The Fade

The joy is enough to hurt my heart. It crushes in with the horror and the pain and the shock. It mingles with the disgust I feel at myself, curdles into the fury and the hope. I'm feeling too much at once and I can't handle it. Tears come and I'm trembling violently. I feel like I'm going to die, but it won't be from the poison.

He walks over to a lantern, rolls up the document and touches it to the flame.

'You'll get hero's honours,' he says. 'You were killed in defence of your master, trying to save him from these Gurta assassins.' He tips the peace treaty so that fire runs up its side, watching it with fascination. 'And so the war goes on, as it must. Too many people profiting from it to stop it now. It's not in Clan Caracassa's interests.'

He holds it until he can't hold it any more, then drops it to the floor. Worms of white and red writhe in the blackness of the scorched paper as it curls up.

'Operation Deadfall will fail,' he murmurs, looking down at the embers of Ledo's ambition. 'The humiliation will inspire such rage in the people of Eskara that they will redouble their efforts to wipe out the hated enemy.' His eyes flick away from the treaty, disinterested now. 'Caracassa does best during the really big slaughters. They have the manufacturing capacity to handle it.'

He comes over to me. I'm spasming pitifully, face streaked with tears. He bares his teeth and draws the bowstring. 'Be careful who you trust, Orna. If you don't pay attention, you're liable to get stabbed in the back.'

I hear the thud of an impact, and I flinch as his arrow fires into the floor and spins away. Nereith's face is puzzled. He looks down at me, for what seems a long time, and I can't help thinking that he seems betrayed, disappointed. How could you?

Then he groans and falls over sideways, a throwing knife buried to the hilt in between his shoulder blades.

'You got that right,' says Keren to the dead man, as he slopes into the room.

I just stare at the ceiling as he picks his way through the corpses and kneels down next to me. I can't do any more.

'Well,' he says helpfully. 'You're a mess.'

'You're late,' I tell him.

'You told me to keep watch on the gate in case anyone else arrived,' he replies. 'Didn't say anything about your Khaadu friend.'

'I didn't exactly see it coming, Keren, or I wouldn't be lying here. Why didn't you stop him?'

'Couldn't very well kill him until I knew whose side he was on, could I?'

'The arrow in my side makes things pretty fucking obvious on that score, wouldn't you say?'

Keren motions towards Nereith. 'Is he dead or isn't he?' he asks, exasperated. Then he pulls the knife out of Nereith's back and stabs him in the side of the neck. 'Anyway, now he definitely is.'

I'm struggling to get up. 'You think you can walk?' he says.

'Probably not.'

'I've got a guy who can fix you. Dweoming. Discreet. Not too insane.'

I nod slightly and cough. 'Just working off the poison. I don't think the arrow hit anything too major.'

'You're tough. You'll be okay.'

He helps me up. Every movement brings pain. I suck in the air through my gritted teeth and relish it.

'You owe me really, really big,' Keren says, as he helps me towards the door.

2

The first they know of me is when Ashka gets an arrow through his forehead. Caydus and Jyirt react instantly, leaping towards their master to protect him with their bodies. It's what Cadre do. I know I'll never hit them on the move, so I fire at the spot where Jyirt is going, and he jumps right into the path of the arrow. It hits him in the nape of his neck, punching out through the front of his throat.

That's it for my free shots. The Gurta soldiers have their bows unloosed from their shoulders and they're tracking me as I bolt along the gallery. I dive and roll as arrows thump into the spines of the books behind me.

Caydus has Ledo covered with his body, backed into a corner. His enormous, curved sword is drawn, held defensively before them. Belek is making for the exit, under cover of his guards. Can't have that. I pull a metal sphere from a pouch at my belt and twist the two hemispheres in opposite directions. A loud crunch comes from within, and the two halves spring apart by a finger's width. I lob it over the balcony, and even before it's hit the study floor it's belching yellow, acrid smoke in great billows.

The Gurta soldiers yell and shy away from the missile as it bounces across the room. In seconds, we're all reduced to dirty silhouettes. Another arrow comes my way, but it's wild. They can't draw a bead on me now. Belek is still moving for the door, forging through blindly, a flailing shadow in the murk. I vault the balcony gallery and land in front of the Minister. He can't check his run fast enough. I sidestep, encircle his neck with my arm and spin him round. Before he knows where he is, I have a blade to his throat and we're standing, backs to the door, facing into the smoke-hazed room.

~ Put down your bows! ~ I shout. ~ Draw again and your Minister dies ~

The soldiers freeze. The flurry of chaos is abruptly at an end. It takes them a moment to find me, but the smoke is already thinning. The soldiers look uncertain, bows still half-drawn. They're not used to being ordered by a woman.

~ Do as she says! ~ Belek snaps at his soldiers. His skin has that oddly sterile feel of his kind. Just being near him brings back memories I'd rather not have.

The guards place their bows on the floor.

'Orna!'

It's Ledo. Pushing out from behind Caydus, walking towards me. Caydus sticks close to him.

'You too, Caydus. Drop the sword.'

'Not going to happen, Orna,' he replies, his voice dense with venom. I'm the traitor in his eyes, because I've broken my oath of Bond. Ironic, really. 'Kill him if you want. You won't get our master.'

'Your master,' I correct him.

'Orna, what is this?' Ledo hisses.

I adjust my grip on my hostage's neck, pushing the blade in hard enough to cut just out of spite. 'This? This is what happens when you betray your people, Ledo. When you consort with our sworn enemy.' I look up at him. 'This is what happens when you sell out your own kind.'

'Your loyalty is to me!' he cries. 'Don't presume to interfere in matters you don't understand!'

I shake my head slightly. No words could sway me now. 'I would have given my life for you,' I say, tight with anger. 'But instead you took my family.'

'Stop this now,' he snaps. He's not intimidated in the least. I don't think he even believes I'll do it. He still expects to be obeyed. 'Stop this now, and I'll let you leave this room with that life you seem so eager to throw away.'

~ Please ~ says Belek. ~ Listen to me. This is-~

I push the dagger hard into his throat, and blood flows in a steady stream down his white neck, staining his collar. The soldiers twitch forward, but I stay them with a glare.

~ I'll bet you don't remember me, Belek Aspa ~ I murmur. ~ But I remember you. You once said that my kind were like animals. That we didn't have the same emotions as the Gurta did ~ I pull the knife along his neck a little, and he flinches and whimpers. ~ I'm feeling pretty emotional right now, Minister ~

'What do you gain, Orna?' Ledo calls. He's keeping a respectable distance, but he's not hiding from me, either. 'You'll die, and for what? You must know that even you don't stand a chance against Caydus. You'll kill one Gurta. Is it worth it? Leave now, and I may still be merciful.'

'I want to hear you say it!' I shout at him. 'I want to hear you say you betrayed us at Korok! I want to hear you say you were selling our troops out to this man!'

Ledo sneers. 'You don't make demands of me!'

There's a clacking of armour. Ledo looks over at the Gurta guard, who is picking himself unsteadily up from the ground. A moment later, the guard's balance deserts him again, and he drops dizzily to one knee.