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together, but Ubad's arm didn't give an inch under the force.
"Stop this!" he ordered. "I spent a lifetime, my lifetime, in your creation
only to believe you murdered at birth. There wasn't time enough to begin
again, and all was lost. But when rumors were heard of a hunter in the land, I
regained hope. I have waited too long and suffered too much. "
"Suffered?" Magiere drew back her sword. "You speak of your suffering, after
all you've done? After what you did to my mother?"
"You have no venom for Welstiel? This is his doing. I searched for years...
years, to take vengeance. Without his interference, you would be standing by
my side... standing at our patron's side. "
Magiere's hatred swelled, and her teeth hardened in her mouth. She struck
downward, so he couldn't block without lifting the staff. Ubad shifted left,
swinging the staff upon its grounded end, and deflected the blade.
Rage brought strength, and Magiere lunged, faking left. When Ubad shifted
away, bringing the staff back around, she leveled her swing. The falchion's
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tip slipped in behind the staff's slant and sliced through his robe at the
waist.
Ubad faded back, winking in and out like a ghost, and lifted the staff from
the earth. Its top end dipped, sweeping her sword aside. He used both hands to
bring the staff's bottom end around at her head. Magiere ducked away as it
narrowly missed her jaw.
"Instead of conversation, you wish for instruction, " he mocked.
She glanced to his stomach. The robe was too full to tell if she'd reached
his flesh, and the fabric too dark to see if it was stained with blood. He
didn't appear injured.
Magiere's self-control began to waver. Hunger burned up her throat and into
her head. She swung again, pressing in on him.
"You feel the hunger, yes?" Ubad asked softly. "Like your great father,
you've already learned to control it. "
Chap lunged in behind Ubad. Magiere hadn't seen him circle around, and the
dog snapped at the man. With the same spin of his staff, Ubad cracked her
blade aside with one end while the other slammed into the dog's shoulder. Chap
tumbled away but sprang to his feet again.
"You master it now, as your source of strength, " Ubad continued, "instead of
being driven before it like a slave. "
Ubad blocked her repeatedly. One swing of his staff clipped her forearm so
hard, it made her stumble, but she barely felt the pain and instinctively
pushed it down. However Ubad managed such a heavy and unwieldy weapon, he
easily kept pace with her. And his unnatural ability to shift places like a
ghost left Chap's teeth closing upon empty air. Magiere's instinct warned that
he was only toying with her.
He lashed at her with words harder than the iron rod. "You were born of life
and death to be more than either. Both will bow before you... if you accept
who you are. You cannot hide from yourself any longer. "
Magiere shuddered as if his words were the cold sweat upon her skin.
As long as she clung to hunger and hatred the same that this madman claimed
were her birthright she could keep at this all night and face exhaustion
afterward. How long before Ubad would tire of this play and his preaching? How
long before he turned to something more within his talents?
"You have no one else, " he said more quietly. "No one but me who understands
these things. There are so many more questions you have that only I can
answer. To find your place, your family... I am all that is left to you. "
Ubad's block was slower this time.
Magiere threw her weight behind the sword and into his staff. He was forced
to exert more effort, and his attention fixed firmly upon her. In an instant,
he screamed out and stumbled.
As Ubad twisted about, Chap jerked hard upon the man's ankle clenched in his
teeth. Magiere grabbed the iron staff's end with her free hand and thrust with
the falchion. The blade split through the robe and into Ubad chest.
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He screeched, and the staff jerked from Magiere's hand. As she pulled on the
falchion to free it, the staff cracked back across her temple, and she lost
awareness of the world.
There was no pain at first, but it rushed into her skull as her sight
returned.
She looked up into the dark sky above the clearing and felt wet earth beneath
her. There came two sounds as if from a great distance Chap's growl and
strange whispered words of a twisted language she didn't know.
Ubad was chanting.
Magiere flopped over to her hands and knees.
Strange guttural words issued from Ubad mouth as he swept the staff's end at
Chap. The dog whirled away, and Ubad rammed the staff's end into the ground.
"Khuruj," he shouted, "fe nafsi htalab!"
These words didn't match those of his chant. They rolled from his mouth in a
familiar manner like a demand to someone Magiere couldn't see.
A shudder answered from the earth.
Magiere stood up as best she could, uncertain whether to assault Ubad once
again or to back out of the clearing. Chap let out a snarl that mixed with a
mournful yowl. He rushed at her, skidded to avoid crashing into her, and then
began shoving at her legs with his head and shoulders. He was trying to drive
her back toward the trees.
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