Schism: The Battle for Darracia (Book 1) (12 page)

“
Oh, my lord captain…” The tutor’s voice was a thready whisper. “You must save V’sair. He is the future.” He coughed, and blood dripped from his slack lips.

Zayden bent down.
“Emmicus, hold on, dear friend.”

He opened the old man
’s tunic, but a weak hand stayed him. “It’s too late for me. Save the boy. He has the light of the Elements to guide him. He is just coming…into his full…Lord Zayden, he will be a great man.” He paused then pulled Zayden closer. “You have a duty to V’sair.”

“
I will protect him with my life.”

“
Sradda willing, you will be an excellent grand mester.”

Zayden shook his head
. “No, no navigator. I am illegitimate. It is not the custom.”

“
Circumvent the custom, as I taught your father before you…” His head rolled to rest against the wall, the life-force draining from his eyes.

Zayden sat back on his haunches, silent for several seconds.
“Did you know?” he demanded without looking at Hilde.

She
didn’t answer, and that revealed the truth. He rose, his eyes lit with anger, and grabbed her hand. “Come on.”

Hilde
’s gray face darkened with shame. “I wanted to say something,”

“
But you didn’t,” Zayden said, cutting her off. He refused to make eye contact, and had their situation been less dire, he would have confronted her. As it was, he was running in the halls of the castle, not knowing friends from enemies, and that included the person dearest to his heart. He felt a brittle wall surround him, locking out any feeling. Darracian males were supposed to be impervious to warm emotions. Once one embraced the Fireblade, the first allegiance was to the principles of the Elements, those of honor, bravery, and sacrifice. There was no room for love, and now he understood that his father’s love for his Planta woman had put the entire planet in jeopardy. That emotion was for poets and chanters, not warriors. He heard Hilde sniffle, but it no longer affected him, his thoughts only on finding out whom he could trust to help his father. When he touched his Fireblade, he noticed that the shade had changed from violet to orange, then to a glowing red, and for a second he considered what was causing this strange occurrence.

They both spun as the crack of breaking glass broke the silence of the night.

“Pacuto!” Hilde saw her brother storm into the room, his sword raised, followed by three guards.

Zayden drew his blade, but
Hilde stilled his arm. “He has not seen us. You are outnumbered. He will kill me.” He tugged his arm away from her. “Please!” she implored.

Zayden grabbed her hand and raced for the door. They heard a shout and knew at once they had been seen. Zayden ducked out of the doorway, pulling
Hilde by the arm. He spotted the cutout of a servant door in the smooth walls of the corridor. He pressed a hidden panel, and an opening appeared; they slipped inside, stepping on something soft that hissed in pain.

Something grabbed his foot,
and Zayden fell to the cold floor. The wind escaped him completely when Hilde fell on top of him. Turning sideways, he found himself eyeball to eyeball with a shivering Quyroo who backed up defensively against the wall as he shook his head. Scuffles sounded outside, and Zayden whispered, “Shh.”

“
Where did they go?” They heard Pacuto’s harsh voice, followed by the sound of a hand slapping a face. “Idiot! How could you lose them?”

“
They vanished.”

“
Into thin air?” He paused then said, “Go that way!”

Footsteps
ran up and down the hallway. Then they heard, “I said, let’s go…”

Sirens were
sounding in all the main sections of the castle, and Zayden and Hilde heard the thump of the hermetically sealed doors locking out intruders.

“
Do you know where the king is?” he asked a servant, who shook his head. “Do you know where anyone is?”

“
Many of the servants are hiding in these hallways,” the Quyroo whispered, his eyes wide.

“
Swart—do you know where General Swart is?”

“
I think he is trapped in the landing bay at the main entrance.”

“
Have you tried to leave?”

“
To go where? They are hunting us down and killing without question.”

“
Can I get there through here?”

“
This corridor runs only from the kitchens to these quarters, my lord. Take the central course down the center of the castle, and then cut through those servant corridors to get there.”

“
Will you be all right?”

The servant shrugged
. ”I think I am safe, unless they burn down the palace.”

“
I will come back for you.”

“
Great Sradda, guide your path, lord.”

They left the servant corrid
ors and chanced the main hallways, but they ran from one dead end to another. Hilde bent over, nursing a cramp in her side.

Zayden
held on to her arm, pulling her close to him when they turned a corner. He knew they had been spotted, and he thrust her behind him as two soldiers advanced toward them. “Stay back!” he ordered her, as he engaged his Fireblade with both hands.

Two
soldiers screamed as they ran to him, their swords clanging as they met. Clearly one was more experienced than the other, so Zayden concentrated on taking out the younger man, so he could then focus on the older one. Crouching low, he spun, the impetuous guard running headlong into his blade, impaling himself and dying with a sigh. As Zayden withdrew his blade, he felt the ice of steel on his arm, coupled with Hilde’s scream. With a grunt he shoved his shoulder into the other man’s stomach, throwing him off balance, then cleaving him where his neck met his chest. The man fell with a loud thud, and Zayden leaned heavily against the bloodstained walls, his breath coming in short pants.

Hilde
was on her knees, ripping a strip from the hem of her gown. “It’s hardly clean, but it will have to do,” she told him as she neatly bound the gaping wound on his forearm.

He looked down on the top of her head as she
worked, the curtain of her hair hiding her face, but he could tell from her thick voice that she was crying. With his finger he tilted her chin to look her full in the face, and they stood in silence until he said, “We have to get out of here.”

“
I am distracting you. You never would have been hurt if I weren’t here. Leave me,” she told him softly. “Find General Swart. He always has been your father’s most trusted ally.”

“
Not on your life.” Briskly he grabbed Hilde’s elbow and pulled her along, his Fireblade drawn and ready in his other hand.

Using the Quyroo
’s instructions, they skirted through several smaller corridors and made it to the other side of the palace. They ran down the main hallway in short spurts, hiding where it intersected with offshoots. Zayden found the invisible door, and they ran through the secret corridors to the docking port. Several times they came upon quaking Quyroo servants who were hiding from the devastation outside their haven.

“
This is it,” he told Hilde when they came to another exit. “The docking bay is on the other side.”

“
But what if my father’s men are there? You can’t fight them alone.”

“
I can’t hide like a coward in the servant hallway while my family is being murdered.”

He opened the door a fraction, letting butter
-colored light seep into their gloom. “You stay here. Do you understand?” he whispered harshly.

Zayden
poked his head through the doorway and noticed a group of guards on picket duty. He pulled back in and turned to Hilde. “Listen, don’t move. Stay in here.” He pulled her so they were nose to nose and looked her full in the face in the darkness. “If something happens to me, find your mother and throw yourself on her mercy.” He shook her, staring at her intently. “Do you hear me, Hilde? Stay here until I come for you. If I don’t return, seek the countess.”

She nodded, her face drained of color.
“I wanted to tell you,” she whispered.

“
It’s too late now,” he said, as he cupped her face and kissed her with an urgency he barely controlled. Her whimper made him pull away and look at her. “We will talk later.” Making himself as small of a target as he could, he eased out of the doorway and stopped just short of the corner to see whether the men patrolling were Swart’s or his uncle’s.

“
What are you doing, Smen?” One of the soldiers strolled over to the one closest to Zayden. “It’s forbidden to smoke inside the castle.”

The older man pulled a long drag on his pipe and shrugged
. “Don’t make much of a difference now.”

“
That may be so,” the younger man whispered back, “but Swart will have your hide if he sees that. It’s insubordination.”

“
For whom? Right now I don’t even know if I serve a king or a devil.” He spat on the ground, his aim close to Zayden’s feet.

“
My father, the king, does not tolerate his ranks to break laws.” Zayden turned the corner to confront the two men.

The younger one fumbled with his Fireblade, but Zayden rested his sword across the soldier
’s knuckles. One flick of his wrist, and the man’s fighting hand would be destroyed.

“
Captain,” the pipe-smoking guard said with a smile, “we’ve been waiting for some direction.”

“
I can see how you’re waiting,” Zayden drawled, and nodded to the pipe. “You know you’re not supposed to do anything but guard your posts.”

“
Well, now I do. You looking for the general?” The older guard turned to his younger cohort. “You heard the captain. Straighten up, Bernwyn.” He tapped his pipe against the muscles of his powerful tail, and they watched the falling cinders. “Follow me. General Swart is inside, trying to make some sense of this thing.”

“
One minute.” Zayden left and returned for Hilde. He held her by the upper arm and escorted her into the docking bay.

“
General,” Zayden saluted the officer, who looked greatly relieved to see him.

“
Welcome to hell, Captain.”

Chapter 18

V’sair became aware of the heat first; it burned like the dual suns of Darracia and scorched his bones so they felt dry and brittle. He thrashed as he tried to cool himself, throwing off the blankets that smothered him. In his mind he fought Pacuto, the Fireblade heavy in his hands, his feet sluggish. He thought he heard Tulani, and he attempted to lift his heavy lids, but his pain forced him to keep them closed. Sometimes there was chanting, and he could swear a rainbow of colors filled the room, but the darkness called to him, and he went down, down, down to escape the heat.

“
When will he awaken, Greanam?” Tulani bathed V’sair’s fevered head as she watched his face grow pale.

“
Who’s to say?” The old woman shrugged in a very Quyroo way. “Only the Elements know for sure.”

Tulani and Bobbien
had gotten closer as they sat huddled together, so much more understanding between them since they’d arrived. The Elements had soothed Tulani. For the first time in her life, she felt at peace, as though she actually belonged somewhere. She didn’t remember much, only feeling as though she had been plucked from the inside out, the great beam of light roaring through her every cell to know her true heart. She had awoken to confusion and Bobbien’s smiling face.

“
Take’s time, don’t you know…” Her grandmother nodded knowingly. “…to accept what the Elements are saying.”

Tulani stared back in wonder, not understanding what had happened but knowing she never would be the same.
She watched as the light bathed V’sair, enveloping him in its heat and warmth. It pulsed with a life of its own, and he seemed as remote as the stars in the sky. His shoulder wound was completely healed; only a bluish scar remained. The spent crystal had rolled onto the floor and turned to white powder. His thigh wound had been similarly healed.

“
How do you know of this place?” she asked the older woman.

“
I am Bobbien, the high priestess. You are next in line. Learn your role here; it is time. When you finally accept what the Elements are saying, I will have nothing left to teach you.” She walked off and busied herself with piles of dusty-looking leaves. Soon Tulani heard her exit the cave, her voice calling back, “Do not leave. I am going for food. Three mouths I now have to feed.”