Well of Tears (Empath Book 3)

by Dawn Peers

  “All of them? You checked them all?” The man signed that they had. There was no sign of the girls. “Then where are they!"

  Sammah’s breath crystallised in the air as he tried to calm himself down. If they’re not up here, then…down. I have to down.”

  Sammah pushed the mercenary forward, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get there first. “Down the stairs to the spring! It’s the only place they can be. Go!”

  Why on earth did Quinn want to go to the springs?

  * * *

  By the time Sammah made it down to the springs, he could feel the toffee taste of hot breath in his throat, and his legs felt leaden. He was never running this far again. Not, he resolved, that he’d ever need to. The mercenaries rushed up to meet him—a couple of them had made it down here already. What was that sound? Struggle? Sammah rushed into the springs, and all he could see was Neyv. The water was thrashing around the little girl, and Sammah came to a quick conclusion.

  “What are you waiting for! Get in there; get them out.”

  Sammah wasn’t jumping in himself—he was already exhausted, and wasn’t the strongest swimmer in the world. Two of his men dived in expertly, and were quickly alongside Neyv. One grabbed the young girl, and within seconds, Quinn’s body floated to the top. She was unconscious, but another man grabbed her.

  “Get her here, now! On the rocks, quickly.”

  Sammah got down on his hands and knees, desperately trying to see if Quinn was still alive. What had Neyv done? Neyv was screaming, squealing, trying to get free from the clutches of the mercenary. Elias stood dumbly by, looking at them. Sammah got to his feet, confronting the man.

  “What did you do? What did you let them do?”

  Elias gestured frantically, explaining to Sammah that he’d known the girls were taking an evening bath.

  “Does that,” Sammah pointed viciously at the pool, “look like two girls bathing to you? Why didn’t you stop them!”

  Elias shook his head and dumbly shrugged. Sammah elbowed him, and Elias barely moved. Sammah saw the murderous rebuke in the man’s eyes. “What are you going to do? Kill me? Me? Get back to my suites and wait there until I come to deal with you. You’re not meant to be as weak as normal people, Elias, but tonight you’ve shown me that I can’t trust you at all.”

  As Quinn’s body was lifted onto the solid ground next to the pool, Sammah dashed to her. He slammed his fist down on her chest. Quinn immediately coughed, water spewing from her mouth. She rolled over, coughing until her throat was raw. Sammah heaved a sigh of relief. At least she was alive—at least Quinn was still with him. Neyv was hauled out next, and the mercenary had to let go of her to get out himself. The girl tried to dash away, but Sammah snaked out a hand, grabbing her by her slim ankle. He yanked her to the ground and dragged Neyv towards him.

  “What did you do? Why did you do this?”

  “I didn’t do anything!”

  Sammah felt the ripple against his mind. It wasn’t the truth. She’d tried to murder Quinn, and Neyv knew that. Sammah try to calm himself but couldn’t. He knew now that he could do this without Neyv. Quinn had already shown how powerful her own abilities were. Was one empath enough? Yes, especially if Neyv was willing to murder someone so essential to Sammah. Neyv was a little girl. Sammah couldn’t let her grow up to become a dangerous woman. Sirah had died because she had been a threat to his delicate plans. Now, Neyv was no different. Sammah wrapped one strong hand around Neyv’s slender neck. He started to squeeze.

  “You only ever get to cross me once, Neyv.”

  27

  As they walked through the great hall, they expected someone to jump out at them at any moment, sword raised and yelling for help. No one did, but this didn’t calm Eden down one jot. Everfell should have been crawling with people—he’d never seen anywhere before go from such a hive to almost a derelict. The castle being this devoid of life went beyond eerie. Harn was just as nervous, constantly talking to his men, making sure he knew where they all were at all times. They all expected an attack of some form, staying as one distinct unit as they searched through the primary areas of the castle. So far they had only encountered petrified staff, and everyone had they had seen had chosen to run back to the safety of the camp of the Sevenspells’ men rather than attempt to defend Everfell and Sammah, the man who claimed to be working on behalf of their king.

  “Where are they all? We’ve not seen a single soldier, yet. He must have someone guarding him?”

  “If they are dedicated to guarding him,” Eden said, “then presumably they will be precisely where Sammah is?"

  “We are meant to be laying siege to the place—why isn’t he trying to stop us from getting into the castle?"

  “This is why I thought should stay behind your highness. This could all be a deception. Sammah wants to kill you above all others, and we’re letting you walk right to him.”

  “I am the ruler of Sevenspells and I will not spend any battle behind lines with the wagons and the women."

  “No one is questioning you on that score, your highness, but this is not a battle. This is a trap, and I feel that you are walking straight into what Sammah wants. If these girls can manipulate, like we know they can, then what’s going to stop someone from turning you to his side as soon as you’re within earshot? Please your highness, I beg of you, listen to me just on this.”

  “With everything Sammah’s put me and my family through, I’m going to kill him with my bare hands. Do you dare stop me from doing that, Harn? I’m not having you find and drag the man down to me like a common mongrel. I will kill Sammah in a fair fight. The only place that can happen, is here.”

  “At least keep in the centre of the group, father. Let us keep you safe until we can bring you to Sammah and you do what you need to do.”

  Harn didn’t give Shiver a chance to disagree with Eden’s suggestion. The circle of men tightened around their king, and they carried on out of the great hall through to the king’s suite of rooms.

  “We’ll go to Vance first, and if we don’t find him there, we’ll head across the castle to Sammah’s rooms. If he’s not in the great hall, then those are the only two places it makes sense for him to be hiding.”

  Despite walking slowly, with trepidation, and expecting a fight every second, they made it to the king’s chambers without incident. They didn’t know what to expect, but when Harn swung the door in, he yanked it, slamming it shut immediately. He turned back Eden, Shiver, and the rest of the group. “Please sire, don’t go in there. I implore you.”

  Shiver, annoyed to have already been cowed once by Harn, pushed past his captain to be met with a horrific sight. The stench of death was thick through the room. Shiver tried to cover his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, but it did no good. He wasn’t a stranger to this smell, but to be here, of all places, was wrong.

  There was a body in the bed, only the head visible facing away from the door. The hair was matted with blood, and though Shiver had no real doubt as to who it was, he had see for himself. There was no one else in this room, so he strode quickly over to the bed, ripping off the sheets and revealing the naked body of Vance. Shiver tugged him over to get a better look at his wounds. The body flopped to one side leaving the head in place.

  “Not this!”

  Expecting the king to have been bludgeoned to death, Shiver fell to the floor in shock. He vomited despite himself, and Harn rushed in to drag his king to safety. Eden joined in, and they both slammed the door shut quickly as they could.

  “That… That monster! What did he do! Vance didn’t deserve this.”

  “No, and now there’s no question how our king is going to avenge his death.”

  The significance of Harn’s words was lost on no one. Who was there left to challenge Shiver’s rule? Nobody would dare. Who was there left now to challenge Sammah in Everfell? Only Sevenspells. Shiver wiped at his mouth, desperate to remove the odour of death from his lips. “Water—someone pass me some blasted water.” A s
kin was passed down the line, and Shiver washed out his mouth, spitting the water to the ground. “Where else is there to go? There’s nothing we can do here.”

  “The only the place I can think of his quarters.”

  “Then we go there.”

  * * *

  Harn, Eden, and Shiver stood in a triangle facing each other in Sammah’s opulent rooms. “And this! Where is he! He can’t have just up and left, we would have seen him!”

  “Sire, there is clearly no danger here, let’s split up! We’ll cover more ground that way, surely.”

  “Yes, Harn, yes. Finally, yes, please just go. Let’s find where this bastard is so I can take his head. Think, Eden, is there anywhere else you know Sammah would go?”

  Eden looked the bookcases, down at the desk, then at his hands. He scoured his mind, trying to remember all of the conversations with Sammah, dredging up every little detail, minor though they all were, about the baron. He could only think of one other place. “The bathing springs. He liked to take time there. That’s the only other place I think he could be.”

  Shiver nodded. “Good. That’s where we will go.”

  “We, father? But you sent Harn away—we have no guards.”

  “You were my captain of the guard once upon a time, Eden, and we both know how to swing a sword. We will protect each other.”

  Shiver was showing more trust in Eden than any ever had before, despite everything. Buoyed by his father’s confidence, Eden grasped his sword hilt, squeezing at the blade to encourage himself.

  “Let’s go, father.”

  * * *

  It hadn’t been that long ago at all, when Eden and Quinn had been playfully flirting in these springs. As they descended through the corridors, they had heard a commotion. Sammah’s voice had risen above the rest, and both men had broken into a run. The last thing Eden was expecting to see when he ran in that room was Sammah strangling a little girl, whilst Quinn lay nearby, barely conscious.

  What had happened here?

  28

  “Get off her, Sammah!”

  Shiver acted first, sprinting forward and laying a kick into Sammah’s midriff that shunted him off the girl, though only just. The baron’s bulk acted as a shield, and though he was winded, he recoiled at Shiver. “You don’t know what you’re doing! She has to die. She’s a danger to everyone.”

  “You’re all going to die, Sammah. Don’t worry about anything on that score.”

  “You think you can stop me? You and your son? Kill them!”

  Shiver didn’t have time to see if the little girl was dead. Eden was crouched by the girl Quinn, but at Sammah’s words, his son got to his feet, ready to defend himself. There weren’t many of the mercenaries—four, that Shiver could see—and they all seemed on edge, as if something was going terribly wrong down here. Eden went to his father. They stood back-to-back, so no one could attack either of them from behind.

  “Stay calm Eden. We can beat these men together.”

  “I know, father. Stay wary.”

  They both took a fighting stance, and Shiver had to trust that his son’s training was good, and his sword arm strong. Eden had proven himself on the training ground, and Shiver knew that his son was blooded, but this was the first time they had fought together. Shiver had seen many battlefields, but facing off against Shiver’s silent bodyguards was an entirely different prospect. The men had always given Shiver the creeps, so at a point when he would expect a war cry—a shout—anything to show an offensive, their silence created a space which usually filled men with terror. Shiver bit down on his panic. They were only men—mutilated, trained beyond usual limits or means. They followed Sammah blindly, and Sammah had been getting his own hands dirty trying to kill that child, then that faith might be in question.

  They would survive this and Baron Sammah, murderer of lords and children, would be next. Shiver would do it with his bare hands, if he had to.

  Shiver heard the first clash of steel on steel, feeling Eden forced back into him. It wasn’t a hard push, and Shiver shifted his stance to support his son. If Eden needed to move out of the way he could roll. Shiver would drop if that happened, but he couldn’t linger on Eden for too long. He brought up his own sword as the mercenaries attacked, years of training bringing reflexes into work. Almost by rote, Shiver blocked and parried their simple attacks. These men might have been hired killers, but they were by no stretch of the imagination, talented swordsmen. Shiver broke away from Eden as he gained ground on the two men attacking him. He took one down, a clean thrust biting through the leather joint of the man’s jerkin. He went down, red blood spilling to the stones. The final mercenary faced off, and Shiver admired the man’s courage though his intelligence was perhaps lacking. He didn’t have the skill to win this fight. Apparently, the mercenary had realised this, and rather than try to fight Shiver cleanly, he dove for the king. Shiver grunted as the air was knocked out of him, the mercenary pushing him backwards into a stone wall. Shiver dropped his sword, and started trying to hammer down on the man’s back with his gloved fist. The mercenary didn’t budge, bringing his own fists round into Shiver’s midriff, hitting the king repeatedly. Shiver’s chainmail was too thick for this attack to have any impact, and he brought his elbow down on the back of the man’s head. This had the desired effect; the mercenary dropped to the floor, clutching at his skull where bone had hit bone. Shiver dove for his sword, and as the mercenary rose again for another attack, Shiver stabbed him through the neck. The man clutched at the sword, gurgling noises spilling from his throat as blood bubbled out through the wound. Shiver yanked his sword free, and the man fell to the ground, limp, dead.

  Shiver was out of breath. He wasn’t used to exerting himself like this, not anymore. His eyes scanned the darkness of the caverns for Eden and Sammah. The other mercenaries were gone, dead. His son had dispatched them quickly and efficiently, like any son of Sevenspells should. That just left Sammah. Shiver got to his feet. It was time to end this.

  * * *

  Neyv rolled back into the water as the men fought around her. Her vision was blurry. Her father had tried to kill her! Why didn’t he understand what she was doing? Why couldn’t she make him understand? Why was Quinn important? Why did he need Quinn, more than he needed Neyv? Neyv was the strong one. Neyv was the girl that could make anything the truth, and bend anyone’s mind to her will. Even Quinn couldn’t resist, when the story was right. How could Sammah not see this?

  The water was warm, and cushioned her little body. Neyv caught her breath. She had nearly passed out, but those men had arrived just in time. The big man—Neyv recognised him as the ruler of Sevenspells—had kicked Shiver off Neyv just as her vision was going blurry. This man with the big kick was the one that Sammah feared. This was the ruler that was going to take her father off the throne, and had been causing him the sleepless nights.

  Neyv needed to kill him. Then her father would see. He’d realise that Neyv had been right all along and that she was the special one, the one child he needed to love and keep alive. He’d knock Quinn out and throw her back in the springs to drown, right where she deserved to be. Neyv opened her mouth to talk. Only a croak came out. Her father had hurt her, badly, when he’d tried to strangle her. Neyv needed to talk for this to work. Would she be able to talk again? She dipped her head under the water, taking a mouthful of the warm liquid and gargling it. She spat the water out and tried her voice again. It was still reedy, barely audible, but it should be enough. Words were all Neyv ever needed, and, as long as she could make herself heard by one of those men, she could twist them all her way.

  * * *

  Eden saw the girl climb back into the water. Confused, he unbuckled his sword and took off his heavy riding boots, diving in after her. She wasn’t in any state to be back in the springs, and Eden didn’t want her to die by Sammah’s hand. She was too young. None of them deserved to suffer any longer under the baron.

  He scooped her up easily. Even out of the water, he guessed
that the girl probably didn’t weigh more than a large sack of potatoes. He lifted her over his shoulder, swimming easily back to the edge of the spring and placing her on her side, on the safety of the rocks. She was right by Quinn. Eden climbed out, checking the both of them. Placing a finger on Quinn’s delicate neck first, he heaved a sigh of relief when he felt a feather of her heartbeat. Neyv was next, but the little girl’s wide eyes were already open, locked on his.

  “Help me.”

  Eden moved his head closer. He could barely hear her. “What did you say?”

  “Help me. Quinn is evil. You have to kill her.”

  A buzzing noise filled Eden’s ears. Thinking the unexpected battle and dips in and out of the water had given him vertigo, he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the irritating noise. The girl smiled up at him. Eden squinted, dropping onto his palms as a wave of nausea flowed over him. “Quinn isn’t evil.”

  The girl nodded. Eden nodded in sync with her. “She is a horrible person. She is going to ruin everything. You have to help me. I won’t be safe if she’s still alive.”

  What had Quinn done to this girl? Eden wasn’t sure, though, as he fought against the rising pain in his temples, he couldn’t remember either whether or not the girl was right. Quinn had done some horrible things to other people recently. She had killed a mercenary in the Sighs, and had tried to kill his brother with her power. Was she trying to kill this girl, too? Did Eden really need to help?