Portal (Nina Decker) (15 page)

I couldn’t take the chance that she or Lord Wolfstriker or Dashrael would recognize my voice so I just nodded. This satisfied J’Tara.

She said, “Your challenge is accepted. We shall have three passes with the lance, three with the sword, and three blows with the dagger. Should all nine passes and blows be delivered and no victor declared then the prisoner shall go free. Should you defeat me during course of the tournament the prisoner shall go free. Should you lose, the prisoner is condemned and your freedom is forfeit. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

A horn sounded and J’Tara galloped to one end of the marble tilt barrier. I remounted my horse and headed to the other end. A servant arrived at my side and handed me a lance and a shield.

“Three passes with the lance!” yelled a crier from the gallery.

The moment my fingers touched both these objects I felt power surge through my body. It was the same as with the bow. It was my energy. My inner fire that flowed into these weapons.  My heart rose.

The lance began to glow as if filled with blue light. I heard a collective gasp from the audience. At the other end of the tilt barrier, J’Tara shifted in her saddle. She looked a little unsure of herself.

“Here comes the pain, bitch,” I muttered.

In the gallery my grandfather raised his hand.

I sat in the saddle tense. I willed my inner power into the lance. It crackled like the Tesla coil I’d seen at the science center.

Lord Wolfstriker dropped his hand.

We raced towards each other. In a split second J’Tara and I closed on each other. The fire rushed out of me and through the lance. A huge ball of light shot out of its tip…and completely missed J’Tara. It flew right at the crowded gallery. People screamed and ducked out of the way.

The sphere of light burst apart before it reached there. I saw the outline of a shield around the stands, like from out of a sci-fi movie. A sound like thunder echoed in the square.  I saw cracks form in the marble base as I made it to the end of the barrier. I was glad my helmet hid my face, to hide my shock of what had just happened.

I looked back and saw J’Tara. She seemed unsteady in her horse. She hadn’t fired a shot from her own lance. I was sure I had her nervous. That kept my confidence up.

Lord Wolfstriker raised and dropped his hand again and we set off for the second pass.

Again I felt the power leap out of my lance but I still couldn’t control it.  The blast was still powerful but badly off target.  The ball of light hit the ground and made a small crater. At least I wasn’t getting hit. J’Tara hadn’t even tried to hit me. It looked like she was focusing everything on her shield.

Frustration filled me when I reached the end of the barrier. I’d had two perfect chances to end this and I’d failed. I was still confident though. When it came to magic it seemed I was far stronger than J’Tara. But that wouldn’t do me any good if I couldn’t hit my opponent.  Again I wished I had my longbow. I knew I could hit my target with that.

I readied for my final pass with the lance. I lined up the point with J’Tara, focusing my concentration right on the center of her shield.  We started forward and I waited. The fire built up in me but I held it inside. In less than a second she was just ten yards away from me. I let out my third and final lance strike. The ball of energy hit.  I saw it roll right towards J’Tara.

There was a burst of bright light. It blinded me and I couldn’t see what happened. As I rode past I glanced back. I saw J’Tara’s horse but I didn’t see her.

I did it!
I thought.
I must have blown her off the saddle.

But then my heart sank.

As the horse reached the end of the barrier I saw she was still attached to her saddle. She was bent completely over, her upper body was parallel with the ground. Then she sat back up and the crowd cheered. Even I had to admire her for her acrobatic skills.

“Three passes with the sword!” announced the crier.

As the servant handed me a long silver blade I could feel something strange. I realized the smaller weapon didn’t amplify my power as much as the lance had. I began to worry. That meant J’Tara would be less concerned about defense and more focused on offence. I was also tired and winded, breathing hard even. I didn’t think I had exerted myself that much. My arrogance was going to get me killed.

The king raised his arm and let it drop.

We sped at each other with swords glowing and both swung. The blast nearly took me off the saddle. This was the first time I’d been hit. It was a sharp slashing pain that went right through me. I clutched my side as I reached the end. The one comforting thought was that I knew I had hurt J’Tara just as badly. I’d felt my energy connect with her body.

But on the second pass I barely grazed her while she hit me full. It felt like I’d been branded with a hot iron. Pain racked my body and I was sucking wind. I had a hard time getting my arms up for the third pass.

On the third pass I knew I couldn’t take another blow. I thought about deflecting. All my energy went into my shield. This must have been what J’Tara had done during our lance duel. Her blow did no damage. Still I had exerted myself some more. Using magic was more tiring than a rock wall climb with barbells tied around my waist. I’d wasted that last round. My confidence was crashing now. I had to get through to the next three rounds. I didn’t have to win. A tie meant Severin would go free.

“Three blows with the dagger!” shouted the crier.

The servant handed me a blade nearly a foot long. I wondered how we would use daggers from horseback then I saw J'Tara dismount. I stepped down and the servant handed me a dagger. I was completely run out at this point. I couldn’t feel anything below my neck. Sweat poured down my brow. The grill of the helmet wasn’t easy to see through in the first place. Still I had no choice but to lumber forward. J’Tara angrily slashed the air with her dagger. I held up my own weapon. It glowed weakly. My strength was fading.

We approached each other, still separated by the barrier. We stopped once we were directly across from each other.

“I know who you are,” she sneered at me.

We launched at each other. Both blades flew simultaneously. It was just a blur to me. I wasn’t even consciously thinking about attack or defense. My arms worked off of pure instinct. The crowd counted the strikes in our mad frenzy.

“One!” they cried.

I felt a sting in my shoulder but had no idea if I hurt her or not.

“Two!” they yelled.

J’Tara’s blade flashed across my helmet. I was blinded by the trail of sparks. I was sure I got a strike at her chest.

“Three!” roared the crowd.

We both backed away.  J’Tara stood on wobbly legs. I felt massive pain just below my ear.

There was nothing but silence.

Then I felt the pull of gravity. My legs refused to work. My body wouldn’t obey me. I crashed to the ground. I’d failed.

The crowd went mad.

I lay on the ground trying to force air into my lungs. Every part of me hurt with white hot pain.  When I sat back up I saw J’Tara coming around the barrier. She tore off her helmet and threw it away.

“I know who you are!” she yelled. “You half breed wolf loving whelp!”

She kicked me in the chest and grabbed my helmet. I tried to back away but she tore the helmet from my head and exposed my identity for all to see. 

Chapter 18

I lay there without my helmet, exposed for all to see. I hurt too much to move any other part of my body. I was too out of breath to even speak.

J’Tara glared down at me, her fury turning to confusion. “Who the hell are you?”

Gazing upward, I caught my own reflection in the polished metal of her breast plate. I saw yellow hair. I snatched a gaze at the metal covering on my forearms. They were straighter and provided a better reflection. I didn’t recognize the girl who stared back at me.

I was clearly me but my straight raven hair had been replaced by blonde curls. The shape of my face was different. It was less oval and more round and lumpy. Though I hated to sound vain I looked a lot less attractive than normal.

“Who are you?” J’Tara demanded again.

I kept silent. It wasn’t hard because I was still too exhausted to do much more than grunt.

A glamor
, I thought.
Someone had put a glamor on me. No, not me. It was on the armor.

Simeon had waddled over to the fuming J’Tara. “What is the matter, captain?” he asked.

J’Tara stabbed a finger in my direction. “You saw what she did? How could she have summoned such power? She’s a nobody.”

“True enough.” Simeon gave me only a cursory glance. “But you saw how quickly her power faded. Obviously she gave her herself a boost of manna before coming here. It wore off during the joust and that was why you won.”

I knew the reason was because I hadn’t paced myself. But again I stayed silent.

J’Tara snorted, “So she’s nothing but a fraud then.”

I relaxed a little bit. My identity was safe for now.

But then J’Tara grabbed me by the armored collar and dragged my carcass across the square. “Let’s see how much I can get for your fraudulent hide,” she hissed at me.

Panic rose back up. I had forgotten about the slave auction. I tried to resist but all I could muster was to weakly flail my limbs. Two guards seized me and held me down by the arms. J’Tara addressed the crowd.

“This one is a cheater,” she said. “I don’t expect too much but who will start me off?”

I heard a familiar voice yell out, “One hundred gold pieces.”

I looked across the crowd and saw my cruel handmaidens. R’Agan had put in the bid.

Please no, I thought.  I didn’t want to be her personal slave.

“Two hundred,” yelled another. This looked like a shopkeeper.

I saw the green skinned Eric Greatstone stride through the crowd. He was still wearing his biker jacket. He raised his hand. “Three hundred,” he said.

I had a bad feeling Greatstone could see through my glamor. I didn’t know what he wanted with me and I wasn’t keen to find out.

Then I spotted Dashrael’s white hair. The chancellor held up his hand. “One thousand gold pieces.”

“Bidding rather aggressively, chancellor, for this worthless piece of meat,” said J’Tara.

“I have trouble finding good servants. You air breathers are so fragile. This one looks like she might last a few weeks.”

Cruel laughter came from the crowd. I remembered the swimming pool. My insides grew cold. I was going to speak out but something made me hold my tongue. There was something different about Dashrael now. He looked concerned though tried to hide it. When no other offers came and J’Tara announced him the winner I could swear he looked relieved.

He handed J’Tara her money then lifted me by the collar. He dragged me along the street. People jeered as I went by.

We came to a pool near the town center. Before I could yell we dove in together. Cold water rushed over me. I held my breath.

“Don’t struggle.” His voice was as clear underwater as it was on dry land.

When we surfaced, I scrambled for shore. It was rock. I looked around. We were inside a large cave. The walls looked like they were made of melted wax. Yellow light came from some source hidden in the alcoves.

Dashrael waded towards me. “Are you all right N’Lina?”

I scrambled back and back into the deep water. My armor was light but it wasn’t made for swimming. I instantly sank. Dashrael grabbed me and pulled me back to the edge.

“You’re safe. You can trust me,” he said.

His whole manner was different now. He wasn’t the powerful, strutting figure he was at court. He sounded gentle and his touch was too. He helped me out of the water.  I gazed back at my strange reflection.

“You can take off the rest of that armor,” Dashrael said. “We’re safe from prying eyes down here.”

I noticed then the cave was a home. There were tables and chairs nearby. And there were chests, vases, and sculptures. There were paintings, frescoes mostly of a beautiful white haired woman. Dashrael opened a chest and pulled out a dry dress.

“This is for you,” he said.

I removed the armor. After the last piece was gone I saw my reflection change back to normal. I slipped the dress over my head. I was still sore from the joust and now wet and shivering. What I wouldn’t give for one of Dani’s towels.

“The armor, you left it for me,” I said to Dashrael.

Dashrael nodded. “Please forgive me for what I did earlier at the pool.  I hope I didn’t scare you.”

“Why did you do that?”

“It was necessary. Now this will be the last place J’Tara searches for you. By now they will be aware you are not where you are supposed to be,” he explained.

Then it dawned on me.
             
“All of this was to get me out of the palace.”

“Yes. “

“Nice plan. What if I had won?”

“We would have dealt with that problem when we came to it.”