“Of course you do.” Hadith picked five men to go with her.
“Sharp bronze does make good arguments,” Themba said.
“Continue up this tunnel,” Zuri told them. “It will take you to the surface.”
Zuri went to Tau. Hadith and Yaw stepped away, giving her space. “You’ll feel better soon. Be careful, Tau.” She hugged him. “I love you,” she said. “I always have.”
Tau groaned. He heard her. He wanted to tell her to stay. He could protect her. He had learned all he had so he could do so. He hugged her with arms as firm as seaweed, trying to hold her to him, trying to make her understand that she needed to stay. He had to protect her.
“Let’s go,” said Hadith.
Zuri kissed Tau, touched his face, and mouthed the words again. “I love you,” she said. Then she stepped out of the embrace, wiping at her eyes. “Goddess be with you,” she said. “May She be with you all.”
“And you, Lady Gifted,” said Kellan.
“Help me with him,” Hadith told Yaw. “We go!”
Tau managed to turn his head back to Zuri. She was watching after him. She gave him a small smile before the curve in the tunnel took her from sight. Tau closed his eyes. She had told him she loved him. She had said that. He tried to orient himself on that, as the world swirled.
A few strides later they stopped. Tau kept his eyes closed but heard wood splintering. He wondered if the door on this side was also made with Osonte wood.
“We’re out,” Hadith said. “You can open your eyes.”
Tau did, dropped to his knees, and threw up. He could hear fighting.
Hadith squatted beside him. “Get yourself together. We’re here.”
Tau lifted his head, breathing in the sweet scent of fresh air, opened his eyes, and gasped. They were at the end of a corridor. The floor was tiled in a patterned mosaic; the walls were smooth adobe painted in brilliant colors and they soared up for four floors. Tau had found the dignitaries’ quarters in the Southern Isikolo to be opulent. The interior of the Guardian Keep made those rooms look little better than his hut in Kerem.
Tau struggled to his feet, his head muddy. “Zuri…”
“She goes to get us dragons,” Hadith said. “Pray it works or none of us live to see the sun.”
“The fighting is this way!” yelled Kellan, dashing down the hallway and past row after row of enormous tapestries.
“Fight?” Uduak asked Tau. Yaw was beside the big man, looking worried.
“He’d better,” said Themba. “We’re outnumbered.”
Tau nodded.
“Right.” Hadith said, hefting his sword. “Let’s go make peace.”
STATUE
The hallway opened up into the keep’s enormous anteroom. The open space was circular and had a third-floor balcony that extended around its circumference. Offering access to the balcony were two wide staircases that clung to the curved walls. Supporting the balcony were thick sculpted columns around which scattered and isolated groups of men fought for their lives.
The majority of the fighting was focused near the exit to a hallway on the far side of the anteroom. That was where Tau saw most of the armored Queen’s Guard in their distinct maroon-stained leather. Abshir Okar, the queen’s champion, was leading the defense as the guard tried to hold the hallway against several units of full-blooded Indlovu.
Abshir was incredible. He darted this way and that, his sword whistling through air, flesh, and bone, as he called out commands and slew those who stood against him. Tau found himself both impressed and worried. The champion was a brilliant fighter, but it would not be enough, not against the odds he faced. The Queen’s Guard lost two men for every one they killed.
Kellan, seeing his uncle, charged.
“After him!” ordered Hadith. “Save the queen!”
Tau didn’t see any queen, but he saw his enemy and that was enough. He shook his head, willing the fogginess of the tunnels to leave him, and, swords out, he ran with the scale.
To get to Champion Abshir Okar, Tau would have to fight his way past a group of Indlovu doing battle with scattered members of the Queen’s Guard near the fountain that centered the anteroom. Tau ran over to engage the men, unable to ignore the tall bronze statue of Tsiory that stood in the middle of the fountain.
The statue had to be Tsiory. It had to be Queen Taifa’s champion and lover. It was almost as tall as the third-floor balcony, and Tsiory wore a suit of armor depicted in remarkable detail and intricacy. The statue’s face was turned to the dome above and the sky beyond. Tsiory’s sword, held with both hands, was placed point down into the fountain’s bloodred waters.
At first, Tau thought some of the day’s dead must have fallen into the fountain, tainting the waters. As he got closer, he realized that wasn’t the case. The water had been colored the red of blood and it flowed from the hilt of Tsiory’s sword, down the length of his blade, and into the fountain’s bowl. It seemed gory, thought Tau, twisting past an Indlovu’s swing and driving a sword through the man’s lungs, to anchor Tsiory’s memory in an ever-flowing pool of red.
Up ahead, Kellan had cut a path through Odili’s men and was stampeding for the hallway that his uncle strove to defend. Scale Jayyed had chosen to fight the Indlovu by the fountain. They couldn’t all go to the champion’s aid. The Indlovu they left behind them would attack and they’d be pincered. On the other hand, if Tau let Kellan go alone, the Indlovu at the hallway’s entrance would cut him down.
Unsure what to do, Tau crossed blades with a snarling full-blood. The Indlovu was good. The man’s shield had a supernatural sense of where to be and his sword moved more like a twisting chain than a blade of solid bronze. The full-blood came on hard, with no fear of a Lesser in Ihashe grays.
Tau dodged the man’s first two strikes, then struck out, stabbing him but hitting one of his bronze plates. He thought to finish the Noble but had to dart away before the man’s follow-up swing could connect. The Indlovu was fast, as well.
“Tau, go with Kellan!” Hadith shouted, settling Tau’s debate with himself.
Tau increased the pace of the fight, putting the Indlovu on the back foot and ready to finish him, when a roaring Jabari leapt into the fray. The full-blood slashed at Jabari’s blade, knocking it from his hands, and seeing his chance to kill the Petty Noble, the full-blood lunged.
Tau threw himself forward, off-balance but on target. His weak-side sword caught the thrust and turned it up and away from Jabari’s heart, as the blade of his strong-side weapon went into the full-blood’s neck, bursting through the opposite side in a shower of gore. Jabari stumbled back, wide-eyed and aware of how close to death he’d come.
“Get your blade!” Tau told him, turning and running to help Kellan. He heard footsteps behind him and readied to defend himself. It was Jabari, sword to hand. Tau growled in his throat. He wasn’t sure if Jabari’s presence helped or hindered, but there was no time for discussion either way. He’d arrived and immediately had to block a sword aimed for Kellan’s spine.
He caught the murderous cut on the edge of his blade at the same time as Kellan’s shield.
“About time!” said Kellan.