‘NO!’ Janak shouted. ‘Come to me, you fool!’
As Annev distanced himself from the merchant, he felt the compulsion to obey weaken. By the time he reached Fyn’s side, Janak was practically spitting.
‘Burn you!’ the man swore, slapping his withered legs. ‘Burn you and the demons that spawned you!’
Annev knelt beside Fyn, checking his injuries.
The avatar’s eyes fluttered open and Fyn gripped his forearm. ‘What—’
‘Annev!’ Kenton shouted from the opposite end of the study. ‘Dove won’t stop, and I can’t slow him down!’
Damn. Kenton was fully engaged with Duvarek’s armoured figure: the boy wasn’t pulling his punches now, yet every time Kenton slashed with his tachi, the bronze suit of armour absorbed his blows. He watched Kenton kick off the wall and flip behind Duvarek, hacking at the softer metal surrounding the collar bones and armpits, but the blade still slipped away.
‘Kenton needs help,’ Annev said, easing Fyn into a sitting position. ‘Can you fight?’
‘Huh?’ Fyn said, a little too loud.
Annev pointed at Janak then slid his own thumb across his throat. The concussed boy nodded his understanding and began searching the room for his fallen weapons. Annev rose to his feet, his shortsword and axe loose in his hands. Kenton saw him coming and circled around the room, taking advantage of Duvarek’s slower pace to regroup with Annev. As he moved, Duvarek’s visored gaze followed the boy, relentless and unhurried.
‘I tried talking to him,’ Kenton said, catching his breath, ‘but nothing gets through – and that scale mail is no joke. It’s harder than steel, and I can’t find any openings.’
‘Fyn’s taking care of it,’ Annev said, planting his feet as the bronze figure stalked towards them. ‘When he kills Janak, the compulsion will fail.’
‘Why couldn’t you kill him?’
‘I tried, but the closer I got, the more control he had over me.’
‘And you think Fyn will do better?’
Annev nodded, a crazed-looking grin on his face. ‘He’s mostly deaf right now – and about as empathetic as a rock. Plus Janak’s his kill.’ Duvarek was only a dozen paces away and the two avatars took an unconscious step backward.
‘For our sakes, I hope you’re right.’ Kenton lifted his tachi as Duvarek stepped within spear range. ‘I’ll go low, you go high!’ And before Annev could agree, Kenton sprinted towards his former mentor.
The Master of Shadows lowered his spear, intending to skewer his former protégé, but Kenton closed the gap too quickly, dropping to his knees and sliding beneath the falling spearhead.
As Kenton slammed into Duvarek’s legs, Annev leapt at the armoured figure, his axe held high. He swung for the warrior’s helmeted head, timing his attack just as Kenton kicked the man’s greaves and slashed his groin. Duvarek accepted the body blows, refusing to budge under Kenton’s assault, but when Annev’s axe fell, he shifted aside, dodging the weapon. Annev followed up with a second attack from Mercy, giving Kenton time to roll out from under Duvarek’s feet. The Master Avatar surprised him by grasping the blunted shortsword with his gauntleted hand. Before Annev could activate the artifact’s magic, Duvarek yanked the sword from his grasp and kicked him in the stomach, sending him reeling.
Annev rolled to his feet and regrouped with Kenton, feeling naked with just his axe to protect himself. He glanced at Fyn and saw the boy had reclaimed his maces and was doggedly crawling towards Janak, ignoring their battle with Duvarek. As the avatar drew closer to Janak’s wheelchair, the merchant realised his plight and raised his sceptre.
‘Stop!’ he commanded, shaking the dark rod at Fyn. ‘Lie down and die, boy.’
But Fyn didn’t stop, nor did he slow his advance. With grim determination, he swayed from his hands and knees to his feet, gaining momentum as he stalked the merchant.
‘Duvarek!’ Janak shouted, suddenly frantic. ‘Protect me! Kill the warrior!’
The Master of Shadows spun from Kenton and Annev, slapped his spear under his arm, and flipped Mercy in his hand, catching its hilt in a downward grip. With long, purposeful strides, he advanced on Fyn’s stumbling figure.
Annev looked at Kenton. ‘We can’t stop him unless we try something more permanent.’ The scarred avatar shook his head, but Annev cut off his objections: ‘Fyn needs us.’
Kenton saw their companion’s peril and swore. With a mixture of resolve and self-loathing, he dashed forward, pressed the tip of his tachi into the soft metal covering Duvarek’s armpit, and shoved. Instead of piercing the Master Avatar’s torso, though, Kenton’s silvery blade skittered across the flexible mesh covering Duvarek’s joints and vitals: like the skin of a fish, each bronze scale overlapped the next without a hint of a crack or a whisper of space beneath the tiny plates.
Duvarek ignored the attack and continued to stride towards Fyn.
Annev stepped in with his axe, hooking the warrior’s foot just as Duvarek shifted his weight. The Master Avatar teetered and Kenton lunged for a second attack, driving his tachi into the slit of the man’s visored helm. Annev guessed it would be a killing blow but again the sword skittered off the bronze metal, unable to penetrate the slotted visor.
This time Duvarek retaliated by crashing Mercy’s blunted edge into the boy’s tachi, snapping the thinner, non-magical sword with the force of his blow. For a moment, Kenton stared in horror at his broken blade, but then Duvarek snapped the butt of his spear into the boy’s stunned face and he went reeling.
‘Duvarek!’ Janak shouted again. ‘Kill him, now!’
The merchant had abandoned his broken wheelchair in an attempt to escape Fyn’s murderous pursuit; with the lamp and dark rod still clutched in his hands, he was crawling towards the questionable safety of his toppled desk.
In response to Janak’s command, Duvarek planted his feet and aimed his spear at Fyn. Annev took a desperate swing with his axe, connecting with the bottom half of the weapon as it flew from Duvarek’s hand. The spear flipped end over end through the air, knocking a lamp from its sconce and showering the room in burning oil. The haft slapped across Fyn’s shoulders and the avatar looked back, glaring at his attacker. He hesitated when he saw Duvarek advancing on him with Mercy in hand and gauged the distance between the crippled merchant ahead of him and the armoured thrall behind him.
‘Go!’ Annev yelled, waving him onward. ‘Kill Janak!’ He wasn’t sure Fyn heard, but then Kenton jumped into Duvarek’s path and clamped an iron collar around the man’s neck.