“I have nothing else to tell you,” the woman murmured, barely glancing up at the door. “I don’t know anything.”
“We’re not guards, and we only need to know one thing,” Judith murmured, keeping her voice calm and soothing. The woman was close to breaking, the tears in her eyes ready to spill over. “Why are you here?”
The barbegazi woman looked up at Judith from beneath long dark lashes, her expression wary. “I already told you, I couldn't stop them from going into the hut, and I didn’t know they would run through the back.”
Judith realized that the woman wasn’t going to trust her, not without being sure she wasn’t a guard. Regardless of whether or not the woman chose to help, she didn’t belong in this prison. Judith was certain of that. She opened the door and stepped inside, fluffing her wings in display. The frost sidhe smartly stayed back and out of the way.
“I need your help,” Judith said. “I have a child—an orphan—that needs to be returned to her people. Can you get me there?” Judith held out her precious bundle, the baby’s face just visible over the re-tucked swaddle.
The barbegazi woman’s face softened. “She’s precious. But how did she come to be with you, here?”
“She’s the last and only survivor of the destruction of her village.”
The woman gasped, her hand lifting to her lips. “Like Solvi.”
Judith didn’t know what that meant, but she nodded anyway. If it convinced this woman to lead them to the barbegazi stronghold, she would be happy.
The woman slid off the bench and held out her arms. She only stood as tall as Judith’s waist, but Bren was also a tiny creature. “Give her to me. I’ll make sure she gets to a good home.”
Judith reluctantly relinquished the bundle she’d been carrying for the last several hours, unwrapping the impromptu sling she’d created for the journey. Bren immediately started to cry.
“Shh, shh,” the woman hushed.
Bren wasn’t interested. Her arms flailed, working free of the swaddling once more. Without hesitation, the younger woman tucked Bren back in, the gentle movements and shushing sound eventually quieting the baby’s cries.
“I’ll take you to Felman,” the woman said, her gaze never leaving Bren’s face. “He’ll know what to do.”
Judith let the barbegazi woman slide past and into the hall but came up short when she froze at the door.
“You said you weren’t guards. You said we could leave.”
“We can.” Judith peered around the door, gazing into the blue eyes of the frost sidhe soldier.
“I’m coming with you,” the man said. “They’ve called me traitor. I have no intention of hurting you.” He lifted his hands in a sign of peace.
The barbegazi woman stepped back into Judith’s legs, then tilted her head back to look up into Judith’s face. “Is this true?”
“I found him locked in a cell, same as you, same as me and Bren. I don’t know what he did to earn the markings on his face, or his place in this dungeon, but he was definitely a prisoner.”
Pounding could be heard from Judith’s former cell.
“The guards are locked in there, but I think we’d better move on,” Judith said. “We can work out the rest later.”
“This is a trap. I know it’s a trap.”
“It’s not a trap. Only a beast would use a baby as bait.”
“Clearly, you haven’t spent much time with General Maethor recently,” the frost sidhe stated, tone dry but entirely serious.
“None at all. But if my suspicions are correct, there may be a deeper reason for his behavior.” They reached the outer door, which had been closed and locked from the other side. Judith hoped the guards’ keys could be used to open this one, as well.
“Like what?” the frost sidhe asked.
“Later,” Judith fumbled with the keys, trying to find the one that would open the iron door.
“Give me that,” the frost sidhe said. He yanked the keys out of Judith’s hand, and with confident fingers, slid one of the larger skeleton keys into the lock. With a twist and a clank, the door opened.
The soldier straightened his spine, lifting his chin once more. “I’ll lead from here.”
“I need to get my sword,” Judith replied.
“We all need a lot of things,” the frost sidhe mumbled.
“You just said we might have to fight our way out,” the barbegazi woman whispered, peering out from behind Judith’s legs. It seemed she’d decided Judith was her safety point. The frost sidhe was still suspicious.
“Best to be prepared for anything, but I’ll try to talk us out of here. If we’re lucky, we’ll only need to get past Romine at the door,” the frost sidhe replied.
“She didn’t seem too keen to see me,” Judith said. “I doubt she’ll just let us go.”
“I am her commander. She will hesitate to oppose me.”
Judith frowned. He seemed to be forgetting that they’d locked him up in here in the first place.
“Who are you?” Judith asked, realizing she didn’t know the soldier’s name or rank.
“I am Aegasson. I am General Maethor’s second in command and leader of the battle mages. Or I was, until a few days ago when he started acting entirely irrational.” Aegasson pressed his lips together in a thin line.
“So you fought in the Battle of the Arches?” Judith asked.
The frost sidhe’s expression tightened further, his voice turning frigid. Judith could almost feel the cold emanating from his skin. “Nearly every soldier in the frozen army fought in that battle, so yes, I was there.”
“So you saw the souls pulled from the wastelands of the Daemon Realm. You witnessed the possession and destruction of the army.”
“What I saw that day will be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. And yes, I saw you there. I know you and your guardians helped turn the tide of that battle in the Shadow Realm’s favor.”
Judith shook her head. “We only sought to end the battle quickly and return the souls to their earned afterlife. They should never have been brought into the Human Realm in the first place.”
“On that count, we agree.”
Aegasson strode through the doorway with a confident swagger that seemed a bit out of place for an escaped prisoner.
Judith followed behind, her hands clenching and unclenching as she wished for her sword, while the barbegazi brought up the rear with baby Bren. She stuck so close to Judith’s legs, Judith was afraid she might trip on the woman.
The next hallway was lined with more doors, but no one seemed to be in the area. Perhaps it was a storage area or offices? Aegasson never hesitated and didn’t seem inclined to wait for them to keep up. His gaze never drifted from their destination; the door at the end of the hall that would lead to the building’s entry hall.
“Where is everyone?” Judith asked. If this were the headquarters of the Moirai, or the Guardians’ barracks, there would be people everywhere. Off duty or on, the halls shouldn’t be empty.
“Patrolling the streets or preparing for the march up the mountain,” Aegasson replied. “Every able-bodied guard was called to arms.”
“I guess that explains the archers on the wall,” Judith murmured.
“Archers?”
Judith nodded. “They were on full alert. There was no chance I was going to sneak into the city as I had planned.”
Just then, the farthest door opened, and the woman from the front desk entered the hallway. As soon as she saw the group gathered in the narrow space, her eyes narrowed.
“You.”
Judith wasn’t sure which ‘you’ she was talking to, but didn’t have a chance to ask. In a single motion, the woman slid her knives from a sheath at her back and sprinted toward them, a vicious snarl pulling her lips into a grimace.
Aegasson stepped forward, left hand out in a stop motion, right hand back to push Judith and the barbegazi away from the battle. As if Judith would trust him to fight his own people on their behalf.
<
br /> Judith didn’t have any weapons, except her wings and armor. Her best offense would be to act quickly, surprise the woman with her own ferocity. With the babe at her back, there was plenty of that.
Instead of waiting for the frost sidhe to reach her, Judith pushed past Aegasson and rushed headlong down the hall. Her wings spread behind her, the tips touching either wall and brushing across the ceiling.
The woman’s eyes widened a fraction for a brief moment, before she dove forward in a foot-first slide, trying to get beneath Judith to the relatively unprotected skin of her legs.
Catching the air with her wings, Judith hovered for one brief moment, tucking her legs up into her chest as high and tight as she could. She kicked down and out. The woman’s knife glanced off Judith’s boot, cutting a shallow furrow into the thick leather. But Judith’s foot connected with the woman’s chin, knocking her head back and into the stone with a reverberating crack.
Judith’s feet touched down. She spun, using the momentum of her tucking wings to turn before the woman was even able to stand from the floor. Aegasson was already there. He sat on top of the front desk guard, slamming the woman’s hands into the ground, trying to force her to release her weapons.
The woman twisted her body, trying to squirm out from beneath her former commander. She pushed and shoved with her legs, searching for leverage.
Hating to kick a woman when she’s down, Judith had no other choice. The frost sidhe had to surrender. A boot to the face seemed like a less terrible option than a knife to the heart. If Aegasson got a hold of the woman’s knives, Judith was certain that would happen.
Striding toward the struggle in the floor, Judith placed the toe of her boot on the woman’s head, forcibly turning her skull to the side and putting pressure on her temple. She leaned into the hold, making sure the woman could feel the threat.
“Drop the knives,” Judith commanded.
Steel clattered on stone. Aegasson picked up the weapons, but remained on the woman’s chest. He held one razor-sharp blade to the woman’s neck, drawing a beaded line of red through the thin skin. Startled at the aggressive threat, Judith released the woman’s head.
“I will always best you,” Aegasson whispered.
The woman on the floor spat into Aegasson’s face. “Traitor. He will come after you.”
“Let him come.” With a sweep of his hand, Aegasson slit the woman’s throat, the red liquid of life draining away on the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE BARBEGAZI WOMAN’S scream pierced Judith’s brain, cutting through the shock of Aegasson’s actions.
“Why did you do that?” Judith demanded, her heart beating in her throat. She hadn’t wanted anyone to die, hadn’t imagined the frost sidhe would take the life of a fellow guard.
Aegasson stood from the unmoving body, wiping the knife on the leg of his pants. “She was infected.”
“What?” An infection?
“She followed General Maethor. Chose his side over the common good. She would have killed you—killed all of us— if she’d had the chance.”
Judith had noticed the anger and violence on the woman’s face when she’d arrived. There was no mistaking her desire to kill a guardian. But why? What possible explanation could there be for the ferocity of her reaction, especially against her comrade?
A tendril of white-gray ectoplasm began to squirm its way out of the body of the fallen warrior. Its movement was odd, as if shedding the skin.
“Was she also a warrior in the Battle of the Arches?” Judith asked, thoughts whirling. How many souls had escaped? How many were yet missing?
“Of course,” Aegasson snapped. “Why do you continue to bring that up?”
“You said you were there. Did you not notice the wicked possessing the living and walking off the battlefield?”
Judith watched the soul continue to pull itself from the body. Aegasson, unknowing, stood less than an arm’s length from the writhing cloud that pulsed above the mortal flesh. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t normal.
“The possessed died. The souls were reclaimed.”
“Not all of them.”
With a pop of displaced air, the soul came free. An incorporeal head formed at the top of the cloud, a sharp-toothed grin splitting the creature’s face. It was not the same face as the woman on the ground.
In an instant, Judith pushed Aegasson behind her. Without her sword, she couldn’t dispatch a lost soul to its final death. She couldn’t even send it to the Daemon Realm. Only a fae with soultouch could do that. With a grimace, she realized only Lord Garamaen Sanyaro or Apprentice Sanyare could do that. They were the last remaining fae with soultouch, or so she was led to believe.
Judith flared her wings wide, blocking the hallway from view. She couldn’t be possessed. It was the only true magic she carried, and the only way to protect her companions.
“Stay behind me,” she ordered.
“Why?” Aegasson demanded. “What’s going on?”
“A wicked soul is on the loose and hunting. I can’t kill it, but I can keep it from claiming you.”
The barbegazi woman’s sobs grew louder, while Bren wailed in discordant harmony. Judith didn’t have time to check on her or see what Aegasson was doing. There was no safe path here, nothing to prevent the soul from possessing the living. She was their only hope. She couldn’t let it slip by, not even a tendril. Aegasson and the others wouldn’t see it coming.
The soul launched itself toward her like a spear. Judith batted it away with a wing, but the impact rattled her bones. The soul tried again. Judith leaned to the side, blocking the open space between her flight feathers and the floor. She took the blow to her shoulder with a hiss of pain. The soul tilted back and cackled. There was nothing sane left in its existence.
Judith set her feet preparing for the next onslaught as the head ballooned to at least five times normal size. The hair began to shift and slither, growing hooked barbs on the end of each thick shaft.
The soul launched its attack. Piercing barbs struck Judith on every exposed inch of skin and bounced off the plate metal of her armor. She shifted and turned, using hands and wings like a wall to prevent the soul from passing. Not a single strand would get through her guard. Her heartrate increased, further infuriating the damned creature who craved a heart of its own.
Lungs burning, Judith matched the soul’s frenetic pace. She ignored the stinging lacerations and the deep bruises that were sure to form. She kept her body in constant motion, her vision narrowing to the medusa before her.
Frustrated, the soul stabbed at Judith again and again, slicing the top layer of skin in a thousand tiny cuts. Though no blood was drawn, Judith could feel her limbs beginning to tire. Her motions slowed. The first of the soul’s tentacles nearly slipped past. Then a second.
You have to work through the pain, Eliphaz had said in training. The souls won’t stop. If you can’t find a way to stay focused on the battle, despite your injuries, despite your fatigue, they’ll easily overcome you.
She had to find a way to make it stop, to give it something else to focus on. Bren was back there, and the barbegazi woman. Innocent souls she was sure were unprotected. Even Aegasson might be at risk. If the soul claimed his body, it would also claim his skill. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
But if the soul traveled outside these walls, it would possess another unsuspecting living body. Could Judith sacrifice an unknown individual to save the lives of those behind her?
Bren’s wails cut through the sound of Judith’s panting breaths. Yes, to save Bren, she would sacrifice another. But when she found this soul again, and she swore she would, she would happily end its miserable existence.
Rushing forward with a wordless scream of defiance, Judith used her body and wings like a battering ram to press the wicked soul out of the hallway. The soul shrieked in response, its face pressed so close to Judith’s own, she would have gagged on its breath if it had had any.
> Slamming through the last set of doors into the building entry, Judith sent the wicked soul flying backward. Catching its momentum, the soul paused, hovering in the air a few feet above the ground. The door to the outside was less than a length away. The soul looked at Judith then looked back at the door.
In an instant, the damned creature took the easy route, and fled the building. Judith watched for several more heartbeats to be sure it was truly gone, before turning back to her charges with sagging shoulders and a sigh of relief.
She needed to find her sword.
Making her way back into the hall, Judith found the barbegazi woman huddled in a corner, Bren tucked in close to her chest. The woman rocked back and forth in self-contained panic while Bren wailed her own distress.
“Shh,” Judith reassured the woman and her charge. Bren quieted almost immediately at Judith’s voice, but the woman was less inclined to be soothed.
“What is your name?” Judith asked. She needed to stop mentally calling her the barbegazi woman.
“Eira,” the woman replied, her eyes scrunched closed.
“Eira, we have to move. The wicked soul is gone, but we can’t remain here.” Judith placed a hand on Eira’s shoulder. “It’s time to take Bren home. Can you be strong for the baby? Can you lead us to safety with your people?”
Tear stained eyes finally turned up to Judith’s face. Eira swallowed and nodded her head.
Judith turned to find Aegasson, to ask him to lead the way out, but he was gone.
“Where did Aegasson go?” Judith asked as she helped Eira stand.
Eira shook her head, eyes wide and unseeing in her panic. “He left. We’ll be caught any moment. I never should have followed you. I should have stayed in my cell,” she babbled.
“Eira!” Judith grabbed her shoulder with a light shake to draw her attention back to the immediate situation. “I need you to lead the way, now. I don’t know this city, I don’t know where to go.”
Tears still streaming down her face, Judith could see Eira’s struggle to contain her sobs and think. She was a good girl, but young and inexperienced. And she wasn’t a fighter. But she was the only resource Judith had to get out of this mess.
Sanyare: The Winter Warrior (The Sanyare Chronicles Book 4) Page 15
