SWNOVELS Iceblade: Chapter 22
THE DARK CLOUD OF SHADOWBLADE wings swirls around me, dulling the clash of steel and the stink of blood and death and suddenly I’m aware of the intuitive rapport I found so elusive with the Eldrin. Somehow I know exactly where his cloaking shadow conceals me from the Rapathians surrounding me, telling me exactly where to strike.
It feels almost like the choreographed dance of paired forms in the training cave, except that there is no humming wave of power in the air, just Shadow’s freezing ice-fire and my own clarity of vision.
I don’t know how long this deadly dance lasts, but the sound of war-horns gradually fills my ears. The Northland clans have finally arrived in support and have used the perched trail to outflank the invaders. The misty grey of shadowy wings withdraws and I look across the tangled heaps of Rapathian dead. Beyond, those still alive are kneeling in surrender to a huge red-haired warrior who looks so like Brac he has to be his father.
At some point I will have to explain to him that it is my fault his son is dead. But not now. I turn and scramble up the tangle of boulders to find Brac, noticing with a shiver that Steen’s body lies unmoving next to Allantis’ corpse.
Was that my fault too?
I reach the flat terrace to see Marin crossing the rocky ground to reach me. He stops, taking in the pile of dead at my feet and the tall form of the Blade standing at my shoulder, cloaked once more in his own dark wings under the deeper shadow of the cliffs. The two longtime adversaries make no attempt to either attack each other or back off.
I can’t bear the look on Marin’s face as he stares at me.
“Marin, I’m sorry. It was the only way.”
“It’s done now.” He tries not to make it sound accusatory but I can tell by the way he avoids my eyes he is thinking through all the other choices I might have made. Choices that would not have left Brac and Allantis to die. Choices that wouldn’t lead to working with the very Shadow whose adepts he has spent so many years hunting down.
Hagen reaches Brac’s body before I do. He stares down at his blood-splattered face for a brief moment, his expression unreadable.
He turns to Marin. “Acquitted himself well, for a murderer. Pity he cheated me of my revenge.” He turns on his heel and walks away, calling his warriors and heading back to Raven. I take an angry step after him, then feel Marin’s hand on my arm reminding me how precarious and unpredictable this alliance still is. I wrestle with my temper and kneel beside Brac, searching for even the faintest tremor of a pulse at his neck. It’s there and he is still warm. I look up at Marin, clinging to a last shred of hope.
“Is he dying?”
“Yes.”
To the exclusion of all others.
I look round at the Blade, still standing like a silent dark cloud in the shadow of the rock wall.
“Shadow. If I heal Brac will it torment him to take more power from Maratic the way Trengar did?”
“No. I told you. Your power is bound with mine now.”
Marin grabs my wrist even as I reach out to Brac.
“You can’t trust him!”
“No. I can’t. But he doesn’t tell direct lies, just withholds any bits of truth when it suits his purpose. It’s still a risk but if Brac is going to die anyway, at least this gives him a chance.”
“So long as this time it’s not me who has to put an arrow in him if it all goes wrong.” Nem stomps off to the edge of the rocks. Marin reluctantly releases my wrist and signals me to go ahead.
I lay my hands over the deep wound in Brac’s chest and let the full force of healing power flow into him, letting it stop at exactly the amount he needs without exhausting myself for whatever I have to deal with next. I want to stay beside him longer but I can sense the tension in those watching, so I wave Nem to take over and bring him water. Eagerly, I turn to Allantis and Steen but I’m too late to save them. Their eyes are glazed and their bodies cooling.
I can’t meet the disappointment in Nem’s gaze as I scramble to my feet and step away to rejoin the Blade. Marin takes my hand and turns me towards him, pain and uncertainty written on his face. He must know as well as I do there is no coming back from what I’ve done.
“Ariel, what now?”
“I don’t know. But I think I learned what the Usurper’s weakness is. His power of coercion, to compel the hordes to obey his will––it isn’t his own. It comes from the binding with Nagal, the Elemental the Rapathians venerate as a war-god.”
The Blade steps forward and lays a proprietorial hand on my shoulder.
“Which is why I need her bound to me. Only when she kills the Emperor can I can kill my old enemy.”
I can hear the quiet fury in Marin’s answer. “You have been planning this for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Several centuries. Previous plans didn’t succeed. This one did.”
I remove the pale hand from my shoulder.
“It isn’t finished yet.”
“But you will fulfil your part in it if you want to avoid the final battle. The Rapathian army in the capital still outnumbers your battle-weary infantry four to one. If you plan to solve this by force of arms, it can only be defeated by empowering adepts like Trengar.”
My pulse jumps as I sense another trick. “You said that I can’t do that anymore, not now I’m bound to you?”
He doesn’t answer, but that infuriating, triumphant smile is back, telling me this is no bluff. And then I see it.
Marin.
In that instant I can tell Marin sees it too.
“Now you both understand.” Shadow’s words are smooth, tempered with the taste of victory. “Ariel, when you have long lonely centuries to plan, when you watch enough failures crush your hopes into dust, you learn from mistakes. Your mother was a healer who refused to learn to fight as well as she could have done. Who refused to use her power for healing and relied only on herbs and potions. But you were in a situation to give me what I wanted. You needed fight-skills to save your sister. And then I watched your urge to heal breaking through the bloodlust my gift gave you, your need to be accepted by your friends overcoming your focus on mindless killing. The reason you were not executed for being an adept.
“And I watched how at last, you made the Eldrin trust you, enough to train you, bring you into their inner circle, so that you could heal them and create the human key to our success. I have watched Marin fighting the lust for power you planted in him. Eventually he will give in to it. He will kill his father and nephew and declare who he really is. Then, as king he will become the greatest warlord this country has ever known, powerful enough to drive the Rapathian hordes into the sea with his great army of adepts.”
No!” I push him away. “The shame of breaking his oath, going against everything he believes in… it would destroy him. Destroy the Eldrin.”
“Possibly. But that or total defeat is the choice before him. Unless you come with me, kill the Emperor, and avoid that ultimate confrontation.”
Marin listens and says nothing, but the quiet fury in his eyes is enough. I glare defiantly at the powerful Elemental who used us so ruthlessly.
“Give us a few minutes.” I don’t wait for him to acknowledge before taking Marin’s arm and walking away a few paces until we have some space and quiet.
“Marin, I have to go with him. If I can kill the Emperor and cause enough chaos in their hierarchy to force the invaders to return home, it will save thousands of lives. Even if it doesn’t avoid a final battle, it will save the Eldrin if you’re not forced to win by breaking every oath you’ve ever sworn to uphold.”
“By turning you into the most dangerous Blade adept this country has ever known? Someone I then have to hunt down and kill?”
“Probably. But… I think it’s already too late to stop that happening now. May as well put it to some use.” I turn to go but Nem steps in front of me.
“Marin, you can’t allow Eldrin crysteel alongside an abomination like the Shadowblade. Ariel must return them to you.”
The final confirmation of what I have become. My hands move to unbuckle the harness.
Marin signals me to stop. “Nem, Ariel is giving up everything she ever hoped for in an effort to free this country and preserve the integrity of the Eldrin. If we can remember the sacrifice of five dead warriors back in history, we should at least be able to give some respect to the sacrifice of the living.” He lays his hands over mine, stilling my fingers. “Take your blades. I will make sure the Eldrin know what you have done for us.”
“Even if they have to hunt me down and kill me afterwards?”
“Even that.” He gives me a gentle shove toward the Shadowblade and the look on his face tells me that whatever pain awaits me in this next stage of my life, it will be nothing to what he will suffer for pushing me to do this.