CHAPTER 38

When Culwen had stormed out of the room, Vax leaned against the wall long enough for his heartbeat to settle and to get his breathing under control—then he followed. He sneaked back into the hallway and retraced his steps to the room with the Shadewatch uniforms. He hadn’t planned to stay in the Shade Hall. His and Vex’s plan had been to leave as soon as possible and to reconvene in the chapel attic.

But something about Culwen’s words didn’t sit right with Vax. While he trusted his sister’s plan, he also knew she’d been right about one thing: it was wrong for them to be separated. He didn’t want to leave this building without her. So he slipped into the room and freed a Shadewatch uniform from the crates. He found a tunic that was only slightly too big and could fit over his own shirt. A pair of carmine pants that he knew he had to change into if he didn’t want to be unmasked with a simple glance.

He couldn’t do anything about his face, and he didn’t know if the Shadewatch employed any half-elves, but he hoped to make his way through the hall fast enough that no one would have time to observe him in detail.

When he left the third floor, Culwen was nowhere to be seen. He descended the stairs carefully, keeping his head down and his ears perked up. While the second floor was still relatively quiet, when he came down toward the first floor, it was a hive of activity. Guards walked in and out, discussing the outlaws they’d captured, and wondering how many others were still hiding out in the hills. He heard anger and relief and glee from a younger guard, who demanded to know what kind of justice the Shademaster would mete out. An older guard cuffed him around the head for that.

Culwen stood in the middle of the foyer, oblivious to the happenings around him. He was deep in conversation with a bald man who held on to a torn-up man. He shook his head, as if to say he didn’t know the answer to Culwen’s questions, and Culwen impatiently stepped closer. It caused the people around him to quiet and cast him curious glances.

In the midst of his conversation, a little girl tugged at Culwen’s coat, waited for a moment until it was clear he wouldn’t pay attention to her, and then wandered away. Aswin tilted her head and beelined for the double doors that gave passage to the great hall, listened, and then wandered to the next door. Two more, before she walked into a hallway that led to the side of the great hall. Near the fifth door, her face brightened and she pushed in.

Vax crossed to the other side of the railing and tried to make out what was being said. All he could hear was Derowen’s name and something about a private conversation. He glanced out toward the square, wondering briefly if the Shadewatch garb would be enough to sneak to wherever they held the survivors.

A dwarven guard in a red uniform ran past him, taking the stairs down two at a time. She barely spared him a glance. “Don’t stand around there! Hurry up!”

He picked up his pace, but paused again when the doors that Aswin had disappeared into opened up and she walked out with a very familiar bear by her side. She held one hand in Trinket’s fur and chattered at him constantly, and in the hallway that had been filled with angry voices and cautious silence, all eyes were on her.

One of the guards muttered something, and another elbowed him and told him off. A blond-haired human girl who stood at the doorway gave a thumbs-up in Aswin’s direction and called, “Love your new familiar, little princess.”

When Aswin grinned, a guard who seemed to be working as a right-hand man to the quartermaster suggested, “Wick’s on the prowl, As. Be careful of the north wing.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “He’ll never find me.”

Trinket huffed, and Vax knew the bear had different ideas, but Aswin’s proclamation was met by shouts and jeering, and he suddenly, viscerally, knew why his sister loved this place.

In the chaos, Culwen tried to disentangle himself from his discussion with the guard, but the man—with an impressive gray beard to go with his bald head—grabbed his arm and continued their conversation.

While Trinket and Aswin padded away to another corner of the building, Vax took the last few steps to the first floor and walked through the gathered guards. He made sure to keep his distance from the Shademaster’s brother and his head down, and as soon as he got closer to the door that Aswin had appeared out of, he pushed his back to the wall and hugged the shadows. He couldn’t walk in without blowing his cover, but he wasn’t sure if staying close was enough.

He’d cast another glance in Culwen’s direction when someone outside the Shade Hall screamed.

Two guards came charging back inside, out of breath and with their blades in hand. “We’re under attack!” the tallest, a dwarf with dark braids and weathered dark skin, called out. “Ash walkers! We need the Shademaster!”

Vax pushed himself deeper into the darkest corner of the chamber and watched the room around him descend into chaos. A wave of dread coursed through all those present and slammed them off balance. Other shouts and screams came from outside.

All the guards who were present reached for their weapons and made their way to their posts inside and outside the building, streaming around one another like ants in an anthill. The bald guard let go of Culwen’s arm and ran over to a tall horn that was placed in front of a tall, somewhat dusty window; he sounded a near deafening blast. Before he’d even finished the last note, tendrils of ash were crawling through the open door and along the edges of the windows. Someone shouted a warning. Someone else called for the Shademaster again.

Cold fear slithered along his spine. These gusts of soot were like the shadows they’d seen in the hills, but they’d been surrounded by miles of nothing but wind and night. They didn’t fit here. And if it meant there were walkers on the loose during the day too, that only made them all the more dangerous.

He palmed two of his daggers. Before he could cross the hallway to the room where Vex was, Culwen passed him by, a calculating look on his face. They were a few feet apart at best, but the man didn’t notice him. He had his hand on his rapier, and he checked to make sure he wasn’t being followed before he slammed the door open. In a flash, Vax could make out his sister and the Shademaster, locked in a fight.

When Vex stumbled, Vax felt panic cut through him, and he leaped forward.

Before Culwen walked in and pushed the door closed, Vax caught it so he could follow. “Vex!”

Inside was pure chaos. Culwen descended on Derowen, while Vex staggered away from them both. Across the room, Thorn lay twitching in a pool of his own blood. Ash rolled across the walls and the floor, while a handful of walkers flocked around the Shademaster.

For a brief moment, Vax thought Culwen aimed to target the dead—then Culwen ran his rapier straight through Derowen’s chest and Vax knew exactly what he’d meant when he said he wanted to get his affairs in order.

Before the spireling could shift his attention to Vex, Vax called out to her again. He held the door open and gestured to Vex to get away from Culwen. To get out of here. They couldn’t handle this on their own.

If Vex trusted that this town could be better than it was, he trusted her.

“Go! Find help!”

DEROWEN STARED AT HER BROTHER in bewildered pain, and she clawed at the blade in her chest. He pulled it out and stabbed again, an inch or so lower.

“Why?” she croaked.

“Because you’ve damn near ruined us,” he replied. He grabbed her by her uniform and pulled her closer, the rapier still between them. “I made enemies, when I bargained for your life in Kymal, and you ran away from me. I tracked you down and found you that bloody ring. All I demanded in return for saving your life and your little project of a town was loyalty. How could you have been so careless, Dera?”

“I didn’t ruin us. You did. I protected us from you.” She coughed and it racked through her. Her eyes glazed over as she turned her face in Vax’s direction. “I protected Aswin from you.”

Vax inched closer. Despite everything, he believed Derowen. He believed the pain of betrayal in her expression, the fear that coursed through her, and her insistence that she’d done everything for her daughter.

Culwen leaned in closer. “I will protect her now.”

The light in Derowen’s eyes broke.

Vax balanced the dagger in his hand, aimed, and sent it flying across the room. It skimmed one of the ashen corpses that was pushing through to get to Derowen, and buried itself deep into Culwen’s shoulder. With a snarl, Culwen let go of Derowen. His sister slumped to the floor and the spireling reached out behind his head and coldly pulled the dagger out.

Vex wasn’t the only one who could call for help. Still at the door, Vax pushed it open with his foot and, not looking behind him, shouted, “He’s killing the Shademaster!”

The dagger came flying back toward him, and he ducked out of the way at the last second, reaching out a hand to keep his balance. He felt the blade cut toward him, and without considering the absurdity of the act he closed his fingers and plucked it out of the air. It was luck, more than anything, combined with deep cuts along the soft tissue of his fingers and in the palm of his hand.

He held the dagger and savored the look of fury on Culwen’s face. “I changed my mind. I refuse to do business anymore.” Vax flipped the blade over.

Confused voices and footsteps sounded behind him, two people lay dying in the room in front of him, and hungry dead were climbing in through the windows. This casual heist had cost far too much. He didn’t wait for the door to open. He ran toward Culwen and brought his daggers up. And he fought.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t how he usually fought. It wasn’t how he’d been trained to fight. It was a fight for survival. He fought, because he was tired of everything breaking.

He held a dagger in each hand, and used every skill he had to stay alive. He closed in to stab at Culwen, and at the very last moment dashed away from the spireling’s roving blades. He lunged at him and disengaged. His daggers tore through the fabric of Culwen’s sleeve and the muscle and sinew of his forearm, and his parrying dagger cut into Vax’s leg.

“Oath breaker,” Culwen snarled.

Vax ducked to avoid another cut. He scoffed. “And you’re a smuggler, a murderer, and a far worse brother than me. Not to mention, a fucking hypocrite. Now shut up and fight.”

They both lashed out at each other, got too close, and backed away again. It wasn’t a fight that followed rules, but one that hungered for death. When Vax stepped in to strike Culwen again, aiming his dagger for the soft spot above his clavicle, Culwen caught the weapon with his parrying blade, trapping it between the triple prongs. He twisted the dagger out of Vax’s hand, sending it scattering across the floor. He immediately followed through with a shallow slash along his jaw.

Their blades were not the only ones that were ravenous.

The dead came closer. Ash walkers circled around Vax and snapped at him, their broken teeth glinting in the sunlight. For every corpse he slammed out of the way, another one pushed closer again. Sharp, bony fingers carved into his side, and ashen tendrils reached out and circled his throat. He felt like he was choking. He was breathing in ashes and no air, and for a moment he lost sight of Culwen.

The spireling turned away from him, and he dropped to his knees next to his sister’s body, which lay unmoving under a thin blanket of gray dust, walkers closing in around them. Without hesitation, without apparent regret, Culwen sank his dagger into Derowen’s chest a third time, like he wanted to be absolutely certain she wouldn’t rise again. Ash immediately curled into the dagger wound, while Culwen reached for his sister’s hand and frantically tried to pull the ring from her finger.

Vax steeled himself and pushed through. He leaped toward the spireling. He hit the floor and kept rolling, pushing himself back up on his knees. He came to a stop between the Shademaster’s body and Thorn, who lay struggling and bleeding out, and he let his dagger fly.

The blade carved its path through the air and hit true. It tore a deep cut along the side of Culwen’s neck. Culwen let Derowen’s hand fall as he reached for the wound. Blood immediately coated his fingers and he groaned, while Vax reached for the last remaining blade in his boot.

The door swung open, and Culwen raised a bloody finger to point at Vax. “Stop him,” he croaked. “He’s killing the Shademaster!”

Vax felt the world slow down around him. He glanced around to see guards filter into the room, all of them showing the wear and tear of battle, and looks of anger and revulsion upon recognizing him. Or recognizing who they thought he was. Walkers prowled around him, their bones crackling, their claws scraping across the tiles. One of them still had patches of hair that fell in dead streaks in front of its gleaming eyes. They slashed at Vax.

He turned back to Culwen, who had turned away from the guards in the doorway and now used the cover that provided to slowly pull his dagger out of Derowen’s body again. In a moment of absolute clarity, Vax knew that no one would stop Culwen from throwing the blade at him, and the spireling could have the weapon loose before he could pull his own. The corpses would tear away at him, and no one would stop them either.

None of the guards would believe him if he told them their beloved Shademaster was stealing from them with the help of her brother. She’d been a hero to all, and she’d done right by so many. He was an interloper who fought against them, and to everyone who entered the room it would look like her brother had valiantly tried to stop him from murdering her.

He heard the weapons being drawn. He saw the victorious leer on Culwen’s face. He felt the onslaught of the dead.

He saw no way out.

Something cold and sleek slithered past his knee, and when he looked down, he found the green snake that kept Thorn company on his broody days. The snake curled up to Vax’s knee and looked straight at Culwen, his tongue flicking in and out, and his serpentine body twisting and turning.

In a flash, Vax snapped into action. He kept his eyes on Culwen’s hands as he withdrew his parrying dagger. With one hand, he curled his fingers around the hilt of his third dagger, and with the other he reached out to the snake.

He offered a silent apology to the belt-turned-animal, took a deep breath, and tossed the snake into Culwen’s face.

The spireling reacted instinctively, raising both his hands to pull the slithering and hissing animal away from him, and in that second’s distraction Vax retrieved the dagger from his boot, aimed, and threw.

The blade cut straight and deep into Culwen’s throat, and blood streamed over the man’s shirt. He dropped the snake and toppled over, groping desperately at his throat.

It was all Vax could focus on, while heavy footsteps and angry shouts closed in around him. Culwen’s eyes dimmed, and his fingers slackened. Ash curled around him, reaching up from Derowen’s corpse to cover and devour her brother too.

Vax lunged at both of them—and at the snake that had fallen between them. While the snake, affronted, slithered back to Vax and circled his arm before any guards could step on him, Vax swiped his fingers over Derowen’s hand. Culwen had already loosened her ring enough that it easily disappeared into his sleeve.

He grabbed hold of his dagger and wildly lashed out at the walkers around him, as one tore into his leg, and another lurched toward his chest. He crawled backward, away from the dead. Away from the Shademaster. Away from the approaching guards.

“I didn’t attack the Shademaster,” he called out, before he breathed in a gust of ashes and started to cough. The cuts and bruises of the fight were catching up with him, and he felt the room spin. The loud footsteps of the guards echoed around him, and there were shouts of horror from new guards filtering in.

“It was her brother,” Vax tried again. “He attacked first. I tried to stop him.” He wanted to risk a glimpse at Thorn, to find out if he’d sent the snake. To find out if—

One of the walkers leaped on top of him, its decaying face pushed up close to him and a rotting tongue lolling out from between its teeth.

Vax shoved the creature off. His serpentine companion hissed angrily at it. But before either of them could do anything more, the guards circled around them and descended on the walkers and on Vax.