Kiram stumbled to Javier. He dropped to his side and shoved his hands against the hot pulse of blood that welled up from Javier's chest. He couldn't keep it in. Rivulets seeped between his fingers and spilled over his hands. The pungent smell of blood filled the air and hot, dark pulses surged against Kiram's palms. Flies buzzed over his fingers. More blood seeped from Javier's back and soaked the soil to a red mud beneath his knees.
A wracking sob broke from Kiram. Javier tried to lift his hand to Kiram's and failed. His eyes fluttered and his gaze slipped from Kiram's face to stare at the empty sky above them.
"Use the white hell," Kiram hissed to him. "Javier, open the shajdi!"
".me to oak." Javier whispered.
"Your oak? Where you practice?"
Javier gave no response but that had to be it. They had to get to the oak.
"Elezar, you bastard!" Kiram screamed. "Help me, you fucker!"
Elezar came immediately. Dirt and blood caked his face. Despite his miserable appearance he moved fast and with sure strength, lifting Javier while Kiram kept his hands pressed into Javier's wound. They moved him to the foot of the oak tree without once meeting each other's gaze. As they laid him down Lunaluz came running from across the glade. The stallion circled them in agitation, attempting to protect Javier but unable to discern what threatened him.
"Calm the horse," Kiram commanded. Elezar did as he was told, taking Lunaluz's bridle and whispering soft, broken words to the stallion.
"He'll be all right," Elezar murmured, on the edge of tears. "The white hell will heal him."
Anger flared through Kiram at Elezar's blind faith.
"He doesn't have the control of it he used to have," Kiram snapped at Elezar. "He sacrificed that to save Fedeles."
Elezar went dead white.
Kiram turned his attention to Javier. "You have to open the shajdi," he insisted. "Open it now!"
Javier curled his hand weakly over Kiram's. His touch felt like ice and his skin looked almost blue from blood loss.
"Please, God. Please." Elezar moaned.
"We brought you to the oak. You have to open the shajdi." Kiram's voice broke in his throat but he kept talking. "Come on, Javier. You love to show off. Open the shajdi and show me what you learned from Alizadeh. Show me."
The slightest tic flickered at the corner of Javier's mouth as if even now he was trying to flash one of his arrogant smiles.
"Show me how amazing you are," Kiram coaxed.
He felt a shiver pass through Javier's cold hand and an answering pulse of heat rushed up from the gnarled oak roots beneath them. The air stilled. Then a blazing white fire roared up from Javier's chest, scorching Kiram's fingers and searing up his arms as it grew larger and brighter. Kiram clenched his eyes against the blinding light and yet it still shone into him. Waves of consuming heat rolled over him and a deafening roar filled his ears but he didn't dare to withdraw from Javier's side. He kept his hands pressed over Javier's wounded chest as searing white flames engulfed them both like a burning shroud.
The gash in Kiram's chest felt as if it were filled with boiling lead and he knew he was screaming, but all he heard was the roar of the flames invading his body and burning deep into his flesh.
Somewhere in the back of his mind Kiram knew that this was the shajdi as Javier felt it: raw power to be shaped and controlled, but Kiram had no training and without Javier to shield him, he could only burn in the shajdi's flame.
Then he felt Javier's grasp on his hand tighten. The flames dimmed and the terrible heat relented to a luminous shimmer and then even that faded, leaving Kiram shivering.
"Kiram," Javier said in a hoarse whisper.
Opening his eyes, Kiram realized that he had collapsed across Javier's chest and jerked himself upright. Ash and dying red embers encircled them and the air smelled of smoldering wood. Charred streaks traced the trunk of the oak and the earth all around the two of them had blackened to soot. Flakes of white ash drifted down over them like strange snow.
"Are you all right?" Javier asked. He still looked deathly pale and fallen ash powdered his hair dull gray. Only the beginning of a raw scab closed Javier's wound, but it no longer bled.
"I'll live." Kiram looked down at his chest. A ropy scar stood where Elezar's blade had sliced him open. "What about you?"
"For today at least." Javier slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows.
"Thank God!" Elezar sounded like he might burst into tears again. He cautiously led Lunaluz closer to Javier.
"God had nothing to do with it." Javier scowled at Elezar, who bowed his head like a beaten dog. With Kiram's help Javier rose to his feet.
"I can't believe you stabbed me," Javier told Elezar.
"I didn't mean to hurt you!" Elezar protested. "I would never. It was Kiram-"
"No, Elezar," Javier growled. "You drove your sword right through my chest. That wasn't Kiram's doing. And it is no more forgivable that you intended that blow to kill him."
Elezar shot Kiram an angry glare that made Kiram want to lunge for Elezar's fallen sword and make the man swallow it. But he controlled his anger. There had been more than enough swordplay already.
"He's done something to you, Javier." Elezar wiped the back of his sleeve across his bloodied, filthy face. He sounded like a petulant child. "He's bewitched you, seduced-"
"Open your eyes, Elezar," Javier snapped. "If there was a seduction or a bewitching you know it would be my doing. Kiram is a decent man from a good family whereas I'm the hell-branded duke. Honestly, which of the two of us do you think would resort to seduction? Kiram has been nothing but good and honest in all the time we've been together. He was loyal to me even when it cost him the comfort of his home. It might be even more telling to ask yourself what it is that you have done to me, Elezar. Counting the autumn tournament this is the second time you've stabbed me. Is this really how you keep your oath of loyalty? How you treat our friendship?"
"I didn't mean to do it." Elezar sounded so miserable that Kiram nearly felt compassion for him. But the fact that Elezar had fully intended to murder him and had nearly killed Javier squelched his sympathy.
Elezar stroked Lunaluz's cheek gently and laid his face against the stallion's neck. "I would die for you, Javier. I swear it. I would die."
Javier's hard expression softened a little and he stepped forward. "I don't want you to die. But I do want your word that you will never raise a hand against Kiram."
"But he…you and he." Elezar protested.
"I will not have him harmed," Javier stated firmly. "He is dear to me, Elezar. More dear than my own life. He is my heart and soul. And if you raise a hand against him again, then you make me your enemy."
Hearing this Kiram felt both horrified that Javier would confess so much to a man who had nearly murdered him and who could still witness against him before a court of law, and at the same time he flushed with pride at Javier's open, ardent words.
Elezar looked sick and miserable. He clung to Lunaluz and the stallion nuzzled him with familiar affection.
"I swear that I won't harm you, Javier. I won't betray you," Elezar said.
"And Kiram?" Javier demanded.
Elezar scowled at Kiram. His jaw flexed and his lips twitched as if forming a single word was an immense effort.
"Forget it," Kiram said. "His word doesn't mean anything."
"You know nothing of it!" Elezar shouted at Kiram.
"Bullshit," Kiram snapped back. "I've seen enough to know that you'll forget any oath you swear when you lose your temper. You're a bad loser, Elezar."
Despite himself Kiram stepped closer to Elezar. His heart raced as he met Elezar's angry gaze. Suddenly Kiram felt aware of the weight of the sheathed knife hanging from his belt. Very deliberately, he placed himself between Elezar and his fallen sword. If it came to a fight he would need every advantage he could claim.