Page 96 of Shadow Throne King

I couldn’t let the three men circle behind me, so I backed up a few steps and met the first one with my blade. He blocked it with his arm, and I wasn’t surprised that my blade finally shattered when it sliced through his flesh, hitting Krustavian bone. I was left with half of a sword, the other half still embedded in his arm.

He swung his arm at me, brutally fast, and I just had time to sidestep, slamming the hilt of my blade into his temple. It should have shocked him, but he only stumbled back at the blow, immediately drawing himself back up and grabbing at me.

I ducked low, and his hand grabbed hold of my hair, the damp braids catching on his rough skin. I dropped to the ground, and my sudden increase in weight overbalanced him. Rolling us both, I used my feet to flip him over me in one swift motion.

But one of Maki’s men crashed on top of me as I was still on the ground. I jammed my shattered blade up, into his throat. On a living man, it would have left me covered in his blood. Instead, a sickly black liquid dripped down.

Disgusted, I pushed him off me and decapitated him with what was left of my shattered blade. Leaping up, I was just in time to dance away from another attacker. He had a sword, the first of Maki’s dead men to wield one.

I tossed aside my wolf’s claw and drew a dagger. This didn’t have any of the weakness of the wolf’s claw. It was made from pure metal, a gift from Yorîmu from her time in Dragon’s Rest Mountains.

Circling the man with the sword, I watched as his feet moved delicately, his sword perfectly balanced. If his own death inhibited him at all, I couldn’t see it. Finally, he darted forward,and I sidestepped, plunging my blade into his body, just above the hip where there was a gap in his armor for lacing.

I hit something, some tendon or vein, but he didn’t hesitate, bringing his sword back around. I ducked low, then slammed my shoulder into his as he passed me, forcing him off balance and down to the ground.

Before I could drop on top of him and deliver a killing blow, there was another man behind me, grabbing me around the chest.

This had always been a flaw in my mother’s plan. This was why my sister had been necessary. I could fight a great many men. I could fight the Emperor’s Dogs. I couldnotfight the Emperor’s Dogs all at the same time and still kill the emperor.

It was why we had planned to rely on secrecy and quiet. On sneaking in and finding a time when the emperor was alone.

If Maki turned and climbed off the throne, walked away from me right now, I might never find him again.

Yes, you could lose your battle right here. Give in and I will show you power Maki only dreams of. I will give you a throne to rule the entire continent. Would you not like to see the Imperium on bended knee for you?

I could give you that and more. I could save Tallu’s life. Would it not be worth it for him to live?

For a second, I faltered, the tight grip around my chest making it almost impossible to breathe. My vision went spotty.

I slammed my head back, cracking the man’s face, but he didn’t react at all. I went limp, dropping my weight hard, and he was pulled forward, just enough that his grip loosened. I twisted free, grabbing my blade from the ground and shoving it into his ear.

There was a high-pitched whining noise as Maki’s electricity met the steel I had embedded in the man’s skull. It smoked, theman’s face bubbling and distorting. He fell, but I couldn’t afford to wait to see his death.

Pulling my blade free, I spun to meet my next attacker. Centipede’s voice was a drumbeat in my ear, but his promises grew even more like ice over a lake: I could see the cracks in them. He was powerful, yes. He had given Maki power, yes. But the curse the blood mages placed on the heirs of House Atobe was not his domain. Even he could get tangled in the threads of Spider’s web.

Something hit me from behind, and I fell hard, the impact shivering up my arms, the pain throbbing in my wrists. I gritted my teeth and pressed on, trying to roll, but Maki’s man had an arm around my throat, pulling my head back. He was heavy, and the weight alone told me he was Krustavian. I could feel the electricity running and popping through his body, and the strangest part was the complete lack of sound, no panting breaths, growls, or grunts.

He was a corpse trying to turn me into one.

Something hit him hard, his body going limp as a spinning vortex of fangs and scales tore his head free from his neck. Naî rolled with the body, her white scales stained black with his blood. She seemed to be grinning. I pushed up to my feet, grabbing a sword that had been abandoned on the ground, the intricate carving along the blade marking it as Imperial instead of Krustavian. The fact that I could lift it at all told me it had once belonged to one of Maki’s own soldiers.

I readied the blade, the grip awkward compared to my grasp of the wolf’s claw, but I was ready, or at least as ready as I’d ever be facing down a room of seven dead men and an animalia wearing the face of an imperial general. Three men rushed toward me, and I shifted my grip to something more defensive, ready for anything.

Lightning flashed over my shoulder, and I should have expectedthat, but somehow, it was still shocking, watching Tallu’s power arc from man to man, the very mechanism Maki had used to control their bodies now used to destroy them.

Only, itdidn’tdestroy them. Their bodies arched, spines cracking, and then their mouths opened so it looked like they were wearing grotesque smiles. The electricity had only made them faster as they rushed me. Tallu must not have realized, for he let loose another bolt; it pushed one corpse back without making the dead man fall.

Decapitation killed them. My attacks and Naî’s bloody entrance to the battle proved that. But just stabbing or wielding electricity did nothing to damage them. I swung the blade but missed the nearest attacker’s throat, catching on his shoulder instead and glancing off what was left of his armor. Footsteps rushed up behind me. I stepped back, expecting Iradîo with her own wolf’s claw.

Instead, Tallu swept into place next to me, his cloak flowing around him like the incoming tide, inevitable and powerful.

“Electricity doesn’t work,” I panted. My muscles strained as I swung my blade up to block a sword blow. Its shoulder wound didn’t seem to bother the corpse at all.

“I saw,” Tallu said, catching a punch in his hand and pulling it to the side in a motion that was as smooth as glass. He slammed the heel of his palm into his opponent’s face, and I focused on the man attacking me, unable to look away as he redoubled, swinging his sword brutally, without any care for how exposed he left himself.

I could hear the scream of Tallu’s electricity, the angry shout of it in my ear:You will not touch him. It reminded me of what I was doing.

“Tallu,” I said. “I need electricity.”