Warrior(The Dragon King Chronicles)(6)

"You missed one," she said, before slumping down dead.

Only then did Kira hear the screams behind her. Pushing the assassin off her sword, Kira raced for the dais, her eyes seeking Taejo. Her heart didn't calm down until she saw his pale face staring at her.

She looked to see the king next to him and saw that the assassin was right. One black blade protruded from the king's abdomen. His skin was turning a grayish black and the poison was spreading rapidly. There was nothing they could do to save him.

"It's a cursed blade!" she shouted. "Don't touch it!"

But it was too late, Kyoung had already reached over, trying to remove the blade. He recoiled in pain, staring in shock as his fingers turned the same grayish-black and the poison spread quickly down his arm.

Kira raced to her brother, her left hand reaching for the tidal stone, commanding it to help. Her right hand turned to ice and she grasped him by the wrist, fighting the cursed plague with the purity of the tidal stone. She didn't question the logic of the stone, only relieved to see that it worked. The dark gray stopped spreading and began to recede, slowly moving past the wrist and up the palm of his hand until only his middle and ring fingers remained dark and hard as stone. Though she questioned the stone, no answer was forthcoming. There was nothing else she could do to heal Kyoung's fingers and return them to normal.

Someone seized her by the nape, yanking her away from her brother and toward the paralyzed figure of the king.

"Help the king!" General Kim shouted. "Your duty is to the king!"

His brutal grip dug deep into the tender flesh of her throat before he finally released her with a furious shove.

Kira forgot the throbbing pain as she caught sight of her uncle's ashen face. An unnatural pallor emphasized the blue capillaries under his skin and his breath came in short painful rasps. The king was dying.

She shook her head at the general. "I'm sorry, it's already too late."

Enraged the general whipped out his sword and held it to her neck. "You will try or I'll kill you myself!"

She heard her brothers' outraged responses as they came to her defense. With a fierce glare at the general, she shoved his sword aside and turned to the king. Kira tried to place her icy hand on the black blade, but the force of the curse repelled her hand. She asked the tidal stone for all of its help. There was an immediate surge of ice that coursed through her arms.

Struggling hard against the evil, Kira put all her concentration to push against the power of the blade. She circled the gray flesh with her arms and poured the clean energy of the tidal stone into the king's body. Eojin wheezed and choked, but she didn't stop. Sweat streaked down her face as she fought with the cursed blade.

A deep, malicious voice rang in her ears, speaking to her.

Why fight me? Let go. Let go.

She recognized the voice from her dreams. The blade was cursed by the Demon Lord himself.

Kira gritted her teeth as the curse attacked her with thousands of needle pricks across her skin, trying to burrow into her flesh. Only her determination kept it in check, but she could feel herself wavering. She moaned as pain stabbed at her and something popped in her nose. Fluid coursed down her mouth and chin. She tasted blood. Pressure filled her ears causing excruciating pain.

She heard her brothers calling her name., She tried to respond, but her mouth had dried up, leaving her tongue swollen and useless. Her eyes rolled back as her lids began to flutter wildly. The power of the tidal stone ebbed against the demonic onslaught. The Demon Lord's deep mocking voice rang in her head.

Soon you will be mine also.

Tears burned in her eyes as her body began to tremble. She was trapped by the curse. No longer was she trying to save the king-now she was fighting for her own life.

Release came swiftly. Her body wrenched away by Kwan. With a moan she collapsed to the floor, and was gently lifted to a sitting position by Jaewon and Taejo. Before her, Kyoung stood nose to nose with the livid General Kim, Kwan seethed in anger by his side. If her brothers had not been there, Kira knew that the general would have gladly killed her.

Jaewon pressed a cloth to her bleeding nose while her young cousin hovered over them.

"I'm all right," she said. "Help me up."

On her feet again, Kira despaired to see the dark stain spreading across Eojin's torso, up to his neck and his extremities. Within minutes, his face was a mottled gray and black. Eojin let out one last raspy breath before stilling forever, his face frozen in an expression of agony.

General Kim turned on Kira. "You!" He spat at her feet. "You failed the king! How convenient that you stopped the assassin's blades from hitting the prince! And instead of turning your immediate attention to the king, you save your brother first! You are a traitor!"

He raised his sword.

Taejo was the first to defend her, bravely standing up to the general's wrath.

"Stop! I command you to drop your weapon!" he shouted.

The general froze, but his sword remained drawn.

"Your Highness, she is a traitor to the throne. Stand aside. You must not protect her!"

Kira was still too weak to defend herself, but it was her brothers' swords that met General Kim's in a clash of screeching metal that drew screams from the spectators.

"You are out of line," Kyoung said in a low, fierce voice. "My sister did everything she could to save the king. And I will kill you right now before I let you speak ill of her again!"

Two other advisers pulled General Kim aside, forcing him to lower his weapon.

"It's true. We all saw her try to save the king. You were wrong to accuse her," Lord Hwang, the Guru minister of foreign affairs, said. "There was nothing she could do."

"General Kim is overwhelmed," another adviser spoke up. "But how can we blame him? This is a disaster for us all. Without the king, who will lead the Iron Army? Who will fight the Yamato?"

"The army will continue its current leadership. We will lead it under Taejo's rule," Kyoung said.                       
       
           



       

"He's just a boy! He cannot be king!" General Kim's voice was filled with anger and despair.

Kira gripped Taejo's hand hard. His body was shaking from the ordeal. Putting an arm around her cousin, Kira studied the faces of the king's advisers. Shock and grief were second to anger. Overwhelming anger.

"The Tongey will revolt! They only joined due to King Eojin's leadership," General Nam, Guru vice minister of military affairs, said.

The advisers congregated around General Kim trying to lead him from the king's body.

"There's no way we can continue the war! We are doomed!" cried General Kim.

"Quiet!" Kyoung roared. "We must move on. We must continue the fight. The Yamato will not stop because Eojin is dead. We fight on."

He turned to Kwan and Jaewon. "Take Kira and the prince to their quarters and keep them safe."

Kwan bowed and steered Kira and Taejo toward the exit. Jaewon put a bracing arm around her waist, supporting her. Kira didn't complain. She was feeling sick and still in terrible shock.

The banquet hall was now empty of all guests, only grief-stricken soldiers remained. Kwan quickly led them out of the building and to the west side building, where the Kang family and the prince were now housed.

They stopped for no one until they reached the safety of the prince's quarters. Jindo, the prince's devoted white dog, bounded over. Taejo knelt and buried his face in Jindo's soft, thick fur.

"What happened? What was that blade?" Jaewon asked.

"It was cursed by the Demon Lord," Kira said. She rubbed her eyes and patted her nose, relieved to find it had stopped bleeding. "I don't think I could have saved the king even if I had tried immediately."

Kira was worried and defensive about the action she'd taken. She knew her first allegiance should have been to the king, but when she had seen the threat to her brother's life, her instinct had been to save him first. Despite the split-second decision, she had known in her heart that while she couldn't save the king she could save her brother.

"You did the right thing, Kira," Kwan said. "You had no choice. The blade was cursed. We saw what it did to you and Kyoung. Given the type of injury the king sustained, it would have been impossible to save him even if it wasn't cursed."

Taejo nodded. "Noona, I will speak for you. No one will be allowed to accuse you of wrongdoing!" He sat curled up amid a tower of cushions, hugging Jindo tightly.

Kira thanked him and sank heavily down onto the floor, then held her head in her hands. Her arms and legs ached as if she'd fallen down a mountain cliff and smashed her body against the rocks. Her stomach heaved and her head pounded. Everything hurt.

She felt someone wrap a blanket around her and looked up into Jaewon's concerned face.

"Do you need anything?" he asked.

Shaking her head, she rested her head on the wall. "Just tired."

Everyone sat quietly, until broken sobs filled the room. It was all too much for Taejo. Kira was close to tears herself, but fear overcame her sorrow. Without Eojin, who would protect Taejo's right to the throne of Hansong? She'd been so grateful that the Demon Lord's cursed blades had not touched Taejo. And yet he was in more danger than ever before.