advisor, had warned Ernave. Time and again the sword slid along Ernave's axe, turning the blows so that the heavier steel of the axe didn't damage the sword blade.
The king's mouth moved with magic-making the whole time he fought. For the most part Red Ernave forestalled the spell with heavy blows that forced the king to lose his rhythm and concentrate on swordwork. Doubtless there were more spells that Kerine deflected, but, every so often, a spell touched Ernave with white-hot heat that drained his spent body even more.
The king was fresh, and Ernave had been tired unto death before the battle began. Even so, Ernave planted his feet, and, with a swift pattern of his axe, he forced the king to leap away.
The axe felt heavy in his hands, and every time it jerked as the king turned aside another blow the shock shot up Ernave's forearms and through his shoulders and neck in a flash of pain.
Ernave stumbled over nothing and, as he fell, his axe caught the king a glancing blow in the knee and laid it bare to the bone. Ernave didn't hesitate, but kept rolling until he staggered to his feet and turned back to face the king.
The Shadowed shrieked and the semblance of the young man the king had been fell away, leaving behind something that was little more than sinew clinging to bone. There was no time for horror. Ernave surged to his feet and struck at the king's sword again.
The blow hit fairly at last, shattering the elegant blade. Ernave set himself for a killing blow, but the Shadowed dropped his sword and lashed out with his hand. Claws that belonged on no human fingers sunk deep into Ernave's side.
Ernave cried out, but the pain did not slow his strike and the axe cleaved sweetly through the Shadowed's neck.
Bleeding and breathing heavily, Red Ernave stared in astonished shock at the body of the old, old man who lay on the ground.
Who'd have thought the Shadowed could really be killed?
"How did you do that? How did you withstand his magic? I couldn't block it all. You are no mage." Kerine's nagging voice broke through the buzzing exhaustion that made everything seem oddly distant.
"The old mage," said Ernave, his breathlessness growing worse until he breathed in shallow pants. "He gave the last of his life to hold off the dark magic long enough for me to kill the Shadowed. I thought he was a fool to believe it would work... but it didn't matter as we were all dead anyway."
As he finished speaking he fell to his knees.
Buried deep in Red Ernave's heart, Tier, knowing how this story ended, realized his danger and struggled to surface, but there was nothing to cling to as Ernave began to submit to the death bequeathed him by the Shadowed.
A thin whisper rang in his ears.
"And so the great warrior died in the wake of the Shadowed and left..."
"Left the battlefield." Tier grasped the words. "Left his army to mourn." But he couldn't remember the next -
Kerine tried uselessly to save Ernave with what little remained of his power.
"They burned the thing that had once been a king," continued Tier's visitor softly when Tier stopped speaking.
Tier fumbled a little but the familiar words began to flow again, separating him from his story. "And... and scattered his ashes in stream and field so that there would be no grave nor memorial to the king who had no name."
The pain in Tier's side faded and he was once more safe in the dark of his prison.
"They buried Red Ernave in the battlefield, hoping that his presence would somehow hold the host of darkness at bay. They trailed into the empty city where the Shadowed had ruled and pulled down the king's palace until not one brick stood upon the other. Then the remnants of the Glorious Army of Man waited, for they had no place to go. The last of the cities and villages were years since ground to dust under the weight of the Shadowed. Only when the food ran short did the army drift away in twos and threes."
Tier found himself shaking in the dark as the story faded away. Next time he experimented with magic, he decided firmly, it would be with a story whose hero survived.
"What have you done, Bard?" said the voice from above him. "Magic for music, both becoming more real. What have you done?" And, severing the bond that still held him to