Vengeance

  Beware the end of the earth, for none come back who fall from Darsor’s fell cliffs. The Silver Beast, the scourge of Mani, swallows them whole. Long has he prowled in the ancient abyss, seeking souls to devour.

  — From The Collected Lore of Mani

  Property of the Grand Library of Redufiel

  (Norvaen 23, 997—Night Season)

  I met Kaen and Phoebe by the West Gate at twenty-two hours. “There you are, Lyn,” Kaen said. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “What about you? You’re sure your information was correct?”

  He nodded. “It’s them. I’m sure of it. Fire mage running a small gang of violent thieves. Last seen in the Balrun Sector.”

  I was silent for a moment. Kaen had many contacts in the city, and while I might not trust them all, I did trust his judgment. Taking a deep breath, I said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

  “Right, let’s,” added Phoebe.

  And we were off. We made our way down the streets, checking for lights and pedestrians. I couldn’t quite believe that we were actually doing this. . . . Was I doing the right thing in agreeing to the mission? It reminded me of two months prior, when we were running from the mage soldiers, or of the old times when we would sneak out at night and look for trouble. We always managed to find a way out of it, but there were a few sticky situations, mostly involving us trespassing where we shouldn’t have been and getting chased down by hired thugs or noblemen’s guards.

  Now, there was less fear of being caught by guardsmen or the city watch, but we still didn’t want to alert anyone. We would let the policing captains know afterward, once we’d caught the thieves.

  Overhead, the stars twinkled ever so faintly, for it was only a lightly hazy night. But it was still deep in the Sunless Cycle, so we were partially hidden by the ambient shadows. We kept just close enough to the torchlight or candlelit windows to see by, but just far enough away to stay hidden from view.

  “We’re almost to the Balrun Sector,” Phoebe hissed at some point.

  Already? She always was fantastic with directions. I could swear she had a mental map of the entire city clear in her head. And I was supposed to be the one with the great memory . . . at least according to my dream friend, White.

  The buildings here were mostly low-standing shanties. Balrun was a fishing and transport district. Boats came in nearby, and docks spread over to the right side a block away, along the Ardencaul. Burly guards stood watch at warehouse doors. Lots of places to steal supplies, if one were a thieving band capable and inclined to do so. One specific warehouse, according to Kaen’s sources, would be the target for the robbers. We took up cover behind a nearby building, waiting and watching. Kaen knelt behind one wall with a view out over the docks to both sides, Phoebe stayed farther down the street, and I climbed high atop the next-door building. Each of us would watch the others’ backs whilst keeping an eye out for the thieves.

  An hour passed, and I was just starting to think that they may not show, when suddenly a figure darted toward the side street. Kaen was looking the other way, so I gave the pre-arranged low bird call to alert my friend. Kaen turned his head, tracking the man’s furtive movements, and then tackled him, clasping a hand over his mouth and choking him out. He dragged him under the front steps of the building and waited for the next. A similar event happened again, and then he had a stash of two unconscious bodies, bound and gagged.

  I leapt down from the second story roof to the first at this point. Then I crept around the rooftop, making my way down the street parallel to the docks. I gave the second bird whistle as I spotted more of the thief crew. I hopped to the ground behind them and knocked them both out with a couple of strikes to the side of the neck. Knife hand just between the ear and the neck, just as Kymhar had taught me.

  For the first time, I appreciated the assassin’s training he’d given us on the return trip from Ti’Vaeth. I proceeded to bind, gag and hide the bodies behind the building, and then dashed in a half-crouch, circling the building counter-clockwise. More were coming in from the right at the next intersection, calling out for their comrades, and I waited thirty feet from the corner, letting them go past. Phoebe would be right up ahead on the left. I couldn’t risk another birdcall with the thieves so close, so I trusted that she wouldn’t be found or hurt. Then I crept up closer to the corner and poked my head out to the right.

  The fire mage was coming.

  He was flanked by two guards armed with heavy bronze longswords. They looked like they knew how to use them. Probably the most well-paid of the lot. I could take them, but I couldn’t say exactly how skilled or powerful the mage was.

  I gave the third birdcall. Kaen would rush over and help Phoebe take out and bind up the remaining frontrunners. While I couldn’t speak too much for her own combat abilities, Kaen was excellent, and well-armed. None of them would be getting out of there, dead or alive.

  I stepped out into the street. “Hello, murderer,” I said.

  The fire mage stopped, halting his guards. “And who might you be?” he asked. A small flame appeared in his hand, illuminating his face and my figure as well. The man was tall, with flowing, shoulder-length red hair, and bore a thin rapier, which he drew smoothly but rapidly. He surely noted my white hair first, bound though it was in a practical ponytail. “Ah, yes. Yes, I remember you, girl. If I recall correctly, hmm . . . there was a bounty out for your pretty head. Thought about turning you in to Kalceron myself. I’m sure he would have rewarded me handsomely.” He slowly circled me as he spoke, his men spreading out behind him.

  I snorted. “Not likely. The reward, yes, but taking me in? No.”

  “I don’t recall you winning any fights against my group the first time,” the man noted. “And where are your friends? The ugly girl and the antsy boy?”

  “Oh, Kaen? He has been training with swordmasters at the Palace, ever since we personally disposed of Lord Kalceron.”

  He chuckled. “Funny. I’ve heard many a story about how all that happened. Some talk of a girl with white hair, others say the princess plotted to murder her own father and take his throne. But you know what I think? I think you’re nothing more than a girl with a cocky attitude who needs to be put down like the rest of her precious family. The world doesn’t want you anyway.”

  I scowled, trying to suppress the hot emotions. This man was trying to rile me. He was toying with me, confident that he could take me out with ease. Probably confident that even his two cronies could take me out. “Well,” I said as evenly as I could, “You should be more careful with your words, fire mage. You never know who may—” I summoned a flame in my left hand “—surprise you.”

  He raised his eyebrows in satisfying surprise. “Well, well. Ain’t this a shock. Hmm. Get ‘er, boys.”

  The two brutes hefted their longswords and rushed at me, their roughshod feet scraping against the cobblestones of the narrow street. I backed up and waited till I could practically smell their breath, and then I acted. I ducked under the first guard’s swing, my bronze sword and left hand touching the ground as I low-kicked the second man’s feet out from under him. He toppled to the ground with a curse, nearly dropping his sword. He was dazed as his head cracked against the pavement stones.

  I faced the first guard, who was swinging at me once more with his three-and-a-half-foot blade. I brought my own bronze blade up just in time to block it, parrying another blow, then another. I was glad for Kaen and Inno’s training, though I was nowhere near as good as them. Fortunately, I didn’t have to rely too much on my raw skill. However, I kept the ringleader in view, or at least . . . blast, where had that rat gotten to? I silently cursed my carelessness.

  I fought off the first guardsmen, using some of my hidden energy to get inside his defenses and land an uppercut on his chin. Then I bound and gagged them both.

  Now to find that mage . . .

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  I dashed off toward the target building to find Phoebe and Kaen unharmed. They had overwhelmed and subdued all of the men, although I couldn’t tell if the one on the end was alive or not. . . . I tried not to think about it as I said, “The leader, the fire mage—I lost him!”

  “Oh, I’m over here, sweetheart,” he called from the shadows.

  I illuminated the alley with a summoned flame and saw the fire mage once again, twenty paces in, near the intersection with the street I had previously been fighting in.

  Kaen drew his sword, baring a dark silver blade polished to a mirror finish. I wasn’t sure if he’d named it yet or not. “You foul piece of dung! Come here, so I can slit your throat.”

  The thief lord grinned a wicked, maniacal grin. “Well, that’s right nice, but I can’t just let ya do that.”

  “If you run,” Phoebe said calmly, “Lyn here will chase you down in a matter of seconds.”

  “Oh yes?” The man took a couple steps forward. “Well, that sounds like fun, but I’ve got a little thing here called Coaction. Fire synergy. White-hair, where did you come across the ability to use Coaction so soon, hmm?”

  I gave no response, but only gripped my sword hilt tighter.

  Kaen put out a hand in front of me. “You’ll have to get through me first, dastard.”

  Foolish, I thought.

  “Foolish boy,” said the man. I barely had time to call out before he blasted a burst of fire straight at Kaen. He was clearly shocked to see Kaen come out of his defensive stance a moment later, completely unscathed. His dark-toned blade glowed a faint red which dimmed slowly as we watched.

  Impressive. I had doubted the sword’s abilities.

  The man finally got angry. “Fine,” he snarled. “I’ll fight whoever wants to. Come at me and we’ll settle this little score the fair way.”

  “Lyn,” Phoebe murmured to me, “we have to do something. You know he doesn’t really mean fair. But we don’t know the extent of his powers or training, and we certainly don’t want him burning down half the city, particularly since you have, erm, similar powers.”

  I nodded. “Phoebe, stay behind Kaen. Do not get hit by a fire blast. Kaen, keep him distracted.” With that, I extinguished my flame and leaped away as quickly as I could, so as to confuse the bandit leader. I heard him curse as he summoned a brighter light. Meanwhile, I scrambled up the side of a building, my inhuman strength lending me enhanced climbing abilities as usual. For this reason, vertical maneuvers were a specialty of mine. I ran as softly as I could across the slate rooftop. It sloped gently to one side, the side facing away from the thief—toward the docks. Above, the partially obscured stars tried and failed to light my path, but my nimble feet picked out the way.

  Peeking out over the roof’s gutter gave me a glimpse of my quarry. He was only a dozen feet away now, looking from side to side and up at the rooftops for me. I pulled back quickly, hoping he hadn’t seen me. And then the roof exploded underneath my feet. I leaped over the hole with a quiet yelp, dashing past the second of his fire blasts. Flames were already beginning to lick up where they hit. Before long, we’d have a large-scale structure fire on our hands. Great. How had this man led such a tight-knit, focused and successful thieving band for this long with a half-present mind?

  “Come on out, monster!” he called from below. “You know you are the same as me on the inside. A deranged animal waiting to be put down. I can help with that.”

  I leapt down in front of the man and began to drive him backward with my sword. The alley echoed with the harsh clang of bronze on bronze. I could practically feel the dents and chips forming with each strike. Anything to distract him from creating any more unnecessary property damage. I could feel the heat from the flames of the building from all the way over here. He was good, far more skilled with his thin blade than those men I’d fought just moments earlier. Far better than Corporal Harold back at the Hall of Eternity.

  “Monster?” I growled. “You have no idea.”

  He laughed maniacally as we scraped sword against sword. “Oh, I think I might. I’ve heard about ya. You’re not exactly the same as me, because you’re also a monster on the outside, not just the inside. But Fraid the cutthroat don’t care. Fraid the murderer, the thief. Once upon a time, mayhap . . .”

  Kaen made it to us, but I motioned him back as I kicked free of my engagement with the crazed killer. His sword work was such that it was difficult to find an opening to get in close and use my strength. Fraid. Yes, that name had come up when we were searching for him and his band. “Fraid,” I said coldly. “Where did you learn Coaction? Who taught you?”

  He cackled through quickened breaths, remaining in his stance while watching Kaen and me warily but not attacking for the moment. “Don’t know. That Fraid is a different man. I knew him once, and I know him no longer, because he is not me. The man who taught me, he’s long dead. I killed him with a knife in the back.” He laughed again, and Kaen and I closed in on him.

  Kaen stepped up and attacked Fraid again with a backhanded strike to the head, which he of course blocked. “You will die, worm,” Kaen spat. “Such a pathetic excuse for a man.” He kept at the thief, harrying him with strike upon strike, dodging backward whenever Fraid’s own blade got too close.

  Fraid’s skill was remarkable. For all his mania, his mastery of the blade was grounded in countless hours of practice. Kaen might have had the edge of talent and creativity, but his opponent had more experience with the blade. Glancing around, I saw that Phoebe had gone, presumably to call someone to put out the fire with water from the docks.

  Looking back to Kaen, I saw that Fraid was still trading blows with him, but I knew that he would remember his magic soon, find an opening, and then my friend would be charcoal, just like the others from my orphanage. The thought churned my stomach. I would not let this happen again. I didn’t truly want to kill him, especially since the city watch would undoubtedly be here soon. An idea slowly sprang to mind.

  I crept around to the side, watching for an opening in the fight. Clang! Clang! There: I used the utmost of my speed to swipe my sword in and bat Fraid’s sword right out of his hand. He cried out in pain and surprise as the force of my blow flung his arm backward, possibly breaking the joint. I gave him no time to recover, leaping in with a kick that sent him sprawling to the ground.

  Kaen, who had pulled back immediately as I attacked, brushed the sweat out of his eyes. “I didn’t need any help.”

  “Oh, yes you did.”

  Kaen ignored me and hopped over to where the red-haired man lay clutching his wounded arm. Standing over the groaning thief, he placed one boot on his chest, sword point at Fraid’s throat.

  “Kaen!” I shouted, rushing over. “Hold on.”

  My friend looked over at me. “Why? He’s a deranged murderer who needs to be put down. Just like he said.”

  “I know, but . . .”

  “You said you were in for this mission!” he hissed angrily. “And now you’re trying to plead for his life?”

  Fraid sputtered a wretched laugh from his position on the ground. “This is so rich. I love it. Even you, boy, I see it in your eyes. It’s not that you’re too righteous, you’re just a coward.”

  I knew otherwise. Oh, Kaen. . . . Don’t do this to my friend.

  Suddenly, I heard voices behind me. Phoebe had returned, and with her . . . help. In more than one way.

  Gripping Kaen’s wrist tightly, I whispered, “Just wait.”

  He tried to yank his wrist free, but I held it too tightly. “Don’t try and stop me, Lyn,” he growled.

  “No, I will stop you. There’s a monster in all of us, Kaen. And yours is calling. Don’t answer it. That’s . . . that’s what he did.”

  Kaen froze. Fraid grinned up at him. Kaen made an anguished face and then stood up, pulling his boot and sword from the man, looking up at me and nodding. I let go of my friend’s wrist as Phoebe led a group of watchmen and dockworkers with buckets ready to take in all the thieves. They were already finding them, collecting the bound outlaws like children on a treasure hunt. She led the dockworkers straight to the fire on this street, and they began throwing what seemed a measly amount of water onto it. Only now did I realize that we were all standing amidst a flaming danger zone. The watchmen, however, had a water mage trained in fighting fires, who made quick work of it while we all moved out. Steam began to hiss and spread everywhere, mingling with the smoke.

  The watchmen tied the thief lord Fraid securely and led him off, heeding our warning that he was a trained fire synergist, and the three of us showed the men where all the remaining thieves lay scattered around the area.

  The guard captain thanked us profusely for our help, but also questioned why a group of youths such as us were out at this hour and how we found them. “We just happened across them,” Phoebe lied, eliciting a shrug from the man.

  “Well, I’m not going to question you too much since you helped out the city a great deal. This is the thieving band that’s been evading capture since long before Kalceron was ousted.”

  We headed home, exhausted but satisfied. I was relieved that it had gone so well. Kaen took my arm, however, partway back to the Palace. “Hey, why did you stop me back there?”

  I frowned, looking at him as I walked. “I told you. I didn’t want you doing something out of hatred.”

  Kaen looked down. “I-I know. But . . . ugh, then why did we go out there tonight? It ended well, but now I almost feel like we did something really wrong.”

  “It wasn’t wrong,” Phoebe said. “It was . . . the right thing to do.” Then she sighed. “Okay, maybe our motives could have been more benevolent.

  “If we had killed Fraid,” I explained softly, “killed him in anger, without letting the law prosecute him, then it would have just been a successful murder mission. We wanted justice. We got it. Rhidea would say that to kill a man to satisfy your own thirst for vengeance is an act of self-gratification, one that has nothing to do with law or justice.”

  The other two were quiet for a minute, then Kaen spoke up. “Thank you for stopping me, then.”

  I clasped him on the shoulder, taking Phoebe’s smaller shoulder with my other hand. “Of course. We are friends.”

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