Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Iryana returned to Myura River Fort the same way as last time, but instead of sneaking through the shadows of the buildings and avoiding the guards, Iryana walked straight toward the center square, hands raised.
It had been two days since she’d first marched on the fort, and only so long because Hadima had forced her to rest for a day before the challenge.
The whole time she’d worried for Karvek’s prisoners, Pyetar most of all.
She was dressed as a proper guardian now, but underneath her armor and clothing, bandages wrapped the new tattoos that wept like a festering wound.
She hadn’t been able to cover the wound on her neck though, not without the white linen being seen.
So that bit of the tattoo curled up just under her collar, and every movement chafed against the raw skin.
Hadima was safely hidden in the empty city beyond the wall. She had wanted to come, but Iryana couldn’t allow the distraction. The risk.
A dozen soldiers surrounded her, swords raised, mirroring her steps. They could have stopped her at the gate, but she knew they would not. How could they see her as a threat? They were expecting entertainment. Especially after she said she needed to talk to the general.
And they were tired, the countless bodies of dakii and dead soldiers surrounding the fort said they’d fought for their lives since Iryana had fled. Just like she had.
She stopped when she landed in the heart of the center square; the estate looming down the long main road.
On the whole walk there, with Hadima at her side, she’d thought through a thousand iterations of how she could do this, how best to make sure Karvek would accept her challenge. In the end, her plan came down to his refusal to be seen as vulnerable. As weak.
“I am here to challenge Karvek Horvol,” Iryana shouted, turning in a circle as she eyed them all. “General of the 18th Brigade.”
Some soldiers sneered and snickered, calling out names like guardian whore and traitor. Iryana didn’t care; her rage was a shield that none of them could penetrate.
“Why don’t we kill you right now?” one soldier asked with a sinister sneer on his face, even though a few soldiers had already run off to alert Karvek.
“Do you think so little of your leader that he can’t handle his own challenges? Are you afraid I will kill him because he is too weak?” Iryana threw her head back and laughed, while the soldier shrank noticeably. “What do you think Karvek will do if he finds you have so little faith in him?”
The soldiers stayed well back after that, leaving Iryana to wait.
She wanted to pace, but Iryana planted her feet, crossed her arms, and did not move. The crowd grew and grew, but she just kept on waiting.
Finally, the crowd parted, and Iryana steeled herself.
Karvek strolled out, each step casual, like he had no cares in the world. But the muscles along his jaw feathered, and his sharp features were pulled even tighter than usual. He was not unaffected, and that realization brought Iryana a much-needed burst of confidence.
He was going to accept her challenge.
Karvek was wearing shining black leather armor over an all-black ensemble, like a dark Prince ready to battle. He looked huge as he towered over the square. Still, his demeanor was unaffected, as if he didn’t think she was worth his time.
Following behind him, soldiers led out a train of Kleesold prisoners, their hands covered with thick, padded bags tied behind their backs with ropes so they could not summon and hold a forging. Their eyes were blindfolded. They were dirty and banged up, but whole.
She scanned their faces carefully, making sure none were missing.
Uncle Dinhal looked like he had not stopped fighting, his legs tied so tightly that he couldn’t take but the smallest steps. Her cousins, though, were tied up minimally. They must have been staying under the radar. That could come in handy later.
But those padded bags on their hands… they might summon a forging, but it would just fall uselessly to the ground.
Tonhald and Teshya were huddled together. She could only imagine how worried they’d be that their daughter would have to grow up without either parent, not even old enough to remember them. That filled her with resolve.
She found Kladara, rage like Iryana had never seen twisting her features, even with her eyes covered as they were. She didn’t look banged up though; she looked like a puma patiently waiting until it was time to strike. Good.
Kladara and Tonhald’s younger brothers and the others looked pale and worried, but not much worse off either.
“Look how nicely I’ve treated my guests,” Karvek gestured grandly at the bound Kleesolds, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Iryana turned back to Karvek, breathing slowly through her nose.
Where was Pyetar? Where were Vaneshta and Lidishta? She didn’t dare ask, didn’t dare give him any more leverage than he already held over her. But if Karvek was going to kill anyone, it would have been his brother.
No, if he had killed Pyetar, that would have been the first thing out of Karvek’s mouth.
“I’m challenging you, Karvek.” She kept her voice hard. “For control of the 18th Brigade.”
Some of the Kleesolds jerked at her words, mouths dropping open in surprise as they recognized her voice.
He laughed, the sound dark and cutting. “That’s not how it works.”
“But that’s how you took control of the 18th, isn’t it?” she accused. “I was there, you know. I didn’t go back like you told me to; I watched.”
Karvek’s eyes narrowed, though she could tell he tried to hide it still.
“When I kill you,” she taunted loudly. “I control the 18th.” And she would give that control to Pyetar.
He rolled his eyes. “Your challenge is a joke. Besides, if I threatened to kill your family, you would do anything I say.”
“That would be the coward’s way, and your soldiers know that.” She shrugged, though her heart was pounding. “You’d only do that if you were afraid of fighting me.”
“You lost to me two days ago. Why would I be afraid?” His smile was smug, but the muscles in his jaw were twitching again.
Iryana held her arms out and turned in a circle, showing the crowd that she was perfectly unharmed. “I mean a proper fight. One that only one of us will walk away from. Just me—and you.”
“You realize that if you lose, I will slaughter every single Kleesold I can find.”
“Like you aren’t planning to do that anyway.” She gave him the same unaffected smirk that she had memorized on his face.
He didn’t seem to like that face shown back to him.
Karvek narrowed his eyes at her. She could tell he was getting frustrated that he wasn’t ruffling her. Karvek raised his hand high back toward the crowd, sweeping his hand in a request for something to be brought to him.
Iryana tensed.
Pyetar was shoved through the crowd, his clothes covered in dried blood. Bruises bloomed along his right cheek, and that eye was too swollen to open all the way. But he was alive.
The soldier leading him shoved Pyetar to his knees at Karvek’s side.
He wasn’t blindfolded like the others, but his hands were bagged and his arms tightly bound to his sides. Like just removing his hands from the equation wasn’t enough to keep him from wielding his forging.
Pyetar’s eyes latched right onto her, and he stared, first with relief and then terror.
She doubted Karvek had told him that Iryana had escaped.
Pyetar would have just seen that she wasn’t in the dungeons with him, that Karvek had her or she was dead.
Karvek might have even lied to him, taunted him.
“And what do you think will happen to my dear brother?” Karvek’s gaze pierced into her, and Iryana forced herself to rip her eyes off Pyetar. “After I kill you?”
She forced her heart to harden.
“The same thing as the rest of your prisoners, and anyone else that challenged you.” Iryana kept her voice light, as if the entire conversation was tedious. “The same thing that you’d have done to them anyway.”
“Well, well, well.” Karvek smiled, but it was forced now. “My poor brother, it seems our lady here is not as fond of you as you are of her.”
Pyetar jerked, and Iryana fought to remain still. How much did Karvek know?
Karvek shrugged. “I suppose he can still watch me kill you. That will teach him a lesson. One he just can’t seem to learn.”
She had known this would be hard for Pyetar to watch, but it had to be done.
“So you accept my challenge then?” she demanded.
Karvek took three long strides toward her, and Iryana tensed, ready to cast her weapons, but then he stopped a few feet away.
“I accept your challenge,” he declared. And then gestured toward the Kleesold prisoners. “Remove their blindfolds. Let them watch their savior fail.”
Then his eyes narrowed at her.
“You were a broken little bird when we met. I showed you what you were truly capable of. And this is how you repay me?” He drew out each word, lacing them with venom.
Karvek was always cool and calculated, which made him hard to beat. His rage was a bit of an unknown though, something she had only seen hints of below the surface. If she drew it out, she wondered, would he be sloppy? Or would his rage swallow her like a great avalanche?
It was a risk her plan required.
“You’ve showed me things, Karvek, sure. Like how much I hate being used. How much I despise how you kill anyone that gets in your way. How I can’t let you continue your spree of destruction.”
Karvek sneered. “And yet you latched onto my praise like a pathetic dog. You threw yourself at me like I could make you worthy.”
“Please. I’ve been trying to destroy you since the beginning, Karvek. You were so desperate for my affection that you couldn’t tell how fake it was. I could never want you, never care for you.”
Karvek roared, his face unmasked and twisted with rage. His arm wrenched back and cast his sword mid-swing. Iryana was ready, twisting out of the way and casting her own metal-forged spear.