Part 35 (1/2)

Most of the Avernus Travelers were dead, lying broken and bleeding on the soil. The survivors, most of which bore gruesome injuries, looked completely dazed. Here and there, a corpse wore the ordinary red-and-gold uniform of the royal army.

There were, however, no corpses of birds.

”What did you do?” Simon asked.

”I bring a waterskin with me every time I have to use the pool,” Denner said. ”It's an old habit, but it's helped me on more than one occasion.”

”No, I mean, banis.h.i.+ng all the birds.”

Denner smiled proudly. ”I call it the gla.s.s bell. As far as I know, I'm the only one who can use it.”

Well, at least that's one thing Kai didn't forget to tell me about, Simon thought. At the moment, Kai was poking through the corpses, apparently looking for something.

For a second, Simon was shocked that Otoku didn't take the opportunity to mock Kai. Then he remembered she wasn't there.

”So this bell banishes everything back to its Territory?” Simon asked.

”It does.”

”Why didn't you use that immediately, then?”

Denner shrugged, looking sheepish. ”I can only use it once. It takes a day or two to repair itself. And they were only Avernus, after all; it was probably just easier to take care of them by hand.”

”Of course,” Simon said sourly. Without him around, the two Dragon Army members would likely have defeated the enemy with no trouble. It wasn't a cheerful thought.

”Don't worry about it,” Denner said, clapping him on the shoulder. ”This is how everyone learns.”

”No,” Kai said, from across the clearing. ”I don't remember our training including such frequent and obvious failure.”

And there went every ounce of self-esteem Simon may once have possessed.

”That's because we had a competent teacher,” Denner retorted, walking over to join Kai.

Kai c.o.c.ked his head for a moment, and then nodded. ”Fair point. Hey there, who is this?”

With one boot, he shoved a body aside, revealing a b.l.o.o.d.y and weakened Overlord.

Lysander pushed himself up to a sitting position. His gla.s.ses were broken and askew, but he still managed to push them up his nose.

”My flock,” he asked shakily. ”How?”

”Trade secret,” Denner responded. He and Kai stood over the Overlord, swords in hand.

”Tell us who you're working for,” Kai sang.

”I'm a duly appointed Overlord, carrying out my duty for the throne of Damasca. You cannot harm me, and I am under no compulsion to answer you.”

Kai stabbed the Overlord in the shoulder, and he screamed.

”Okay, then,” Denner said. ”I compel you to answer us. What was the point of this?”

”As an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt, it was sadly lacking,” Kai pointed out. ”As a distractionawell, we're not very distracted, are we?”

Lysander looked at something beyond Kai's back and smiled. Blood ran from his lip, turning his smile b.l.o.o.d.y.

”Are you?” Lysander asked.

With a sense of dread, Simon turned to see where Lysander was staring.

A Gate swirled in midair, crackling white at the edges, a deep green forest showing in the distance.

Just in front of the trees, a man walked toward the Gate. A man with a long, gleaming, silver-and-gold sword in one hand. A man covered in black tattoos that looked oddly like chains. A man with black eyes.

”Close it!” Kai screamed, and Simon leaped into action, angling Azura in front of him as he moved.

He had never called it before, but he pictured the frozen horn. He held its image in his mind: the weight of it, the burning cold of its presence, the way the water on the inside showed through the frosted gla.s.s of its exterior, the sound of its call, the memory of the fluid creatures of water that had gone into making it.

He summoned up that memory, focused on exactly how badly he needed this to work, and called the power of the horn into his sword.

He thought he heard, on the wind, a distant chime.

Then Azura began to hum in his hands.

Simon swept the sword from left to right, slas.h.i.+ng across the Gate. He thought he saw something dark obscure the portal for a moment, but then the Gate wavered and blew apart, like a cloud of smoke.

The chime faded off into the distance, and Azura stopped vibrating.

Simon let out a deep breath and turned back to face Kai. ”Just in time.”

He came face-to-face with a pair of black-and-silver eyes.

”Not quite,” Valin said.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:.

AMBUSH.

”Keep your hands steady, child!” Grandmaster Naraka snapped.

Gilad winced and adjusted his grip on the long-handled brand. The far end, shaped into a twisting symbol, rested in the heart of a blazing furnace.

This room, in the Naraka quarters of the Grandmasters' palace, blazed even hotter than Naraka itself, though Gilad and the Grandmaster didn't seem inconvenienced.

Alin was wearing his lightest, coolest clothing, and sat as close to the far door as he could, leaning into the barest hint of a breeze that trickled in from the doorframe. Sweat coated him in buckets, though the two Naraka Travelers looked cool and dry.

It must be something they learn in their Territory, Alin thought. If not, then I'm getting soft.