CHAPTER 30
C HAPTER 30
T HE SECOND TIME CLIMBING the tower stairs had Seth’s legs positively on fire. Raider was well ahead of him of course. When he vanished onto the roof, panic unlocked a higher gear in Seth. He raced up the last of the steps so fast that he slammed into Raider at the top.
“Damn it, stay with me!” Seth barked as they both recovered their footing.
“For fuck’s sake, I’m right here—”
Raider cut off at the sound of shouting. They both looked to the cliff from which the waterfall spilled into the tower. From this angle, only a glint of gold was visible, but that voice—
“Nasrin!” Raider exclaimed. Scimitar flashing in his hand, he took off, racing for the steps cut into the cliff.
Seth bolted after him, desperation overriding his fatigue. His sword was a familiar weight at his back. His bracers hugged his forearms, and his right thigh was snugged with his knife sheath. His chakram and other gear hung ready at his utility belt. Somehow, the weapons didn’t feel as reassuring as usual.
Raider vanished onto the clifftop. Seconds later, Seth burst to the top of the steps, yanking his sword from its scabbard—
A blade flashed toward him. Seth deflected it and ducked under another. Spinning behind his opponent, he slashed low across a hamstring. The golden-armored figure dropped, but another of the Hammer lunged for Seth.
A quicksilver fist slammed into the combatant, knocking him out of Seth’s way and buying Seth a moment to glimpse the scene.
The Hammer was ranged along the riverbank, holding a line between Seth and Raider … and three figures, black robes trimmed with gold, forming a triangle around the Alchemist.
Nasrin, her gold filigree armor gleaming over her leather breastplate, gold studs flashing on the strips of her skirt, stood at a slight distance, her sword leveled at Tarjan. The djinn was pleading with her, but her face was set with determination. Soroush was nowhere to be seen.
Another blade flashed toward Seth. He ducked and charged into his attacker, ramming his shoulder into the golden-armored gut. Seth flipped the man over his shoulder.
Triggering his arcane glove, Seth tossed his sword into his left hand and yanked his chakram from his utility belt, intending to take Fadesh out. He didn’t get a chance to throw it, however. That damn arcane net that had taken him down outside Atri’s temple in Kastari came flying out of nowhere.
Seth dove aside, rolling clear of the net’s trajectory. He popped to his feet, hunting for the net launcher, unsure if another would follow. One of the Hammer threw down an arcane device. Single use only, it seemed. Dismissing the threat, Seth took aim with his chakram once again, but, once again, he didn’t throw it.
Nasrin had turned her attention from Tarjan to Raider, who was racing for Fadesh. Her quicksilver whip lashed out. It caught Raider around the throat and yanked him off his feet, hauling him toward her.
Raider lost his scimitar as he hit the ground hard. He froze when Nasrin’s sword pricked his throat above the whip’s coils.
Seth, having lurched in Raider’s direction, skidded to a halt. He readied himself to hurl the chakram at Nasrin.
“I can kill him before you can kill me!” Nasrin shouted. “Weapons down, Seth!”
Seth silently pleaded for Raider to use his quicksilver. He could grab that whip, grab her sword. He could kill her. Instead, he was trying to speak. He couldn’t though. Not around the whip’s tight coils.
Seth had no choice but to drop his weapons. Someone kicked the back of his leg. He slammed to his knees. A dozen swords pointed at him.
When Raider’s quicksilver retracted up his left arm, Nasrin sheathed her sword but left the whip around his throat.
“Fucking let him breathe, Nasrin!” Seth shouted, raging against his own helplessness.
The warrior woman grabbed something from her belt. Goddamn it, it was Seth’s shackles, which she must have recovered from the crashed palanquin. She clapped them onto Raider’s wrists. Grabbing the bar between the cuffs, Nasrin yanked Raider’s arms over his head and slammed them to the ground, locking him there with the shackles’ arcane gravity. Then the whip released—and Raider hauled in a desperate breath.
Seth glanced toward the river. The two arcanists flanking the statue’s back were trying to catch the sunlight through a sequence of crystals, aiming the refracted rays at the golden figure.
Seth was very sure, however, that their work had nothing to do with Fadesh’s activities. They were being kept busy—while he used an arcane torch to melt the golden hand clutched at the golden chest.
“Nasrin,” Seth called as the warrior stepped away from Raider’s bound form and drew her sword again. She stalked Seth’s way, her gray eyes steely. “Nasrin, listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me, you lying snake! Zarina must be able to protect herself and the Gold. I will make that possible for her, even if it means I have to kill both of you.”
“Goddamn it, Nasrin, the greatest threat to her and the Gold is right fucking there! Fadesh is Kahzir’s lackey!”
“Don’t be absurd,” Nasrin scoffed. “Fadesh is Zarina’s most trusted arcanist. He’s served her faithfully for ten years.”
Seth argued, “What was his alternative? To go down with Kahzir? Of course he’s served her! But now he has another option.”
“It’s true, Nasrin,” Raider gasped out, straining up against the shackles. “He worked with Kahzir.”
Doubt flitted through Nasrin’s eyes. But like a warrior accustomed to making quick decisions, she turned toward Fadesh. “Step back,” she ordered.
Fadesh stayed busy with the torch. Eyes still locked on the golden figure, he said distractedly, “I’ll hand it straight to you, Nasrin.”
She started striding his way. “Step back now , arcanist.”
With a cry of triumph, Fadesh dropped the torch. That cry became a scream of pain as he plunged his hand into the molten gold. Then brilliant light blazed out from his gilded fist. His scream faded as his eyes lit with ecstasy. The Alchemist’s Stone glowed like a star in his golden grasp.
Seth sprang to his feet, careless of the swords still pointed at his throat. Seconds later, those blades all whipped toward the river anyway as Nasrin shouted, “Seize Fadesh!”
Seth, Nasrin, and the rest of the Hammer charged toward the arcanist—just as flames erupted from his hands. Seth switched course at the last second, diving for Nasrin and tackling her into the water. Her cry was cut off as she and Seth sank under the surface.
Seth felt a boot on his stomach as Nasrin twisted around, launching herself to the surface and pushing him down to the rocky bottom. Water rushed down his throat. He flailed upward and broke the surface hacking water from his lungs.
Eyes streaming, lungs seizing, Seth looked first for Raider, terrified to find him burned. Seeing that he wasn’t, Seth’s head whipped back to the fight.
Black and gold humps caught the edge of his vision at the river’s edge, but it was Fadesh that concerned him. But Fadesh himself was no longer there. In his place was a swirling cloud of blue smoke. Flakes of gold lifted from the Alchemist and spun into the smoke’s vortex.
The smoke whirled away through the air, dragging more gold into its wake as it vanished over Jannat.
The last of the gold lifted from the Alchemist, revealing a desiccated human figure. Seth caught the briefest glimpse of dull, colorless eyes that filled with relief before the last of the Alchemist crumbled to dust and drifted away.
A grunt had Seth’s head whipping toward Raider. Raider was halfway up. Quicksilver encasing his left arm once more, he’d managed to break free of that cuff, but his other arm remained locked to the ground. Seth went crashing through the water toward him. Dropping beside him, Seth quickly sequenced the shackles to release. Raider yanked upward.
Seth took his face in both hands, needing to see his eyes. But Raider’s eyes were darting around, not focusing, not settling. There was a tremor in his body.
They played with bondage sometimes, but it had to be controlled. It had to be safe. Raider had to want it.
“Look at me,” Seth said.
Raider’s eyes settled on Seth. He took a deep breath. His quicksilver retracted with a hissing shhkkkt .
“That’s better,” Seth said as Raider’s hands came up to settle on Seth’s wrists. “Are you okay?”
Raider nodded. “Yeah. Are you?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m fine.”
As they got to their feet to survey the scene, Seth kept one hand on Raider. Raider did the same to him.
Nasrin was moving their way, her expression grim. Behind her, the armor of her men lay in melted pools of gold, and their weapons were twisted lumps of steel. Their bodies were twisted and blackened and swiftly turning to ash.
The other two arcanists had fared no better. As their charred forms crumbled, their useless crystals dropped into the river with soft plunks.
Seth wasn’t sure when Tarjan had vanished, but he shimmered into sight now.
Seth glared at him. “You could’ve helped.”
“Not without violence,” the djinn answered.
“A little violence for greater peace,” Seth snarled.
Tarjan gave him a sad look. He gestured across the panorama of Jannat. “We did that once—and even for that, you condemned us. Should we do it again? And again and again? There is never an end to violence until you refuse it.”
“But now the Stone is on its way to Kastari—”
“And good riddance,” intoned a dark, heavy voice as Soroush shimmered into sight on the other bank of the river. The djinn’s ancient eyes shone bright in his indigo face.
Tarjan accused, “You let evil into the Garden.”
“No, Tarjan, I let it out . Jannat is cleansed at last.”
“Jannat may be rid of its stain—but you are not.”
“I did no violence. The only violence here was done by humans, as always. Let them continue with it. Let them destroy themselves—well away from us. It is what they do. I do not know why you love them.”
“Better love than hate, Soroush.”
Soroush scoffed. “Your love will not save them.”
“No. They will save themselves. And I would rather help with that, than help as you did.”
Soroush laughed. “Go on then, fool. We’ll soon see the truth of them.”
With that, Soroush vanished. Tarjan glared at where the other djinn had been, then he set two long fingers to his lips and let out a shrill, piercing whistle.