Page 67 of The Witch who Trades with Death

Chapter Sixty-Seven

They cleared out the rest of the house, sucking aji from three imperial officers and handful of witch bodyguards. By the time she and Haz went back downstairs, they both glowed like twin moons.

“Where would Yamueto keep the rest of the unit?” Haz asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. Keeping them unconscious would be Yamueto’s safest option, but maybe he’d gotten a head start on transforming them into night creatures. Did she have any other passions to trade away?

“Is the town supposed to be on fire?”

She paused, looking back at him. He’d stopped by a window, from which came an odd, warm glow.

She joined him at the window and gaped. At least two buildings – three? – and a good chunk of the surrounding forest were engulfed in separate infernos. Shadows flew in the sky; behemoths. It was too dark for her to count them.

“I’m going to guess… Itehua?” Haz said.

“He was unconscious. Everyone was, except for Sava.”

One fire she could dismiss as a fluke. A lazy or careless soldier not watching the flames of his camp. Two? In separate areas of town, no less?

Haz whistled. “Where can I find me a man like that?”

She pushed him. Normally, while glowing as bright as she was, he’d have gone through the wall. But he barely budged.

They rushed to the front door when an achingly familiar voice said, “Ah, I guess she escaped.”

“Yes, I see that, Sava. Where did she escape to ?” Neta demanded from the room that had served as Khana’s prison cell.

Khana and Haz shared a grin.

She removed the wooden bar from the door and opened it. Neta and Sava both whipped around, him with bow and arrow, and she with a spear and shield. Several spears, in fact, resting in the holder on her back.

“Khana!” Sava cheered, blinking. “Very bright!”

“You’re all right!” Khana cheered. “We were worried!”

“We?” Neta echoed.

Haz poked his head in. “ I had every confidence in Neta’s ability to stay alive.”

They gaped at him. Sava dropped his bow, letting it clatter to the ground. He rushed over and dragged Haz into a rough, desperate hug. Thankfully he’d gotten rid of Chanido’s armor at some point, or that would’ve left bruises. “You ass!”

Neta refrained, still staring, eyes suspiciously misty. She turned to Khana. “I thought you couldn’t bring back the dead.”

She winced. “I lied.”

The serji raised an eyebrow.

Sava looked up. “You made a deal. What did you trade?”

“My passion for music,” she said, trying not to feel guilty. It had been one of the things that had brought the two of them together.

He let out a breath. Haz grimaced. “Yeah, I told her that was a bad idea…”

“What about the emperor? Did he hurt you? Are you all right?” He left Haz to look her over.

“I’m fine. He barely did anything,” she promised, stilling his hands on her cheeks. “Most of this blood is from the guards. And Bhayana.”

“Bhayana?”

“She came to make a deal with Yamueto, pledging herself and probably her family to his service.”

Sava opened and closed his mouth, then shook his head and turned to Haz. “Are you all right?”

He shrugged. “At least she won’t torment me anymore, right?”

Neta gave a sharp sigh. “We lost one of the Poison Darts.”

Her stomach dropped. “Oh, gods. Who?”

“Lueti.”

Khana covered her mouth. Haz hissed.

“Possibly more. Sava checked them a little over twenty minutes ago.”

“They sent guards to tend to the fires and behemoths. We set them free,” Sava said. “We were trying to figure out how to get you so you could revive the others. They’re chained out in the yard.”

Athicha, Xopil, Lueti, Itehua, and Yxe all lay on the grass, manacles attached to their wrists leading to stakes in the ground. Four witch-guards stood nearby, anxiously watching the growing fires creep closer.

It was almost impossible to hide Khana and Haz with how much they glowed, so they didn’t bother. They strode right out to meet them.

The witches all stiffened when they approached. They stopped several spear-lengths away.

“Gentlemen!” Haz cheered. “Crazy night, huh?”

“We will give you one chance to surrender peacefully,” Khana declared. The witches all glared at her, and she held their gaze. “I’d rather limit the number of people I kill today.”

The witches considered. One of them said, “Drain the prisoners–”

An arrow shot out of the darkness and into his throat.

While the witches reeled in shock, a spear followed. Neta’s aim was excellent, hitting the witch in the thigh just under the armor. Khana charged, grabbing that spear and jamming it up, digging until she found the artery. The guard’s screams tapered into whimpers and then shock.

Sava shot the third through the eye, as the fourth went for the unconscious Poison Darts –

Only for Haz to tackle him to the ground and drag him away. The witch tried to drain Haz’s life force, until Khana took the spear and drove it into his neck, right above the armor.

“Did they get any of the unit?” Neta asked, coming out of the shadows.

“No,” Khana said, handing over the spear. She checked the witches’ bodies, ensuring they were all dead.

Sava walked out of the bushes he’d been concealed in, shaking leaves from his hair and clothes with a grimace.

Khana revived Xopil, first, who woke as if he’d just been sleeping. “’Morning, Khana,” he yawned. Then scrambled upright. “Khana! The emperor! What–”

“It’s fine. I’ll explain soon,” she promised, moving on to Yxe. He squeaked, then relaxed when he saw her and Neta. The serji had found the keys and was undoing their manacles.

Itehua came to swinging, punching Khana in the mouth. “Ow!”

“Oh, shit! Sorry, Khana.”

“Id’s bine,” she gurgled, waving him off. Her excess life force quickly healed the swelling, but after three revivals her blinding glow had dimmed considerably. “Haz, I might need some of your aji.”

Itehua blinked at her. “Uh, how hard did I hit you? You just called for–”

Haz put a hand on her shoulder, grinning down at Itehua. “I’m too stubborn to die.”

Itehua stared, slack-jawed, as Khana took some of Haz’s excess and revived Athicha.

Finally, she moved on to Lueti. She’d hoped that Sava had been mistaken, that he was too drained, too exhausted to assess properly. But he wasn’t. The elderly woman was dead.

The group’s joy at Haz being alive immediately soured.

“Wait, so you brought him back, can’t you do the same to her ? Is she not worth as much or something?” Itehua asked.

“Itehua…” Neta warned.

“What can I give up?” Khana whispered.

“What?” Itehua demanded.

Sava and Neta stepped in to explain. Athicha whistled lowly.

“So you can bring someone back, but it’ll hurt,” Xopil realized.

“And… the more deals you make, the more you lose yourself,” Itehua added, nodding with understanding. Face still pained with loss.

Khana hugged her knees. It wasn’t helplessness that gripped her but being trapped. Caught between two terrible outcomes.

Haz shook his head. “Look, Khana, as the person who has been revived… I’m glad to be alive. Thrilled, even. But if you give up anything else, you’re basically turning into Yamueto.”

“She wouldn’t want that,” Yxe agreed, wiping his eyes.

“No,” Itehua conceded. “She wouldn’t.”

Khana shook her head, vision blurry. “Maybe there’s something else, something that I’m not seeing–”

“Khana!” Neta barked. Her tone gentled. “You’ll hate me for saying this, but we need you whole more than we need Lueti.”

Her temper flared, and she strode up to the serji’s face. “How can you say that? Lueti’s our friend!”

Neta didn’t flinch. “But she’s not a witch. And that’s who we need to bring down the emperor and save Pahuuda. She knew the risks. We all did. We all went into this believing we could die, thinking it was impossible for you to bring us back at all.”

Sava put a hand on Khana’s shoulder. “If you still feel strongly about this, then it’s your decision. But for now, Neta’s right. This mission must come first. I’m sorry.”

Khana’s rage simmered into helpless grief.

Xopil sniffled. “I’ll carry her.”

“That’ll slow us down,” Neta argued.

“We can’t leave her here for some other witch to turn her into a night creature.”

Neta visibly paused, tipping her head, eyes on Khana.

Khana knew exactly what she was thinking. “No.”

“Carrying her corpse is too big a risk,” Neta countered.

“Absolutely not.”

“And we could use the extra fighter.”

“Neta–”

“There’s no one else she would trust with this!” Neta stressed. “If I was the one on the ground right now, I would want you to turn me. Because then I could still fight and I would be under your control, not the emperor’s. After that, then I’d be able to rest.”

Silence.

“Agreed,” Itehua said at length. “If I go down, bring me back up to finish the job.”

“Yeah, being an undead abomination was fun. I’m up for doing it again,” Haz drawled.

Khana ran her hands down her face, hysterical laughter and tears bubbling out of her. “I thought the whole point of me not bringing Lueti back was to avoid me becoming like Yamueto.”

“This doesn’t make you like him,” Neta stressed. “We’re simply being practical and protecting our friend from being used by others.”

Protection seemed like a strong word for it.

But as Khana thought more about it, she realized the truth. If they left her here, Lueti would likely be raised by one of Yamueto’s witches, and she knew her friend would find that unacceptable. Short of burning the body here and now, this was the only way to be sure.

Wiping her cheeks and muttering apologies, Khana pressed the remaining life force into Lueti.

Within moments, Lueti opened milky, soulless eyes.

“Rise,” Khana ordered.

Lueti obeyed, her movements perfectly healthy and coordinated, but unnatural. It wasn’t how Lueti moved at all.

“Your primary task is ensuring the safety of the people you see before you,” Khana stressed. “Your secondary task is helping us kill Emperor Yamueto. Do you understand?”

Night Creature Lueti nodded.

Yxe cautiously poked her. She stared at him, unmoving. Not blinking. He shivered.

“Right,” Itehua said, giving the night creature an unsettled look. “What’s the plan?”

“Sava and I burned down the behemoth stables, the granary, and at least one barracks. We stole these while we were at it.” Neta handed out the extra spears she’d carried on her back, while Athicha reclaimed their bow and quiver. “And we released the behemoths, which should slow them down if we fail.”

“Why not kill them?”

Xopil made a noise of protest while Neta said, “Not enough time.”

“Whatever,” Itehua said. “Let’s find the emperor and–”

“Get our asses kicked again?” Sava interrupted. “We surprised him the last time, and it didn’t work.”

“What else are we supposed to do? We’re never going to get a better chance!”

Athicha clapped to draw attention, then signed. Sava translated: “‘I think our mistake was that he was surrounded by bodyguards. We have to pull him away from them.’ Athicha’s right, but what if he makes another deal with Death?”

“He has to run out of things to trade eventually,” Khana pointed out.

Neta pondered for a moment. “Haz is still glowing a little. Khana, does he have enough to share with the rest of us? Give us a little extra strength? Or at least a buffer against other witches trying to drain us.”

She considered. “For all of us? No, I don’t think so. But there’s a lot of people and livestock between us and the emperor.”

Catching a small group of soldiers was easy. A quarter of a mile from the lord’s house, a dozen foot soldiers surrounded a well, filling buckets to deal with the burning granary. As distracted and frantic as they were, it was easy for Khana to slip in alone and drain them – just to unconsciousness. When the others joined her, she gave each of them enough so that they all glowed like a star cluster, including Lueti.

Khana led the march into town. Neta wanted to wait at the noble’s house for Yamueto to come to them, allowing the unit to set up the battlefield a little better to suit them. But when Khana pointed out how Yamueto didn’t hesitate to draw aji from slaves, servants, or any of his other citizens, and how much he could accumulate before reaching them, she relented.

So, they were going to him.

The townsfolk thankfully stayed well out of their way. Most soldiers who spotted them either ran off or ignored them, likely believing them witches. A small handful of soldiers did approach, probably fooled by the Reguallian armor worn by most of the Poison Darts. But by the time they got close enough to realize their mistake, Khana drained them to unconsciousness, dividing the aji among her friends.

She swallowed, looking away from Lueti’s walking corpse to her feet. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get Yamueto earlier. I’ve dragged you all into this mess.”

Athicha snorted.

Sava wrapped an arm around her. “You’re not dragging anyone anywhere we don’t want to go.”

“Yeah,” Haz piped up. “I, for one, would love to punch that jackass in the face before going home. And I need to steal at least one of those behemoths for a ride.”

“It was fun,” Xopil said, grinning.

Yxe hiccupped. “Right. Fun.”

Neta nudged her. “Soldiers don’t fight alone. This emperor has hurt all of us. We do this together.”

Athicha signed something. They must’ve asked what the plan was, because Neta explained, “Khana gets up close for the kill. The rest of us: bear tactics. Don’t get within breathing distance.”

“And for those of us who don’t have spears?” Haz asked, twirling his knife.

“Find one.”

They reached the night creature barracks. The building was still on fire, and Khana couldn’t hear any animalistic shrieking. She didn’t see any bodies outside, but she smelled roasting flesh.

Yamueto stood in front of the burning stables, tapping his foot as he watched his men pour buckets of water and dirt onto the flames. He finally noticed them when some of the soldiers stopped momentarily to stare, then jolted back into action.

The emperor turned slowly on his heel to face them. He raised an eyebrow at Khana, first, then at Haz. “Really? You could’ve bargained for anything, and you asked for him back?”

“I’m irresistible,” Haz deadpanned. He brushed shoulders with Khana, offering his strength and courage as always.

And she… didn’t need it. Not anymore. Yamueto stood backlit by the fire, dressed in black silks making him look ten feet tall, as immovable and untouchable as ever. But she didn’t see the unstoppable emperor she always cowered from. She wasn’t sure what had changed. Maybe it was his sheer disbelief at why she’d choose to save her friend above all else. But she decided that what she saw in front of her was a pathetic person who had sold himself for scraps of power. Power that he would now lose.

Yamueto’s eyes drifted to Lueti. “At least you have the sense to not trade more than you need to.”

“Haz,” Yxe called. He’d broken off from the group to collect one of the spears that the soldiers had dropped in favor of buckets. He tossed it to him.

Yamueto’s mouth twitched the barest imitation of a smile. “Well. I need to kill some time before this fire burns down, anyway.”

He pointed to a group of soldiers. “You three. On me, now.”

“Don’t do it!” Khana warned as they stepped forward. “He’s going to kill you.”

She didn’t know why she expected them to hate him as much as she did. One of them sneered at her. “We would gladly give ourselves for the emperor.”

Sava fired an arrow, hitting Yamueto in the shoulder. Khana charged before the soldiers could get to him, intent on taking him out first. The soldiers ran to intercept, triggering her unit to intercept them , and it dissolved from there.

Khana tackled Yamueto to the ground and fell into the familiar rhythm of trying to steal his life force while he tried to steal hers. Yxe flipped a soldier over his shoulder and onto Itehua’s spear while Xopil picked up and threw a man into the burning building. Neta, Lueti, and Haz helped establish a perimeter around Khana and Yamueto so no one could get in to help, and Sava and Athicha shot anyone who got close.

Yamueto’s hand wrapped around Khana’s throat, choking her, preventing her from breathing. ?ji poured into him from her, more quickly than any other witch she’d dealt with, and his enhanced fingers began crushing her windpipe.

She grabbed the arrow in his shoulder and twisted, digging into his flesh. He hissed, the drain of life force slowing as his pain grew. She twisted harder.

He kicked out her legs and brought her down, choking her on the ground. Khana tried to throw him off, but he wouldn’t budge. Her skin had almost completely stopped glowing.

The tip of a spearhead poked out of Yamueto’s chest, splattering Khana’s face with blood. He gasped in pain, loosening his grip on Khana’s neck. She gulped in air, dizzy and lightheaded. Neta twisted the spear before pulling it out and dancing away.

Yamueto’s aji healed the wound immediately, and he whipped around to go after the serji. Khana grabbed his ankle and tripped him, breathing in hard. Neta jabbed him again, this time in the other shoulder.

He snatched her spear away and broke it. Swearing, Neta drew an axe from her belt, stepping away from the emperor, closer to the soldier she couldn’t see sneaking up behind her.

Khana pulled Yamueto back at the same time Itehua called: “Serji, behind!”

Neta spun around and blocked the soldier’s sword with her axe in the nick of time. Lueti came to help her, docile as a lamb but vicious as a snake as she sliced open the back of his ankles.

“Watch Khana! I have no spear!” the serji ordered.

Yamueto kicked Khana in the face. Her nose crunched under his boot but healed quickly before her head hit the ground again.

Towering above her, Yamueto made a great target for Haz and Lueti, who threw their spears at the emperor’s chest. One missed, but the other went through at least one lung and stayed there. He spat and coughed blood, wrapping his hands around the weapon.

Khana scrambled to her feet. A soldier rushed Haz, but he caught the man’s arm with glowing hands. Even with the chaos of the fire and the shouting and Khana’s own ragged breathing, she could hear the snap of the unfortunate soldier’s bones.

Yamueto pulled out the spear, coughing up more blood even as the wound healed, only to be hit with an arrow. Athicha notched a new one, changing tact quickly to fire at a soldier racing toward them and Sava.

Yamueto yanked the arrow out of his gut with a growl, dropping the shaft as the wound healed. Khana found and scooped up an abandoned knife. Not great, but better than nothing.

He lunged at her with the spear. Khana pivoted and stepped inwards, trying to get within striking range. Yamueto flicked his wrists, and the spear darted to the side, nicking her in the arm. She grabbed it just under the tip with a hiss, trying to wrestle it away from him. This far apart, they couldn’t get each other’s life force.

“Why would you want this?” she asked. “I never wanted a fight. I don’t want revenge. All you had to do was leave. Me. Alone.”

Yamueto pulled at the spear. Khana kept it in her grip, refusing to let go. “You, this world, everything is mine.” He said, like he was stating the fact about gravity.

“Not anymore.”

Xopil screamed.

Khana looked up. The man had taken a hit to the side and dropped to a knee. The injury healed, but he stopped glowing. The soldier who stabbed him raised his sword again, and Xopil was barely able to get his spear up in time, almost crumbling under the blow.

Haz was busy with another soldier; Itehua and Yxe were back-to-back, swarmed by foes. Neta’s glow was almost out, yet she still battled two soldiers with her axe. Lueti was closest, but unarmed and busy stopping another soldier attacking the serji. Sava tried to shoot an arrow, only for a soldier to swing a sword at him. The bowstring snapped, rendering it useless. Athicha fired off a shot to help Xopil, just as another soldier tackled them to the ground, sending the arrow flying off-target.

None of them would be able to get to Xopil in time.

Yamueto studied her. “Decisions, decisions.”

Khana still had her knife in hand, but she’d never been good at throwing them.

So, she chose the easier target. She threw the blade at Yamueto, startling him enough that he loosened the grip on his spear even as he was only hit by the handle, not the blade. Khana yanked the spear out of his hands, twirled it, and threw it at Xopil’s attacker.

She went too low, only grazing the man’s thigh. It still made him yelp and pull back, giving Xopil enough time to surge up and bury his spear in his gut.

Yamueto slammed into Khana, and white-hot agony exploded in her chest. He had hold of her knife and twisted it between her ribs.

“Khana!” Sava screamed.

It was a surreal moment of numbness, pain, and clarity, as Khana realized that they weren’t going to win. The aji she’d given her friends had almost vanished, Yxe and Sava the only ones still visibly glowing. They’d racked up several Reguallian bodies, but already reinforcements pooled in from town, their armored bodies swarming the streets like beetles.

Yamueto put a hand on her shoulder, pressing her down. She dropped to her knees. He knelt next to her. “This has been fun,” he said coolly. “But I’ve killed hundreds of people more skilled than you, with far more gumption.”

Haz brought down his attacker with a kick to the gut and sprinted to them.

Khana’s breath rattled weakly as her lungs filled with blood. Haz’s fingers brushed against her shoulder. “Death…”

Yamueto’s eyes widened. “Vigerion–”

“I wish to trade.”