34
SWORDS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

Tasahre jumped away from Master Sy, holding her swords out towards him. ‘Drop your weapons,’ she called in a voice that rang the air.

‘Do it,’ shouted Kol. He was standing at the top of the steps, surrounded by the Emperor’s soldiers who were swarming aboard. The thief-taker’s men were crowding together, forming a circle around Master Sy. Their eyes darted from side to side as they fought, looking for an escape. Radek still stood frozen by the spar-deck door. Berren ignored them all. His eyes were set on Tasahre.

Kill!

The Emperor’s soldiers were pushing Radek’s men out of the way. Swords came out. One of Radek’s soldiers jabbed at one of the Emperor’s and got skewered and then suddenly there was fighting all around Berren again. Once more the thief-taker’s men surged forward. Master Sy and Tasahre were staring at each other.

Very slowly, Tasahre put her swords down onto the deck. Berren skittered away from one of Radek’s sailors who swung at him with a hook. The sailor came at him again. This time Berren blocked it with his waster, jumped at the man and clocked him on the head, dazing him long enough to dart past.

‘End this, thief-taker,’ said Tasahre. Her voice was calm, yet it still carried across the fight.

Kill! Berren dived out of the way of a soldier with a halberd. One of the Emperor’s men came bellowing past. The thief-taker howled with rage.

‘And why should we? So you can send us to the mines? Do you know what this man did to us? Did to all of us? He killed our fathers. He killed our mothers. He killed our brothers, our sisters, our sons, our daughters. He killed our king and our country. He killed our faith. He killed everything!’

The thief-taker lunged at Tasahre. As he passed her, he snatched up one of her short curved swords in his spare hand. Tasahre leapt straight up into the air. Master Sy stabbed at her, but she curled and twisted away from his steel. Then she was back on the deck, facing him.

Kill!

Berren pushed past a soldier and one of the thief-taker’s men, grappling each other with knives in their hands. He was yards away now, yet he paused. He’d seen Master Sy take three armed men down in as many blows; Tasahre didn’t even have a weapon, yet she ran right back at him and she was so unbelievably fast. The curved sword stabbed out, so quick that even Tasahre couldn’t have avoided it, yet somehow she did; her foot caught the other sword off the deck and kicked it into the air and into her hand. For a moment, the two of them stood, swords in guard, facing each other.

Kill! Now!

He clenched his teeth, gripped his waster. The screaming inside him was getting louder, starting to break through. ‘Master! Tasahre!’ They were going to kill each other. He knew that look in Master Sy’s face. There was no coming back from wherever the thief-taker was.

A dark stain was spreading out across Tasahre’s robe. She hadn’t dodged Master Sy’s blow after all. The other monks and the overlord’s soldiers surrounded them all now. The fight was petering out, Master Sy’s men pressed close around him, tense but not yet defeated. As far as Berren could tell, the ones that had fallen had fought to the death.

‘Prince Syannis.’ Tasahre held her one sword straight out in front of her, pointing at Master Sy’s face, just like she and Berren had done in the practice yard. Whatever wound she’d taken, she wasn’t showing it. ‘Hold.’

‘Syannis! This fight is done.’ That was Justicar Kol again. ‘I can’t save you, not from this, but you can save your men. You can save your boy. He’s right here, you know.’

Master Sy held still for a moment. Berren kept walking, slowly, slowly closer, fighting to hold back each and every step.

‘I know the story.’ Kol spoke slowly and clearly. The Emperor’s men were swamping the ship now. Most of Radek’s soldiers were down, the rest had surrendered their arms. Radek himself still stood paralysed by the spar deck door, the scarf of shadow around his neck. Kuy, if that’s what the other shadows had been, had vanished, but Berren knew he wasn’t far. He felt the presence inside him, the guiding words, the desire he had no choice but to serve. ‘You think I don’t know half the men here? Of course I do. Came from the same place you did, one by one. Good men, most of them. Now look at them. You did this. They made lives for themselves here. It could have stayed that way. Now put your bloody sword down.’

Berren was in front of the thief-taker’s men, who had formed in a wall around Master Sy, against the edge of the ship, penned by Kol’s soldiers. They held their swords and their clubs ready. Their faces were hard. Whoever they were, they were set on dying. As Berren came close, one of them lunged.

Come! Come to me! Berren lurched. For a moment, he was confused, as the silent scream inside his head faded. Come to me – so much easier. He pushed his way between the Emperor’s soldiers, watching over his shoulder all the time. Everyone was looking at Tasahre and Master Sy, waiting to see what the thief-taker would do. His eyes were wild. They moved from one face to another. He barely seemed to recognise Berren. His gaze moved to the ropes that ran down to his own ship, and then back to Radek. Berren could see the thought forming in his head – Radek’s corpse on the end of his sword or a way out – which one?

Come, Berren. Come here! Come to me!

Radek. But Tasahre must have seen it in the thief-takers eyes before he even knew it himself. She launched herself at him a moment before he would have jumped. Sparks flew between her sword and Master Sy’s, but she forced him back, further and further towards the edge of the ship.

As Berren reached the frozen Radek, Master Sy seemed to falter. Tasahre stepped in to finish him. As she did, Master Sy slipped inside her guard to take her down, exactly the way he’d shown to Berren.

And exactly the way Berren had shown to Tasahre. Her weight shifted. She danced around the thief-taker. The pommel of her sword cracked him on the back of his head. For a moment, as he staggered, he was helpless. Tasahre was right behind him, sword poised to run him through.

Kill! Kill Radek! Now! Kill him now!

The warlock’s demand tore though him like a hurricane. Berren screamed. ‘Tasahre! No!’ Even as he screamed, his hands had snapped his waster high over his head. Radek didn’t even flinch. And then he brought the wooden stick crashing down on Radek’s skull.

Tasahre’s stare flicked to him. She hesitated. The horror on her face burned his eyes. He turned, finally, to see Radek slumped around his feet, his head staved in, his blood pouring out all over the wooden deck. He gasped and stepped back in horror. What have I done? He looked for the warlock’s voice inside his head, but Kuy was gone, vanished without a trace as though he’d never existed.

‘Berren!’

Berren span around to Tasahre, and as he did, the thief-taker lashed out. The tip of his blade sliced across the exposed skin of the sword-monk’s neck. Always strike where you can see flesh, Berren. That way you know there’s no hidden armour. Berren screamed again.

‘Tasahre!’ She staggered. Blood poured down her robe, half of it already stained dark. It dripped from the cloth onto the docks. The thief-taker took a step away. He looked at what he’d done, looked shocked, then turned on Berren. His eyes were wild.

‘Come on, Berren! Run! Run! We have to run!’

The nearest of Kol’s soldiers snatched at Berren, half grabbing his shirt. Berren tore himself away. Tasahre fell to the deck. The thief-taker was backing quickly away, back towards his little ship.

‘Tasahre!’ He was the first one to reach her. He’d never seen so much blood. The thief-taker’s sword had cut halfway into her neck. He grabbed her hand. Squeezed.

‘Berren!’ The thief-taker was at the edge of the deck now, beside a rope down to the other ship, looking at him, holding out his hand. It was covered in blood. So were his arms, his shirt. All about, the fighting began again, the Emperor’s men and the last of the thief-taker’s. At the top of the steps to the docks, Berren glimpsed the yellow of another sword-monk pushing forward. He knew the look, the tension. He stared back at Master Sy.

‘…’ Whatever words Tasahre had left, they died in a gurgle of blood.

‘For the love of the sun, Berren, come on!’

‘You! You … You killed her!’ If he’d still had Stealer, Berren would have stabbed the thief-taker without a thought. Stabbed him in the heart, over and over until he stopped moving and then stabbed him some more.

Tasahre’s hand shuddered and fell slack.

The thief-taker’s men were folding, crumpling inward, abandoning the fight and jumping over the side. The other sword-monk was almost on them.

Inside Berren, something broke. He jumped up onto the empty spar-deck, leapt across the water onto the docks and ran. Amid the screams and the clash of steel, he thought he heard the warlock. Laughing.