The Rogue Trilogy

by Elizabeth Carlton

  “I intend to take Nevaharday by force,” Shadow confirmed.

  “Take Nevaharday…? You mean you intend to take the throne?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Why?”

  “Look at me, and look at you… Don’t you think you could be more?”

  “Yes...” Kotu frowned. Shadow had teased him with the offer of power should he help eliminate the gypsies, but now he spoke of something much greater. The stakes were higher. So was the reward, should he remain on the winning side.

  “I want to revive your people’s full potential, young rahee. But in order to do that, I must first become their king. I expect you to stand by my side when this happens and lead an army strong enough to defend Nevaharday from those like us who dare to turn the tables.”

  “We have enough people on our side to turn the tides of power within Nevaharday, but what of Skalabur and his sentries?”

  “The night mares and I can distract them long enough for Tonguk’s fodder to make its advances upon Nevaharday.”

  “Tonguk?” Kotu spat on the ground with disgust. “Remind me why you enlisted the mimic and his filthy clans?”

  “Because they are useful and dispensable,” was Shadow’s cold-hearted reply. “As long as they retain their usefulness, I will keep them around. But have patience, Kotu.” A sly look coated the beast’s expression, and he cocked his head to observe a trail of ants marching to a small hill between his legs. “There will soon come a day where they no longer serve me any real purpose.” He stomped his hoof into the mound, crushing the ants inside and scraping his hoof across the scattering line. “And I shall dispose of them, just as I shall dispose of anyone who opposes our vision.”

  Kotu took a deep breath, his attention glued to the ants running in frantic circles around their crumpled kin. The soldier wasn’t senseless like Shadow’s Abysmal pawns. He caught the warning behind the beast’s graphic metaphor.

  There was no backing out of this plan. Not now. Any doubts Kotu had no longer mattered. His allegiance was sealed on pain of death. The thought of facing Shadow’s wrath made him shudder.

  A chuckle rolled out of his master’s throat as he kicked the rest of the sand over the ledge. With a swat of his lion-like tail, Shadow returned to the cave with a confident sway in his gait. His laughter echoed against the stone behind him, and Kotu felt his blood run cold.

  Standing alone, the soldier looked out across the rolling hills, his thoughts reaching beyond the mountains to the walls of the city that had been his home. This was the side to which he belonged now.

  He was a rebel, like the disgusting gypsies he so passionately wanted disposed. His head swiveled toward the dark, dank cave, so stark and cold compared to Nevaharday’s broad gates. The kingdom would certainly change under the iron hoof of his master, but would it be for the better?

  Swallowing his doubts, the rahee hoped he hadn’t made a terrible mistake.

  INTO THE RUBBLE

  A day and a half had passed, though time was no longer measurable to Jaycent. Distinguishing night from day was impossible inside the intricate network of underground tunnels. Tobi led them deep into the heart of the mountain where the notion of fresh air and open skies didn’t exist. Only the torches granted the travelers use of their eyes.

  Weariness proclaimed they had long put the river and its secretive waters behind them, but it wasn’t far enough. Stalactites leered from above, often joining with their floor dwelling twins where their tips fused in an eternal kiss.

  Jaycent’s cynical imagination likened them to hungry jaws. He longed to feel the soft ground of the surface; to see the sun or the stars and remember what it felt like before they entered the suffocating walls of this dreary underworld.

  “Take heart, my friends,” Tobi encouraged. “We are almost there.”

  “Thank goodness,” Levee breathed. Like Jaycent, she wanted nothing more than to be out of this place. On top of the inhospitable environment, the hoots of mimics often echoed through the tunnels. More than once, Tobiano herded them behind a stalagmite or into a cubby hole as the gangly creatures, their eyes reflecting the eerie glow of night vision, filtered by in droves.

  The sightings did little to comfort the troubled prince. What if these groups were in league with Shadow? If they and their night mare allies united, they could take his city…

  Jaycent was so lost in the horrible image that he didn’t notice when Tobi stopped. The re’shahna’s arm went out to the side to keep the prince from walking by him. Kneeling, he put an ear to the ground to see if any mimics on the move.

  “Anything?” the prince whispered.

  “Nothing,” the re’shahna rose to his feet and dusted off his hands. He pulled the torch from the wall, illuminating a wide cavern. The ceiling was high here, its surface covered in jagged formations. He dipped the blaze against the edge of a stone trough already filled halfway with oil.

  The fire flared and darted across the perimeter. In an instant, the vast cavern was bathed in golden light, and Levee and Jaycent laid eyes on the gates of Bresan T’ahnya for the first time.

  No amount of destruction could steal the glory from the ancient city’s entrance. An arching doorway stretched forty feet high, its border dressed in white runes that sparkled in the firelight. The spells that guarded the gate still held, for no scratches marred the runes. Not even amidst the heavy rubble packed in the opening where two twin doors used to stand.

  It was rumored this place once held wards against enemies. However, they did little to protect its inhabitants against their last foe. Giant boulders spilled outward from inside the archways, showing that the stones had been dropped from inside the city. No amount of strength could roll the debris away. It was pressed into every crevice as an immortal reminder of a haunting battle lost from the inside.

  The re’shahna gave the archway a reverent nod and whispered a couple of words in the old tongue that Jaycent didn’t catch. His Highness raised a curious ear.

  “A prayer of thanks to Tennakawa.” Tobi blew a tuft of two-toned mane out of his eyes. “And for safe passage.”

  “Safe passage?” Jaycent asked.

  Tobi was already picking his way up the rockslide. “Few who find the entrance to Bresan T’ahnya live to see the inside.”

  Jaycent and Levee reached for the nearest handholds and followed with more hesitation than their fearless guide.

  “What happens to them?” Levee mustered the courage to ask.

  “Rockslides, or they fall trying to reach the second door. Some who do make it trigger traps set during and after the Great Tragedy,” Tobi glanced at his companions from over his shoulder. “Few outside of Patchi ever leave Bresan T’ahnya, so many defenses remain intact.”

  “How often have you made this trek, Tobi?” Levee wondered.

  “Counting this time,” the re’shahna specified, “thrice.”

  “And how many traps have you set off?” Jaycent wanted to know.

  “Only two!”

  A groan rose from the prince’s throat. Levee tried to be optimistic about Tobi’s less than perfect record. “At least he lived to tell about it.”

  Tobi’s foot dislodged a rock the size of a fist, and Jaycent and Levee had to duck to avoid the plummeting stone. It bounced just above their heads and fell to the ground in a series of noisy echoes. All three of them flinched until the cavern fell quiet again.

  Jaycent shook his head. “He should have prayed a little louder.”

  The prince climbed onto a slab of rock jammed between the mound of rubble and a stalactite and turned to offer Levee a hand up. She took it, using her feet to spring the last foot and a half.

  “You see what is left of the steps here?” Tobi pointed to the broken clusters of rock that barely formed stair-like curves along the wall. From the ground they had looked like nothing more than subtle formations. “This leads to the only open tunnel connected to Bresan T’ahnya.”

  A forest of pointed stalagmites stood below with the omi
nous promise to skewer anything that slipped and fell. “It is no wonder why your people rarely leave,” Jaycent put one hand on the wall to steady himself. “Few things could make me want to endure this journey more than once.”

  “That sentiment is what has kept us safe for so long,” Tobi planted his right foot on the six inch wide step and used it to hop the three foot gap to a wider set of stairs. Jaycent mimicked his steps, resisting the urge to look down and let the stone teeth rob him of his courage.

  Levee didn’t place as much trust in her steps as the others. The gypsy flattened her back against the rigid wall and inched her way upward, wary of the stalagmites below. She let one leg stretch cautiously across the gap to wider stairs, and didn’t dare lift the other until she felt solid rock beneath her leading foot.

  The moment she shifted her weight there was a crack, and she gasped when her front foot began to slide. Levee grasped the wall’s meager juts, pressing her fingers into whatever they could dig into as she returned her weight onto her back foot.

  “Prince!” She called as loud as she dared. Jaycent paused in his ascent. One look told him she was stuck, and he carefully picked his way back to her side where he clamped a hand around her closest one. The gypsy’s eyes shifted from the spikes below to Jaycent’s gaze, her breath trapped in her lungs.

  “Reach for my other hand,” he coaxed. Jaycent stretched his free arm toward her outside shoulder in an effort to bridge the space between them. Levee slowly loosed her fingers from their grip against the stone, but immediately the rock beneath her leading foot began to crumble. Her boot slipped several inches until her toes were the only thing touching the second plateau. Levee’s hand darted back to the wall and she clinched her eyes shut, dreading the drop below.

  “Look at me,” Jaycent urged. Levee’s head slowly turned and she opened her eyes. The prince smiled reassuringly. “Good. Now don’t look away. Keep your eyes on mine and reach for my hand again.”

  Slowly, Levee’s free arm reached out for the prince. He seized her palm and pulled the gypsy toward him. Her crumbling foothold fell apart and Levee fell down and forward, knocking Jaycent against the decrepit steps. He grunted as the wind was knocked from his lungs while Levee clung to his tunic, her feet dangling freely over the ledge.

  The prince glanced down at the gypsy in his arms as her chest rose and fell in short, panicked breaths. His own heart thudded rapidly as he hugged her tighter against his chest with his right arm.

  Jaycent dared to detach his left one long enough to reach higher up the steps. His calloused hand dug into what little grooves remained in the well-worn stone, and he rolled their bodies to the side.

  Levee gasped as she slipped another inch, her fingers clawing into the collar of Jaycent’s mithril shirt. “What are you doing?”

  “Trust me,” Jaycent whispered. He ignored the pain as the chain links dug into his shoulders. He used his feet to climb higher up the slanted ledge until Levee’s boots found a solid grip. The gypsy scrambled up until her entire frame hugged the broken steps.

  “Can we please just get out of here?” Levee whispered. Her muscles tightened in an attempt to still her shaking frame, and she cautiously rose to her feet, her cheeks warm with embarrassment.

  Jaycent looked down over the long drop that nearly swallowed the gypsy and his mind conjured the image of what could’ve happened. He quickly shut his eyes and turned away from the deadly cliff, disturbed by the thought and the feelings it evoked.

  They were too close to the end of this wretched trek to for him to let worry throw him off his guard. The quicker they got out of here, the better off they would be.

  Hoots down a nearby tunnel reminded him of their urgency.

  “Mimics!” Tobi hissed from several steps above them. A crude arrow clinked against the wall near Jaycent’s waist, urging him into motion. He ushered Levee in front of him, directing her to handholds on the uneven wall that would lead to the next line of broken steps.

  His fingers shadowed her every step, never falling out of arm’s reach. The three were forced to duck volleys as they fought to keep their balance, and Levee shrieked when an arrow tip struck the rock below her foot, shattering her toehold.

  Up came Jaycent’s hand, grabbing Levee’s boot and supporting her weight while clinging to the stone with his other three limbs. “Tell your goddess this is the perfect time to butt in!” he growled to the re’shahna above them.

  Tobi stepped onto the next island of steps and pulled the strange pearlescent shell from the leather necklace around his neck. Cupping it in his hands, he whispered against its surface, and the shell warmed to the sound of his voice. A soft white light pulsated from its core and grew brighter with every uttered syllable.

  Jaycent and Levee clung to the crumbling stair as maniacal cackles echoed below them. The mimics, convinced their prey was trapped, skittered up the rocks with reckless abandon.

  “…seladas illumargo!” Tobi shouted.

  A bright beam of light launched from his hands to the runes that bordered the archway, igniting them into a myriad of colors that spooked the mimics into retreat. They turned and tumbled over each other in an every-man-for-himself fashion, but Tobi’s summons was already complete.

  Jaycent and Levee watched from over their shoulders as the runes crackled and sparked. Jolts of electricity shot from the glittering symbols and assumed the shape of angry horses.

  Fully formed, the elemental equines stampeded into the tribe of frantic mimics, their touch sending jolts of lightning through the creatures’ bodies and dropping them mid-step. Screams echoed for miles across the network of underground tunnels, stopping every foul resident in its wake.

  However, pause is all they did. In the underworld, no one followed the cries of the dead.

  Jaycent, Levee, and Tobi stared for many long moments at the chaos turned massacre. It all had ended so quickly. Not a single mimic was left to recount the terrible and awesome magic within Bresan T’ahnya’s gates.

  Jaycent wanted to speak. He wanted to demand what in the name of all that was good and godly just happened, but his tongue sat motionless in his mouth. He was too awestruck to find the syllables for such questions, and Tobi offered no explanation. He merely flicked his ears and aimed a disdainful smirk at the dead below before leading his guests onward.

  As they made for a tunnel tucked between two stalactites near the edge of the ceiling, the smell of scorched hair and skin wafted up behind them, forcing the trio to cover their noses and mouths with the collars of their tunics. Up they climbed, silent and determined, until three sets of scraped and bloody hands felt the cool draft of surface born air.

  Jaycent and Levee were barely present the rest of the hike, lost in the wake of unspoken questions as they mimicked Tobi’s motions. The trio stepped, sidled, and ducked to avoid the traps the re’shahna had memorized, their path growing steeper until it led them back to glorious open land and limitless sky.

  When their feet finally scuffed the first a layer of dirt, the rahee found a world their young minds could never have imagined. Jaycent cupped a palm over his eyes as the three stepped out of the darkness and into a valley guarded by stone walls as white as clouds. Vines traced the rock face, blooming with violet flowers. Tobiano turned to his companions, a wide grin on his lips when he noted their gaping jaws.

  “Welcome, my friends,” the re’shahna threw his arms out wide and took a deep, glorious breath of mountain air. “Welcome to what remains of Bresan T’ahnya, the first city our people called home.”

  Jaycent and Levee’s eyes traced the vast expanse below. The valley was huge and shaped like an oval bowl set within the mountain. With Tobi leading the way, they walked into the city where homes were carved right into the rock. They passed the curious stares of several tribe members eager to catch a glimpse at the new and unusual visitors while children trailed behind them, too shy to join Tobi’s company but too curious to let them out of their sight.

  Signs of the battle Bresan
T’ahnya was famous for stood all around them. The black silhouette of buildings burned in a great fire scarred the walls while the bases of decimated statues still stood like broken, stubborn sentries. The road hadn’t been tended, its surface covered by the intrusive overtake of grasses that grew indomitably through the complex network of cracks.

  Yet this place didn’t boast of death, but life. Patchi’s tribe was large, even thriving. People who looked so much like Jaycent and Levee, and yet so different, went about their daily lives, belying the sorrowful stories woven into the city’s lore.

  Artisans, such as potters, jewelers, weavers, and herbalists, worked diligently from open door houses. The smell of bread brushed their noses, causing the prince’s stomach to grumble and Levee to lick her lips. This wasn’t a prison, cut off from the world at large. To the re’shahna it was simply home.

  “I hope you will stay with my family while you are here,” Tobi paused in front of a dome shaped house whose door consisted of a thick and colorful blanket. “There are empty houses if you so choose, but it would be an honor for me and my mate to welcome you into our home.”

  “You saved our lives and brought us here when we had nothing to give in return,” Jaycent’s tone expressed a sincerity rarely imparted from the lips of His Highness. Levee’s heart swelled with pride as he bowed in acceptance of Tobi’s guide’s generosity. “The honor is ours.”

  Tobi’s smile, warm and kind, lit his green eyes. He swept open the curtain door to his humble abode. Jaycent had to duck to get inside, and Levee trailed at his heels, drawn by the aroma of a meal in the works.

  One room served as a social area and bed chamber. A tall, lithe female stood with her back to them as she tended a pot over the fire. Her silver hair fell to the small of her back with two feathers woven into a small braid in the middle. She was humming to herself, engrossed in her cooking.

  “My dear Rain,” Tobiano both introduced and greeted. The silver-haired re’shahna turned at the sound of Tobi’s voice and smiled.