Blades of Sorcery Read online

As Reben fell to her knees, Sara looked back in the direction she’d come from to assure herself their section wasn’t being overrun. By what, she had no idea, but she was about to find out.

  Panting heavily, Reben said, “I barely made it back alive!”

  “You barely made it there at all,” Karn scoffed. “What, were you gone for ten minutes, tops?”

  Reben gave him a disgusted look as she caught her breath.

  It was the Kade leader who answered him. “A minute would be all it took,” he said smugly.

  The glee evident on his face was too much for even the normally calm Reben to bear. She launched herself at his face—fortunately for him, she wasn’t armed with her knife, just the natural weapons at the edges of her fingertips.

  “You liar!” Reben screamed as she scratched him across the face from chin to forehead, like a rabid dog, and kept going until someone had to protect the Kade from further wounds.

  Marx pull Reben off him, and when she was several feet away, they all saw that she had left claw marks in the leader’s face.

  Deep ones.

  Karn whistled. “Those are some impressive claws you got on those hands, kitty cat.”

  Reben shot him a hurt look as she pushed away from Marx and hid her now semi-transformed hands underneath her armpits.

  He held up his hands. “I was just saying—never seen a real…whatever you are in person. Can those babies retract, or do you just disappear them when you feel like it?”

  “Shut it, Karn,” snarled at least three others.

  This was neither the time nor place for his xenophobia. Nobody like the kith, but Reben was one of them. She had proven that time again, and Sara in particular didn’t care what Reben’s heritage said about her parentage.

  The look on Reben’s face was hard to move past, but Sara said with authority, “Reben, what happened?”

  Reben shook her head. “It’s horrible.”

  “What is?” asked Ezekiel, his eyes wide.

  As Reben stood quivering while they encircled her, Sara realized that half of the scout’s tunic was burned off.

  “You’re not just scared, are you, sweetling? You were attacked by something with ice in its veins,” Isabelle said in a half-whisper.

  “What gave you that idea?” said Karn dryly. “The fact that it looks like half her tits froze off or the frost on her lips?”

  Several people shot him dark looks, and Karn threw up his hands and stalked off a bit before returning.

  Reben said, “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

  “I think I might,” Isabelle said. “I’m from the northern regions. It’s par for the course, and the beasts that are loose there… Well, let’s just say it’s not worth the imperial garrison’s monthly pay to even bother hunting them, they’re so deadly.”

  Sara shifted uncomfortably. That didn’t sound good, but it was also neither here nor there. They had to get answers. But Reben just shivered until Isabelle pursed her lips, took off her muddy coat, and gave it to Reben, who took it with a grateful look.

  Sara watched the exchange with a bit of surprise. Isabelle had a good eye to notice that when no one else had. But to be fair, they were more focused on Reben’s words, and the fact that she could now visibly grow claws, than on her small frame.

  Reben said, “Thank you,” and then, through chattering teeth, began to explain what exactly she had been running from.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it,” the scout said. “They brought more monsters, ones that suck your souls, and ones that I couldn’t name but most assuredly don’t belong on this plane of existence.”

  “Like the dragons?” Ezekiel said.

  “No, no,” Reben replied. “Worse than that. They belong here. They are blood and bone and muscle. These are spirits unlike any I’ve seen before. They are shades. They are evil.”

  Marx said, “You’re not making sense.”

  “And you’re not listening,” Reben said. “He betrayed us. It wasn’t just him—it’s so much more!”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say I was on your side in the first place,” the Kade leader said dryly.

  “Can I punch him now?” Karn asked.

  “No,” Ezekiel and Sara snapped at the same time.

  Before anyone else could think about wounding their bargaining chip, Sara ordered, “Someone put him somewhere. We need a proper report, not another scuffle.”

  Even though the Kade was currently tied up, she had the feeling that he could more than hold his own in a dirty fight with Reben, furious temperament or no.

  “That post will do,” said Marx as he yanked the Kade up to do just that.

  Sara ordered four guards to go with him—two of her original group, and two of the mercenaries who had proven themselves capable fighters—and loyal—over the long night’s dance of blades.

  They took him away and then Sara faced Reben with her hands on her hips. “Now you tell us what happened, and don’t leave anything out.”

  Reben nodded and took a deep breath.

  “I scouted the perimeter nearest our area, just like you asked. When I came outside the dome—it was eerily silent. Like a grave.”

  “Like our cleanup area?” Ezekiel said.

  Reben shuddered. “Worse. At least there I wasn’t alone. Here—outside, I mean—there’s no one around. Just the wind and scuffs in the road.”

  “So those bastards packed up camp and left us,” Marx said as he came back to their side.

  Reben grimaced. “That’s the thing—I don’t think they did. I couldn’t come back with reports of empty wind…so I went out further.”

  She gave Sara an anxious glance at that, knowing it explicitly went against her orders. Sara forced herself to nod in a reassuring manner, as she was desperate to find out what had happened next.

  “Well,” Reben said after clearing her throat. “Like I said, I kept going…past the abandoned debris—weapons on the ground, tents upturned. Then I got to a barrier that I didn’t even know was there until I ran into it.”

  Ezekiel and Sara exchanged glances. That sounded like the one they were previously stuck in.

  “Like more domes?” Ezekiel asked.

  Reben nodded.

  Before she could speak again, Ezekiel asked, “Any chance those domes weren’t dropped by someone other than Kade opposition forces?”

  “Not a one,” Reben said. “Besides, if it wasn’t them and I hadn’t seen them with my own eyes, we’d be looking at an enemy we’ve never seen before.”

  The scholar shrugged. “Or our people as a last-minute defense technique.”

  Reben whirled on him. “I’m not lying! I’m telling you what I saw, and you can’t seem to take a hint.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry,” Ezekiel said as he gave her a bit of water.

  Isabelle had scavenged some full pouches from one of the few barrels that had managed to make it through a pitched skirmish and dragon fire unscathed.

  “She’s right, Ezekiel. Enough with the third degree,” Sara said. “We know they’re there and we know someone dropped domes all across the encampment. Let her tell the rest.”

  Reben took a deep breath and continued, “Like I was saying, I saw the barriers and went up to one. I felt along the perimeter and had to push to get in.”

  “Go on,” Isabelle said.

  “It felt different from the one I had to leave that surrounds us. Almost like it was keyed to a different mage source. They all do.”

  “What does that mean—all?” Marx asked.

  At the same time, Sara said, “A different source like a different mage?”

  Reben nodded at Sara. “Yes,” she replied to them both. “I checked before I ran back. There are more than one dome. Two at the very least. And I think at most ten in all.”

  “You felt for each one?” Sara asked.

  Reben shrugged. “No, but I used my…gifts to scout what I could from a distance. I thought it was better that I get back to report as soon as I cou
ld otherwise.”

  “And you were right,” Isabelle said.

  Reben squared her shoulders. “This was my first real scouting mission, so I’m glad you agree. I don’t use my kith side very often, after all.”

  Sara didn’t have time to soothe her frazzled nerves. She just asked her directly, “Did you manage to take a look inside any of the domes?”

  The haunted look returned to Reben’s face. “Yeah,” she said softly. “And it’s worse than in here. Way worse.”

  “What does that mean?” Marx said, practically pulling his own hair out.

  “It means that our people, mercenaries and soldiers, are trapped in shieldings just like this, but while we had to fight a couple dozen first guard and a handful of dragons, they were attacked by legions. A Kade mage, one of the leaders, at that, in every shielding—at least from what I could sense—and beside them all, ghouls and wendigos and hags riding nightmares from tales of old. It was like being thrown back in time, and from what I could see, we were losing…badly,” Reben said as her voice strengthened into a snarl and she looked him dead on.

  There was silence as people absorbed her words.

  Deciding she had nothing to lose—after all, the shield around them wasn’t coming down until the Kade leader was dead, judging by the fact that he was the only one of his people left here and alive—Sara walked over to where the Kade was tied up.

  He took one look at her face and gave her a cruel look. “Guessing your little scout spilled our secret.”

  Sara’s face twitched as she fought to hold back a fist from flying into his face. He seemed unnecessarily smug for someone captured and beaten.

  Chortling as she silently seethed above him, he said, “Oh, but I’m not the one who lost. It’s you, you and your entire pitiful army. The night has long gone to the victors, and you’ll see that as soon as the sight-and-sound shields come down. Of course, there won’t be many of you left around when that happens.”

  Sara turned away without a word. She walked as far away from everyone as she could, over dead bodies and around discarded weapons, until she bumped into the edge of the shielding again. Then she screamed as loud and as long as she could, and for the moment, she didn’t care that she wasn’t in control. She needed the release it gave.

  Then it was over and she could breathe again. Her will was hers to control.

  “Sara?” Ezekiel asked hesitantly.

  She ignored him.

  “What does this mean? What Reben found out?”

  She wasn’t sure why he thought she would have the answer he was seeking. They were all trapped in this same bubble together, alone and cut off and yet safer than the rest of those poor souls out there. But she answered him as best as she was able.

  “It means that the Kades duped us all,” Sara said in a defeated, weary tone.

  “We don’t know that yet,” Ezekiel replied.

  Sara gave him an angry look. “You asked my opinion; there it is. And to be honest, I actually prefer this outcome to the other one I was considering, the one where our captains had left us for dead. Again.”

  “Fair enough,” Ezekiel said with hands up. “So what now?”

  Sara looked back over at the Kade leader. “We get him to talk and we get out here before we make another move.”

  As she walked over to their prisoner, Sara cracked her knuckles. This was going to be a long night.

  As he saw her coming, he preemptively spoke out and raised his voice so the entirety of the group could hear. Probably so she didn’t kill him as soon as she walked over. With the murderous feeling in her veins, Sara had to admit that she just might have.

  “Do you really want to live with the look of betrayal in your empress’ eyes when she finds out you killed the only soul who could potentially give her as much information, if not more, than the sun mage?”

  Sara tensed her fists, but damn it, he was right. She couldn’t. Especially knowing that Nissa Sardonien could possibly be in the wind.

  Sara growled, but there was nothing they could do. It was true.

  Leaning over, Sara whispered in his ear, “I can give you mercy, which is more than you or the guards under you that we released deserve. But know this: if you screw me over, if you make one wrong move, I will also give you what you so richly deserve.”

  Then she leaned back from his face with her hair blowing in the wind.

  Their eyes met and he gave a slow nod.

  Sara smiled and knelt down.

  “Good,” she said. “Let’s begin.”

  10

  Sara stared into the eyes of the man she most wanted to kill.

  More than her own captains. More than the man who had killed her mother. More than anyone else in her life up until then. Because he was making her into a monster. All she could think about was rending his flesh into tiny pieces. All she could think about was the flash of her sword as it carved into his stomach and let his shiny guts spill onto the ground, soaked with the blood of her fallen comrades.

  And it wasn’t helping matters that the Kade leader was staring back up at her, grim-faced but with a smug gleam in his eyes that said he had her right where he wanted her—which only made her want to rip the look off his face even more.

  It seemed that for every second he’d been here, he had been the one to run the show as it was. Every time she thought she had one over him—by killing his dragons, ransoming his men, or finally bringing him to his knees—he managed to show them, with a twist of his words and slight shrug, that this was just one more notch under his belt, a line item on his list of things to do, and it pissed her off.

  Before she could take that outrage out on him, Sara stood up in disgust. At herself. At him. At their whole situation.

  If she accidentally killed him or even beat him to a pulp before she got him back to her superiors—assuming they were still alive in the encampment outside their own sight-and-sound shield—then she would be blamed for his unfortunate end. For not getting the information they needed to take this fight to the Kades and exact the revenge that was so sorely needed after a night like this.

  So she stewed instead of putting her hands on him. Hoping against hope, against her better judgment, that Captain Barthis was still alive. The man was a pain in her ass, had made judgment calls that she thought would get him court-martialed, had the empress been aware of his actions, and had questionable morality—however, it was all of those qualities that made him the best person to get the information they needed out of this Kade bastard.

  Sara didn’t have to like her captain to realize that his ability to torture without blinking and make decisions in the best interest of the whole rather than the individual made him a man who would ensure they got actionable intelligence from this scum.

  At least she hoped so, because so far, Sara had gotten diddly-squat.

  Which was no surprise to her, though her people were looking at her rather oddly—those that weren’t unconscious on wooden pallets they’d scavenged from a pile set aside nearby. Probably tent bases for other recruits, but they used them now just to have somewhere to lay their heads without lying directly on mud, blood, entrails, and fallen logs.

  Sara cast a wary eye over them. She couldn’t blame them. She wished she could sleep too, but she was too energized. Even now, when it had been an hour or perhaps more since she’d last dipped into the true nature of her gift, her battle magic reservoir, she felt the power coursing through her veins. It was more of a current than a wave. But even that current had energy—it gave her faster reflexes, even if it no longer enabled her to move as fast as lightning, it sharpened her eyesight to that of a hawk’s when her eyeballs should be bloodshot, and it made her body feel like she’d injected a few cups of kava weed, instead of feeling exhausted, as she should be.

  Sara didn’t mistake that energy for boundless, though. The magic was keeping her upright. The magic was keeping her running.

  Sooner or later, unless she tapped into it again and ran her well dry, she’d
drop where she stood, and she just hoped it was after she turned over this fool who’d wiped out a good couple dozen of the empire’s men and women. All in service of a distraction.

  It was that which stuck in her craw. Nissa Sardonien had never been inside of Sara’s shield arena. She was somewhere else, and she represented the last stand of some other unlucky group of soldiers and warriors who would die tonight for an empire that seemed to care less about them than ever.

  Where were their lookouts? Why had no one seen the Kades coming?

  Standing over and staring down at the Kade, she decided that, at the very least, she could find this part out herself. He had no reason not to at least give her something for all the hell they’d been through, and if he wouldn’t pull the shield down, she wanted information on how they’d portal-ed inside in the first place.

  Kicking him hard in the knee to get his attention, Sara snarled, “Wake up!”

  He opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look up at her. “I wasn’t sleeping.”

  “Sure looked like it to me,” Karn said from where he lay on a log. There was no need for all of them to be awake and alert—after all, they’d killed off all the invaders and closed the portal in the ransom. Now they were just waiting. Waiting for the invasion outside to be over. Waiting for their side to win, just as Sara and her ragtag group had done within here.

  Sara didn’t let herself think about what would happen if the Kades overtook the shields outside their walls and defeated the imperial forces trapped within each one. One by one they’d fall, and then they’d come for the rest, including Sara’s dome, and, of course, they were helpless. There was nowhere else for them to go, after all. The rest of them couldn’t get through the sight-and-sound shield, which was starting to feel like a prison—not like Reben could, anyway. So they waited. They rested. They watched.

  As they did so, Sara was determined to get at least some information out of the man they’d fought all through the night.

  Eyeing him, Sara asked the first question that came to mind: “How did your people know how to bring down our own protections? You shouldn’t have been able to portal directly into camp.”