CHAPTER 391: 391: THE SAND THAT HEARD A CRY PART FIVE

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A spear came in low for Kai’s thigh. He kicked the shaft and it skidded off his boot, sparks spitting. Another came for his ribs. He rolled his hip into it. The point scraped plate and slid, screaming along his side. Another came high. He tilted his head and felt steel brush his jaw. He reached between two shield rims and twisted. The spear shaft on the far side snapped like a stick.

"Hold," the captain cried. "Hold stead—"

Kai’s spear butt slammed into the bottom edge of another shield. It lifted the rim like a pried lid. He drove the iron head into the gap and turned. The man behind the shield screamed. Blood sprayed the inside of the board and ran down in neat lines through the cracks.

The line tried to close. Men pressed on men. Shields hit shields with dull thuds. The moonlight on the resin made it look like water breaking against rock.

Kai stepped into the wall the way a wedge steps into wood. He did not look left or right. He did not try to kill everyone. He tried to break the line.

He found a heel and crushed it. He found an ankle and hooked it. He found a forearm and smashed it with the kick. He found the edge of a shield and yanked. He found the weak spot where two boards met and drove the iron point through into flesh. He moved like a man splitting firewood in winter — each strike clear, each choice simple and clean.

Another brave soldier shoved his shield into Kai’s chest and drove with all his back. Kai let the shield take him a step. He put his palm on the top rim and pushed down like a man leaning on a table. The rim slammed into the soldier’s own boot toes. The man gasped, stumbled, and opened his mouth to breathe. The butt of Kai’s spear snapped up and broke his teeth. The man went down. The shield turned sideways in the line. Two men tripped over it. A hole opened the size of a door.

"Close!" the captain shouted. "Close in! Close in!"

They tried. They really tried.

A javelin from the second rank, thrown too fast, too near, flashed for Kai’s face. He tilted. It cut his ear and sang away. Blood ran warm down his neck. He did not touch it.

Behind the second rank, a drummer struck a low beat to keep hearts steady. ’Dum... dum... dum...’ It faltered when the drummer’s left hand locked. He tried to make his fingers open. They would not. He beat with his right hand only. ’Dum... dum...’

Kai drove the spear through the neck gap of the next shield and pulled it free before it stuck. Blood sprayed in an arc. The man fell to his knees with his hands on his throat. He made small sounds. He did not get up.

The black crown over Kai’s head turned once and seemed to dip as if in greeting to the blood below. Men saw it and wished they had not.

He took another step. His boot sank. Sand blew out again. The mist off his shoulders went forward like steam from a vent.

A spear point came for his eyes. He caught the shaft two hands down from the tip and pushed. The man on the far end slammed into his own shield with his face. Bone made a sound like a cup breaking. He slid down the board and left a smear.

Kai kept moving. He did not lose the rhythm. He did not let any one strike carry him too far. He did not let any one man hold him for more than a heartbeat.

An ant in the second row screamed, "He is not—" and then swallowed the rest of the words because he did not want to name the thing he saw.

From the center, Mardek watched, breath quick, eyes bright with something he would call fear. "Yes," he said under his breath. "Yes. Come to me. Come, I will enjoy fighting you. I never felt fear but you... you made me feel fear."

He snapped his fingers to the side. Four five-star guards in heavy plates broke from the rear and began to run toward the square, steps eating ground.

The captain of the hundred shoved forward from the second rank into the first. He had two scars on his cheek and a painted mark on his helm. He did not hate the stranger. He only loved the idea of orders more than he feared death. He came in low for Kai’s knees with his shield like a swinging door.

Kai did not try to stop the shield with the spear. He dropped the butt and let the iron head rest for one beat on the sand. He grabbed the top of the board with his left hand, pulled it down, and drove his right knee up into the captain’s face. Bone broke. The man fell back into his own men. The line went back a step. Men behind pushed forward to fill the space. Some tripped. Some swore. One threw up in his mouth and swallowed it.

The drummer’s hand unlocked. The beat came back. Dum... dum... dum... It helped. A little.

Kai moved through the hole the knee strike made. He was inside the wall now. The first rank was behind him, the second in front and to his side. Shields to his back. Spears to his front. This is where men die if they stop.

He did not stop. He turned his spear sideways and used it as a bar. He shoved a shield out and away. He brought the iron head back across an ant throat. He drove an elbow into a face that came too close. He turned again and stamped on an instep. He turned again and caught a spear bare-handed two hands from the head, shoved, twisted, broke fingers. He kept going.

"Close in!" The captain tried again, but the word sounded smaller each time.