Swinging the spear up, I slammed the butt of it into the first man’s chest. He grunted, falling backward, scrabbling with both hands to stay on the island, but the rock was slippery, and he was falling.
The other man lunged at me, and I brought the spear up, blocking his attack. He had a long sword, curved and heavy enough that it sliced into the shaft of the spear. I pulled back, butit was too late. I was left with two halves of a spear, and he pulled back, slashing across.
At the last second, I rolled. Why was I doing this? I should lead them directly to the emperor. I should letthemkill him.
There was a shout, and then someone hit my attacker. He fell back, pulling out a second blade—this one more narrow, smaller, able to fit up between a man’s ribs. This was an assassin’s blade.
Tallu stood panting, his fists clenched at his sides. The assassin moved in close, the blade flashing in the darkness.
Let him kill the emperor, part of me said.Let Tallu die here and then…
The assailant I had nearly shoved in the river pulled himself out of the water. He was on me as soon as his knees hit dry land, landing hard and pressing his arm against my throat. I could feel the ridges of his armor, and my eyes widened. In the dark, he felt like nothing more than a stocky man, short and portly with age.
But the ridges… Were these men from Krustau? Was Krustau making a move?
We grappled with each other, my hands trying to grab on, but his water-slick armor gave me nothing to grip onto.
My vision went spotty, and I clawed desperately at the hand, but his weight was pushing me down, the weight of a mountain man whose bones were said to be made from solid rock. I managed to get a knee up underneath, shoving at him hard, and just barely rocked him to the side, but it was enough to slide out from underneath him.
Then, I slammed half of the spear across his face, hearing the crack of cartilage and bone, hearing him yelp. With my other hand, I took the blade of the spear and shoved it straight under his chin, feeling his soft palate give.
Warm blood coated my hands, and I found it difficult to keep hold of the two halves of the spear, and the Krustavian clawedat me, his sharp nails digging into my arm, raking across the expensive fabric of my clothing.
Desperate, I shoved the blade further, hearing him choke. In the dark, it reminded me of another time, another murder, and suddenly, I was back there, on a swaying ship in the middle of the night, blood on my hands, death given to those who deserved it.
The great northern bear showed no mercy. So I would show no mercy.
The man collapsed forward, and I managed to get out from under him. It was impossible to loosen the blade from his throat, so I grabbed hold of the hilt as best I could.
It was heavy, and now that I recognized its wielder, I knew it was metal from the Key Mountains. Heavy Krustavian ore would smash through a man’s skull before denting.
Once on my feet, I looked around, but there was only one man standing, panting inaudibly over the roar of the water. I tensed, gripping the spear hilt with both hands, readying myself for an attack.
“Assassins from Krustau,” Tallu said.
My shoulders slumped. Was it relief? Was I relieved he was alive? Why?
“Let’s go. Where is the other bridge?” I asked.
Tallu raised his hand, pointing. His finger trembled, and I wondered: was this the first time he had killed a man? Impossible. He was the son of the most violent emperor the Imperium had ever seen. My mother said that he had been nursed on the blood of his father’s defeated enemies.
There was no way that this was his first kill.
Tallu stumbled across the island, avoiding the entrance to the soothsayer’s secret cavern. I followed behind. When he stopped, reaching out with one foot, I thought,Push him off.
Instead, I followed him into the dark.
When my foot found the first stretch of bridge, I automatically reached out, blinking in surprise when I touched a rough rope that linked the island to the other side of the cavern.
Under my hand, the rope vibrated where Tallu clutched it. It was as though the two of us were tied together. I could feel every twitch of his hands, every jerk of his arms as he made his way across. Halfway across the bridge, the rope stilled, and I thought,He’s fallen off the bridge.
I jerked forward, reaching for him, and froze when my hand encountered him only a few feet in front of me, the soft fabric of his shirt wet under my touch.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“What if they’re on the other side?” Tallu asked.
“Then we both die,” I said. “But I just found out I’m getting married in two weeks, and dying is bad luck before the wedding.”
