Land of Sky, Land of Rain (Chapter Twenty-Four)

Chapter Twenty-Four- Eri Said, Kill Him

After about half an hour of walking north, I finally see to vague figures standing on a hill at the horizon.

“Kagami!” I shout. The taller shadow advances toward us, inhumanly fast, closing distance at an alarming rate, and within a minute, Kagami stands towering over us.

“Only two dead?” he inquires. “Well, that’s disappointing. Ah, well, perhaps the other can be of use.”

“No one’s dead, Kagami. Sae beat your spell. Looks like a pathetic human is stronger than you anyway, huh?”

“I don’t like your tone, Miss Bering,” Kagami says with the air of a teacher chastising an impertinent pupil. “I would have thought Koreth of Kirael’s safety meant more to you than cheap taunts.”

“Koreth? He’s here?” I step forward, and Attaraya puts a hand on my arm, restraining, cautioning, reminding me of the same thing I keep whispering in my head. Stay calm, keep thinking straight, Don’t rise to the bait, keep your emotions out of it. Don’t let him mess with you.

“Certainly.” Kagami snaps his fingers, and the shadow in the distance vanishes. At his side, Koreth appears.

Koreth stands perfectly still, empty-eyed and blank-faced, just feet across from me.

I watch Kagami for a moment out of the corner of my eyes, suspicious, but he doesn’t speak or make any gestures that I can see. Which is probably even more suspicious. I mean, no complaints if he is, of course, but I don’t think Kagami’s just going to hand Koreth over to us that easily, not after all we’ve been through to get to him. Being in the dark all the time is driving me crazy. What the hell does he want with us? But Kagami just stares at me (or, rather, at the top of my head, as I’m about two feet shorter than him) with that irritating look of regal disdain and vague amusement.

“Koreth...?” I ask tentatively. Of course, Koreth doesn’t say anything. Even if he were free of Kagami’s spell, his time is measured in hours now... concentrate. Cautiously, slowly, I reach out a hand towards him.

Some sort of barrier sends a jolt of electricity shooting up my arm, throwing me backward several feet, tumbling head over heels in the dead grass.

I struggle to my feet, pulling my sword from it’s sheath with the cold rasp of metal on metal.

“That was a human’s mistake,” Kagami says.

“I’m more human than you seem to think,” I retort.

“Don’t insult yourself like that. I’m sure even you have some merit. The point is that that was quite a foolish thing to do. I expected better from you, Eri.”

“It’s Emma,” I snap, raising my arm in preparation to strike at Kagami, who lifts a hand impatiently.

“I don’t have time for this, Eri. Do cooperate. Besides, I am not your opponent.”

“Wha–?” I’m momentarily surprised, but I shake my head to clear it. Whatever. It’s not important, he’s just trying to distract me.

That’s better, Eri says, concentrate. Which, now that I think about it, is about as close to a compliment as I’m ever going to get out of her. Somehow that gives me a bit of courage.

I lunge at Kagami, sword raised, prepared to strike a quick killing blow, but before I can do any such thing, Kagami waves a hand and, faster than I would have thought possible, Koreth steps between Kagami and I.

I bring the sword up short, backpedaling wildly to avoid hitting him, tripping in the grass and barely managing to steady myself, stay upright, because if I fall, I’ll be vulnerable...

But Kagami shows no sign of wanting to attack, just stands behind Koreth with his arms folded, giving me a horrible, patronizing smile.

“Well, Eri?” he asks. “Weren’t you going to attack? No? Please, take your time. I don’t mind waiting. Perhaps I’ll read a book.”

“Emma!” Attaraya shouts, stepping forward.

“Stay back!” I snap. Quite far from not wanting Attaraya’s help, I can’t risk putting her into this battle. First, if she and I both die, who’s going to defend Sae and Iarin if Kagami decides to go after them? Second, she might not be as adverse to hurting Koreth as I am.

Emma... I can hear Eri, not snapping as usual but gently prodding, and I ignore her.

“Emma!” Attaraya repeats.

“I said stay back!”

It could be the authoritative tone of my voice (yeah, right) or most likely, Attaraya just realizes the same things I just did, and doesn’t want to start an argument. Either way is fine with me, as Attaraya steps back a few feet and falls–for once in her life– silent.

I step to the side, once, and again, carefully and slowly circling around the two of them. Kagami watches me coldly as Koreth steps to block me, no matter how many times I move.

He’s using him as a shield, literally as a shield. What can I do? I have to think of something...

“Use your head, Eri,” Kagami says quietly, his voice tearing into my thoughts, distracting me. Which is probably the point. “Think. Would you like a hint?”

I bite my lip, determined to ignore him, but his cold, almost clinical voice keeps slipping past my feeble mental defense.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ then,” Kagami says with a disappointed sigh. “You have two choices before you, Eri. One, you can turn around, right now, take the Hanoran girl and your friends from before with you, and go home. I won’t stop you. I give my word. You will reach wherever you’re going unharmed. However, under that course of action, I retain my ability to do precisely whatever I wish. You think you’ve set me back on my plans, you think you’ve foiled it all... you are wrong. I know precisely what I’m doing, Eri. It’s you who are unaware. Therefore, for your sake, I suggest you reject that particular option.

“Then... there’s choice two. Much better plan, this one. You fight me, you win, and you become the new hero of the humans. Meanwhile, whatever I may be planning will die with me, and be forgotten to history. Obviously, you’ll want to go with option two...” he gives a theatrical sigh, “but, of course, there is a catch. Can you kill me? That’s the question. More importantly,” Kagami’s smile widens, “Can you kill him?”

“Shut up!” I shout, blocking out Kagami’s voice, closing my eyes to hide from that awful grin. “Just shut up!”

Kagami raises a disdainful eyebrow. “I’m disinclined to comply with that particular request. You’re too soft, Eri. You think with your heart, not with your head. It’s a human way of thinking, one I am helping you to overcome. For your own good. Now, kill the boy. Get it over with.”

I raise an eyebrow of my own. “I’m disinclined to comply with that particular request. If you don’t give me back Koreth right now, I’ll kill you.”

Kagami laughs a quiet, mirthless laugh. “I’ll believe that when I see it. Attack or flee. Make your choice. One death on you conscience, or millions. Choose at your leisure. As I said, I really should have brought a book or something. Just remember, whatever you do in this situation, Koreth dies.”

Eri prods at the edge of my consciousness again, more urgently now. I continue to ignore her. Eri is obviously cleverer and better at this than me, but I don’t need insults right now. I need to concentrate. I need to think of a way out of this. Hopefully a way that won’t get us all killed.

Perhaps... I’m not sure if this would work at all, but perhaps if Koreth’s knocked out, Kagami will lose his control over him? I hope so, I can’t be certain. It’d be worth a try. If it works, I’d have a clear path to Kagami without having to kill anyone.

Kagami notices the shift in my stance as I prepare for the next strike, but he doesn’t comment. I move as if I’m lunging at Kagami, but swing the blade sideways at the last second, hoping the flat of it will hit Koreth’s head and leave him unconscious. Sorry, Koreth. I’m so sorry. It’s kinda the only thing I can think of.

But Koreth moves away, leaping behind me at inhuman speed. Of course, Kagami now doesn’t have any shield between him and me, so I bring the sword back the other way, hoping to take advantage of the opening. With a casual, effortless gesture, a green, semi-transparent... barrier is the only word, I guess, appears between him and I. The blade is deflected with a sound as if it had struck metal.

I strike again, and again, and again, from every angle I can think of, feinting and turning an changing angles in mid-strike, but every time to no avail. My stomach backflips with panic. Here I thought I could beat this guy! I mean, I sort of knew he was strong, but I thought that was only with magic and stuff. Well, technically, I suppose this mst be magic, but it’s not like any I’ve ever encountered. Finally, strength spent, I step back, breathing hard.

“So, do you understand, or do I need to explain it to you?” Kagami asks with an amused air.

“Leave... me... alone...” I say, in between gasps for breath.

“Well, I would, but you aren’t doing so well without help. I think it should be clear to you by now that you have no hope of harming me. And I shall not allow you to harm Koreth unless you have intent to kill him. I hope that helps you realize what your options are.”

“Don’t you ever shut up?”

‘You can insult me all you like, Eri. The choices don’t change. If you must learn the hard way how to harden your heart and make sacrifices, so be it.”

Who the hell does Kagami think he’s kidding? I’m going to kill Koreth just because he tells me to? Yeah, right.

Emma! Eri finally manages to break through my consciousness, along with a sharp stab of pain to my head.

What do you want so bad? I demand. Now’s really not the time for this. What’s your problem?

Emma... I know how this is going to sound, but...

But what? If you’ve got a way out of this, I’m all ears.

That’s just it, Emma, says Eri all in a rush, and I can feel something strange from her, a real sense of remorse, of sorrow, of anguish. I blink, unaccustomed to sensing any emotions from this annoying plug-in in my head, let alone real ones that I associate with humans. For some reason, this really isn’t at all a relief. Instead, it just makes me more nervous and upset. Because I think I know exactly what’s coming, and I can’t accept it.

That’s just it, Emma. I don’t think there is a way out.

No, Eri. No. I’m not listening. I’m not going to let you say it.

“Why do you feel like you have to do all this?” I demand, trying and failing to look Kagami straight in the eye. “If you want to kill me so badly, just get it over with! Isn’t all this secrecy and drama and theatrics a big fat waste of all your precious time and energy?”

“But I don’t want you to die, Eri. Wherever did you get that idea? If I wanted you dead, I’d kill you. If I desired to do so, I could just wave my hand and your heart would stop. But you are important, Miss Bering. To me, you may be one of the most valuable beings on this earth. If you were to die here, than it would ruin what six hundred years has worked so very hard to build.”

My eyes widen, my heartbeat quickens, my stomach turns. Is that it? The secret to defeating Kagami all along was... that’s all I’d have to do?

It wouldn’t be hard, I tell myself. And the most important thing, no one would have to die. Well, no one special, anyway.

Just me.

I raise my sword above my head as though about to try another strike at Kagami, prepared to turn the blade as I bring it down and–

“That would be inadvisable,” Kagami interrupts my thoughts.

I freeze, sword poised in midair. Does he know what I was planning to... how could he know? He can’t know...

“Do not attempt to take your own life, Miss Bering. That will not remedy this situation in the slightest. If you die, then I kill your friends, and the world is mine to do with as I please. And Koreth of Kirael will die anyway. Your own death will just be another number to add to the list of fatalities.”

“But... but you said you need me for your plan!”

Kagami smiles. “Perhaps I have a contingency plan. Besides,” his smile widens, but his eyes narrow with icy contempt, “You can’t do it. You’d never be able to do it. You’d stop your hand with the blade an inch from you heart. I can see it in your eyes, Miss Bering. You’re quick to call me a coward, but the most cowardly one here is you.”

My hands tremble, the blade falls. Because he’s right, I realize as my sword hits the ground. I can’t do it.

You don’t have a choice. There’s only one thing we can do now. If you have to sacrifice one life for many, so be it. You have to do it Emma. You must.

Emma, Eri says, Kill him. Kill Koreth.

What? I can’t do that!

Why not? What’s stopping you?

What’s stopping me? What the hell kind of question is that? I can’t kill Koreth, I just can’t. That’s just the way it is.

That’s no argument.

It’s not right, that’s why. I can’t kill a person, I could never do that. Least of all Koreth.

When you say you can’t, you mean you don’t want to. Pray tell, what were you going to do to Kagami?

Well, I can’t beat him, so it doesn’t–

If you could, then.

I... guess I’d have to kill him, right? There’s no other way.

So why can’t you kill Koreth?

That’s way different! Kagami’s a murdering creep! He’s responsible for the deaths of millions and millions of people, including your–our village. Koreth’s just..

The Spellweavers fought in the war, Emma. Koreth’s probably killed hundreds himself.

That’s different.

How is it different?

Koreth only joined the Spellweavers in the first place because he wanted to save Kirael. He wanted to save you. Don’t put him on Kagami’s level!

They’re still lives.

Well, Koreth’s life is a life, too. And he’s different from anybody else. More special. I love him. I can’t kill him.

The moment I say– or, I guess, think those words, I regret it. I shouldn’t have said it. Now, to my ears, it sounds incredibly stupid, there’s no way Eri would ever take that seriously. This isn’t even something I’ve admitted to myself, let alone her.

But Eri is silent. Even her emotions feel cut off from me, distant, to the extent that I can no longer recognize them. I can only stare up at the starry sky, already touched with the first lighter rays on the very horizon. Standing perfectly still, waiting for a response from Eri.

I... I know, she says at last. So do I. I’m you, after all. Your emotions are mine. And I don’t want to do this, either. But it’s not in my hands. And let’s be honest with ourselves here. Koreth doesn’t have long to live. The way things are now, that death won’t be fast or easy. We can bring things to a quick end. The Koreth I know would prefer to die quickly, Emma. The Koreth I know would want you to go through with this. Besides, if you spare him, that’s sacrificing millions of lives for the sake of your own personal feelings. That’s selfish. It’s disgusting.

I know it’s selfish! But I can’t do it, I can’t even for all the lives in the world, I can’t kill Koreth. Because if I could have saved him and I didn’t–

Emma! Eri seems truly angry again, Face reality! There was never any hope of saving Koreth. The only thing we can do is make his death mean something. And if you aren’t going to do it, then I will.

What? I ask, but my words are wasted, as it becomes clear what Eri intends. My vision blurs, my hearing grows dim, I feel the strength in my arms and les drain out. It feels a bit like falling asleep, I guess, but I can still see and hear everything around me, I can still feel the grass brushing against my legs and the pounding of my heart. But my thoughts are being smothered, snuffed out by Eri like a candle under a jar. My body grows limp but then strength surges back, but I still can’t move. Eri has taken over.

Independent of my will, I bend down to lift my sword from the ground. I struggle to reassert myself, can tell that Eri is struggling to stay in control. She makes me turn to face Koreth, blade raised for a killing strike. I fight harder, but there’s nothing I can do and Eri takes a step forward, then another, lifting the sword above her (our? my?) head, and bringing it down and–

Eri, no! I shout in my head, exerting all my strength and, finally, yes, the control comes back tot me, Eri falls away to the back of my mind.

Em– she begins.

Shut up!

“Well, that was disappointing,” Kagami says, “You really do take selfishness to new levels, don’t you, Miss Bering? And yet it appears you have a ruthless side to you after all, as Eri shares your emotions and personality with you, at their roots. Well. Unfortunately, at this rate, you’re going to ruin everything. Don’t blame me, Miss Bering, you brought this on yourself.”

Kagami clicks his fingers, but nothing happens to me, or Koreth. But I hear a rustle of motion behind me and turn to face Attaraya.

She stands in an odd, jerky way, I can tell she’s under a beast-manipulation spell. The blade of one of her throwing knives is pressed against her throat. Her eyes are fearful, but she keeps her expression level and shakes her head mutely, foolishly brave to the end.

“I don’t think I need to illustrate your options for you in this case.”

My shoulders sink, along with my heart. Kagami’s won. I’ve been outmaneuvered. It’s pretty clear. No one needs to explain.

I’ve been a coward, I’ve been stupid, I’ve been selfish. I’ve done so many stupid things, but this beats them all. I’ve walked us straight into a trap, and now there’s no way out. I have no choices. Check and mate, game over. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Kagami wins, I lose, it’s all over. There’s no way out.

No way out.

Sorry, Koreth. I’ve screwed things up again. I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t protect you. I’ve ruined everything, the way I always do. Big surprise. I’m so sorry. There’s no other way.

No way out.

My hand is shaking as I raise the blade, I can feel tears pricking at the back of my eyes, but I won’t cry. I won’t let myself cry. I’m stronger than that, at least, even with everything I’ve managed to do wrong.

I take a deep, quivering breath, looking up at the sky streaked with the faint light of dawn. I tighten my sweaty grip on the hilt of my sword, taking in another sharp breath.

I’ll get it over with. Quickly. No time for thinking, or crying, or holding back.

I point the blade out straight in front of me and, with a quick, sharp motion, draw it across Koreth’s throat.

Red, hot blood pours onto my hands as Koreth staggers back and tumbles to earth, to lay quite still, dark eyes wide and staring, as they have been, I guess, for many days now. The only difference is that Koreth can’t hear me when my tears break through my eyes anyway, when my mouth opens to let out a sob I swore I’d never let free. Koreth can’t see the rays of bright, accusatory light that stream from the heavens at the sun breaks over the horizon. And even Kagami can’t make him get up and fight me anymore. Koreth’s finally gained a moment’s peace.

Because he’s dead.

Koreth of Kirael is dead.

I killed him.

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[A/N]Uh... Yeah. This is the chapter that I think is one of the strongest written of this book, actually. I usually have a lot of trouble with fight scenes, but this one was... surprisingly easy. So was the next one, come to think of that (in the next chapter). Apparently making Emma miserable makes for easy writing. XD

Anyway, I suspect that at least one reader wants my head on a pike at the moment, so I should probably exit stage left. XDD Be back with 25 pretty soon, probably-- my next goal is to get it up by spring break, so I can actually get around to writing the epilogue I skipped. XD