Spinning his axe again, he smiled.
“You see,” he said, “I am no longer the Envoys’ servant. After Faxon and I returned to Rustannica, thePon Q’tar discovered the deception. By the way, Faxon is dead. He died screaming like the traitorous pig that he was.”
A chill went down Tristan’s spine as he realized that hisK’Shari had been right to warn him. “You are again a servant of thePon Q’tar, aren’t you?” Tristan asked. “But when we said our farewells, you were firmly committed to the Envoys. The Envoys were about to change your memories with such finality that their deception would prove impossible to unravel, even by thePon Q’tar. ”
“All that is true,” Xanthus answered. “The Envoys did alter my memories. But they underestimated thePon Q’tar clerics. The clerics have devised a new spell called ‘the nautilus effect.’ They used it to uncover my true past-the past that the Envoys tried to hide.”
“What is the nautilus effect?” Tristan asked.
Xanthus shook his head. “I am not at liberty to say, Jin’Sai. But I will tell you this much: ThePon Q’tar have returned my blood signature to its original, deeply left-leaning state. I again serve them, and they have granted me a final chance to redeem myself. When I told them that you would return, they decided to send me back to kill you, rather than take you in. You have learned too much, you see. They want there to be no chance whatsoever of you contacting the Heretic rebels-even to the point that they are willing to give up the notion of taking you alive.”
“What killed Serena and Clarice?” Tristan demanded. “Did the Vagaries queen commit suicide and take her child with her?”
“Of course not, you fool,” Xanthus answered. “ThePon Q’tar killed her.”
“Why would they do that?” Tristan breathed. “ThePon Q’tar had so much invested in her… They had such plans for Clarice…”
“True,” Xanthus answered. “But as the Recluse became untenable, thePon Q’tar knew that it would be far better for Serena and Clarice to perish, rather than to fall into the hands of the Conclave. Serena trusted thePon Q’tar completely. They exploited that trust to trick her into using a spell to end her life and the life of her child. By the way, marking the envelopers and crashing one of your Black Ships through the Recluse drawbridge were very clever tactics. ThePon Q’tar clerics were impressed.”
“The Envoys will never let you take me,” Tristan protested.
“I think that they will,” Xanthus answered cryptically. He smiled again and raised his axe.
“You are about to die, Jin’Sai, ” he said. “You can either try to defend yourself, or simply let me kill you with one blow and grant you a quick death. Either way, your head goes back with me to Rustannica.”
Tristan narrowed his eyes. “Why would you attack me with your axe when you could easily kill me with the craft?”
When the Darkling didn’t answer, Tristan realized that he was onto something. He looked into Xanthus’ eyes.
“ThePon Q’tar clerics still don’t trust you completely, do they?” he demanded. “Despite their discovery of the so-called nautilus effect, they aren’t entirely sure that the Envoys didn’t plant some other spell or device into your being that remains to be found. Because of those misgivings, they stripped you of your gifts before sending you back to Crysenium. They want you to kill me, but they have limited your abilities in case you are still a traitor.
“I’m right, aren’t I, you hideous freak?” Tristan pressed. “Your craft powers have been compromised! That’s why you must appear to me in human form! The only way that you can kill me is by physical force! Because you plan to kill me with your axe, I suspect that they took everything from you but your gift ofK’Shari! Because they know that I do not command the same gift, they believe that I will be an easy kill for you! Tell me, Xanthus-how does it feel to be thePon Q’tar ’s castrated lapdog?”
To Tristan’s surprise, Xanthus smiled again. “Well done,” he said quietly. “They told me that you were a quick study. But you left something out. They promised that when I kill you, they will return all my past gifts to me. Moreover, I will be granted an even higher rank in the Imperial Order.”
“And you believed them, you fool,” Tristan answered. “Didn’t the way they betrayed Serena tell you anything?”
Xanthus’ smile vanished. “You had best let me kill you quickly,” he warned. “You cannot defeat me. I commandK’Shari, and you do not.”
Tristan drew his sword. With his free hand he slowly reached beneath his vest and produced something. He held it up before Xanthus’ eyes. It was the blank scroll that Aeolus had given him to confirm his mastery ofK’Shari.
Tristan had meant the scroll to be a symbolic gift to the Crysenium Envoys, marking his safe return. But now its symbolism would serve a far more deadly purpose. He tossed the scroll at Xanthus’ feet. As theJin’Sai started to circle his enemy he raised his weapon.
“My ears hear no begging,” Tristan whispered. “My eyes see no pain. My heart feels no remorse.” TheJin’Sai immediately felt his gift wash over him, empowering him and calming his center for the coming fight.
As the realization sank in, Xanthus stood stock-still for a moment. Knowing that there could be no going back, he too recited the three phrases and started to circle his opponent.
“I understand,” he said softly. “Since the first moment I saw you, I somehow knew that it would come to this.”
“As did I,” Tristan answered.
Xanthus’ first strike came so fast that Tristan barely saw it coming. Slipping to one side, theJin’Sai dodged the axe and brought down his dreggan. But Xanthus recovered quickly and lifted his shield. Sparks flew as Tristan’s dreggan struck it and slid harmlessly off to one side. Their first clash proving inconclusive, the warriors circled each other again.
Within an instant, they struck at each other simultaneously. With an earsplitting clang, Tristan’s blade and the Darkling’s axe came to a quick stop as Tristan’s blade caught in the joint where Xanthus’ axe head joined its handle. Struggling mightily, each stood his ground, trying not to be the first to back away.
Suddenly their weapon blades started to glow with the azure hue of the craft, and there came a thunderous explosion. Azure smoke rose, and the two combatants were thrust away from each other to go skidding across the shiny floor.
Tristan came to a stop on his back. He looked up through the haze just in time to see Xanthus rushing at him. His azure axe twinkling in the light, Xanthus brought it down with everything he had.
Tristan rolled hard to the right. With a great crash, Xanthus’ axe barely missed theJin’Sai and split the floor’s entire length in half. The massive concussion resonated through the walls and caused the transparent ceiling to shatter. Crystalline shards rained down into the room.
As Xanthus struggled to free his blade, Tristan jumped to his feet and brought his dreggan whistling around. But Xanthus again blocked it with his shield. Finally the Darkling’s axe came free and Xanthus attacked again, forcing Tristan to back up.
As the battle seesawed back and forth, the fighters quickly neared where Shadow was tied, causing the horse to rear nervously on his hind legs as far as his reins would allow. Soon Tristan found himself being forced toward the hallway entrance.
As they passed though the crystalline door frame, it split thunderously apart. Several more cracks split the hallway walls, and lengthened violently to match the combatants’ forward progress. Tristan could only guess that these phenomena were being caused because twoK’Shari masters had called on their gifts simultaneously. But he couldn’t risk thinking about that now.
The whirling axe came around again, but this time Tristan raised his dreggan a fraction of a second too slow. Xanthus’ blow resonated so harshly through the dreggan blade and into Tristan’s hands that the sword fell from his grip to go clattering to the floor. Xanthus immediately kicked the dreggan past Tristan and sent it skidding down the hallway.
Tristan was tempted to turn his back on Xanthus and go chasing after his sword, but every instinct told him not to. Knowing that he finally had Tristan trapped, Xanthus smiled. Tristan watched him raise the glowing axe.
Having no choice but to completely trust in his gift, for the first time Tristan surrendered his entire being to hisK’Shari. As he did, the down-stroke of Xanthus’ axe seemed to slow to the point that sidestepping the blow was effortless. The nature of Tristan’s next move was revealed to him with crystal clarity. He reached behind his right
