Part 7 (1/2)

The chains jerked, hauling Kai backwards, off his feet. He landed several paces away on his back. If he had not been holding Benson's steel, his throat would have collapsed.

The Eldest withdrew his black iron chain, flowing away to stand between Kai and the Tree. ”The Wanderer feels his sword,” he said. ”I will not allow you to steal it once more.”

The Gate hung open, behind the Eldest's shoulder, but it had already begun to shrink. Kai hopped to his feet, angling Mithra in front of him. He didn't have to beat the Eldest, he just had to make it to the House. Once there, he could alert Simon, Denner, Indirialaeven Kathrin, if she would consent to return. Even the King would want to hear this news. Maybe he could even heal the Tree's wounds.

No matter what, Kai had to reach the Gate.

Kai called more steel, drawing so deeply that he actually had a vision of Benson on his black throne. The skeleton, seemingly made entirely of steel, lounged as usual with one bony leg tossed over the arm of his seat. His wide-brimmed hat was tilted to cover one eye, though the other blazed with rough blue flame. He was apparently chatting with one of the nearby suits of armor, one of which stepped forward and did a little pirouette as Kai watched.

Benson angled his fiery eye toward Kai and frowned. Kai was never clear on how he did that, without lips. The skeleton said something, adjusting his hat as he did, but Kai couldn't hear it.

Steel thundered through his veins. When his vision returned, he launched himself at the Gate. The force of his jump tore the soil where he stood, and he hurtled through the air.

Links of black chain whipped up to meet him, but Kai was prepared. He twisted in midair, meeting the chain with Mithra's blade.

The chain wrapped around Kai's sword, and the Nye pulled tight. Mithra was wrenched from Kai's grasp.

Even though he had only had the Dragon's Fang back for an hour, Kai already felt the pang of loss. Still, the sword was not his first priority. He had to reach the Gate. Kai fell, feet-first, toward the open portal.

Then the Eldest let out a low, keening whistle.

Two Nye emerged from the Gate in a river of flowing black cloth. They flared with light the color of the moon.

Suddenly, they moved too fast for Kai to follow.

The Nye leaped into the air, each one grabbing one of Kai's arms. Kai punched one of them away, but the second pulled him straight down to the ground.

He slammed into the gra.s.s hard enough to send a tremor running through the soil, though the Nye fell lightly enough. With so much steel running through him, Kai barely felt the impact.

The Gate had continued to shrink, but Kai could still fit himself through it. He was only a foot away. He threw himself forward.

Nye flowed out from Valinhall like a black river.

Kai's face smacked into a wall of black cloth. Two Nye grabbed his feet, two his arms, trying to twist his hands behind his back. Others caught him up under the ribs or by the neck, twisting their chains around him.

But he had been defeating Nye in combat since he was a child, and he did not intend to go easily. He used raw strength to force his arms back around into position, and called knives from the Valinhall armory. He stabbed one of the Nye in the heart, thrusting his second knife into another Nye's hood. They took his knives away, but he kept calling weapons, struggling and knocking Nye away like a child swatting bees. Then his steel ran out.

Kai sagged, the sudden feeling of weakness running through his body, and the black robes had him trussed and tied in seconds. He felt as though they had wrapped him in a coc.o.o.n of cold, biting, black chains.

Craning his neck, Kai could just barely see the Gate still shrinking. If he were to escape now, he would have to crawl through.

Ah, if only Caela were here. He had never expected to die without one of his lovely little ones at his side.

The wall of Nye parted, and their Eldest stepped through. He kept one of his arms behind his back, though in the other he held Mithra. His pace-long sleeve fell all the way to the ground.

The Eldest twisted his sword to catch the light.

”Beautiful,” he whispered. ”Truly the Master's finest work. He will lead Valinhall to glory once againaonce he has this back.”

Kai cried out, but it wasn't enough to stop the Eldest from turning and hurling the Dragon's Fang at the Crimson Tree.

The gold-and-silver sword flashed as it spun, end over end, before stabbing itself into the center of the tree. It landed right in the middle of the scar, in the long crack that ran through the Tree's flesh.

Kai only thought he had heard the Tree scream before. This time, it howled, and the earth buckled under its fury. Even some of the Nye were tossed from their feet. Kai was lifted off the ground and slammed back down, the chains stabbing into his flesh, but he barely noticed. The agony of the Hanging Tree tore at his mind, shredding his mind like knives through his brain. The Tree's scream was silent, but he felt it like red-hot ants running in his blood.

Then the scream stopped. At the center of Latari Forest, the Hanging Tree died.

For a moment there was only silence. No living thing in the entire forest made a sound. Each of the Nye turned their empty hood to face the pile of wood that had once been a tree from Ragnarus. Kai started to wonder if he could, perhaps, wriggle free while their attention was elsewhere. If he stayed where he was, he would surely die.

Then, a crack like a lightning strike. The crimson Tree split completely down the middle, and Mithra tumbled free to land on the gra.s.s. Each half of the blood-red trunk split, falling away from each other.

A man rose from the earth beneath the broken Tree.

He was covered entirely in dirt and dust. It made sense; he had been buried for almost twenty-five years. He stood, brus.h.i.+ng a hand over his bald head, sc.r.a.ping dirt from his eyes. His s.h.i.+rt crumbled off as he stood up, though enough of his pants remained to account for decency.

It's amazing, Kai thought, the things you notice before you die.

The man stepped forward, out of the remains of the Tree. The Eldest went to one knee in front of him, and the Nye all followed suit as one, kneeling before their leader.

He continued brus.h.i.+ng the dust from his skin, revealing black marks on his skin. Black marks like tattoos, like the shadows left by chains, like the marks on Kai's own arms. Only, on this man, the shadow-chains traveled up his arms, spiraling around his shoulders, wrapping around his torso, twisting around his legs. Links of chain wound around his neck, traveling up his face in a bizarre mask, covering his head like hair.

The Wanderer opened his eyes, and they were the same that had haunted Kai's nightmares for half his life: they had no whites, only darkness all around. His irises were a pure metallic silver, like the steel of a Dragon's Fang.

Valin, the Wanderer, the Incarnation of Valinhall, reached down and picked up his sword.

”Ka'nie'ka, my friend,” Valin said. The voice was the same as Kai remembered from his childhood, still warm and firm at the same time.

The Eldest stood, but he kept his hood bowed. ”It has been too long, Master.”

Valin nodded, smiling a little. ”It has. I have spent far too many years dreaming, it seems.”

Then he pointed to Kai with Mithra's tip. ”Let him go.”

The Eldest hesitated, but not the other Nye. They swarmed over Kai in a flutter of cloth and blurred motion, and when they withdrew, not a link of chain remained. The sensation left Kai feeling dizzy; it felt not unlike having his clothes torn off by a hurricane while leaving his skin untouched.

Kai scrambled to his feet, still awash in too many emotions to name. He was terrified for his life, which was as it should be. But he had not expected to feel so glad to see his mentor again. And he thought he had buried his rage, his hunger for vengeance at the one who had killed his brothers and sisters. He had thought that particular emotion conquered years before, but there it was, resurrected with the father who had slaughtered so many of his adopted children.

Valin levered Mithra up and leaned it against his shoulder in a gesture so familiar that it brought an ache to Kai's heart. He gave Kai a crooked grin. ”You're looking old, Kai. How long has it been?”

”Almost twenty-five years,” Kai whispered.

Valin's black-and-silver eyes widened. ”Wow. In that case, you're looking good. How goes the war against Damasca? I'm sure you guys had it rough without me around.”

Kai's throat went dry. ”Zakareth the Sixth remains on the throne.”

”The Sixth? I remember the Fifth.” Confusion darkened Valin's features, but then he brightened. ”Hold on. You mean the one who sealed me here. The Ragnarus Traveler with the red eye.”

Kai nodded.

”I admit, Kai, I'm a little hurt. Twenty-five years, and you still haven't avenged me? I would have thought Indirial, at leasta”