Shadowbane

Myrin, he thought to her.

Kalen? Oh gods, not you, too!

The full force of her panic fell upon him, rending his wits such that he almost lost himself in the emptiness. He kept together only by focusing on two things: his anger and his goal. Her.

He visualized himself holding her, enfolding her in his numb, scarred arms. In some part of reality he understood only dimly, he was holding her. Blue fire wrapped around them. Her presence seemed to calm-albeit slightly.

You have to take us home, Myrin, he conveyed. You have to do it now.

I can’t! she replied, refusing to meet his gaze. His vision broke up. I don’t know how. You shouldn’t have come-now you’re trapped, too.

I came to Luskan to save you. Kalen imagined himself brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. Do you really think I’d leave you in darkness?

Myrin’s heart hammered. But we’re trapped-

I suppose we could stay here. At least the smell is less.

He felt a relaxation of tension, but worry remained. I don’t know if I can do this.

I do, he said. If you wish it, we will go back.

Do you wish it, Kalen? she asked. You seemed so upset before. Do you-do you even want me back?

He clutched her tighter. Of course I do.

Very well, Myrin said. Here we-

They came back into the world in a rush, and all of existence bore down upon them in such an unstoppable flood of sensation that Kalen staggered. The otherwise bare chamber was suddenly filled with a teeming swarm of creatures smaller than fleas, flowing all over each other. Heaps of slithering vermin were held together only loosely by a mutual desire for survival. The floorboards, the scant furnishings, the air itself-all were horribly, feverishly alive in infinite minutiae.

The overwhelming being of that moment was enough to shatter Kalen’s mind. Heartbeats sounded like thunder in his ears. Myrin lay enfolded in his arms, her body curled against him. They gazed into one another’s eyes, at once comforting and taking comfort, seeing each other with a clarity neither had ever known. Kalen wanted nothing more than to lie here with her, and let the world fall apart around them.

A cry arose, breaking the moment. Kalen saw that the common hall had become a frenzied mass of people. Dead Rats argued in panic and rage.

Rhett stood among the crowd, his sword ready. “Saer Shadowbane!” he called.

As though his voice woke her, Myrin stirred and sat up. “We did it,” she said. “We-” Then tears brimmed in her eyes. “Gods. Toy-is he …?”

Kalen brushed the blood from Toytere’s beating out of his eyes. A few paces distant, Sithe stood over the fallen halfling and a spreading puddle of blood.

“Get away from him!” Myrin cried, leveling her wand at the genasi.

Kalen restrained her. “It was mercy, not anger,” he said. “He’s dying.”

Sure enough, at Sithe’s feet, Toytere’s body shuddered. He loosed a whine like that of a rat caught in a trap. Rhett had tended him, Kalen saw, but the wound was too great-that, or the plague would not permit him to escape.

Long past the point of coherence, Toytere squealed and roared in pain. His hands grasped at his midsection and his limbs stretched painfully.

“Why haven’t you ended it?” Kalen indicated Sithe’s axe.

“It is for her to do,” Sithe said. “He betrayed her, his life is hers.”

“You also betrayed us,” Kalen said.

“And my life is also hers,” Sithe said. “But she should decide sooner for him.”

Myrin sat at Toytere’s side and took his hand. The halfling’s bloody eyes turned to her and his lips formed her name. “Myrin?”

“Yes,” she said. “Toy, you’re dying.”

“Hrk!” A cough wracked the halfling’s body. “Die … die a man?”

“A man,” Myrin said, clasping his hand hard. “The man you should be.”

Toytere gave her a bloody smile. “Aye, that’s all I wan-” His body jerked taut and his eyes glazed over. A sound emerged from his bloody lips-a low, buzzing hum.

“What’s happening?” Rhett asked.

“Prophecy. He-” The halfling clenched Myrin’s hand hard, cutting off her words.

“Too late,” the gang leader said, in a voice suddenly distant. “Dren will fall to the dark.”

“What?” Kalen asked, eyes fixed on Toytere.

Myrin was staring at the halfling, the blood beating in the hollow of her throat.

“Darkness will take you, Champion of Ruin, fight as you will,” Toytere said in that odd drone. “All that you love will sift as ash through your fingers. It is too late!”

Kalen pushed Myrin wide of Toytere’s grasp and caught the halfling’s collar. “What do you mean? What are you saying?”

The halfling eyes blinked out of the Sight. “Little Dren,” he said. “Gods, I See it. I’ve got to warn-”

Then his eyes widened past the red surrounding the whites. He loosed a savage snarl and lunged at Kalen, who kept from being bitten by wincing back. He held the halfling down with a foot on his chest.

The crowded Rats parted and Myrin approached. “What is-oh gods, Toy!”

“Stay back,” Kalen said. “He isn’t Toytere anymore-that man’s dead.” He turned to Rhett, who backed away, taking Vindicator with him. Instead, Kalen seized Sithe’s axe and raised it over his head. “Turn away.”

Myrin stared at him, eyes wide. “No.”

“I said-”

“I heard what you said.” Myrin straightened her shoulders. “And I’m not turning aside, Kalen. If this is what you are, so be it.”

He hesitated, his blade held high. Beneath his foot, the raging beast that had been Toytere uttered a fitful cry and grasped at its midsection. A huge mass was creeping up, like a boil growing before their eyes. The halfling whimpered in pain and fury. The huge pustule rising from the halfling’s chest continued to grow and squirm.

The ring of Dead Rats expanded, giving the thing more space. Toytere’s body jerked and squirmed, sending blood flailing. Finally, it burst open, spilling forth a quivering horde of half formed insects-locusts, bees, beetles, and gods knew what else.

Kalen brought the axe down and Toytere stopped dead.

The steel on wood rang throughout the hall, followed by the utter silence of three dozen men and women looking to Kalen and his burning steel. The axe flared, burning the twitching vermin. They went up like pinecones in a chorus of sickly pops.

One voice rose from the back of the horde. “Shadowbane!” it cried. “King Shadowbane!”

“King Shadowbane!” another voice answered. “King of the Rats!”

Myrin stared at him, her gaze dark-disappointed. She drew away, turned to confer with Rhett. Kalen watched her go and felt a part of his heart draining away.

“King Shadowbane!” the Rats cried, and “Kalen of the Rats!” and “Shadowbane!”

Kalen nodded grimly.

Eden leaned back from her scrying pool, letting the image waver and die, and tapped her fingers together. What an unlikely series of events-one that she would need to plan around.

Seeing the fate that had befallen Toytere when he tried to move against Kalen and Myrin dissuaded her, even considering the kingly sum offered for the lass’s capture. Still, it was the principle of the thing. Offended pride such as hers was worth the ransom of kingdoms, not mere kings.

The Horned One had told her to stop, so Eden meant to press forward.