Midnight in Everwood(86)
‘Never fear, he shall survive. They call that sword Starhunter for it dispatches those it battles with ease, the stars hunting his opponents to join the farthest, dimmest constellations,’ she told Marietta, who squeezed her fingers back, not daring herself to speak.
It was relentless, the king every bit as skilled as Legat. Marietta tracked their movements, maintaining an effort to keep her darkest, heart-shattering thoughts at bay. A few minutes later, she saw it. The King’s arm shook. It was beginning to tire under the weight of his sword. King Gelum might have possessed the necessary gold with which to hire the finest tutors in swordsmanship but his hours of fighting were limited to those private lessons. His life of luxury had not equipped him for battle. Marietta turned her attention back to Legat whose arm remained steady, his aim true and his defence strong.
Legat delivered a heavy blow but King Gelum jerked his head just in time and it skimmed the air beside him.
All Legat’s focus was trained on the king, his senses honed on anticipating the following move. Which was why he failed to see the boot swiping out at his ankles. It sent him crashing to the ground. Stunned, he failed to roll out of the path of the king’s arcing blade. It tore a bright, crimson line down his torso. Marietta clasped a hand to her mouth as Legat gasped and gritted his teeth. It took an effort for him to rise, picking up his sword and ducking out from under the king’s attack.
Marietta saw flames. It was clear to all witnessing that Legat would now not emerge victorious. ‘We must act,’ she said quietly.
Dellara looked across at her. ‘You have my agreement.’
Struggling to form a coherent thought, let alone one that might swell and solidify into an idea, Marietta suppressed a cry when Legat was felled for a second time. King Gelum took the opportunity to execute another gouging blow. It elicited a cry of pain from Legat. His sword skidded across the snow into a patch of chanting faceless guards who kicked it back at him. The pommel struck his lacerated chest. His eyes closed for a beat too long. Her brain sticky with panic, her rage coating the forest in a bitter crimson wash, Marietta watched her love being broken before her eyes.
Taking advantage of the guards’ distraction, she reached down and untied one of her pointe shoes.
Legat crawled towards his sword, his blood turning the snow a pale pink. He attempted to stand but his exhaustion felled him. Marietta’s fingers tightened around her ballet shoe.
King Gelum’s arrogant smile was already edged with triumph as he strolled towards Legat and kicked him in the stomach, flipping him over onto his back. Legat groaned, holding his bleeding side with one hand and searching for his sword with the other. King Gelum’s laugh was high, his gaze lingering upon the wounds he’d inflicted. He reached out with his sword and stroked Legat’s torn chest with the tip.
Marietta drew her arm back. She threw the ballet shoe with more force than she had ever exerted in her lifetime. Sent it flying, desiring nothing more than to knock the sadistic delight from the king’s face, consequences be damned. To allow Legat a brief moment in which to pierce the king’s heart and end this infernal duel. Her muscles screaming with effort, the shoe soared through the ring and knocked the king off his pedestal of conceit and onto the floor.
Where he lay, still.
The world hung, a heavy pendulum teetering at the edge.
Dellara launched herself at the faceless guard who had taken possession of her wand and seized it back.
Marietta stared at the king’s immobile body, her thoughts a discordant harmony. ‘Have I—’
‘Fear not, you haven’t stained your starname with murder just yet.’ Dellara appeared at the king’s side. A deliciously wicked smile curved her lips. ‘But he’s mine now.’ She pointed her wand at the king before any of the guards could think to move. His body vanished.
The pendulum swung down. Chaos spilt in its wake.
Pirlipata snatched back her sword. She arced it through the air, dispatching guard after guard to darkness, severing their heads from their bodies and piercing that place where their hearts ought to have resided. Their mechanisms sparked and whirred as they crashed to the floor. Claren and Fin followed suit, as did Dellara, wielding her wand with a vengeance.
Marietta ran to Legat’s side.
The sight of his torn and slashed skin filled her with murderous wrath and deep, abiding fear. She ripped her velvet cloak off, pressed it to the worst of his wounds. But his lifeblood trickled through her fingers like sugar.
‘Do not worry,’ Legat told her, his smile reassuring even as his fate had taken a cruel twist, Atropos reaching out with her shears to clip his thread of life. If it hadn’t been for her, he would never have drawn the goddess’s eye. ‘I would willingly die for the freedom of Everwood. To atone for my past mistakes. For you to find your way home.’
‘No,’ she whispered. ‘Hold on.’
‘Look,’ he said, his voice withering to a husk. ‘We won.’
Marietta looked back as the last of the faceless guards was brought to an end.
Dellara appeared at her side. ‘I cannot heal him,’ she said gravely as they surveyed Legat’s injuries. ‘I do not possess that kind of power. It is easy to take a life. Fetching one back from the brink of the night sky requires a greater magic. The stars are hungry once they’ve tasted a fresh soul. But I can grant him justice.’ She stood, holding her wand and surveying the dismembered guards, spread over the snow. Her smile cut wider and King Gelum materialised before them all.