The bruised guard, it turned out, was named Tev. He was eager to help Mala locate the nearest member of the Order of Sahran, which was her first request. They had not been in fact confined to their tower, only forbidden from contacting Mala. Useph had wrongly taken them to be still loyal to him.
Tev paused on the way to tie up the other combatant from the recent fistfight. The man was laying halfway in the hall, half in the trashed room, covered in blood and bruises. He didn’t actually look much worse than Tev, but he was quite unconscious. He only groaned a little when Tev dragged him back into the room by his now-tied hands. His feet scraped along the floor as Tev shoved the door closed against them.
They went back to the first corridor they had entered from the stairwell, and through one of the other openings. It led, through a short, claustrophobic, dark passage, to a stone door. Stepping through it into the moonlit night, Tev was immediately brought up short by a spearpoint pressed to his chest.
“Tev?” A female voice murmured. “What are you doing here? You’re a mess.”
“Lady Mala-she-I-” Tev said. He seemed to be having understandable trouble organizing his thoughts. His gaze was fixed down on the spear and his arms braced against the doorframe, holding the rest of them back in the passageway. “I, um, brought Lady Mala.”
“What?” The spear fell away, and Tev moved forward, the rest piling out of the tight passage after him.
They were now standing on a high, narrow walk. It was just wide enough for two armored men to pass side-by-side. There was a short stone wall on the outer edge, knee-high, with crenelations rising to about chest-height. The last hint of twilight was still lingering in the west, but it was overwhelmed by the light of the full moon, hanging near the eastern horizon. Kiri could see the whole city stretched out below. If she had lived here, this might be one of her favorite places. It reminded her of sitting on the wall of Laed, watching over the city, ready to step in and solve any trouble, save the innocent that needed saving. That was when she had best liked being the Firebrand--when it was clear who she was helping, and who the enemy was. So much better than now, with allies that made her back itch with worry that someone might bury a knife in it.
The spear’s owner grounded the base and looked over the group with wide eyes, blue as chips of ice in her dark face. She was tall, even taller than Shendra. She wore the same armor as Shendra; the well-oiled leather shone in the moonlight. Her bare forearms were tightly muscled. Her face, soft and feminine, stood in contrast to her strong, masculine form and clothing. If she had any curves, the armor didn’t show them. Kiri guessed she might have been able to take Tev in the fistfight even before he’d fought the last one. She was taller than him by nearly a head. She nodded to Mala as her eyes scanned the party and murmured, “My lady.” But her eyes locked onto Kiri.
Kiri had almost gotten used to people being unfazed by her being the Firebrand, but by this woman’s reaction she guessed Shendra and Mala had not told the rest of the Order of Sahran about her.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m the Firebrand.”
“Yes, you are,” the woman said. “I, well--I thought you were just a rumor.”
“No, she’s real,” Mala said. “Magic and all. The Eldan are real, too. We’ve got two on our side, today.”
“Our side?” The spearwoman cocked her head and pursed her lips. “Our side of what?”
“Right,” Mala blew out a long breath and stared out into the middle distance, considering. “How do I put this?” She locked her gaze back on the spearwoman and held up a finger. “The Sceptre of Fatefall is ancient, evil, Eldan magic. Lord Useph has been possessed by it. Our side, with the two Eldan, well, we are going to rescue him, and all of our city, from its evil influence. Only the Eldan can protect the world from its magic, so we’re going to give it back to them.”
The spearwoman nodded slowly. “The city does seem to be under some evil spell. This Sceptre is the source?”
“Exactly,” Mala said. She seemed relieved that the other woman had understood so quickly. Kiri thought it was a hopeful sign, as the whole plan hinged on convincing as many guards as possible of the necessity of getting the Sceptre away from Useph. The obvious chaos that had reigned in the city might actually have provided the reason they needed.
The spearwoman scanned all directions and stepped past the group to close the door. Kiri didn’t think that was really necessary to assure their privacy. They could hardly have found a more private place. The wind whipping past the tower made it extremely unlikely that anyone could eavesdrop on them. It was hard enough to understand each other face to face, with lip movements to fill in the blanks hearing left.
“What is the plan, my lady?” The woman asked.
“Still forming,” Mala said. “But your part in it is this: go at once to the Tower of the Order and rally all the loyal women there to my cause.”
“I will, my Lady,” the other said. “It will mean abandoning my post…?”
Mala waved her hand. “I’m not worried about that. Do you know where Lord Useph is now?”
“Not for certain,” the guard woman said. “As late as this, he is most likely in his chambers.”
Mala chuckled. “That will be an ignoble last stand for him.” She shook her head. “Is anyone in my old rooms?”
“No, my lady,” the other said. “All of your things are still there. Lord Useph said he was certain you would ‘come to your senses’ soon.”
“Good,” Mala said. “We will meet there in ten minutes. It will be easy for all of the Order to come there without being seen. And it’s right next door to Useph’s chamber.”
“Will ten minutes be enough?” Kiri asked. “We still have to meet up with Shendra and the others.”
“We’ll be fast,” Mala said. “And you, Tev, you spread the word that I am going to put Useph in his right senses. I will look favorably on anyone who doesn’t get in my way.”
“But my lady,” Tev said. “I can help you-”
The spear-wielding woman of the Order of Sahran jerked the door back open and gestured to Tev. “You have your orders.”
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Mala stepped close to Kiri and whispered in her ear. “Look at that. It’s all falling into place.”
~
A faint stirring of air pushed a wave of diaphanous fabric into Kiri’s face. She blew it away, squinting around the edge of Mala’s wall of nightgowns to peek into the bedchamber beyond. For reasons Kiri wasn’t completely in agreement with, she was hiding while everyone else waited in the open for the arrival of the women of the order. Mala insisted Kiri, as the strongest fighter of them all, should be held in reserve. There was a chance some of Useph’s people, or Useph himself, might find them before the order did, and in that case Kiri was the backup. “I always find it helps to have an ace up my sleeve,” Mala insisted.
Kiri did not tell her friend that she had just confirmed her long-held suspicions that Mala cheated at cards. Not able to articulate any reason not to do it, she went along with Mala’s plan. So now here she was, stuck in the closet, while everyone else was luxuriating in Mala’s sumptuous suite. She held the wispy fabric away from her as best she could, but bits of it kept tickling her neck, making it feel as though a spider was crawling on her. It seemed it really must have been longer than ten minutes. She could hear the others talking softly to one another--that was Garon, murmuring something. But they were all so quiet she couldn’t make out any words.
A grinding, creaking sound stilled the voices. Kiri tensed, gathering her fingers into a fist. Through the sheer curtain of fabric she saw a light move, bobbing up and down.
“My lady,” it was the spearwoman from the tower’s voice. Finally. Through the gauzy curtains of Mala’s robes Kiri watched the vague outline of many people moving into the room. She could hear the shuffling of feet as the ladies of the Order of Sahran filed into the increasingly crowded room. Kiri lifted her hand to push aside the fabric so she could join them. At that moment, from the opposite end of the room there was a popping, rushing sound, followed by a loud, reverberating bang. She heard jostling and, turning, Kiri caught a glimpse of more people pouring into the room through the corridor door. She let the fabric fall so that it covered her again. Shouts of alarm from the people already in the room let her know that it was not more allies who had now entered.
“What is this?” Useph’s voice rose above the turmoil, clear and strong.
Kiri saw now that it had been very smart of Mala to keep her hidden away, even though Useph might suspect she was here. She did not want to come out of hiding too early, but save it for the best possible tactical moment. But she could not be useful if she had no real picture of what was going on. Filling the whole room with fire and lightning would end things, true, but without being able to see she might strike her allies as well as her enemies. She needed to have eyes on her targets.
She edged to the end of the closet and moved aside a blue lace shawl just enough to peek out. If anyone looked, they would have been able to see her, but since everyone was facing down armed enemies, she was betting on them ignoring the clothes.
Since she had moved into position to spot the enemy, she couldn’t see many of the people on Mala’s side, but she could see Mala, and, standing beside her, Garon. Kiri was annoyed to see him at the front. All those warriors were there. With a fight brewing he should get behind them, instead of standing in the way. Shendra stood a little in front and to the other side of Mala, ready to defend her Lady from danger.
Useph was standing in the open doorway. The door itself was flung against the wall, hanging a little off its hinges. It had been locked, and the frame had been broken when Useph’s men forced it open. Bits of splintered wood stuck out from it, jutting toward where he stood in the middle.
Kiri counted ten guards on Useph’s side. They fanned forward from him in a V shape, and all of them were holding their naked swords at the ready. The furthest forward of them were within reach of Shendra and someone standing with her that Kiri could only see part of. It was most likely Riulessa or Riular, judging by height.
Mala tossed her hair at her husband. “What is this? This is my sewing circle.” Kiri could hear the mischievous grin in her voice.
Kiri pulled her fingers tight, readying the fire. She had a clear view of her targets now, she only needed to decide when to act.
“You are plotting against me!” Useph said. “You have gathered here against me, you have freed a prisoner-”
“I was one,” Mala snapped.
“My heart breaks at this, my Lady,” Useph continued. And he did sound like his heart was breaking. There was a tearful edge to his snarl. “That my loving wife would move against me-”
“My heart is breaking,” Mala interrupted. “My heart. To see my loving husband taken over, corrupted, by the evil of that Sceptre. Let it go. Let the Eldan take it back to their fortress. Then we can go back to being ourselves. I do not rise against you, my love. I only want that Sceptre gone.”
For just a moment Useph looked at the Sceptre in his hand with eyebrows lowered, and it seemed like he might actually consider what Mala was saying. But then his grip tightened on the Sceptre, his knuckles whitening, and his eyes snapped back to his wife.
“You do not tell me, woman, what to do or how to do it.” He didn’t sound tearful anymore. He spat the words at her. “Evil am I! We will see how evil I can be! Kill them all!”
The guard near Garon lunged forward. Garon, watching Useph, wasn’t ready, but Kiri was. She slammed her open palm into the floor. The power surged across the floor, raising the hair of Mala and Garon as it passed them, then leaped up with a wall of blue, crackling light that touched every guard in the V, and Useph with them. They all half-collapsed as it hit them, some yelling at the pain as the lightning played on their skin. The guard who had been about to strike Garon seemed hardest hit. He dropped his sword, and Garon, apparently more ready for battle than Kiri had thought, dove for it.
The women of the Order of Sahran didn’t miss their cue any more than Garon did. With their enemies off-balance, they surged forward to join battle. Kiri pushed her way through them toward the doorway. The whole room was in confusion. Shendra cut down one of the guards right in front of her and Kiri had to leap over him. She kept losing sight of Useph; he had gone into the hall. There was no way she could let him Travel away again. Neal and Riulessa were fighting with Useph. They were the ones who had driven him into the hall, and their attacks kept both his hands busy; one was holding the Sceptre and the other a long knife.
A guard swung his blade right for Kiri’s throat as she was stepping out into the hall. She opened her hand and released all the energy she had gathered into his chest to knock him back. But that meant she was weaponless when she reached Useph. Her hand was barely warm at all. Shendra was ducking against the wall to avoid a strike from the Sceptre. It was an effective enough weapon even when Useph did not bring its true power to bear. Neal struck at him with a knife, and the Thief Lord’s parry sent Neal’s blade skittering along the stone floor. Ignoring Kiri with his eagerness to make good of the opening, Useph lunged forward, enough that when the Firebrand, in probably her most mundane, inelegant attack ever, slammed her body weight into him in a full-on run, he fell to the ground after Neal’s knife. Neal and Shendra moved in, and Useph, rolling onto his back, raised the Sceptre.
“You will die, Neal!” He said, and as he banged the Sceptre once against the floor while pointing his other hand at Neal, Kiri was sure it was true. But in taking the time to curse Neal he had left himself open. Shendra would take him now.
But to everyone’s shock Mala appeared, right behind Useph, out of the air. Useph was so shocked by his wife’s Traveling into the fight that she was able to pull the Sceptre right out of his hands. For the first time, his eyes showed fear. He scrambled to his feet, using Mala to pull himself up, which dragged her to her knees. He ran down the corridor. Before he reached the turn at the end he had disappeared.
“Traveled again.” Mala dusted herself off one-handed as she used the Sceptre to pull herself up. “I’ll take care of him in time.” The scuffle within her chambers was still going on, and she turned her head toward the noise. “This’ll end that quick enough.” She gestured with the Sceptre. “Don’t worry,” she answered Riulessa’s concerned brow-wrinkle. “I’ll hand it over as soon as we’re all clear who’s in charge.” She looked at Neal, who was standing dazed against the wall, probably overwhelmed by the knowledge that he was about to die within a day, though Mala didn’t know that. “It’s me, we got that, right?”
Neal blinked, as though he was just waking up. “What? Yes? You?”