The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [141]
"I wouldn't judge you harshly for walking away from this."
Jherek nodded. "I know."
"I love you."
Her hand trailed gently across his face, briefly touching the water-softened scab that covered the slash on his cheek.
"As I love you." Jherek touched her face with the back of his hand, wiping away the tears he found there. "I could not love you so much did I not love honor, lady. It is all I know to be, and I would die before I betrayed that honor or my love for you."
"I know," she said hoarsely, holding his head between her hands. "I know. One does not come without the price of the other. For either of us."
She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. Jherek put his arms over her shoulders and held her tightly.
* * * * *
"Die, huu-mannn!"
Jherek lifted the cutlass and blocked the sea devil's trident thrust. He willed Iridea's Tear into a hook, reaching out quickly and tearing the throat from his opponent. He pushed the dying sahuagin away, almost bowled over by the next sea devil pushing up from behind.
The young paladin stood with other defenders of Myth Xantar at Chamal Gate. The Taker's final attack came after the triton offensive of the fifth of Uktar-only a couple days before-had split his forces. According to the tritons who'd reported to Qos, fully half his remaining army of sahuagin had turned and swam back to the Alamber Sea.
The sound of steel against coral filled the area, ringing more stridently than Jherek was used to. Over it all he heard Pacys singing. The bard's song rang true within him, making him feel stronger and more confident. Iakhovas's army still outnumbered the Myth Nantarn defenders nearly two to one, even after the tritons' victory.
Fighting undersea wasn't like fighting on a ship's deck, Jherek discovered. Underwater, the sahuagin could come at him from above as well as ahead and behind-and they didn't have any sense of honor. Nor did they abide by the Laws of Battle he'd heard so many of the Serosians lived and died by.
"Fall back and regroup!" Morgan Ildacer shouted, waving his troops back. The High Mages had named the sea elf captain to head up one of the defensive units.
The young paladin fell back with the rest of his group. He swam with the others, finding it easier to battle in the mythal that covered the city than he expected. His moves in the water came more naturally since he didn't have to hold his breath. Somehow his sense of balance seemed more sure as well.
A sahuagin thrust a spear at him from the right while another yanked its weapon from a mortally wounded sea elf.
Jherek swung the enchanted sword and chopped the trident head off, leaving the sahuagin with only the shaft in its hands. Once under water he'd found the sword swung as easily as if he stood on dry land, the blade not slowed at all.
The sahuagin seemed startled, then angrily threw the useless shaft away and spread the claws of both its hands. The second sahuagin approached in a flash, its fins pushing at the water.
Jherek willed the bracer into a two-foot shield and set himself as well as he could. He pulled the shield in against his body at the last minute. Like the sword, the bracer-in any shape he willed it into-had no water drag at all.
The trident slammed against the shield then deflected harmlessly over Jherek's shoulder. The sahuagin shoved a hand out with its finger webs spread to slow and turn. Jherek uncoiled his arm and lashed out with the shield. The razor-sharp edge, thinner and more solid than the finest steel, sliced through the sea devil's stomach, disemboweling it at once.
Still moving, Jherek swept the shield in, catching the water now because he willed it to, and lifted himself from the first sahuagin's path. He brought the sword down and nearly severed