The Fade

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.

I laugh softly through my mask. 'You actually think you have the upper hand, don't you? You arrogant aristo fuck. That smoke wasn't just for concealment, and nor is this mask. You've been dead for some while now.' As an afterthought, I add: 'Ekan the apothecary sends his compliments.'

The look on his face is perfect. If I could preserve just one thing in my memory for ever, it would be that. Then Caydus roars, and comes for me.

I shove my blade deep into Belek's neck and wrench it out in a jet of blood, then I shove him towards Caydus. He staggers, gargling, into the warrior's path, clawing at his wound. It slows Caydus long enough for me to fling a throwing knife across the room and into the eye of the Gurta soldier who's still standing. The last one is out of action, slipping and falling as he tries to get to his feet, nerves malfunctioning in a dreadful parody of a newborn animal.

I flit across the room, retreating from Caydus. He's the only one I have to worry about now. Ledo makes for the door, but his legs fail him for a moment and he goes over. The poison is beginning to make itself felt. Panicked, gasping, tears in his eyes, he tries again. He's too afraid to face the truth. All that aristo invulnerability and dignity is gone now. He's just a man, cowardly in the face of death.

He wrenches open the door and plunges through, calling for his guards. Nobody will come. I'd love to follow him and watch him die, but Caydus is blocking me. Loyal to the end.

Though he doesn't have long left, he's still got it in him to be dangerous. He takes a swing with his sword, but he's been slowed by the poison and I dart out of his reach. I back away a little. He makes an incoherent noise of rage, lunges clumsily towards me. I dance out of reach as he cuts air again. Teeth gritted, he tries a third time, but I'm way too quick for him. With each charge, he gets more tired and more angry.

'Don't do this,' I say, because I liked him, and this is embarrassing for both of us.

He stares at me with bloodshot eyes, sweating, hating. He tries to lift his sword and he can't. Slumps onto his arse, exhausted. He heaves a great sigh and raises his head.

'Bitch,' he says, and then his head lolls and he dies, just sitting there.

I step out into the corridor and find Ledo lying face down. He didn't get far. I take off my mask and unstrap the gas filter from around my nose and mouth. The poison in the air is long gone now.

I kneel down, turn Ledo over and stare at his lifeless corpse. I don't feel anything. No satisfaction. Compassionless as a child studying a beetle.

What did I expect? I don't know. I'm too fucking numb to know.

Listless, I wander back into the study. I'm waiting for some kind of closure and it hasn't come. Bodies everywhere, blood smeared across the floor. I walk over to the desk and look down at the document that Ledo and Belek were signing.

It's the signatures that draw my attention. The latest occupy pride of place at the bottom, as the authors and executors of the document; but there are many more. At a glance I can see over a dozen Plutarchs, all of the Folded Wing, with Ledo the only member of the Turnward Claw Alliance on there. A similar number of Gurta signatories have also put their names to it.

We, the undersigned, firm in our conviction, do hereby commit ourselves in whatever capacity we are able to sue for the cessation of hostilities between the two great nations of Eskara and Gurta…

I stop breathing. I snatch up the document, skim read.

… make all efforts to persuade our respective authorities… phased plan of withdrawal with negotiation of ceasefire to begin immediately…

Horror settles on me like a freezing fog. It's a peace accord. They were forging a truce.

They were trying to stop the war.