Sted dropped him with a disgusted grunt. Josef landed hard on his side, and for a moment all he could think of was the pain. When his mind at last cleared enough to focus on things outside his body, he found he was being lifted up by several of the bandits while Sted’s booming voice shouted out orders.
“Get him to his sword. It’s the only thing keeping his carcass alive. We’ll take them both back to camp.”
Someone said something Josef couldn’t hear, and Sted roared in anger.
“No, we’re not going to kill him! No one is to touch him without my permission! Josef Liechten is my fight, and I will have it proper and on my terms if I have to kill every one of you sorry bandit dogs! Now get his sword in his hand! You’ll never lift it otherwise.”
Josef felt someone take his hand and thrust it clumsily forward. A wave of relief washed over him as his fingers met the Heart’s hilt, and he was even able to wrap his hand around it.
“Good,” Sted said. “Take him back to town and get him to the medics, and don’t let him drop that blade. Remember, he is my fight. Keep everyone else away from him, especially those Council pigs. Anyone who touches him will answer to me. Go!”
Josef felt the world sway as the bandits hurried to do Sted’s bidding. They carried him strung between two men like he was a hunting trophy with the Heart dragging behind them, its hilt tied to Josef’s hand with a long strip of cloth. Sted walked beside him the whole time, enormous and terrible, shoving his cape back over his monstrous arm. When he saw Josef looking, he grinned wide.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll kill you soon enough, but on my terms. I didn’t sell my soul to slap your beaten carcass around. Rest and enjoy what little life you have left, Josef Liechten. When you’re ready to give me the victory I deserve, we’ll face off again. That time, Master of the Heart of War, I won’t stop until I have your heart in my hand.”
Sted began to laugh at that, a horrible, mad sound. Josef felt himself jerk as the bandits carrying him began to move faster, desperate to put some space between themselves and the mad monster. Josef stayed awake as long as he could, but soon even Sted’s laughter faded behind the rush of blood in his ears, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Nico ran. She shot through the forest, scrambling gracelessly over fallen logs and gnarled roots with little thought to where she was going. All that mattered was speed, getting away, so she ran until her legs burned and her lungs felt like they were going to burst.
You’re such a coward, the Master whispered. Running to save yourself while the swordsman goes to his death. He can’t fight in his condition.
Nico gritted her teeth and ran harder.
You’re not even making progress. Look, all that work and you’ve barely moved.
Nico glanced over her shoulder before she could stop herself. The Master was right. She could still see the thin plume of smoke from the cabin’s chimney through the trees. She also saw no sign of pursuit. Nico slowed down, sucking cold, precious air into her burning lungs as she eyed the forest, straining to hear above the thundering of her heart. But the forest was still and empty around her, the sunlight moving in dapples across the leaf litter as the wind tossed the treetops high overhead. Under her coat, clutched against her chest, her transformed arm began to ache.
Pity you didn’t take me up on my offer, the Master said. If your hearing was anything like what it used to be, you would never have stopped.
Even before the words had faded from her mind, a pair of hard, strong hands grabbed her shoulders from behind.
Nico shrieked and kicked backward, landing a solid strike on whoever was behind her. But the hands on her shoulders didn’t even flinch. She scrambled desperately, panic clouding her mind, and all at once, her coat reacted. She felt the black fabric clench around the hands on her shoulder, the stiff cloth growing sharp as needles as it dug into the skin.
The person holding her grunted in pain, and the grip on her shoulders vanished. Nico tumbled to the ground and was up again in an instant, clutching her coat with a whisper of thanks. As soon as her feet hit the ground she was running, pounding flat out into the woods, only to come skidding to a stop a second later.
She hadn’t seen anything move, hadn’t heard steps on the leaves, yet, somehow, a man in a long brown coat, his hands bleeding from where her coat had stabbed him, was already in front of her, watching her with calm, brown eyes.
“Amazing coat you have there,” he said softly, holding up his injured hand. “That wasn’t in the briefing. You caught me by surprise, but don’t count on doing it again.”
As he spoke, the wounds on his hands closed before Nico’s eyes. She blinked, then blinked again, but the wounds were still gone, leaving his skin whole and smooth. She’d never seen anything like it outside of demonseeds, but, while she wasn’t sure who or what this man was, she knew he wasn’t a seed. His skin was too swarthy, his build healthy and whole. She watched, dumbstruck, as the man quietly wiped away what blood was left on a handkerchief. Nico swallowed. Whatever he was, one thing was certain: he was faster than her. Running was out of the question. If she wanted to get away, she’d have to fight.
She planted her feet in a defensive position, keeping her transformed arm close to her chest. It twitched beneath her coat, itching for the chance to lash out, but Nico locked it in place. She might be weak like this, but she didn’t need demon strength to take down a larger opponent. Josef had taught her well. All she needed was a lucky break, an open jab at his throat, and she could knock his wind out and get away.
The man watched her take her position with a blank, calm expression, hands in his pockets like he had all the time in the world. Then, faster than Nico’s eyes could track, he struck.
A fist hit her hard in the gut. Nico gasped, but before her brain had registered the pain, the man’s leg swept around to knock her own out from under her. She reeled and would have fallen, but at the last moment her transformed arm shot out to catch her. Nico stared at the black claw clutching the ground below her, unsure if the arm had moved by her reflexes or on its own. Whichever it was, she didn’t have time to worry about it. The man was right in front of her, his fist coming up to catch her jaw. Nico scrambled back, bringing up both arms in defense as the man’s fist missed her face by a fraction, leaving his guard open. Seeing her chance, Nico struck, her hand flying for his now unguarded throat.
It was only when her jab entered her field of vision that she realized her mistake. The hand flying for the man’s throat was not her pale, white fist, but the black, transformed claw. It struck before she could think to stop it, digging deep into the flesh of the man’s neck. Desperately, frantically, she tried to pull back, but it was far too late. Dark, delighted laughter rippled over her mind as the man’s spirit roared up inside her, and the demon arm began to eat.
Nico shook uncontrollably as the man flowed through her, past her, and into the thing buried deep inside her. She could feel his soul as it slid by, warm and alive and pulsing with controlled strength, but she could do nothing to stop its flow as the demon ate and ate until the blackness was drowning out her conscious mind.
Then, without warning, it stopped.
The thing inside her roared in frustration, sucking and pulling at the connection through the black arm, but its efforts changed nothing. The flow of the man’s spirit had dried up. All at once, the dark weight on her mind began to recede, and Nico cracked her eyes open. She knew already what she would see. She had eaten men before. She would see his body falling from her hand, gray and lifeless, turning into ash as it hit the ground, too empty to even hold its form.
But when she looked up she saw the man, still alive and standing in front of her. Her black claw was still lodged in the flesh of his throat, but though she could feel the demon pulling, trying desperately to get at the life just under the man’s skin, nothing was happening. Somehow, the demon could not eat him.
“How?” She didn’t know she had spoken until the word was out.
The man pried the black arm from his neck, and Nico saw the gouges from the claws already beginning to close. “I am king of myself,” he said simply. “My body is mine alone. Nothing can happen to it that I do not allow.”
He dropped his grip on her black wrist and raised his arm. Nico saw the blow coming, but she was too amazed to even move out of the way as his hand came down hard on the back of her neck. The last thing she felt were the man’s arms as he caught her, and then everything was gone.
