Emron punched the monster in the eye. Its head reared back, wailing, and its muscled tail whipped around, slapping Emron in the chest. He flew back several feet, tumbling to the ground. The beast raced toward him at lightning speed, jaws wide open. Emron braced for impact.
The fiend grabbed Emron around his chest and jerked him off the ground. His war hammer slipped through his fingers as he hurtled through the air. The beast shook him in its jaws and threw him toward the lake. Hitting the ground hard, he rolled, stopping a fraction of an inch from the bubbling acid. He exhaled.
All right, no more games.
Emron growled, pushing himself to his feet. He drew a hunting knife from his belt. The creature barreled toward him. He was ready. Emron let out an enraged battle cry and raced to meet the beast. The monster’s head shot toward him, but Emron stopped short, letting the head slam into the ground before stabbing it through the top of the skull. The beast wailed and jerked its head back. Emron’s dagger was embedded too deep for him to pull out, and the beast ripped it from his grasp. Emron sprinted to his war hammer. His hands locked tight around the haft and he spun around just in time to smash his weapon into the beast’s lower jaw.
The creature tumbled to the ground where Emron rammed the bladed spike into one of the beast’s eyes. With a swift wrench of the haft, he ended the creature’s life. Emron huffed in exhaustion and rolled his neck to the side. Satisfied with the brawl, he retrieved his weapon and walked to the book. The lock looked complicated and required either a key or a skilled hand. Emron had neither. His hammer would do just fine.
21
V allerie ducked behind a cluster of bushes as the pair of stinking adrax soldiers passed. As relieved as she was to finally have found the fortress she couldn’t relax. Her survival was now dictated by how well she snuck in and out unnoticed.
She’d forgotten how horridly vile the hulking humanoids were. A putrid pus bubbled in the pores of their charcoal skin. Their foreheads sloped so severely; she was surprised there was room for a brain.
One soldier scratched his rear end near his stubby tail and ate whatever his filthy nails had freed. Vallerie covered her mouth. I have to go into a fortress of those?
The pair continued past her position, and she waited until their waddling steps faded into the night before rising. She didn’t see the fortress, but it had to be close. She scaled a tree and surveyed the forest. Smoke trailed into the sky approximately a mile southwest. That was the stronghold.
She kept her knees bent and her body loose as she crept from tree to tree, pausing every time, until she found cover for her next path. Vallerie ducked behind a tree three minutes before a patrol crossed her route and scooped up a handful of small rocks.
It took entirely too long for the hulking beasts to blunder out of her way and even longer for the stench to recede. She danced past two more patrols, and soon she had the fort in sight.
At first glance, it looked like any other hill, but upon closer inspection, she spotted the weedy cave entrance. Twenty yards of flat ground stood between her and the entrance, lit by the dismal torches that five adrax carried. Vallerie was good, but not that good.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to be. She pitched a stone into the side of an adrax’s head. In a fit of fury, it attacked the adrax closest to it. A bloodbath ensued, allowing Vallerie to sprint into the mouth of the cavern.
The cave, enforced with sloppy brick stones, wore minimal torches to light the dark hallways. Vallerie now faced two branches of the cave. From what she remembered of the map, she needed to go right.
The stench of rotten meat hung in a thick mist. Any hope of adjusting to it died the moment she stepped inside the fort. Vallerie tried breathing through her mouth, but the rancidity fell to her tongue. Nearly gagging, she stopped on the side of the cave yearning for fresh air.
When she continued, she kept close to the wall and crept through the dark tunnel, listening to the hustle of adraxes navigating around a corner. She approached the main hive and curled her fingers around another stone.
Creeping around the corner, she found hundreds of adraxes scurrying about the dark cavern. Huts made of bone and mud hung chaotically from the walls with a tangle of crude bridges connecting the structures.
Vallerie located an opening near the top of the cave that radiated light. She squinted at the source; the book had to be there. Intuitively, she slid into a dark crevasse of the cave as an adrax waddled past.
Returning her gaze to the light source, she realized the alcove was likely the throne room balcony. The treasury would be up there. Vallerie searched the cavern for a path leading to the throne room but didn’t see one.
The balcony lay high on a shear wall. A thin crack in the side of it ran from the corner to a few inches below the balcony. The split ran right next to a hut built into the wall. Vallerie prayed her plan would work and hurtled the stone in her hand deep into the bustling masses.
Squealing wails initiated the riot. Without making a sound, Vallerie negotiated her way to the side of the cave and climbed up the lowest hut. She soared left and right in a nimble dance, propelling herself higher. Atop the last hut, she caught her breath. After taking a swig from her water pouch, Vallerie continued. The brawl below raged in force. If she was lucky, the beasts would be too busy fighting each other to notice her.
The rest of the climb would rely on her arm strength alone. Sliding her fingers into the crack, she shuffled along the edge of the wall. A loud scream from below froze her blood in her veins. She waited for the spears and arrows to fly, but none came. With heart pounding, she slipped into the throne chamber.
Vallerie found herself in a hall of horror lit by dozens of crude torches. Filled with skeletons and rotting corpses that hung from the ceiling in rusty cages, the room reminded Vallerie of an abandoned dungeon. A door loomed behind the throne of animal hide and bone. She skulked through the shadows, careful to avoid stepping on the bones strewn around the cave. The sounds of the battle below faded as she traversed deeper into the room, but her anxiety only increased. Something had to be wrong. Her plan worked too well. Vallerie stilled herself. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t have time to wait. The longer she lingered in the fortress, the more likely she’d be caught, but somehow her feet locked to the ground.
Vallerie cursed herself at the thought, but then hid among the bone piles. As she settled behind the throne, the door burst open. Three adrax exited, two average size ones and a much taller one with red face paint that barked at the other two and pointed to the tunnel across the room. Both grunted and charged to the exit. The large one slumped into the throne. In its hand was a pale leather book. A powerful energy emanated from the tome. That had to be what she was looking for. Vallerie frowned. Of course, it was in the hands of a five-hundred-pound monster.
She weighed her options. She could try to kill the beast, but any attempt at moving would alert it to her presence. It had a direct line of sight to her. That left her with one choice. Sit in the stinking bone pit until it became distracted. Brilliant.
Vallerie’s legs cramped. She was exhausted. The stupid brute hadn’t moved in hours and her patience was running thin. Maybe she should go on the offensive. The adrax weren’t particularly bright. She could out maneuver it and cut its legs until it fell low enough for her to land a killing blow. Its massive body made the idea seem suicidal.
Squawking from down the tunnel gave her hope. Two adrax approached the throne. One snorted to the seated Adrax. Whatever it said sent the large one into a frenzy. It grabbed a hammer from beside the throne and slammed the smaller adrax over the head.
Vallerie inhaled, even for an adrax that seemed overly aggressive. The second adrax offered a trembling bow. They conversed for a few moments before the red-faced one rose and followed the other out.
The book sat on the seat of the throne. Vallerie’s breath caught in her lungs. She waited as long as she dared for the two adrax to get down the tunnel before creeping out of her bone pil
e. She winced as some clattered to the ground. With stiff legs, she stumbled to the throne and picked up the tome. Finally, she could leave this forsaken pit.
She fought the urge to run to the tunnel in desperation. She had the book, true, but she still had to escape. Creeping back into the shadows, she approached the shaft across from her. It would lead her out...eventually. Like everywhere else, the tunnel out of the throne room was primitively constructed and foul-smelling. She shoved aside a daydream of fresh air and clean water. She had to focus.
The tunnel forked. Her memory of the maps and her sense of direction told her right would bring her to the main chamber. She continued that direction for several minutes until she heard movement ahead. Panicked, she searched for an alcove or a crevasse to hide in.
No luck.
The noise was getting closer. She held her breath, and rubbed her back against the wall, smearing filth over her cloak, then pressed the front of her body against the surface. She was between torches in this segment of the tunnel, and she hoped the dark would be enough to conceal her.
A snorting beast lumbered around the bend. It’s loud snorting breaths filled her with terror. She’d hidden in plenty of places over the year, but this was by far the most risky and idiotic.
Amazingly, the brute passed her by. How it hadn’t noticed her was a mystery, but one she didn’t want to solve.
Foul as the air was, she took a deep breath and scurried onward. I can make it!
A roar behind her left her slipping on the muddy floor. Dread pierced her, a thousand arrows pricking at her lungs.
Move, I have to move.
Vallerie scrambled to her feet and skidded down the passage. A crash echoed from behind her.
Don’t look back, keep running.
She saw an opening ahead. Feet from it, something caught her cloak and yanked her backward.
22
C assidy exhaled. He’d been lying on the couch for just over a week. None of the others had returned yet, and he was not about to talk to the council on his own. From what Warren had described about the hooded figures, he figured he was better off waiting.
At the moment, he lay with his ankles crossed over the armrest, hands behind his head. He closed his eyes, still perplexed by how he’d appeared in Illithium a week ago. Cassidy remembered opening the book, everything after that was just a dark blur, then he was standing in front of the abandoned house. Even if he’d been unwounded and rode at break-neck speeds, he couldn’t have arrived when he did. At least he and Vallerie might have some alone time together. What’s taking her so long? The adrax fortress was only a week’s ride from Illithium. Her stealth skills were incredible. Surely she’s on her way back by now.
Cassidy opened his eyes as footsteps approached the door. His heart fluttered. She’s back! As he sat up, Warren closed the door behind him. Disappointment sank his hopes.
Warren looked awful, and not because he wasn’t a beautiful woman. Something had ripped a substantial hole through the armor he’d purchased before leaving. Cassidy’s blood froze until he realized the exposed skin wasn’t damaged. What happened out there?
Warren’s eyes drooped half-closed, and his gray facial hair weighed down his cheeks more than usual. He ran a hand over his face, letting it linger over his eyelids for a moment.
“You look terrible,” Cassidy said, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and limping to the pantry.
“Cassidy, what are you doing here?” Warren asked, pulling his hand from his face.
“Eating. I thought that was pretty obvious.” Cassidy found himself unable to tell Warren what he had done. It seemed too much like admitting defeat.
“I mean, what are you doing back here? I didn’t see your horse.”
Dusty’s missing? Cassidy almost asked for clarification, but wasn’t sure how.
“Funny thing, a merchant outside the city had the book and gave it to me,” Cassidy said with his head still stuck in the pantry.
“Hilarious. Now, what happened?” Warren asked, setting his book down on the table.
Cassidy cringed when he saw the thing. He had stuffed his in a trunk the second he got back and refused to look at it.
“I swear it’s true!” Cassidy said, raising his hand.
“You swear with your right.” Warren joined Cassidy at the pantry.
“You know what I mean.” Cassidy pulled a couple eggs he’d purchased the other day from a shelf.
“Where is the book?”
“It’s safe all right.”
“And Dusty?”
Cassidy closed his eyes and exhaled. That was an issue.
“Something spooked him on the way back, and I lost him.”
Warren rubbed his hand over his face. “How long ago?”
“…it’s been a week.”
“I’ll be back.” Warren turned to the door.
Guilt stabbed Cassidy in the chest.
“Warren, wait,” Cassidy called.
When Warren turned back, the words Cassidy wanted to say got stuck in his throat. He needed that horse, but looking at his friend, half-starved and exhausted, how could he ask him to fix this?
“I…”
Warren’s expression softened. “It’s not your fault. I’m glad you’ve been resting your leg instead of trekking through swamp all week. Dusty’s probably waiting on the shoreline somewhere.”
Cassidy glanced down. This was his fault. He should never have opened that thing. Nothing would stop Warren though.
“Okay.”
Warren closed the door behind him.
Cassidy sighed and put the eggs back on the shelf. His appetite had vanished. Hobbling back to the couch, he settled back into his lounging position.
Hours passed and just as Cassidy started to worry Warren would try to search through the night his friend returned. Mud caked his armor up to his chest. If he’d looked bad before, he looked wretched now.
“Anything?” Cassidy asked.
Warren shook his head.
“I’ll get some food cooking. You take care of…that.” Cassidy gestured at Warren from head to toe.
As he whisked the eggs together, his mind turned back to Vallerie. She should have been back by now. Anxiety knotted within him as he considered the possibility of something being wrong. She was as strong and intelligent as she was beautiful. Both were reasons he loved her. She had the brain and body to keep up with him.
Before he knew it, he had forgotten about cooking and was lost in thought. An acrid stench angrily snapped his attention back to the present. Cursing under his breath, he snatched the spatula from the counter and tried to save the eggs, but only charred blackness glared at him.
“What are you doing?” Warren asked from behind.
“Uh...cooking.”
“More like burning.” Warren exhaled. “Hand it over.”
Cassidy reluctantly gave Warren the pan and sat down at the table.
He had changed into his under armor. At least something was still the same.
“Looked like that cuirass you bought didn’t hold up as well as the shopkeeper said it would,” Cassidy prodded.
“I...don’t think they designed it to take the beating I put it through.” Warren cracked several eggs into the pan.
Cassidy frowned. He had hoped to get more of an explanation than that.
“You plannin’ on brooding all evening?”
Warren stilled. “I’ll be fine.”
Warren tossed some spices into the pan. Even with the overbearing scent of burned food, a fresh aroma tickled Cassidy’s nose. Chives and thyme paired with the savory smell of scrambled eggs.
Warren fixed up a few plates and handed one to Cassidy.
“Well, Warren. I must admit you did an all right job this time,” Cassidy said, after shoveling some eggs in his mouth.
“An all right job,” Warren mocked.
“You know, below decent but above repulsive.”
“This coming from the guy who ruined—what? Si
x eggs.”
“It was four, and I was...busy.”
“With what? There’s nothing to keep you busy.”
Cassidy opened his mouth but stopped. He worried about Vallerie. She still had time to come back, but not seeing her left him anxious. He never liked being away from his wife, but it knotted his stomach more than ever this time. He knew she was probably fine, but he couldn’t shake the overwhelming need to see her again.
“She should have been back by now,” Cassidy argued.
Three days had passed since Warren arrived. Three agonizing days, and Warren, General of Reckless Ideas, refused to go help her.
“I agree, but we have no way to help her right now. Even if Noble could carry both of us, you’re too injured to fight. Our best bet is to wait for Emron. Onyx is strong enough to carry two people, and we’ll need Emron.”
Warren didn’t meet Cassidy’s glare.
“She’s my wife! I can’t sit here and do nothing!”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll keep looking for Dusty. Maybe he wandered back,” Warren said.
Cassidy’s fists trembled. “I’m going after her.”
“No.”
He finally looked at Cassidy. Both pain and determination burned in his eyes.
Cassidy pushed himself from the table and started toward his room to get his bow. Warren didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand. Cassidy would sacrifice the entire realm to protect Val.
Warren grabbed Cassidy’s arm. “I can’t lose both of you.”
“Let go.”
“You’ll get yourself killed. Val wouldn’t want you to do this,” Warren pleaded.
Cassidy spun and punched Warren in the face. Warren stumbled back, holding his nose.
“You don’t know that! She could be begging for a miracle right now. She could be taking her last breath. She could—she...she could be…” Cassidy sat on the floor.
His body quaked.
The Ajoiner Realm (Defenders of Radiance Book 1) Page 16
