The voices were close, but didn’t sound as if they were in the same room, and so he decided to take a chance. His left eye was still swollen shut, but his right worked and by cracking it slightly he was able to get a limited view of the room without, he hoped, revealing to anyone that might be watching that he was awake and aware.
He lay on a dirt floor. That much was immediately obvious from the dirt and rock directly in front of his face. From the lack of feeling in his hands and feet he knew he was trussed up like a Christmas turkey. He turned his head slightly and as his eyesight adjusted to the dim light, he was able to make out more. His memory of the tent was correct; he lay inside a large structure made of canvas or some similar material, supported on a framework of thick wooden posts. The room he was in was separated from another by a large piece of cloth. A thin strip of light revealed where the gap hadn’t been closed completely.
The voices, one male, one female, were coming from the other side of the partition and he could make out the silhouette of the man against the fabric, pacing back and forth as he spoke.
Duncan sensed that what was going on in the next room was important, not just for him but for the fate of those on the other side of the Veil, and he knew he had to get a look at whoever was in there. His position on the floor didn’t allow him to see through the gap in the partition, however.
He had to move.
He slowly rolled over, ignoring the sharp jab of a rock that cut into his already bruised flesh and then, seeing it wasn’t enough, did it again one more time. That did the trick. Now he could see through the slight gap into the room beyond and he got his first look at the female speaker.
She was a stunningly beautiful Asian woman with a finely featured face, large eyes, and hair the color of midnight that stretched down past her waist in a long flowing wave. Dressed in traditional Japanese attire, she lounged on a throne made from some kind of black stone. Obsidian, maybe. She held an intricately decorated paper fan in one hand, her long nails painted crimson and sheathed in gold, and she waved the fan around as if in punctuation to what she was saying.
“You are certain this will work?”
“Most definitely, Princess. He will return for his teammate, just as he once tried to return for me. At that point he will be at the mercy of our soldiers.”
Duncan couldn’t see whom she was speaking to but the voice that responded was unmistakably male, with the slightest hint of an accent, and he had little doubt that the man was Bishop.
“I’ll be quite displeased if things do not go as you foresee.”
The steel in her voice made it clear she was used to being obeyed.
Bishop, however, didn’t sound concerned in the slightest.
“Have no fear, my lady. Things have gone exactly as we’ve planned and the information given to me by our captive will certainly give us an edge on our opposition. When that bastard Templar and his men cross the Veil, we will be more than prepared to deal with them in the manner they deserve.”
Bishop chuckled. “By battle’s end, the ranks of your soldiers should have swelled appreciatively. And this time, they will come with more than their fair share of combat experience.”
Good Lord! The entire situation had been manufactured to draw Cade and the rest of the Templar fighting elite into a trap. He had to get free and warn them before it was too late. But how?
Confident now that he was alone, he turned his head and took in the rest of the room. He could see that the lower edge of the tent had been spiked to the ground every couple of feet. Even if he could get free of his bonds, there was no way he could fit between the gaps. No, if he was going to get out, he would have to either cut through the fabric or make his way into the next room and fight his way out through the front entrance.
He didn’t imagine he’d be able to cut through the tent wall with his teeth, his knife having long since been taken from him, which meant the later was his only option.
Obviously not the best of plans, but it would have to do.
First things first, though. He had to get out of the bonds.
But even as he began to twist and turn his wrists, trying to loosen his bindings, the conversation in the next room caught his attention.
“Remember our agreement. Once we lure the Templars here, Commander Williams is mine. The Master expects me to deliver him intact and we don’t want to disappoint him.”
The Princess laughed dismissively. “I’d deliver that renegade from Hell a hundred such souls if it will help him keep his side of the bargain and shatter the Veil as he claims.”
“Good. Then we’re in agreement and all that’s left is to bait the trap.”
“Which will happen when?”
“Soon. Very soon. The last of my troops are moving into position as we speak and it should only take the witches another hour or so to prepare the Curtain around our positions. After that, all we have left to do is sit back and wait. When our righteous little friends launch their operation against us, they’ll find that we have more than one trick up our sleeves.”
Their laughter filled the room and Duncan knew that there was far more to this than Cade suspected. The Chiang Shih weren’t just planning an incursion into the living world, but apparently had struck some kind of deal with a more powerful force to shatter the barrier between the two worlds. He didn’t know much about the Beyond, but what he did know made him absolutely certain that destroying the Veil was a very bad idea.
Think, Duncan, think!
He knew his time was rapidly running out. But so far his bonds had resisted his attempts to loosen them and he didn’t think he had the energy left to keep working at them with brute strength alone. If he was going to get free in time to make a difference, he had to find a better way.
He shifted position and the sudden spike of resulting pain let him know that he had at least one, maybe two, broken ribs to go along with the festering knife wound in his shoulder. A lot of good he was going to be in a fight.
The pain in his ribs reminded him of the rock he’d rolled over a few minutes before and a plan blossomed in his mind. Now if the damn thing was only sharp enough…
He rolled back in the direction he’d started from, until a jab in his back let him know he’d found what he was looking for. As quietly as possible he maneuvered himself around until he could feel the sharp edges of the rock with his fingers. Taking it in hand, he began to saw it back and forth against the bonds that held him.
It was slow work. The rope was tight and allowed very limited movement. The lack of feeling in his fingers made it hard for him to position the stone properly. More than once he sliced through his fingers or the flesh of his wrist and the rock began to get slippery with his blood, making it even harder to hold.
At this rate I’m going to bleed to death before I get out of here, he thought. Still, he didn’t stop.
It might have been an hour, maybe more, his sense of time having long since fled, but eventually he felt his bonds grow looser and knew he’d managed to cut through the first strand of the rope.
Invigorated by his success, he set to with a renewed sense of urgency.
Light flooded the room behind him and Bishop’s voice rang out.
“What’s this? Our guest has had enough of our hospitality?”
Footsteps crossed the room as Duncan cursed inwardly. He was so damned close!
He looked up to find Bishop standing over him, a cruel smile playing across the man’s face.
Without another word the Chiang Shih commander lifted a booted foot and brought it down viciously against Duncan’s temple.
The room went dark and the youngest member of the Echo Team knew no more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Riley handed Cade the binoculars. “He’s about three hundred yards west of us, down on the plain. Looks like they beat feet and left him behind.”
After the decision to defy the Seneschal’s orders, Cade and his men had wasted no time in replenishing their supplies and returning to th
e Beyond. They made the trek to the Chiang Shih camp as swiftly as possible, knowing that every second spent in their world might have translated into hours in the Beyond.
Now it looked like they might be too late.
From their vantage point on the ridge, they could see that the tents that had housed the Chiang Shih still littered the plain, but rather than being filled with the teeming horde they’d expected they now appeared to be deserted. Several of them had been partially dismantled, as if the owners had been forced to flee in the midst of the job. The great bonfires that had marked the encampment when the Templars had last seen it were now nothing more than piles of black ash, though several still gave off thin wisps of smoke that climbed into the sky like disembodied spirits, indicating that it hadn’t been all that long since they’d been doused.
In the middle of it all was Duncan. He was tied upright to a thick post that had been driven into the earth beneath his feet and even at this distance Cade could see the terrible bruises that covered the young Templar’s face and body. He hung against the ropes that bound him to the post, unmoving, and Cade couldn’t be sure if he was alive.
Nor did he dare use his Sight to find out. Doing so would attract the attention of other denizens of the Beyond and they didn’t need any additional foes to worry about.
No, they were going to have to do this the old fashioned way. They had to go and see for themselves.
A bit of searching revealed a narrow trail and the team carefully picked their way down to the plain below. From there they made a cautious approach, using what cover they could find, until they reached the edge of the encampment. There, Cade called a halt.
“What do you think?” he asked his executive officer.
Riley gazed out over the abandoned encampment for a long moment and then, “They’re out there. Somewhere. I can feel them.”
The other man nodded. “Yeah. Me, too. But we expected that. What I need to know is if we risk it?”
Riley turned toward him. “We don’t really have a choice, do we?” he asked, and Cade had to agree.
They’d come to rescue Duncan and the only way to do that was to stroll right through the enemy’s camp and untie him from that pole.
Riley passed the word and the men formed up around Cade. They would enter the encampment and form a defensive perimeter around the pole while Cade checked on their teammate. If he was still alive, Cade would cut him down and they would retreat as expeditiously as possible. If something went wrong, if they were attacked or got separated, they agreed to regroup at the portal.
Satisfied with the arrangements, Cade gave the order and the team moved out.
The center of the encampment where Duncan was being held hostage was only two hundred yards away, but to Cade it felt like two miles. Every step brought them deeper into the heart of the enemy’s camp and while he couldn’t see them, Cade knew they were out there. Somewhere. He could feel it in his bones and crawling across his skin, that sense that a hundred pairs of eyes were watching his every move, and his body was tense with anticipation, waiting for the sudden attack.
Much to his surprise, it didn’t come and they were able to reach Duncan without incident.
As the others took their places, Cade moved the last few yards and reached out for their fallen comrade.
He was acutely aware that Duncan’s position carefully mimicked that in which he’d found Bishop on that fateful day several years before, and recognized it for the message that it was. Bishop wanted him to know that he still remembered that day, too, and it was clear that he blamed Cade for his current state of existence. They were on opposite sides of right and wrong and Cade had no choice but to stop his former teammate before more harm was done.
Reaching out, he gently lifted Duncan’s head.
He’d been beaten more than once, the older bruises having already turned a deep purple in color while the newer ones were doing their best to catch up. One eye was swollen completely shut, his lips were split in several places, and his open mouth revealed that he was going to need several courses of reconstructive surgery if he ever wanted to smile again.
To Cade’s surprise, not only was Duncan alive, but he was conscious as well.
Duncan opened one eye and said something too soft for Cade to hear.
He bent closer. “What was that, Duncan?”
“It’s a trap.”
Cade pulled back so Duncan could see his face, a grim smile dancing at the corners of his mouth. “I know.”
“But…”
“Quiet. Let me worry about that. You just hold yourself together until we can get you back to a hospital on the other side. Brace yourself, because I’m going to cut your down.”
Cade pulled his knife and, positioning himself in front of Duncan, cut the ropes that bound him to the post. Duncan slumped forward, unable to support his own weight, and Cade caught him gently in his arms. Knowing time was of the essence, he hefted Duncan over his shoulder and turned, intent on getting him and the rest of his team out as quickly as possible.
The Chiang Shih chose that moment to reveal themselves.
At a shouted command from Bishop, the enemy mystics dropped the illusion they had been using to hide their presence. Echo suddenly found itself surrounded by the missing horde.
They were everywhere.
Packed into the narrow spaces between the tents, standing inside the structures themselves, even blocking the pathway the knights had just taken through the camp to reach Duncan. As the two groups stared at each other, a single Chiang Shih stepped forward.
He was tall and muscular, with blonde hair and blue eyes, the kind of man that most women would find instantly attractive, if it hadn’t been for the cruel set of his features or the hard gleam of hatred in his eyes.
Cade was not surprised to see him.
“Hello Bishop,” he said calmly.
He’d suspected the other’s presence ever since they’d discovered the Chiang Shih encampment, but having it confirmed didn’t give him any sense of satisfaction. Bishop had been a good man, a good knight, and to see him reduced to his present condition was a vivid reminder that Cade had failed him all those years before and had continued to fail him every day since.
“Commander.” The other man’s voice dripped with sarcasm and it was clear to Cade that he didn’t feel Cade was truly in command of anything at this point.
Cade didn’t blame him; what commander worth his salt would lead his men intentionally into a trap like this? But Cade never did things without a reason. He still had one more card to throw and it was time to see if Bishop would play along.
“What do you want, Bishop?”
The former Templar soldier laughed. There was very little trace of his humanity left in that laugh. “What do I want? I would have thought that would be obvious at this point, Williams. Would it be too cliched if I said I wanted you dead?”
Cade shrugged. “Originality was never your strong suit.”
“Go ahead and make jokes. They don’t bother me. You’ll still scream just as loudly in the end.”
Out of the corner of his eye Cade could see Riley and several of the others shifting position, readying themselves for a final fatal charge against the vile creatures surrounding them.
“Hold!” he said sharply.
Riley shot him a look but obeyed just the same, for which Cade was thankful. As long as Riley held steady, the others would as well.
Bishop glanced over to see who Cade was speaking to and his smile grew wider, if that was at all possible. “My, my, my. If it isn’t my old teammate Sergeant Riley. Still taking orders from your betters?”
Riley ignored him.
“No matter. You’ve simply saved me the trouble of hunting you down and killing you separately. I guess I should be thankful for that.”
The Chiang Shih around them laughed in appreciation at Bishop’s joke and the sound made Cade’s skin crawl.
“If it’s my death you want, Bishop, then let’s make a deal.”
“A deal? What do I need a deal for? All I have to do is give the word and you’ll be dead in seconds.”
“But then you won’t have the pleasure of killing me yourself. Where’s the fun in that?” Now it was Cade’s turn to smile. “Unless you’re afraid to face me again? After all, I did kill you the last time we faced each other.”
Bishop stalked forward, suddenly furious. “I’ll kill you now, you stupid little…”
“You’ll do no such thing.”
The newcomer’s voice rang with the iron tone of command and it pulled Bishop up short. Cade watched in amazement as the crowd parted behind the former knight, revealing the speaker.
In her human guise she was beautiful, a tall, lithe woman of Asian descent with porcelain skin and long dark hair the color of crow feathers, the kind of woman men would fight over, but Cade didn’t need his special sight to know that beneath that casual facade lingered a slavering beast that would feast on him as readily as her lieutenant would. She was surrounded by some of the largest Chiang Shih Cade had ever seen, obviously bodyguards, and the way Bishop deferred to her made Cade realize where the true power was.
“Princess,” Bishop said stiffly. “This is no concern of yours.”
“But it is, Bishop, it is. After all, I can’t have anyone, least of all a mere human, casting doubt on my lieutenant’s abilities, can I?”
Bishop waved her concerns away. “Williams has been promised to another or have you forgotten our agreement?”
The woman laughed, a cruel, dismissive sound and Cade had the sense that she had seized on the situation to show the others just who was in charge here. Her response only served to confirm his suspicions.
“I made no such agreement, Bishop. That was you and you alone. How you honor that agreement is your business, not mine.”
Bishop snarled in frustration, but didn’t argue with her any further.
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