The Kinshield Legacy (49 page)

“I was man-at-arms first in Farthan regular army, then in Farthan Imperial Guard,” Risan said, as though guessing Gavin’s concern. “First Master of Blade Arms and Third Master of Pole Arms.”

“Brawna, would you take the boy?” Gavin asked.

She nodded.

Gavin thought he saw relief in her face. “Stay close but hidden. We may need you.”

“No,” Dwaeth said too loudly as he shied from Brawna’s outstretched hand. “I want to stay with Risan.”

“Shhhh,” Risan said, bending down to him. “Dwaeth, do you remember what thing I promised? We have to take care something first. Stay with Miss Brawna for short time, and I will come for you. I promise on my life.”

Dwaeth nodded and hung his head. Brawna took his hand and led him to the porch. She turned back to them and whispered, “Strength and courage.”

Chapter 58

Brodas awoke as the sky had begun to lighten. Dawn was here and Warrick hadn’t returned. He’d better not have fallen asleep or there would be hell to pay. Brodas pulled the covers aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He’d slept in his clothes, not wanting to waste time changing when Warrick sounded the alert. He would have preferred everything to be perfect the day he claimed the King’s Blood-stone, including wearing pressed clothing to the cave, but such things were unimportant in his larger plan. After pulling on and lacing his boots, he picked up the sword lying on the floor alongside his bed.

He admired the workmanship again and wished he knew the nature of the enchantment Risan had put on it. Once he had the King’s Blood-stone, the blacksmith would tell him. The sword wouldn’t be able to protect its maker from Brodas’s magic then.

He went to the door and opened it. “Bring me some--” The hall was empty, his guard absent from her post. A chill swept across the back of Brodas’s neck. Perhaps she was simply taking care of her private business. The stair creaked, but he did not hear the rhythmic fall of boots on the steps. Something was wrong. He went to investigate.

As Brodas reached the top landing, the sight of five people ascending the stairs utterly confused him. The last of them fired an arrow. Brodas barely had time to block it with a spell, and its sharp tip cut through his tunic and stung him in the chest just before it exploded into splinters. The rest of the intruders charged him with swords drawn. Among them was one whose face was far too familiar.

“Kinshield,” Brodas hissed. He held up the sword and focused on the gem in the snake’s eye.

A wave of force slammed into them. Daia fell back against Gavin and he fell into Domach behind him. Together they tumbled backward down the stairs. Finally, they came to a stop and disentangled themselves. The pain barely registered as Daia rolled to her feet at the bottom landing. She snatched up her sword and started back up the steps, two at a time. Someone else charged up behind her.

Daia thrust with her sword. Brodas did not raise the jeweled sword to defend himself. Her blade should have penetrated his flesh, but it stopped as though she’d stabbed a wall. A white ring of mist shot down the length of her blade, spilt over the guard to her hand and washed over her body. Enveloped in a sharp tingling sensation, she collapsed like a rag doll onto the stairs, bumping down a few before sliding to a stop on her belly. Then she felt nothing, but she heard and saw all.

“Daia, no,” Gavin yelled. It was too late. He recognized the look of helplessness in her eyes as she lay immobile on the stairs. Gavin started up the stairs behind Domach with Risan beside him. Brodas hit them with another wave of force. It lifted Gavin from his feet and slammed him onto his back on the floor. Risan hit the wall along the staircase and tumbled down the stairs. Domach spun and hit the banister with his hip, flipping over it. Gavin rolled to his knees and climbed to his feet. The burning in his shoulder was excruciating at first, but the pain faded quickly.

A spark appeared in the air, and opened into a line of darkness. The line widened, splitting like a demon’s grin into a smile.

Gavin reeled. How could a door from the demon’s realm open here? He looked up. There Brodas stood, his hand outstretched as if he controlled it. A gray-green hand reached through, each of its four fingers ending in a long, curved claw. A fur-covered arm followed, and a head like a bear, accompanied by the stench of sulfur. It stood a head taller than Gavin as it stepped fully through, and the opening snapped shut behind it.

Thoop!
An arrow flew past him and sank into the creature’s chest. It roared, the sound of it making the hair on Gavin’s neck stand up. He sliced with his sword and jumped back as a claw swiped at him. He stepped in with a lunge, drove his blade half-way into the grayish fur of its gut. He yanked it out and ducked its claws.

Gavin saw another spark down the hall beside the staircase. Arrows flew past him, some burrowing into the beyonder, some batted harmlessly away by a massive paw. Gavin chopped at the thing’s neck, hoping to behead it. Then, he was flying through the air. He heard an
oof
as he slammed into Edan. They hit the wall so hard, Gavin thought he heard every bone in his body break. His neck, head, chest and back lit up with tingling fire as he fell with a thud to the floor.

The pain felt like being burned alive on a spit. At least, he thought it was pain, but the searing heat died down to uncomfortable warmth. His power -- King Arek’s power. He tried to stand, but he couldn’t feel his legs. The creature advanced upon Gavin and Edan, lying in a heap. Gavin tried to move, to let Edan get away, but he couldn’t.

Just as the creature was bending to deal a death blow to Gavin, it screamed and turned. Behind it, Risan plunged his sword again and again into the monster’s leg. It turned and batted at him, but he ducked under its paw and continued hacking. Grayish liquid began to squirt from its wounds, flooding the floor. Its struggles weakened, and it staggered.

A wave of force swept down the stairs. Risan and the monster slammed against the wall. Gavin rolled off of Edan, who slid backward across the floor.

The beyonder twisted around, clawing at Risan.

The pain in Gavin’s back started to lessen and the feeling returned to his legs. He climbed to his knees and whipped the dagger from his hip sheath. He stabbed the thing in the back, and it slumped, tried to turn toward him. Edan rolled to his feet and drew his own knife, and together they stabbed again and again as the beyonder collapsed to the floor.

Risan got up and started running up the stairs. Gavin saw he had a clear line of sight over Risan’s head, but wouldn’t for long. He threw. The knife spun in the air, sailing toward its target.

Brodas nearly laughed aloud at the futility of their efforts. The five of them together couldn’t hope to best him, but they were too dim-witted to realize it. With barely a thought, he sent Gavin’s knife spinning away. It sank into Risan’s thigh and laid him flat on a stair, writhing and screaming. Brodas turned the archer’s arrows to toothpicks. And Domach was nowhere to be seen, no doubt slain by whatever beyonder had come through the second portal he’d opened.

If only Gavin would come up the stairs and try to stab him as Daia had, Brodas would be ready to render him helpless, kill his friends and be done with it. Getting the huge swordsman to the cave would be Brodas’s greatest challenge. Once Warrick arrived, all would be well. And with the Lordover Tern’s daughter as Brodas’s bride, all would be better than well.

In fact, with that magnificent gift of hers, Brodas might not need to make contact at all. Perhaps he could strike Gavin with paralysis and kill his friends with a little help from Miss Daia. He turned his attention to her lovely light blue eyes.

Daia lay alert but unable to move. Time and again, she watched her companions try to attack Brodas on the stairs only to be tossed back down like the unwanted toys of a spoilt toddler. If they could get close enough to hurt the wizard, she could help ensure his death. But first, they needed to get him off the stairs. He couldn’t defend against four attackers at once.

Something vile reached for her mind, tacky, tar-like. Brodas was trying to connect with her. No. She pushed hard against him, and he pushed back. She felt like she was trying to shut a door against the force of a dozen men pushing it open. NO! Squeezing her eyes shut, she dove into her center and focused only on keeping him out. Little by little, she felt herself slipping, unable to push against the power that violated her. She felt him reach as though with the tip of a finger, stretching toward the source of her gift. Closer. Closer...