I felt hopelessly out of place. A pawn being pushed about by players in a game I didn't even understand. The exhaustion wasn't helping. It's fairly difficult to compose a solid thought when it's taking every bit of willpower you possess just to keep from passing out. And I couldn't keep my attention from wandering, my eyes from slipping to look at the body. I could see her. Silva. She didn't look dead from a distance, just peaceful, as though she were sleeping. But no. She was dead, and I had killed her. Right then I didn't care about the Iron Legion or what he had done. I wanted to break free of his hold, to run to my lover's side, and weep over her body. I wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to love her one last time. I wanted her to wake up and tell me everything would be alright. Even though I knew it would be a lie.
"I am trying to correct your mistakes, Djinn. My research will fix the world."
"And I suppose you gain nothing from it?"
The Iron Legion stood, facing up to Aerolis. "Well of course I do. You know what I want, Djinn. You tricked that out of me last time we met."
I felt Ssserakis stir inside me. The horror was as exhausted as I, but there was fear all around us. Within us. I could feel its strength returning bit by bit. And I noticed my shadow extending along the ground, thin tendrils snaking their way towards where the Iron Legion had his back turned.
I will kill him for both of us.
I shook my head and whispered. "He doesn't know. You're the one thing he doesn't know about. My only advantage." I couldn't say the rest. I couldn't admit that after everything I had already lost, I couldn't take losing Ssserakis as well. What if we failed? What if the Iron Legion knew some way to rip the horror from inside of me? I could not, would not risk it. I could not face being alone.
The Iron Legion and Aerolis were still arguing and I was forgotten for the moment, though I could still feel the magical pressure pushing down on me, locking in place. Even if I weren't held tight, I doubt I would have made it close enough to the Iron Legion to strike. Even Ishtar, as stealthy as she was, couldn't move without the man glancing her way.
All the more reason to use me. I can end this madness.
Tamura was watching my shadow move, following the snaking path. He looked up at me and shook his head, sadness in his eyes. I'm still not sure what that meant. Was he agreeing with me, warning us not to strike? Or was he just now realising what I harboured inside of me? I had never spoken to him of my possession. I had never spoken to anyone about it, not even Silva.
"What if you fail?" I whispered.
"I won't fail," the Iron Legion said. As he turned back towards me, Ssserakis drew back, my shadow pooling beneath me once more. "I've planned this for longer than you have been alive."
That was our chance!
"There'll be other chances," I said.
The Iron Legion narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. "Who are you talking to?"
Tamura came to our rescue. And he paid a high price. We all did.
Chapter 2
They say it's always the one you don't see coming that gets you. That's not always true. Sometimes the one you don't see coming, just pisses you off.
"My chance is now!" Tamura shouted. He launched himself upwards and caught the Iron Legion square in the face with a punch that I have seen fell much larger men. Loran staggered back a step. A single step. That's all we could manage, even with the element of surprise on our side and Tamura giving it his all. He tried to follow it up. The old Aspect stepped into the punch and made to grab at the Iron Legion. Tamura always excelled at the close quarters fighting. But the Iron Legion's defences were up by then and Tamura just rebounded from an invisible barrier.
The Iron Legion turned pitiless eyes on Tamura, a dark stare that promised pain. "That was a mistake, old friend." He reached out with a single hand and closed it into a fist. Tamura was crushed between forces no one could see. It was the only time I ever saw my friend scream. The only time I ever saw him in any real physical pain. The pressure pushed in on him from both sides and Tamura was lifted from the ground. I saw his arm snap. All for me. All to protect me.
Guilt is an odd thing. It is almost always overshadowed by other emotions. When I saw Tamura in so much pain, knowing that it was all because of me, I felt an anger so red hot the world receded around me. A tunnel vision with Tamura's agony at the centre of it. But anger fades. Long after the red-hot rage dissipated, the guilt of it remains. Refuses to leave me. He may have volunteered himself as sacrifice, to distract the Iron Legion, but it was my fault. I did that to him.
Even crushing Tamura, the Iron Legion kept his hold on me as well. I struggled against the magic keeping me captive, but all I did was exhaust what little energy I had mustered. Fresh tears tracked down the weary lines of my face and I screamed. No words. I had no words. Only pain.
Ishtar was the first to act and the closest to us. She launched into a sprint, sword already moving for a strike, and then stopped, pitching forwards with a crack as her ankle snapped. The earth had risen around her left foot, encasing it in stone and her own momentum broke the bone. Her head struck the ground of the arena and she didn't rise.
Horralain screamed and I felt his fear. Horralain's fear. I didn't think the man could feel it. I glanced up to see the big man had closed some of the distance between us, but was on his knees, screaming at something none of us could see. I'm sure I've mentioned before just how much I detest Empamancy. There is a good reason for it. The Iron Legion felled Horralain, one of the most brutal thugs I have ever known, with nothing but a glance, instilling within him some primal fear I don't think Horralain ever managed to remove. The legacy the Iron Legion left on all of us runs deep.
Hardt was slow to move, his grief weighing him down more surely than any physical load ever could. No sooner had he reached his feet, then a sand golem dragged itself from the ground in front of him. Some golems are far more dangerous than others. Rock and metal are often considered at the top of the list, but the truth is, while they are hardy and resilient, they lack the flexibility that many of the more subtle forms can take. Hardt did not understand this. He swung a single punch at the golem, a strike that would have shattered bone, and his fist sank deep into the body of the construct. The golem then lurched forwards, engulfing Hardt almost entirely before solidifying, trapping him inside its body.
With Tamura still trapped in the Iron Legion's crushing grip, and I still held down by a kinetic force I could not resist, only Imiko remained to save us all. I do not blame her for her actions. I cannot. She did perhaps the one thing I would never have considered. Imiko collapsed onto her knees, just a few paces from the Iron Legion, and screamed at him. "Stop hurting my friends!"
The Iron Legion turned his dark stare on Imiko and in my mind all I could see was the broken body he had left of Barrow. "Don't touch her!" I hissed.
"I have no wish to harm any of you," the Iron Legion said, turning away from Imiko and striding back to me. "You attacked me." With a flick of his hand, he sent Tamura careening away. The crazy old Aspect did not get up.
We were done. All of us beaten with so little effort the Iron Legion didn't even look ruffled. Even the single surprise punch Tamura had landed on the man wouldn't bruise, his Biomancy would make certain of that.