Twilights end, p.5
Twilight’s End,
p.5
Malz flashed one of his lopsided grins. “An interesting theory. But I do not have the Eye.”
Vessa’s heart dropped into her stomach. If that was true then she would have to convince the Vigilant to help negotiate Carine’s release from the Lost Men. And failing that she would have to free her herself.
Malz seemed to read her thoughts, and he spared a glance at Carine. “Ah, I suppose this game has gone on long enough. Vessa, I do not have the Eye. But the one you think of as Sahm does.” The Vigilant’s voice strengthened, as if he was speaking to someone outside the light of the lanterns. “Annysia, show yourself.”
Several moments passed, and then shadowy tendrils groped from the darkness, twisting together to form a patch of rippling black. A wind arose, strong enough to set the hanging lanterns swinging, and when the darkness blew away like shreds of clouds in a stormy sky, Sahm was revealed.
Gone was the terrified wisp of a girl – in her place was a woman who exuded confidence and authority. She had traded her simple gray robes for a shimmering satin dress the same color as the sky outside; it seemed to ripple and twist, darkening from a deep blue to a purple that verged on black.
“Witch!” spat the fat priest of Aradeth into the shocked silence.
The Aliva turned towards him. “You recognize her?” he said mildly.
“Aye,” the priest growled. “A sorceress and high priestess of the Dusk. I should have known from the sky that the Lady of Twilight was involved in this.”
Sahm – or Annysia – eyed the priest with cold disdain. “You brought this disaster down upon your own temple, fool. Aradeth and Xeno thought to leave their sisters behind in the south, and greedily seize all these fresh believers for themselves. Now your faith withers in this city, and the people witness the power of my mistress.”
“Annysia,” said Malz, “end the enchantment over the city and return the Eye to the Great Effulgence.”
“It is not yet time, Vigilant.”
“I’m changing the terms of our agreement. Both our ends have now been achieved, I think.”
The priestess of the twilight held the Vigilant’s gaze for a long moment, and then pulled from the folds of her robes something that glittered in the lantern-light. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, and Vessa gasped as the light in the windows high above began to change almost at once. Purple faded to a wan gray, then brightened, as if the sun was emerging from behind a fogbank.
Annysia opened her hand, and the crystal orb floated towards the high priest of Aradeth, who snatched it from the air. She laughed at the look of hatred he shot her as he cradled the Eye.
The Aliva flourished a curved knife, then cut the ropes binding Carine’s wrists. She glanced at him, and when he nodded she rushed towards Vessa, nearly collapsing into her arms with a wrenching sob.
Malz smiled. “It seems this little drama has finished.”
“Not quite,” said the Aliva. “This artifact has the power to steal the very sun from the sky. The Lost Men would be foolish to let it slip away.” He turned to the Great Effulgence of Aradeth and plunged his knife into the priest’s neck. Sidestepping the blood spurting from the wound, Wraith caught the Eye with casual grace as it dropped. The priest collapsed, fumbling helplessly with the jutting hilt.
“Down!” Vessa cried, pulling Carine behind a pile of cotton bales as the air thrummed with the sound of crossbows. Several of the Hound guardsmen staggered, quarrels sprouting from their cuirasses, and then the Lost Men were among them, whooping as they swung their long-handled axes. A head exploded, the lantern the guardsman had held spinning away to shatter on the wooden floor. A line of flame sprung up, tracing the path of the spilled oil.
Del, do something, Vessa thought, but before she even finished that silent plea a shriek came from above and a body plummeted from the rafters. It landed near Vessa, staring at her sightlessly, and she saw one of Del’s daggers buried in its back. Good lad.
“Hide!” she screamed at Carine, drawing her swords as she surged to her feet. Chaos swirled around Vessa: the Hounds who had not fallen were being kept at bay by the great sweeping arcs of the Lost Men’s axes, while the thin priest of Aradeth cowered beside the splayed body of the murdered Great Effulgence. Scraps of the dwindling shadows slithered forth to twist around the sorceress of the twilight; as Annysia faded into the darkness, her eyes found Vessa’s, and she smiled.
That’s a score to settle later, Vessa thought, then flinched as another Lost Man tumbled from above, his neck slashed. The Aliva stepped over the twitching body, his face eerily blank despite the screams and shriek of steel. He walked with an unhurried pace towards Vessa, a curving red-metal sword in one hand and a shorter, broader blade in the other. There was no hate in his golden eyes, no anger or excitement. Just calm purpose.
Vessa set her feet and brought her swords up, watching to see which stance the Aliva adopted. Wraith raised his own blades, holding them sideways in a fighting style she was unfamiliar with.
“The Vigilant tricked you, Vessa,” he said. “And he misled us. The Lost Men have no quarrel with you.”
“I have a quarrel with you,” Vessa said, and lunged forward, her swords flashing. The Aliva parried her attack smoothly.
“You would die because of the barmaid?” His scimitar flickered out, and she turned it away.
“She had no part in this, and you threatened her life!”
The Aliva danced back, out of the reach of her longer blades. “My people have a saying, swordmaiden – there are no innocents.” Flames limned Wraith; behind him the fire from the shattered lantern had engulfed one of the towers of stacked cotton bales and started to climb the wall.
He came at her with startling speed, and she was driven back on her heels, struggling to ward away his attacks. She blocked his scimitar with her sword, then had to twist her body out of the way to avoid being disemboweled by his shorter blade. Vessa turned her desperate evasion into a spinning slash, but somehow the Aliva managed to lock the hilt of his stubby sword with her own, and then with a flick of his wrist he sent her blade spinning off into the shadows.
Something struck the Aliva from behind, and he staggered. Vessa did not hesitate and leaped forward, thrusting her remaining sword deep into his chest. The Aliva gasped, his great luminescent eyes fluttering wide, and then toppled over as she wrenched her blade free.
Carine threw away the shattered night watchman’s pole she’d struck the Aliva with, her shoulders heaving, then sank to her knees. Vessa tousled her hair as she brushed past her to pick up the sword the Aliva had knocked aside.
A few more of the guardsmen lay crumpled before the Lost Men – now only three remained, obviously scared to get within the reach of the glittering axes carving the air. One of the shadow society men threw back his head and shrieked a laugh that made Vessa doubt his sanity. She adjusted her grip on her swords and started towards the pair, but before she could take more than a few steps she saw the Vigilant slide with surprising grace within the whirling axes and plunge a slim rapier into the side of one of the Lost Men, angling the blade upwards. Vessa could tell that it slipped perfectly between his ribs and found his heart, because the crazed laughter ended abruptly. His ax-brother glanced over just as a crossbow bolt from above struck him in the face, snapping his head back.
“Del, now get out!” Vessa screamed, grabbing Carine’s arm and pulling her coughing towards the door. The crawling flames had nearly reached the ceiling, and the air was beginning to thicken with a haze of oily smoke.
They burst from the warehouse and dashed across the wide avenue that separated the building from the docks. Moments later the remaining Hounds followed, two of them supporting the Vigilant as he hobbled to where Vessa and Carine stood gulping down great lungfuls of fresh air.
“Your partner?” Malz asked.
“He’s coming,” Vessa assured him, but she felt a pang of unease watching the flames skitter across the roof and begin to devour the warehouse.
Somewhere in the distance a fire-bell rang.
“There!” Carine cried, pointing as a shadowy figure slipped around the side of the warehouse and hurried towards them. Relief flooded Vessa when she saw it was indeed Del Amoth.
“What about the Eye?”
As if in answer to Malz’s question, the beams above the warehouse’s door collapsed in a rush of flames and sparks.
“Um, I have it.” It was a voice she hadn’t heard before, and Vessa whirled around with her hands on the hilts of her swords, but it was just the thin priest of Aradeth, his white robes blackened by soot and smoke. “I suppose I’ll, uh, return it to the temple.”
“Excellent idea,” Malz said, clapping the priest on his shoulder hard enough to stagger him. “And I’d like a word with you, so that we might come to a mutual understanding of what happened here tonight . . .”
Laughing, Vessa pushed open the door to the Grot, then held it wide for Carine and Del Amoth. Her partner was closely examining one of the shards of colored glass he’d found in a pocket, prodding it with a finger.
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before, but there’s a strong glamour here.”
Vessa squeezed his shoulder. “Your greed blinded you. I think we were both guilty of that. Nevermind, set it aside. I think we’ve earned a good long rest, along with the chance to spend some of the duke’s gold.”
“Carine!” bellowed Kell from behind the bar when he caught sight of them. “Where have you been, girl? Off having fun with your penniless friends? Get in the kitchen and start cleaning!”
Carine glanced at Vessa and sighed. “Yes, Uncle. Coming, Uncle.”
“And you!” Kell continued, jabbing a finger at Vessa. “I thought I just told you to go talk to Alberon. You need to find some work so you can begin paying off your debts!”
Vessa frowned. “I think you must be thinking of someone else, Kell.”
“What, are you into the dreamsmoke again? You were in here not a half-watch ago, just before the sun finally jumped back into the sky. Asking all kinds of crazy questions.”
Vessa froze. What was Kell talking about?
Oh no . . .
“The mirror!” Del Amoth cried, grabbing her arm and shaking it hard.
And she’d been so looking forward to a little rest.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope to write more adventures with Vessa and Del Amoth, though my focus right now is finishing the saga begun with my epic fantasy novel, The Crimson Queen. Please sign up for my mailing list at authoralechutson.com if you’d like to be alerted when more of my writing is released. Take care!
Alec Hutson, Twilight’s End
