Two Chambers of Sustenance stood within, the light of their blue gemstone lids filling the room with a gentle radiance. A thick tube of that flexible material connected the Chambers to the thick gemstone pillar in the heart of the room. The floors hummed with such force the Hunter could almost feel his teeth rattling.
A gasp sounded behind him. The Hunter whirled, Soulhunger held ready for an attack.
No Elivasti had appeared, but Taiana stood pale-faced, her eyes wide, a hand to her mouth.
The Hunter crossed to her in two steps. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
Disbelief filled her eyes, and she raised a hesitant finger toward the door. “There,” she breathed. “Jaia is in there!”
Chapter Forty-One
The Hunter froze, the breath suddenly sucked from his lungs. He turned back and found himself at a loss for words as he stared through the open door into the room which held his child.
“You…are certain?” He struggled to form the simple question.
Taiana hesitated. “I-I think so.”
Taiana strode past the Hunter, her brow furrowing as her eyes fixed on the blue-glowing column. “I remember that. And the humming, it sounded like this. Louder than in the Keeps.” She turned back to the Hunter. “A room like this one.”
Her tone sent the Hunter’s heart plummeting into his stomach. “But not this one.”
Confusion sparkled in her eyes but, after a long moment, she shook her head. “Not this one.”
The Hunter’s shoulders slumped. He’d all but given up hope of seeing his child the moment he’d seen the Keeps activated. Below, Taiana’s revelation that she hadn’t managed to reach all the Keeps before the Sage’s Blood Sentinels powered them up had all but confirmed that Jaia was gone. A child he had never known and would never see.
This new twist of fate proved far crueler. Taiana had revived his hope only to shatter it a moment later.
“Come on.” Taiana’s voice took on a new urgency. “She’s somewhere in the Illumina. We have to find her before the Sage activates the power of Enarium.” Without hesitation, she turned and rushed from the room.
“Taiana, wait!” the Hunter called, but she didn’t hear him as she raced toward the spiral staircase. The Hunter pounded after her—he couldn’t let her face the Blood Sentinels alone. Cries of pain sent worry spiking through his gut. A heartbeat later, he caught up to his wife and found her locked in a furious struggle with four blue-armored Elivasti.
The Hunter took in the scene in an instant. Taiana’s spikestaff was buried in one man’s throat, one hand clutching the arm of a Blood Sentinel trying to bring his Scorchslayer to bear on her. The two behind her held their rune-covered weapons ready for when one of their comrades fell and gave them a clear shot at Taiana.
Without slowing, the Hunter flipped Soulhunger in his hand, caught the blade, and whipped his arm forward. The dagger hurled through the air and crashed into the unprotected face of one Blood Sentinel. Cartilage crunched beneath Soulhunger’s heavy pommel and blood spurted from the man’s nose. He fell back, crying out, his Scorchslayer pointing away from Taiana’s head.
But one Elivasti remained. The loud humming filled the stairwell as the blue runes on his weapon flared to life. Acting on instinct, the Hunter seized the collar of Taiana’s armor and shoved her forward, right into the struggling Elivasti. They collapsed in a clattering pile of tangled limbs and heavy armor. A moment later, lightning sizzled from the Scorchslayer’s tip and crackled a hand’s breadth above her head. The Hunter leapt over Taiana’s prone form and lashed out with a flying punch that caught the Elivasti square in the jaw. The man’s head twisted and his neck gave a loud snap.
Before the body hit the stairs, the Hunter whirled, scooped up Soulhunger, and drove it into the man with the bleeding nose. Crimson light blossomed in the stairway and a finger of fire etched another scar into the Hunter’s chest. Power flooded through him as the dagger consumed the man’s life force. Yet there was no scream of delight, no pounding intensity in the Hunter’s head. Soulhunger no longer cried in his mind. The voices had fallen silent.
Long ago, in a lifetime he couldn’t recall, he had sworn to aid Kharna in protecting the world from the Devourer. Soulhunger was the tool not to bring about the end of Einan, but to forestall its destruction. He had forgotten—no, the Illusionist Clerics had ripped it from his mind with the rest of his memories—but his conversation with Kharna had restored that knowledge. He no longer needed the voice of the demon to drive him to kill, or Soulhunger’s bloodlust pounding in his head. He knew what he had to do.
A hint of sorrow panged in his chest at the thought. Those voices—Soulhunger, the dagger, and the part of him that kept him in check, in touch with his humanity—had been a part of him for so long. Parts of him that made a whole. Without them, he would be alone.
No, not alone. Realization pushed the sorrow away, replaced it with blossoming hope. His eyes sought out the bloodstained, rage-twisted face and flashing eyes of his wife. He had found Taiana after all these years. They could find their daughter and be reunited as a family once more. Whatever came next, they would face it together.
No longer alone, he repeated to himself.
With a furious snarl, Taiana gave a savage wrench that snapped her opponent’s neck like a twig breaking in a hurricane. She released the man’s limp body and tore the Scorchslayer from his hands. She dipped her fingers into the blood of the Elivasti she’d impaled, then leapt over the lifeless bodies.
“Taiana, wait.” The Hunter blocked her way. “We need to be smart about this.”
“The time for thinking is over, Drayvin.” Her teeth bared in a snarl and she reached out to shove him aside. “Now is the time to act. The Withering is just minutes away. Once the Sage activates the Illumina—”
“We won’t let him,” the Hunter said, his voice firm. “But if we get ourselves killed fighting through the Blood Sentinels, the Abiarazi wins and Jaia dies.”
His words seemed to strike home. The fury blazing in her eyes didn’t abate, but at least she no longer tried to push past him.
“Listen,” the Hunter continued, “according to Garnos, the Sage had a hundred and twenty Blood Sentinels waiting for him in Enarium. We killed three on the streets and took down another ten or fifteen when we attacked him. How many do you think fell in the battle with the prisoners before the Sage sealed the Illumina?”
The question seemed to penetrate her rage-driven recklessness. “Forty, maybe fifty. The Elivasti regulars took the worst of it, but when I pushed through the ranks, I could see the humans were about to shatter the lines.”
“That’s nearly sixty Blood Sentinels we no longer need to worry about. With the ones we’ve taken down here and below, we’re facing less than fifty more before we reach the Sage.”
“Good.” Taiana’s eyes flashed again, and she tightened her grip on the Scorchslayer. “That won’t be enough to—”
“If there are ten on every landing and four between each level all the way to the top of the Illumina,” the Hunter cut her off, “that means there are far more than fifty. The tower is easily fifteen stories high.”
“So what?” Taiana snapped. “There are hundreds of the purple-eyed bastards for us to kill. More to feed Kharna with!”
The Hunter didn’t care how many men stood between them and the Sage—he would bring down as many as it took to stop the demon from letting loose the power of Enarium. But he needed Taiana to fight with a level head. In these close quarters, facing overwhelming odds, rage would get her killed. Get them both killed.
“So either there are more than fifty,” he continued, “or the Sage has to spread them out to hold off any attackers. He’s smart enough to expect us to come for him, so he’s going to make sure his Blood Sentinels are stationed in the places where they’ve the best chance of bringing us down.”
Relief surged within him as the fire in her eyes dimmed. He was getting through to her. The calculating, intelligent commander
had returned, though he had no doubt the furious mother searching for her child simmered just beneath the surface.
“They’ll be ready for us,” Taiana said, her expression pensive.
“We got lucky with these three groups, but we can’t trust our luck to hold.” The Hunter hefted Soulhunger. “We need to fight smart to get through them.”
Taiana’s eyes searched his. “What do you suggest?”
“I’ll take the lead, use Soulhunger and a spikestaff to bring them down. You come behind, and keep that Scorchslayer ready to take down anyone who gets too close.”
“Why do you lead?” Taiana snapped.
“Because I have Thanal Eth’ Athaur,” the Hunter replied without hesitation. “If I get wounded, I can heal fast enough to keep fighting. “ He shot her a wry grin. “Besides, you’re the better shot with those Scorchslayers than I am.”
Taiana looked like she wanted to argue, but seemed to think better of it. She swallowed whatever angry retort she was about to unleash and nodded. “So be it.”
“Good.” Sheathing Soulhunger, the Hunter bent and retrieved two spikestaffs from the dead Blood Sentinels. He couldn’t fight two-handed and wield Soulhunger, but in these close quarters the longer staves would put him at a disadvantage. He snapped the ash shafts of the spikestaffs over his knee, then retrieved the halves. Though they’d prove about as effective as a spiked club, they’d serve him well enough.
He tucked three of the snapped halves in his belt, passed the fourth to his right hand, and drew Soulhunger in his left. Though he found himself wishing for his long sword—still back in the room he’d shared with Taiana—he’d make do with what he had.
He turned to Taiana. “Watch my back.”
She nodded. “Always.”
The Hunter went first, running up the stairs at a fast enough pace to climb the levels quickly yet not simply charging blindly around the winding staircase. As he ran, he listened for any sounds of enemies awaiting him ahead.
His shoulders tightened as he heard the low hum of a Scorchslayer powering up on the second level above and ahead of him. Instead of rushing up the staircase and charging the Blood Sentinels that would be waiting, he threw himself into a low dive. Three lightning bolts crackled where his head and chest would have been and struck the wall, where they were absorbed into the transparent gemstone. He rolled to his feet and whipped his right hand forward, releasing the spiked end of the snapped staff.
Even as it left his hand, he knew the cast was poor. The weapon whirled once in the air and the snapped shaft cracked against a Blood Sentinel’s forehead. Though the blow sent the man reeling backward, it had been meant to kill. The Hunter tensed in expectation of more lightning bolts.
Yet instead of facing the ten Blood Sentinels he’d expected, only four stood between him and the next staircase. Taiana’s lightning bolt caught one in the head and sent blood and bone spraying across his blue-armored companions. The two men cried out and swiped at their eyes to clear away the gore. The Hunter crossed the distance in three steps and drove Soulhunger through blue armor, chest, ribs, and into a beating heart. The man shrieked in terror and agony as crimson light flooded the landing.
The Hunter moved before the dying Elivasti fell. His right hand reached back to draw another halved spikestaff, and he brought the weapon whipping around to smash into the bald head of a second Elivasti. The man collapsed in a boneless heap beside the headless corpse Taiana had brought down.
The loud humming echoed in the landing once more, accompanied by bright blue light. The Hunter looked up to see a Scorchslayer pointed directly at him. Only his inhuman reflexes saved him from losing a cheek, jaw, and ear as he threw himself to his right. Pain seared along the side of the Hunter’s face as the lightning bolt sizzled past. Taiana’s answering bolt tore the man’s legs to pieces a moment later. The Blood Sentinel collapsed, and the Hunter pulled Soulhunger free of the dead Elivasti’s chest to finish off the fallen man.
“Drayvin!” Taiana darted toward him, worry flashing in her eyes. “How bad is it?”
The Hunter ran a hand along the left side of his face and felt flesh gone numb from the searing heat of the lightning bolt. “Not too bad.” His mouth struggled to form the words and his cheek felt stiff. “I’ll heal.” Even as he said it, he willed his body to restore the damaged flesh. He had enough energy to spare—Soulhunger would sustain him just as it fed Kharna.
He tried to ignore the pain as he strode toward the only door visible and pressed Soulhunger to the gemstone lock. The door slid open to reveal a pair of Chambers tethered to the blue-glowing pillar. Taiana pushed past him and strode into the room. After a moment of hesitant study, she turned to him with a slow shake of her head.
“This…isn’t it.”
The Hunter ground his teeth. “We’ll find her.” The words rang hollow, but he had to keep hoping. If he stopped believing Jaia still lived, he would crumble beneath the sorrow. Right now, he needed to be strong to put an end to the Sage.
With Taiana at his back, he stalked up the stairs, Soulhunger and halved spikestaffs at the ready. When his keen ears warned him of enemies ahead, he paused only long enough to plan his attack. The four Elivasti died in seconds beneath the Hunter’s furious onslaught. At the next landing, again only four blue-armored figures faced him. They, too, fell before they could fire their Scorchslayers twice.
The higher they climbed, the hotter the fires of the Hunter’s rage burned. The Elivasti had no scent, no smells to drown out the familiar fetid odor of rot and decay that marked the Sage as Abiarazi. Entwined with that scent was Hailen’s clean, innocent smell—like a grassy meadow after fresh rain. The two smells grew stronger with every step upward.
At every level, they spared a minute for Taiana to check the rooms. She stepped over blue-armored corpses and splashed through puddles of blood to stare through the open doors, then turn to the Hunter with a sorrowful expression. Every new door brought a fresh hope surging in the Hunter’s chest, only to have it dashed a moment later.
By the time they reached the fifteenth floor, the Hunter felt ready to give up. He couldn’t endure the heartbreak any longer. He couldn’t bear to feel the sorrow settle like a boulder in his gut, to see the grief twisting Taiana’s face. His wife’s grief grew as her memories failed her again and again.
His own heart threatened to shatter. He had given up hope of seeing Jaia alive when the Keeps flared to life, only to discover that his daughter hadn’t been imprisoned within the Keeps, but here in the Illumina. Yet every empty Chamber drove a dagger of sorrow deeper into his gut. He had to be strong for Taiana, but he didn’t how much more he could endure.
This is the last one. A weight settled onto his shoulders as he pressed Soulhunger to the locking mechanism and the door slid open. The last time I will face the suffering.
He could open the rest of the doors and check the Chambers after they had dealt with the Sage—after he had time to recover from the emotional turbulence.
“Drayvin!” Taiana’s cry stopped his heart. Joy mingled with relief in her voice. “I remember this place.”
Chapter Forty-Two
The Hunter dashed into the room beside her. “You do?”
She turned to him, tears streaming. “This is the place where the Warmaster ripped her from my arms, carried our daughter to that Chamber of Sus…”
Her words trailed off, and horror writhed through the Hunter’s gut as he followed her pointing finger. The Chamber of Sustenance she indicated was open.
“No!” Taiana leapt across the room in a single bound. She fumbled at the coiled tubes, desperation burning in her eyes. “No, no, no!”
The Hunter watched, horrified, as his wife frantically pawed at the Chamber. Her voice had taken on an insane, wild edge, and a tremor ran through her body. “No, no, no, no,” she muttered, shaking her head over and over.
Horror writhed in the Hunter’s gut, and he felt the same sorrowful delirium threaten to overwhelm him. He’d come so far,
endured so much, only to find the Chamber empty, his daughter gone.
Wait! Realization dawned on the Hunter, and the truth flooded his body with warmth. She’s gone!
“Taiana.” The Hunter sucked in a breath, and his voice rose in a shout as he leapt across the room to seize his wife’s arm. “Taiana!”
She whirled on him, her eyes blazing. “Where is she, Drayvin?” she screamed. “Where is my child?” Her fingers curled into claws, and madness flashed in her gaze.
“Taiana!” The Hunter shook the woman hard. “No, you don’t understand. She’s—”
“My baby girl.” Taiana slumped, grabbing on to the Hunter’s armor for support. “My poor, poor baby girl. What have they done to you?” She sobbed into the Hunter’s chest.
“Taiana, don’t you see?” The Hunter lifted his wife to her feet and cupped her face in his hands, laughter bubbling from his throat. “Don’t you get it? She’s alive!”
It took a moment for the Hunter’s words to penetrate the muddle of emotions, but after a second Taiana’s tear-rimmed eyes went wide. “A-Alive?”
“Yes!” The Hunter pointed to the Chamber of Sustenance, a broad smile on his face. “Look at it. It’s the only open one we’ve found in the entire city of Enarium. There’s only one thing it could mean.”
“A-Alive.” The sorrow drained from her voice, replaced by understanding. “Sh-She’s alive!” Her spine went rigid as she pushed off the Hunter and turned to examine the Chamber. “But how? How is this possible?”
“I don’t know,” the Hunter said, “but it’s the only explanation I can think of.” He came to stand beside her and stared down at the empty white stone base. “If this is the one where the Warmaster placed her—”
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