Chapter Nine #3
Something cracked, and only after a lightning strike of pain did Kai realise it was his own face.
He awoke on his tiptoes, two great hands around his throat holding him upright. Above him, seagulls swooped, blurry shadows against the cloudy sky, their shrill calls ringing in his ears.
“You think I give a shit about your little ward?” Nalu tightened his grip. “Fat load of good it’ll do you once you’re dead.” He whistled suddenly, the high-pitched blare ricocheting in Kai’s brain. “Don’t you run, little bird!” Nalu shouted: “I’ll find you soon.”
Lina. Kai had forgotten about her. He let out a frail cough, tasting blood, coppery passionflower tea, a loosened tooth.
His face tingled with the legs of a thousand silkworms marching just beneath his skin.
He spasmed, desperate for breath, but there was no strength left in him to lift a hand, to summon anything.
He heard footsteps, sensed something right behind him. A glimmer of gold swerved around him; Lina, her eyes huge, a knife – his knife – braced against Nalu’s throat.
Nalu froze, his hold on Kai’s neck slackening just enough for him to suck in a breath and slur, hazy with pain, “Good boy, Lulu. Now shtep away or I’ll take out yer other eye.”
Lina blew out a frazzled sigh. “Shut up, Kai.” She dug the blade harder into Nalu’s throat, daring him to move. For a moment she looked like she didn’t know how she got here. “Let go,” she commanded. Then, ridiculously, “Please.”
Kai crashed to the ground. His chest heaved, drawing in blessed air, but his eyelids drooped, dizziness overcoming him. He lifted a tentative hand to his cheekbone, ran his fingertips against hot, swollen skin, and saw stars.
Nalu twisted out of Lina’s hold, roaring a curse when the knife sliced into his jaw. Water surged, but Lina fell back, raised her arms. A blast of fireless heat burst between them, evaporating every drop of water.
Nalu clicked his tongue, amused. “Where’s your fire now?”
Lina swallowed, mustered, “What fire?”
His brother let out a low, disbelieving laugh, his fists balling into bludgeons.
Kai forced himself, groaning against the shimmering pain behind his eye, onto his knees. Noticing him, Nalu changed tack, preparing to kick him – until another blur of colour, rich brown and seleneschal indigo, darted between them.
Nalu grinned, blood trickling down his neck. “You’d defend a traitor?”
River shrugged one shoulder, his sword arm perfectly still, the tip of his rapier pointed at Nalu’s throat. “Apparently.”
The rest was too quick for Kai to track.
Nalu went white with rage and batted River’s sword out of the way, charging, but River was faster, sidestepping him and delivering a series of swift slices across Nalu’s arms and legs.
Warning shots, each cut shallow but precise, causing just enough pain to stagger, just enough bleeding to distract.
Nalu swung his fists, water rising and freezing into knife-sharp chunks of ice; before Kai could deflect even one, each of them evaporated.
“Bitch,” Nalu howled, lunging for Lina’s neck, but River flew towards him, his sword thrust beneath Nalu’s chin.
He angled the blade, pressed, dared Nalu to move lest he cut his own throat. Finally Nalu, gasping for air and drenched with his own blood, held up both hands in surrender.
River pulled back a little, forcing Nalu to face him. “Lieutenant,” he said, his voice cold, “you sought refuge on Oseidos after what you did in Lodestone, only to repay our kindness by attacking Lady Ione’s attendant and brutalising Oseidos’s warden.”
Kai hauled himself up, dazed. The world swayed. “My precious face, broken!” he managed, still slurring. He blinked, trying to focus his cloudy vision, and registered that one of his eyes had swollen fully shut. “Gods, I hope nothing ter – terri – bad will happen to the ward!”
River didn’t even turn. “Shut up, Kai.” And to Nalu, “Will you see justice for the violence you’ve wrought upon Oseidos’s protector,” he asked, solemn, although Kai could sense his barely-concealed glee, “or will you leave us all in peace?”
Nalu’s chest rose and fell with each hoarse breath. “Lieutenant of the Leviathos, against two traitors and a – ” The last word drowned in a choking cough; he scowled, unable to even say Moth when talking about Lina.
“That really depends on how you look at things,” River said, unmoved. “Archpriest Saros will see it as a warden, a seleneschal, and an innocent attendant.”
“In that case – ” Nalu widened his stance. His magical signature, concealed until now, dropped over them, heavy and frigid. “I’ll see yous all dead now.”
Crystals like miniscule razors flitted about the air, but Kai sucked in a breath. “Brace yourself, Swords,” he warned, summoning every last bit of strength in him to unleash his own signature.
The humid air chilled, and hoarfrost coated the dirt around Kai’s feet, expanding and building until the green of summer all around them dripped with ice.
Kai wobbled, overcome with it – it should have been a comforting release, like stretching one’s limbs, but the buzzing throb in his face distracted him, made his stomach roil.
He bared his teeth and rode it out, barely cognizant of the crystalline spikes jutting out from the ground, of the way even Nalu trembled.
When he could think again, he found River on one knee and breathing heavily, although he kept his sword raised, its point aimed at Nalu’s eye.
Kai held his brother’s gaze. “Try it,” was all he could say, and thank the gods, it was all it took.
Nalu smiled wanly, resigned. “If this is the route the lot of yous will take, then go ahead and rot. Gods! I look forward to hearing which of yous kills the other first.”
He pivoted, hands still up, and limped down the path, frost crunching beneath his boots.
“In the meantime,” Nalu called behind him, laughter in his voice, “may our warden and seleneschal take care. Because the pair of yous have cast your lot with no ordinary woman.”