Keras moved first, but I could tell that only because of the position where their blades locked. His weapon had been stopped by her saber when it was inches from her face.
Mother was the one smiling now.
Keras frowned.
“Let me reintroduce myself. Laura Lyran. Councilor. Elementalist. And, perhaps most importantly, Emerald Swordmaster.”
Then she kicked him in the chest.
Keras took the kick with a grunt, stepping back in surprise, and losing his push on her weapon. Mother followed with a series of rapid strokes at chest level, her own movements too fast for me to follow, even with the Divination-enhanced vision.
Another of her strokes went low, but he kicked it aside, pressing forward with a thrust of his own. Mother batted it aside with her off-hand... which was glowing with electricity. The charge traveled through Keras’ weapon and into his arm. He winced, managing to maintain his grip, but barely dodged the follow-up swipe at his gut. It tore another line across his tunic and a crimson trail along his chest.
“Curious,” Mother mused. “Your shroud isn’t working properly.”
“I’d love to tell you all about it after you surrender.” Keras swung downward in a cut that should have come nowhere close to hitting her. His blade grew longer mid-swing, forcing my mother to make a split-second dance to her right.
Where his left fist was heading.
She took the punch with a wince and then struck him in the ear with a cupped palm.
Keras stepped back, grimacing, and shifted his stance to one I’d never seen. His right arm extended almost completely, the tip pointed toward my mother’s chest. It looked almost like an Edrian fencing stance, but I’d never seen one with the sword-arm extended so far.
The intent of the stance was clear enough. It left little of his body exposed, and his sword was in the way of any further attempts at getting close to him with a fist.
My mother stepped back, lowering into a standard defensive saber stance. Then she flicked a finger against the flat of her saber and a voltaic charge traveled along the surface of the blade, flickering back and forth from hilt to tip. As long as that electrical charge was on her blade, she could shock him on any contact between their weapons. I approved of the tactic; it made attrition her ally
It also made me deeply concerned.
Such a tactic would only be necessary if she knew she was at a disadvantage.
Keras took a step forward, pulling his arm back an inch. Mother moved her guard upward. Keras reset his stance.
A test, then.
Keras and my mother stood motionless for moments save for their eyes. They were both searching for weaknesses, finding none.
With his focus on my mother, Keras didn’t see the injured guard crawling up behind him. With a nod to my mother, the guard grabbed Keras around the right leg.
Keras startled, turning his head.
My mother lunged.
The masked swordsman twisted, trying to move out of the way, but the guard’s grip held. The blade caught Keras along the ribs, sending a charge of lightning into his chest. He stumbled back a step, finally managing to kick the guard and send the man tumbling across the floor.
Mother struck again. Keras caught her blade with his, but her blade was still charged with electricity. The lightning traveled from her weapon into his, searing his skin — but he didn’t drop the blade.
He pressed back harder.
Mother fell back a step, losing her stance for an instant. Keras’ blade flashed downward, driving Mother’s into the floor below. She pulled, but it was stuck.
Mother wasn’t done, though. She released her grip on the useless weapon and stepped inside Keras’ guard, slamming both hands into Keras chest. A blast of lightning launched him backward into the nearest wall.
Keras stood again.
His aura burned brighter. The air around him seemed to tremble as he stretched out his arms, readying his weapon to strike. His blade burned with a flare of silver, bright as a newborn star.
Then he smiled and tilted his head downward. “That was the most fun I’ve had in a while. I hope we’ll meet again.”
Then he turned and swung the burning weapon at the wall behind him, cleanly severing through the stone. With a punch from his other hand, the wall gave way... and then he was rushing out of the room.
My mother grit her teeth, taking a step toward the hole where he retreated, but the guard who’d helped her stood back up in her path. “Councilor Lyran, please help me see to the wounded.”
Mother’s eyes narrowed, considering, and then she nodded. “Of course.”
I was moving. I knelt next to the old man, Councilor Lanoy, and inspected him. Still breathing. Councilor Theas was already approaching as well. She looked exhausted, but uninjured.
I turned my head toward Councilor Theas. “He’s alive.”
“We were very lucky.” Councilor Theas knelt down at his side.
“No,” My voice replied. “He chose to be merciful.”
My vision froze after that, shifting in a blinding instant back to my own eyes.
***
I turned the gem over in my hand, trembling as I considered what I’d just seen.
Keras was there to meet with Tenjin, and they tried to arrest him. It follows that the ambush probably made Keras unhappy with everyone involved.
And Tenjin has been missing for weeks now.
Resh. Did Keras hurt one of the visages?
That would certainly explain why he was imprisoned in the tower if it was the case.
I frowned.
And Mother was there.
Mother fought against Keras, and she handled herself better than any of the others did. I knew she could fight, but... That was pretty impressive.
When’d she get a second attunement?
That last part didn’t really matter. I was glad she’d made it out of there alive, but I’d barely talked to my mother since she’d left. While I certainly felt a pang of fear for her when I’d seen her there, now I was more interested in why she was involved.
She clearly knew more about Keras than I did if she’d was involved in an attempted arrest.
I was nowhere near ready to reconcile with my mother after years apart, but this gave me a very good reason to write her a letter. I needed all the information I could get.