154 - Naive

Kam groaned as the girl was absorbing his lifeforce. She couldn’t be older than seven. How did a child this young have so much lifeforce?

“I’ve done what you asked,” he said, every word straining him. “Now tell me those names.”

The masked woman looked at him. “This is not over.”

“This will never be over!” he shouted. “The malediction is taking more than I can give.”

The Velvet Mask didn’t answer.

“I’m going to stop if you don’t give me those names.”

“I’m afraid this is not an option. Our mistress needs the girl in good health.”

Kam pulled on the thread of mana connecting him to the girl. “Watch me.”

He tried to recover it, but something at the other end resisted. The malediction inside the girl had latched onto his mana. When the curse sensed his desire to pull away, it started sucking in lifeforce with renewed vigor.

Panicking, he went to move his hand away from the girl’s wrist, but it wouldn’t budge.

“What did you do to me?”

The woman crouched down until her mask was level with his face.

“Nothing you didn't agree to.”

“I didn't agree to this.”

“You agreed to feed her. You didn't ask how much it would cost you.”

Kam pulled again. His arm shook with the effort, tendons standing out, and still his hand stayed locked to the girl's wrist.

“Make it stop.”

“I can't. Even if I wanted to,” she said plainly. “It's out of my control. I’m not the one who built the malediction.”

“Built,” Kam said, panting. “It's built.”

“Everything is built by someone.”

He looked at the girl. Her face hadn't changed. Still asleep, still gray, small tremors running through her like something was scraping her from the inside.

“You're using her,” he said.

The woman tilted her head. “You're smarter than the others.”

“That's not—” He swallowed. His mouth was still dry. “What are you planning?”

“Our mistress needs more lifespan.”

Kam froze. This was exactly what he’d hoped to research before his grandfather died. A way to extend someone’s lifeforce capacity.

He looked at the girl.

“She'll die.”

“And the mistress will live. An unfortunate sacrifice, but a worthy one.”

His leg went soft, his knee bending against the ground.

“Stop this,” he said.

“You're doing this to yourself. Cut the link if you can.”

“You—” He didn't have the breath to finish.

He reached for the woman with his free hand, trying to grab her, to shake her.

She caught his wrist before it got close. Didn't flinch, didn't step back. Her grip closed around him like a manacle.

“Careful,” she said.

He pulled against her hold. Nothing gave. It was like pulling against the mountain itself.

“Let go of me.”

“You're the one who won't let go. Look at the girl, Kam Pangulan. Not at me.”

The Velvet Mask released his wrist. Kam's arm dropped.

He pulled again anyway. The thread didn't move. His lifeforce was getting lower and lower. He’d already lost years. If it kept going, it would be decades, then he would drop dead. He had to do something.

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But what could he do?

He tried to push lifeforce down the thread instead of resisting, force-feeding the malediction faster than it wanted, hoping it would choke on the excess.

It just took more.

He stopped.

Strength was leaving him. First his legs, then his arms. His vision blurred.

He thought of Alexandra.

He should have told her sooner. He’d been stupid, and now he was paying for it.

“I should have told you,” he whispered. “I should have just told you.”

“No shit, dumbass.”

He went still. That wasn't the masked woman's voice.

He was hallucinating. That tracked.

“Because I wouldn’t have taken my sweet time had I known you could be in danger,” the voice went on. “Seriously, I get stuck in a cave for a few days and come back to this? You guys can’t take care of yourselves.”

He turned his head.

Alexandra stood at the door, hood back, hair shining gold and shadow. Willow was behind her, worry apparent on her face.

“You…," Kam said. He hadn't realized how much he wanted someone to walk through that door until now.

"Snap out of it," Alexandra said.

The Velvet Mask stepped between them. “And who might you be?”

“She’s gold,” Kam let out. “Run.”

Willow took a step back, already preparing a spell.

Alexandra, however, didn’t move.

“Yeah, I can tell.” She shrugged. “Why the fuck did you follow a cultist into the mountains?” Alexandra looked at the girl. “A malediction? Distasteful.”

“I would tell you to leave, but I’m afraid I can’t let you go now,” the masked woman said, taking a dagger out of her coat. “Any last words? Or perhaps there is something you desire to do before the end?”

The woman didn’t wait, driving her dagger straight toward Alexandra’s guts.

Alexandra's sword was already out. She turned the dagger aside with a flick of her wrist, no wasted motion, and stepped past the woman's shoulder.

The Velvet Mask recovered fast. Faster than Kam expected. She spun the dagger in her grip and came again, aiming under Alexandra's guard.

Alexandra caught it on the crossguard and shoved. The masked woman skidded back a step.

“Alex—” Willow started.

“I'm fine.” Alexandra didn't look back at her. “Watch Kam and the girl.”

The dagger went again, three strikes strung together, each one aimed at a different height. Alexandra parried all three, her blade a half-second ahead each time, footwork clean and precise.

Then the masked woman's free hand came up and caught Alexandra across the jaw, open palm, no weapon in it at all.

Alexandra staggered. Her sword dipped.

“You’re skilled, but don’t forget I’m two ranks above you,” the woman said. “You stand no chance.”

She drove her dagger into the opening.

Alexandra twisted out of the line. Barely. Her shoulder caught the edge of the blade, a thin red stripe opening through her shirt. She answered with a cut that would have opened the woman's throat if she hadn't ducked. Her head tilted at an angle no human neck should have allowed.

“What the—” Alexandra said. “What are you?”

“I’m nothing important.”

Kam watched from the ground, the thread still fixed in his hand, his lifeforce still feeding the malediction.

Willow sneaked into the shack and crouched beside him, one hand hovering over his wrist without touching it. “Can you feel where it's tied off? If I can find the anchor point—”

“Don't,” Kam said. “You'll pull it into you.”

Steel rang against steel. Alexandra grunted.

“You’re going to need more than a dagger to beat me,” she said.

“More than a dagger,” the woman agreed, and her arm bent the wrong way.

They were not broken. Nothing snapped. No signs of pain. Her arm just bent, elbow folding backward as if it was natural. The dagger came around from an angle Alexandra couldn’t have expected. Her parry met empty air, and the dagger opened a line on her ribs.

She hissed, stepped back, and reset her stance.

The woman's head lolled to one side, further than a neck allowed, and straightened again as if nothing had happened.

“What are you?” Alexandra said again.

“I told you. Nothing important.”

The woman came again, her spine curving, shoulders dropping below her hips for half a second. Alexandra's blade cut through the space where a torso should have been. It wasn't there. The woman came back up inside her guard, and the dagger opened a second line, this one across Alexandra's forearm.

Alexandra swore and threw herself backward on instinct.

“How is it?” the woman asked. “Enjoying it?”

“Willow,” Alexandra called. “How is it looking?”

Willow's hand was still hovering over Kam's wrist, fingers spread, not touching. “I have no idea what this malediction is and how it's keeping him locked to the girl. Every second is costing him lifeforce. Can you kill her?”

“I can, don’t worry. Keep trying.”

"I am." Her voice cracked. She pressed two fingers to Kam's pulse point instead, chasing the thread inward.

“Stop,” he said. “Stop, that's worse—”

Willow yanked her hand back like she'd touched a stove. The pull on his lifeforce doubled for a moment before settling back to a steady flow. Willow's face had gone white.

“I can't,” she said. “I don't know what this is.”

Across the room, the masked woman's arm bent the wrong way again, and Alexandra barely got her sword up in time.

“Looks like I have to do everything myself,” Alexandra said. She met the masked woman’s gaze. “Any last words? I’m done playing with you.”

The woman smiled behind the mask. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Alexandra didn’t react. “Have it your way.”

She extended her hand. Above her palm, a bright, scalding hot orb of light materialized. Then a shell grew around it until only a single hole was left.

Kam's eyes had started to close on their own. He fought to keep them open, to see how this ended.

Alexandra smiled.

“Goodbye.”