The Compass Key (Book 5) (10 page)

*****

“You’re looking better,” Luke says as he slowly spins his sabers at his side. “Last time we met, you were falling apart.”

“My master fixed me,” Kayn
states with a sneer. The black-haired gypsy holds his bastard sword rigidly in front of him. “Soon he will fix Sari and she will be with me.”

Luke leaps at Kayn, his sabers slamming into the bastard sword with an ear-wrenching ring.
His enemy pushes him away and grins at the half-elf’s open fury. He flips and brings his sword down on the half-elf, who blocks it by crossing his sabers over his head. The forest tracker rolls forward and hops up to kick his enemy in the back of the leg. The gypsy falls to one knee, but stabs his sword behind him to force Luke to retreat a few steps. Kayn spins to his feet, turning to charge at the half-elf. Two more Kayns appear around him, making it impossible for him to distinguish the real one from the illusions. The forest tracker leaps onto the chain of the drawbridge and nimbly climbs out of reach, where he crouches in wait.

“You escape like a treed cat,” Kayn mocks, his illusionary copies fading away.

“It’s called higher ground, traitor.”

He pounces at Kayn, twisting in mid-air to bring one of his sabers down onto the bastard sword.
The half-elf rolls over his enemy and swings his other saber to slice him up the back. The gypsy is already moving forward, so the saber only manages to slice into the leather armor. Luke gets his weapons up to block the gypsy’s powerful attack, which knocks him across the drawbridge. The half-elf skids to a stop as Kayn charges at him, but the other warrior is abruptly spun around by the bastard sword. With no effort from its wielder, the magic sword blocks the incoming fireball and sends it careening back at its caster.

“Get back!” Timoran
yells. He pushes Nyx away and bats the fireball into the moat with his great axe. The area around the castle is filled with a dense mist and the moat visibly loses a foot of water.

“I’m afraid a reflector blade will defeat a deflector weapon every time,” Kayn claims
before he jumps to the side and lets Luke dives past him.

“Stay out of this!” Luke shouts at his friends. He attacks
his enemy with a flurry of attacks that cut the gypsy’s arms and legs. “A fighter like you shouldn’t be this good with a sword that heavy. I remember you being more speed than force.”

“I’m a master
swordsman like you. More importantly, I’ve killed before,” Kayn causally mentions. He steps into Luke’s attack to knee the half-elf in the gut. “You’re terrified to take a human life.”

“I’ve killed before,” Luke declares, his voice quivering slightly.

The black-haired man sighs as he walks forward, swinging the bastard sword with both hands and pounding away at Luke’s defenses. He pushes the half-elf toward the end of the drawbridge before switching to one hand and moving his sword with more precision. Luke is barely able to block the attacks and receives a deep slash across his arm. Kayn turns his blade as he swings back, bashing the bastard sword into Luke’s saber and driving the saber’s hilt into the side of Luke’s head. The half-elf collapses to the ground, immediately rolling toward the other warrior to avoid the next attack. Kayn falls to his knees, giving Luke enough time to get out of reach and scramble to his feet.

“This is pathetic,” Kayn claims, spitting
in the half-elf’s face. “Can’t you see that I’m playing with you?”

“I’ve killed before
.”

“Sari told me everything,”
the gypsy states with a cruel smile. He licks his lips at the sight of pain and shock on Luke’s face. “You have slain beasts and destroyed undead. Even orcs are easy to rationalize because of their history and appearance. Yet, you’ve never taken the life of a civilized race. Your blades have never tasted the blood of man, elf, dwarf, or the others. It’s entirely different.”

“I never had a reason, but that doesn’t mean I’m sca
red. You talk like you’re a killer, but you’re only a gypsy with a magic sword.”

Kayn laughs maniacally and makes a quick motion toward Luke, who immediately leaps away. “You ever wonder how I settled with the thieves guild of Hero’s Gate? I killed them all, so they didn’t try to get in my way again. That was before I met my new master. They were loose ends that could have blamed Sari for the disbandment and gone after her. I had no qualms about killing them and leaving their bodies to rot in the tunnels.”

Feigning boredom, the forest tracker rolls his eyes. “So, you’re a heartless killer. That doesn’t scare me.”

Kayn
charges and tackles the half-elf, pinning the half-elf to the ground. Luke struggles to push against the bastard sword, its keen edge a few inches above his throat. He catches his breath when Kayn slowly presses his knee into his gut. It becomes hard to breathe with the pressure growing under his lungs.

“You’re never going to win if you avoid killing others,” Kayn whispers. The gypsy presses the palm of his hand against his own blade, cutting his
callused skin to put more pressure on his enemy. “A warrior needs to become numb to taking a life if they want to survive.”

“Then I should start by killing you,” Luke says, flashing a wide grin. He leans up to bite Kayn in the wrist, drawing blood and causing the gypsy to pull away.

Luke backflips away from Kayn’s downward strike, watching the bastard sword sink into the drawbridge. The nimble warrior hits the ground and sprints at the gypsy. He cuts him across the side of the neck, his saber drawing a trail of blood behind him. Luke stabs Kayn through the back and stumbles forward as he pushes his saber up to the hilt. Kayn whirls around to slash at Luke, but his enemy releases his weapon and ducks the wild swing. As he stands, Luke drives his remaining saber into Kayn’s throat and through the skull. His enemy’s corpse falls to the ground with a wet thud, dragging him down to his knees. The forest tracker is breathing heavy and refuses to let go of his weapon.

“Are you going to be okay?” Delvin asks as he reaches over to pry
his friend’s hands off the saber.

“Fine. I’m fine,” Luke answers in a dull voice. He takes in a shuddering breath and gets to his feet. “That was harder than I expected, but I had to do it some day. I mean, an adventurer can’t go on adventures without killing an enemy, right?”

“That is the unfortunate truth of our path,” Timoran agrees as he places a hand on Luke’s shoulder and smiles warmly. “Do not believe what this man told you. We walk a fine line between heartless killer and noble hero because we must take the lives of those that seek to harm others. The numbness that he spoke of is what makes you a killer, so never forget that a life is precious. Strive to do all that you can to avoid killing and you will find peace.”

“Thanks, Timoran,” Luke says, forcing himself to smile. He bends down to retrieve his sabers and
cleans them off in the moat. “How do you guys handle it?”

“I remember my slain foes in my nightly prayers to Kerr,” Timoran proudly answers.

“I understand that it’s part of my job and the alternative is that I let them kill me,” Delvin replies with a sigh.

“I’m numb,” Nyx bluntly admits, glaring when
Luke stares at her with a concern. “I’ve lived with death since I was small, so it doesn’t have much of an impact on me any more. I will fess up to taking the death of close friends and family badly for a bit, but the truth is that people die. It’s what happens and we can’t do anything about it. The best I can do is eliminate the evil ones before they destroy those that deserve to live a long, happy life.”

“Let’s get into the castle and put an end to this,” Delvin suggests, hoping to quickly end the conversation.

“Wait!” Luke snaps, rushing to Kayn’s body. He pulls the reflector blade out of the corpse’s hands and offers it to the former mercenary. “We could use this against the Lich. It looks like it would be a good fit for you, Delvin.”

“Give it here,” the brown-haired warrior request
s with his hand out. He takes the hilt of the reflector blade and hurls it into the moat. “Only thieves and wretched scavengers loot the dead. Besides, using the blade of this man doesn’t sit well with me. It’s best that it sink into the swamp and be forgotten.”

“I have a better idea,” Nyx angrily mutters. “That blade shouldn’t be left around for someone to find. Can you bring this to my father, Fizzle? Tell him it’s a cursed reflector blade that should be locked up where it can’t do any harm.”

“Fizzle do,” the drite chirps before darting into the moat. He flies out a few seconds later with his tail wrapped around the reflector blade. “Good luck.”

“Are we done?” Luke asks from the castle entrance.

Nyx cracks her knuckles. “As you said, Mr. Cunningham, it’s time to put an end to this.”

*****

Sari can hear the thin layer of ice around her body crack and fall away as she sits up. Her sleepy eyes blink until they are clear of ice. She shivers out of habit, but she feels incredibly warm and comfortable within the frozen room. For a brief instant, Sari is relaxed and content for the first time in weeks. Then she turns to see her companion is still sitting where she left her, the sickle end of her weapon lazily spinning over her head.

“How long was I sleeping?” Sari asks. She steps back when the strange face grins at her with a lipless mouth.

“Sleeping is an interesting term,” Kira replies, rising to her feet like a specter. “You fainted when I got too close.”

“I didn’t faint.”

“Your eyes rolled back and you dropped.”

“I haven’t eaten in days.”

“This is your mind!” Kira shouts in rage. Her kusari-gama slithers across the floor and wraps around Sari’s leg. “Get it through your pretty head that this is inside you. Mira was your guilt. I am your fear. You do not need food or water in here. All you need to do is focus and learn from us.”

Sari gracefully spins her leg to get out of Kira’s weapon and pins it to the ground with a pair of daggers. She approaches the creepy version of
her rival and bravely stares into her black, vacant eyes. For a few seconds, Sari considers slapping her, but a wave of fear keeps her hands at her sides.

“Oh, your friends made it in,” Kira suddenly states. She glances at the ceiling and mockingly applauds. “Your time with us may be coming to an end.”

“How do you know what my friends are doing?”

Kira’s head rolls in frustration before stopping at an awkward angle. “I know because part of you knows. I could explain, but I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re never going to understand this room.”

“Maybe if you could explain it better,” Sari mutters, her heart leaping into her throat when the phantom grabs her by the chin. “I don’t fear you.”

“Not exactly, little gypsy,” the woman whispers. With a twist of her hand, she shoves
the gypsy’s head to the side. “You fear the love you feel for Luke. I embody that fear because you aren’t sure you can let him go. Imagine if he knew how many nights you woke up and considered placing a love spell on him. It would be so easy for a woman like you to win this competition.”

“This isn’t a competition
. I want Kira to have Luke because she claimed him first. If anything, I fear that I’ll unintentionally break them apart and cause them pain.”

“The love spell temptation says differently
. Then again, who is to say you haven’t left some of the original within him.”

“I would never do that.”

“It’s funny what we do in our sleep.”

Sari bites her lower lip and twirls a lock of blue hair around her finger. “I’m still lonely and fear that I’ll be abandoned. I dream about making Luke mine, but that will eventually fade when my heart heals.
That is why I would never manipulate him like that. All it would do is cause us pain.”

“It’s adorable that you believe that
. The temptation to manipulate will be there for as long as you stay around him. Since you spend more time with Luke than Kira does, you have the advantage.”

“Stop talking like this is a competition!” the gypsy shrieks. The room shakes violently and icicles rain down, barely missing the two women.

“Love is always a competition,” Kira says. She holds out her arm and lets the kusari-gama coil around it. “The sooner you admit this, the easier it will be to lose. That is if you plan on throwing the fight.”

“I’m tired of this,” Sari growls as she turns away. “I’m learning nothing from you.”

The gypsy walks to the far side of the room and runs her hand over the wall, creating a simple mirror. She fixes her hair and rubs at her puffy eyes while Kira patiently waits in silence. With a curious smirk, Sari changes the color of her shirt from white to royal blue. A dull banging brings her attention back to Kira, who is rhythmically hitting the blunt end of her weapon on the icy ground.

Sari spins around to hurl a narrow dagger at
the other woman and runs across the ice to get behind her. She skids to a stop when she watches the dagger strike Kira in the forehead, but the woman stays standing. With eerie rigidity, the mental specter turns to Sari and crosses her arms in disappointment. She reaches up to touch the dagger and pushes it into her head where it vanishes into the gaping wound.