Sword and Sorceress XXVII (29 page)

“You?” Lisle stared her up and down. “The
clothes. That
hair
. All the fighting. I don’t want you.” The Maiden’s
glare shifted to Sienna. “I require a proper princess. The dark-haired one.
Bring her before the moon rises, or bathe in the blood of your daughters.”

“It will be done,” Gregory muttered.

Sienna’s her lower lip trembled, and
then her Court mask slipped into place.

“Wait!” Shada shouted, but the Shroud
Maiden evaporated into a cloud of buzzing flies.

An acid mixture of anger and
embarrassment churned Shada’s gut. She was first born. If someone had to be
given over, it should be her. This was insane. But Gregory had made up his mind
and she’d get nowhere arguing with him.

The way to save her sister was to take
the argument to the Maiden. Shada knew the way to the temple. The rough
contours of a plan cascaded through her head.

All eyes were on Sienna as Shada backed
toward the entrance to the passages. Only Dominic, still down on his knees, saw
her go. He tried to cry out, but hadn’t recovered from her blow.

In silence, Shada slipped away.

#

From her perch in the trees beside the
ruined temple, Shada watched the red-caped horsemen arrive. The first of them
surveyed the collapsed walls and overgrown standing stones, undoubtedly noting
the same potential avenues of attack and escape Shada had cataloged when she
first arrived.

Two more riders flanked Sienna. Her
dress was black and simple, her face blank as she approached the temple. Sienna’s
mastery at keeping emotion from her face usually annoyed Shada no end, but
tonight she found herself grinding well-chewed fingernails into her palms,
imagining the terror her sister must be hiding.

A cool autumn breeze ruffled still-green
leaves, whistled through the standing stones. Shadows cast by the ruins
stretched long across the grassy outcropping. Night was falling, and then the
moon would rise.

Shada was ready, having arrived an hour
before. She’d tied her mount deep in the forest and stripped off her sword,
boots, and leathers. In her charcoal fencing tights she was able to climb
quickly and quietly through the dense trees. Once the sun set she’d be
virtually invisible.

And then she’d take out the Shroud
Maiden.

Shada waited, silent and still, as the
guardsmen made camp beside the ruins, as the sky darkened to thick cobalt and
then a brilliant, star-specked black. Then she descended from branch to branch
and leapt to the ground. She strode carefully, silently, as she had been
taught, passing over leaf and twig as softly as the evening breeze, the ground
cool and hard beneath her stocking feet.

The campfire blazed through the trees.
Shada was looping around it, intending to take up a position on the far side of
the temple, when she heard a footfall close by. She stopped dead, barely
breathing.

“Turn around slowly, Princess.”

She barely recognized Dominic in a black
peasant’s cloak. He was stealthy for his size, clever enough to put aside the
gaudy trappings of his rank. Perhaps she had underestimated him.

“Will you face the Shroud Maiden without
armor?” Shada ignored the sword directed at her heart and focused on his dark,
wounded eyes.

“I’m not here for Lisle,” Dominic said. “You’re
coming back with me, Shada.”

He said her name like a curse. Her
escape from the Citadel had no doubt made him look foolish. But she couldn’t
let his pride cause Sienna’s death.

She offered what she hoped was a
distractingly sultry smile. “You missed me, my Shield?”

Shada twisted past the blade and chopped
at his wrist, at the same time throwing a sidekick into his ribs. Dominic
dropped the sword but managed to dodge the brunt of her blow.

Shada half-turned into another kick. He
blocked it with his forearm and nearly grabbed her ankle.

She sprung backwards, putting a few feet
between them. He’d almost taken her down. Her muscles twitched in the thrilling
anticipation of a real fight. But she had to deal with him quickly. Dominic was
a faster and smarter hand-to-hand fighter than she’d imagined, so maybe there
was another way.

“You’re not bad,” Shada said. “Help me
save my sister.”

“I’m returning you to the Citadel.”
Dominic’s face colored. “If that requires beating you senseless, so be it.”

He lunged forward. Shada dodged two big,
fast blows, either one of which would have put her on the ground. She had
apparently
really
annoyed her Shield.

She spun about and threw a footsword
kick at his head. He blocked it and chopped at her leg. She twisted away and
dropped into a crouch. They faced each other, both breathing hard, both looking
for an opening. Dominic was really good.

Silver light glistened between the
trees. The moon was rising.

“You’ve succeeded in getting in my way.
You’ve got real grit.” Shada relaxed her stance just a touch. “So you’re going
to help me.”

“Even if you free Sienna,” Dominic said,
“Lisle will kill your father’s subjects.”

Shada knew it all too well. “That’s why
I have to kill her.”

Dominic circled her tight, trying to
force an opening. “It’s my understanding that the Shroud Maiden is already
dead.”

“I didn’t say it would be easy.” Shada
turned with him, her eyes on his hands, ready to jump.

“It’s impossible.”

“Difficult.” Shada slipped the dagger
from her sleeve. “Not impossible.”

He stopped dead. “You didn’t…”

“Steal Angel’s Kiss from a drooling and
terrified Warden?” The blade glowed silver. “It would have been stupid to ride
this far without a way to kill the Maiden. In case you didn’t notice before, I
was only pretending to be stupid.”

Dominic stared at the dagger. “If it’s
really possible to destroy Lisle…”

“Then your orders are wrong.” Shada was
surprised at the heat with which she spat the words. “Lisle terrified Gregory.
Frightened people make poor decisions.”

Dominic relaxed his guard. He was
listening.

“Together, we can kill the Shroud
Maiden.” Shada took a deep breath and swallowed her pride. “Dominic, I’m sorry.
I’ve been unforgivably unserious with you but I am a serious girl.”

“The Maiden mortifies all who look upon
her.” He unclenched his fists. “The Warden ran from her. If you fail and Lisle
survives…”

“The Warden was afraid.” Shada held
Dominic’s gaze. “I’m not.”

#

Heads turned and steel flashed as
Dominic walked Shada to the fire.  Her wrists appeared to be twined behind her
back. He kept a hand locked around her arm, Angel’s Kiss slipped invisibly up
her sleeve. The silver moon lurked just below the treetops.

“Got her,” Dominic grunted.

“Bravo,” Alaric slid his blade back in
its scabbard. Shada knew all three of the Guardsmen. Castor stood behind
Alaric, knife in hand. Beside him Theo held Sienna, her hands bound. As if
Sienna would run from this.

Sienna glared at Shada. “Whatever you’re
planning, just
don’t
.”

Panic shot through Shada’s body like
lightning in the bloodstream. She hadn’t the art to keep it from her face.

The guardsmen looked to Dominic, hands
dropping to their weapons.

“Shada’s bound and disarmed.” Dominic
sounded bored. “What’s she going to do, bite someone?”

At his tone the others relaxed. Shada
looked away from her sister, the truth of her intent plain between them.

Silver light rippled across the broken
stone of the temple and reflected in Sienna’s dark eyes. The moon shimmered
above the treetops. Shada felt a change in the air, smelled honey and jasmine.
Snatches of melody, harp and lute, whispered in the breeze. Color appeared
among the temple stones, pink and purple, azure and yellow.

The splashes of color bloomed into
dresses, long and sumptuous ball gowns. The girls wearing them sat at a long
table visible just inside the temple entrance, sipping tea and nibbling at
biscuits. Hair and ribbons and jewelry shimmered in the moonlight.

Sienna and the soldiers gasped. Shada
concentrated on Angel’s Kiss, cool against her skin. She was armed for whatever
sorcery the Maiden could throw at her.

These must be the princesses that Lisle
had collected. More of them appeared behind Alaric, Castor, and Theo, as if
they’d simply soaked out of the moonlight.

The Shroud Maiden stepped from the
shadows, a glittering dress of midnight coiled about her slim frame. Bone white
ribbons twisted in her hair, pewter rings encircling her neck, wrists, and
ankles. Shada’s skin tingled. The combination of magic and a Court tea party
was almost more nightmare than she could handle.

Theo pushed Sienna toward the Maiden.

Lisle’s black-painted lips broke into a
smile. A tiny spider, wet with spittle, climbed out of the side of her mouth.

Shada again felt the crawling unease
Lisle had conjured in Kings Hall. The silver-dappled darkness was alive with
movement, spiders and serpents, worms and maggots.  She fought down the urge to
get as far away from the Maiden as possible.

Theo and Castor threw down their swords
and ran. Alaric and Dominic looked like they were thinking about it.

The Shroud Maiden traced Sienna’s lips
with a black nail. “You’ll do nicely.”

Sienna’s face was blank, but the tears
on her cheek glistened in the moonlight.

“I’m firstborn,” Shada said, her voice
not nearly as strong as she’d hoped. “Deal with me.”

 “The princess in motley has come to
rescue her sister.” Lisle turned, clicking her talons together. “How exciting.”

Cottony furls of cloud passed below the
moon, blocking its silver light. Shadows crept across the ruins. Where they
touched the princesses’ dresses, colors faded and fabric frayed. In shadow, the
girls’ radiant skin turned gray and corrupted, revealing pockets of white bone.

A hard knot of fear formed in Shada’s
stomach. The princesses were wights, walking corpses that were said to be
nearly impossible to kill. The head had to be severed from the body or the
brain destroyed. She wasn’t facing a single undead monster, but a dozen.

She forced the thought away. If she
allowed herself to feel fear she was lost.

The dead girl standing behind Alaric
lunged, her teeth fastening on his throat. He tried to draw his blade, but
three more wights joined her, bearing him to the ground.

Dominic held two princesses at
swordspoint, but others flanked him. In a moment he’d be surrounded. He locked
eyes with Shada and ran into the woods.

Shada flicked her wrist and Angel’s Kiss
slipped into her palm. She darted between the wights. She was nearly close
enough to strike when Lisle turned, opening her black eyes wide.

Shada nearly screamed. Ants and spiders
were crawling all over her. She hesitated in her attack and a hand of bone
grasped her wrist, wrenching her arm backwards. She pivoted and kicked out at a
taffeta-gowned princess. Ribs snapped, but the grip only tightened.

Bony fingers closed around her left arm.
The wights pulled in opposite directions. Blunt pain halted Shada’s momentum.
She tried to throw her weight left and then right, but the hands holding her
were astonishingly strong.

Shada howled in frustration. Dominic and
the other Guardsmen were gone. Alaric was dead on the ground, gowned princesses
hungrily stripping the flesh from his bones.

“Filthy thing.” Lisle plucked Angel’s
Kiss from Shada’s numb fingers and threw it into the weeds. “Time to die,
princess in motley.”

The dead girls holding Shada pulled her
arms wide to either side. She gasped at the pain and set her feet, trying to
angle her body to minimize the force on her shoulders.

“Wait.” Shada’s mind raced. “I can help
you.”

“You will,” Lisle purred. “I’m sure your
flesh will prove both delicious
and
nourishing.”

“I’m heir to the throne.” The burning
pain between Shada’s shoulders grew worse. She gasped in a mouthful of air. “I
can get you…whatever you want.”

The Shroud Maiden raised an eyebrow. The
pressure on Shada’s arms eased.

“Whatever I want?” Lisle put cold
fingers to Shada’s throat.

“Anything.” She was playing for time. A
few more minutes to live were minutes to think of a way out. But no brilliant
stratagem presented itself.

“I want not to be the thing that I am,”
Lisle said. “Can you give me my life back?”

“The mages of the Citadel—”

Lisle slapped her across the face. “Once
upon a time I was a proper princess. I was pretty and well mannered and it did
me little good when the Bone Dancers came and demanded me. So many mighty
warriors in our castle. So many great mages. They all bowed low and handed me
over to the monsters.”

“I’m sorry,” Shada grunted. “But why do
it to us?”