The Vitalis Chronicles: Steps of Krakador (5 page)

The Greatbow swallowed hard before he answered, and in some small way Cid felt the man deserved credit for his hesitation. No matter how treacherous the resulting decision.

“
That's exactly what I'm suggesting.”

“
You can't be serious.”

“
I am.” The cold stare behind those frosted eyes matched the morning's chill, and Cid could see he was not wavering in his conviction. The Greatbow stood tall and looked out over the landscape. “There's no sense in all of us dying. Your friend, Donovan, you said he was coming.”

“
I said I hoped he was coming.”

“
Well that hope is more than we have with this lot.” The way he gestured at the camp around them made Cid's hackles rise. “I'm taking my men, today, and we're making for the Ring. It should only require a matter of hours by horse.”

“
Your men fought and died to save these people!” Cid could barely keep from yelling. He stood and jabbed a finger in the chest of the other man. “Ye can't just abandon 'em!”

The Greatbow looked down at Cid's finger before his dull eyes returned to Cid's glare, rimmed in resolution. “My men did die for these Truan traitors, yes. That, it turns out, was a fool's mistake, one I don't intend to compound through repetition.” He brushed Cid's hand aside calmly as he maintained his stare. “If we stay, we die. If we leave, we might live. I'd rather the chance over the certainty.”

And with that he brushed past, leaving Cid speechless in his wake.
Good God,
he thought as he turned to watch the Greatbow rouse his remaining men.
What am I supposed to do now?

A squad of outriders made their way slowly through the sleeping masses to intercept the Greatbow. They were returning from the east.
Scoutin' the way out,
Cid realized.
He's planned this... he's really goin' to leave 'em all here.

“
GREATBOW!
”
He shouted at the top of his lungs, rousing the nearby sleepers from their slumber. The warrior stopped. “Ye can't do this!” Cid turned in place, hoping that leaving a conscious mass would be more difficult than slipping away in the night. “Get yer arses up! We're movin' out, now!”

There was something jutting out of the Greatbow's discarded pack. Something pointed.
His horn.
Cid reached down and pulled out the horn that he had heard blown so many times before to recall the outriders. He raised it to his lips, hoping to wake the entire camp, to block the Greatbow in a sea of moving bodies.

Cid took a deep breath, but before he could blow on the horn, lights exploded in his eyes. Warm flecks of his own blood splattered the side of his face as his left shoulder was carried forward by an impact in the same instant. He spun, landing on his right side. He tried to catch his breath but it evaded him with every pull. He looked down to find a pointed shard of metal glinting through viscous red. The arrow had strips of leather and flesh sticking to its thick black shaft. His blood streamed out along it and down his armor.

He had been shot before, but it had been a long time.

The Greatbow stepped into his field of view. No one moved around them. Awake or asleep, heads were staying down. The tall warrior came at him slowly from an odd angle, his massive black bow held at the ready. Another thick black arrow was already notched to the string. It was his armor and the arrow propping him up, Cid realized; the world hadn't really tilted.

The Greatbow raised his arms, guiding the arrow back along the grip of the bow as he aimed it at Cid's chest. “You should have come along.”

F
OUR

A
RDIN TOOK A STEP BACK FROM THE
S
HADOW
K
ING
. Then another.
How is this possible?
He looked around again. Everything seemed in place, but the world was gray. Shadowy patches of fog lingered over every surface, trapped in tiny prisons of their own.

“
I'm glad you finally came through.” The Shadow King began walking forward. They were only thirty feet apart at most. “Silvers was too easy in the end. Somehow, I found it dissatisfying.”

And then the Shade launched himself high in the air. As he closed the distance the shadows around them seemed to draw closer. Ardin brought his sword out of its sheath in a hurried motion. The tip of the blade caught slightly, draining the parry of its power. It was all he could do to deflect the Shade's downward strike and jump back.

“
This isn't possible.”

“
You're on my plane, boy. In my mind.” The Shade smiled. “The last remnants of your soul are extinguished here. Now.”

He spun, bringing his legendary sword down hard. Ardin swept his own up in time to catch it, his blade notching on contact. The metal ground as their muscles tensed. The wounds the Shadow King had carried minutes before were gone, none of them anywhere to be seen, but Ardin's remained. He felt them burn even more against the strain.

“
You almost had me.” The Shadow King's confidence turned malicious as he laughed in Ardin's face. “You almost had me. I've been after your power since before it was yours. I can't believe I didn't put it all together back at the Cave.”

The Shadow King forced his weight into Ardin, then pulled back quickly. He kicked, landing a solid blow to the ribs. Ardin crumpled over slightly as he pulled back. The Shade was there, slicing down into Ardin's shoulder.

Ardin screamed. There was nothing else he could do. Ardin twisted away, the flesh sucking at the blade so that it came away a mess. He recoiled and rolled onto his back. He kicked up and brought his sword around in time to deflect another slash. But another kick followed and caught him in his ruined shoulder.

A flash of pain drew the cry unbidden. Ardin fell to the side, inches from the edge of the bridge. Inches from the abyss.

The Shadow King laughed again quietly to himself. “I'd make quick work of you if you'd let me. Your girl went easy enough.” The sword swept through the air, trailing mists as it cut the thin fog that encompassed them. Ardin ducked his head. The whistling steel flew past, ringing off the bridge with a crack. “Silvers didn't even put up much of a fight when I took over his body, and he was a legitimate member of Khrone's.”

Ardin rolled back again, on his feet in an instant and backpedaling to gain space. He needed space. He needed time.

“
Don't drag this out, boy.” The Shadow King followed intently. “I'm through with your bullshit.”

Impatience.
The word slid into Ardin's mind like the key to a lock.
Why is he so impatient?

The enchanted steel whistled yet again as the Shadow King leaped to the attack. He spun, cape spreading in a flower of strength, putting all of his energy into the strike. Ardin brought his own sword up with his good hand, his right rendered useless by his wounds. His block was knocked aside by the Shade. Caspian's sword clanged on the bridge as it flew from his hand and skidded to the edge of the bridge.

It stopped with a third of the blade over the abyss.

Ardin spun out of haste, dodging the thrust that would have skewered him in the middle. He half fell as much as he dove, reaching for the blade. But the Shade was there. He jumped, then landed between Ardin and his weapon.

Ardin looked up at his enemy. The smile on the Shade's face drove ice through his chest. Then the Shadow King kicked Ardin's sword back over the edge.

The blade glimmered beautifully as it spun and twisted into the mists below. Every twist and flash of the steel was replicated in force in Ardin's stomach.
This can't be happening.

The Shade hooked Ardin's shoulder with his foot, then kicked hard. He flipped Ardin in one motion, slamming him onto his back, banging his head with a sickening slap. The world around him jittered out of existence and back into focus as the pain shot through his skull. It caught his attention, but then the boot was on his chest. That black boot, connected to that black armor. All of that tight-fitting leather clothing and strange armor. The Shade looked like the Hunter he had impersonated; he looked like death in human form.

The blade was at Ardin's throat. The pressure of the Shade's weight forced his breath out. No room was left for its return. Ardin could feel his heart pounding. Could hear it in his ears. Could see it in the fog.
See it in the fog?
Ardin's eyes darted in every direction.
The fog is pulsing... it's beating with my heart!

“
I'm sorry I didn't finish your whole family in that forsaken valley.” The Shade pulled his sword arm up and behind him. “Mistakes can be mended.” The arm thrust back down, the blade shot straight through Ardin's throat.

Ardin choked. He coughed. And then he laughed.

The Shade's cocksure grin slowly melted to shock. He stared down at his vanquished foe. The blade drew no blood. The boy didn't die.

Ardin grinned. The Shade twisted his blade and dragged it towards Ardin's chest. Nothing happened. Ardin disappeared, sending the Shade's foot shooting to the ground and throwing him off balance as he twisted to look around. Ardin was nowhere to be seen. The Shade looked up the bridge, and back down towards the Cathedral. Then Ardin returned.

His wounds were gone. He was whole. And he felt good. “So that's what it feels like to make the jump, is it?”

The Shade adjusted his stance. He was perturbed, maybe even scared, but grew only more determined with every passing emotion. Emotions Ardin couldn't just see, but sense. Feel.

“
You have no idea what you're doing.”

“
Not yet.” Ardin breathed in deeply. The world around him seemed to grow closer as he did so. He exhaled, and it returned to normal. “Funny how the world seems to react to me so strongly, isn't it?”

The Shade had heard enough. He yelled and sprinted straight at Ardin, dragging his sword slightly behind him as he brought it up and across Ardin's chest. The blade flew through without leaving a mark, then the Shade followed suit. His momentum carried him through and beyond his target.

Ardin laughed and turned. “Thanks for doing all the hard work of developing the skills, though; they're practically automatic responses. But I guess you know that well enough.”

Panic crept into the stony features of the Shadow King's face, desperation nestling into what space remained. “You can't...”

“
You're the intruder, not me.” Ardin smiled as he set his stance. “This is my mind, not yours.” He raised his arms to the side, flexing every muscle in his body and laughing. The color returned to the world then, like watercolors flooding an empty canvas. They swirled in from nowhere and took their place as if they had never been missing. Ardin brought his arms back down to look at the Shade. “And it's here that the last remnants of your soul are extinguished. Not mine.”

“
No.” The Shade threw himself forward again. He stopped, not of his own will, but of Ardin's.

Ardin Vitalis raised his hand, holding the Shade in place before he picked him up off the ground.
“
There's a reason one of us can make the jump and the other can't.” He smiled. “There's a reason you can't escape even the simplest grip I can conjure up. And there's a reason I am meant to live, and you were meant to die.”

Ardin grinned as the panic in the Shade's face turned to rage. It was no longer a man, it was a tool of the past. Merely a Shade. It screamed as he twisted it in the air.

“
This is my world.” Ardin said. “ And this is for Levanton.”

The warmth churned forth at the slightest suggestion, his very core coming to life. He brought the heat out into his extended arm, then he raised his other. “This is for my family.” The power was building up in him so quickly. He had never been in such control. “This is for Alisia!”

A blinding white fire erupted out of every pore in Ardin's body. It swirled around him, leaping at and burning everything it could reach. He let it build, then funneled it to his arms. The Shade's eyes couldn't get any wider before they were obstructed from view by the fire. Ardin could see little more than scalding white, but he could feel the Shade disintegrating. Could feel the bits and pieces of him flake off and scatter to the wind.

The flames got hotter still. They poured out of Ardin with all of his hate and malice, with his sense of justice and all of his anger. He burned the Shade until there was nothing left. Nothing at all.

The fire subsided as quickly as it had manifested, Ardin's breath barely audible. He smiled. There wasn't a trace left. What little smoke drifted off could barely have signaled the funeral pyre of a mosquito.

Then the bridge shook.

The mountain in the distance crumbled, falling in massive chunks, rolling over itself until everything was gone into the abyss. The whole span of the bridge began to fall. It started at the far end and began working its way to Ardin.

He couldn't move. He simply stood in place until there was nothing left upon which to stand. Suddenly he too fell. He fell so fast his eyes welled up against the wind, his streaming tears drying before they could leave their trail. And the world flashed white.