The duelist 12, p.23
The Duelist 12, page 23
I would not be able to rely on the others.
At the same time, though, I knew there was no way Kavo wouldn’t cheat in some way. But if I refused, there would be nothing stopping him from going all-out, which could include targeting Vel-Rala. At least in an official Duel, he might be persuaded to at least pretend to fight fair for a bit.
“A Duel,” Kavo repeated with a savage smile. “Plain and simple. You versus me, a fight for the very fate of Aventoll. Winner takes all-- literally.”
“Sounds good,” I said simply, even though my heart rate had kicked up several notches. “Something for a song. Just as well my version of this world doesn’t involve killing everyone, like songwriters and storytellers.”
“You think you’re funny,” Kavo remarked. “I wonder if you will die laughing.”
“Only one way to find out,” I said as I tried to encourage him into striking first.
But Kavo wasn’t moving, not just yet.
“I will take that jewel, Alex Brightwood,” he told me instead, and his tone was matter-of-fact. “I will become this world’s Nightmare, its new god. But first, before I ascend to my godhood, I will, with my human name and human blood, avenge my brother with your life.”
I tightened my grip on my earth guardian blade, and the sword shone brighter in the dimness, as if spurred on by my determination.
“Bring it on.”
Chapter 15
Kavo and I had only fought briefly before, and it hadn’t been a real fight. This, however, was our final showdown, no holds barred, and Kavo made it clear right from the first moment that he was done playing his mind games.
He moved terrifyingly fast. One moment, he was several feet away, and the next he was only bare inches from my face. I didn’t even remember raising my sword, or registering he’d attacked, but somehow I managed to parry the blow and shove him away. He skidded back with such speed and force that his boots left tracks in the dirt floor of the tunnel, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Kavo moved again and dove in close on my right, and I turned just in time so his sword clashed against mine instead of cutting into my arm. He came at me again and again, from all angles, looking for a gap in my awareness, and it was all I could do to keep track of where he was, of where he was going to be.
I wasn’t even really seeing him. It was instinct, pure and simple-- the reflexes of an Asher, trained by a Varthan warrior. And it was all I could do to keep up with Kavo. I couldn’t even think about mounting my own attack, only on keeping his away.
This wasn’t feasible, because I knew sooner or later I would make a mistake. I needed to go on the offensive, to make Kavo be the one reacting to me and wait on him to make a mistake. If he had the upper hand, there was nothing stopping him from hanging back and just taking the Moonsblood, and that wasn’t an option.
Suddenly, he appeared out of nowhere yet again, and I was just a fraction of a second too slow to deflect him. I didn’t really feel the edge of Kavo’s blade as it sliced across my cheek. I was so high on adrenaline, so focused on watching his every move, that I didn’t even notice until I heard Vel-Rala cry out.
“Alex!” she yelled, but I didn’t look at her, because I knew if I took my focus off Kavo for even a split second, it would all be over.
This was more than a Duel for something petty, like a wife or a title. This was the fight that would seal Aventoll’s fate.
My time-trance ability hovered on the edge of my mind again, tauntingly, maddeningly out of reach. I felt like I was being stretched in two different directions as I tried to catch it while also keeping up with Kavo’s onslaught.
I’d pushed it too far last time. When my Crew had been on Eng, and I used it on Zoie. She’d saved me from dying at the bottom of an Engish canyon, smeared on the rocks like a bug on a windshield, but ever since then, I hadn’t been able to use it properly, like I’d pushed it too far, and it needed to recharge.
But I needed it now. There was no way I could beat Kavo without it.
Please, I begged Mercedes, the universe. Just this one moment. For this. For Aventoll. Please!
And then, suddenly, like it was just nudged into my hand by some unseen force, I felt my mind close around it, and the world slowed to a standstill.
I wasn’t sure if it was truly my time-trance ability, or just some weird combination of all the adrenaline pumping through my body right now, but just for a moment, I swore the world stopped, and it all clicked into place.
Why were the Travelers given these extra abilities? I’d lost track of the number of times I’d wondered that, and no one had been able to provide me a real answer.
But now I knew.
Krev and Kavo were twins. They shared the same face, and so Mercedes had blessed them with the ability to take whichever face they chose. But they’d abused that power, used it to bring untold misery upon this world. So when I’d come along, and Kavo Alda had the unnatural speed of someone who’d steeped themselves in dark magic and innocent lives, Mercedes had given me the means to keep up with him.
To keep up with him, and to defeat him.
Because it wasn’t about fighting, I realized. Sooner or later, Kavo was going to cheat. There was no way this Duel ended ‘fairly.’
So Mercedes had given me the one tool I needed to win.
The word snapped back to its real speed like someone had let go of a rubber band, and I swung the earth guardian sword in a wide arc just as Kavo advanced on me yet again. With my time-trance ability now fully under my control again, I clearly saw Kavo’s eyes widen, and he scrambled to retreat to avoid getting sliced in two.
I couldn’t help the savage smile that pulled at my mouth at the sight of Kavo’s shocked expression.
Payback time.
I advanced with all the speed and ferocity he’d used only moments ago. Blow after blow, swing after swing, Kavo scrambled to defend himself, and though he was keeping up, I could tell it was close. He had to focus now, and there was no way he could make a break for the Moonsblood. I managed to position myself between it and Kavo, and with my speed there was no chance of him getting past me.
And we both knew it.
“You swore to a fair fight!” he shouted at me as he blocked my thrust. “We said to do away with the games!”
“Does it look like I’m playing?” I snarled at him.
For the first time, I could let my anger spill forth. It was dangerously easy to let go, to rage at him, at this man who’d destroyed so many lives, who’d caused so much pain and suffering. I began to move faster, pushing Kavo to his limits, waiting for him to fail and falter.
“Alex!” Vel-Rala cried again, but I didn’t take my attention off Kavo.
Now was the crucial moment. He was going to slip up, I could just feel it--
“Enough!” Kavo roared, and he shoved me away with inhuman strength.
Through the dust our fight had kicked up, I could see the Moonsblood jewel pulsing darkly, bright red through the haze.
“I have fought for too long to lose to the likes of you!” Kavo spat. “If you insist on this disrespect--”
“What disrespect?” I demanded. “You were just losing! Face it like a man, coward!”
“Coward?” Kavo repeated, and his eyes narrowed to furious slits. “You dare to call me a coward?”
“What other name is there for a man who hides behind others’ faces?” Sinopa called out from where the others were standing. The Vulpian Councilman stood in front of Vel-Rala, with Jenner and Bodin either side of him, and all three raised their swords. “For a man who turns on his own blood?”
“That’s where you are both mistaken,” Kavo hissed. “I am no mere man. Not any longer. And in my world, the ants who think to challenge a god will be crushed under my boot!”
And Kavo moved. Once again, he moved so quickly it was only because of my time-trance ability that I could actually see his movement.
See it, but not stop it.
I realized a fraction of a second too late that he wasn’t going for me. Instead of lunging forward to attack me again, to continue our Duel, he went for Sinopa, and by the time I realized and was running to defend my friend, Kavo’s blade had sunk into the fox-man’s chest.
I watched, trapped by the bubble of slowed time, as Sinopa realized what was happening. I saw in excruciating detail as the pain came to his expression, the shock. He slowly looked down, but by the time he did, Kavo had already pulled his sword free of Sinopa’s chest and was back where he’d been standing before, wiping the blade clean.
“Sinopa!” I yelled, and I outstretched one hand as the Vulpian man fell to his knees. A horrible gurgling noise emerged from his throat, followed by blood gushing from his mouth.
Jenner dropped Decisiveness to catch Sinopa before he collapsed entirely, but Bodin kept his sword raised in shaking hands, the sole remaining defender.
Aside from me.
“Bastard!” I rounded on Kavo. “We were Dueling! It was just supposed to be us!”
“You insisted on using your talents, then I will use mine,” Kavo sneered. “Now, how many more of your comrades do I have to impale before you understand to step aside and let me claim my destiny?”
“Alex, don’t do it!” Jenner shouted. “None of our lives are worth it! Don’t do as he says.”
“They will die screaming,” Kavo swore to me. “They feel their eyes plucked from their skulls, their skin flayed from their bones. I will make them beg for something as sweet as pain.”
“Don’t do it!” Vel-Rala pleaded. Her dress had turned almost black with the blood from Sinopa’s wound, and the fox-man looked barely conscious.
“Give me the Moonsblood!” Kavo demanded. “I will spare their lives and take yours swiftly. Hand me my destiny, Alex Brightwood, and save their lives. Or doom them to suffering beyond their imagination. I will make what happened to Esta of the Lakuna look like child’s play. I will have them envying such a demise!”
I believed him. Kavo Alda was many things, but merciful had never been one of them. I believed he would do those things if given the chance, and I believed he would take the same savage joy in it as a child destroying another child’s favorite toy.
Because that was all Aventoll was to him. A box of toys. And if he couldn’t have them, he’d break them. Every last one.
The thing was… I knew he’d break them either way.
“You’ve lied before,” I said. “Your word is worth nothing. So why in Mercedes’ name would I take you up on an offer now?”
“Because at least this way, there’s some slight chance that you will spare them suffering,” Kavo spat. “If you refuse, you seal their fates, as surely as if you were killing them yourself.”
“I’ll take whatever he has to throw at me, Alex,” Vel-Rala said, and her voice quavered, but her eyes burned with a fierce determination. “We all will. For Aventoll.”
“One more word, and I’ll rip out your tongue!” Kavo snarled at her over his shoulder.
We were positioned at a stalemate, him and I. I was between him and the Moonsblood. He was between me and the others. Neither of us could retrieve what we wanted without leaving the other prize exposed. Neither of us could attack without losing our leverage.
“Speak to her like that again, and I’ll rip out your tongue,” Bodin retorted, and he glared at Kavo stubbornly.
I knew it must have been killing the raccoon-man inside. I could see how desperately he wanted to get Vel-Rala to safety, but there was no way he could leave without encouraging Kavo to follow.
“Will you now?” Kavo scoffed and leered over at Vel-Rala, and I saw my opening.
“Run!” I yelled to the others, and I attacked Kavo.
He turned back to face me at the last moment, and we collided together in a clash of metal. We moved swiftly, ruthlessly, as our swords collided and split apart, the air ringing with the sound of our Duel. My time-trance ability pulled taut, and I knew it wasn’t going to be possible for me to pull any of my rewinding trickery. Something about the magic of this place was clouding me, something about the jewel and its dark temptations.
No matter. I just needed to give them an out.
It was all I could do to keep Kavo occupied, but I did. He and I crashed into walls as we avoided each other’s blows, grazed ourselves on the tunnel walls, kicked up ever-larger clouds of dust. Each advance ripped another wordless shout from our lungs, and we grunted as we fought merely to keep up with the other.
“Get out!” I shouted, as if my friends needed more encouragement, and in the tiny glimpses I caught of the others, I saw Bodin and Jenner pick up an unconscious Sinopa and hurry him out of the cavern behind Vel-Rala.
“It won’t work!” Kavo spat at me as we fought. “When I win, I’ll find them! I’ll do all I promised and worse! They will die hating you, Alex Brightwood! This entire world will loathe you for refusing to give me what I’m owed!”
“You’re owed nothing!” I snarled. “Aventoll isn’t something you can take. The Peoples aren’t just subjects for you to rule, toys to break.”
They were clear. Bodin and the others had gone. And just as well, because the tenuous control I had over my time-trance ability was wearing dangerously thin. I knew everything would snap back to its normal pace soon, and I would barely be able to keep up with Kavo. I wouldn’t be able to mount a real attack. Even now, I couldn’t guarantee that if I attacked Kavo, I would win. I could launch an attack and have my abilities wear off anyway, and then where would I be? Left to defend with no strength and no speed.
I couldn’t risk it.
Which meant I had only one option.
“This is a real world!” I yelled to Kavo. “And it’s telling you to fuck off!”
With a final shove, I pushed him back, and then I turned on my heel and sprinted as fast as I could. But not toward the entrance to the tunnels.
To the jewel.
As I ran, I could feel my time-trance ability unraveling, like threadbare fabric worn away to nothing. It was like my legs were slowly turning to mud as time caught up with me again, and my superhuman speed became just normal and human.
I heard Kavo’s furious cry over my shoulder. The air at the back of my neck whistled as he grabbed for me and missed by only millimeters. I dove and threw myself forward with all the strength left in me, and I crashed to the floor of the tunnel, with one palm slammed over the pulsating Moonsblood jewel.
“Noooo!” Kavo screamed in rage.
I curled my fingers around the jewel and couldn’t help the gasp that pushed itself from my lips. At the same time, the jewel and my earth guardian sword both turned white-hot, searing my skin, and I watched as the weapon disintegrated in my hand until it turned into ash. It cooled, but the jewel didn’t, and I had to force myself not to let go.
I rolled onto my back just in time to see Kavo towering over me, furious beyond words. His gaze was focused on the jewel, and his eyes were burning with hatred.
He raised his sword high, and I had no plan on what to do. I was without a weapon, without backup, and I couldn’t try to burn Kavo with the jewel, because I knew if he touched it, he would never let go.
“This world will be mine!” Kavo snarled at me, and he brought his sword down.
I rolled out of the way and just barely avoided being decapitated. Desperately, I scrambled to my feet. I wasn’t going to give him the jewel. If he wanted it, he would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
“Go to hell!” I spat, and I groaned as the jewel grew even hotter, so much so that I could feel my skin blistering. I screwed my eyes shut and clutched at my wrist with my free hand as I fought against every instinct in my body to drop the damn thing.
Then Kavo began to scream.
My eyes flew open, and I saw Kavo standing in front of me with his sword in the dirt by his feet. He was screeching in pain, and after a moment, I noticed the tips of his fingers and his feet were turning gray, as if they were made of stone.
The non-gray parts of him flailed wildly as he tried to move, but he was gray to the knees now and rooted in place. It spread like a contagion over his skin, his clothes. Even as it crawled up his neck, he twisted his head from side to side as if he could somehow wrench himself free.
“This will not stand!” he roared at me. “You will die for this, Alex Brightwood! I will be this world’s new god! I am the Nightmare, I am the Darkness! I am--”
And then he was silent.
The grayness covered him completely. He was silent and unmoving, a statue with his final expression of vitriol frozen upon his face.
I was morbidly fascinated, so I leaned forward and outstretched one finger to touch his forehead.
When I did, Kavo Alda, the supposed Nightmare of Aventoll, crumbled into a pile of ash.
“Just like a demon dies,” I muttered.
The jewel was no longer burning my palm, but my hand still stung when I uncurled my fingers from the glassy red surface. The gem was, I now noticed, carved in roughly the shape of a human heart and was almost as big, and I wondered for a moment if this was the Moon’s heart.
Mercedes’ heart had been full of love and light when she’d used it to create the Sun. It kind of made sense that when the Moon’s heart had been full of jealousy, it sprang forth demons.
“You could take it, if you wanted, Alex Brightwood,” a voice said, and I whipped around, expecting to see Jenner, or Kavo Alda somehow revived, or maybe even Alicia-Mercedes, but instead it was a figure made of light.
The figure was roughly humanoid, but seeing as the only detail I could see were two burning eyes of bright white light, I couldn’t say for sure. At the very least, they didn’t have antlers or a tail.
And I had a suspicion I knew who they were.
“This is you, isn’t it?” I said, and I held up the jewel. “A fragment of the Moon.”
“I am god’s blood and god’s power,” the figure made of light said. Its voice reverberated off the tunnel walls, somehow metallic and musical all at once. “I am rage and jealousy made manifest. I am the power to remake a world in my image. In your image, if you wish it.”
