Part 2 (1/2)

He stood still, holding the battle-axe in both hands. He listened.

Something sc.r.a.ped behind him, little more than a pebble sliding down a dune.

In one movement, Kai turned, reversing his axe as he did, and plunged the heavy axe-head down on the wolf that had tried to sneak up on him.

The creature was crushed under the blow, shattering instantly. Its amethyst eyes were inches from Kai's calf.

Kai smiled. He hadn't even needed a warning. If Caela could see him now, she would be so proud.

He let the axe drop to the sand, walking toward the temple. It was scratched and chipped from his battle with the wolves, and he thought the end of the shaft might have even splintered. The weapon would fade back to Valinhall eventually, where one of the Nye would take it into the forge and do what they could to repair it. They might just strip it down and use it for raw materials; it was no Dragon's Fang, after all.

Of course, that was why Kai was headed to this temple in the first place. It had taken him weeks to reach this far into the Badari Desert on foot, and now he was finally this close to his goal.

By sunset, he would have a real weapon again. And then he could go home.

Simon held Azura in both hands, staring out into a room filled with thick, leafy jungle plants and pelting rain. A piping scream cut through the roar of the rain, sounding like the cry of some exotic bird. Knowing Valinhall, it was probably something far more deadly than any bird.

He raised his huge sword and eyed the door on the other side of the room. A cobblestone path cut through the gra.s.s that carpeted the rest of the area, and it led directly to a stone door with a running wolf carved in its face. Simon was so far away now that he could barely see the outline of the wolf carving, but he had tried to reach the door so often that he burned with curiosity. He had to see what was behind that door.

Go now, Lilia whispered in his mind. Like all of his dolls, she sounded as though she was speaking through a gentle wind, although she actually sat on the stone floor by his feet. She wore a frilly dress of pure white, and had huge, innocent purple eyes. He had tucked her safely away from the rain, of course. Kai would murder him if he ruined her dress.

At the doll's signal, Simon stepped into the downpour just as a clear spot opened in the weather. He stood surrounded by rain, but remained totally dry. The clear spot in the rain moved forward and he stepped with it, raising his sword above him as though to chop.

He stepped again, and brought the sword down. Another step, and he crouched on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, the sword arched behind him and to one side.

With each step he took, he a.s.sumed one of the sword forms that Chaka had taught him. If he executed each of the positions correctly, he would reach the other side of the room completely dry.

This was his fourteenth attempt to conquer what he and the other residents of Valinhall had dubbed the ”rain garden.” He had never made it more than halfway.

But he liked his chances this time.

The rain pounded around him, a.s.saulting his ears, and the clear spot began to move more quickly. He stepped forward from form to form, faster and faster, slas.h.i.+ng and blocking and dodging invisible opponents until he moved almost as fast as he would in an actual battle.

He had pa.s.sed the first landmark of the rain garden: a cl.u.s.ter of tall purple flowers with blossoms like trumpets, growing just to one side of the path. That meant he was almost two thirds of the way there. He had never made it so far before, and had never run through this routine so quickly. He started to lose track of the forms; he stepped forward, and couldn't remember if he was supposed to lunge forward or pivot for a slash.

He needed more time, so he reached out in his mind to a black box that the Nye Eldest had once given him. Chaka had warned him that he would learn nothing from this test if he simply relied on his powers to pa.s.s, but how would he know? Simon certainly wasn't going to tell him. A rush of cold moonlight filled his lungs as he drew on the essence of the Nye.

Immediately, the world slowed. Instead of hurtling to the earth, the raindrops seemed to crawl. At that speed, Simon could see the outline left by the absence of raindrops, and he just fitted himself into it. He had to remember to move slowly and carefully, though, since in this test too fast was just as bad as too slow. But he had no chance of failing now. No wonder Chaka hadn't wanted him to call the essence*it made the test too easy.

Simon made it through three more forms before he realized the rain was speeding up. No problem; he could move faster, too. He increased the speed of his forms, cutting and slas.h.i.+ng and piercing invisible enemies by the dozen.

Then the rain sped up again. Without the essence in him, it would have been impossible to follow.

Soon Simon was moving just as frantically as before, moving from form to form so quickly that he knew an onlooker would see him as nothing more than a silver-flas.h.i.+ng blur. But somehow the rain moved faster still. Even the droplets didn't seem as slow as before, rus.h.i.+ng down almost as quickly as they had when he first entered the room. Was the essence running out? No, it still rushed through his lungs like the breath of winter itself. So what was going on?

Oh, right, I may have forgot to mention, Lilia said absently. The rain speeds up to match you, so you probably shouldn't use your Nye essence.

Too late now, Simon sent back, a little bitterly. The door was so close. Surely, he could make it this time.

I thought I told you, Lilia said. Or did I? No, I certainly forgot.

Then the weather did something Simon had never seen before: it froze. The clearing above stopped moving forward, but Simon thoughtlessly stepped into his next form, sweeping his sword out in a slas.h.i.+ng blow that cut through the rain.

Water pelted down, soaking him in seconds.

His doll gasped. Oh dear. You should run.

He would have, but the raindrops were coming so fast that he felt them slamming into his skin like hundreds of tiny hammers. Desperate, he called steel, feeling the icy rush through his blood as he was filled with strength.

Then he turned away from the wolf-carved door and began to run back toward Lilia, who sat next to the door where he had entered. Maybe, with steel and essence in him, he could make it.

The rain stopped.

Behind you, Lilia murmured. She didn't sound as upset as she should have.

Simon spun around, slas.h.i.+ng Azura through the creature he knew he would see behind him: something like a long-necked cat, only shaped entirely of water. It hissed when Simon's sword cut through its neck, revealing a mouth full of icicle teeth.

Simon's strike did about as much good as if he had attacked a waterfall, pa.s.sing through without dealing any real damage, but the cat stopped for a split second to let its neck re-form. Simon took advantage of that instant to turn back around and keep running.

He couldn't afford to slow down. There were hundreds of those cats following him with the inevitability of a rus.h.i.+ng river, the leaders snapping at his heels. Even with his enhanced speed, Simon couldn't outrun them. In fact, a pair of the cats jumped onto his shoulders, sinking ice-cold teeth into his collar.

He screamed, but didn't stop running.

Hey, they're still behind you, Lilia said.

Simon didn't open the door so much as he crashed into it, barely remembering at the last second to spin around and scoop up Lilia and his black cloak, which he had left behind so it didn't slow him down. So much for that.

Wind from the courtyard whipped him as he stepped through the door, but he ignored it as he slammed the heavy stone door shut. There came a sound like the rus.h.i.+ng of an ocean wave as all of the rain-cats slammed against the door in a torrent. Water oozed through the crack at the bottom of the door, puddling next to his feet.

Oh, I had a dream just like this, once, the doll said.

The two cats that had shredded Simon's shoulders let out a yowl as they melted, covering him in icy rainwater. Apparently they could only exist in the rain garden, which was a relief. He had been afraid that he would have to fight them from room to room throughout the whole House.

”Almost made it,” Simon panted. His shoulders burned, and he was starting to feel a little light-headed.

Did you? Lilia said. I didn't notice.

Simon grabbed an imp around the middle, which felt like grabbing a rough leather bag full of sticks, and tossed it out of the pool. It landed on four clawed feet and hissed angrily at him, raising a ridge of spines on top of its k.n.o.bbed head.

He followed the imp out of the water just ahead of a dozen more of its kind. The surface of the pool churned with activity just under the surface, but he had made it out just in time. He had stayed in longer and survived, but the fight wasn't worth it. The longer he stayed in the water, the more imps he would attract.