Master and Apprentice

by Bateman, Sonya

  We knew what waited for us inside. Twenty elder scions, two younger ones—both female—and four human girls that Nurien referred to as breeders, the very pregnant Penny among them. And somewhere, Akila. Nurien hadn’t told Calvin or any of the scions where he was keeping the princess. And I wasn’t about to dig Vaelyn back up and ask her.

  From our position, we could see the outer edge of the compound, but not the gate. Which meant any guards they’d posted couldn’t see us yet. Nothing in the range of sight moved. That probably wasn’t a good sign. The more of them hiding, the harder it’d be to spring anything on them.

  Ian drew himself straight. “Are we ready?”

  “Hell no,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

  Tory grabbed Ian’s arm, and Calvin gripped mine. We started for the path leading to the gate with the scions moving behind us. There were guards—two of them, both elders, stone faced and visibly armed. Beyond them, the compound looked deserted. One of them shifted his attention to us and nudged the other. Both drew weapons, but neither aimed them.

  The guard on the left flashed a nasty grin as we neared the gate. “We got comp’ny,” he drawled. “Welcome back, Mister High-and-Mighty Prince.”

  “Maybe we should bow or somethin’,” the other one said. His free hand moved to the gate. “You takin’ them down below, Val?”

  “Of course, child.”

  Vaelyn’s voice coming out of Tory made my skin crawl. But it didn’t seem to bother the guard. He unlatched something, rolled the gate back, and stood aside. When we passed through, the left-hand guard leered and snapped off a mock salute. “Enjoy the hospitality, Yer Highness.”

  Ian growled. Tory gave him a rough shake and shoved him so hard he almost went sprawling. Whether it was for show or to remind him that he was supposed to be helpless, it worked.

  “Father’s busy,” the other one said. “And he don’t want to be interrupted. He said to tell you if you come back, wait for him ’fore you off the prince. Guess he’s got a surprise for him.”

  “Oh, we’ll certainly respect his wishes.” At least Calvin didn’t have to hide his disgust. It dripped from his words like venom. “Where is he?”

  The leering guard motioned toward the cabin with the big mirror. “Think he’s in the tem—”

  “Shut up, Johnny,” the second one snapped. His gaze had fallen on Mercy, who wore a bulky hooded sweatshirt that hid most of her face. “Who the fuck’s that? Jackson? Can’t be Luke … hey, where is the big moose, anyway?”

  “Luke popped off, back at the fight.” Lynus managed to sound steady enough.

  I risked a glance back. The other scions were shifting around Mercy, moving her away from the guards, farther into the compound. Everyone had cleared the gate. Almost time.

  “What’s the matter with Jackson? He don’t look right.” A wary edge slipped into Johnny’s voice. “Hold up. Why’d Luke pop off if y’all won?”

  The second guard raised his gun. “Val, what the hell’s goin’ on?”

  We couldn’t wait any longer. I turned to face the guards and flashed a grim smile. “Looks like rain,” I said.

  At the signal we’d worked out, magic and bullets went flying.

  Kit and Jimmy launched jamming spells at the two guards. Lynus and Billy drew on them and fired. The second one went down immediately. Johnny took a slug in the side, staggered back, and vanished—only to reappear when Calvin cast a huge snare spell on the entire compound. Two more shots slammed Johnny against the gate and dropped him.

  The snare revealed an elder crouched beside the nearest building, preparing to fire. I moved to dissolve the rope illusion and went for my Sig. Before I got it out of my jacket, Mercy had taken him out with a head shot. And she hadn’t even put her hood down.

  I gaped at her. She offered a one-shouldered shrug. “Ain’t you better go find whoever you’re lookin’ for? We got this.”

  “I guess you do.”

  Ian shook himself loose and headed for the building with the mirror. I started after him, and stopped when someone touched my arm.

  Kit had a gun in each hand. “The temple,” he said. “I think that’s what Johnny was gonna say. Where Father is. Take the right-hand tunnel all the way down.”

  “Okay. Thanks, kid.”

  He shook his head. “No. Thank you.”

  “Tell me that after we live through this.” I grinned at him. “Give ’em hell.”

  “They got it comin’,” he said grimly.

  The sounds of doors opening echoed across the compound. They must’ve heard the gunshots. I ran for it, and slipped into the big cabin after Ian. “Know where we’re going,” I said. “Sort of. Come on.”

  I pulled the door open on the stairs leading down, and descended gun first.

  Ian stopped me at the first landing, where the tunnels ran to the left and right. “What do you mean, you ‘sort of’ know where we are going?” he said.

  “Kit said he thinks Nurien’s in the temple. Whatever the hell that is,” I told him. “And it’s that way.” I pointed right.

  “A temple.” Ian sneered. “No doubt to honor the glory that is himself.”

  “That sounds about right.” I stared down the tunnel, a rounded corridor of hard-packed earth that sloped slightly down, with just enough room for Ian to walk upright. Torches lit with cold blue flame had been mounted about every fifty feet. The glow from them didn’t reach quite far enough to cover the entire stretch, and gaps of dark shadows bridged the lit spaces. The other direction looked exactly the same. “Is it me, or does it seem way too quiet down here?” I said.

  “It does.”

  “Yeah. Well, I guess that’s not going to stop us. But … hang on a second.” I knelt under the bulb that illuminated the landing, laid the Sig aside, and got one of my blades out, then sliced a palm and let it bleed on the ground. When the flow stopped, I healed the cut almost without thinking. “Okay. Let’s take a walk.”

  Ian’s brow furrowed. “Why did you do that?”

  “In case we need to make a quick exit. Remember how I got to you down there?”

  “Ah, yes. Very well.”

  I didn’t mention that I hadn’t tried to take passengers with me on a through-the-ground trip yet. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to test it.

  I started down the tunnel, still holding the gun ready, listening for any hint of life or movement. Only the faint crunch of our feet on the earth and my own shallow breathing reached my ears. The occasional muffled gunshot from the surface sounded like branches breaking. I couldn’t help worrying about them, the young scions, and Mercy. With Vaelyn out of the way and Nurien occupied, Tory and Calvin would be all right. The rest of them didn’t enjoy virtual immortality. And I couldn’t make any more miraculous saves, like I’d done with Kit.

  I packed away grisly images of twisted, bullet-riddled bodies and faces too young to die. Time to concentrate on the here and now, on the strange stillness that shouldn’t have been. In my experience, this kind of quiet screamed trap.

  The tunnel continued unchanging. Same packed walls, same width and height, same torches and pockets of shadow that granted a moment of blindness while we moved through them. The heavy scent of earth permeated the cool air, traced with an ozone whisper of blood. I glanced back at Ian, beyond him. Couldn’t see the landing anymore.

  But ahead of us, still nothing.

  “I don’t like this,” I murmured. “Any minute now, we’re going to fall through a pit onto a bunch of spikes, or a giant boulder’s going to roll through and crush us. Or we’ll step on a hidden switch and release the poison darts. Or—”

  “Where do you get such ideas?” Ian cut in.

  “Indiana Jones,” I said. “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen any of those.”

  “What is an Indiana Jones?”

  I stifled a laugh. “Man, you really need to get out more. They’re movies. Entertainment. You know, fun?”

  “Giant crushing boulders and poison darts do not sound like fun to me.
”

  I stared at him. He returned the look with blank features—and then a corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk.

  “Holy shit. You’re making a joke?” I grinned. “There’s hope for you yet, Ian. Maybe you won’t need that operation after all.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Operation?”

  “To take the stick out of your ass.”

  Soft laughter escaped him. “Yes. Perhaps.”

  We passed through the next dark stretch. When we entered the light again, the tunnel ended abruptly in a wall of solid earth, a few feet beyond the torch.

  “Great.” I walked up to it and stopped. The tunnel branched to the left and right, both directions sloping down, both paths identical in appearance to the one we stood in. “Just go straight down to the temple. Sure. Now what do we do?”

  Ian joined me and glanced down both ways. “I do not know. I still sense nothing.”

  “Oh, this is gonna be fun.” I got a blade out and crouched. “Do you care which way we go?”

  “I suppose not.”

  “Okay. We’re going left.” Might as well mix things up a little. I scratched a thick arrow into the dirt, pointing left. “Let’s try it. If we run into a dead end, at least we’ll know where we’ve already been.”

  We headed down the left-hand tunnel. Eventually, another wall loomed out of the shadows—and this time there were three corridors branching away. Every direction looked the same. “Shit!” I palmed the blade again. “You pick one this time.”

  Ian pointed down one that slanted away to the right. I marked an arrow, and we kept going. Only to find another wall, and more turns into more identical tunnels.

  “This is ridiculous,” Ian said. “There is nothing straight here.”

  I sighed. “Let’s give it a few more turns. If we don’t find anything, we’ll follow the arrows back.” And probably get lost in the other direction. I didn’t mention that idea—no doubt Ian was thinking the same thing.

  Three random passages later, the tunnel no longer sloped down—it was rising again. After we crossed a few stretches of light and dark, I made out a whiter glow beyond the next pool of torchlight. A lightbulb. For some reason, the sight of it didn’t inspire the hope that we’d found the temple.

  I slowed as we neared it, and stopped at the edge of a landing that looked exactly the same as the one we’d come down. A glance at the ground confirmed what I feared: the dark splash of blood under the lightbulb. My blood.

  It had been a trap. Not crippling or deadly, but a trap all the same.

  Ian let out a frustrated snarl. “Blasted coward! How like Nurien to conceal himself rather than confront his enemies. He does not have the strength to face a warrior.”

  “Rather deal with the crushing boulder, huh?” I muttered. “Yeah, me too.” It was cowardly, all right—but it was effective. We’d have to search all the tunnels, and continue marking them so we didn’t keep going the same wrong way. It’d probably take a while. And I was pretty sure time was the one thing we didn’t have.

  Before I could suggest getting back on the horse and trying again, a muted whisper sounded close by. I swung the gun up and swiveled toward the closest shadow. “Who’s there?” I said.

  As if anyone trying to sneak up on us would’ve answered me.

  Ian shook his head and pointed. “Your pocket.”

  “Oh. Right.” His hearing was still better than mine. I fished out my cell phone, expecting Calvin. For once I was right about something. “You guys okay up there?” I asked his weak reflection in the faceplate.

  “So far. Is the prince still with you?” Concern and faint horror stitched his features, and dark patterns splashed his face. It took me a second to realize what it was—blood.

  “Yeah,” I said. “What happened?”

  “This is not my blood.” He closed his eyes, crossed himself. “I have information for you. About Nurien.”

  Jesus. Somehow I understood what had happened. He’d tortured one of the scions to find out whatever he knew. “Go ahead,” I managed.

  “The so-called surprise he had planned for Gahiji-an. He is …” Calvin stopped and swallowed hard. “He is in the midst of a bonding ceremony. With the princess.”

  I glanced at Ian. He hadn’t made a sound, but his rigid stance and furious expression said he was barely holding himself in check. “Okay,” I said to Calvin. “So he hasn’t finished it yet, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “And he’s definitely in this temple Kit mentioned?”

  “Yes. He also knows you’re here and seeking him.” There was a broken moan in the background, and Calvin blanched. “We’ve dispatched all but four of the elders, and searched everything on the surface. The rest, we assume, are down below.”

  “I guess that makes them our problem,” I said. “Listen, don’t let anyone—including Tory—come down here. You’ve done enough already, and I’m sure you have some damage control to take care of up there.”

  He nodded. I didn’t press for details.

  “Khalyn …” Ian’s voice wavered between rage and sorrow. “Thank you.”

  “Yes. Just be certain you put this information to good use, rayan.” He flashed a quick, sad smile, and the reflection vanished.

  Ian glared down the right-hand tunnel, practically burning a path in the air. “Oh, I will,” he said in a simmering growl. “I will.”

  In that moment, I was extremely grateful not to be Nurien.

  Chapter 35

  This time, we took the tunnel at a run.

  “You are certain about this?” Ian said.

  “No.” I wasn’t sure about anything, except that Kit wouldn’t have lied to me. He’d said to take the tunnel straight down, and that was what we were going to do. Whether or not there was a wall in the way.

  When the first obstruction came into view, I slowed and stopped. The arrow was still scratched into the dirt at my feet. “Okay,” I said. “Straight is that way, so we’re going through this thing.”

  Ian frowned. “Did you not say you required blood to pass through the earth?”

  “Yeah. I’m not gonna try that here.”

  “Then what are you doing?”

  “Not sure yet.” I’d shaped dirt before, so I thought maybe I could move things around and make a hole. Of course, if I was wrong and the temple wasn’t this way, I could be digging through for a long time. I flexed a hand and pressed it against the wall.

  It went right through like there was nothing there.

  Startled by the lack of resistance, I lost my balance, pitched forward, and landed on my hands and knees. Even though my eyes were open, I couldn’t see a damned thing. I backed up until the lights came on again and got to my feet. “I don’t think we’ll need blood for this,” I said. “It’s an illusion.”

  Ian scowled and thrust his arm through the wall. “A childish defense,” he said. “Nurien mocks us. He does not believe we are important enough to deal with properly.”

  “Well, it bought him some time. Maybe that’s all he’s after.” I knew better than to get into a discussion about djinn politics with Ian. “There’s no more light on the other side. You should probably make one of those flame-ball things.” I went through pockets and located the battered flashlight I’d dropped in the mud half a dozen times. The lens and the barrel were scratched to hell, but a steady beam still shone from the end when I switched it on.

  Ian extended a hand and produced a globe of white flame. “Ready.”

  “Let’s move.” I walked at the wall, through the wall, half expecting a spike pit or poison darts after all. Nothing happened. I played the flashlight beam around the darkness on the other side. Same packed earth, same tunnel dimensions. The light ran ahead a few dozen feet and dissolved in blackness.

  We settled at a fast stroll, and I tried to think ahead a little. I almost didn’t say anything to Ian, because I knew the subject was a tough one, but there were a few things it’d help to know. “How long does this bonding cere
mony take?”

  Ian bristled. “Several hours.”

  “Okay.” It would’ve been nice to think we had time, but we had no idea when he’d started. “How does it work? If it takes a lot of power, maybe he’ll be drained by the time we find him.” If we found him. We didn’t know anything about this temple thing.

  “It is a sharing of blood, of life.” The words dragged out of him like he’d rather eat a handful of thumbtacks than think about it. “The spells involved do not require a great deal of magic. The time, the commitment, is more important.” He let out a breath. “There is typically an official present to perform the ceremony. A ranking member of the clan. It is possible to proceed without one, but it takes longer that way.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” I said. “I mean, there aren’t any ranking members of any clan around here. Right?”

  “No. There are not.”

  The pain in his voice stung me. “We’ll find them,” I said, with a lot more confidence than I felt. “We’ll get Akila back. And if he finishes the ceremony before we get there, we’ll just destroy the bastard, and the bond will break. If one dies, the rings shatter. Right?”

  Ian didn’t respond.

  I decided to change the subject. Before I could think of anything brilliant to say, my light found another wall of earth straight ahead. I frowned, walked up to it, and stuck a hand out. It passed through without resistance. “How original,” I said. “I guess he really does think we’re stupid.”

  “Yes. Nurien’s arrogance leaves little room for strategy.”

  “So we keep going.” I moved through the illusion without waiting for Ian’s agreement.

  By the time I realized there was nothing under my feet on the other side, I was already falling.