The Knife's Edge (47 page)

“Kage,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

The nightmare lunged, grabbing her throat. She gasped, and gripped its sinewy hand as it pulled her higher until she dangled a foot from the ground and she choked, trying to draw a sip of air. Boney fingers constricted and her eyes welled with tears. The false Maris twisted its head, soulless blue eyes stared into hers. The creature’s lips peeled and rows of sharp fangs flashed. “Where is the boy?”

Gate’s Edge

G
RAY WAS LOST IN A SEA
of white.

Abruptly, the shroud fell. His vision returned as his feet touched solid ground. Volleys of air and screams rained in from all sides. He looked down. Several leagues below them, the dark army writhed like an ocean of black. Beneath his feet, he saw he stood upon a small ledge of stone protruding from the Gate’s face.

As the whirlwind fell, Darius flung himself to the wall. “Dicing, dice, dice!” the rogue cursed eyes fixed to the endless fall.

Gray knelt beside his friend. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Darius’ hair danced wildly and he laughed nervously, “I’m not one for heights,” he said, “I’ll be fine.” Gray gripped his shoulder as he looked behind the rogue and saw a tall black door.

“Embrace the nexus and let go, Gray,” Kail shouted, his voice carried over the wind like a blade slicing through water. Gray turned and saw the Ronin. The legend stood at the very lip of the stone shelf, unaffected by the raging wind.

Darius shook his head, “Don’t trust him,” he whispered and gripped the wall even tighter. Gray gave him a reassuring look and let Darius go. He took a deep breath and pictured the nexus, letting the wind fill him. The raging zephyrs buffeted him, and now he felt them, down to their infinitesimal particles. With his eyes closed, the Ronin’s frame glowed golden, as if the wind around the legend was alive. Gray tried to match the threads and abruptly the wind shifted, sifting through his frame as if he were insubstantial.

He opened his eyes and teetered. His feet now scraped the edge. Gray’s heart hammered, the heady sensation rushing through him—he was one with the wind. Still, the feeling was diluted by the terrifying shrieks of dragons.

“What in the seven hells of Remwar are we doing out here?” Darius shouted. “Why did you take us here, Ronin?”

Kail was silent, his gray cloak with its dual swords whipped in the wind.

Gray spoke, his voice also matching the wind’s currents, “You know how to stop the Kage, don’t you? You may not care who lives or dies, but I still do.”

Kail turned his back and suddenly his shoulders began to shake. Gray realized he was laughing. The Ronin’s cackles rose over the lashing wind. He’s truly mad… The stories were true.

“Why are you laughing?” Darius raged from upon the ledge. “People are dying!”

Kail disappeared and reappeared in a flash of white, gripping the rogue’s tunic. “You don’t get it! It’s always a matter of life or death! And it doesn’t matter what you do, it always ends up the same.” His hard eyes glazed. “I can try to save them, but each time they die again.” Darius swallowed, and Kail’s grip loosened as he turned away.

Gray’s ire rose and he grabbed the Ronin. “It’s too late for those you loved, but there’s still good in you. I see it! Please, help me save them.” He saw a gamut of emotions flash in Kail’s features.

In a soft whisper, the man spoke, “I remember a time of green… When all was lush and full of life… Times before the land was stained… Before it was red and littered with bodies… Before the world was torn asunder.”

He realized Kail was singing, and he shouted over the wind, shaking him. “Tell me!”

“It’s no use, Gray! He’s gone!” Darius said. “We should leave!”

But he ignored the rogue as he searched for sanity in the man’s eyes. At last a faint light shone out from the dark abyss and the man spoke, “There is only one way to stop the Kage.”

“How?” he pleaded.

“You must embrace the sword and conquer the blade’s soul with the light.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Darius said, “Gray, this is a waste of time.”

“Be silent!” Kail hissed, “Every word you say puts your friends lives closer to the grave.” Darius shut his mouth. The Ronin signaled to the black door behind them. “That door will take you to the halls. From there, find your way to the chambers. There you must use the sword, but listen closely for you must only change the sword in dawn’s light—if not, it may cast a fate worse than death for us all.”

“The dawn’s light?” he questioned.

“I cannot answer that. You must figure that out for yourself.”

Though not fully understanding, he nodded and turned to Darius. The rogue still gripped the wall. He tried to rise, but the buffeting wind took his cloak. “I’ll come with you,” Darius called.

“No,” he shouted, “We can’t forget about Ayva. She needs you.”

Kail strode forward, “The rogue and I will save the girl. You must get to the chambers and save the others. Besides, the Kage are after the sword, they are expecting you. It would be safer for him and I to go alone.” Darius’ brows bunched in uncertainty.

“Can I trust you?” Gray asked.

“I swear upon the soul of Morrowil we will save your friend,” the traitor replied. Gray knew that oath was more binding than his life or any other. “Go now, Gray, or see your world fall to ruin.” Just as mine was, he knew, reading the man’s sorrowful eyes.

Darius stood unsteadily. “Are you sure about this?”

He gripped his friend’s forearm. “Save Ayva.”

Darius shook him off and smiled. “Do me a favor. Don’t play the fool hero and get yourself killed, all right?”

“I’ll try,” he said, and turned to Kail.

The Ronin smirked, “May the winds be with you, Gray. Go now.”

With that, he touched the nexus and moved towards the door. He let the wind seep inside the door’s frame. There was a handle on the other side. He pulled the threads of wind down and the heavy knob twisted. The door swung open and Gray stepped inside, silencing the howling wind and awful cries.

* * *

The door slammed behind Gray. He now stood in an empty stone hall. To his left and right, narrow archer’s slits ran along the long corridor. The slits looked out over the armies below. Even in here, he could hear the muted cries of the dark army.

Kail’s words swirled in his mind.

Get to the chambers. To stop the Kage, you must embrace the sword, conquering the blade’s soul with the light of dawn. Gray unsheathed his blade and gripped it tightly. He didn’t know what embracing the sword meant; but he needed to get to the center of the chambers—that much was certain. Ahead, the corridor continued without end. He looked behind. He saw the same endless hallway lit by moonlight. One is as good as another, he thought and began to trot, running through the hall ahead with sword in hand.

As he flew down the hall, he came upon a fork. Ahead was a maze of stone corridors. Rows of burning torches mounted in iron brackets stretched into the distance. His mind raced, eyeing the fork. The chambers must be deeper, but the hallways were a maze. What if I lose my way? The gates seem endless, taking a random path is a fool’s odds. Still, he had no choice. In the end, he had to try.

Shrugging aside his doubts, he took to the fork, heading straight. As he ran, images of the imagined chaos beneath him flashed through his mind. He blocked the images and ran even quicker, legs burning as each second passed like an hour. The air stirred and he froze. There was someone coming. He clenched Morrowil tighter as he watched the long hallway. His heart beat against his ribcage, when suddenly a figure appeared.

The light of the torches lit her flawless face. “Vera,” he said in surprise.

She saw him and before he could say another word she crossed the distance and buried her face in his cloak. Her slender frame pressed against his body. “Thank the gods I found you, Kirin,” she said clutching him tightly.

Gray pushed away. “Vera, what in the seven hells of Remwar are you doing here, and how?”

“There’s no time to explain, you have to follow me, quick!”

She pulled him back towards where he had come, but Gray pulled away. “I can’t. I have to save the others,” he replied, concealing the fact that he was lost. He looked to the path ahead. “Vera, those paths, they lead to the chambers don’t they?”

“The chambers? Have you lost your mind? You must not go to the chambers.”

“There is no other way, Kail said—”

“You spoke with the Traitor?”

“I don’t have time for this,” he said, “I’ll find the chambers myself.”

Vera grabbed his wrist tight enough to hurt. Her violet-flecked eyes fixed his with a burning stare, “Listen to me, Kirin! You will not get there in time. The Gate was constructed by the elves. It is a labyrinth of stone made with the sole intention of confusing enemy attackers, and granting time to those who defend…” He pulled away, but Vera grabbed him again and her voice gained force. “And that is the least of your worries, as hundreds of creatures roam the corridors ahead in search of you, and the blade you carry, the Kage among them. Even if you pass them, the chambers are overrun!”

“I have to help them, let go!” he said and ripped free of her grip.

Vera threw him against the stone wall with impossible strength, holding him by the collar. “Listen you blind fool! You will die!” Her fists glowed with a red light. “There is another way to stop the Kage! There is a hidden place, just like the chambers, and I know what you must do. You can still save your friends, Kirin, but we must go now.”

Gray was torn. He wanted to listen to Kail, trusting the man more than Vera, but her words made sense. “Where is this place?”

“Follow me, I’ll show you,” she said.

“I have a better way,” he announced, “Describe it and I will get us there.” He remembered what Kail had done, transporting them to the Gate’s ledge, and he thought he could mimic the threads.

Vera did as he said and described the stone landing. Then, closing his eyes, he painted the scene in his mind’s eye, picturing the seamless stone and round platform. He carved the threads from the air as Kail had done. He looked down and saw thin swirls of air dancing, just like when he had fallen from the cliff.

“Hold tight,” he commanded.

Vera encircled his waist and pressed her body close.

The wind gained speed. The torches sputtered at their side, and the stone walls began to blur. White filled Gray’s vision and still he held onto the threads of wind, focusing, weaving them together in his mind in a vast web of wind and light. The nexus spun, faster and faster until the halls and the world itself blurred, then disappeared in a white, soundless rush and the two fell.

Power of Truth

A
IR SWIRLED AND LASHED AT
G
RAY
until his feet touched solid ground and he opened his eyes at last. White wisps dissipated as the teardrop shroud of wind fell. The view took his breath away. He and Vera stood on a flat stone landing overlooking Daerval. Far below was the black plague of the dark army, and the swarm of dragons, and beyond he saw the forest and the cliff they had fallen from, and even farther still were the rolling green hills. The world seemed to stretch forever. He couldn’t believe it. They were on top of the gates. The pendant burned against his chest. He wondered if it was alive with the same exhilaration.

Words filled him, a forgotten memory. “The power of the arbiter flows in your veins—it is not the power of strength but of truth.” Gray looked ahead.

Rising from the center of the stone was a large altar. Runes were emblazoned upon the stone’s surface. Each one swirled and glowed azure as if beckoning him. At its center was a keyhole that blazed like a golden sun.

Vera fell to her knees before the altar. “It’s really here,” she said, her fingers crawling over the glowing runes. In the light, her flawless face flushed blue, almost translucent.

Gray unsheathed Morrowil. He held it in both hands, feeling its weight. It shone a more brilliant silver than he had ever seen, and the closer he got to the altar, the brighter it burned.

“This is it,” Vera said, rising. “Finally, after two thousand years, it is you Kirin that will stop the Kage’s reign of terror, just as the prophecy demands. Once you thrust the blade into the stone, the gate will shut and the Kage will die by the sword’s powers.”

He saw the light in Vera’s eyes was no longer the same—where it once was alluring and full of promise, now it was lustful and dark. He peered at the altar beneath his feet. It didn’t matter. He was here, finally.

“What are you waiting for? Use the blade and end it now!” She ordered.

He looked up slowly. “Why did you tell me Kail is evil?”

Emotions flashed across the woman’s face, as always, too quick and hard to decipher. “What do you mean? Kail is evil, Kirin. Do you not listen? He’s only after the sword.”

“He’s not,” he countered before she could continue her lies. “Everything you told me about him was a lie. Kail is not evil, and neither are the Ronin.” The loud screeches of beasts filled the air. “How much of what you told me is a lie, Vera?” Vera’s expression was emotionless. With the wind tousling his cloak, he lifted the blade and then pressed its tip to the hollow of her slender throat. “Tell me the prophecy again word for word, and this time, leave nothing out.”