Among the Dead and Dying

  * * *

  “Ebon!” Dessidus screamed out the traitor’s name as he charged up the hill. Ebon was protecting the girl, and Dessidus paused at the sight of her. She was hiding behind the dead tree, peering around the side at him. She had auburn hair that the moonlight turned silver, and comely, sharp features. Her eyes were wide with fear, and the blaze of the fires below sparkled in them as she watched.

  Dessidus slowed his horse to a stop several yards from Ebon. Had it been anyone else, he would’ve used the steed to his advantage and chopped down at the opponent, but this was his friend and he needed to understand why he’d turned against The Scholar.

  “Let us go, Dessidus,” said Ebon. “I don’t want to fight you.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “We can’t give her to The Scholar,” said Ebon, throwing knives in hand.

  “Why not?” asked Dessidus after dismounting. “That’s the whole reason we started this damn war.”

  “No it’s not,” said Ebon. “And that’s the problem. The Scholar proved himself to be just as bad as the aristocrats running The Five Walls. If he can’t get this girl to do what he wants, then he’ll kill her. You know that as well as I do.”

  “Then we’ll get her to do what he wants,” said Dessidus.

  “Why? So that he can be the new king? So that he can rule?”

  “Better him than the church or the rich. You know what they did. Is that the world you want to protect, one that would burn us both if they knew what we were?”

  “I’m not going to destroy a ruthless kingdom to replace it with an equally ruthless king,” said Ebon. “I won’t take part in that.”

  “So it’s true then,” said Dessidus. “You are a traitor. I had to see it with my own eyes to believe it. After all those years together, fighting side by side, murdering anyone who stood against us; after all those nights by the campfire telling stories about the ways The Five Walls murdered our friends and family; after all that, you still turned against us.”

  “I did what I had to,” said Ebon. “If this girl is capable of what The Scholar says, then we can’t risk her life by giving her to him.”

  “You’d rather The Five Walls keep her?” asked Dessidus.

  “No,” said Ebon, clearly still hoping to convince his friend to see his point of view. “I want to take her away from here. I’ll take her to Sailor’s Rock and then off to one of the isles, out where she can avoid the war. If we take her back to The Scholar then she’ll be at risk – not just from him, but from the Drakes they’ll be sending out to hunt him. She’s better off with me. You know that’s true.”

  “I’ll give you one last chance to reconsider,” said Dessidus. “Come back with me. We’ll tell The Scholar that you were trying to protect her, and you can beg his forgiveness. It’s either that, or I kill you here and take her myself. You know I can beat you, Ebon.”

  “Not this time.” Ebon threw the blades, each of them hitting Dessidus, one in the arm and the other slicing his cheek. Neither wound vexed the stronger man, and Dessidus breached the gap between them, whirling his dual axes as Ebon struggled to avoid the attacks. Both of the men were half-dead, meaning neither were concerned by minor strikes. Ebon had pulled forth his hooked short sword, and was hacking at Dessidus’s arms as he spun and parried his former friend’s more brutish chops.

  They twirled and struck out at one another with quick and vicious accuracy. Each of them scored hits, but Ebon suffered the worst of them. He was an agile fighter, but couldn’t contend with Dessidus’s overwhelming strength. Before long, it became apparent to all of them that Ebon would lose.

  “Run, Saffi,” commanded Ebon.

  Dessidus saw the girl hesitate behind the tree.

  “Run!” Ebon knew he would fall, and wanted her to have a head start.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” said Dessidus after delivering a deep wound to the side of Ebon’s right leg.

  “Then don’t,” said Ebon before stabbing up at Dessidus and catching him on the chin, ripping away a chunk of flesh.

  Dessidus staggered back, and then laughed as he wiped his chin with his arm. “Nice one.”

  “Thank you,” said Ebon. “Want another?”

  “You’d be willing to kill me to save her?” asked Dessidus as he looked out at the fleeing girl.

  “I would.”

  “You’re the closest thing I have to a brother,” said Dessidus.

  “Then let me take her,” said Ebon as he stayed in his fighting stance, ready for any trickery. “I’ll go to the isles, and you can tell The Scholar you never found me. He doesn’t have to know. It’ll be better that way. Give the girl a chance to learn what she can do on her own. She could save us all.”

  Dessidus kept quiet for a moment as he considered the offer. “You’re certain you can keep her safe?”

  “Yes,” said Ebon.

  Blood was dripping from Dessidus’s chin as he considered the offer. He looked out at the fleeing child and then nodded and said, “So be it, old friend. I’ll sleep better without your murder on my conscious.” He didn’t bother shaking his friend’s hand, certain Ebon wouldn’t risk accepting the gesture anyhow. Dessidus returned to his horse to mount it. When up on the saddle he put his axes back in their loops on his side before plucking the throwing dagger out of his arm and tossing it down to his friend. “Go to the isles, hide there, and pray we never have to fight a second time.”

  “Thank you, Dessidus,” said Ebon.

  “I could’ve beaten you,” said Dessidus. “I was always the better fighter.”

  “I know.”

  “But I always thought you were the cunning one,” said Dessidus, a mocking grin starting to crease his scarred face. “Yet here we are, with me on a horse and you on foot as the game runs off.” He dug his heels into his steed, spurring it forward to chase down Saffi.

  Ebon realized his folly, and screamed out at Dessidus before running after the girl as well. The assassin removed one of the throwing knives from his chest and tossed it at the horse instead of Dessidus in an attempt to slow the animal. The steed reared up and neighed in pain, but Dessidus was able to calm him and then get the animal back on course.

  The girl had moved far through the plains, but the horse easily caught up. Dessidus leapt off the animal and tackled the young girl. She struggled, but he only needed to get her to The Scholar alive – it didn’t matter what condition she was in. He grabbed her by the throat and then punched her hard enough to knock her out.

  Ebon was running as fast as he could, screaming Dessidus’s name as he came, but there was still time to throw the girl over the front of the saddle and then mount the horse. “You lose, Ebon,” said the Black Rider as he escaped.

  “Dessidus, no!” Ebon screamed out helplessly as The Scholar’s man rode off with the girl.