Part 38 (1/2)
”I would try and trick him back here,” he concluded. After he paused a moment, he added, ”Good luck, son of Kalman. I think that I like you, and I do not want to see you die today.”
Simon slipped the mask into one of his cloak pockets, hurrying out of the workshop. Olissa must have left at some point during the conversation, because she was no longer standing by the door.
He started summoning Azura before he was fully in the entry hall, already reaching through her to cut open a Gate.
To his surprise, he almost impaled Andra.
She stood with her blond hair pulled back and tied, wearing a simple outfit of a loose-fitting s.h.i.+rt and trousers. She wore her Dragon's Fang, much shorter than his, buckled onto a belt, and her advisor drifted over one shoulder. He looked like a ghost made out of black yarn, with b.u.t.tons for eyes and a wide-st.i.tched mouth.
”Watch it!” Andra said, jumping out of Azura's way.
Her advisor, Manyu, drifted over to Simon. ”You seem, aaaahhh, in quite a hurry. May I ask where we're going, hmmmmm?”
”We?” Simon asked, startled. He looked from Andra to the other person in the room, who was buckling on his sword-belt.
Erastes had been a member of the Damascan army, so it was fitting that he wore a soldier's uniform. He didn't wear the red-and-gold of the royal army*Simon wasn't clear on the details, but apparently only the soldiers under the command of the royal family were allowed to wear the red-and-gold uniforms.
This uniform was mostly blue and gray, with a cap-like helmet and a coat of chainmail over the breast. It would normally be decorated with the colors of whichever Overlord currently commanded the soldier, but Erastes had no decoration. As it was, the steel-grey of his armor matched his hair and eyes.
He loosened his sword in its sheath, giving Simon a glimpse of mirror-bright Tartarus steel.
”Olissa told us that you're working for the Overlord Indirial now,” Erastes said, his voice as flat as ever.
”And he was here in the House!” Andra exclaimed. ”I saw him. Is he really a Valinhall Traveler?”
”Yeah, he's a Valinhall Traveler,” Simon responded. ”And I'm working for him, for now.”
Unwilling to waste anymore time, he raised Azura and began cutting open a Gate.
”Then you made the right decision,” Erastes responded. ”We're coming with you.”
That didn't sit well with Simon, but he couldn't just turn down help. Still, he wasn't sure he could trust Erastes and Andra to fight without slowing him down.
”I won't have time to look out for you,” Simon warned. ”And we'll be stepping into the middle of a fight.”
”You're fighting with the Damascan royal army against Enosh aggressors?” Erastes asked.
”That's one way to put it, yes,” Simon said.
”I have trained for this day my entire life. It has nothing to do with you; this is my job. And Andra's a Traveler now. Isn't that right?”
Proudly, Andra rolled up her left sleeve and showed Simon the black chains. ”Just yesterday!” she said triumphantly.
”Congratulations,” Simon responded, though his voice probably fell a little flat. The Gate was almost open now, and the sounds of battle were deafening. From what he could see, the entire nearby line of tents seemed to be aflame.
”Remember what we discussed, Andra,” Erastes said.
”Yes, sir,” Andra responded, for once sounding completely serious.
Azura touched the floor, and the Gate snapped open. Simon strode through, leading the way, with Erastes and Andra following. Now, all he had to do was find Kai.
Then, of course, he had to find and fight an immensely powerful, insane avatar of battle with the strength of an entire Territory, somehow tricking this being into the one place he would never choose to go.
But Simon liked to cross one bridge at a time.
Kai held a sword in each hand, but they both shook. It was a miracle that he had even managed to keep hold of them. His body was covered in sweat, and his breath came in heavy gasps.
Every power he could draw, every force he could summon, had been long exhausted. It took all his concentration to keep holding back the poison from Ragnarus, and the wound in his back felt like someone was driving a new red-hot dagger inside, twisting every second.
Valin stood over Kai, his black-and-silver eyes as emotionless as a machine's. He barely looked like he was breathing at all.
”We can call this my win, then,” the Incarnation said. ”Now, lead me to your king.”
Kai couldn't help it: he started laughing. It was thin, exhausted, wheezing laughter, and with every chuckle a new bolt of pain shot through his back, but something about it felt incredibly freeing.
”Don't make me kill you, Kai,” Valin said. ”I've earned this.”
With the last drops of steel in him, Kai launched forward and struck at the Incarnation's chest. Effortlessly, he swatted Kai's attack away, but Kai's momentum carried him close to his former master's face.
”Poor, lost Wanderer,” Kai whispered. ”That's not how the real world works.”
The Valinhall Incarnation kicked him away. It was almost gentle, as these things worked: Valin could just as easily have put his foot through Kai's ribs. In this case, Kai just tumbled backwards to land in a heap on the dirt.
”Then I have wasted my time with you,” Valin said. He blurred as he moved toward Kai, drawing on some of that Nye speed. He pulled Mithra back, barely paying attention, likely planning to slit Kai's throat as an afterthought.
Well, Kai thought, at least I stalled for a while.
Kai let himself relax. He was full of regrets. In fact, he wished he had lived most of his life differently. But somehow, right now, none of that mattered.
He just wished he could have seen his little ones one last time.
The Valinhall Incarnation pulled his sword back for a swing, ready to slash through Kai's body.
Then he stopped, almost immediately, staring in front of him. Kai turned on the ground to see what had delayed his execution.
Simon stood there, his black Nye cloak falling around him. He was flanked on either side by a pair of fighters: one a girl, younger even than Simon, wielding a Dragon's Fang.
Oh, she must be that new Traveler girl, he thought. Agnos, he thought her name was. He had met the family on a few occasions, but they had never made much of an impression on him. He had never expected the girl to make it, but there she was, with the chains crawling up her arms.
Truth be told, he had never expected Simon to make it, either.
She currently had her Dragon's Fang buried up to the gullet in the throat of some flaming black lizard-thing from Naraka. She barely made a face as she slid its body off her blade and turned to face the next threat: a nine-legged crab with spinning blades for mandibles and a s.h.i.+ning steel carapace.
On Simon's other side, the soldier spun and danced with his s.h.i.+ning sword of Tartarus steel. He would make an excellent Valinhall Traveler; Kai regretted that he had never learned the man's name.