CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

"A saint?" Jin muttered. Me, a saint? Ridiculous. This is a distraction. Vintus seeks to confuse. Only explanation. Do not allow it.

Even as her training overtook the desperate voices screaming in her head, the burning voice kept hammering. You must listen!

Shut up! I can't fight and listen at the same...

The thought was stolen from her in an instant. It happened faster than she could react to, faster even than her eyes could follow. All she registered was a blur of motion where Vintus stood, accompanied in nearly the same moment by a tremendous impact against her chest. Jin crashed against the wall far behind her and fell heavily to the floor.

Ears ringing. Thoughts muddled. Jin braced a hand against the ground and struggled to get upright again. She could hardly move at all. A part of her felt relief that the blow seemed to have shocked the multitude of voices into temporary silence. The rest of her was in agony.

Three broken ribs, she thought. Sternum shattered. Punctured lung, in danger of collapsing. Winds and storms...

Jin looked up and found Vintus standing over her. His arm pulled back to deliver another blow. The backhand took Jin across the face, and she was flung away. She tumbled across the ground until finally coming to rest more than ten paces from where she started.

If I didn't have oren... Winds, he would've torn me apart with one hit. So strong... too strong... too fast...

There was no time to think. Jin's elder magic flowed through her and mended the breaks in moments, entirely by instinct. It wasn't often she had need to fix her own broken bones, and it was more painful now than she could remember it being before. It was probably because Jin had never had breaks that blustering severe before. Beyond her shattered bones, Vintus' backhand split Jin's cheek open, the same wound Josy gave her six months ago. It might've also knocked a few teeth loose. Blood ran down the side of her face and throat, her ears rang like bells, and Jin was positive she had a concussion.

Osteomancy could do nothing for the soft tissue, even less for her brain. Jin needed a healer.

No, an undertaker...

Jin opened her eyes, and even though the sun filtered through mist, it seemed horrifically bright. The concussion, it made her extremely photosensitive. She fought down an immediate surge of nausea and blinked watering eyes to try to catch sight of where her uncle was.

Vintus was already upon her again. He seized Jin by the hair and pulled her upright. Jin grit her teeth to keep from crying out as it felt like half her scalp was about to get ripped from her skull. She hung in his grip, feet kicking uselessly underneath her.

Jin's eyes adjusted, the pupils narrowing to thin slits against the painful light. Vintus' face was a bare inch from hers, glaring pure hate. "Fool girl," he said, his voice as black as his eyes. "You don't have a single hope facing me."

Two voices came to Jin's concussed brain, cutting through the haze and confusion.

Rise! one shouted.

Have faith, the other whispered. Have hope.

Jin ignored them both. She recalled her mother's voice instead, from many years ago, advising her of what to do if an opponent sunk low enough to resort to hair-pulling. Even through getting smashed halfway to pieces and tossed around like a dying mouse in a sadistic cat's clutches, Jin had all she felt she needed.

She still had a grip on her sword.

Jin spun her wrist, performing a shallow slash at close quarters. She didn't aim for Vintus but close to her own head. The blade cut through her hair, dropping her to one knee. Vintus was unholy strong, but he had to expend some effort to hold her aloft. Suddenly losing that dead weight, he unbalanced. Only slightly, but enough. Jin landed in a crouch, poised to strike.

Second stance, best for swift attacks at close distance. Reverse monk's robe cut. Take him beneath the arm, slicing through to the opposite collar. I have him!

Sorcery pulsed through Jin's veins. She fed every measure of ether she could into her body, becoming as fast and as strong as she could make herself. Water and earth essence smashed into her sword, honing the blade to a razor edge. Jin roared as her final, desperate attack struck home.

Vintus grinned.

The sword struck against Vintus with a sound like hitting stone. Jin's arms shook with exertion, trying with all her might to cut through his undead flesh. But it wouldn't yield. The sharpest blade she could muster, every ounce of her power behind the strike, and she couldn't even mark him. Couldn't draw a single drop of his blood.

"As I said. Weak."

Jin heard a whimper. She knew it was hers. Helpless and without hope. Mortals couldn't stand against demons.

I can't find Mama, a voice in her head wept. Then another came forth, and still others. I'm going to die? How did this happen? Delwyn's dead, Od's dead, Corrath's dead... Everyone is dead! Winds and storms, it hurts! I have to get the kids out of here, but I don't know where to go. Please, don't let her die, I'll do anything! Don't look this way, don't look this way, don't look this way... We don't deserve this!

They swelled in Jin's mind. She heard them all. A hundred voices. A thousand. Tens of thousands. They came in a single moment, a frozen sliver of time. A single moment of doom as Jin watched Vintus' fist coming to crush her skull.

A voice that burned.

You are correct, it said. Mortals cannot stand alone against demons. That is why they call out to us.

Jin blinked.

You can hear them, but you must learn to listen. Listen to their prayers for salvation.

If you are a god, Jin thought in reply, give it to them.

That isn't how faith works. The old forms must be heeded, Child of Gara. I cannot, I will not, reach into your world and change it to my whims. Yours is the world of humanity, where mortals alone have the right to enact change. And yet, humanity prays to us regardless. The faith of humanity ordains that we act, the paradox of our existence. You hear them praying with all their hearts and souls, begging any god who will listen for a miracle.

Jin didn't want to hear anymore. It hurt to hear them. So many prayers for salvation that would never come, because the gods were as weak as she was.

No, the god said. Their prayers will be answered.

How can they be? Jin asked.

Because of why the gods bless their saints. Because we find champions and send them forth on our behalf. They will receive their miracle because you are here to save them.

Jin narrowed her eyes as the moment ended.

Believe, and let it become.

Her sword spun close once again, somehow reaching Vintus' wrist before his punch took her head off. Sparks flew from where the blade ground against his steel-hard flesh, and the blow deflected a scant inch off its trajectory. Just enough for Jin to duck away and avoid it.

She tucked into a roll across her shoulders and sprang back to her feet. Jin kept her eyes on Vintus and saw his incredulity. He looked at his wrist and the thin trickle of black blood leaking from an abrasion left by her sword.

Vintus snorted, his attention on the tiny wound. "Credit where it's due, I guess. Even a lost cause like you can pull off a halfway decent move now and then."

He shot towards her with another inhuman burst of speed. Jin was as ready for it as it was in her ability to be, but she fell far short. Her sword swung, and Vintus ducked underneath its arc. He drove his fist into her stomach. Jin's body twisted beneath the blow, and she felt her barely mended ribs snap again. The next thing she knew, she was hurtling through the air, only this time there wasn't an immediate impact against stonework.

She kept falling, thrown over the side of the balcony.

Control center of gravity, she thought. Angle body to absorb impact, roll and reset. Self-enchant to handle the rest.

The training told her what to do. As the cobblestone of the boulevard rushed up to meet her, Jin's body refused to obey. She tried manifesting any spell she could think of. If only she could control even a fraction of gravity essence as Maya could, if she could command just a sliver of the power Maya had at her disposal, Jin would be fine and this fall would be no more than an inconvenience.

But she didn't. She couldn't. Jin always had been the weakest arcanist of House Algara. She could do nothing but plummet helplessly from five stories up until her broken body struck the city street.

The cobblestones finished the job Vintus' fists began. Jin lost track of her broken bones. All she knew was the pain and scent of her blood splattering the boulevard all around her. Jin tried pulling in a gasp of air and found that the lung she worried would collapse had done so. She couldn't do anything but choke breathlessly.

I'm not done yet!

Jin rolled onto her back. Torturously, she knit her bones back into place. Jin would have screamed had she been able to draw breath. She suffocated, only managing a labored wheeze from sucking what little air she could into her functioning lung. The painful sensation of air filling her chest cavity nearly caused her to lose consciousness.

Don't think, she demanded of herself. Just act. I wasn't trained for this, but I know what to do. I saw Enfri treat collapsed lungs before. Do that!

It was likely a good thing she was barely conscious of her actions, otherwise Jin probably wouldn't have managed it. Her facade of perfect control was in shambles, yet that was what she needed to lose to gain full mastery of her elder magic.

As soon as it was repaired, Jin's skeleton twisted into a new shape. A gauntlet of bone formed over her left hand, and she gave it a short spike over the second knuckle. Jin braced herself as best as she could before slamming the spike into her chest.

Ripping the spike out, she could hear air bubbling out from the bleeding wound. The breath she pulled in was the most painful and most welcome taste of air she'd ever known in her life. She took another and felt her collapsed lung inflate. So long as her self-inflicted wound remained clear, she should be able to keep breathing without it collapsing again.

"It yet lives," Algol rasped. He was back on street level, striding on languid steps towards Jin. "We understand our brother's chosen takes enjoyment, but he allocates too many resources towards it. Our work is concluded. The shaped vessels have arrived on the game board. We have no further purpose in this city."

"As you say, my lord." Vintus inclined his head as he walked beside Algol. "Forgive me, Niece, but playtime is over. This is where you leave the game. You lasted a great deal longer than you were meant to, and that's worthy of recognition. However, you were never of much use to us, and that's a fatal defect in the coming age."

Jin shook her head in hopes of clearing it. She made the pain in her head worse, but she did get her ears to stop ringing. The sound that came to them provided a spark of hope. "You can't kill me," she said, her words slurring somewhat.

"I could leave you like that and let your wounds do it, but that wouldn't be very familial of me, would it?" He crouched beside Jin and caressed her cheek while she couldn't do anything more than glare. There was a dagger in his hand. "I'll give you the same courtesy your sister gave to me. Pity, but Antares won't give you the same gifts I received. You will not return. You get to wander the Ethereum as a formless soul until my master gets around to sending the dead Beyond again."

Jin coughed up blood leaking into her wounded lung. "You can't kill me, because you missed what I've been doing all this time."

The point of Vintus' dagger hovered over Jin's eye. He looked amused. "Do tell, Niece. Let's call these your last words."

Jin grinned wide enough to show red-stained teeth and felt a curious sense of de ja vu. "I've been stalling you."

The sound arriving in Jin's ears grew louder. A dragon's wing beats were unmistakable after you rode one often enough. One thing was odd about it, however. Jin didn't know Zanda all that well, so why did the Executioner's wings sound so familiar?

The ground shook beneath her. She was practically bounced a hand and a half into the air as a massive creature fell onto the boulevard. Jin heard a tremendous roar but lacked the strength to turn her head towards her rescuer. Burning heat washed over Jin, just far enough away that it didn't burn her. It was enough, though, to drive Vintus away from Jin.

Algol snarled. For a moment, Jin caught a glimpse of the face hidden in shadow beneath his hood. Sharp teeth, hardly any nose to speak of, yellow eyes lacking iris or pupil. Jin saw the face of a demon, and she thought it strange that it didn't frighten her.

"Do not worry, my lord," Vintus said while holding the dragon fire at bay with a ward. "I may not have my elder magic any longer, but I'm more than a match for a dragon."

"Inconsequential," Algol snapped. "We will leave. He will set his servants to collect our precious charge, but he and us must continue to our next destination."

Vintus wrinkled his nose. "The boy? If you're in need of a servant, I can find you another."

Algol seized Vintus by the wrist. "Our charge is of greater worth than a thousand chosen! Do not fail us, or even our brother will not be able to bring you back from where we send you."

If there was a reply, Jin was unable to hear it over the roar of dragon fire. Her vision went blurry, but she still had her ethersight. She watched as the Weave appeared to recoil from Algol, and a black mist enveloped both he and Vintus. When it dissipated a moment later, both had vanished. The dragon fire ceased in the same instant, and Jin felt more than saw someone running up to her.

"Highness!" In human form, her rescuer dragon came to her side and picked her up in his thick arms. "I came as fast as I was able," Grimdar said. "The palace staff wasn't much help, even after I told them why I was here."

"Why are you here?" Jin managed to ask.

"My Eldest never released me from my charge," Grimdar replied. "I am to remain in your shadow, love, as if you were my Ruby."

"I'm no knight," Jin said weakly. It was becoming difficult to stay awake, but she knew that if she didn't keep her eyes open, the concussion could very well stop her from ever waking again.

"Aye, Highness, but I've no need for a knight, Ruby or otherwise. You're a royal assassin, and if it pleases you, that is precisely the sort of beast I aim to study. A few months in the Miracle wasn't enough to learn all I mean to."

Jin supposed it would be too ungrateful to send him away just yet. If nothing else, having someone talk to her made it easier not to slip into unconsciousness.

Others were coming. Jin heard Pacifica gearing up to let loose a flurry of curses in her direction. There was a gold blur next to Pacifica, and the red blur behind Adar couldn't be anything other than Krayson.

"Restoration magic," Grimdar called to them. "Ascendent, I know you have some skills in that school."

Adar grunted an affirmative. "More for illnesses than injuries, but I will do what I can."

They said more, but Jin couldn't hear them. The voices returned, haunting her with their terror and desperation. So many, and worse were the voices that cut off abruptly into silence. Each a prayer unanswered.

"He can't save them," Jin mumbled. "I can't either."

"What's she talking about?" Grimdar asked. "Who can't save whom?"

"Her god," Krayson said quietly, coming up on where Grimdar held Jin to be administered to by Adar. "All seven thunders crash on my head, I felt it when he talked to her. I didn't know that could be felt."

"I didn't feel anything," Pacifica said.

"No reason you should unless you became a saint without telling anyone." Krayson took Jin by the hand still encased in her osteoform. "I recognized him. I was there when he was born. Your Highness, you're the blessed saint of the Warding Light."

Jin was too weak to respond. Adar's magic helped ease her pain somewhat, but her head continued to throb with every beat of her heart. She wanted to ask where the village girls were. Maya, Devara, and the fiend hunters, also. She dreaded knowing, but she needed to know how many people she had failed.

How many of her people died because the saint of Hope was too weak? Vintus had overwhelmed her. Nothing she possessed could harm him. It was like an infant trying to fight a dragon. Jin couldn't fight something like that, not if she trained for another hundred years.

Rise, Gara told her. You will show them the truth of your bloodline, but first you must heal and live to see another battle. When it comes, you must stand up and face any enemy, even if it is hopeless. Especially if it is hopeless. That is your duty as my heir.

Adar placed a hand to Jin's brow. A dim light shone from underneath his golden palm. "I've reduced the swelling, Highness. You may stop fighting it. Rest now."

With a relieved exhale, Jin closed her eyes. No voices— be they from an ancestor, god, or anyone else— followed her into oblivion.