The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [114]
The impact of Hanibaz Nassor did what Lander had been unable to do: the roof of the collapsed shelter folded under his falling body, lifting up a full foot above the water at its near end. Magelight flooded in. Hanibaz lay halfsubmerged among the wreckage caused by his crash. Lander stretched over and hauled the wizard's head up out of the water. His eyes flickered briefly. "Brin," Lander called against the sudden roar of the water elemental outside, "he's still alive!"
The halfling unwrapped himself from the post he had been clinging to and looked at the barely conscious wizard. He flicked his one-eyed gaze to the gap above the water. With an unholy cry, he swarmed through the beams of the broken roof and squirmed out, flipping up on top of the roof. "Brin!" Lander yelled. He gave Hanibaz a push that rolled him out of danger of drowning and half-swam through the water over to the gap.
New light-golden light-flared like dawn as he stuck his head out through the gap. He squinted against it and looked up.
***
The water elemental that swelled up abruptly above them shook even Yu Mao. His swords hesitated in their fall and Li rolled aside. Not enough! Yu Mao's eyes snapped back to him and he swung his weapons sharply.
The Eel shook as the water elemental turned. Thrown off balance, Yu Mao staggered. His butterfly swords chopped down into slate. Li staggered, too, though, slipping to one knee and sliding across the shaking roof.
Loose slates clattered past him as he slipped and spun.
Light flashed in the periphery of his vision. He twisted around.
The Yellow Silk hung by a fold of fabric that had become wedged between two slates.
He looked up. Yu Mao was crouched a few feet higher on the roof. Their eyes met and Li's heart twisted one final time. "Yu… " he breathed. His brother snarled and lunged. Li scrambled for the Silk, snatching it free, and letting it unfurl as he rolled to his feet.
Sunlight caught by weavers and dyers in ancient times shone out as bright as the day it had been captured. It blazed across the night of Spandeliyon, turning the dark floodwaters blue-gray and the writhing column of the water elemental green and froth white. Li held the Yellow Silk high and the pride of Kuang rippled like a hundred summer days. Yu Mao's charge thundered on the Eel's roof. Li whirled toward him, the Silk billowing out in his hand.
"Ayeh!"
Yu Mao's butterfly swords sliced down. Their edges met the Silk-and slashed the shining fabric into ragged ribbons. Its light winked out.
Most of it. Yu Mao met Li's eyes again. They both looked down. One last shining bolt was clenched in Li's hand, plucked from the Yellow Silk of Kuang and hidden behind the rippling fabric.
Its other end pierced Yu Mao's chest. Li opened his hand and the bolt of light vanished. Yu Mao's eyes rolled back. Li watched his brother crumple backward. Smoke curled from the edges of a wound that showed no sign of healing.
Up on top of the shelter roof, Brin let out a wordless cry as the big Shou fell. Twisting around, Lander could just see the halfling's face blotched white and red with rage. His entire body trembled and his hands clenched into tight fists, his right squeezing his little knife so hard that blood oozed between his fingers.
Lander choked and flinched back into shadow.
Brin screamed again and whirled around. His right hand flicked out-
At the first scream, Tycho turned, still playing along to Veseene's song. Brin was standing on the roof of the collapsed shelter, staring up at Li and Yu Mao's fallen body. The bard caught his breath. "Ves-"
Brin screamed again and this time he whirled around, one hand flicking out. Tycho caught the flash of a knife streaking toward him before he could duck or even flinch-
–and suddenly he was playing alone as the elemental collapsed in a rushing cascade and the floodwaters began to drain away.
He turned. His bow froze on the strings of his strilling. Veseene hung in Laera's arms,