His words hung in the air, crackling like icicles ready to fall.
Drew stared at Gahalatine, his cheeks flushing. “The Fountain gave me this crown,” he answered thickly. “And it will help me maintain it. If you would have it, come take it from me.”
Gahalatine looked disappointed but not surprised. He sighed and gestured to the armored man next to him. “So be it. You had your chance.”
The armored knight charged into the room, his armor exuding a dustlike smoke as he moved. It was Fountain magic, and Trynne sensed the speed and agility it gave the warrior despite its bulk. He engaged Captain Staeli first, making Trynne’s heart leap into her throat. Staeli, who had been fighting all night, was physically exhausted, yet he leaped at the warrior without hesitation. But the moment Staeli’s sword struck the man’s armor, the blade went red with cankered rust and then shattered. The impact made Staeli’s face go slack from shock right before the knight backhanded him across the face with an armored gauntlet. As he struck the ground, the knight plunged his sword into Staeli’s stomach, the blade shearing effortlessly through the hauberk. Staeli’s legs began to twitch and then he went limp.
“No!” Fallon roared, rushing forward past the ring of Oath Maidens. The knight turned his hateful gaze on him, and Trynne felt her world tipping over like a huge vase, about to crash down.
Fallon did not repeat Staeli’s mistake. He feinted with his sword and then kicked the knight in the chest. Fallon’s boot shoved the man back a few feet, but it did not unleash the strange dustlike smoke. The knight returned and started swinging deliberately at Fallon, who countered with his own sword and gave ground to the opposing warrior’s superior skill. Fallon focused on deflecting the blade and not counterstriking against the warrior. Trynne’s hand clenched the pommel of her own blade, feeling helpless as she watched the knight come after Fallon.
Fallon’s blade caught that of the other knight, their hilts locking together, and he kicked at the knight’s knee. From Fallon’s wince, the blow seemed to hurt him more than it did his competitor.
Fallon’s face contorted with anger as his opponent tried to leverage him back. Reaching out, he grabbed the front of the knight’s helm and yanked it sideways, trying to blind him. The trick worked, and Fallon managed to free his blade and retreat a step or two.
Gahalatine’s champion unstrapped the helm, pulled it off, and threw it down.
The knight was a woman.
She was tall, only a little shorter than Fallon, and as muscular and strong as any man. Her resemblance to Gahalatine marked her as a relation. Beautiful and fierce, she had dark hair that was shorn short and features that were a slight bit more delicate than the emperor’s. She came at Fallon and he defended, but Trynne saw the worry in his eye, saw how conflicted he felt about battling a woman to the death.
“He can’t win,” Drew whispered in despair. “He’s already lost.”
And then Gahalatine’s champion sliced Fallon’s leg at the knee, twirled, and brought her elbow into his nose. He teetered backward, trying to keep his footing despite the blaze of pain from his torn lip and the blood gushing from his knee. Then he went down, dropping his blade on impact. Trynne watched in horror as the knight maiden turned her sword toward his heart, gripping it with both hands.
Trynne saw what she must do. It opened in front of her like a vision.
“My lord, your sword!” she said to Drew, dropping her own and holding out her hand. She knew in her heart that Firebos would not be affected by the knight’s armor. It was the only weapon that could pierce it unharmed.
Drew’s eyes widened when he looked at her, seeing the smear of blue on her face, recognizing that she, Trynne Kiskaddon, was the Painted Knight. He obeyed her at once, handing the blade of the Maid of Donremy to her. Its magic felt familiar to her, as if she’d carried it into battle all along.
The enemy knight jammed the sword down toward Fallon’s heart as Trynne invoked the wellspring magic once again. The room seemed to still and slow, as it had before, and she spanned the space between them with a few lunging steps, swinging Firebos around to deflect the blade. The two swords met with a clash of sparks.
Trynne continued her attack, driving the other knight backward, away from Fallon, back toward Gahalatine. Their blades met and rang, counter versus counter. Trynne did not limit her focus to the blade. She hacked at the other woman’s armor, each blow sending splashes of dust into the air, but Firebos was indeed protected from harm. There was a screeching noise as the woman’s armor was sheared open.