The scale had to win their next skirmish. A victory gave them a chance at the Queen’s Melee. A spot in the melee gave them a chance to skirmish against Scale Osa, Kellan’s scale, and Tau wanted that more than anything.
If Tau could fight Kellan, he could kill him on the battlefield and claim it as an accident. The Omehi would think it a tragic and shameful end to such a promising Noble, dying at the hands of a Lesser. But there could be no punishment. Every cycle men died in the melee. Every cycle.
Tau told himself this was why he trained so hard. It was for revenge. He told himself that he didn’t love every span of it, because his path should not involve pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. It was about hate and pain and rage. But he did love it, the training, the sparring, the sword.
Hadith thought differently. He wanted time to live life, to play games, but their world was at war and that meant the sword was life. It meant fighting was the only game. And, in the upcoming skirmish, Tau intended to prove how good a player he was.
MERCY
It was the hottest day of the cycle and things were not going well. The skirmish had already lasted longer than most, and more than half of Scale Jayyed was still in play, as well as two-thirds of the citadel warriors. They were fighting on the mountain battleground, which favored the Indlovu, who could use the rocky terrain to avoid taking fights with odds worse than three to one.
Jayyed’s six had been reduced to four—Hadith, Uduak, Oyibo, and Tau. Yaw had been disabled by the Enervator’s first blast and knocked unconscious by the Indlovu follow-up. Chinedu had gone down a few moments later, trying to rally near a choke point where several Indlovu had sheltered. The skirmish had become hit-and-run among the diminutive cliffs of the battleground, and Hadith was loath to commit his men to a full assault.
Tau knew he was worried about the Enervator. They hadn’t isolated her position and it had been more than half a sun span since she’d fired off a blast. She’d be ready to use her gift again.
“We can’t stay out here all day,” Tau told Hadith as he slicked a river of sweat from his brow. They were crouched behind an outcropping of rock, looking up. Twenty strides away, several Indlovu were entrenched in an improvised stronghold of boulders. Tau couldn’t be sure how many others were there, or if the Enervator was with them.
“I know,” muttered Hadith.
“We have to do something.”
“Like what? Call dragons out my ass?”
“Calm,” rumbled Uduak.
“She has to be up there,” Hadith said. “She has to be.”
“But if she’s not, and we go in…,” said Runako with his paper-thin voice.
Hadith shook his head. “She’s there. I can feel it. Get ready, everyone. Three prongs. I’ll lead middle, Tau takes left, Uduak right.”
It was dangerous. If the assault didn’t work, they’d lose too many men to win the skirmish.
“Goddess go with you,” Hadith said.
“If She’s not already with them,” Themba whispered, as the three prongs arranged themselves.
Oyibo glared at Themba, cowing the talkative initiate, and glanced at Tau for approval. Tau nodded. Oyibo’s idolization was a little awkward, but he was a good fighter and Tau would exchange any amount of awkwardness for that.
Tau saw Hadith check the position of the three prongs. They were in place. Tau would stream up the left side of the hill with eight other men, Hadith would charge the center, and Uduak the right. It was a simple plan. Tau hoped that would count for something.
Hadith raised an eyebrow at Tau. Tau pointed a finger toward the Indlovu. He wanted to go.
“Where we fight!” Hadith shouted.
“The world burns!” bellowed the twenty-seven remaining Lessers of Scale Jayyed as they rose from their redoubt and streamed up the hill. They were spread out far enough that the Enervator could not get them all, if she was there.
She was. Tau saw her stand from behind one of the larger rocks and raise her arms in his direction.
“Cek!” yelled Tau as the wave of enervation struck him, hurling his spirit into Isihogo.
The wind’s howl was deafening, the sky dark, and Tau’s blood ran cold as he imagined all the horrible things that could be hiding behind the rocks. He looked back at his men. The collective glow from the other eight fighters was blinding, and they had been noticed.
Demons, misshapen and terrible, emerged from the mists. They keened and bayed, predators on the hunt. Tau heard men wail in fear, their voices muted by whatever forces controlled this place. Many cowered and some broke, running for their lives, as if there was anywhere to run. Tau gritted his teeth, thinking, If you’re already in the underworld, don’t stop there. He pulled his swords and charged, heart hammering and filled with blinding fear.
“The world burns!” he roared as he ran into and right through the lead demons, emerging into the bitter heat, harsh sunlight, and divine blessing that was Uhmlaba. He stumbled, almost fell, and tried to right himself, but the world spun in a dizzying wobble as he spotted and struggled to hold his eyes on the stunned Enervator standing just a few steps ahead.
She had lowered her arms and was staring at Tau in disbelief. He looked back at the way he’d come. His prong was a shambles, not a single man up. Oyibo was closest, but on his knees, head bowed, chest heaving.
The Enervator’s blast had been particularly brief. It was her duty to release them before the demons attacked, but she’d gone too far the other way and Tau’s lesson with Zuri, learning how to let his soul slip to the underworld, had made the Enervator’s forced transition less stupefying. She’d weakened but not broken him.
He shook his head, hoping to tear loose the last hooks the journey to Isihogo had on him. His mind was a muddle, but he knew enough to run for the Enervator, making it her turn to cower. He managed several strides and was almost on her when two Indlovu, the Nobles assigned to guard her, rose from behind the boulders, greeting him with bronze.
Tau slashed at the nearest man, his attack premature, clumsy, a result of his time in Isihogo. The Indlovu blocked and the second Noble swung for Tau’s head. His instincts saved him. Tau dropped to his knees and the sword his body told him was coming whistled overhead.
Tau smacked his weak-side blade into his attacker’s calf and was rewarded when the man yelped. Tau stabbed up and forward, aiming for the groin of the first man in a move that would disembowel had his practice blade possessed anything resembling a true point. The Indlovu blocked the strike and Tau sprang to his feet, pressing him further.
The Indlovu’s eyes, deep set beneath a heavy brow, shone, and the man was grinning. He’s enjoying this, Tau thought, noticing that the Enervator was scrambling away. He needed to get to her, fast.
No time to waste, he sent his blades spinning in attack after attack, showering himself and the grinning Noble with sparks. The man’s smile slipped as he struggled to weather Tau’s storm. Then it returned.
Tau leapt to the side. He wasn’t fast enough. The other Indlovu, the one behind him, cracked him in the shoulder. The blow had been aimed for his neck. Not that it mattered, much.
The strike fired a wave of pain down Tau’s arm, sent his strong-side sword flying down the hill, and knocked him to the ground. Certain they weren’t done with him yet, Tau rolled and avoided getting his face stomped by a boot. He darted to his feet and both men were on him.