Katyett broke cover five yards from the first warrior. He reacted quickly, calling out and bringing his sword to ready. A jaqrui whined past his head, thudding into a tree just behind him. He twitched reflexively. Katyett leapt, bringing her knees to her chest and moving her blades out, tucking her elbows in. The man recovered, tried to raise a guard.
Katyett sliced down with her left blade, beating his sword aside. She slashed the right blade across his face. He ducked but the edge caught the top of his head, thudding into his skull above his ear. He fell sideways. Katyett landed, levering the blade clear. Merrat was sprinting at the other man. A third blinked into view from absolutely nowhere. He was ten paces away, his back to a tree. His arms and mouth were moving.
‘Mage!’ shouted Katyett.
She ran at him. He cast. Katyett felt as if she had been hit with a tree trunk. An invisible force caught her in the chest, spinning her aside to tumble into a thorn bush. Birds scattered. The mage moved his arms in sweeping motions. Brush and branch were bent and broken, flattened and crushed in the path of the casting. Trees shuddered.
‘Get beside him,’ Katyett called, moving again. ‘Graf, move behind trees.’
Merrat and the other warrior had squared up. He was a quick swordsman but he would not be quick enough. Blade and dagger were held in either hand. Merrat chose two short blades. She fenced easily. The man would not know of course that her deadliest weapons were her feet.
Grafyrre was tracking left. The mage drew in his arms, trying to watch them both. From the right, more movement. Another pair of warriors coming in. Presumably there was another mage with them. The movement was mirrored the other side, behind Grafyrre.
‘Watch your rear, Graf. Left flank pair on the way too.’
The mage in front of her punched out his arms again. Katyett was ready, ducking behind a thick banyan trunk. The mage repeated the move, thrusting out towards Grafyrre this time. Katyett moved in.
‘Keep him guessing,’ said Grafyrre. ‘I-’
Grafyrre was projected forward to slam into the ground not three yards from their target mage. Katyett stared left. Two warriors flanking another mage. Advancing fast. Grafyrre was stunned, unable to get up.
‘Merrat, to me. Quickly.’
Katyett dodged behind another tree. The casting rattled its branches and dislodged leaf, twig and Tual’s denizens by the dozen. Katyett dived right. The mage tried to track her movement. The trio of enemies were nearly on Grafyrre. Katyett dropped a blade, took out a jaqrui and threw it. The blade whispered through the air, carving into the gut of one of the soldiers.
Grafyrre was moving but groggy. The mage drew in his arms, meaning to crush Graf with his casting. He smiled at Katyett. He died with the smile still stamped on his face, Merrat’s blade tearing out his throat.
‘Merrat, behind. Take the others.’
Katyett checked Grafyrre and stood in front of him, facing the two humans. Mage and soldier. The mage held his casting close. The soldier moved warily, sword held out, gripped in both hands. Neither of them wanted to die. Both knew Grafyrre was vulnerable and she couldn’t take them both at once.
The humans split, the mage to the left, warrior to the right. The mage was looking for clear space to push out his casting again. Around the next tree and he would have clear line of sight. Katyett followed him with her eyes while keeping a blade pointing at the swordsman. She could hear fighting from close behind her. Merrat had found the others. Katyett made her choice.
She passed her blade to her right hand. In the same move Katyett grabbed a jaqrui and threw it at the soldier. She dived over the prone form of Grafyrre, rolled to her feet and stabbed up. The mage gasped as the blade split his groin and buried in his gut.
Katyett turned and dived back, leaving her blade where it was. The jaqrui had missed. The soldier was running at Grafyrre. Katyett dragged a knife from her belt. She was going to be a heartbeat too late. The warrior raised his blade to strike down. Katyett dived across Grafyrre, meaning to take the blow. It never came.
Katyett heard a thud. She turned her head. It was the sound of the warrior slumping to his knees. His weapon fell from his hands. He stared at nothing, blood flooding from his mouth and over his chest. He reached towards his back and fell to his side.
Behind him, another figure stood. Katyett stared at him. He reached out a hand and she took it, allowing him to help her stand. Katyett took her hand back. She swallowed.
‘Hello, Katyett,’ said Takaar.
Chapter 35
Grieving for time lost is a task with no end. Do not begin it in the first place. Katyett had to get her mind and body into some form of order. She turned away from Takaar, from her shock at seeing him standing there and the shock of his appearance. Dishevelled, hollow-eyed but still him. Still so powerful and beautiful. She looked down at Grafyrre and helped him to a sitting position.
‘Ummm. Graf. Anything broken?’ she asked, a tremor in her voice. She was desperate to turn to check if Takaar was a mirage but forced herself to focus on her Tai. ‘Anything twisted?’
Grafyrre shook his head. ‘Just a few bruises.’
‘Good. Take your time getting up. He is here.’
‘He?’ asked Grafyrre. He looked at Katyett and knew.
Katyett turned. Auum handed her two blades and a jaqrui. All hastily cleaned. Katyett nodded her thanks and stowed her weapons, studiously avoiding Takaar’s gaze. She had no idea what to say or what to do. But she couldn’t just ignore him where he stood, waiting for her.
‘Your skill and bravery are even finer than I remember,’ said Takaar, his face solemn, his stance awkward. He handed his blade to Auum, who cleaned it on the cloak of a dead human. ‘I’m glad Yniss has spared you to lead the TaiGethen.’
Katyett flew at Takaar, cannoning into him and bearing him to the ground, where she knelt astride him, shaking him by the collars of his tatty leather.
‘I shouldn’t have had to, should I?’ she screamed into his face. ‘Where were you? Ten years you left me alone. Ten years with the harmony fading and hate growing. Didn’t you feel it? Stuck out there with nothing to do but sense the fading all around you? You, who said you held the harmony in your body as surely as you did your own heart? Well? Or were you so drowned by your own remorse that you had no room for anyone or anything else? We followed you. We believed in you. We loved you.’
Katyett let him go and sat back so he could get up if he wanted.
‘We still do,’ she whispered.
Katyett felt Grafyrre’s hands on her shoulders, so tense they seemed like rocks. Takaar scuttled away, his face a picture of confusion and fear. Auum shook his head at her and went over to him, tried to calm him.
‘Told me it was wrong and I didn’t listen,’ said Takaar. His hands writhed across one another.
‘Did you hear her?’ asked Auum. ‘She still believes in you. Still loves you.’
‘Not. No,’ said Takaar. ‘I will not do it! Don’t try to push me. You think me weak. Ten years and still you can’t see my strength has never cracked under your constant wheedling. Let me be. Auum, why do they test me? Why do they stare? I have no place to see out. I can’t. Where are the humans?’
‘All are dead,’ said Auum. ‘And you saved a life. Katyett’s life.’
Takaar frowned and muttered to himself. Katyett couldn’t make out the words. Auum sighed and leant back, waiting. Katyett had her hand over her mouth. Takaar’s words made no sense. His reaction was that of a frightened child retreating from a violent parent. He was hugging himself now, his knees drawn up hard against his chest.
Katyett stood, feeling the companionship of her Tai around her. She could not calm her heart or her breathing. She felt a little faint and nauseous. Both Merrat and Grafyrre put arms around her, steadying her.