Legacy of Steel Read online

  Mirielle and Sara ignored them. They circled each other for a few tense moments, their swords raised, their faces intent on each other. They moved at the same instant and came together in a clash of blades. Back and forth they struggled across the circle, hammering at each other with a rain of deadly blows.

  Time and again Sara silently thanked Knight Officer Massard for the conditioning he had given her. Without the months spent in Neraka running and training and strengthening the talon, Sara knew she would not have survived the first five minutes of the duel. Her own years of practice served her well, too. As the blood soaked down her pants from her leg wound and her body grew weaker, more and more often her muscles reacted automatically with an oft-practiced defense against a vicious thrust or a heavy upward slice.

  "You are weakening, Ariakan's woman," Mirielle taunted. "You were never worthy to be a knight."

  "No, thank the gods!" Sara panted between breaths, and she brought her blade around in a swift parry.

  Their swords clashed again, and for just a second, Mirielle's grasp on her leather grip appeared to slip. She recovered quickly and continued her attack, but Sara sharpened her focus on the general's physical condition, and for the first time, she recognized pain in Mirielle's golden eyes. Cerium's crash landing had battered his rider more than she let on, and the duel was taking its toll on her as well. Her face was slick with sweat and red from her exertions, and her lithe movements were growing clumsier.

  As Sara watched the general, she realized the woman was favoring her left arm. Before she had time to act on that knowledge, however, Sara's foot slipped on an icy patch of snow. Her wounded leg couldn't catch her weight, and she stumbled sideways.

  As fast as a cat, Mirielle leapt to attack. Her blade slid around Sara's and knocked the sword out of Sara's hand.

  Sara did not even hesitate. In the back of her mind, she had anticipated such a possibility, and the moment she felt the sword leave her clasp, she scrambled upright and, with her last strength, ran away from Mirielle toward the edge of the circle where Cobalt crouched.

  "You coward!" Mirielle screamed furiously. She charged after her quarry across the trampled snow.

  The crowd hooted in derision.

  "Cobalt!" Sara yelled. "The lance!" The short rider's lance she had taken into the battle was still attached to Cobalt's saddle. By trial law, it was still considered an acceptable weapon in the duel.

  The blue dragon trumpeted his understanding. Shoving aside draconians and knights, he lumbered into the open circle and turned so Sara could reach the lance.

  She scrambled up his leg, wrenched the lance free, and dropped to the ground just as Mirielle reached them. Cobalt reluctantly backed away to let Sara finish the battle alone.

  The general skidded to a halt, her words of scorn congealing on her tongue. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to reassess this new weapon in Sara's hands.

  Sara gave her no more time to think. As the general raised her sword to resume the attack, Sara furiously hefted the heavy lance and swung it as hard as she could at the general.

  Startled by such a basic move, Mirielle tried to block the wooden shaft with her blade. The sword's edge sank into the wood and stuck there, and the momentum of the lance wrenched the sword out of Mirielle's hands. The lance, weighted by the sword, crashed into the general's left arm with an audible crack. The lance tip broke and the sword tumbled free, but Mirielle could not pick it up.

  She fell to her knees, clutching her left arm, her face racked by pain.

  Sara stumbled forward, picked up the general's sword from the ground, and held it to Mirielle's throat. "Surrender or die."

  The general saw no mercy in Sara Dunstan's face. She meant every word she said. Briefly Mirielle weighed her choices and accepted her decision. What profit was there in dying by the hand of an exiled renegade? Sara had won the victory this time, but there would be another time in the future when the traitor would not be so lucky. Mirielle would be certain of that.

  "I surrender," Mirielle said between clenched teeth.

  Sara hauled the Dark Knight to her feet. "I have won my freedom, but I have not finished my task. Tell your knights to leave us alone, or I will kill you."

  At the general's sharp command, the knights in the crowd moved away from Cobalt. Sara limped back to the dragon, taking Mirielle with her. The big blue stood unsteadily on his feet, waiting for her. Sara knew they both needed rest and medical attention, but she wanted desperately to see Kelena and the others before she left Neraka. "Could you carry us for a short while?" she asked the dragon. "We need to get to the Red Quarter."

  Cobalt tested each leg and wing in turn and decided that indeed he could walk without too much difficulty. He waited patiently while Sara urged the general up into the saddle at the point of her own sword, and he carried the two women as quickly as his burned back would allow to the Red Quarter and the tents of the Sixth Talon.

  They found a talon of armed guards clustered around two of the tents, and Squall and Howl crouched close by, looking very disgruntled. The two dragons perked up when they saw Cobalt, and they bellowed a welcome, Four heads poked out of the two tents, and four pairs of eyes took in every detail of the scene.

  The guards saw General Abrena and several approached to greet her.

  "Stay back," she commanded, prodded by Sara's sword. "Put your weapons down and back away from the tents. I am releasing the prisoners." Surprised, the guards did as they were bade and backed away from the dragon and the tents.

  "No!" shouted a voice. Treb came running from the direction of the fields. "Governor-General, don't do it!" she protested. "They are all traitors!"

  Kelena, her freckled face dark with anger, charged out of one of the tents and knocked Treb into the snow face first. Skillfully she disarmed the knight and left her lying in the snow. "You would risk your general for the likes of us?" she said in derision. "Curb your ambitions, bootlicker!"

  Saunder, Marika, and Argathon came out of the tents and, with Kelena, gathered before Cobalt.

  "We've been talking," Saunder said before Sara had a chance to say anything. He glanced at the others, who nodded to his silent question. "If you will have us, we want to go with you. Squall and Howl have already agreed to carry us to some place beyond the Khalkists."

  Sara stared at Saunder in dawning hope. "Are you all going with me?" she asked incredulously. This was more than she ever hoped for.

  Argathon shrugged. "All but Kazar. He prefers to stay here. We are no longer welcome."

  "You were right," Kelena added seriously. "The Knights of Takhisis are no longer what they were. Their honor is fading. We would rather follow you and your legacy."

  Sara looked from face to face and saw in their eyes the same glow of determination. Her hand closed over the star jewel and she breathed a silent word of gratitude.

  "Then let's go," she said, "before we lose the advantage of surprise."

  Quickly, efficiently the four knights loaded their gear on the two dragons and helped Sara into the saddle of squall. Kelena gleefully tied up Treb in a tent and bound General Abrena to Squall's saddle in front of Sara.

  Cobalt rested while they worked, and by the time they were ready to leave, he felt strong enough to fly with the two blues for a short flight over the mountains.

  No one tried to stop them. The knights were too afraid for the safety of their general, and even the dragon guards retreated at General Abrena's order.

  The journey over the mountains was soon accomplished and as agreed, Squall and Howl dropped them off near a village where they could seek help and supplies. The four young knights unloaded their gear while Sara climbed painfully to the ground.

  At last only Mirielle was left sitting on Squall. She glared down at Sara over her slender nose. "Watch your back, traitor. The Knights of Takhisis do not forget."

  Sara suddenly smiled. "Then remember this, Knight of Takhisis. I am the commander of the Legion of Steel, and I promise you, we will fight your evil every
step of the way, in every city and every realm. The gods are gone, Mirielle. We have no one left but each other."

  The general looked down at her and saw for the first time someone more than a mistress or an underling or a traitor, and she felt a grudging measure of respect. She turned her face away and fell silent.

  The two dragons, Squall and Howl, said their farewells. They had no desire to follow the legion to Solace; they would take Mirielle back to Neraka.

  Sara gave them her thanks, and when they had flown away into the gathering dusk, carrying Governor-General Abrena with them, she turned to her new legionnaires and said, "Let's go. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

  Three years after the Summer of Chaos, Sara Dunstan, adoptive mother of Steel Brightblade, hears rumors that the Knights of Takhisis are regathering in the evil city of Neraka. Although still branded a renegade by the Dark Knights, she travels to Neraka with the blue dragon, Cobalt, to learn the truth. There she discovers the knights are not only rebuilding under the leadership of General Mirielle Abrena, but they have imminent plans to return to war.

  Frustrated and seeking answers, Sara journeys to the Tomb of the Last Heroes in Solace. At the tomb, she receives an answer she never expected, which inspires a new order that could help the people of Ansalon to survive the dark days ahead.