The Kingmakers(130)

Nzingu snarled and slashed furiously at Adele, pushing her back. In the brief breathing room she garnered, the Zulu rushed the corporal. He turned at the last second and her blade buried deep into his abdomen. Grunting with rage, Nzingu yanked up the blade, ripping his belly open. The young man screamed.

“No!” Adele shouted. Nzingu turned quickly, yanking out her blade to meet Adele's frenzied rush. The assegai came in a swift arc wet with fresh blood, and Adele leaned back at the last moment. The tip of the blade slashed her across the face high on her cheekbone. Another inch and it would have taken her eye. Adele continued to run forward till she was inside the spear's reach. She let her anger focus her attack. She swiped her blade viciously in front, but Nzingu crouched and dove at Adele's knees.

Nzingu's other hand flashed with a small dagger, and Adele barely blocked it. She needed room to maneuver. Nzingu slammed an elbow into Adele's face. The empress tasted blood. Kicking out with her knee, she connected with Nzingu's abdomen. The Zulu grunted and her grip loosened. Adele twisted away, rolling several feet until she knocked into Corporal Darby's body. There was blood everywhere. His eyes were open and he gaped like a fish at her, still dying slowly and terrified. He weakly shoved his saber toward her.

Bless him!

Adele rolled to her feet with the saber in one hand and her khukri in the other, and she came en garde. Nzingu rushed her and the blades flashed in a wild storm of feints and parries. Hot metal sparks flew from them. The Fahrenheit blade sliced deep across Nzingu's chest. Hot blood sprayed up and out, coating both of them. The Zulu warrior cried out as the chemicals entered her flesh and started burning. It was a deep cut, enough to give her pause, but not deep enough to end the fight.

Nzingu renewed her attack, her jaw gritted tightly closed. She had stamina beyond belief and was stronger than Adele. The force of her blows rained down. Perspiration dripped down Adele's face, and pins and needles surged through her arms.

The combatants circled the room, passing the bodies of Gareth and the corporal twice. Adele saw the rapid shallow rise of the soldier's chest. He was dying a slow painful death, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Beside him, Gareth was sickeningly still and smeared with blood, with his skin burnt black as night in spots. Her sword stiffened in her hand, and she refused to give any more ground.

Her arm lifted, and in a blur she attacked. Nzingu barely avoided two thrusts, bounding away. With a swift lunge, she drew blood from Adele's right thigh, but the empress did not relent in her attack. It gave her the drive to press forward. Her blade parried three strikes and then in the space of mere seconds, she saw an opening and thrust forward, stabbing the Zulu on her right side.

Nzingu retreated and attempted to shift toward where Gareth lay, perhaps hoping to deliver a final blow. Adele cut her off time and time again, keeping her well away from him.

But she hadn't expected to step on one of the strewn crystals on the floor. It shifted under her right foot, and she staggered to one knee, connecting solidly with the floor so hard her jaw snapped shut and the wound on her thigh seared with white-hot pain.

Nzingu saw the opening and stabbed straight, her blade aiming toward Adele's heart. Adele couldn't bring her weapon up fast enough. Suddenly a clawed hand struck out from her left, knocking the assegai away.

“Gareth!”

The vampire prince was on his feet. He glanced at Adele. Fresh blood smeared the lower half of his face like war paint. He had fed.

For the first time fear settled across Nzingu's face as she saw the rage swell in Gareth. She jumped back, but wasn't able to avoid the swipe of Gareth's other hand. It ripped across her throat and chest, eliciting a scream of pain from both of them. Gareth's hand burned bright, but the talisman around Nzingu's throat was torn aside. Then he slumped to his knees.

Adele bounded back to her feet and pressed the advantage Gareth had given her. With one hand, the Zulu attempted to stem her gushing blood and, with the other, hold off the enraged empress. Adele knew the fight was ending. None of them could keep this up much longer. All of them were wounded, but she just needed to outlast the Zulu. Bright, fresh blood continued to well between Nzingu's fingers.

“My lord!”

Baudoin had arrived. Adele risked a glance behind her and saw the vampire halt in his tracks at the threshold to the room. His face was marred with pain. He had never experienced geomancy. Even at its mildest, the effect was excruciating. A desperate Nzingu tried again to activate the energies of some of the small traps that still lay intact on the floor. Baudoin crashed through the doorway, snarling as he felt the heat, desperate to reach Gareth's side.

Adele quickly slammed a hand on the ground and wrested the crackling energy from Nzingu, whose eyes went wide as the power fell away from her and the ley lines went cold.