuing orders as if I have already agreed to follow them without question.
“Shadow? I assumed you already had a plan?”
“Every entry into the palace is heavily guarded.”
“So? You expect me to fight my way past a private army to get you in?”
“You would also need to cut your way through steel bars on every door. Including the new shutters installed on the Emperor’s apartment balcony where we previously broke in.”
“Seems like I would have been better off burning my way through the walls with Zandar.”
He gives a twitch of annoyance. “That overgrown firestorm would have no motivation to kill Nagal. A useless waste of our time.”
The arrogance and disrespect for another Elemental who just happens to have ensured a significant victory over our enemy sparks a furious flash of red hot fury around me before I remember to keep the fire under control.
Shadow steps back with a hiss of anger and pain.
“Don’t ever burn that cursed dragonfire near me again! Or you will wish you had never been born.”
I make no apology. He deserved a deal worse than a mere scorched wing. “If you don’t like my association with Zandar you should have said something before the two of us took the time and trouble to defeat the Rapathian army. I didn’t notice you volunteering to take on that task.”
He ignores the taunt. “Stop wasting time. You need me for this mission.”
“Actually, it’s the other way around. You need my help. And you kept that fact quiet until I was stuck here and forced to give you what you want.”
He doesn’t answer. It gives me little satisfaction to know my guess was accurate. My only hope now is that Kashia and her spy network will be able to find a way inside the palace. Assuming she can overcome the hatred and distrust the Eldrin have always held for my deadly associate.
“I can show you which street to take me to, but you’ll need to stay outside until I can persuade my friends to work with you instead of killing you.”
“The Eldrin gave up trying to kill me centuries ago.”
“That doesn’t mean they will help you.”
He relapses into stony silence again, eventually agreeing to leave me outside the warehouse where I last saw Kashia. I watch him fade into the black shadows of the grimy alleyway before I dare announce my presence with the coded knock on the warehouse door I learned on my previous visit.
The waiting is nerve-wracking. I have no idea whether Kashia and her team have moved elsewhere but I’m gambling that even if they have, one of her spies will notice me before the Rapathian guards catch me breaking curfew.
It works. After a few minutes a hand grips my shoulder as one of Kashia’s lookouts whispers in my ear.
“Ariel! Move, before the guards see you.” His face is concealed beneath the hood of his dark cloak.
“I need to find Kashia.”
“This way. Marin’s hawk reached us less than half an hour ago and she sent everyone she could spare into the streets, looking for you.”
“She knows why I’m here?”
“Marin’s message said only that he heard you had returned from Annubia. Kashia guessed you would be back here to finish what you started––”
He glances uneasily behind. “Someone is following.”
“A necessary associate.”
His frosty silence tells me he knows who I mean. He stops at the rear of another run-down warehouse on the edge of the old market quarter. It is one of the few corners of the city I know slightly from my trading visits, back when life was peaceful enough to almost seem dull and uneventful.
His knock makes a pattern I haven’t heard before and the door opens, revealing a mildewed flight of stone steps leading downward. Kashia has relocated her base from dusty attic to another hidden cellar, illuminated by a single flickering lantern.
She looks up from the sheet of parchment spread across a rough-hewn wooden bench. I notice that she is even thinner than I remember. Then I look around at the other three people in the cramped space and see them all showing signs of exhaustion as well as looking half starved.
Kashia seems to read my mind––or more likely the shocked expression on my face.
“There is hardly any food getting into the city now that everything is being raided to supply the occupying Rapathian army. The old and weak are already dying of starvation.”
“What about people living in the countryside?”
She shakes her head. “I have no current information. It has become too difficult for messengers to get past the raiding parties the Usurper sends out. All I have are brief hawk-messages from Marin at Blackthorn and the few Eldrin who are left guarding Maratic.”
No wonder Marin and Jantian feel they have little time left to launch their counter-attack.
“Kashia, do any of your tunnels survive? Close enough to get into the castle via the dungeons we infiltrated last time, when we rescued the army generals?”
Her eyes narrow. She knows only too well who I am working with.
“Ariel. You know I can’t reveal Eldrin secrets to that abomination of an Elemental.”
“I think we’re past worrying too much about who we get help from. Marin told me we have everything to lose by delaying.”
“How do I know the Blade won’t corrupt everyone I send with you?”
I know Marin has explained this to her, but I suppose old prejudices run deep and change slowly. Even among the Eldrin. Or maybe their strict discipline actually makes it harder for them to absorb new ideas.
“He couldn’t corrupt your people even if he wanted to. Not now the binding with me is complete.”
Kashia doesn’t try to hide her expression of distaste as she steps away to put a little more distance between us.
“He could still kill them.”
“Probably, but only with a blade like anyone else. Not with his elemental power like he could before. And he has no reason to. He needs your help to gain access to the castle.”
She still looks suspicious. “Why would he give up so much of his power?”
Maybe her reticence doesn’t come solely from habits she acquired from training with an ancient Order. Analysis, guile, suspicion, they are all part of what it means to be a spymaster.
“Kashia, he said it was the only way he could kill Nagal. That is now far more important to him than gaining a few more adepts who will only get hunted down and executed before they can train to become the army he once hoped for. I think he has finally accepted that approach would never work.”
“An army he planned to use to reclaim Maratic. Don’t forget, that is his main desire. Once the Nagal is dead, that will be his priority and then your goals will be totally different.”
“One step at a time.”
I refrain from saying more in case Shadow is watching and listening with that damn scrying mirror of his.
Kashia looks around at her companions. “Fine. If no one objects, I can show you one possible route. The Emperor’s guards have been clearing a way through the rockfall I brought down to block our escape with the generals. They seem determined to discover the full extent of our tunnel system. My scouts report that they came very close to a useable part of the underground network before they were diverted in the wrong direction.”
“Diverted? How?”
She shrugs. “Beating on the stone with hammers from another tunnel further away. That kind of sound can carry some distance underground. But it only buys us another day at most before they break into the main part of our system and we will have to retreat above ground.”
I decide not to comment on the fact that she is not, after all, revealing very much in the way of useful secrets to my unacceptable companion.
“Thanks, Kashia. Can we go now?”
She still does not look particularly happy about the arrangement but she steps back to let me return to the street door and let Shadow inside. Better than leaving him to smash it out of his way. Relations are strained enough as it is.
He issues one last warning to keep my dragonfire concealed lest it reveal our presence to Nagal. Then he follows me in silence, a pool of darkness in the ghostly light of Kashia’s firefly-sticks. I try not to think about the last time I walked through this dank, mildewed, rat-scurrying underground conduit, when I made a private promise to myself that I would never use such a dismal route ever again.
At last we reach Kashia’s two lookouts stationed at the blocked end of the run. She signals her people to start clearing the rubble on this side of the barrier before turning back to me.
“The guards will soon hear us and start work on the other side. You need to be ready to attack as soon as they come through.”
I watch the small avalanche her crew has already set off.
“I’ll make sure none of them can escape to raise the alarm.”
“Good. You’ll never make it as far as the Emperor’s apartments if you fail to stop every one of them. Since your last assassination attempt a small army has been posted in every passageway on protection detail.”
I launch into my usual hasty search for something positive to focus on before I have to engage in a battle that might well be my last.
“At least it divided the army that is currently raiding farms and villages outside the city. Reduced the numbers for Marin to deal with in the final battle. Maybe my previous failure achieved something useful?”
She doesn’t reply. Considering how the invaders still outnumber our own military by more than three to one, it is a very small grain of an advantage.
Then any thought of a larger plan fades to insignificance as the harsh guttural yells of the Rapathian guards carry through the gaps opening in the crumbling barrier ahead.