It made it the ideal place to play hiding games for kids who had supernatural abilities. Unfortunately, it also I means I was pretty goddamn helpless as I hung from the ceiling by my ankles. I moved, trying to wipe the goo from my eyes, but my hands were held fast behind me. The bindings were made from that same metal that my mother had been bound with in the vision Joshua had shown me.
“Swell,” I muttered to myself.
“So you’re awake?” Kain’s disembodied voice asked. I swung my head toward it, but it was so dark that I couldn’t make out more than an outline against the far wall.
“So they got you, too?” I asked, calling across the room. My voice was like a megaphone in the silence of the dungeon. It echoed off the walls, filling the space between us like a living thing.
“Yep,” he replied with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure it’s your fault too. One of those guards stuck me with something after you left and dragged me back here.”
“Well, at least it’s scenic,” I said.
“As scenic as a dungeon can be, I suspect,” Kain said with a wistful lilt in his voice. “I always knew I’d probably end up back here, wasn’t sure if it’d be in a dungeon or not. I had dreams of coming back during a big battle and saving the day. Then I’d be hailed as a hero and women would throw themselves at me.”
“Well… if you can get out of here, I’ll pretend you’re a hero and fake throwing myself at you,” I replied as I stared down at the ground a few feet from my head. The blood was already pounding in my temples. I didn’t even want to think about how long Kain must have been suspended this way.
“I appreciate the offer and all, darlin,’ but if I could escape, I’d be out of here already,” Kain replied.
“There’s no escape, at least not in the traditional sense, unless by the traditional sense you mean death. You could escape by dying, but I don’t think that’s what you meant at all.” Caleb’s voice hit me like a sledgehammer, and I craned my head to look at him and the sight of him made my heart want to burst. Caleb, my boyfriend, had used his Blue Prince powers to come find me in the Dioscuri dungeon.
He was standing in the center of the room holding an old gas-powered lantern in one hand. He knelt down, setting it on the ground before running his palm over the stone. “I can’t actually help you,” he continued with a shrug. “That’s why I’m just shedding a little light on the situation.” He gestured at the lantern as its blue light spilled out over the room and made shadows dance across the walls.
Kain laughed, and I glanced over at him. Stubble covered his face in patchy splotches which was probably why he was clean shaven when I saw him last. He was still wearing his baggy pants and red-shirt, though his shirt hung down to cover part of his face. It left his torso exposed, and even from here, I could see the ribs poking up from beneath his skin.
“How long did you spend thinking of that line, Caleb?” Kain asked.
“I’m glad you’re still alive, Kain,” Caleb said, laughter brimming in his eyes. “And yes, I did spend a little while thinking about that line,” he said with a shrug. “You only get to make entrances like that every so often, they deserve a good one liner.”
“I’ve always been partial to, ‘Come with me if you want to live!’” Kain said. “Because I’ll totally come with you right now. We can go wherever, man, though I am partial to beaches with girls in itty bitty bikinis.”
“Sorry,” he said as he walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek. The feel of his lips on my skin spread out like wildfire across my body. “I’m not allowed to help,” he added, and his breath was hot on my neck as he spoke. “That includes releasing you, unfortunately.”
Behind him, his shadow seemed to stand and stretch, unfurling itself like a cat after a long nap. Caleb was still squatting down next to me as his shadow began to pace back and forth in the blue light like a lion in its cage. He reached out and touched me with his left hand, his fingers trailing along my flesh. Warmth swam over me, engulfing me in a haze of emotion as he bent toward my lips and kissed me.
Only… only he didn’t kiss me so much as he mashed our mouths together and breathed into me. Stars flashed across my vision as the metal around my wrists turned white hot. Caleb reached out, gripping the steel with one hand as his shadow sauntered over and placed its right hand on my other cheek.
Power slithered over my skin, cool and slimy. It slid down between my flesh and the metal as it flared so bright that it was like staring at the sun. Blue spots flashed across my vision as Caleb stood and smirked at me.
“I missed you,” I said, my cheeks heating up as he stared at me, a peculiar look on his face.
“I didn’t want you to forget just how awesome my kisses are,” he said and before I could reply, he vanished in a flare of sapphire light and azure smoke. His words lingering in the air like a Cheshire cat grin and made my stomach sink into my toes. Was that his way of telling me he knew about Ordain? God… god I hoped it wasn’t.
“So… I didn’t know your boyfriend was my old apprentice. Small world,” Kain said as my heart began to slow down. It was still beating so hard in my chest that it very nearly echoed in the silence of the room.
“Oh? He never told me who trained him,” I said, my voice catching in my throat as I reached out and wiped my face with one hand. Wait a second… I swallowed and looked at my hand. I swung my head down and felt a grin spread across my face. Bits of steaming metal littered the floor beneath my head.
“He wouldn’t,” Kain replied, sorrow etched into his words. “But in honor of me having trained him, the least you can do is let me out of here.”
I smirked and reached down toward the remnants at my feet because one of the shards looked suspiciously like a key. I reached toward it, stretching out my hand so that it brushed against the burnished bronze fragments.
“I can’t quite reach,” I growled, stretching even farther. The metal cuffs around my ankles bit into my flesh, and I bit my lip, pushing the pain away.
“Try stretching,” Kain offered.
“I am stretching!” I snapped as I squeezed my index and middle fingers together against either side of the key. Then, very slowly, I lifted and grabbed the key with my other hand. “Success!” I screamed, looking up at my feet.
“Now all you have to do is one sit-up and we’re out of here. Something tells me I shouldn’t hold my breath,” he said, and I barely resisted the urge to march over there and kick him in his stupid head, which yes, was partially because I was still bound.
“Okay,” I murmured to myself as I swung my body forward and backward a few times to get momentum. The metal bit into my shins, and I had the distinct feeling that blood was soaking into my socks.
As I swung forward I bent, swiveling my body and catching hold of my thighs with both hands. The motion jerked me hard, and I cried out in pain. I shut my eyes, concentrating on pulling myself upward with my hands.
With a heave, I threw my left hand up and grabbed hold of the chain just above my feet. My abdomen screamed in pain as I pulled myself closer, arm muscles cording. Hot, burning fire erupted in my arms as I strained to shove the stupid key in the lock. Let me just tell you, putting a tiny key into a swinging lock while half-upside down is freaking hard.
It clicked open, and my lower body fell free of the cuffs. My grip slipped on the chain, and I hit the ground with a thunk, smacking my shoulder hard on the stone. Pain exploded through it as I curled into a ball and concentrated on not screaming my head off.
“Nice,” Kain called from across the room. “Now get up and let me out of here.”
“Why should I do that?” I asked through clenched teeth as I pushed myself to my hands and knees.
“Because I know how to get out of here?” he offered.
“You just said you didn’t know how a second ago,” I growled, getting to my feet and wobbling toward him on a pair of very unhappy ankles. Every movement felt like wet socks rubbing against an open wound… which was pretty much exactly what was going o
n.
“The circumstances have changed,” he said with a shrug. “Thanks to your boyfriend.”
It only took me a moment to unlock Kain, and the second I did, he pushed past me.
“Thanks,” he murmured, bending down and picking up the lantern. He held it toward one of the walls, half-ignoring me. “So, do you know how to get out of here?” he asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong or anything, I enjoy not being chained up and all… but it’s not exactly easy to escape the Dioscuri dungeon.”
“What?” I asked, walking over to him. “You don’t know any secret passages? You just said you could get us out of here. It was why I let you out.”
“Man, this place was designed by Mayami Ishida himself, you know, the infamous escape artist. It was like one of those God things,” Kain said as he knelt down on the stone and ran his hand over the stone.
“God things?” I asked, moving over toward him and peering over his shoulder.
“Yeah, like ‘can God create a rock so heavy he can’t lift it?’” Kain shrugged. “Mayami was an infamous escape artist about a hundred and fifty years ago. He wanted to see if he could create something even he couldn’t escape from.”
“So did it work?” I asked.
“No,” Kain said with a grin as he plunged his hand forward into a space between two rocks. There was a screeching sound, like a bat getting its wings torn off, and the light from the lantern pulsed. Kain twisted his arm and jerked it forward. Just like that, the wall opened up to reveal a set of stone stairs that descended into the earth.
“Well… that seems like a pretty big flaw,” I said as Kain stood and stepped into the passage.
“Yeah well, unless you have blue light, you can’t open it,” Kain said as he turned back to me and grinned. “Guess your boyfriend is good for something after all.”
He disappeared into the passageway, and I followed close behind him for what felt like hours. The air inside was stale and murky as we trudged through the bowels of Lot.
“I can’t remember the last time I walked through the outskirts of Lot,” Kain said as he exited the passage, pushing aside a tent flap that covered a hole in the rock. We were now somewhere deep in the outskirts.
I turned, glancing back at the tent flap. “It’s gone,” I said, pointing at the cave exit.
“Uh… yeah, wouldn’t be much of a secret passage if you could find it from the outside,” Kain replied, sauntering a few feet ahead of me. He swung his lanky arms to and fro like a school-kid. “Last time I was here, the outskirts weren’t so blown up. I guess that’s partially my fault.” His shoulders slumped a little as he turned toward me, huge brown eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t quite sadness or guilt… some combination?
“It’s been this way since Dirge died,” I said, sweeping my arm out.
“I’m sorry,” Kain replied, turning away from me and pointing at a blackened spot of earth. “That used to be Hungry’s. It had the best hot chocolate in town. There was this really thin girl who worked there,” Kain added after a moment. “They used real milk, and I don’t even know how you get real milk here.”
“Magic,” I said with a shrug.
“Cute,” he said, glancing back at me over his shoulder. “Anyone ever tell you you’re cute?”
“No,” I said as I stared at my shoes.
“Well you are,” he replied.
“Thanks,” I said, turning to look at him as he knelt down by the burned out remains of a shack.
“So, where do they keep all the civis? I can’t imagine ole’ Dirgey-girl killed all of ‘em. She’s not the type,” Kain said as he stood and put his hand to his head in mock salute. “She’s all truth and justice.” There must have been a strange look on my face because Kain dropped his hand and shook his head sheepishly. “Sorry, sometimes I’m an idiot,” he said.
“Sometimes?” I asked.
“Yes, I have been known to have the occasional bout of non-idiocy. Anyway, where is everyone?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“Inside the walls. All the civilians were moved into the center of town to keep them from being cannon-fodder for invading forces,” I replied with a shrug. “Except we can’t really keep people outside the walls so they still die.”
Kain smirked at me before turning away and kicking a rock. It skittered along the dusty path sending up little clouds of debris as it skipped along. “That’s how it used to be actually. We used to keep everyone inside, but it got so crowded that people opted to move outside. We got huge plots of land for moving out, and a lot of us did so because, well, why not? Then, after the first invasion… well no one wanted to let us back in…” Kain shrugged, his shoulders rising and slumping.
“You were here when the first group moved into the outskirts?” I asked, stunned. I mean I’d heard about that time, but it might as well have been a fairy tale for how much weight I’d given it.
“I was really young when that happened. Too young to remember, really. I lived out here, in the outskirts, until I passed my tests and got brought in as part of the army. I do remember being stuck in a broom closet with my mother while people outside screamed.” A shudder ran through him, and without thinking, I reached out and hugged him from behind.
“I’m sorry,” I said, releasing him a moment later.
“Don’t be, this was before your time,” he said, his voice tinged with that same sadness. “It makes you wonder why I did it, doesn’t it? Why I let Manaka’s army in? Well, the answer is because I was an angry kid with too much strength to know he was weak.”
He stopped and pointed off into the distance. “See, my house used to be right there and, well, afterward we moved because no one would take us in. My mother was always afraid something bad was going to… to happen again. Then one day I saw the king, he looked so nice in his fancy clothes and guards. He had his two boys with him, Masataka and Mitsoumi, but Mitsoumi couldn’t have been more than two years old. Masataka had just been born and the king was showing him off, I guess.” He moved a few paces off the dirt road and looked toward the city. Its walls shown in the distance like sunlight stretched across white metal.
“Um… how old were you at the time?” I asked.
“My mom tried to get us good seats. She waited all night in the cold so I could see the king, and well, we were right by the road. It was so exciting, there were all kinds of people and… I dunno, I tripped and fell in front of the procession like the stupid kid I was and nearly got trampled,” he trailed off for a second, and a tear was slipped down his cheek. “Well, the guards descended on me, trying to keep me from getting near the king, and while they didn’t hurt me, a huge riot broke out. I’m not sure how it happened exactly but…”
“She died…” I said, and the words felt hollow in my mouth, like I was chewing on a piece of plastic.
“She died,” he affirmed, still staring off into the distance.
“So was it revenge?” I asked.
“Maybe? I think it was mostly stupidity.” He shook his head as we approached a spot a little farther away. He knelt down in the dirt, pawing at it for a minute before standing and wiping his face with the back of his hand. “Did you know that if you stand right here,” he said, kicking at the dirt with the toe of his boot. “And leap into the air about fifty feet, you’ll catch a wind current that will take you straight down to Earth?”
“No,” I said swallowing. “Though I find it a little hard to imagine jumping off a floating city miles above Earth is… safe?”
“It isn’t, don’t tell anyone.” With that statement, Kain leapt straight up into the air. There was a flash of silver light as he vanished from sight.
I turned and glanced back toward the city. “I should leave,” I said to myself. “I should follow Kain. I should run away.” I sighed and knelt down in the black dirt, picking up a handful of the stuff and letting it run through my hands. “But I’m not going to do that,” I said as I stood. “Why? Because I’m an idiot.”
“You should get one of those devices the earth people stick in their ears when they talk on the phone,” Masataka said. “That way you won’t look so crazy when you talk to yourself.”
I whirled around to see Masataka standing there, leaning casually on his trident. He wasn’t wearing anything besides his Vajra, and it slithered over his skin like a living oil-slick, covering from head to toe in glistening darkness. Behind him was an army of Royal Guards, and while some of them were probably Charlie, I was betting that several more were real this time.
Behind them was an army of ‘regular’ Dioscuri, and while I recognized several of the faces, I was pretty sure they weren’t here to help me. There were so many people here… and they hadn’t been here a second ago. I took a hesitant step backward, kicking up black dust with my heel.
“I’m surprised you know what a phone is!” I snapped, glancing past him and trying to find my mother in the crowd. I didn’t see her.
Masataka grinned and stuck his hand to his chest in mock affront. “I’m hurt, Lillim. Sure, I might not know as much about the human world as you do, but I know my way around a coffee shop.”
I swallowed and reached down for my swords with trembling hands… only they weren’t around my waist. They were still trapped in my spirit pouch. Great.
“Is that so?” I asked, shoving my fear deep down inside me. I narrowed my eyes and took a step toward him. “How did you sneak up on me with this many people?”
“It is so,” he said with a smirk. “We’ve been waiting here for a while. Honestly, I thought you’d escape sooner, but I guess I gave you a little too much credit.” He took a few steps toward me as he spoke and reached out toward me with one hand. “See, Dirge took me off Lot from this very spot. I figured that since you’re her rip-off, you might try and escape like the weasel you are. This would be the most likely spot you’d use for your escape, which is why we’re here. Sure there are others spread out across Lot, but I was just hedging my bets with those.” He curled his hand into a fist. “I knew you would come here, Lillim. I knew you would try to run away.”
Pursuit: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 4) Page 9
