“Well, that’s nothing new, Primus,” the children laughed.
All five of them went to watch the fireworks.
Chapter 254
After bandaging his wounds using his clothes, Hadjar jumped off the balcony. He landed on one of the collapsed columns. Elaine slowly glided down onto a similar column opposite it. She pointed her white blade at Hadjar’s chest.
“Murderer,” she repeated.
“Elaine, listen to me, your mind is being controlled by a-”
The Princess didn’t let him explain. She launched a stream of flame from her sword. If Hadjar had had a sword, he would’ve easily cut it in half and not had any problems. But he didn’t have one, just its hilt.
Suddenly, the world froze. Hadjar was looking at that hilt, a part of the sword that remembered the blade even better than Hadjar did. The hilt of Moon Beam, not the blade itself, had been what Hadjar had held in his hands all these years and what he’d relied on even in the most hopeless situations.
The thought was slippery, hazy, almost like a mirage in the desert. Hadjar didn’t exactly understand what it meant, but he felt how deeply connected it was to the mysteries of the Way of the Sword Spirit.
Hadjar swung the handle of Moon Beam, and for a moment, a blade shimmered into being and soared through the air, as invisible as the thought itself. The attack snuffed out Elaine’s flames and then smashed into the wall behind her, disappearing only after crossing almost seventy steps. Hadjar ended up paying a heavy toll for using it, however. He nearly fainted from the pain. Blood rushed out of his wounds, particularly the one in his side, instantly soaking the fabric of his ripped up clothes and leaking out onto the broken floor.
Elaine, who had spent almost all her power in that flame strike, was breathing heavily. Her main problem was that she knew how to fight, but didn’t know how to fight to the death. She was simply too inexperienced. She sent the sword back into the hieroglyph on her palm.
“I’ll kill you,” the Princess said and held out her right hand. She launched a burst of white energy from her palm. Hadjar saw flames and swords inside it.
He made the same gesture as his sister — he stretched out his hand and sent out all the energy he had left. A steel-colored energy burst out from his palm, dragons dancing in its depths. Two streams, simple attacks made of pure energy, collided in the middle and whirled madly. They fought for supremacy.
Hadjar looked at his sister. He was well aware of the fact that if she faltered, if she lost control over her energy for even a moment, Hadjar’s own power would tear her apart like a furious dragon savaging one of its victim.
“The one who wasn’t born will destroy you,” the voice of the Tree of Life came to him suddenly.
Who had given birth to Energy itself? Probably no one.
Hadjar understood that Elaine didn’t have enough experience to endure this battle of wills. Even wounded, Hadjar was stronger and more experienced than his sister. Like any older brother, he had to protect his little sister, even from himself, even at the cost of his own life.
“Forgive me,” Hadjar smiled and spread his hands, as if trying to hold Elaine one last time.
A deep misunderstanding of what was happening could clearly be seen on the Princess’ face, and then the white flow of energy, no longer opposed, hit Hadjar’s chest. Before it pierced the General’s heart, the leaf flew out of the man’s clothes. The one that had been given to him by the ancient Tree. As soon as her energy pierced the leaf, scenes from the past flashed before Elaine’s eyes.
She was laughing, playing with the mustache of a handsome man. She remembered his name — Haver. He had been her father. Next to him, she saw a beautiful woman, her mother. Elizabeth.
A boy with a hooligan’s face was next. Naughty and restless. His name had been... Hadjar. He’d been her older brother.
Then another scene came. Hadjar standing in front of her with a stick. They had run away from the Palace and wandered too far outside the garden. Stray dogs had attacked them. Elaine had cried with fear, but Hadjar had laughed with excitement. With his left hand, he’d covered Elaine, moving her behind him, and with his right, he had fended off the hungry, growling dogs.
Then she remembered them running across a meadow, picking flowers. They had tried to make a wreath, but neither of them had known how to do so.
Hadjar had struck a boy, the son of an aristocrat, because he’d offended Elaine. She remembered asking her brother to stop, the boy hadn’t actually hurt her very much. Then Haver had reprimanded Hadjar, saying that a good and noble person wasn’t a dog to bite each offender.
Then they’d sat together at the feast. Hadjar had done his best to ensure that only the dishes she’d loved ended up in front of Elaine.
Then they’d ridden horses together. It seemed like this had been the first time Elaine had had fun while Hadjar had been scared. The girl had laughed and the boy had frowned and tightened his grip on the reins. After they’d dismounted, he had tickled her for a long time in retaliation.
Then she remembered Hadjar, now with a real sword in his hands, fighting against their mother’s warriors. He’d tried to save Elaine and Elizabeth. But Primus, her... father… or uncle, had ripped the heart out of her mother’s chest. He’d cut off Hadjar’s legs, causing him to howl in pain, then pierced his solar plexus and broken his arms, then burned his face using the torch standing next to him.
Then she plunged into her own memories. Sometimes, the Governor’s Techniques had failed. Elaine would come to her senses when that happened. She would recall the past, grab her sword, and try to escape the castle. She’d wanted to find
