Broken World Book Two - StarSword (20 page)

Kieran stared
at him, incredulous, then glanced at Talsy, who laughed. Kieran
chuckled and patted the captain's shoulder. "Don't worry, Roth, not
today. She'll have to annoy me a little more than this."

Roth realised
his mistake and looked sheepish, withdrawing.

Talsy stepped
into Kieran's path and folded her arms. "You'll stay and talk to
your mother when she wakes," she stated in a tone that brooked no
argument.

"Who gave you
the right to bully me?" he said, fingering his sword hilt.

"I did."

He turned at a
soft call.

"Kieran?" Queen
Kamish sat up, pale but composed, her eyes riveted to him. "It is
you. After all these years. You've returned."

She held out
her hands, but Kieran looked away, his expression unreadable.

Kamish pleaded,
"I cursed your father for giving you to Jossa. I never forgave him.
He carried his guilt to his grave. It wasn't my doing, I swear.
I've prayed for your return all these years."

Kieran cleared
his throat. "Madam, I don't know you, nor did I come here for your
sake. You have Tyrander for a son, and it seems you raised him to
be what you wanted. You have no need of another."

"Kieran,
wait!"

He sidestepped
Talsy and slipped out of the door.

Kamish slumped,
and a serving woman pressed a cup of wine into her hands.

Talsy looked at
Ardel, who nodded. "I'll see to her."

Leaving the
Queen's chamber, she hurried after Kieran and found him waiting
outside. The Queen's guards muttered in a corner. Talsy opened her
mouth to berate him, but he raised a finger.

"This is none
of your business. You left your father to follow Chanter. I have no
wish to have a mother I've never known."

Talsy glared at him. "Fine, have it your way,
Tyrander
." She spat the
name, and he winced. "Yes, well you might flinch from that name.
He's kept her locked up for who knows how many years, and now you
treat her like dirt. Well she might wish to have borne no sons at
all."

"Leave him."
Queen Kamish spoke behind Kieran, and he turned to frown at her.
She continued, "He has a right to be angry, even though it was his
father who gave him away. I will not foist myself upon him. I only
wish to leave this place."

Kieran spun
away with a curse, striding back into the corridor. Kamish stared
after him, then followed, her maids at her heels. Ardel offered her
the support of his arm, and she accepted it with a smile. Roth and
the soldiers hurried after Kieran, and Talsy trotted to overtake
them, falling into step with the Prince. He shot her a hard look
that was clearly intended to prevent any further arguments, and she
met it with a frown. Kieran retraced their steps through the gloomy
castle until Roth directed him to turn right where previously they
had come from the left.

They entered a
massive, tapestry-hung hall, its walls festooned with trophies and
coats of arms between lavish hangings and paintings. Grey walls
supported a vaulted ceiling ornamented with carved beams and gilded
gargoyles. High, tinted glass windows let in a flood of light to
illuminate the tall, black and gold-armoured man who stood in the
centre of the richly patterned jade floor. Beyond him, a platoon
blocked the way to a huge pair of brass bound doors, which were
closed and barred. More men lined the walls behind a row of marble
pillars, while others looked down from the galleries high above.
Talsy's first instinct was to run, especially when Tyrander drew
his sword and cried, "Seize them!"

Soldiers
charged in from either side of Kieran's group, most of whose
members were still in the corridor. They did not have time to draw
their swords before their foes clubbed them down or overpowered
them. Some snatched daggers from their belts and fought, but the
struggle lasted only a few minutes, so badly outnumbered were they.
Talsy hesitated, unsure of which way to run, but the battle behind
her was already joined and Kieran stood alone, his sword sheathed.
She hurried to stand beside him and face Tyrander.

The brief
battle ended as Kieran's followers were overpowered, disarmed and
bound in ignominious defeat. Kieran glared at Tyrander with flinty
eyes. Talsy understood the futility of fighting when they were so
badly outnumbered. The resistance they put up was a mere token.
Tyrander's men pushed aside the disarmed and battered soldiers,
including Roth, who growled with rage. Two soldiers hustled the
pale but composed Queen into the hall, and she glared at
Tyrander.

Tyrander leant
on his sword and laughed, clearly enjoying his moment of triumph.
"Now you'll see who's the better son, mother."

"Release him,
Tyrander, he's your brother."

"All the more
reason to kill him." He looked at Kieran, his eyes glinting with
cunning insincerity. "But I shall offer him his freedom, since he's
my brother, and now at my mercy. Leave the girl and you can all go
free."

Kieran shook
his head. "You know I can't do that, even if you were sincere,
which you aren't."

The Prince
laughed again, almost a cackle. "No, of course not. How well you
know me already. Too bad we won't be able to spend more time
together, as brothers should."

"Stand aside.
You have no chance against me," Kieran said. "Release us and you'll
live until the Black Riders come. Challenge me, and you'll die here
and now."

"Don't bet on
it."

The Prince
raised his hand, and an arrow hissed from a gallery and struck
Kieran's upper arm, just beneath his shoulder armour. Talsy grabbed
him as he staggered and tried to steady him, but he sank to one
knee, his jaw clenched as he clasped the wound, blood oozing
between his fingers. She knelt beside him and tried to staunch the
blood with shaking hands.

Tyrander cried
again, "Seize them!"

Soldiers
charged from all around, swords drawn. Kieran rose to his feet and
drew the Starsword with a slithering hiss. The ebon blade glinted
in the bright light as he lunged at the closest man. The sword
clove through his blade and armour, almost cutting him in half.
Talsy stayed close to Kieran, wished she had a weapon and flinched
from the spray of blood that splattered her cheek. Kieran spun, and
she ducked as the Starsword passed over her head, cutting through
men and weapons alike. The soldiers retreated, demoralised, and
more arrows hissed from the galleries above. One hit Kieran in the
shoulder, another impaled his thigh, making him stagger. She
gripped his armour and tried to support him. Kieran raised the
sword, pointing it at the galleries.

"Fire!" he
cried.

The Starsword
flashed, and an archer burst into flames with an agonised shriek,
then fell to smack into the jade tiles with a sickening crunch and
a splatter of blood. Kieran lowered the blade, pointing it at the
massive wooden doors at the end of the hall.

"Fire!"

The doors
exploded in an inferno of Mujar fire, consumed in moments as the
men before them fled howling, beating at their burning clothes.
Kieran spun, swaying, to face his brother, who stepped back, paling
as the Starsword swung towards him.

"Get him!"
Tyrander bellowed, raising his arms in a defensive, warding
gesture.

Arrows hissed
down, some striking Kieran's armour and bouncing off, others
impaling his arms and legs with ugly thuds. One struck his cheek,
glancing off the bone to protrude obscenely from the side of his
face. He fell to his knees and shoved Talsy away, sending her
sprawling.

"Go! Run!" he
shouted, his voice hoarse with pain.

Talsy
hesitated, unwilling to leave him at his brother's mercy, but his
situation was hopeless, and she could do nothing to help him.

"Run!" Kieran
roared, flailing at her to drive her away. Goaded by his cry and
the obvious desperation with which he struck at her, she rose and
sprinted for the open doorway and the freedom of the rolling green
hills beyond.

Tyrander
yelled, "Stop her!"

Several
soldiers dashed towards her, but Kieran raised the Starsword and
pointed it at them. "Fire!"

Two men burst
into flames and fell screaming, the others veered away. Tyrander
hopped with rage, now safe behind one of the pillars on the side of
the hall.

"Shoot her!" he
shouted, gesturing to the archers.

Two arrows
hissed down, one striking Talsy's calf and the other ricocheting
off the floor beside her. She fell with a yell, clutching the
wound. Kieran pointed the sword at the pillar behind which Tyrander
hid.

"Fire!"

The marble
pillar ignited with a boom, glowing red hot and licked by blue
flames. Tyrander leapt away with a yelp, darting behind another as
he rubbed his singed face and crisped hair. The burning pillar
turned to slag, slumped and flowed across the floor in a cooling
pool of lava. Kieran tried to lever himself upright, slipping in
his blood. He struggled to one knee, gasping with agony as the
shafts that impaled him twisted.

Tyrander
stepped from behind the pillar and walked towards him, his eyes on
the Starsword. Kieran tried to lift the sword, but it wavered in
his grasp. His arms shook as weakness stole over him. The sword tip
sagged to the floor, and Kieran leant on it, driving the blade into
the stone with a hiss, halfway to the hilt before he slumped.

Two soldiers
grabbed Talsy and dragged her to her feet, ignoring her cries and
struggles. Tyrander stood over his fallen twin, his face twisted
with triumph and his blade poised to strike.

"Tyrander, no!"
the Queen's cry rang in the heavy silence. "He's your brother, let
him live!"

The Prince
looked up. "You want him, mother?" he sneered. "You can have him. I
have no use for weaklings and fools." He kicked Kieran, who groaned
and opened his eyes to glare up at his gloating brother.

Tyrander
smiled. "It seems that instead of freeing the girl, you've brought
me a fine gift, and for that I'm most grateful to you. Your idiocy
in thinking that you could outwit me is amazing. Did you really
think that any room in my castle could keep me prisoner? I have the
Staff of Law, fool, and now I have a Mujar sword. With this weapon
I have more power than anyone in the world!"

Kieran glanced
at the Starsword, silver now as it stood embedded in stone. His
grimace of pain twisted into a bitter, faintly triumphant smile
that the arrow shaft impaled in his cheek pulled askew. Blood ran
from his mouth when he opened it. "Gloat all you want, the sword
will never be yours. None can wield it but me."

Tyrander turned
to a soldier near him, a frown wrinkling his brow. "Pull it
out."

The man
hesitated, clearly afraid, but stepped forward and gripped the
hilt. He pulled mightily, grunting with exertion, then released it
and retreated, glancing at his Prince. "It won't move,
Highness."

"I can see
that, dolt." Tyrander regarded the sword with narrowed eyes. "No
one but you, huh? Perhaps you're wrong in that assumption."

The Prince
approached the sword, gripped the hilt and pulled it from the stone
with a soft grating hiss and a shower of brilliant sparks. It swung
up, black and filled with stars once more. Tyrander grinned. "No
one but you, or your twin." He studied the inky blade and the spray
of stars deep within it. "You forget, we are two halves of the same
person, Brother. I am you, and you are me."

"Not by a long
shot," Kieran growled through gritted teeth. "Enjoy your triumph
while it lasts, that blade will be your doom."

"If you expect
me to believe that, you're a bigger fool than I thought. Take him
away," Tyrander snapped at his men. "Lock them in the dungeon and
clean up this mess."

The Prince
stalked out, and his soldiers dragged Kieran towards the doors.
They pushed and prodded the rest of the prisoners after him, and
Roth helped Talsy. The Queen retained a little dignity, protected
by a ring of Kieran's men. Their captors herded them down several
flights of stairs and along cold corridors to a row of barred cell
doors, where they pushed them into a dark, musty dungeon that two
guttering torches lighted. Dirty straw covered the floor and rats
fled their entry, scuttling along the walls. The men stamped on the
scurrying vermin and caught Kieran as the soldiers thrust him into
the cell, preventing him from falling and driving the arrows
deeper. The soldiers sniggered as they left, tossing a few fresh
torches onto the straw. The Queen's ladies made a soft bed of
shawls and petticoats, and Kieran was laid on them.

Kamish knelt
beside him, her eyes filled with anguish. Talsy groaned as Roth
lowered her to the straw, favouring her injured leg. A soldier
ripped one of the ladies' petticoats into strips for bandages. Roth
used a strip to bind her wound and went over to tend to Kieran, who
had lapsed into unconsciousness. The Queen wiped his brow with her
handkerchief, and Ardel comforted her as Roth and a soldier
unbuckled Kieran's armour and pulled it off. One man drew a dagger
from a hidden sheath, and Roth used it to cut away Kieran's tunic,
revealing the extent of his injuries. Roth glanced at Talsy.

"Does your
Mujar mark mean you can help him, my lady?"

Talsy shook her
head in numb despair. "No, I have no powers."

"Then we must
do what we can." He handed the dagger to a soldier. "Hold it in the
flames for a while."

The man rose
and went to sterilise the blade in a torch.

Kamish gripped
Roth's arm. "You must save him, Captain Roth!"

"I'll try, Your
Majesty." He hesitated. "I must cut out the arrows. Perhaps you
should not watch."

"He's my son,
and I'm no squeamish schoolgirl," she stated.

Roth bowed his
head. "I know, Majesty, I meant no disrespect."