Aesa frowned hard and pointed to the fluid. “Fini?”
“Fini thoughts.” Ell pointed to her head and then to the glowing container in the middle of the room. “All going in there.” She traced the crystalline tubes to the milky pools.
Aesa considered for a moment and shook her head as if wondering what the point was.
Ell gripped her arm. “There was something down there.” She pointed into the fluid and let her fear show.
Aesa looked, but there was nothing to see. She shook her head, clearly not understanding.
“What happened to the shapti?” Ell asked.
“The shaptis fought,” one fini said, an uncertain look on her face. “That one attacked the other. His face had so much pain.”
The pulse had done something to him. He’d knocked her from the stairs. But what had caused it? And how far did it reach?
*
Aesa took a long look around while trying to wipe the goo off her arms. Now she knew for certain why Ell had warned her away from the light river. Feelings came off it like fog, and she had to fight to keep her mind from wandering. Ell had seemed crazed after being immersed in it, and the fini hadn’t fared much better.
So, as Ell had shown her, the light tunnels fed into the cauldron, and from there they dumped feelings into this gunk, but for what purpose? If she hacked at the tendrils that led to this stuff, would that rob the pools above ground of their purpose? Perhaps it would drain them, or they would shut down with nothing to feed into.
One way to find out. Aesa stood, found the tendril that led into the nearest pool, and hacked at it with one of her stolen swords. A chip flew from the crystalline tube, and Aesa’s sword vibrated, the shock traveling up her arms to nearly fling the sword from her grip. She staggered back, shoulders twanging and teeth chattering.
Ell knelt next to the tube, the fini gathered a short distance away. She ran her finger over the chip and then stood, gesturing for Aesa to continue.
“All right.” She gripped the sword more loosely and hit the tube again, sending another chip skittering across the floor. Golden liquid oozed from the gap.
Ell gripped Aesa’s arm, pointing at the stairs, at the shapti. He twitched as if in the grip of a nightmare. Aesa smacked the tube again, watching. The shapti dragged his arms beneath him, eyes still closed, face slack as he pushed himself up. Blood dribbled from his mouth where he’d hit the steps. He leaned far to one side, shuffling forward like a sleepwalker. Some of the fini made little mewling noises, but others moved as if they wanted to help him.
“No,” Aesa said in their language. She waved them away, and Ell did the same, holding Chezzo back. The shapti shuffled down the steps as if his limbs were made of wood.
Aesa hit the tube again, and the shapti jerked, picking up speed into a broken little jog. With a last hit, the tube severed, and golden fluid dribbled onto the floor. Aesa sidestepped the shapti’s clumsy lunge, ready to hit him again, but the cavern bucked. She staggered and fell as the shapti lurched sideways into the milky pool.
The sound of grinding rock enveloped the cavern, a deep, throaty burr that came from below, as if the earth cleared its throat. The shudders quieted after a moment, and Aesa scrambled to her feet. The pool roiled and bubbled, no sign of the shapti.
Chezzo barked again, and screaming filled the air a half second later. The sound of boots thudding against stone came from above, and a high-pitched screech sounded again. Aesa backed toward the middle of the room, far enough to see shaptis pouring into the cavern, racing around the ledge, and thundering down the steps.
Aesa grabbed Ell, yelled at the fini to follow, and headed for the large doors that led deeper into the rock, but the shaptis would reach them first. Aesa stopped between two of the rectangular pools, sword out, trying to keep Ell behind her and trying to watch all the enemies that hurtled toward them, arms outstretched and mouths wide open.
Chezzo moved to stand beside her. Good. They might take a few with them into the halls of the dead before they were torn apart. She planted her feet, and wished she’d had more time to train with the sword, more time to spend with Ell, more time…
A shapti reached for her, and she swung, forcing him back. Before she had another chance, an arrow took him through the neck. Aesa locked stares with an archer standing near the top of the stairs, one of her people. Then Gilka ran past like a creature of legend, warriors arrayed around her, diving into the shaptis, prowess given form. From across the cavern, another group of warriors sped through another door, black-bearded Ulfrecht at their head.
“Aesa!” someone called. She fought the urge to gawk as Dain raced toward her, better with the sword than she would ever be. He had to have come with Ulfrecht, but he grabbed the second sword from her belt and stood beside her.
“Kinsman, how…”
“More than just me.” With a wink, he gestured toward the stairs, and then threw himself into fighting the shaptis. Aesa knew her mouth was open, but she couldn’t close it, never expecting to see Maeve and Laret running across this cavern, trying to avoid knots of fighters.
Maeve pressed a bow and quiver into Aesa’s grasp, her face alight with joy no matter the circumstances. “One of the archers fell, and I grabbed this.”
Aesa just stood there until Maeve turned her toward the fighting. “Aesa, shoot!”
She swung the quiver over her shoulder and did as she was told, arm pumping, taking shapti after shapti, and not daring to think of how this had happened. Next she knew, her mother and fathers would come strolling into the cavern leading everyone she’d ever met.
“Get away from those pools!” Ulfrecht yelled, and then Gilka was on him, her hammer to his axe, the sound ringing through the cavern.
Aesa glanced toward the milky pools. The one the shapti had fallen into was still bubbling, and now five slender fingers slipped up the side, leading to a hand nearly large enough to grab her around the middle.
This was more than just fae magic, she thought, stomach shrinking. Fae lived here, the large creatures who’d rampaged through the world, who’d almost destroyed all of humankind. More of it broke the surface, ears leading to points far above its head, notched in the back as if they’d been cut by a giant blade. It shone like a pearl, nearly the same shade as the goo that stretched over its face.
“We have to run,” Aesa said, her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.
“And go where?” Laret flung her blood at a shapti who got too close. “Maeve, can you get us through the fight?”
“I’m trying. It won’t come!”
Aesa didn’t know what they were talking about except that they had to find a way off the cavern floor and fast.
*
When they’d first come into the cavern, Gilka’s crew had watched them closely, but as the fight was joined, Laret began to edge away, Dain and Maeve with her. They’d waited for a gap in Gilka’s line and then run, grabbed a bow from a fallen warrior, and fought their way to Aesa’s side.
But fatigue wouldn’t be left behind so easily. Pain beat behind Laret’s eyes as she tried to summon blood magic, pushing back the euphoria that usually engulfed her. Dain didn’t seem to fare much better, drooping in fatigue and the aftereffects of Ari’s curse. Maeve clenched and unclenched her fists, and Laret could almost feel her willing her second skin to come forth, but it wouldn’t obey except in the most desperate of circumstances.
But if trapped on a cavern floor with a host of awakening houri wasn’t desperate, Laret didn’t know what was. “Run for the stairs!”
The houri shook its head, still sitting in its pool and moving slowly as if it had been asleep for a long time. It wiped an enormous hand down its face, revealing sharp features and cat-like eyes that roamed about the cavern. Its gaze flicked over her, and she shuddered.
They fought toward the stairs where Gilka and Ulfrecht traded blows. If anyone could defeat a houri, perhaps it was them.
Ari crept up behind Ulfrecht, hidden from Gilka’s crew.
/> “Look out!” Laret cried, but her voice died among so many others. Ari could have flung her blood at Gilka, but she squeezed her fist instead, and Laret felt her call to the curse.
Ulfrecht came up on his tiptoes, shrieking. Gilka leapt away, rocking on her heels as if she might dart back in to strike. Ulfrecht’s veins ran black as Ari’s curse rattled through his body, dormant like Dain’s until she’d activated it, but it worked so much quicker with her nearby.
He screamed again and toppled to the ground. Ari knelt and slashed him, pulling the tainted blood from his body to circle her like a river of red. Gilka leapt for her, but she hopped away, losing herself in a pack of fighters before racing down the stairs.
Ulfrecht’s crew roared when their leader fell. Even Dain took up the howl, but did any of them know what had happened? Some ran for Gilka, but Laret pulled on Dain’s arm. “No, it was Ari!”
Dain moved for her, but Laret hauled him back again. Ulfrecht’s tainted blood crawled over her like snakes, and Laret didn’t know what would happen if she flung it. As Ari wove past some of Ulfrecht’s crew, they collapsed, their blood adding to her macabre coat.
“Don’t touch her!” Laret called, but only those surrounding her obeyed, flattening against the wall as Ari passed.
She reached the cavern floor where the houri rose to its feet, nearly three times the height of a man. Shreds of the milky substance clung to its naked body, a slender, muscled, and decidedly male form.
He reached for a warrior and threw him across the room to smack dully into the stone. The fighting ceased around his feet as he stepped from the pool, but before he could rampage across the floor, Ari flung her hand forward, casting tainted blood across his thighs.
He shuddered, and Laret watched, rapt, as pink blood oozed from his skin. If draining the guards was a chore, she imagined Ari was waging a tremendous fight, but who should they cheer for?
“She’s killing him,” Maeve said. “Why would she kill Ulfrecht if she didn’t want to release the fae?”
“Perhaps she used Ulfrecht to get her here,” Laret said. “She’d need a houri out of his pool in order to drain him.”
The houri sank to his knees, reaching weakly for Ari. She ducked out of his way and pulled a clay jar from her pack. Laret felt her calling the houri blood, and it sluiced toward her, oozing into the jar.
“We have to stop her,” Laret said. “We have to kill the houri.” She looked to Aesa.
“Why?” Aesa asked. “If she drains him, he can’t hurt anyone else.”
“Believe me, whatever she wants that blood for, it can’t be good.”
Aesa frowned, took aim, and fired. An arrow punched into the houri’s eye. He shrieked like a hunting bird, and the shaptis cried out with him, rocking the cavern until Aesa fired two more arrows, both to the neck. Still, he groped forward weakly. Aesa fired twice more, taking the other eye and drilling again into his neck. With all the blood he’d already lost, the houri dropped like a stone.
Ari glared at them, gripping the jar. It was impossible to call blood from a corpse. A blood witch needed the force of the heart to be at least strong enough to make the victim bleed to death quickly. As Aesa took aim again, Ari capped her jar and ran into the fight that was still raging about the cavern.
Not giving herself time to reconsider, Laret gave chase. Ari had already cursed who knew how many people. Laret couldn’t let her succeed, no matter her plans.
*
Maeve knew Laret was going to follow Ari just as it happened. She hated curses and the witches who threw them, and Maeve knew she hadn’t forgiven Ari for nearly trapping them both.
Maeve kept on Laret’s heels, grabbing Aesa’s arm as she went. Aesa caught hold of a woman in white who had to be Ell. The dog and the rest of the fini followed. Good. Peering at everything, they seemed lost and bewildered. She hated to think of them as more corpses for the pyre.
Maeve squeezed Aesa’s hand, but Aesa wisely watched for danger instead of looking at her. Guards died all around them, but there always seemed to be more, as if everyone on the island had been summoned here. She’d guessed that the guards and the fae were related; they looked so much alike. The pulse of magic had undoubtedly called them. Why Laret had been able to follow it, though, Maeve still couldn’t say. Perhaps there existed some attachment between fae and blood magic. Ari, at least, seemed to know how to use it.
Aesa called a warning as a guard lunged for them. Maeve ducked to give Aesa a clear shot, but he barreled over Maeve into Ell, knocking her and Aesa to the ground. Maeve grabbed his leg and tried to pull him from the tangle. She called for Dain, but they’d lost him in the press.
The fini reached for Aesa and Ell, and the guard clawed at them. The dog buried its teeth in the guard’s other leg, blood pooling around the bite. He didn’t seem to notice, still scratching at anyone within reach. But as Maeve yanked on him again, he whirled and sank his own sharp teeth into her arm.
She cried out, and the spirit of the bear reared inside her, pushing past her reluctance to kill. He wanted teeth, did he? She felt her clothes shred and then matched him bite for bite, flinging him across the room with her great jaws.
Her head spun. Everywhere people were shrieking, dying, so much wasted meat. The smells and sounds pounded into her senses, and she could only think to run.
Someone called her name. Aesa. They’d finally found Aesa, and she needed their help. Control slipped. No, she thought, don’t change back, not yet. She hovered on the edge of woman and bear. Difficult, but she could tread this water, the body of the bear coupled with human reasoning. It was difficult not to slip one way or another, and she shuddered with the effort.
When an enemy came close, she slapped him away, spinning him across the room and opening his back. She didn’t have to kill. She could make this work.
Now, follow Laret, she told herself, and the scent trail nearly glowed in her mind. The others followed, babbling, but even if she could speak, she couldn’t explain. She had to focus. It was that or turn herself over to the bear, killing and maiming everyone in sight.
Chapter Twenty-five
Aesa didn’t dare to breathe as Maeve’s second skin washed over her, taking her from woman to bear in the blink of an eye. Ell screamed, and Chezzo bared his teeth, guarding the fini. Aesa grabbed for Ell. “She did it! She did it!”
Ell didn’t seem to understand, as wide-eyed as the rest of the fini, but Aesa wanted to shout with joy as she stared at Maeve’s shaggy brown fur, the claws as long as knives, and the jagged teeth tearing at the shaptis. Her roar nearly stole Aesa’s breath again.
What wondrous things their lives might have been if only Maeve’s wyrd had come upon her during the Thraindahl or before. She tried to conjure images of the treasure they would have gained, the glory heaped upon their names, but all she could see was how Maeve would have torn through the fini as easily as the shaptis.
No, raiding together had never been their fate. Maeve wouldn’t have gained her wyrd without their time apart, without Laret, perhaps. An unexpected road, but just as sure as Aesa’s had been.
Maeve thundered toward the doors in the rock, and two warriors dashed in front of her, one with a long spear. The light washed over their familiar faces.
Aesa willed herself to run faster. “Don’t kill them! Laret, Maeve!” She slid to a stop, knocking into Laret. “They’re my crew! Hilfey and Otama, stop, stop, please!”
Maeve shuddered and fell, body quaking. Her form grew hazy, shimmering until she sat on the floor, naked but herself again.
“Aesa.” Hilfey and Otama stood with readied weapons, and Hilfey stared at Maeve with fascinated eyes. “Did you join Ulfrecht’s crew?”
“This isn’t about crews! I came here to free the sheep.” She pointed to the cauldron and the sprawled fae, glistening dead on the floor. “These creatures are feeding off them.”
“So?” Otama said.
“She’s getting away!” Laret gestured toward a nearby tunnel, nea
rly hopping in her haste to be gone. “I have to catch her.”
“Is this the blood witch who used her magic to seduce your bondmate?” Hilfey asked.
“No one used magic on me.” Maeve stood and rubbed her bare arms. “Can warriors not think any decision comes from compassion?”
Otama glared. Hilfey bent, tore a cloak from a dead guard, and threw it to Maeve. “Before you catch your death.”
Laret slashed a hand through the air. “The blood witch who ran past you used her magic to kill Ulfrecht, and now she has some of the houri blood, and she must be stopped.”
As if to punctuate her words, the cavern shuddered again, that same dull grind. With all the fighting, the crystalline tubes would be damaged. Guards still flooded the cavern. If more of the fae woke up to fight, the crews could be overwhelmed.
“Hilfey, Otama,” Aesa said, trying to think of something that would make them listen. “The enemies of all humanity are slumbering here, and we must make sure they never wake again.”
They glanced at each other. Laret clenched a fist. “I must go after Ari.”
Dain ran up behind them, breathing hard. Otama and Hilfey glared at him, but all around the cavern, the crews were too busy with guards to fight each other. “Where is she?” Dain asked. “Ari?” He motioned over two of his crew. “She must pay for Ulfrecht’s death with her life!”
“This way,” Laret said.
Maeve gestured toward the heaps of wounded warriors. “Laret.”
“Stay. You can do more good here.”
They took each other’s hands and exchanged such a look of love that Aesa found it hard to muster any jealousy. She’d felt such love for Maeve before, but how often had she let herself show it? These two hid nothing from each other.
Otama and Hilfey stood aside, and Laret ran after the blood witch, Dain and two warriors behind her. Aesa turned back to the cavern. She’d given a pretty speech, but who knew where to start?
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