Balain’s brow furrowed. “But he is a prince. He is royalty.”
“Yeah, and he’s …” I broke off and shook my head. “Just don’t act like he is, and you’ll be fine. Standing on ceremony has never been a very big deal for him.”
“This does not make sense,” Balain said. “If he is not willing to act in accordance with his title, then perhaps he should not hold it. And he certainly should not stake such a lofty claim as prince.”
Instant fury flooded me. If I hadn’t worked on controlling myself just a few hours ago, I might’ve killed this guy without half trying. “I’m going to tell you something that’s none of your goddamned business, because I want you to really understand me this time,” I said through clenched teeth. “Ian is the prince of the Dehbei. Do you know how many Dehbei there are?”
Balain managed to look scared and angry at the same time. “I suppose a great deal more than the Annukhai,” he said. “No doubt the wrath of the Dehbei army will rain down upon me for insulting their leader.”
“You know, supposing is the biggest problem you people have here,” I said. “You all supposed the other village was just fine. They all supposed you didn’t give a shit about them. You were wrong about that, and you’re wrong about this.” I stopped walking and glared at him until he shivered. “The answer is one.”
“One what?”
“That’s how many Dehbei are left. One,” I said. “And he doesn’t like to be reminded that he’s the prince of a clan who was systematically slaughtered to a handful, before the rest were banished to the human realm to die slowly under a curse from a cowardly leader.”
Balain blanched and went limp. “I … I cannot tell you how sorry I am,” he stammered.
“Don’t apologize to me. And don’t apologize to Ian, either. He doesn’t want to hear it,” I said. “Just stop trying to kiss his ass, okay? He’s a warrior, not some royal statue on a pedestal. Got it?”
“I understand,” Balain said. “I only hope that he will forgive me.”
“He doesn’t know you need to be forgiven. So let’s keep it that way.”
We started moving again, and I tried to focus on everything we still had to do. This new, shaky alliance between the clans wasn’t going to stabilize much before we had to face the Wihtiko, and I worried that the djinn’s conflict would cause more damage and casualties than the monster.
Ian didn’t really want to be a leader, but he had no choice now. Because without him, everything would be lost.
Chapter 29
I was surprised to find Pahna outside the gates, waiting with the rest of our original group when I came out. Apparently she’d been worried about Malak, so once they’d gotten the younger kids calmed down, she’d left the rest of the village in capable hands. I’d sent Nate in with Balain and hung out with the young people, waiting for the old drags to do their thing.
At first I was worried about not having the bracelet to get inside, but then I remembered the whole point of this was making it so no one needed the bracelet.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Toklai said after we’d been standing around for about an hour. “Nate, I mean.”
I had to smile. Toklai seemed really taken with the old guy, and it was good to see him care. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. Ian won’t let anything happen to him,” I said.
“I hope so,” he said, fussing with his new necklace.
That made me realize I’d forgotten to bring up the weapons issue. “Hey, Malak,” I said. “Ian wanted me to ask what kind of weaponry you have in your village, I guess to kind of get up to speed and figure out if we’re short somewhere.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much,” he admitted. “Spears and masks. A few of us have blades. That’s about it.”
“I’ll bet I know where the elders’ weapons are,” Toklai said.
Malak whipped a glare at him. “No, you don’t.”
“Sure I do.” He pointed to the vast, snow-covered field that stretched to the forest. “They’re out there, where the Great Seal was. All the stories say that Father and … the others fought the sleeping monster right there. The Wihtiko would have left them where they lay.”
“There’s nothing out there, Toklai,” Malak said. “Just a lot of snow.”
“Actually, there is something. I’m just not sure what it is,” I said slowly, remembering the hollow spaces I’d felt beneath the ground — and whatever was moving around in them. “Have any of you actually seen the Great Seal?”
Pahna shook her head. “There’s been nothing in this field for as long as I can remember,” she said. “Only snow that never melts.”
“Wait, so there’s no spring here?” I stared across the undulating, frozen white mass. “It’s just perma-snow, all the time.”
“In the field, yes,” Malak said. “We try not to come here too often. All this open space makes for an easy target.”
“Huh.” I started to wonder if there was more to the Great Seal than any of them suspected. Maybe it hadn’t been burned into the ground.
Maybe it had been built.
I reached out with my senses, trying to get a clearer picture of what was hidden under this sea of ice, when a huge pulse of earth magic washed through the land, making me stagger and look around in alarm. Whatever it had been, it hadn’t so much as shifted a snowdrift.
“I don’t believe it,” Pahna breathed suddenly. “Look at that …”
She was the only one facing the village wall. The rest of us turned in time to see a corona of shimmering blue light circling the lodge, expanding rapidly. Jagged, bright blue bolts burst from the ring in all directions, a silent explosion that hit the opaque rainbow barrier and popped it like the bubble it resembled.
“They did it!” Toklai shouted, leaping briefly into the air. “Malak, they really did it.”
“Yes, I suppose they did,” he said with slack-jawed wonder.
“It’s about time. I’m going to check on Nate.”
Toklai was fast, but Malak was faster, snaking a hand out to grab his brother’s arm before he could so much as twitch toward the gate. “They’ll bring him out,” he said. “You’ve waited this long. You can wait a few more minutes.”
“Fine,” Toklai muttered, but his sulk didn’t last long. “I can’t believe they took down the barrier. Things will be better now, won’t they? I mean, after we kill the Wihtiko.”
“I hope so,” Malak said. He scowled at the black palisade wall that still encircled the village and muttered, “At the very least, they won’t have it any easier than our village any longer.”
I gave the older brother a grin and clapped him on the shoulder. “Trust me, Malak. Once they realize that they might be Wihtiko chow, the Alqani are going to throw everything they’ve got at covering their own asses. Killing this thing is everyone’s best shot, and now they’ve got a strong motivation to be team players again.”
Malak actually laughed at that, arching an eyebrow at me. “More wisdom from a lucky human thief, I’m guessing? I think you may be right.”
It wasn’t long before several figures left the lodge and started for the wall. Ujura and Balain came first, with Ian and Nate behind them. When they got through the gate, the two elders turned and stared at where the barrier had been. “It is finally gone,” Ujura said. “I half suspected to find this another of Meriwa’s tricks.”
Ian had lagged a little slower than them. The reason was obvious when he came out with a supporting arm around Nate, who was half-slumped beside him.
“Nate! What happened?” Toklai said as he ran over to them. “You’re not dead, are you?”
Nate lifted his head and laughed a bit. “Not yet,” he said. “I just need to rest for a minute, if this young fellow doesn’t mind helping me sit down.”
“Are you referring to me?” Ian said with a frown. “I am not young.”
“You know, I don’t think I actually want to know how old you are. You look young enough to me.”
Ian shrugged as he hel
ped him settled on the ground against the wall. “You have done well, Nohtaikhel.”
“Thanks. And it’s Nate,” he said. “At least one of us has to go by an easy name around here.” His eyes rolled back, but he smiled. “I have to say, that was quite an intense experience. This whole world is saturated with elemental power — it felt more like aiming the magic than summoning it. Did we do the … whatever it is we were trying to do?”
“Yes, you did! You took the barrier down,” Toklai said as he plopped down next to Nate. “Now they can’t stop us from going to their village. Not that we want to anyway, but we could.” He paused for breath, and added, “Hey, I can do a little healing. Do you want me to heal you?”
“Sure,” Nate said uncertainly. “I don’t think I’m broken, though. Just a little wiped out.”
“It’ll help. You won’t be so tired.”
“Well, that sounds good to me. You can keep catching me up on this side of the family while you do your thing.”
While Toklai chattered away to Nate about djinn healing and how their clan could turn into wolves, but he couldn’t turn Nate into a wolf, and wouldn’t it be cool if he could, the young couple started a reluctant conversation with Balain and Ujura. At least they were talking.
I gestured to Ian and took him aside. “How’d it go in there?” I said.
“As expected, I suppose,” he said with a brief glance at the walled village. “With much posturing from Meriwa regarding her great benevolence in taking action to save herself.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Do we have any sort of plan?”
“We meet them here tomorrow at dusk,” he said. “Repair the seal, defeat the Wihtiko.”
“Great plan.” Honestly, it wasn’t all that different from any other plan we’d ever had. See something bad, stop it from happening. But this time we had a few complications in the form of a centuries-long conflict between two clans who should’ve been focused on a common enemy. “Listen, I talked to them about weapons,” I said. “They don’t have many, but Toklai seems to think all the Annukhai warriors’ stuff ended up out there, in the field. Apparently this snow is always here.”
“And their weapons are buried somewhere in this?” Ian said. “How are we supposed to find them?”
He did have a point. The field was at least half a mile long and twice as wide, easily. But I suspected we could get pretty close on the first try. “Remember those hollow spots I told you about? I think that’s the Great Seal. It’s right in the middle of all this,” I said. “If we’re going to find anything, that’s where it’ll be.” That pulse earth magic had given me a fairly good ‘look’ at the land under that featureless expanse of snow, and it matched up pretty well with what I could remember of the seal.
His brow furrowed slightly. “You also said there was something moving down there.”
“Ah, so you do remember,” I said with a smirk. “It’s probably animals. Djinn rats or something.”
“Let us hope it is not a nest of fahri.” He held his hands out around four feet apart. “Their tails are twice as long, able to grip tightly enough to tear off a limb. And do not get me started on their teeth.”
I shook my head. “Don’t you guys have any cute, fluffy animals?”
“Yes. We call them humans.”
“Ha-ha.” I looked back at the others, who seemed to be preparing to leave. “Maybe we should tell them we’ll catch up with them after we look for the weapons.” I still wasn’t sure they’d be of any use against this monster, but I for one would rather not attempt to fight this nightmare hand-to hand if things went wrong. Which they usually did.
Ian took another look across the field and nodded. “That seems the most sensible idea. In the end, we are the most experienced with things like this, thief.” I had to agree, even if plundering an ancient djinn tomb wasn’t high on my bucket list. I hadn’t even brought my fedora and bullwhip.
We headed back over to the group waving to get their attention before they started their trek back home. “Hey, we’ll meet you guys back at the village in a while,” I said. “Ian and I want to see if we can find those weapons Toklai mentioned.”
“You do?” Toklai said in surprise. “See, at least somebody listens to me.”
“What weapons?” Ujura asked.
“Those of the Annukhai warriors.” Ian pointed out over the field. “We believe they may be buried with your Great Seal.”
Balain drew a shocked breath. “Yes, they likely would be there,” he said. “After the battle, there was a storm that lasted four days and four nights. This field has remained unchanging since.”
“I will help you search,” Malak said, turning toward his brother. “That is, if —”
“Go ahead. I’m going to bring Nate back to the cabin, so we can read more stuff,” Toklai grinned. “If he’s not too tired.”
Nate chuckled. “Lead the way, young man. I think you not only re-energized me, you also healed my arthritis. I feel like I could run a marathon.”
“What’s a marathon?”
Nate stared at him. “Have I got some stories to tell you,” he said.
“Well, start talking! Your stories are funny.” Toklai led him toward the expanse of the field. “See you all back there,” he called, waving over his shoulder.
Pahna watched him for a moment with a fond smile. “I think I’ll stay and help, too, since Toklai’s got everything else handled.”
“As will Balain and I,” Ujura said. “If you will accept our help.”
For some reason, everyone was looking at me.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “The more the merrier, I guess. But I should warn you that there’s something alive out there under the snow. More than one something.”
“In that case, it’s good that we’re all helping,” Malak said. “Whatever it is, it’s probably not friendly.”
I didn’t want to be the one to say it out loud, but yeah. That.
Chapter 30
It turned out that the Great Seal of Eq’aba really was a giant, underground stone labyrinth.
I’d broken through the ground over one of the hollow spots and blasted enough of the frozen earth away for everyone to get through. Now we stood in a curved stone corridor about four feet wide with ten-foot high walls, and another passageway ahead that split off left and right. The guttering light of day that streamed through the hole above us didn’t reach completely down the corridors.
But I knew that if this place wasn’t buried, viewed from the air, it would look pretty much like the symbol Toklai had carved into my chest.
“I remember this place now,” Ujura muttered, taking a few steps toward the split passageway. He held his hands out to either side of him. “Shah’lai alkuul.”
Twin beams of blue light shot from his palms and hit the walls closing us in. On impact, the light spread out in both directions, illuminating djinn symbols etched into the walls in rapid zigzagging patterns that traced off into the distance.
“Wait a minute. This seal is supposed to cancel magic, isn’t it?” I said. “So how did you just use magic inside it?”
Ujura’s expression suggested he was surprised I was smart enough to ask the question. “That is the purpose of the seal of eq’aba, yes,” he said. “However, the Great Seal is made of stone, not flesh, and must be activated with both magic and blood. Also, Balain informed us that the stones of the Seal themselves were damaged in the battle with the beast. Until it is fully restored, it does not prevent the use of magic.”
That made a certain, awful kind of sense. But it wasn’t active right now, so at least we’d be able to see down here — and fight, should it come to that.
Unfortunately, the first thing we saw was a grinning skeleton, dressed in rags and slumped against the wall partway down the corridor ahead. One bony arm was flung up in frozen terror, and there was a big, ragged hole in the skull that Toklai’s new claw necklace would have fit into neatly.
Ian looked at the corpse, horrified. �
��You left your dead behind?”
“We had no choice. There was the storm, and then the creature carried off anyone who tried to cross the field …” Balain drifted slowly toward the skeleton like a man in a dream, and then crouched in front of it. “May the Great Day dawn bright for you, my friend,” he whispered, clasping the skull in both hands and bringing his forehead to touch the skeleton’s. Then he pulled back and plucked at a few of the rags. “This was Lialah,” he said. “She was one of my brother’s students, the elite.”
Malak frowned. “Where are her weapons?” he said. “Shouldn’t they be with her?”
“Yes, they should.” Balain straightened and looked left, then right. “We should head for the center,” he said. “Much of the fighting happened there.”
“I don’t like this,” Pahna said under her breath. “It feels wrong to disturb them, to take their belongings.”
Ian flashed a grim smile. “They would not have minded. A warrior understands that a weapon is useless when it is not being wielded.”
“That is very true.” Balain nodded. “Well, I cannot say that I remember the way, but my feet may recall what my mind has forgotten,” he said. “Shall we?”
There was general agreement, and the rest of us filed after him down the left-hand corridor.
Every wall glowed with complicated rows of symbols, giving plenty of light to banish the shadows. Most of the tunnels were still passable, but we ran into several blocked with mounds of collapsed earth or the rubble of broken walls. There were more skeletons too, thankfully few and far between. Balain paused every time we found one to give his clan’s blessing and identify the remains.
None of the dead we found had weapons.
We’d been walking through the corridors for maybe ten or fifteen minutes when I sensed movement somewhere ahead. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t djinn, since their presence tracked itself as glowing footprints along my mind-map. This was more of a dragging, black sensation that scorched a path along the ground.
“We’re coming up on something bad,” I said. “Stay sharp.”
Master of Elements Page 19
