Excerpt

1

KADDIM

Prince Kythar Dorn waited for his friends at the entrance to the small courtyard. It was a perfect, secluded spot. A cool breeze wafted through the columned gallery at the far end, carrying the fresh smells of lake water and bread baking in the palace kitchens. Up above, a lonely watchtower crowned the jagged line of the battlements looming against the clear morning sky. A hawk shrieked overhead, out on its early morning hunt.

Feet rustled on dry stone and a shadow fell across the pavement by his side. Kyth turned and met Ellah's sharp hazel-green eyes. He nodded to the girl, his gaze sliding past her to where his foster brother Alder had just emerged from the garden passage behind. He looked sleepy as he hurried toward them, straightening out his shirt.

Kyth's smile faded as he realized that the passage behind Alder was empty. "Kara couldn't make it?"

Ellah shook her head. "She said to start without her. She'll join us later if she can."

Kyth looked away. Without Kara, a Diamond-ranked Majat warrior and the girl of his dreams, testing his new ability to focus the wind into the tip of his sword wouldn't be the same. He tried to convince himself that this was the only reason for his disappointment. Nothing to do with the fact that, ever since they'd first met, he couldn't stop thinking about her.

"We don't need Kara." Alder grinned and reached for the axe strapped across his back. "Let's first see if you can handle me, brother."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ellah asked.

Kyth drew his sword. "You did want to see how my gift worked, didn't you?"

"Yes, but suppose someone sees us."

"No one's going to see us."

"What about the guards on that watchtower?" She pointed to the top of the wall across the yard.

Kyth narrowed his eyes, glancing at the massive stone structure overhead. "Empty. This one overlooks the lake, so it's rarely manned. Besides, no one would object to a little weapons practice."

"With a sword against an axe?"

"Come now, it'll be all right."

Ellah pursed her lips and subsided into silence.

Kyth edged further into the yard—and paused.

A sense of foreboding, just at the edge of consciousness, held him in place. He hesitated, feeling the small hairs on his neck stand on end.

Ellah frowned. "What is it, Kyth?"

"I'm not sure." He strained his senses to penetrate the corners of the courtyard, all the way into the deep shadows under the columns, but couldn't detect anything out of place.

"Well," Ellah said. "Why don't you get on with it, then?" She shielded her eyes against the sunlight and swept past, heading for the shade by the far wall.

A warning cry caught in Kyth's throat as he finally realized what was wrong.

He could no longer feel the wind. Still air wavered over the smoothly hewn stones of the ancient pavement with the rising heat of early sunbeams. Ellah's short brown hair and the folds of her dress hung limply as she strode across the yard.

"Ellah, stop!"

She paused and glanced at Kyth with a questioning look. Alder lowered his axe, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Kyth's skin crawled. An invisible blanket of power descended over the small courtyard. It rolled over his head, smothering sounds, absorbing all movement into its blunt softness.

Someone nearby was using a strange sort of power.

A lot stronger than Kyth's.

Great Shal Addim.

"Ellah, get back. Now!" Kyth locked his eyes with Alder's, both raising their weapons.

"Greetings, Highness," a deep, insinuating voice echoed through the courtyard.

Shadows by the wall shifted and became a hooded shape, wrapped in a black priest-like robe.

Kyth gasped and backed off. He could have sworn there was no one there when they first arrived. Too late, he noticed the deep protrusion of the wall by the arched courtyard gateway. He had never realized the niche was so deep. Still, it didn't explain the presence of strangers inside the castle wall. How the hell did he get in here?

The hooded man clicked his fingers, answered by movement beside the columns at the far end. At least a dozen men stepped out of the shadows and fanned out, blocking the way to escape. They were dressed for action, folds of their black robes tucked into their belts, loose pants girded at the ankles by the tall cuffs of their leather boots.

Kyth recognized their weapons, spiked balls hanging on long, thin chains. Orbens—powerful, but extremely hard to master, banned for centuries after the fall of the Old Empire. A sword was all but useless against them, at least for someone with Kyth's limited skill. Pits of hell. He edged further away, keeping as many men as he could in his line of sight. They idled, holding their weapons but not attacking.

The hooded man stepped forward. Sunlight fell onto his face illuminating gaunt features, his eyes of such pale brown that they looked yellow. Animal-like.

"Who are you?" Kyth demanded.

The man's smile wormed over his thin lips. "You may call me Kaddim Tolos."

Kaddim. The strange title echoed in Kyth's mind with a half-memory. A blend of opposites in the old tongue, Kadan—Destroyer, and Addim—Creator. Where had he heard this before?

"What do you want?"

"You." The man raised his hands, palms downward.

A silent thunder rolled through the courtyard. Waves of smothering force pounced onto Kyth's head. Alder and Ellah gasped and doubled over, sinking down to the stone pavement.

Kyth rushed to his friends, but the attackers closed their ring, forcing him to a halt.

"Ah," Tolos said. "I can see can already resist our power, Highness. Your gift is growing stronger. It means, we're just in time."

In time for what? Kyth clenched his sword. The attackers drew closer, spinning their weapons with a short leeway. Spiked metal balls blended into gleaming circles. He felt the wind on his face as he edged around their line searching for a possible gap.

"They will not harm you," Tolos assured. "Unless I order them to. All in all, we plan to capture you alive, but we don't mind injuring you in the process, if you really prefer doing this the hard way."

Kyth swept his eyes around the group. Too many to face by himself, but he had no alternative. He concentrated. As the attackers neared, he feinted at the closest one and countered the anticipated block by shifting the other way. His sword ripped through the cloth with a satisfying crack, but didn't graze the flesh as the attacker twisted out of the blade's way with snakelike speed. Damn. He crouched, trying to keep as many attackers as possible in sight.

Too late, he noticed more shapes sliding in from behind. Where the hell are they coming from? Someone gripped his elbows from behind with a numbing force. Their clammy fingers once again made him think of snakes. Constrictors, judging by the way his arms were rapidly losing feeling. His sword clanked on the stone pavement, an oddly loud sound in the smothering stillness of the windless air.

Kaddim Tolos chuckled. "There, Highness, see? No need to trouble yourself with pointless fighting." He nodded to his men. "Bring him." He turned, but before he could head off, a new sound at the courtyard entrance forced him to a halt.

A lithe, muscular figure burst into the yard. A woman, moving so fast her shape blurred as she darted toward Kyth's abductors.