Frostborn: The False King (37 page)

He sprinted around the pond. Another urvaalg sprang at him, its red eyes flashing, and Gavin stepped into the attack, driving Truthseeker into the creature’s jaws. The soulblade crunched deep into the urvaalg’s gullet, white fire pouring down the blade, and the urvaalg collapsed. A second urvaalg came at him, and Gavin got his shield up in time to block the creature’s attack, its claws rasping against the dwarven steel. The urvaalg’s weight drove him back, and Gavin twisted to the side, pulling his shield tight against his body. The urvaalg stumbled past him and splashed into the edge of the pond, and Gavin thrust Truthseeker into the back of its neck. The urvaalg shuddered and went still as he pulled the soulblade free.

Two more urvaalgs slain…but another hundred to go. 

He caught his breath and ran forward, drawing upon his bond with Truthseeker for speed and strength.

Then Kurdulkar’s voice boomed over the garden, and shadows exploded everywhere. 

A dome of shadows rushed across the garden, and Gavin reacted on instinct, snapping up Truthseeker in guard. The soulblade snarled with white fire, and the tide of shadows washed past Gavin, blocking out the noon sun and cloaking the world in rippling black haze. Yet the shadows stopped six inches or so from him, driven back by the soulblade’s fire. 

The shadows would paralyze anyone they touched, draining away their strength and leaving them helpless before any attackers. With so many urvaalgs loose in the garden, it would be a slaughter. Gavin had to find and kill Kurdulkar as soon as possible. 

He started forward and saw another flash of white light in the gloom.

Kharlacht and Caius had collapsed at the edge of the pond, the shadows crawling over them. Ridmark stood over the orcish warrior and the dwarven friar, Ardrhythain’s black staff shining with white symbols in his hand. The symbols upon the staff kept the shadows from closing around Ridmark, allowing him freedom of movement so long as he still held the weapon. 

“Gavin!” said Ridmark. 

“Gray Knight,” said Gavin. “The shadows.”

“Aye, Kurdulkar’s doing,” said Ridmark. “We have to find him and kill him at once, else we are finished. Calliande can hold back the power, but not from everyone at once. If we don’t take Kurdulkar, it’s over.” 

“I can move as well,” said a woman’s voice, cold and clear. Gavin turned his head and saw a blur of blue armor and black hair and pale face. Third stood unprotected in the storm of shadows, but they didn’t seem to hinder her.

“Can you travel behind him and cut his throat?” said Gavin. That seemed dishonorable, but with so many lives at stake, it was the quickest way to victory.

“I cannot, Sir Gavin,” said Third. “The shadow of Incariel inhibits my power. I cannot travel so long as the shadow covers us.”

“Fine,” said Ridmark, raising his staff. “We’ll do it the hard way. Come on!” 

He ran forward, Gavin and Third following him. Gavin wondered how effective Third would be without her power. Then again, she had survived for a thousand years as an urdhracos in the Traveler’s service. Ridmark ran deeper into the thickening shadows, holding up the staff of Ardrhythain like a torch. 

Then Gavin saw Kurdulkar. 

The manetaur Prince strode towards where Ector and his men-at-arms battled the urvaalgs, their burning swords like candle flames in the darkness. The shadows poured out from Kurdulkar like poisoned blood from an infected wound. The manetaur Prince wore his crimson armor and diadem, and in his hands he carried twin battle axes of red steel, both dripping with the blood of his fellow manetaurs. 

And Kurdulkar himself had…changed.

The shadow of Incariel had altered him. He was bigger and more muscular than Gavin remembered. His golden fur was greasier and more ragged, and the shadows swirled and danced in his eyes like flies buzzing over a corpse. Black veins throbbed in his arms and legs as if the shadows had replaced his blood. At that moment he looked a little like an ursaar or perhaps a giant urvaalg, and Gavin wondered if Kurdulkar realized what the shadow was doing to him. 

Ridmark planted himself in Kurdulkar’s path, a half-dozen yards from the manetaur Prince, and Kurdulkar halted, the axes ready in his hands. Gavin stopped at Ridmark’s right, and Third at his left. 

“How did you escape?” said Kurdulkar in Latin. His voice carried a strange, rasping buzz as if the shadow has twisted his throat as well. “Ralakahr never failed me before. You must have had help.”

“Perhaps the shadow made him a less worthy Hunter,” said Ridmark.

Kurdulkar snarled. “Answer the question.” 

“He was sloppy,” said Ridmark.

Kurdulkar tilted his head to the side, frowning.

“He didn’t look up,” said Ridmark. “I jumped from a bridge, landed upon his back, and strangled him.” 

Kurdulkar sneered, showing his fangs. They had started to darken, turning the shade of an urvaalg’s claws. “A coward’s attack.”

“Maybe,” said Ridmark. “Then come and avenge him.”

“Fool,” spat Kurdulkar. “The Hunters shall become the news gods of this world, and even the Frostborn shall bow to us. I shall sweep you from my path like an insect.”

“Stop talking,” said Ridmark, lifting his staff, “and do it.”

Kurdulkar roared and charged forward, his axes a crimson blur as shadows streamed from his limbs.

###

Step by slow step, Calliande advanced, holding the spells in her mind. 

A knot of defense had formed around her, Sir Ector’s men-at-arms and the warriors of the Red King and Curzonar retreating to the safety of her warding spell. Again and again, the urvaalgs charged them, only to be driven off by the burning blades of the men-at-arms or the blast of Camorak’s and Antenora’s spells. The arbiters unleashed their magic as well. Roots uncurled from the ground to entangle the urvaalgs, slowing them long enough for the men-at-arms to land killing blows, or pools of acidic mist rolled across the creatures, setting them aflame. Other arbiters cast blasts of fire or bolts of lightning or dagger-sharp shards of ice. 

Either Kurdulkar had ordered his urvaalgs to attack them, or the creatures had decided they were the greatest threat.

That was just as well. So long as they were attacking Calliande and the others, they wouldn’t hurt the manetaurs and the tygrai who had been left helpless by Kurdulkar’s storm of shadows.

Another urvaalg bounded into the warding spell and drove a man-at-arms to the ground, jaws reaching for his throat. Camorak reacted first, hitting the urvaalg with a shaft of white fire. The creature reeled back with a furious snarl, and two other men-at-arms attacked, cutting down the urvaalg. The wounded man-at-arms writhed on the ground, clutching at his throat, and Camorak hastened over and healed him, his perpetual grimace tightening as he absorbed the pain of the wound into himself. 

Calliande took careful steps forward, keeping the light of the warding spell upon the others. If she could just reach Kurdulkar and shatter the vortex of shadows centered upon him, perhaps they had a chance of winning this fight.

The battle raged, and Calliande focused upon holding her spells in place.

###

Kurdulkar came at Ridmark first, his axes a blur.

Ridmark had expected it. He had been a thorn in Kurdulkar’s side, and he had killed Ralakahr. Between Ridmark, Gavin, and Third, Gavin was the greatest threat, and Kurdulkar had to know that. 

Yet he came at Ridmark anyway. Maybe he didn’t think that a soulblade was a threat. 

Kurdulkar chopped his right axe at Ridmark’s face in a massive overhand blow, and Ridmark got his staff up in a horizontal block. Kurdulkar’s heavy axe, driven by the furious strength of a manetaur warrior, should have snapped Ridmark’s staff in half. Yet the blade of crimson steel rebounded from the staff of Ardrhythain as if it had struck an iron bar. The force of the blow knocked Ridmark back a step, but it also threw Kurdulkar off balance.

Ridmark recovered first, launching a furious volley of attacks, driving the end of his staff towards Kurdulkar’s face. Kurdulkar retreated, raising his axes in guard, and as he did, Gavin struck from the right and Third from the left. The Swordbearer swept Truthseeker towards Kurdulkar in a blazing sweep, and the manetaur danced to the side. The soulblade rebounded from the armor covering Kurdulkar’s flank, and the manetaur swung an axe at Gavin’s head. Gavin snapped his shield up, and even with the enhanced strength of a Swordbearer the strike knocked him back. Third sprang at Kurdulkar’s left, flicking her short swords with the delicacy of needles. Her attacks should have opened Kurdulkar’s throat, but the manetaur reacted with a blur of speed, his axe deflecting her thrusts. The tip of her right short sword clipped the side of his jaw, and Kurdulkar leaped backwards, landing a few yards away. Crimson blood dripped from the shallow cut, but even as Ridmark watched, shadow welled up from the wound, healing it. 

He stalked back towards Kurdulkar. One of the best ways to win a fight, any kind of fight, was to wear down an opponent, landing hit after minor hit until their stamina, at last, gave way. With the shadow of Incariel healing Kurdulkar’s wounds, that would become much harder.

But not impossible.

Not with the way that Kurdulkar regarded Gavin’s soulblade with wariness, the sword’s fire blazing like a star in the haze of shadows. That weapon had been forged to destroy creatures like the urvaalgs…and mortals like Kurdulkar, who had sold themselves to the darkness. 

Ridmark caught Third’s eye, and she nodded, circling to the left. Gavin circled to the right, Truthseeker shining, the sword’s fire reflecting in the dwarven steel of his shield.

Kurdulkar growled, raised his axes, and attacked. Third retreated, ducking and dodging around his blows, and Ridmark went on his own attack, coming at Kurdulkar from the manetaur’s other side. Kurdulkar moved between them, easily keeping ahead of their attacks, only for Gavin to charge into the fray, hammering blows at Kurdulkar’s armored side. His crimson armor turned the soulblade’s edge, but the shadows surrounding Kurdulkar recoiled from the sword’s fire as if they had been scalded. Ridmark pressed the attack, sweeping his staff at Kurdulkar’s head, again and again, forcing Kurdulkar back as Gavin struck with Truthseeker. Yet Kurdulkar kept ahead of them, his axes and armor blocking Truthseeker’s fury, and he accepted the hits from Ridmark’s staff. The staff could not hit Kurdulkar hard enough to do any lasting damage, and the shadow of Incariel soon healed whatever injury Ridmark could inflict. His dwarven axe could have done more, but he dared not let go his staff to draw it from his belt. 

Again Kurdulkar leaped backwards, farther than even a manetaur warrior should have been able to jump, and landed a half-dozen yards away. Ridmark, Gavin, and Third advanced on him, the shadows sweeping around them like curtains of smoke. Kurdulkar drew back his left arm, and Ridmark braced himself, preparing to duck the throw of an axe. 

The Prince’s arm hurtled forward, but instead of throwing the axe, a stream of shadows burst from his fist, so dark it was like a tear in the fabric of the world. The shaft of darkness slammed into Third and hit her with the force of a charging horse. Third let out a startled cry, tumbled backwards, and slammed into a nearby pile of boulders. 

She slumped to the ground and did not get up again.

Gavin yelled and stepped into the stream of shadows, Truthseeker raised before him. There was a clanging noise, and Gavin rocked back, the sword burning in his fist. The shaft of shadows shattered and unraveled, snapping away like a taut rope suddenly cut, and Kurdulkar roared and charged forward, whipping his axes around. Gavin was still stunned from the attack, and Ridmark leapt into the fray, sweeping his staff back and forth as he tried to keep the enraged manetaur from the dazed Swordbearer. Kurdulkar’s axes rang against his staff, and Ridmark retreated. Gavin tried to join the fighting and then stumbled, breathing hard, leaning upon Truthseeker for balance. Deflecting the attack had taken a great deal out of him. Kurdulkar could have finished Gavin off with a single strike, or killed Third where she struggled to stand, but his full attention was upon Ridmark. 

And he had driven Ridmark to the edge of the water. Soon Ridmark would be out of room to retreat, and the battle would be over. 

He shifted, trying to catch his footing on the uneven ground near the pond’s shore.

The battle would be over, unless…

He retreated to the edge of the water.

Again Kurdulkar came at him, and again Ridmark caught the downward blow of an axe upon his staff. This time, he let Kurdulkar’s weight push him back, releasing his left hand from the length of the staff. The sheer strength of Kurdulkar’s arm drove Ridmark’s right arm down, the end of the staff slamming against the ground.

And Kurdulkar shifted, his paws scraping against the loose ground as he struggled for balance.

Ridmark seized Morigna’s dwarven dagger from his belt and stabbed, plunging the blade into the side of Kurdulkar’s neck. The manetaur reared back with a furious roar, the motion ripping the dagger from Ridmark’s grasp even as Kurdulkar’s left axe lashed for Ridmark’s head. Ridmark dodged the blow, stepped back, and swung his staff with both hands.

The tip of the weapon struck the end of the dagger, driving the blade deeper into Kurdulkar’s flesh. Kurdulkar’s enraged roar turned into a bloody gurgle of agony. No matter how powerful the shadow of Incariel, it could not heal a wound with a weapon still embedded in the flesh. Ridmark knocked aside Kurdulkar’s next clumsy blow and swung three times in rapid succession, hammering the staff against the top of Kurdulkar’s skull with all his strength. 

On the fourth blow, Kurdulkar fell to his knees, his shadow-filled eyes dazed and confused.

“No,” he rasped, blood bubbling over his fangs. “I was…promised. We were to be as gods, as…”

Ridmark seized the axe from his belt and brought it down, ending the fight.

Kurdulkar’s corpse collapsed to the ground, and as it did, the vortex of shadows unraveled, shooting away in all directions as it dissipated. The noon sun flooded back into the garden, shockingly bright. Ridmark looked around, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. He saw Kharlacht and Caius getting to their feet, saw Gavin and Third following suit. A large knot of manetaur warriors and tygrai soldiers had gathered around Turcontar and Curzonar, and Ridmark saw Calliande and Antenora and Camorak with them.