The Warden

Chapter 31

Shocked, Masis hesitated only a moment. By Kyla's side in seconds, Masis grimaced at her rattling, choked breathing. Feeling along her side where he had seen and heard the sickening blow land, he found that one of her ribs was grotesquely out of place, falling away leaving nothing but unsupported flesh. As he continued to feel about her side, Kyla gasped out, her eyes fluttering but never coming open entirely. Several other ribs must have been cracked.

We can't stay here, Masis thought, but the words came to his mind in Lady Kyla's voice, her training near impossible to ignore—every rap and smack when he failed made the lessons sharp in his mind.

If one gets away, Kyla's words repeated in his head, you have two options: chase the bugger down and kill him or her like you should have in the first place, or run like Manu herself is chasing you because, and mark me here, you never let your enemy choose the field of battle or meet them on the same field twice. Do you understand me? Never. You choose the battlefield. Always. And for Manu's sake choose wisely.

When she had finished explaining that theory of warfare, he had made an offhanded remark that had earned him a stinging cuff to the back of his head, followed by one of Kyla's impromptu runs that went on for leagues. His mouth soon learned to be silent. Nigh unto mute. Almost.

Masis' fingers, fluttering, hesitated as he moved them away from Kyla's rasping form.

Check the rhythms! Kyla's voice screamed in his mind. Always check the rhythms. If the person's rhythms are fast but distinguishable, they're most likely just in shock. If the vein feels like a cord and flutters like the wings of a bird, then you have a problem. Pray that you can affect Works again by then, otherwise you are most likely going to watch someone die.

Moving two fingers to her neck, Masis pressed them to the spot where Kyla had taught him, stilling his body so he would not mistake her rhythms for his motion. The vein rolled about beneath his fingers like an oiled piece of string, trembling like the heart of a mouse held in the hand.

His breath caught. Shade!

Masis' mindeye flashed inward, loathing of the sight of the mesmer still parasitically encasing his lifelight, a mixture of vomitous greens and pallid yellows. Surging, his lifelight collided with the mesmer, knocking it back until it stretched to imperceptible thinness. It never broke. The mesmer's tension threw his lifelight back into a submissive, inert position. Clenching his teeth, Masis threw his lifelight at it again, his whole body rigid and constricted with the effort. This time the mesmer seemed to vanish, disappearing into the rippling folds of the hungry energy. Relaxing his efforts, Masis' lifelight instantly contracted back on itself, the mesmer's clinging elasticity forcing it back down.

Masis knelt panting.

Bitter iron, the only remnants from the he-wight's body overpowered the flower's homey aroma. Snatching his eyes open, Masis ripped Kyla's shirt up to give him a view of her injury. The flowers' and the moons' light revealed a deep purple mottle. About the size of a person's palm, it faded toward the edges, but patchy lavender splotches branched out away from the solid well, much as Masis' Shadow mark ran out from the deep, black pool of his eye. Kyla's breathing had become disturbingly shallow. Beneath her eyelids, her eyes fidgeted about. Body atremble, Masis nearly jumped to his feet as Kyla's hand latched onto his wrist. Her eyes sprang open as she sucked in a breath.

"Go..." Kyla snapped her head to the side and coughed. Blood stained a flower when she rolled back. Her next words came in a ragged whisper. "Leave me."

"I can't," said Masis, shaking his head. "You've been driving me mad for months and I'll be Manu cursed if you don't see this all the way to the end."

"You have to." She gagged. "Remember where light is... darkness can only endure... by permission." She hacked. Blood stained her lips. "Take the vial. Purge your mesmer... then mix the venom with your blood." Her eyes sagged shut. Her voice faltered. "Where light is... darkness endures... only by perm..."