Prime, Twelveth Day Before the Kalends of June

Henderson’s Woods, Eastpoint, Bahim, Drum

“Time to come out, boy,” said the Ramani. “This has gone on long enough.”

The Ramani stood in a clearing in the forest, breathing heavily. His arms and legs were covered with bruises and lacerations from vines, tree roots, and Jack’s daggers. One of these daggers, in fact, was lodged into his right thigh. The Ramani’s blade was pointed towards the trees above him, but he could not Sense where Jack was.

Jack was hiding in a tree behind the Ramani. He too was injured, much more gravely than the Ramani. There was a deep laceration on his left side where he failed to dodge one of the Ramani’s challis. He was soaked with blood, all the way down to his trousers. He was already feeling light-headed. He knew that he had to finish this fight soon.

He took a deep breath, wincing from the pain. Become your own person. Despite everything, Jack smiled. He had succeeded at that, at least.

He leapt off the tree. A vine sprung out before him. He grabbed it and swung, charging at the Ramani. Sensing Jack, the Ramani swung around and kicked. His boot made direct contact with Jack’s injured flank and Jack was sent hurtling until he slammed into a tree. He instantly lost consciousness.

And it was at this moment that Logan entered the clearing and saw Jack slumped at the stump of a tree.

With a roar, Logan sent an arc of lightning towards the Ramani, which hit him square on the back. The Ramani collapsed, but before collapsing he had already sent out a challis.

Jack’s body rippled at the impact of the challis, showering the tree behind him with blood.

Logan charged towards the Ramani, who had gotten back up to his feet. With his fauchard he impaled the man seven times. The Ramani fell again, this time dead before he hit the ground.

With trembling legs Logan reached Jack and fell onto his knees. Jack’s eyes fluttered open for a second. He saw Logan and smiled.

“No,” said Logan.

But the boy had already closed his eyes, and was dead.

All around the boy flowers began to grow. Flowers of all colours and of all sizes. They covered Jack in a final embrace.

Logan buried his face into this bed of flowers and wept. When he finally raised his head, the sun had risen, and where Jack’s Body had been there lay the Stone of Plants.

Terce, Twelveth Day Before the Kalends of June

Eastpoint, Bahim, Drum

Boash woke to the sound of screaming. He tumbled out of his bed and his hand found his blade in the darkness. Donning a simple gown, he stepped out onto the street.

Dozens of Bodies scattered the street. His own men. And at the centre a single man, holding a fauchard. Even without a close inspection one could see that the man was heavily injured. It was a wonder that he was even standing.

Logan turned to look at Boash. Before Boash could even draw his blade he was sent hurtling backwards by an arc of lightning.

Boash staggered to his feet.

“That is not a man,” he muttered. “That is a monster.”

Without even stopping to pick up his blade Boash opened the window with shaking hands, clambered out, then fled.

In this manner all the men who had occupied Eastpoint either fled or were slaughtered at the hands of Logan Floyd.

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Border of Eastpoint, Bahim, Drum

Logan fell to his knees when he reached the outskirts of the town. His head was dizzy with fatigue, but with some astonishment Logan realised that his heart was not full of the deep dread that always accompanied these massacres, whether it be at Estrul or at Greghorn Castle. No, his Body may have been shattered, but his Mind remained clear. Logan did not know what to make of this. Had he finally become inured to the horror of murder? Was that not a tragedy in itself?

No — perhaps it was a salvation. For the first time, his rage had been for another, for Jack. Did that not give some hope for redemption?

Mere excuses, thought Logan. How could one bring forth such a flimsy argument with mountains of corpses at their feet? It was a simple fact — killing was easy for Logan. Perhaps like Kate killing had now become easy for the Mind as well as for the Body.

The thoughts of the Mind have a strange way of translating to the world around us. As soon as Logan thought this about Kate, a cloaked figure came fluttering down and landed before Logan.

“Kate,” said Logan. “So you have been here all along.”

Kate opened up her arms wide. “So Hazel has sent us another saving grace,” she said.

“Where were you,” said Logan, his voice shaking, almost a whisper.

Kate dropped her arms to her sides.

“Do you know that Jack is dead,” said Logan.

Kate said nothing. Logan could not tell from her eyes whether she had known or not.

“Where were you,” said Logan. He was shouting now. “When Jack died. Where were you.”

Then Kate did something so incomprehensible that Logan found himself stunned into silence. Kate began laughing. She doubled over and went on laughing for a long time. Then the laughter died out into a silence. Kate raised herself back up. “So he went, after all,” she said.

“What,” said Logan.

“He told me that he wished to fight,” said Kate.

“And you,” said Logan. “And you let him go?”

Kate did not answer. She simply smiled.

Logan let out a roar of horror, anger, and despair. He shot out his fauchard and out came an arc of lightning. Kate leapt up into the sky and landed on top of one of the houses. The lightning hit another house, which exploded.

“Another duel,” cried Kate. “To settle the score.”

Then she sent out three rechallis. Logan did not defend with his newly learned Barrier Connexion. Instead, he sent out rechallis of his own with wide swings of his fauchard.

“Oh?” said Kate, defending with Barrier Connexion.

Logan sent out another arc of lightning towards Kate, which she dodged by leaping to the roof of another building. Kate did not show it, but she was shaken. She had not known that Logan had learned Force Connexion. At Estrul she had overpowered him with the help of the element of surprise, as well as Logan’s greatest weakness, his inability to defend from challis, which was Kate’s main mode of attack. But now, how was she to defeat him?

Logan sent arc after arc, and Kate leapt from one building to the next, until the town of Eastpoint was collapsing all around them. The debris from these buildings covered the Bodies strewn about in its streets. Still Logan and Kate went on.

As Kate dodged these arcs she sent challis from one angle, then another, trying to find a weak point. Logan defended each by sending out his own challis. Some of the challis, which Kate expertly sent out in twisting or oblique motions, broke through and splayed open Logan’s skin, but Logan stood ground and continued on. Kate thought that enough of these injuries and Logan would surely fall, and focused all of her Mind onto crafting these complex challis. And so she did not Sense the storm brewing slowly over her head until a large, black cloud had gathered. Only then did she Sense the change in the current of the air and looked up. Kate let out a laugh that was more like a scream.

Then the lightning struck.

Within a second Kate was on the ground. For a long time she was still, her body letting out a thin line of smoke, and Logan would have believed she was dead if not for the faint trace of her Mind that he still Sensed. Then that trace grew stronger and stronger. Logan watched on, without moving, simply because he knew that if he took one step forward he would collapse.

Then, Kate lifted one arm, which shook violently. She gripped the ground with that arm. Then the other arm. Supporting herself with both arms, she raised herself. She faltered and collapsed to the ground. A few moments passed, then she steadied herself again and raised her upper body. She managed to support herself with her knees, then got up to her feet, slowly, shakily. But in the end she was on her feet.

With his last remaining strength, Logan sent a challis. Kate dodged, but her broken body was too slow. The challis ripped into her face.

With a shaking hand, she touched the left side of her face. Her fingers groped around. She no longer had her left eye.

“No,” said Logan.

Kate reached with her other hand into her cloak and produced a dagger. Before Logan could react, Kate plunged the dagger into her right eye.

“Oh,” said Logan.

Kate ripped her right eyeball clean from her socket. Logan watched, horrified, as Kate put the eyeball into her mouth and began chewing. He could taste, once again, the pigeon’s blood. He looked at Kate’s face, now mutilated, and remembered their childhood together, training with Cole, running off into the vineyards and eating grapes before they were ripe, hiding from the Blue Ones, religious scholars called so because of their blue cloak, to avoid another lecture, mock duelling, serious duelling… but now Kate had finished chewing and had swallowed.

“Ha,” she said. “Ha, ha, ha.”

Then she collapsed onto the ground. Logan took a step forward, then the wounds in his abdomen burst open.

“Logan!” cried a voice from behind him. He turned to look. It was Hazel, on horseback.

“Ah,” said Logan, then he too collapsed.