Page 66 of The Witch who Trades with Death

Chapter Sixty-Six

Khana gasped, returning to her body as if suddenly waking from a vivid dream. It took a few seconds to remember where she was, why every inch of her hurt, why she was kneeling over Haz’s body with her hand on his back.

He was tense and silent beneath her. She couldn’t see his face.

She gulped, unable to speak. Had it worked, or had it all just been a vivid hallucination?

Then Haz spoke: “All right, whoever’s pinning me down, I’ve got an itch on my right butt cheek I need you to scratch. That’s the right , not the left–”

Khana pushed him away. “Haz?”

He blinked. His eyes were back to their deep brown, no longer soulless white. “Khana? Why were you smushing me against a floor worth more than our lives?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” she demanded, pressing her hand against his forehead, like she could check the status of his soul the way she’d check for a fever.

“Um… you and I ran from a behemoth, Sava shot Emperor Jackass full of arrows, you said something about a deal with death, then…” His eyes widened. “Did that prick kill me?”

She pulled him into a hug. Haz settled his arms around her, nose brushing against the crook of her neck. It was the best feeling in the world. She couldn’t believe that he was breathing, talking, right in front of her.

“He stole your aji and brought you back as a night creature,” she explained, pulling back.

“Why would he do that?” The instant the words were out of his mouth, Haz’s eyes trailed down her. “Whose blood is that?”

She motioned to the two dead guards. “Theirs.”

“Riiight. That’s why your dress has holes in it.”

“ Mostly theirs.”

Haz looked her over, blood quickly staining his palms. “How much of this did I do?”

“ You did nothing,” she snapped. “Your soul was gone, you had no control. It was Yamueto, not you. Besides, it’s nothing I couldn’t heal.”

“Right, yeah,” he said with a shaky breath.

“If it makes you feel any better, I killed you right away.”

His jaw dropped.

“I needed the life force,” she said defensively.

“So, you cheated?”

She sputtered. “Cheated? It was three against one! Two of them witches!”

“Cheeeeateeeeer,” he laughed.

Khana couldn’t help it; she giggled right along with him, only slightly hysterical.

“I need you to know that I am never going to let you forget that,” he chuckled. “Where are we, anyway?”

She explained the mission she’d made for herself and how poorly it was going. She glossed over the deal she’d made to bring him back, hoping he wouldn’t remember what she’d told him of that aspect of witchcraft.

She didn’t feel any different. Shouldn’t losing a more significant piece of her soul feel more traumatic? Of course, she hadn’t tried playing her lute or dancing yet.

He seemed to accept her answer, asking only, “And Baba?”

“Coping the best he can. He’ll be beyond happy to see you.” She poked his nose. “Don’t you make me bring you back again.”

He grinned. “I’m sure you were terrifying enough that Death wouldn’t dare come back for me.”

She snorted.

“We should probably get to the others,” Haz said. “Neta will know what to do.”

“No, we should get to Yamueto,” Khana said darkly.

He stood and checked the door, smashing his shoulder against it. He swore. “You’d think something as flimsy as wood would be easy to break, but they must have some sort of lock on the other side.”

“Probably a deadbolt.”

Haz put a hand against the door, then studied the windows across the room.

“Those are definitely too small,” Khana said, amused.

“Yes, but, a strengthened witch could probably break it down.”

“Haz, no,” she hissed. “I just got you back!”

“I’m not saying kill me! Just take enough to get going, and then return it.”

“I’ll make another deal with Death,” she offered.

He studied her. “What did you give up?”

“What?”

“To bring me back. A deal goes both ways, so what did you give up?”

She grimaced. “Music.”

He went white. “K-Khana, that’s… you love music.”

“Which is why it worked. But aji isn’t like that. It’s not nearly as valuable. It only costs a single memory. You know that!”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Khana, you’ve given enough of yourself for today. Please, just take some of mine. And do it quickly. As soon as the Reguallians get everything under control, Sava and the others are dead or worse. You know that.”

He was right, damn it. Sava was the only one of their friends still conscious. Everyone else was knocked out, completely helpless and unable to escape, never mind fight back.

Khana huffed and pulled herself to her feet. “All right.”

Luckily there was already a hole in the wall from her fight and, even better, it showed that the other side of the wall was outside . She’d aim for that.

Haz waited. “Well?”

“Are you sure about this?” She didn’t want to be like the dead witches at their feet, stealing aji from each other to save their own skins.

“Just take it.”

It was much easier now that they weren’t trying to punch each other. He slumped against the table as she drank enough to get her skin glowing. He yawned. “Did you do it yet, because I don’t feel anything.”

“You’re a menace,” she said, then ran at the wall at top speed.

The wall splintered but didn’t break. She had to run at it again, and this time it shattered completely, wooden splinters spraying everywhere.

This wasn’t like Pahuuda’s town hall. This had been a minor lord’s or gentry’s estate, isolated from the rest of the town with gardens instead of gargoyles. She stumbled into some shrubs, disrupting a cloud of bugs.

The estate was a little elevated from the rest of the town – what was it with rich people always needing to physically lift themselves over everyone else? – and so she had a perfect view of the black, shadowed town. Though it looked like someone had started a big bonfire near the stables.

She had just gotten her feet under her when a pair of guards rushed around the corner, investigating the sound.

She charged them and inhaled. One immediately dropped at her feet.

“The prisoner’s out!” the other shouted, comingat her with a spear. Khana pivoted out of his thrust and drank him dry, then ran back to Haz.

“Oh, you’re back,” he groaned, having braced both forearms against the table. “You can go on ahead; I’m just going to nap.”

“No, you won’t.” She gave him all the excess aji, lighting him like an orange-yellow-black star.

Haz jolted. “Whoa, that’s more effective than a bucket of ice!”

“Good. We need to lure Yamueto to me.”

He looked her up and down. “Then why aren’t you glowing?”

“I will be soon,” she said dryly.

They ran out of the hole, Haz twirling his knife. They ran around the building and went back inside the front door. Someone had alerted a couple more guards, and they were waiting for them, blocking the hallway. Both glowed faintly.

“Line game!” Haz cheered.

Khana reached them first, and the struggle for aji began, all of them trying to steal it from each other. Haz barreled into one and stabbed him in the weak spots of the armor beneath the armpit, killing before he could take his life force. The other went for Haz, but Khana kicked him in the leg, trying to bring him down. He went to draw his sword, but she grabbed his arm and put all of her weight against it. They battled for life force and the sword, at a standstill until Haz got behind him and stabbed him in the back. It wasn’t a clean kill but allowed Khana to drain him herself.

Haz huffed, kicking at their weapons. “Why aren’t these men using spears, like sensible people?”

“Rich people use swords.”

“Blech.”

She didn’t get it, either. She’d learned the spear the quickest and appreciated its reach.

They walked through the large house, looking for more targets. It had bigger, wider rooms than what she was used to in Pahuuda, the air not getting as cold and thus requiring less heat conservation. A servant, or more likely a slave, pressed herself against the corner of a richly decorated audience chamber when they poked their heads into the room, eyes wide with fear. Khana spoke softly: “We have no quarrel with you. We’re looking for Emperor Yamueto and his commanders.”

“The – The emperor went out. I don’t know where. Most of his commanders are gone, too, looking for him. Only his guest is here.”

“His guest?”

The servant shrugged. “I don’t know anything. Just that she’s here. And rude.”

Khana and Haz shared a confused look. “Thank you. Stay hidden; they’ll likely try to steal your life force to strengthen themselves when they come back.”

The servant nodded and hunkered down further in her corner.

They left the room and went up the stairs, hunting for more aji that wouldn’t come from an innocent.

They reached the second floor, the stairs leading to a long hallway with multiple doors on both sides. Khana tested a doorknob. It was locked. Something shuffled on the other side. Haz grinned, grabbed the handle, and yanked it out – along with the lock and a fair bit of the doorframe.

He froze.

Khana came in behind him, almost barreling into his back.

Bhayana sat in a cushioned chair, a piece of cake halfway to her mouth. Someone had given her a Tlapharian-style linen dress, which she wore under her porcupine cloak.

She sighed, setting the dessert down. “I liked you better as a night creature.”

“What?” Khana said hotly.

“What are you doing here?” Haz demanded.

Bhayana gestured to the room. “Diplomacy. I’m trying to negotiate with the emperor so that he doesn’t slaughter us all. What are you doing?”

“We thought you died during the attack on the town,” Khana said. “Chief Phramanka didn’t say anything about sending you here.”

“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

“You traitor.”

She gave them a flat look. “Negotiating for the lives of our people is betrayal? He’s going to win. I’m simply making sure we survive.”

“And that he kills whoever you don’t like,” Khana snapped. “You tell him who to execute, and in exchange he spares the Pinnsviris and packs the council with a new set of Families that suits your needs. Is that your plan?”

She crossed her arms. “Is the idea of the town being run by us so abhorrent that you’d rather see it burn?”

Khana lunged.

Bhayana dove from her chair and threw a knife. It struck true, burying itself in Khana’s chest. She coughed, hitting the floor.

Haz charged, swinging with his knife. Bhayana pulled another blade from her belt and blocked, steel shrieking against steel as they crashed into furniture. Khana pulled the blade out of her chest, letting her aji from the fight downstairs heal her while she tried to breathe through a storm of needles.

Bhayana disarmed Haz and slit his throat.

He staggered for a beat, the glow around him softening as the injury healed itself. Bhayana snarled and stabbed him twice more in quick succession before pinning him, no longer glowing, to the wall. He blocked her knife hand with his arm, keeping her from dealing a fatal wound. They hovered there for a moment, breathing hard, trying to find a weakness.

Khana pulled herself to her feet, silent against the carpeted floor.

“It’s been a while since we were this close,” Bhayana purred. “Emperor Yamueto and I both enjoy having you as a pet. That doesn’t have to change just because you’re no longer a night creature.”

“Fuck off,” Haz wheezed.

Khana drew herself up behind Bhayana and stabbed her through the back of the head, at the base of her skull.

The woman gurgled around blood and steel. Haz pushed her stiffening form away. They let her drop to the floor, watching the blood leak out of her mouth.

“Are you all right?” Khana asked him.

He studied his dead ex-lover, then shrugged. “Ask me again some other time.”