"They've come from Drak-Anor. They're going to help me free the clan."
"Clan? Your whole clan?" Delilah pulled Kali aside. "You said we were going to free a few draks. How are we going to smuggle a whole drak clan out of here?"
The other draks in the room now stared at them. Kale wanted to be anywhere but the center of a drak clan-mass rescue.
"Yes, my whole clan." Kali straightened and held herself high in defiance of Delilah's disbelief. "For too long have the Firescales toiled in bondage to the human who owns these mines. I mean to kill him and free my people. You're here now and can't get back without me, so you might as well help."
"Firescale? You said your name was… oh." Kale buried his face in his hands. He never wanted to get involved in a full-scale revolution, even it if was against just one human.
"Kale." Kali placed her hand on his shoulder. He peeked at her through his fingers. "I lied about my name because I have to in the city. I can explain why later, but I need your help. Your sister's too. Nothing has changed."
"You didn't tell us you needed a whole clan spirited away!" Delilah tapped the butt of her staff against the ground for emphasis.
"Someone's coming." One of the other draks in the room rasped and pointed at the hallway. From the heavy footsteps and rattling of metal, Kale guessed it was one of the guards. He, Delilah, and Kali ducked back to their hiding place behind a boulder as the other draks scrambled to look busy.
"What's all this then?" A corpulent human waddled into the room, a whip draped over his shoulder. "I hear talking when I should hear digging!" He lashed out with his whip, striking Kali's father across his shoulders. Blood welled in the welt it drew across his back, and he fell to the ground.
Kali's breath quickened, and she drew her daggers. Kale grabbed her around the arms to keep her from leaping out and onto the human. He cracked his whip again, and Kali strained against Kale. He flapped his wings to keep his balance, dislodging a rock. The stone clattered across the floor.
The fat human smiled and turned. "What have we here? Layabouts?"
Kali elbowed Kale in the rib. With a grunt he fell back, losing his grip on the female drak. She sailed through the air, howling in rage. The human's expression turned from bloodthirsty amusement to one of shock. Landing on the human's ample chest, she plunged her daggers into either side of his neck.
Gagging and gasping, he clutched at his throat as blood spurted from the wounds. Kali held tight, snapping at his face, tearing chunks off his nose and ears as he staggered backward. She yanked one blade out of his neck, sending another spray of blood to paint the white walls of the antechamber. She plunged it down again, into his face, piercing his skull as she pushed back with her feet and launched herself off his chest. He fell back into the wall, sliding down as blood pulsed from his ruined neck and face.
Kali landed in a crouch near Kale, licking the blood from her lips. He glanced over at his sister. Delilah squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
"Bloody hell."
* * *
For a moment, Delilah sympathized with Kali. She felt a pang for the father that cast her and Kale out. If it were my father lying there, what would I have done? As the fat guard slid down the wall, unconscious, his lifeblood spilling onto the floor, Delilah realized what would likely happen next: they would have to fight their way out of the mine with a clan of malnourished, sickly, exhausted draks in tow.
Staying in bed the rest of the winter sounded like an excellent plan.
Kali clapped her hands, proceeding around to the other draks in the antechamber and helping them to their feet. "Up you get! This ends now. We're getting out of here, and these draks, these Children of Destiny are going to lead us."
The draks moved with renewed vigor, even as Delilah cringed, hearing Kali put her and Kale on a pedestal. They never believed they were special because of the circumstances of their hatching. They were just draks with stripes, who tried to live their lives and look out for each other.
"Kale! Talk!" Delilah waved her brother over and pulled him close, lowing her voice so they wouldn't be overheard. "What are we going to do? This is already out of hand."
Kale glanced over his shoulder at the assembled draks. "I guess we lead them out, Deli." He grinned and clapped her shoulder. "Today we get to be heroes!"
The sentiment made Delilah want to gag. She was all for doing the right thing, but in this instance, it felt as if they were duped into helping. She promised herself a nice, long chat with Kali when this was all over. Oh yes, there will be a reckoning.
"All right, fine." Delilah tapped the butt of her staff on the ground to get everyone's attention. "We're going to do this quickly and efficiently. No vendetta killings. I don't suppose anyone can tell me how many guards there are and where they're located?"
Kali's father raised a shaky hand. His daughter dabbed at the wound on his back with a piece of torn cloth. "Four, maybe five guards. They're lazy and cruel. Mighty Slayers such as you will have no trouble with them."
Four or five? How do they control a whole clan of draks?
"It's the crystal golems we'll need to watch out for."
Delilah's head snapped around as the words Kali's father uttered hit her. "Crystal what?" She knew what a golem was, of course, an arcane construct, an automaton. She'd never seen one in person but knew they were strong and tough.
"The crystal golems. The creations of Volos."
Kale checked the corridor to see if any other guards approached. "Who's Volos?"
The assembled draks muttered and made warding gestures. Kali threw the bloody rag she used on her father's wounds to the floor. "Volos runs the mine. He's not the owner, but he's in charge. They say he's a fiendling, an evil sorcerer that drinks blood and keeps fertile drak females in cages so he can eat their eggs."
Kale gulped as the color drained from his face. Delilah growled deep in her throat. She checked the corridor with her brother.
"I don't think that's true, Kali. Just stories made up to frighten children." Kali's father groaned and stood. He waved her away. "I'm all right for now."
Delilah double-checked the corridor again before motioning for the draks to follow her. Kali helped her father, and Kale brought up the rear. She kept her staff readied as she moved forward. Another antechamber lay ahead to the right. Just before she reached the doorway, she signaled for everyone behind to stop, and she peeked around the corner.
The antechamber appeared to be someone's living quarters. A footlocker sat at the end of a wooden bed that was lashed together with rope. It was unoccupied at the moment. Delilah also noticed the corner of a desk, just to the side of the doorway. She waved everyone on and then ducked around the corner to search the desk.
She found various documents she couldn’t read, but from the careful way the writing was arranged in columns, she figured they were important. She grabbed them and returned to the group. Kali’s father perked up when he saw what Delilah carried.
“Did you find their records? May I?” He held out his hand. The drak sorceress passed the papers to him. “These are mining manifests documenting shipments of rock salt to the surface, import records of mining tools, and this one looks like payment records.”
“We might be able to use these to prove how we were enslaved.” Kali looked at the documents and then handed them back to Delilah. She put the documents in her pouch and then checked the corridor again. The way was clear to continue, so she led the draks onward. The corridor seemed to run along the perimeter of the mine, sloping downward toward the bottom level. Delilah didn't have a particularly great desire to see how deep the mine went, even though she wanted to ensure they freed every drak slave. She did not plan to return to the mine after she left and tried not to worry about the repercussions of their actions.
Several minutes passed before Delilah saw another room ahead. She slowed their pace again and crept toward the room. The sounds from within indicated it was an occupied sleeping chamber. She spared a moment to g
lance within.
Rows of stacked cages contained two to three draks each huddling together. Most were sleeping, but some were awake, eyes darting this way and that, like trapped animals watching for predators. She motioned for Kali.
The female approached Delilah and looked around the corner.
"Have someone go in there and tell them we're coming in. I don't want them getting all excited and making a lot of noise."
"Understood." Kali returned to the group of drak miners and selected one of the stronger-looking draks to precede them into the slave quarters. After a moment, he came back out and gave the all-clear.
Delilah looked around the room at the more than three dozen caged draks. Some were on their deathbeds, dehydration and the near-starvation conditions in the mine having taken the ultimate toll. The sight made her reconsider her decision not to kill every slaver and overseer they came across, but she knew that would be a hollow victory.
"This is worse than anything the oroqs ever did to us or the goblins back home, Deli." Kale's cheeks were stained with tears. Delilah pulled him into a hug.
"Unlock the cages, Kale. We're getting them all out. Kali, keep them calm. Save the grandiose speeches about our stripes for after we get out."
Kali and Kale went to work waking and freeing the draks while Delilah monitored the corridor. Some of the draks were weak enough they needed help to even exit their cages. While the process dragged on, Delilah heard a clicking, clacking sound approaching.
"Something's coming, hurry up!"
Kali's father cocked his head. "It's a crystal golem. They patrol the corridors when the guards sleep. We must flee!"
"Nuts to that!" Delilah unfastened her cloak, dropping it to the floor. "Kale!"
Her brother jogged over to her, drawing two daggers from his bandoleer. Delilah looked over her shoulder at Kali. "Get them out, get them ready to move. Kale and I will handle this golem."
I hope.
* * *
"Do you know how to fight one of these things, Deli? I've never seen a golem before." Kale outstretched his wings and rolled his neck. The clacking from the corridor grew louder by the second. Sound echoed in the salt tunnels, making it difficult to determine distances.
"No idea. We'll improvise."
Kale was used to ad-libbing in battle with his sister. That was, in fact, their primary strategy. They always employed it against known enemies, however. He didn't like not knowing what to expect.
He didn't have to wait long. The crystal golem skittered into view. Eight legs propelled a blocky body topped with a small head that stared them down with beady, red eyes. It was made of sharp angles and jagged protrusions, like a giant spider birthed from a geode. The golem reared up on its four hind legs and slashed at them with the front two. Kale dove forward, tucking his wings and rolling, slashing at the legs as he passed. His daggers glanced off the hard, crystalline body.
Delilah skipped backward, smacking its legs away with her staff as blue tendrils swirled around her head and staff. The golem stomped with its hind legs, trying to impale Kale as he scrambled beneath it. He came up behind it and jumped, flapping his wings to gain altitude. He landed on its back and grabbed one of its legs for balance as it skittered forward and attempted to stab his sister.
Flames poured from Delilah's staff, washing over the golem's head. Kale held fast to the leg and swung out of the way of the flames. The lack of reaction from the golem unnerved Kale. It seemed unnatural for something to be bathed in flame and not cry out. He grunted and used his wings to keep hold of the golem as it lunged toward Delilah, its head glowing red from the heat.
From his perch on top of the golem, Kale saw Kali holding back some of the draks. The rest shouted encouragement. Another blast from Delilah highlighted a dark spot where the golem's head met its body, a chink in its crystalline structure. He jumped forward and drove one of his daggers into the gap.
The golem bucked, throwing Kale from its back. He used his wings to remain airborne and landed upright, yanking his dagger from the crevice and stabbing again.
"Kale, get clear!"
Heeding his sister's command, Kale allowed the golem to throw him clear. He twisted around and glided down the corridor away from the golem as a shockwave from a fiery explosion rocked the golem and flung it up against the ceiling. He turned to see Delilah hurl another ball of fire at the crystalline golem, and it fell to the ground, snapping off three of its legs.
It thrashed where it lay, but Delilah, unrelenting, hosed it down with magical fire. Kale followed suit, running up behind it and breathing dragonfire on it. He felt Delilah's flames wash over him as the golem glowed red and then began to melt, but aside from it burning his harness, he felt nothing from the fire.
They didn't let up until the golem was a glowing, quivering puddle on the corridor floor. It cooled and hardened, becoming little more than a discolored lump.
Kale brushed off the charred remains of his bandoleer and harness. His daggers were scorched and were little more than misshapen lumps of the metal from which they were forged. He picked one up off the ground and held it in two fingers. "Well, can't use these anymore. Your fire burned the hilts off, Deli."
"I got you with fire?" Delilah rushed over to her brother. "Are you hurt?"
Kale patted himself down. "No! I didn't feel a thing. Looks like I'm immune to fire now!"
"It makes sense. If you can breathe it, why would it harm you?" Kali approached the twins, whistling and nodding upon viewing the remains of the golem. "Ready for an encore performance? Father says there's at least three more of those things. Plus guards, and Volos."
Delilah slumped and leaned on her staff. "If we must. Just once, can't the bad guys turn tail and run?"
Kale gathered his sister in a hug, lifting her off her feet. "Come on, Deli! They're going to sing songs about us when we're done!" Kale heard the whispers among the sickly draks they rescued. They wondered who these striped draks were, why one of them had wings and breathed fire like the dragons of legends. Where did Kali Firescale find them? Were they sent by the gods?
Chuckling to himself, Kale led the group onward, giving his sister a rest. In a sense, the gods did send us. Terrakaptis, the child of a god encouraged us to come on this journey with Pancras. Maybe he knew!
* * *
Delilah felt it was unwise for Kale to encourage hero-worship among the former drak miners. They weren't out of danger yet. She couldn't deny his grandstanding seemed energize and encourage the sickly and frail draks to follow behind them. Many grabbed picks and hammers as they found them, preparing to fight for their freedom and that of their comrades if necessary.
She glanced back at the draks. If they encountered serious resistance, or another golem, and they tried to fight, it would be a slaughter. That was something she didn't need on her conscience. A hiss from Kale startled her. She looked up and realized she almost bumped into him while he attempted to tell her and the rest of the draks to stop.
Kale pointed at a room up ahead. "I checked it out. There's guards in there. Four of them, sleeping."
For a moment, Delilah thought about throwing a couple of fireballs in there. Burn 'em all. She resisted the urge to indulge her dark side and relayed the news to Kali. The other drak nodded and drew her daggers.
"Wait here, I'll deal with it."
She scampered past the drak twins before Delilah could protest. After a few moments, she returned, blades dripping with blood. She bared her teeth in a feral grin. "They won't be bothering anyone." She looked past Delilah to the other draks. "If you want something pointier than a hammer or pick, go on in and take what you want. The guards won't be needing them."
A handful of the more healthy-looking draks moved ahead into the room. They returned with swords. One carried a pair of bone-handled, leaf-bladed daggers. He stopped and knelt before Kale. He held the daggers up as an offering.
"To replace the ones you lost in battle."
Kale took the daggers, transferring the
m to one hand. He pulled the drak to his feet. "Thank you, I'll put them to good use."
"Slay your enemies with their own weapons. We'll make them bleed."
"Let's go." Delilah didn't want the bravado to continue on too long. The fight with the golem took more out of her than she was prepared to admit to anyone, and she suspected they wouldn't be able to just waltz out of the mine without further confrontations.
"That should be all the guards save the one who is on duty." Kali joined the drak twins at the front of the group. "Father says there should be one more group of miners. They're digging the lower level tonight. Across the main hall." She pointed ahead and to the right. "Maybe we'll get out without finding Volos."
Delilah squeezed her eyes shut as she shook her head. If she squeezed any harder, she was sure her eyes would pop out of her skull. Now we're sure to run into him.
Chapter 16
Kale knew his sister was tired. The battle with the golem taxed her arcane power; she needed rest. He hoped if they ran into more trouble, it would be the final guard or even the fiendling. Either was sure to require less effort than another one of those crystal golems.
He worried about crossing the main hall, even though most of the guards were now dead, according to Kali's father. They would be in the open, exposed, and most of the draks moved slower than he liked. They tried to keep up, tried to act like they were ready for a fight, but he recognized some of them were on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. His own lungs burned, not from the dragonfire, but from the salty, dry air. It affected his scales and especially, the bottoms of his feet itched and felt chafed.
Kali motioned for everyone to stop. Delilah leaned on her staff, her breathing labored.
"All right, we're here. According to my father, the corridor to the lower level is straight across the main hall. I didn't see any patrols, no golems, no guards, nothing, but I think we should cross as fast as we can."
Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1) Page 24
