“I did pretty good, didn’t I?”
Tesh slid the deadbolt. “I held my own there for a while. I think I surprised you.” Tesh offered a grin, then shrugged. “I’m still not as good as you. My wrists aren’t as strong, and your speed is superior. You would have beaten me, killed me, if Brin hadn’t interfered. But overall, I did surprise you, didn’t I? A Rhune like me—just a kid—going toe-to-toe with Sebek.” Tesh nodded. “I’ve learned a lot. Not enough to beat you—not enough to seriously challenge any of the Galantians, let alone the best of them—but eventually…well, now we’ll never know.”
Sebek didn’t move, didn’t speak, but he watched Tesh’s every movement.
“You know, when I first met Raithe, he taught me that the best way to learn how to kill someone is to discover everything you can about how they fight. ‘Determine their strengths and weaknesses. Uncover their secrets, and never let them see yours.’ That’s what he told me. Every night since then I’ve gone to sleep with those words running through my head. He was right, but I thought I’d have more time, you know?”
“You saw us,” Sebek said, his hands clasping the handles of his swords.
“When you and the rest of the Galantians came to my village?” Tesh nodded. “My mother was a wise and intelligent woman. At the first hint of your coming, she sent me into the cellar. We were poor—everyone was—and our storeroom was little more than a hole in the ground bordered by bricks. Didn’t even have the wood for a door. My father went out, buying my mother time. She put me in, covered the hole with a rug, and moved the bed over all of it. Then she left to join my dad. From the outside, the cellar was invisible. I removed a brick, and through the tiny gap I watched you kill my father. While she cried over his dead body, you cut my mother’s head off.” Tesh pointed at the left sword. “With Thunder, I believe. She was a woman, not worthy of Lightning, isn’t that right? And, yet, in a way, she’d bested you. You never found what she had hidden.”
Sebek struggled to pull himself more upright and winced at the effort.
“You Galantians are such heroes. I could tell that just watching you, the way you slaughtered everyone. All the unarmed men, the women as they clutched their babies, and the children—yes, nothing screams hero quite like butchering an innocent child. I used to think you burned everything just to be thorough, or because your fane ordered it, but he doesn’t even know, does he? He never ordered that attack, never ordered any assault. The war with the Fhrey didn’t exist until you started it. You murdered everyone in Dureya and Nadak to terrify the rest of the clans. You wanted us to think the fane was our enemy, that we had no choice but to fight back. This war was Nyphron’s idea, isn’t that right?”
Sebek didn’t reply, but his eyes were wide. Tesh took that as a sign of confirmation.
“Nyphron wants to be fane, but you can’t break the law of your god and still rule in his name, can you? Ferrol forbids Fhrey from killing Fhrey. So, Nyphron needed a Rhune army to do what he couldn’t.”
Sebek finally spoke. “You’re here to kill me.”
Tesh was pleased. He wanted to be sure Sebek understood everything. Tesh had waited a long time; he felt he deserved at least that much. “I’d kill you all, if I had the time.”
“So why save Nyphron from the raow?”
Tesh smiled as he slowly drew his swords. “I wanted to be the one to kill each of you.” He sighed. “But Nyphron is probably already dead, so I saved him for nothing. But of the two, I’d rather it be you. Nyphron only gave the order; you were the one who killed my family. Every day for nearly a year, I choked back vomit as I pretended to be your devoted student, waiting until I had the skills.”
“You think that because I’m wounded you can take me?”
“Yes.”
Sebek gritted his teeth, grabbed his swords, and swung his feet to the floor.
Tesh let him.
Tesh feinted with his left. Sebek met him. In that clash, everything was made clear. Sebek’s block was weak, without follow-through.
I’m doing him a favor. He wants me to kill him.
No better death for a warrior than in battle. But Tesh wasn’t there to merely kill Sebek. He wanted to hurt the Fhrey, let him know what loss felt like. Roan’s iron blade proved to be able to deliver on its promise. He struck Lightning with all his might and was rewarded when the bronze sword was severed at the hilt.
That is for my father.
He could have killed Sebek then, but Tesh wouldn’t grant the Fhrey any favors. His next blows weren’t aimed at flesh but at Thunder. Acting as giant scissors, Tesh’s sword caught Sebek’s remaining blade between two strong swings, and it, too, snapped.
That is for my mother.
Sebek staggered backward. He wasn’t looking at Tesh. His eyes were focused on the broken hilts, as if his hands had been cut off. Tesh paused to let the full weight of the pain sink in. Tears slipped down Sebek’s cheeks.
“Now you know,” Tesh said. “Now you understand.”