The door at the top of the stairs opened. Himika pitched a vase down the stairwell and it struck Roa in the head. “Please!” Himika gasped.
Roa whirled. “You! How did you walk that far?”
Himika did look like she could faint at any second. “Let Phoebe go,” she said.
Roa leapt up the stairs toward her. “I don’t want to have to hurt you any more than I already have.”
Himika shoved her hard. Well, not that hard, but Himika had more leverage because Roa was on the steep little stairs and didn’t have good footing. Roa obviously didn’t expect that. Her feet stumbled off the stairs and she fell down, tumbling down the hard stones. I watched, somewhere between horrified and satisfied, as she crumpled down at the bottom.
Both the men looked at her like they couldn’t believe that had just happened.
Damn. If Himika wasn’t sick, she would have really been a heck of a future ruler for Gaermon or whatever kingdom she married into.
Roa groaned, struggling to get back on her feet. “I never expected such a thing…”
“Well, you expect it now,” the elder said. “Watch her. Just make sure she doesn’t run off. Then meet us at the rendezvous point.”
They dragged me down the stairs as I said, “Why did you hurt Himika? I thought Leonidas wanted to marry her.”
“He does. But she will never know that he was in any way responsible for her injury. She will only know that he will nurse her through it.”
“Gods. Did he order her to be hurt just so he could take care of her?”
“It was more of an accident.” The old man looked at me, rather calmly now, as the big strong guy muscled me along. “Perhaps it will bring you some comfort to know the truth.”
“Comfort? Nothing is going to bring me comfort right now!”
“Child, I was once like you. I believed in the divine gifts of the Elders, and I hated the Emperor. I grew up in Rungenold and was accepted for magical training by the Elders when I was a boy. But as Rungenold was conquered and occupied, I realized that the Age of Elders would never return. Some eight hundred years ago, the Elders created the priestess and her guardians. They wrote the first sigils on their skin and used the four sacred ornaments to bind the sigils to the Elders’ magic.”
The ritual I just went through…
But the Elders had not been able to complete the ritual before Abel interrupted.
“The Elders,” he continued, “having created the sigils, used them as a force that closed the gates to the Shadow World. Every priestess and guardian has been a slave to the Elders, and the Elders used their power to control the world. The House of Tallyan, Leonidas’s ancestors, were the ones who realized they could simply let the gates open, and live with the monsters, while exposing the Elders for their corruption.”
This kind of matched with what Abel told me. That the Elders were actually bad, and I was just a pawn. At least these guys had their story straight, I’d give them that. “Isn’t the Emperor abusing his power now?”
“How so?” the old man said. “He protects the people. The walls are always in good repair. There is enough food. I hear you are a former entertainer. The Emperors even thought of giving the people joy.”
“But we’re living in terror! He won’t let people leave for the other continent either!”
The old man looked at the guy who was muscling me along. We had reached a chamber in the bowels of the castle. Naturally, it was dark and moist and contained what looked like an operating table with restraints and some tools and jars and magical stones on shelves. If I had the time to visualize a room for some creepy experiments, it would have looked like this. Wretch didn’t come in with us. I wasn’t sure where she had gone.
The guy kept shoving me past the table to some chains on the wall I hadn’t noticed in the darkness. I mean, this room was so intense it had a table with restraints and a wall with chains? He turned me so I was facing outward and locked chains around my wrists. I should note, I tried to fight him a little. But it was almost a comical effort. He was as as strong as Forrest and Abel.
“Isn’t there a way to work together?” I kept trying, even if it was no use. “I want to use my powers for the people, like my family and friends back home, that’s it. I don’t want to work for the Elders or the Emperor.”
The old man laughed. “You don’t have a choice. If you complete the ritual, the Elders will control you, like it or not. All I want is to end the cycle of priestesses being born. I haven’t managed it yet, but then, I only get a priestess to experiment on every five or six years. I’m going to attempt to burn off your sigils.”
“Is that what you did to Abel?”
“Abel, yes…that was actually a less precise attempt made before I came along. But so far, it’s worked. His guardian powers haven’t woken in all these years. Or…?” He looked at me. “You know about his sigil?”
“Um…”
“He’s your guardian?”
“Yes. And he’ll die if I die.” Maybe this was my only bargaining chip. The emperor wouldn’t want to lose Commander Abel.
“Commander Abel would die?” the big guy asked, pausing by the wall.
“Well…if Abel’s sigil has stirred to life, that means he can no longer be trusted,” the old man said.
“But no one has been as loyal to his majesty as Abel…”
“Do we have any choice? Maybe it’s time for Commander Abel to retire.” The old man rubbed his trim white beard. “Maybe burning the sigils doesn’t work after all…”
“Maybe whoever did it before didn’t do a very good job.”
“Or should we cut them out?” The old man looked me over like he was considering how much I could stand. “We only have one shot in so many years…to burn, to cut…” The old man was looking over the tools.
“Could you maybe have this conversation later?” I asked.
No, I’m kidding, I didn’t manage a quip. I was just blubbering, “Please please please don’t…” I tugged against the chains that held my arms back. I had never felt so helpless. And I had already felt pretty helpless when Abel took me away from the other guardians. It seemed like every day kept getting worse and worse.
“I’m going to give you a safe dose of monster’s bane,” he said. “You will vomit up everything in your stomach and then you will pass into a coma and you won’t feel anything. I won’t wake you up until it’s done.”
“Wait—please! Please.” I didn’t know what to say. “There must be some better way to do this! Can we make a deal? What if you went with me to do the ritual and go to the gate and—”
“His imperial majesty does not want the gate closed. People can’t handle that kind of freedom. You are just a young woman…but at the same time, you have the blood of monsters. We can’t let you tap into that power.”
“I do? But—no—only the Shadow Guardians are monsters…right?”
“Every priestess has the blood of both human and monster. Somewhere in your bloodline. That is why you are the priestess, and why you mate with two humans and two monsters to seal the gate.”
“Do you mean monsters…or dragons?” I asked.
Recently, I would have been horrified to think of becoming a monster myself, but that was before I saw Abel. The thing he had turned into…I couldn’t call it a monster. He was graceful and exquisite in his other form.
“There are no dragons anymore,” he said. “Only monsters.”
The same thing Niko told me, kind of like this was a local catch phrase. Maybe it had originated somewhere.
“But the monsters are dragons, aren’t they?” I asked. “There’s something wrong with them. They’re sick or something. Maybe there’s a way to help them.”
“Why?” the old man asked. “Why would we want dragons here? We’re human. We don’t need them.” He sounded dismissive, reaching for a bottle of dark liquid. “I can see that you want so badly to believe you have a divine purpose, but you don’t. You were created by the Elders as a tool for
controlling the world. Now you will either be cured and sent home, or you will die. I’ll try my best to— Ungh!”
Something struck the back of the man’s head and he dropped like a stone.
An arrow.
Abel was standing in the dark hall, with his dark hair mussed and his eyes wild, wearing an untucked shirt and sloppily laced boots. He fired another arrow at the bigger guy almost before he had time to react. Wretch flew in after him, with an excited trill, like she had brought him to me, although I had a feeling he was already coming and she just happened to meet him on the way.
“Abel…”
“Is it just these two?” he asked, charging into the room.
“There was a woman—Roa—“
“But she wasn’t part of this conversation?” He paced right up to me, his pale eyes eerie by the light of a single lamp. His cheeks looked a little gaunt in this light. I couldn’t stop looking at him, the sheen of his eyes, the way they seemed to bore past my skin and down to my soul.
He stepped behind me and took a moment to figure out how to unlock the chains. I couldn’t really see him now. The men he had killed were slumped on the floor.
“You took them out…fast,” I said. I wasn’t sure how happy I should be about this.
He grabbed my arm and jerked my ear toward his mouth. “You told them I was your guardian. So I had to kill them.”
“I was trying to save my own life,” I snapped. “They might have killed me. Then it wouldn’t matter what I told them. You’d be dead.”
He cursed gently.
“You need a key for those,” I said. “The big tall muscly guy has it.”
“The big tall muscly guy?” Abel sneered. “Lotta good it did him.”
“I wasn’t implying you were short. I just don’t know his name!”
He glared at me and I realized I had not made things any better. “I’ve got it,” Abel said, fishing keys from the man’s pocket. He released the cuffs and I pulled my arms forward, rubbing chafed spots. Then I started shivering. I noticed for the first time just how cold it was down here in the palace basement.
“I’m getting you out of here right now,” Abel said.
“But Himika—“
“She’s not my concern.” He forced me to walk with him, out into the hall. He didn’t even take the lamp.
“You’re a jerk!” I snapped, trying to twist away. The passage was almost pitch black. I stumbled on the uneven stone floor. He still walked confidently and kept an iron grip on my arm. I had no idea where I was going, except that he was pulling me along. “Himika is in danger too. The Emperor ordered those people to kill me and injure her foot, but he wants her to think that the Elders sent them. He wants to marry her.”
Silence.
“Abel?” I pressed. “Did you know about that?”
“No.”
“Well…we can’t just leave her there!”
“I am the one who brought Himika to him.”
“Right. I saw that. And I guess you always knew the emperor kills the priestesses, too. You must have.”
“I knew that if the priestesses lived, there would be dire consequences,” Abel said.
“I see. And you believe it. You believe everything the emperor says.”
“If I must pick a side, I’ll pick the emperor every time. The Elders waged war against other nations, and the priestess and her guardians would sometimes join them on the battlefield. They were just tools of war. That’s all.”
“Abel, you’re a tool of war now.”
He spoke stiffly. “But it’s the right war. People are trapped behind walls, but their hearts and minds are free. Maybe you don’t know; your village is far from the cities, isn’t it? But here in the capital, the Elders used religion to control people.”
“You weren’t alive back then,” I said. “Even you’re not that old.” Abel had been a young military hero when I was a little kid, so I guessed he was in his early forties. But he looked younger than Sir Forrest. “Are you sure the emperor isn’t exaggerating some of this for his own ends?”
He made an abrupt turn down the hall.
“Can you see in the dark?” I asked.
“It’s not that dark.”
“Um, yeah, you can definitely see in the dark. It’s pitch black in here. I already know you’re not human, so you can give up pretending.”
He growled. “I can sense moisture in the walls down here.” I heard him put a weapon away. Then he opened a door. I was hoping the door would lead to light, but it was just another dark hall. I was starting to feel very claustrophobic and disoriented, and yet—I still trusted him, in a way that ran so deep that I couldn’t talk myself out of it.
His hand still gripped my arm, but I took my other hand and touched his fingers. “Abel…”
“Do not touch me.”
“You’re touching me first.”
“I’m not touching you the way you’re attempting to touch me.”
“You are very good at being…this,” I said. “Acting like you don’t care. But like it or not, I can sense what’s inside you.”
He faced me, now gripping my shoulders. “You proved your point. I’m a guardian. Fine. I don’t want you to be killed because I don’t want to die. But it ends there.“
“Abel—the Emperor tried to kill me. He’s not your friend. Come with me…” My eyes searched the darkness. I lifted my hands to touch his arms, feeling his muscles just beneath the thin cotton shirt.
“I was raised to serve my empire,” he said. “You’re not the problem, Phoebe. I grew up hearing countless stories of the ways the Elders ruined people. And I know that if I serve you, ultimately I will serve them. It can’t all be lies. I’ve read the histories, seen the lists of names of the men and women who were shunned by the temple… If I carry their sigil, it’s the mark of evil. That thing I turned into—was a monster.”
“You were beautiful,” I said. “Not like a monster at all. Like a dragon.”
“Dragons are gone.”
Wretch suddenly interrupted with a “mrow?” She landed softly on my shoulder.
“See, she knows,” I said. “How did you catch her, by the way? Did she really fly right in your window?”
“She did.”
“Winged cats used to be the companions of dragons,” I told him.
“Even if what you say is true…” He got us moving again. “Watch it. More stairs,” he said. Wretch settled onto my shoulder, her little claws digging in. “Even if I wanted to join you, although I do not, I can’t leave my position. I’m too conspicuous. I would only put you in danger. All I can do is to stay right where I am and try to keep the Black Army from catching you and killing you. And that is all I will do for you. If you bring the Elders back to power, I’ll take you down even if it means my own life.”
I heard a door slowly creak open somewhere in the distance and a torch appeared. The light briefly made me squint, since I wasn’t used to it, but a sense of safety washed over me. I could hardly believe it, but I felt the presence of my other guardians.
“Phoebe!” I heard Forrest whisper out my name, the sound traveling down the stones, and my heart warmed. I saw Abel’s face, lit by the glow of flames. The angle of his nose seemed sharper than usual, against the shadows, and his eyes, with heavy eyelids and a slight slant that reminded me of his other form, were so serious.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Chapter Five
Sir Forrest
I could hardly get to her fast enough. I rushed forward, breaking away from Niko, Gilbert, and Rin.
Then I saw Abel standing just behind her. And I stopped. His hand had moved to his blade. A warning.
“This is convenient,” Abel said, taking a step forward to block me from Phoebe, but lowering his hands. “I want to negotiate.”
Phoebe was looking at him warily. If he’s hurt her, I’ll kill him, I thought. I don’t care. I could hear Gilbert’s breath hitch, like he was about to grab me again.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want your sword,” Abel said.
I had not expected this.“You would ask a knight for his sword?”
“It’s not yours. Elder Dion gave it to you. Give it to me, and you can leave with Phoebe safely.”
The Emperor must have learned about the Monster Cleaver from Elder Dion before killing him.
“That was not what we agreed!” Phoebe cried.
“We didn’t agree on anything,” Abel said.
It went without saying—I didn’t want to give up my sword. Elder Dion had given it to me for a reason, and I’m not sure we would have made it here in one piece without the Monster Cleaver and its particular power to cut through the tough hides of the monsters. But we were also on Abel’s turf, in the Emperor’s palace, and he had Phoebe, who was more important than any sword. Was this a trick?
I really didn’t want to play along with Niko’s superstitions, but I couldn’t help looking at him.
“Phoebe, you have my dice,” Niko said. “Take them out and open your hand. What do they say?”
She opened her hand. “Six.”
“Darkness,” Niko said. “A bad omen. Don’t give him the sword.”
“Then what?” Rin asked. “What do we do?”
“If you gentlemen are considering fighting me, I would strongly advise you against it,” Abel said. “I can call the imperial guard before you can get to me. Forget your omens. It’s a simple choice. What is more important to you? Your priestess, or your sword?”
“Abel, don’t you dare.” Phoebe sounded more pissed off than despairing, which was a little strange. I had the feeling they had gotten to know each other somewhat while we were separated. From what I knew of Abel, he wasn’t much of a talker. I thought he would have hauled her straight to the palace without a word.
“Phoebe, he leaves me no choice.” I took off the belt and offered Abel the Monster Cleaver like it had no more importance than a pouch of gold. I could barely stand to look at it now. Elder Dion had given it to me with trust that I would keep this ancient blade and wield it well, but Elder Dion was dead.
Priestess Bound Page 4
